Nefertiri Makeup

I've been really enjoying more artsy and less "wearable" makeup these days. The past few experiments prompted me to do another Egyptian-themed look. Many years ago, while watching The Mummy films, I was really enamored with the characters of Anck Su Namun and Nefertiri. Michelle Phan's Egyptian Queen makeup brought this to mind and I did an Egyptian royalty-inspired look very, very loosely based on this concept. This was the result:

For the eyes, I used Maybelline Color Tattoo in Edgy Emerald as well as Sugarpill eyeshadow in Midori. I used both black gel eyeliner and liquid eyeliner for the graphic eyeliner. To finish, I traced each shape out with Urban Decay liquid eyeliner in Eldorado. I also added Ardell #120 eyelashes.

For a glowing, gilded complexion, I dusted my cheeks with ELF Golden Bronzer. I used Jordana's Matte Lipstick in Berry for my lips.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday! Thanks for reading! :)

Hugs,
Cat

Simple Stila Sunset Eyes

Caught an icky bug the other day, most likely from a crowded, public space I was wandering around when I was in the city. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll be spending the rest of my spring break bed-ridden. Therefore, today's makeup tutorial isn't terribly complex. But, sometimes simple is best.

The primary ingredients for this look are 3 pressed shadows from Stila (Pigalle, Copper, and Azure), Maybelline Color Tattoo in Fierce & Tangy, Ulta brand Eye Crayon in Dark Denim, and Ardell #120 eyelashes.

Instructions:

1. blend Pigalle into or, in my case, above the crease
2. apply Fierce & Tangy to the lid as a base
3. layer Copper over Fierce & Tangy
4. line lower lash line with Dark Denim pencil eyeliner
5. set liner with Azure
6. line upper lash line using the same line-and-set method
7. curl lashes, apply mascara, and affix Ardell #120 eyelashes

I was really surprised with how pigmented, blendable, and vibrant these Stila eyeshadow are. I received a Stila gift set years ago that came with a shadow palette. They were possibly the worst shadows I'd ever used, barely pigmented and I couldn't blend them to save my life, the texture was atrocious! I'm really glad I've given them another chance, since. Good stuff!

Well, have a great weekend everyone, and thanks for reading! I'm going to go recuperate now. -_- Hopefully I'll have something interesting up before the weekend is out. :)

No hugs today, don't want to give anyone my cooties!

Cat

Glamorous Purple Cut Crease…with Purple Eyelashes!

EDIT: Someone who had my back kindly pointed out to me that I don't have a true monolid. Oops! Hope I haven't offended anyone by making that mistake. I have, since, decided to re-categorize my eye type as "hooded almond-shaped eyes" or, simply, "hooded eyes".

* * *

Cut crease eyeshadow is no joke.  But you know what's more difficult than doing a cut crease? Doing one on hooded almond-shaped eyes! This is why I'm so excited, guys. Where I have tried and failed before, I was recently able to successfully achieve cut crease shading on my eyes! Check it out!

I am sooooooooo stoked! And, hello, PURPLE EYELASHES!!! The folks over at Ardell Lashes are geniuses. But, yeah, I'm so happy to have been able to create such a clean, cut crease that looks impressive with downcast eyes, yet doesn't look awkward when my eyes are open. (which can happen with this look if you don't have a lot of lid space and shallow-set eyes)

Product list:

• UD Primer Potion in Eden
• Maybelline Color Tattoo in Painted Purple
• UD Eyeshadows in Omen, Half Truth, and Blackout (15 Anniversary palette)
• Maybelline Lasting Drama gel eyeliner
• Kanebo Kate Super Sharp eyeliner pen (AMAZING, I'm dedicating a post to this tomorrow)
• Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof mascara
• Ardell Color Impact Demi Wispies in Plum

Heehee, I'm so in love with these!

The downside to these lashes, is that, for some reason, the band is white! It looks really obvious on, so I had to paint in the band with black liquid eyeliner once I applied them. Problem easily solved!

Here is a full-face image of this look so you can see how it appears from a distance:

I wish I had an open-eye image, but they all turned out blurry. (getting used to using a DSLR as opposed to my iPhone camera, LOL) But, you can see that this is a pretty dramatic look with the purple. Honestly, I don't think I would have felt comfortable going outside. Luckily, it was my day off and I stayed indoors doing homework all day. XD It would probably look pretty dope in matte nudes/neutrals, though!

