Beauty: Midnight Wings

So this is sort of a product review and mini tutorial all rolled into one.  You'll notice that my tutorials have been a little more brief.  I figure since I've already gone over the basics in detail, latter tutorials should be easy for everyone to follow along since you've already got the basic application techniques down.  If not, just go over my earlier tutorials for a run down as they're very descriptive.

I was at Walgreens when I spotted this new Wet n Wild palette:

It's from their new Coloricon shadow collection.  This one is called "Blue Had Me At Hello".  You can probably tell by now that blues are my favorite among brightly-colored shadows.  As soon as I saw the pop of teal and blue, I had to have it.  At $5 for an 8-shadow palette, what could it hurt?  The Coloricon is supposed to be Wet n Wild's high-pigment response to all the high-end designer brand shadows.

So for this palette, you have 2 complimentary shadow quads organized on the left and right columns.  They're labeled brow bone, eyelid, crease, and definer for your convenience.  Pardon the crappy photo.  I had taken a better one days earlier, but may have accidentally deleted it as I can no longer find it.  I just took this one 5 minutes ago.  Since the lighting is so horrible, I'll describe the colors: on the left side from the top down, you have shimmery white,  shimmery silver, black with dark blue shimmer, and matte black.  On the right, you have pale aqua shimmer, bright teal shimmer, midnight-blue shimmer, and black with silver glitter.

I tested all the colors and they are very pigmented.  More so than my e.l.f. 100 color palette.  My only gripe is that the shadow is very soft, so there tends to be quite a bit of falloff when I'm applying it.  I've been protecting my face with a sheet of tissue under my eye while I apply it so that the color doesn't stain my cheeks.  Other than this inconvenience, however, the colors are very bold and long-lasting.

Here is my first test using one of my favorite colors from the set, the midnight-blue:

I just did a slight variation of the Quorra shadow style.  As usual, I start with a primed eyelid:

Next, I applied a neutral taupe shade as my base, and a lighter shade as a highlight.  I just chose these colors from my e.l.f. palette.  It's your choice, really.  This is just your base so it doesn't have to stand out too much.  The defining shade is what's important.

Then, using a black pencil liner, I traced my top and bottom lid line, drawing an exaggerated wing that extends and tapers from the outer bottom corner.

Using a smudge brush, I picked up the midnight-blue shadow from the Wet n Wild palette and layered it over the eyeliner, making sure to smudge and blend evenly, carefully defining the wing.

I to finish, I curled my lashes and applied mascara.

I love how deep the blue is.  It's so close to being black, but then there's that midnight-blue shimmer.  I think it adds a little more dimension and mystery than just your average basic black.  It's a good alternative to go for when you want something that stands out a little more.

This is also one of my favorite looks.  It's the lazy girl's dramatic eye.  It only takes 10 minutes or less, but carries a lot of impact.  I generally default to this style when I'm going on an impromptu night out and I only have minutes to prepare.  Good stuff.