Golden FOTD and Maybelline Illegal Lengths First Impression

Happy Friday! Today I am sharing a golden eye look I played around with and my first impressions of Maybelline's Illegal Lengths mascara.

In a previous post I wrote about Tarte's Smoldereyes jumbo liners and how I just am not a fan. I keep playing around with them to try and make them work for me, and I did have some success with them in this look. After running Laura Mercier Cafe Au Lait through the crease, I placed the Gold Smoldereyes jumbo liner in the outer and inner third of the lid, as well as under the lower lashline. In the center of the lid I placed NYX  Yellow Pearl and ran Antique Gold, a green-gold color, in the crease as well.

Since I was having a good Smoldereyes day I thought I would try my luck with the skinny black Smoldereyes liner and lined my top lid and waterline with it.

For mascara, I used Maybelline's Illegal Lengths for the first time. Let's talk about that, shall we?

Maybelline Illegal Lengths Mascara First Impressions

Maybelline Illegal Lengths is a fiber extension mascara. Some people experience irritation or severe flaking of the fibers as they fall off from your regular lashes. As a lover of bold lashes, I am always looking for something give me a false-lash effect, and wanted to try this out. It did apply easily and this was only two coats.

 Once concern I have so far is that you can see the fibers sticking out at odd angles from my regular lashes...they look like they've gone haywire! I'll have to see if a lash comb helps with this, but if it just removes the fiber, what is the point? Granted, most people are not as up close to my lashes as these photos, but it is a bit annoying.

In comparing to my other mascaras, it does seem to give me more length and a good amount of volume. So far I am very interested to see how this mascara ends up working out and will be wearing it for another week or so before I give a full review.

FOTD Products Used:
Maybelline Age Rewind Dark Circle Concealer
NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Dark  Brown/Brown
Tarte Smoldereyes Jumbo Liner in Gold
 Tarte Smoldereyes Skinny Liner in Black
NYX Eyeshadows in Antique Gold and Yellow Pearl (round trio)
Laura Mercier shadow in Cafe au Lait (crease), Vanilla Nuts (browbone and inner corner)
Maybelline Illegal Lengths Mascara in Blackest Black (top)
Maybelline Lash Discovery Waterproof in Black (bottom lashes)

What products have you tried lately?

XO
Beauty Cents

FOTD: On Trend, Office Friendly Spring Turquoise Liner

Hey everyone!

I am seeing blue, green, and purple liners all over the place on YouTube for the spring, especially on the lower lash line. Here's my take using MAC Steamy shadow as a liner:

I used gold on the lid, tan in the crease, and MAC's Steamy, a great frosty turquoise shadow on my lower lid as well as halfway through my lash line. I followed the blue out under my winged eyeliner for a little oomph that still felt office appropriate!

Have you tried this trend?

Products Used:
Garnier Miracle Skin Perfecter for Oily/Combo in Light/Medium
Rimmel Stay Matte Powder 
Laura Mercier Eyeshadow in Camo
Laura Mercier Eyeshadow in Cafe au Lait
MAC Eyeshadow in Steamy
Tarte SmolderEyes liner in black
Buxom Amplified Lash Mascara in black
NYX Brow kit in medium/dark
NYX blush in Mauve

XO,
Beauty Cents
 

Tarte Smoldereyes Liner Review

Hello all!

Tarte's Smoldereyes waterproof Amazonian clay liners are a product I've wanted to share my opinion about for a long time. I received their Holiday 2012 value set, which included five of the jumbos and one bonus skinny pencil.

The variety in colors for this set was what really sold me. I was picturing doing really quick and easy looks with the Gold, Gunmetal, and maybe even the Champagne shade. I thought Ash Violet and Rainforest Black would be great for making my hazel eyes pop. And the bonus skinny black liner? Woohoo! Who doesn't love a creamy black eyeliner? A total classic. Right?

Swatched, left to right: Rainforest Black, Ash Violet, Gunmetal, Gold, Champagne, and Skinny in Black

Rainforest Black is actually more of a deep emerald.
Ash Violet is a medium purple with grey undertones.
Gunmetal is a pretty true steel grey.
Gold is a dark, well, gold!
Champagne is a pale highlight shade with pink undertones.
Black is self explanatory. This is the Skinny Smoldereye.

Alas, my predicted love affair with Tarte Smoldereyes never came to pass. While they are highly pigmented and have solid staying power, I find them so incredibly hard to work with that they have been banished to Beauty No Man's Land, a.k.a., the back corner of my hall closet where underperforming products go when I feel too guilty to toss them.

Why so bad, you ask? They don't blend well, at all. They will smudge a little bit for a smoky liner look, but they dry too quickly to buff them out on the lid. You end up with a very strong one-color-on-the-lid look, which most of us are not going for. The second issue - creasing! They crease very easily. Not cute.

Ironically, the skinny black Smoldereye was the most disappointing of all. This one feels creamier than the others, but this backfires and makes it very difficult to draw a precise line. Without fail, every time I use the black liner, I regret it. You can even see from the swatch that it really is not much thinner than the jumbo liners.

I think if you have larger eyes that can carry off the thick liner look that these pencils can deliver, you may like these - only if you aren't also trying to wear other shadows. I tried for months to like these more...but to no avail. Sorry, Tarte!



XO, Beauty Cents