Product Review: Liquid vs. Cream Eyeliner

So, I've been on "vacation" for the past month and a half, and have been seriously slacking on the tutorials. But I have a few planned for when I get back. In the meantime, I've decided to do a quickie product review.

I recently purchased E.L.F. cream eyeliner in black first, then in gunmetal for funsies. As you may know, I'm a liquid eyeliner fanatic. I love the definition it gives in terms of a line, and therefore the drama. But it's a pain. It takes time to master, sometimes it runs, or flakes, and if you eff up while applying it, you pretty much have to start over. An accidental blink is all it takes to annihilate all the work you've accomplished.

Some of the available colors

Until the above beauty came along. Packaged with the liner is a small angled eyeliner brush. The texture of the liner is wonderful, and deposits smoothly, even with the cheap brush. It's easy to get a thin line or a thick one, and much of your lid is covered at a time, cutting down on the amount of time you spend messing with it. And with the angled brush, a cateye has never been easier. All it takes is a tiny tilt of the wrist to get dramatic wings.

The liner stays put reasonably well, and doesn't flake or crack like some liquids. All in all, this was the best $3 of my life so far. That's it. Three bucks, for a wonderful, pretty, easy product.

Sunset Eyes

Per my adoring public's request, I bring to you... Sunset eyes! This look is inspired by this tutorial over at Temptalia. But, as you can see, she is using MAC colors and such, which are expensive. So, here is my version. Which I like better, anyway. Maybe because it's cheaper?

You will need: eyelid primer (or concealer), two shades of gold  shadow (one slightly lighter than the other), orange shadow (yes, orange), and two shades of pink shadow (light and dark, again). I also strongly recommend black liquid eyeliner, mascara, and a dark black (sounds redundant, I know) pencil liner.

I am in love with this palette from ELF. 5 bucks, guys!

I used my eyeshadow brush and an angled liner brush today, but sponges can still get the job done. They just eat your makeup a bit.

Here we go!


Start with a blank face, as per usual.

Now, because we will be using color, priming your lids is SUPER DUPER important. So do that. Blend it all over, all the way up to your eyebrow. ALL THE WAY.

Next, take your darker gold shadow and put it on the inner corner of your top lid, to about halfway across.

Like so.

Do not go all the way across this time, because we want the primer on the other parts of your eye free to grab other colors. Now put the light pink shadow on the other half of your eye, blending it up into the crease a little.

It's already looking great, and I've stopped here before. But not today. Today, I'm experimenting, which is where the orange comes in. Swipe it right down the middle, where the two colors meet. Blend accordingly, but make sure you see the orange-y color!

Just enough to make a difference

 

I decided I still wasn't done, and dug through my bag of tricks to find the dark pink that I suggested at the beginning. I received it as a gift. It's from avon, and it's a darker pink with gold shimmer. Perfect for this sort of look, don't you think? This shade goes on the outer corner of your eye in a kind of sideways V shape. Or a > shape if you're mathematically inclined. Blend it up into the crease, like the other colors. It probably won't stick quite as well because of the shadow below it rather than the primer.

Go back and tweak anything you want/need. I ended up blending in MORE orange, and a little more pink. I also took my lighter gold and put it at the innermost corner of my eye and along my browbone, where it was previously bare.

Now it's time for the bottom lid, which to be honest I usually ignore. Take your slanty eyeliner brush (or the pointiest part of your sponge) and get a tiny drop of water on it. You want it to be damp, not dripping. Put the damp brush into the light gold shadow, and line from your inner corners to about halfway right underneath your lashes. We're basically repeating the top lid, so orange in the middle, and then pink on the outside. I used the dark pink only on the bottom, because I thought it had more impact than the lighter shade.

Shiny!

Remember the under the lashes/above the waterline trick from last time? Do that now. After that bit is done, I decided to vamp it up a tad more. I love the look of jet black eyeliner over light colored shadows. So I took my liquid liner and worked it from the inner corner out, pressing the applicator as close to the roots of my lashes as possible. The closer to the outside of your eye the line is, the thicker it should be. It makes your eyes look bigger in the end. I winged the liner out just a tad at the end, because I'm a fan of the cat eye and old habits die hard. Obviously, you don't have to.

