DIY Magnetic Palette (petite)

This post is being hastily written, with Dora the Explorer playing in the background.

Do make allowances if I accidentally drop in phrases like "Mommy Bugga Bugga," or it reads as a bit distracted. I will likely dawdle over editing and hit the publish button, regardless.

I haven't even had breakfast yet, having serendipitously caught a moment when El Bambino has (temporarily) availed of my services. This is magic, people.

Et bien! ONWARDS!

After trying out AOM's matte eyeshadow (nutmeg) as a bronzer yesterday, I realized it is, in fact, perfectly suited for the purpose. Which meant my current go-to matte bronzer was no longer...how to put this...necessary? *eyebrow raise and devious grin*

(You can't tell, but it had an imprinted design of female silhouettes, coolly slouching. I have used it so much, it has faded)

Essence Bronzer in Blondes (avoid the Brunettes shade, no matter thy colouring! It is quite, quite orange).

This brand make good staples, an excellent go-to for cheap thrills that deliver. However, there was always something lacking about this guy, for me. The powder is finely milled and almost buttery. Softly sun-soaked effet.

Yet! It wore off patchily over the course of the day (as my FOTD from the other day demonstrates). Made me look old! Washed up! Hag-y! Haggis!

Even initial application wasn't quite foolproof, blending was a bugger.

And remember: my AOM goodies were homeless.

Two and two together...je made them a home. Un MAISON.

*music plays: ghar pyara ghar*

Instructions:

1. Walk, bike, or hitch-hike to the dollar store. (2 Riyal store, for those of you living in Devonshire Riyadh.) If this requires roping in an innocent bystander your significant other to mind L'Enfante and possibly wash the dishes, if you want, here's a sponge--so be it! Stiff upper lip and all that.

2. Acquire an adhesive magnetic sheet. Mine came in sets of two.

3. Acquire other, irrelevant goods. After all, what is a dollar store, if not a veritable treasure trove, spilling with the most interesting doohickies that can be TURNED INTO SOMETHING NEW!?!

4. Make your purchase. Ooh, they sell Nivea at the counter? Have that too.

Now...go home, you're drunk. On dollar store excitement.

5. Whatever container you plan to use for your palette, take out whatever's filling it. Heartlessly, I scraped out the bronzer into the bin. 'Twas also cleaned off with rubbing alcohol just in case.

6. Trace an outline of the container onto the adhesive magnet sheet, and cut it. You are making a magnetic insert. This may need fine-tuning. Trim and trim till it fits inside. If you possess a compass (I don't), make use of it NOW. It'll save you a lot of fiddling around. 

7. Peel off and stick inside.

8. Done. So simple. Just insert your depotted or individual eyeshadows. I scraped off the writing, and decorated with some paint pens I had lying around. They are nearly dried out, so it didn't show up too well.

As you can see, only four could fit in. Bare Canvas had to be left out! The AOM shades are rather large compared to, say, MAC. By the by, je repressed Hush (the soft rose shade) aussi.

