EOTD: August 3, 2014

Hello! Here we are at the midpoint of another week, and I thought I'd share with you an eye look I did this past weekend. It was for the most part improvised, as I only knew that I wanted to use one shadow in particular, but I was fairly content with the finished look. My eye makeup techniques are still lacking but there is (I think) subtle improvement each time I go about doing it. The bulk of my struggles exist in the fact that my eye's crease...well...cuts itself. 

That probably doesn't communicate much. Sorry. 

The eye shadow I knew I wanted to use was "Bewitched" from Prestige's Total Intensity line. This brand - this line from it, specifically - has been getting an influx of attention lately, and what convinced me to pick up "Bewitched" was its duochrome nature. I simply adore duochrome shadows. 

"Bewitched" is one of Prestige's Long Term Relationship eye shadows (from the aforementioned Total Intensity line), specifically speaking. This would be a great time to insert a picture of the shadow pan but for reasons I no longer understand, I never took any. It's 10 P.M. and I can't take any right now, so...

I think I planned on briefly explaining the eye look, giving some pictures, and calling it a day. Like I just said, I don't understand why I planned that in the first place. Oh, and I may as well take this moment to clarify that I don't have pictures of any of the products used in this eye look. I do have swatches, though! If that helps any. And only of the colors that really brought the look together. 

L-R: "Bewitched," "Nude Compliment," the third shade in "Autumn Dream," and "Sandstone."

COLORS USED:

Maybelline's Color Tattoo in "Nude Compliment" (LE)

Prestige's Total Intensity Long Term Relationship eye shadow in "Bewitched"

Maybelline's Eyestudio Quad in "Autumn Dream" (LE) (third shadow only)

Stila's In the Light palette ("Sandstone," "Bone," "Bubbly," and "Bliss")

Swatched above and below, as per the captions, are "Bewitched," "Nude Compliment," the shade from "Autumn Dream," and Stila's "Sandstone." The following swatch gives a better idea of the lovely duochrome that reeled me into buying "Bewitched." 

L-R: "Bewitched," "Nude Compliment," the third shade in "Autumn Dream," and "Sandstone."

"Bewitched" is a kind of shimmery taupe/brown that flashes teal. That's ultimately why I decided to incorporate "Sandstone" and the deep teal shade from the "Autumn Dream" quad. They tied the look together for me. 

What I really enjoy about a lot of duchromes is that they utilize neutral base colors that have flashes of color often border-lining, if not within, the blue family. With blue being my favorite color, but a harder one to sport makeup-wise on a daily basis, duchromes like "Bewitched" make it easier to grace eyes in the presence of this beautiful color. 

HOW I CREATED THIS LOOK:

I applied Maybelline's Color Tattoo in "Nude Compliment" as a base to my lids.

I applied "Bliss" from Stila's In the Light palette as a transition color in my crease. 

I used "Sandstone" from Stila's In the Light palette in my outer C, and subtly pulled it into the crease. 

I deepened my outer C with the third shade in Maybelline's "Autumn Dream" Eyestudio Quad. 

I applied "Sandstone" along the outer third of my lower lash line. 

I continued along my lower lash line with the shade from "Autumn Dream."

I highlighted my inner corner with "Bubbly" from Stila's In the Light palette. 

I highlighted my brow bone with "Bone" from Stila's In the Light palette. 

Many days, I wish that I had blue eyes. But then I realize that because I have the-most-common-possible-eye-color-ever-that-is-brown, I can wear my favorite color and watch my eyes stand out all brilliantly as though they weren't just brown. 

This eye look turned out kind of "smoky," but eh. You can wear whatever you want if you wear it confidently. Also, a nice black eyeliner would've balanced everything out. My eyes look a bit bottom heavy since my lids, which are already quite large, have no depth near my lashes. I'm still working on my eyeliner skills, though, and didn't want to mess the look up since...it already stood out on its own. 

OTHER PRODUCTS USED:

Too Faced's Cocoa Powder Foundation in "Light"

Mary Kay's Lash Love Lengthening Mascara in "I <3 Black"

Milani's Coming Up Roses Powder Blush in "Coral Cove" (my camera settings obliterate any signs of this blush, unfortunately)

MAC's Lipstick in "Sweet & Sour"

Side note: MAC's "Sweet & Sour" is turning into a popular color for me this summer (if you want to call this summer a 'summer'). I need to review this lipstick!

The finished look with lipstick.

The above picture includes lipstick, which I always seem to leave out of the initial pictures. Also, I really have to mess with my camera settings. All of my recent pictures have made me look unrealistically radiant. 

Anyway, so that's the look! This would have been an appropriate post to review "Bewitched" in...but all the pictures I pre-took last Saturday worked against that, so here we have a simple EOTD. FOTD, really, but we'll just call it an EOTD since the focus is on the eyes. 

I'm going to try to get a review up as my next Beauty post, but there may be a book post going up before that since I have one that's due (plus I'm almost done with another book, yikes). Until then, here's to the nearing arrival of another weekend. ('<>')>

~nikki