Look at the difference! Don't worry, I didn't stay lopsided. Next it's mascara time. You want lots of volume, so curl first, then wiggle the wand all the way up from root to tip. Then apply as many coats as desired, and comb through if you want. My mascara is running low, so this was a pain in the butt. Lightly press your mascara wand against your lower lashes to give them a little definition without looking spidery.

d'aww

Stop here if you want, it looks great already! Me? I decided that  there wasn't enough oomph yet, so I grabbed my favorite black pencil liner (pick one that gives you the darkest line) and ran it over my lower waterline a few times. Corner to corner, so you have a continuous look between top and bottom.

There's the drama I was looking for.

Et voila! Your eyes are done! Since your peepers are the main focus of this look, keep everything else low key. A swipe of peachy blush along your cheekbones keeps you from looking washed out. I tried nude lipstick, but it was weird, so I wiped that off and used a very light coat of pink lipstain. Just enough to add color, not emphasis.

And there we are! Pretty. Easy.

Survey says...?

Alright, guys. I'll level with you. I've already fallen behind on my tutorials, because I have no idea what to do next. So, I'm letting you decide? What would you like to see from me? Product reviews? More tutorials? Tips and Tricks?

I'm definitely open to suggestions. Just give me an idea, and I'll try to run with it. If there's a specific look you want to see, let me know!

See you in the comments!

I'm not wearing makeup...honest!

To kick things off, I figured we would start with one of the most basic looks-au naturale. It seems to be "in" every season, so why not learn how to do it?

Keep in mind, I'm new at this, so sorry some of the pictures are crummy. It's trickier than I thought! And sorry about the weird yellow tones in a couple of them; I couldn't get the flash to go off.

All you need are three tones of neutral brownish eyeshadow (One about the same as your skin tone, maybe a little lighter, one a shade or so darker, and one darker than that.), liquid or gel eyeliner in the same shade as your mascara, and mascara. Boom-eyes are done. Leave it at that if you wish. For cheeks, I used a peachy-neutral and a pink shade. And for lips, any neutral lip color works. Mine's a little darker than necessary here. If you wanna just throw on some clear gloss and call it good, that works too! It's ultimately a matter of personal preference. So, let's get down to it.

First, wash your face and moisturize! It's the most overlooked step, but it is really nice to have a smooth blank slate to work with.

Tabula Rasa

I don't use foundation, for multiple reasons. I have freckles, and foundation hides them. That's no fun at all. Also, I'm pretty lazy, and rarely wash my makeup off at night. It's easier to go to sleep and not worry if I don't have gunk all over. If you want to put on foundation, though, now's the time. Knock yourself out.

After your face lotion sinks in and you aren't slippery anymore, it's time to put on the eyelid primer. Oh-em-gee, guys, I can't even tell you how much of a difference this stuff makes. If you don't have any, concealer works too. You're aiming for a barrier between your oily lids and your shadow. This prevents creasing, makes the shadow last longer, and makes colors appear more true. My primer is from an NYC palette for green eyes. I'm running low, though, and this makes me sad.

Yes, I'm using the little spongy-thing.

Once you're primed and ready to go, choose the lightest shade of your three eyeshadows (the one that's kind of like your skin) and sweep it from the lid up to the browbone. Cover it all. Don't worry if you don't have a fluffy-ish shadow brush like mine. I just use it for this look because it deposits the color more softly and makes it easier to blend.

Like so.

Now it's time for your medium shade. Again, sweep it all over your lid, up to the crease.

I leave the inner corners a little lighter. It makes your eyes seem bigger.

 

As is the natural progression of things, your darkest brown is next. Mine's kind of a bronzed brown. All three of my eyeshadow colors can be found in the E.L.F. brights shadow palette on the top row. Take your dark brown, and put it in your crease, particularly the outer corner of your eye. Think about making a < type shape.

Blending is key.