This container is strong, sturdy, and the end result is a palette that will keep my pretties safe!

~~~

Time spent: less than 30 minutes, including the time it took to repress the broken eyeshadow (for which I followed this brilliant/amazing tutorial by my fave beauty blogger. No glycerin for repressing, btw...just the Isopropyl Alc.).

 It would have taken less, but Littlest demanded attention & applause during his meal of chicken and peas. And of course, I am not factoring in the time squandered at my beloved Dollarama.

Total cost: $5.50, not counting the lapsing paint pens, of course. There is also 1 1/2 magnetic sheet left so I can make another, bigger palette in future.

If you try this out, do leave a comment to the effect of: "I did it! I did it! I did it! Yay! Lo Hicimos! I did it!"*


*Obligatory Dora reference

Artist of Makeup DOES sell palettes, but the smallest size is for 9 shades.. I wanted something even smaller.

AOM: It will make your heart flutter

Artist of Makeup: never have I anticipated a product launch more. If you know of Zukreat Nazar, you might know what I'm talking about. She has glorious makeup tutorials, which I adore for her elaborate Arabic style. The way she does eyes up is simultaneously too much, and just right. That sweet spot.

Anyway. She used awesome products in said videos, right? Contouring sticks, eyeshadows, blushes. And they looked pretty excellent but they were from her upcoming makeup line...WHICH TOOK FOREVER TO COME OUT. The wait period was excruciating!

When the site was finally up and running, I spent an hour(s)(s)(s) hunched over trying to figure out what to get. It looked so GOOD! Some of it didn't appeal to me, admittedly (the blushes-not a blush person, honestly. And foundations...I will never cheat on Vichy Dermablend! Never! Never! Except with Shiseido!). I toyed with the idea of maybe spending baby's university diaper fund on the magnificent pro HD eyeshadow palette and big fat professional brush kit. But...I'm not a pro. I'm an aficionado.

I got five neutrals loosely inspired by my Dior Rosy Tan. Neutrals, to better suit my warm, medium toned skin. Although I use the Dior palette daily (it is a perfect, harmonius blend of understatement), I have issues with 1. pigmentation 2. the tone (it was definitely made with lighter skin in mind) 3. creasing.

These were meant to pick up where that lacks.

So.

They are, in a word, though I despise the word, fabulous. Tres so. Substantial pigment yet they blend beautifully.

Cast:

1. Bare Canvas - a creamy, smooth pale peachy-pink (a warm pastel pink), with a sheen. The texture is similar to Wet 'n Wild's Brulee eyeshadow, but...smoother, if that is possible. I would compare it to NARS' All About Eve palette, the texture is something like that. It is almost overly-smooth, by which I mean your brush may pick up too much. You may have to dust it off a bit, if you are into more subtle looks. This is my favourite because it brightens the eyes so well.

2. Hush - A scrumdiddlyumptious soft mauve, similar to the top shade in Guerlain's Les Fumes, but with gentle micro-shimmer running through it. Satin finish. This is well-suited for hazel and green eyes, particularly, and I can't wait to try it on my mother, who, indeed, possesses such a pair.  [edit: OMG, I DROPPED IT REALLY BADLY, AND IT CRUMBLED TO DUST JUST NOW!! :'( I should've gotten a palette to put it all in...]

3. Nutmeg - Warm matte. Soft. Smooth. No issues with chalkiness or powderiness. Maybe a bit too warm to be an everyday crease shade for EVERY look for me, but I can see it working on some people. It plays reaaaally well with the other characters in this movie, though. (edit: just wanted to add that I have seen Zukreat use this several times as a bronzer/contour shade, so it is multi-purpose!)

4. St. Tropez - Bling. Zing zang zoopity zoop. A mixture of fine shimmer and glitter, which adds dimensional interest to what could otherwise be a dull Mac Woodwinked dupe. Very very gold. It actually matches my gold wedding jewellery perfectly. A good pick for desi brides, then. Very smooth, and it picks up the warmth of aforementioned Nutmeg, they make a good team. A+.

5. Espresso - Matte cool-toned brown. It blends out into almost a plummy shade. No issues with patchiness, which was my main concern.

So...following are some swatches, apologies as I have naught but an iPhone cam. :(
They look soooo much nicer in person. Swiped on with fingers, and no primer.

Nutmeg, Espresso, St. Tropez, Hush, Bare Canvas

See how nicely they sit on the skin? Particularly the mattes; rare to find mattes like this. On the lids, they blend and sit beautifully, perfect for a minimalist look as well as a standard "brown smokey"--and things in between (cut-crease, the Old Hollywood eye, etc). I went over the swatches a couple of times (did the same for the following Dior ones), because this is my first time swatching and I barely touched the product for the first swipe.

Arrogant comparison to Dior Rosy Tan shades (right of each AOM shade), although they are not supposed to be dupes, I just wanted to compare the colours.

(As you can see, the Dior is very well put together, almost too well put together, as it looks like a haze of meh on my lids.)

I'm wearing 'em today. No primer yet no creasing.

On my way to the pediatrician, not a calculus exam, although you'd be forgiven for thinking so, given my odious expression.

Lizzy Arden's smoky black pencil, L'Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes 'scara, aforementioned Artist of Makeup e/s,