Okie dokes! I hope you guys enjoyed this post. it was a really fun look to do and really rewarding for me, especially, because I've wanted to be able to do a cut crease for so long and was finally able to achieve it! I'd love to try this in different colors, maybe make a video tutorial for it. What do you think?

Hugs,

Cat

EOTD: Gilded Gradient

I've been working on technique for creating ombre/gradient cat eyes in order to construct a straightforward, easy-to-follow tutorial. I experimented by using tape yesterday, inspired by the suggestion of others, in order to ensure sharp, clean edges. The teal look from earlier this week was very dramatic, so I sought to do something a little earthier and opted for gold. This was the result:

Haha, I found that the "wing" was a little more squared off and less fluid than when I did the design free-hand. But it still turned out pretty cool. I'm not accustomed to using tape to shape my shadow/liner, so I'm afraid I didn't angle it quite right. It probably would have looked better had I flared it outward a little more.

Again, this looked nice while my eyes were closed or downcast, however, due to my lack of lid-space, the full effect wasn't as apparent when I opened them.

Product list:

• UD Primer Potion in Eden
• Maybelline Color Tattoo Cream in Bold Gold and Bad To The Bronze
• Maybelline Color Tattoo Pigment in Wild Gold
• UD eyeshadows in Smog, Darkhorse, and Creep (original Naked palette)
• Maybelline Lasting Drama gel eyeliner
• Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof mascara
• Andrea #53 eyelashes

Alrighty, back to work for me. TGIF, everyone, and thanks for reading! ^_^

Hugs,

Cat

EOTD: Teal Ombre Cat Eye

OH EM GEE, you guys! I am so stoked! So, I've been lurking the makeup blogging/vlogging/Instagram circuit again since I've been more active on StyleByCat, and I've been so inspired by these super-amazing looks that have been popping up. Artists are sooooooooo creative and talented these days, each one out-doing the next in terms of insanely gorgeous looks! Honestly, I can't even keep up anymore, lol!

Anyhoo, there's this ombre cat eye that I've been seeing a lot of them doing, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm really rusty with the creative stuff since it doesn't really fit my lifestyle anymore. (I've gone practical. Practical = BORING) Y'all know I love my blue/greens, so I decided to try a teal version. Turned out pretty good!

This was a super-duper fun look to do. I admit, it requires a steady hand and it looked kind of awful when I started it, but with some refining, it turned out pretty awesome!

Here is the eye makeup product list:

• UD Primer Potion in Eden
• Maybelline Lasting Drama gel eyeliner
• UD eyeshadow in Blackout
• Maybelline Color Tattoo in Edgy Emerald
• Coastal Scents Original 88 palette (3 teal shades of varying values)
• Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof mascara
• Ardell #120 eyelashes

Yay! On the downside, it doesn't look as impressive with my eyes open. DARN YOU, HOODED MONOLIDS!!! Which means I either have to walk around with my eyes closed, which I wouldn't recommend, or half-open, which simply looks dumb. Lol. Oh well. People can appreciate my makeup when I blink. Haha!

Woo hoo!

Darn, looks like I overdid my eyeliner! XD

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this post as much as I loved writing it. Happy Hump Day, everyone!

Hugs,

Cat

EOTD: Royal

Happy Monday, everyone! Just working on editing the video that we filmed yesterday. In the meantime, here's my groovy eye makeup for today, done in regal shades of purple and gold:

I created this look using some new products I picked up from Ulta over the weekend:

Fantastic colors, I'm really diggin' the gold pigment, it's so vibrant! Here is the complete product list for this look:

• Etude House Drawing Eyebrow Pencil in Dark Brown
• UD Primer Potion in Eden
• Maybelline Color Tattoo Cream Eyeshadow in Painted Purple
• UD eyeshadow in Omen
• Ulta gel eyeliner pencil in Golden Egg
• Maybelline Color Tattoo Pure Pigment in Wild Gold
• Maybelline Lasting Drama gel eyeliner
• Ardell #120 eyelashes

I like to layer powder products over cream products in order to intensify the color, which is why you may see duplicate colors in my product list in 2 different mediums.

To balance out the eyes, I simply did peachy cheeks and a nude lip:

Oh, the blush is ELF Studio Blush in Twinkle Pink and lips are NARS Lip Lacquer in Chelsea Girls, btw. :)

Well, back to work! Thanks for reading and have a fantastic afternoon!

