Monday, February 10, 2014

Foiling: Getting maximum intensity from your eyeshadows.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the practice of foiling eyeshadows, that is, combining powder eyeshadow with some sort of liquid mixing medium in order to intensify color. I've always been mildly curious about it, however, not so much so where I really experimented with it. I was happy with my pressed and loose pigments over eyeshadow primer. However, after visiting Ulta the other day and playing around with Stila's Magnificent Metals Foil Finish eyeshadows, I was amazed at the idea of painting on eye color in an even, vibrant, opaque sheet.

Unfortunately, the $32 price tag per color caused me to balk. They were gorgeous, to be sure, but makeup enthusiasts have been foiling long before Stila came out with their Magnificent Metals collection. They were selling a large bottle of foiling medium alone for $20. I hear MAC also makes an effective, highly-rated mixing medium as well. However, I still wanted to explore other options, thus doing a Google search which brought me to La Femme's Cake Eyeliner Sealer, which sells for about $3.50 a bottle, $6-$7 if you're purchasing online which includes the cost of shipping.

The price was right for me! I bought my bottle at www.ballbeauty.com. They're located in Los Angeles and I received my bottle very quickly. I'm not sure how it compares to the more expensive mixing medium, but, as you can see, it was very effective in amping up the intensity of my loose pigments, some of which have been collecting dust for years! Here are the swatches, foiled vs. dry.




The bottle is about half an ounce, but you literally only need ONE drop to create enough pigment mixture for both eyes. It's amazing! This little guy is going to last me years!

I haven't used any of the more expensive options and maybe I'll try one of these days, but I'm pretty happy with this one for the time being.  I've experimented for 2 days and have received extremely favorable results: 
  • does not irritate the eyes
  • does not crack or flake
  • lasts with 100% intensity and vibrance for 12+ hours (pretty much doesn't come off until I'm ready to take it off at the end of the evening)
I've been doing some pretty cool things with this stuff…can't wait to show you guys! 

Hugs,
Cat

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