Take a step back and assess your color. Does anything need to be adjusted? I put the lightest color under my brows again and at the inner corners, and I put the medium shade in the middle of my lid to blend the colors more smoothly. If you've been using a sponge applicator, it's time for your fingers to get into things. Use your ring finger (it's the softest) to blend the colors, working from the inside out. It's better to get light into dark than dark into light.

Next is eyeliner. I saw this trick on someone else's beauty blog, and I feel really badly that I can't remember who. Take your liquid or gel eyeliner, and lift up your top lid so you can see the waterline (or rim). You're going to be applying a thin line of color to the base of your lashes, just outside your waterline.

This isn't how you do it. This is just a picture to give you an idea.

If you get liner on the waterline, wipe it off before blinking! If you blink, the liner gets transferred to the bottom waterline, and them smears all over the place and doesn't look natural at all. I use Revlon liquid eyeliner, and it works great. I prefer a felt tip applicator to a brush personally, and Revlon delivers.

Curl your lashes! Take your curler, and get it as close to the base of your lashes as you can. Squeeze. Hold. Release. Move to the middle of your lashes. Squeeze. Hold. Release. Move to the ends of your lashes. Squeeze. Hold. Release.

Not a torture device, I promise!

 Mascara time! I use Maybelline's Falsies mascara, and while it does give me some good length, I'm looking for something else after this one is gone. Place the wand at the base of your lashes, wiggle it a little, and pull it off your lashes. DO NOT sweep it up your lashes yet. Continue this across the entire eye. I tend to do it a few extra times at the outer corners for a little more flare. Now, sweep the brush from root to tip as many times as it takes to cover your lashes and get them to your liking. Avoid clumps at all cost- that's definitely not a natural look!

Wiggle!

You can apply mascara to your bottom lashes if you wish. If you don't want them to be prominent, just press the wand against them instead of sweeping it through.

Congratulations! Your eyes are done! Stop here if you want, I won't judge.

Holy difference, Batman!

I like to do my whole face, including my cheeks. There's just something healthy-looking about flushed cheeks. If you opted for foundation, I STRONGLY recommend using blush, because the foundation has covered up your natural coloring.

I started with a peachy colored blush. It's one of the Covergirl trios. I only use the middle and light shade, though, because I'm pale and the dark one is a little too much.

Remember how I said I'm lazy? Yeah. Well, I just jab my fluffy blush brush into both colors (please get a nice blush brush. It makes a world of difference).

Blended peaches?

Take these colors, and blend from near the apples of your cheeks to your temple. It shouldn't look streaky, and the color is so mild it should fade nicely to match your skin.

Just a little flush.

Now it's time for pink! I have another Covergirl trio, and again I use just the mid and light shade. Get 'em on your brush, and then swirl the color on the apples of your cheeks only.

I find it helps to smile.

Cheeks are done! Now, all we have left are the lips, and we're naturally gorgeous! If you want to just leave it here and be done with a swipe of chapstick or clear gloss, then go right ahead! It's all about what makes you feel pretty.

I'm in love with lip stains, myself. I've tried several kinds. I had Rimmel's paint-on kind (hated it) and Covergirl's Outlast (also hated it.) Now I use Revlon's Just Bitten, and I'm in love. Soon, I plan on having every color as opposed to the three I currently own.

If you're using a stain with a marker tip, it's easiest to pretend you are coloring. Start in the middle of your bottom lip and work to the corners of your mouth, layering the stain as it sinks in for more color. For the top, start at the Cupid's Bow and work out.

Revlon's stain has a built in balm at the opposite end that REALLY makes a difference, so immediately follow it up with that.

I promise I'm not naked.

There you have it! You're done! Pretty. Easy.

The Arsenal

So, I'm not sure if I will do a legit entry today, but I wanted to start things off by showing what I will be working with. I'm not going to list everything, because that would be tedious. I'll list products as I use them. Everything here, save for one or two items, can be purchased at a drugstore/Target/Walmart/whatever. If I use a non-drugstore item, I'll make special note of it.

The Arsenal. Note the foundation. It will never be used.