Hugs,

Cat

Two-Tone Color Tattoo Tutorial

Remember ages ago when I got a few pots of Maybelline Color Tattoo Cream Eyeshadows?  Well, I never really posted any tutorials on them because I was using them as monochromatic color washes for a quick fix before heading off to work, school, etc.  There was really nothing for me to demonstrate...just swipe on color with finger and go, you know what I mean?  Well, a couple days ago I decided to "go crazy" and use two colors at once.  Lol.  Just thought I'd show you guys what I came up with:

Nothing spectacular.  I just used Tenacious Teal and Bad To The Bronze to create a dual-tone look.  It's almost as easy as just using a monochromatic wash...but that doesn't really make sense because here we have two colors instead of one, so forget that I said that.  It's still easy though.

I'm going to start by applying Tenacious Teal halfway up my top lid and along my bottom lid:

Please excuse the inconsistency in color.  My camera's auto-white balance was going crazy with my lighting.  But you get the idea, right?

Next, using Bad To The Bronze, I'm going to trace around the Tenacious Teal:

You can stop here and add eyeliner if you like, I'm just going to take it one step further which is completely optional.

For added depth, I'm going to use a contour brush to add a bit of dark brown eyeshadow to my crease:

Now I'll just line my eyes as usual:

Curl lashes, apply mascara, and I'm ready to go:

Overall look:

There you go!  Easy-peasy. :D  I thought I was fine with a monochromatic color wash, but the dual tone really adds an extra dimension of depth to the eyes.  I find that the bronze and teal are very complimentary: the teal gives you a pop of color while the bronze brings the whole look down-to-earth, which I think is a fine balance.  Hope you guys enjoyed the the tutorial!  I've worn my eyes this way twice in a row already, love it!

Hugs,
Cat

Maybelline Color Tattoo Review

Hey guys, remember these?

I finally got a chance to test and review all 3 colors.  Sorry it's taken me so long!  It's just that I had to test each color on different days so that I could give you the lowdown on product performance and longevity.  Anywho, I did just a simple color wash with each color and wore them for approximately 15+ hours.

Bold Gold:

Tenacious Teal:

Bad To The Bronze:

All colors were extremely lightweight, comfortable, and didn't fade or crease throughout duration of wear.  I like them because they're such a quick, easy way to do eye makeup, no brushes necessary...perfect if you're in a pinch!

I found that Bad To The Bronze is probably the most neutral, wearable, every day color.  Bold Gold is pretty, a little on the sheer side, but buildable, though not as opaque as the other colors.  Tenacious Teal gives a lot of effortless pop!

I'd like to get a few more...maybe Pomegranate Punk and Fierce & Tangy?  In any case I'm looking forward to incorporating the ones I already own into overall looks for future posts! :D

Hugs,
Cat

Maybelline Color Tattoo

So I've been seeing these little cream eyeshadow jars on display at my local drugstores.  The colors are appealing and I've been tempted to purchase a few times, but from past experience, I'm generally mistrustful of cream shadows.  They're difficult to apply and have an uncanny tendency to crease.  However, I got a text a few days ago from a friend telling me that they're comparable to MAC Paint Pots and, at about $6-7 per jar (depending on where you're shopping), they're going real fast!  I jumped into my car and drove the two minutes to my local CVS.  Sold out!  So I took the longer drive out to Target and, luckily, there was one left each of my favorite colors from the collection.  Here they are!

Bold Gold, Tenacious Teal, and Bad To The Bronze.

Bold Gold

Tenacious Teal

Bad To The Bronze

It's late, so the best I can do is swatch them, but I'm soooooooo excited to try them on my eyes!  I chose two neutral-ish colors (gold and bronze) and a pop (teal, what a surprise, lol).  The formula is super smooth and creamy and all colors are very shimmery and pigmented.  Here's the breakdown as far as individual shades:

Bold Gold

- A gorgeous, shade of warm, wearable gold that isn't too yellow.  Though it's the least opaque out of the  three, it's opaque enough and buildable, therefore making this negligible shortcoming forgivable.

Tenacious Teal

- Personally, I don't think it's green enough to be considered a true teal, but it's still a beautiful shade of blue.  It's quite opaque without having to use too much product.

Bad To The Bronze

- From the swatches, this shade is my favorite of the three.  It's a lovely, minky teal with the barest hint of pink.  I hope it looks as good on my eyes as it does on my arm, lol.  Also, out of the three, it applies the most opaque.

Stay tuned for upcoming looks!

Hugs,

Cat