10-second review: Too Faced Starry-Eyed Liquid Eyeliner

A total impulse buy, I grabbed a tube of Too Face Starry-Eyed liner ($17.50) when shopping for some essentials at Sephora.  I had bid adieu to my days of chunky glitter eye makeup (a very prevalent look in my high school makeup repertoire), until this eyeliner reeled me in.

I bought Mad Mad Love, pink iridescent, because if I’m going to be impractical about a purchase, I’m going all the way impractical.  I tried it out randomly on a weekday, with just a tiny swipe at the outer corners of my upper lids (above my standard black liner).  After I smudged it out a bit, I was left with a look that was pretty, unexpected, and oddly subtle!  I’ll admit I was a little gun-shy at first, but in small doses, this is a fun addition to summer eye looks.  It’d be great for a pool party.

Then I brought this little guy to Vegas and took it to the next level.  It’s literally impossible to be the most garish girl in Las Vegas, so I went hard on the glitter (and LOVED it.)  A couple of heavy lines on my upper lids, and a little bit along the outer lower lash line – it was big, pretty, and somehow still not too much.  It’s noticeable, but not obscene.

Some things I love about this particular liner are:

• It stays exactly where you put it, even when smudged.  The fall-out is next to zero, so you won’t have to worry about glitter bits migrating to your forehead and cheeks.
• The color (this one at least) is multi-dimensional.  So many glitter makeups are one solid color (all pink, for example) and I think it looks so cheapy cheap.  Mad Mad Love has pinks, champagnes, purples, and silvers.  Grown-up glitter.
• Once it’s on, it’s on.  Even with an eye makeup remover, this liner outlasted the rest of my makeup.

So if you’ve been watching a lot of Toddlers & Tiaras, and you’re feeling especially showy, this is the eyeliner for you.  It’s available at Sephora, Ulta, Amazon and Too Faced, and there are six other colors if pink isn’t your thing.

M

July Polish Picks

Happy July!  It’s hot and lovely out, so it’s time to get my nails right for beach season.  Here are my nail polish picks for the month:

Left to Right:

• Sally Girl Amped
• Essie Bikini So Teeny
• Orly Oh Cabana Boy
• China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise (obviously a well-worn bottle for me)

To me, these are ideal colors to mix and match on mani/pedis all July long.  Bright, summery, fun, and easy.  Like delicious neon popsicles.  And there’s no color combination I wouldn’t wear (even Amped and Turquoise together would be ninja-turtle-hip), so I can pack these four on summer road trips without a second look.

Dark colors and neutrals be damned this month.  It’s too hot to look mysterious and sophisticated.

M

10-second review: Orly Oh Cabana Boy

Forget June gloom.  This color caught my eye from across a crowded drug store, and I couldn’t stop staring.

Orly “Oh Cabana Boy” is a superbright almost-neon polish with a really unique hot pink iridescence.  I don’t know how to describe it – it’s a shocking metallic pink that is so, so right for summer.  Looking at my manicure is a total pick-me-up.  I feel like a Nicki Minaj Barbie doll.

A pink this bright can border on tacky – but in a really fun Heatherette sort of way.  I’m digging it for now, but I will absolutely only wear it 1) with a tan and 2) on very short, rounded nails.

Go bold.

M

10-second review: Kat Von D Everlasting Love Liquid Lipstick

I got suckered into Kat Von D Everlasting Love Lipstick ($19) on a store trip to Sephora.  I was checking out some bright lip colors, and a saleslady suggested this brand.  I’d brushed it off as another cheap celebrity makeup line, but saleslady was watching me and I felt rude not even TRYING it.  I should go back and thank her.

I tried it in Jeffree (hot coral pink) and it blew my mind.  It’s super wet in the tube and looks like any other lip gloss.. but putting it on, I swear, is like nailpolish for your lips – in good AND bad ways.

The pros:

• Goes on wet, so if you go slow, it’s easy to get it where you need it
• Dries quickly, and ends up superbright and pretty matte
• Stays on forever (for ever ever?  FOR EVER EVER!)  Seriously unbeatable longevity

The cons:

• Like nail polish, if you make a mistake – you’ve got to get it off quick or you’re stuck with it.  And this stuff is on your FACE.  (Tip: keep your mouth open while the lipstick is drying into place, so it sticks on the insides of your lips too.)
• Super difficult to get it off when you DO want it off.  I usually go at it with a facial cleanser, and then maybe a moisturizer if I need to.
• I wouldn’t say it dries my lips out, but I WILL say that having absolutely perfect lips is a MUST before you put this stuff on.  Exfoliate and moisturize, or this lipstick will fill and emphasize every line, wrinkle and crack in your lips.  And you will look like an insane old woman.
• After awhile, the pigment starts to settle in the tube (much like nail polish, again) and even if it looks fine, you need to shake it up.  Otherwise, the color applies unevenly.

Despite the warnings, I LOVE this lipstick and it’s on top of my list for long maintenance-free days.  (I wear it so much, I happen to have a picture of it on my dopey smile!)  I never have to touch it up, but I do bring a clear chapstick or balm and pat it on top of the lipstick if my lips dry out.

Kat Von D, you have my heart.

M

A Lipstick Tale

I’ve only recently discovered why women are so fanatical about lipstick.  It’s dramatic, easy, and it takes the attention away from the rest of my face when I’m too lazy to really DO my makeup.  Ultimate score.

Thanks to Gwen Stefani and Dita Von Teese, I spent a few years (YEARS) trying to figure out how to wear red.  When I finally found one that wasn’t hideous on my skintone (Sephora rouge cream in The Red)… it still was.  As it turns out, I’m just not a red lipstick kind of girl.  It’s too serious for me –  it makes me look like I’m trying really, really hard – and that shit is not attractive.  So, on to the next.

I started with a handful of 99 cent Wet N’ Wild brand lipsticks – a casualty of a bored saunter through CVS.  I tried on light pinks, orchids, nudes and burgundies, and I did it when no one was home.  It was a horror show.  But somewhere in the mix, I found #521A – Fuchsia with Blue Pearl.

Stay with me, because I know the color description sounds awful.  I wore it to a football party (because I knew the standards would be low) and it was met with rave reviews.  Rave reviews mixed with looks of pity when I announced it was “Wet N Wild” brand.  But HEY, 99 cents, man.

P.S. I realize it’d probably help to flash a couple of pictures of this stuff on my face, but at the moment I don’t have any.  Photos to come, pinky swear.

M