Omorovicza tinted moisturizer mixed with Shiseido Perfect Refining foundation,

Guerlain Terracotta liquid blush in Spicy Coral, Omorovicza Sunkiss bronzer, Essence Bronzer in Blondes,

Dior Nude glow sculpting powder in a shade much too pale for me, and ....Dior Nude "lip blush" (eye roll) in Trench.

 So in conclusion:
1. Get these. If not today, next Sunday.
2. Don't be une massive dope like me--acquire one of the empty (9, 15, or 30) palettes, so you don't end up dropping the unprotected little shadow and have to repress it. *weeps*
3. Well done, Zukreat.

Three Perfect Taupes

Taupe is one of those colours that sounds boring, but looks fantastic.

 The problem with taupe eyeshadow is that there is a great variety available, and it's hard to sift through and figure out what works. What suits Mademoiselle Zut Alors may, on her sister, Sacre Bleue, look like a bruise on the mend.

I prefer lavender-toned taupes, an even mix of cool and warm, so they stand out on my warm lids/skin but don't dull down the twinkle in my eye, the zest in my step.

BTW, I do realize the futility of blogging about eyeshadow, without pictures to illustrate. Especially for such a complex category like 'taupe'....for which the merest fleck or variance in hue can change the effect, but...bear with me. Because a) no functioning camera, and b) my taste is FLAWLESS.

So without further ado, three incredible taupes:

1) slap and go, aka LUSH's cream shadow in Sophisticated.
Metallic in the best way, not overt but, as the name says, SOPHISTICATED..
Somehow...does not crease but fades evenly, acts as a fine base.
No visible flecks of shimmer yet it gleams upon le lids, a yummy lavender-taupe. Great formula and non-tacky colour.

 (P.S. its twin in pencil form is Lise Watier Fauve, which I know many use only as a cream shadow...but doing so with a pencil means it runs out faster and you are unsuspectingly aging your lids with all that rubbing, smudging action.

2) Classic with a kick, aka Estee Lauder cream shadow in Mochachino. The best cream-shadow-in-a-pot formula I have come across. Miles better than Shiseido, for instance, (slippy-slidey) or MAC (too drying), for me. A cool-toned taupe that is slightly bluish, greyish, lavender...Has the most finely milled and barely-there sheen. Will suit everyone!

3) shimmer that doesn't suck, aka Pupa Luminys in 401. If you live in Canada, you can get this at Rexall. This was the first taupe I fell for, and nothing can snatch away its crown.

The taupe that proved to me...taupes are not humdrum at all. Shimmery baked shadow. Warm-toned rosy taupe (if you want a slightly cooler one akin to MAC Satin Taupe, try Pupa's 400). Blends at edges into a cool-toned brown, which is convenient (do not need any other shadow).
 The best eyeshadow formula ever and very pigmented. Expensive, but so worth it.
 Note: Do not drop it. I dropped mine, the lid closed, but half of it had crumbled. I devoted an evening lovingly repressing it into tiny pans.


Why all these don't suck: they don't dull the skin/eyes. They brighten and define at the same time, which is a big call.

They are all easy to incorporate into any look, or use alone. The cream shadows are particularly easy, to sheer out or build up. They don't scream, they whisper elegance. And if there's one thing we've all learned from years of attending polo and ornamenting the stands, it's that....

Elegance is an attitude. Indeed. 

A Case of the Crazies

Perhaps it is the dull weather, dull routine, grey clothes I've been wearing, but I find this makeup from the Dior catwalk (summer 2010) exciting. Arresting. Fun. (Love the one in the middle!)

Must try it. NOW.

Of course, to carry off a look of such vivacity, some people may require gin in their system (a good substitute for confidence).

I think I have an inbuilt reservoir of--some would say madness--I prefer to think, spunk--and I will definitely wear this tomorrow.
Out. To a much-dreaded party. With masses of desi aunties (read: judgemental and easily mesmerized by Shah Rukh Khan) around.

Me: GREETINGS, AUNTIES PLURAL!
Aunties: (not looking up) 'Slamlaykooooom, betaaaaa... 
Me: Here be my child-a-roo, as they say in Australia!
Aunties: (immediately turn, arms outstretched, ready to grab my first-born and run)..ARAYYYYY! Wutta kyoooootie! My bayyyybeee! Come here my child! Come to mama! Not the imposter mama who's kept you away for so long...the real deal! ME! ME! ME! (all aunties saying "me!" and surging forth, trying to get to baby)
Aray Shayma, SHAME ON YOU! You selfish woman! I lost my maid this year!
Aray Ghazala, I'm better with children. Your tarantula lashes will scare him.
Aray Ursula, I have a brooch pin and don't think I'll hesitate to use it!
Aray Rasmalai Dood, you already got your glory, when you tore off a piece of Hrithik Roshan's collar at the Toronto Film Festival. Beastly hag. It's my turn now!

Me: Now, now, auntie-poos, one at a time, in an orderly fashion, s'il vous plait.
Aunties (looking up to challenge me, menacing eyes): NAWW! ME FURRRST--... (it hits them).. Aray beta?!?!?!
Me: Yes, doting auntie of mine, unrelated, whose name I do not know, and who I met but once before?
Aunties: Y-y-y-you...
Me (eyebrow raised): Yes....?
(silencio)

An aunty steps forth (the first to recover): Beta... what have you done to yourself?
Another aunty: SHE'S POSSESSED! MADNESS! THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WATER!
A third: HAUNTED!
A fourth: DJINNS!
(shrieks as all aunties run from the room, shimmying as fast as they are able in saris and high heels, and drive off)

One can dream.