Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
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Rrrrow! Tarte hopes we’ll heed the call of the wild, jungle cats and kittens, and prance over to Sephora and Ulta stores to peruse the new fall 2012 collection (available now in stores and online).
Here’s a quick look at the eye palettes and some of the other pieces from the collection…
Available exclusively at Sephora
Available exclusively at Ulta
A salmon cake, corn and arugula salad, and green beans with portobello mushrooms. Om, nom nom!
Of all the eye makeup looks I’ve worn over the past — let’s see, I started wearing makeup when I was 14, and I’m 37 now (LOL! First I typed, “…and I’m 27 now.”) — 23 years (!), this simple smokey number with brown and black has to be one of my favorite five.
It’s one of my best conversation starters, because whenever I wear it and bump into fellow beauty fiends (MY PEOPLE!), there’s a pretty good chance they’ll ask what I’m wearing.
I like that it’s easy and elegant, and even though it’s more dramatic than the look earlier this week, I still think it fits within the “natural with a kick” category.
In terms of products you’ll need, there’s not much to it. Just a few things…
From the left: MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush, MAC 217 Blending Brush, MAC Kohl Power Pencil in Feline and MAC Eyeshadow in Soba
Like last time, I’m mostly using MAC products here, but there are literally dozens if not hundreds of similar shades out there from other brands. There’s no reason you couldn’t use some other colors and brushes you already have on hand.
Right. Now, on to the look! 🙂
First, it’s time to prime — at least if you have oily lids. If not, let’s skip ahead.
Next (or maybe first, if you didn’t need to prime), grab something like MAC Kohl Power Pencil in Feline, and apply all over your lids.
Don’t worry if it looks a little messy at this point, because we’ll be doing some blending in a minute. Right now we’re just trying to start with a good base and give the overall look some depth.
You can probably guess one of the reasons I’m a fan of 
Feline, but it’s also super soft and easy to blend.
For this step, I’d probably steer clear of quick-setting, long-wearing pencils like Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion that might not allow enough time for blending, but other than that, any good black liner should do.
Now, take your blending brush (I’m using the MAC 217 here), and gently start buffing out the edges; your smokey look should start to take shape.
LOL! That’s me trying to make a “Shhh!” face, as in “I have secret to tell you, shhh!” Believe it or not, getting it just right on camera is a lot harder than it looks, shhh! Who knew?
Before I get distracted yet again by goofy pics and this delicious cup of coffee (GOOD MORNING!), can we talk brows? 🙂
If you fill in your brows with brow powders, pencils or gels (or maybe a combination of all three, which I do sometimes), do you ever find the products vanishing halfway through the day? It can be kind of a pain.
With that in mind, here’s a tip to help keep those beautiful brows from disappearing.
Start by grabbing your favorite colorless eye makeup primer. If you don’t have one yet, there are lots of good ones out there to choose from, like Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Tarte Clean Slate and Urban Decay Primer Potion, among others. I’m using NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base here, which is my current go-to eye makeup primer.
Apply a small amount of your primer directly atop your bare brows…
Then, pat it down with a finger to work the product down between the follicles into your skin.
Korres Magic Light Contouring Trio in Mykonos, $28. Available now at Sephora stores and online at sephora.com.
My echinacea plant! Scratch that, it’s Tabs’ echinacea plant. He’s already eaten half the leaves.
Of course I got all jazz hands (JAZZ HANDS!) when I saw the neutrals in Benefit’s new eye illuminating kit, Peek-A-Bright Eyes ($32).
Brown, beige and pink eye makeup works on me like shot of makeup love straight to the heart! The combo takes me to that happy place where pink unicorns with rainbow manes roam free, Ryan Gosling walks around shirtless 24/7, and everyone’s eye makeup always looks flawless. 🙂
Benefit says the shades in the kit, which arrives at Benefit stores, counters and online next month, all work together to create a dazzling, bright-eyed, wide-awake look.
It comes with three eyeshadows (a base shade in Buff, a contour shade in Brown and a highlight in Pearly Pink), two tiny eye brushes, an Eye Bright and a booklet with a tutorial, and some tips and tricks.
For my makeup this afternoon, I used the tutorial in the kit as a jumping off point…
Wearing Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Muse on my lips
Well, geez — and you thought destroying those Horcruxes was hard. That was a cakewalk compared to this!
Have I ever told you about my quest to find a matte, long-wearing liquid lipstick that doesn’t dry out my lips? If you have a minute, it’s a pretty good story — a story filled with sorcery, science and more flakes than a big bowl of Special K cereal.
It all started with my poor, dry lips…
You see, they’ve always been insatiably thirsty. They crave moisture like a husky cat craves gravy, and almost every liquid matte lipstick I’ve ever tried has left them chapped and flaky.
It got so bad a few times that not even Tabs would kiss me. 🙁 And I came to assume that I’d need supernatural assistance.
What I wanted was a moisturizing liquid lipstick that I could just slip on after breakfast and not have to fuss with for the rest of the day, and then one day, out of the blue, I came across the Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipsticks ($28 each, and new for fall 2012).
From top to bottom: Canvas, Raven, Ballet and Muse
These pricey pretties kinda rock, and they weren’t even at the end of a rainbow! 🙂 Unscented and unflavored, they last an impressive 10 hours for me (although Hourglass claims they can last up to 14). They come in nine profoundly pigmented shades with a lightweight liquid formula and a non-sticky texture, and best of all, they don’t leave my lips looking like they’ve been through a cheese grater, score!
So, does it take a degree in the dark arts to conjure up a matte, long-wearing liquid lipstick loaded with moisture? Nope. Hourglass turned to the wonders of science to create advanced polymers, long chains of molecules made up of many smaller molecules strung together.
Just apply Opaque Rouge to clean, bare lips (it’s best not to be wearing any oils or balms; otherwise, the lipstick won’t take). Then, wait about a minute for the product to set.
The polymers bind to create a pigmented elastic film that prevents moisture from escaping, as skin-conditioning emollients, fruit extracts and viamins A, C and E make the moisturizing more effective.
Moisturizing and beautiful? 
I also love the intense colors and velvety matte finish, which doesn’t look flat, harsh or stark to me.
Swatches from the left: Canvas, Ballet, Muse and Raven
Ballet
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