Makeupbox takes on Katy Perry! (Oh My and Ka-Pow lash reviews, plus a quick tutorial for an eye look that can stand up to huge lashes)

I think Katy Perry has a really fun and out-there style. It's sometimes borderline tacky, but let's face it; she's so hot she can get away with many things that would be faux pas on others.

So of course, when it came time to pick among the numerous lash designs bearing her name, I picked the 2 that I felt were dramatic and the least "normal"-looking. ("Normal" meaning "this shape is sold by 10,000 other brands and it's no point reviewing it again".) If you are going to shell out for Katy Perry lashes, no point buying a shape that Red Cherry does for a few dollars.

OH, MY!

Full, dense, double-stacked lashes. (These are 2 strips of lashes laid on top of one another.) Super thick and dramatic.

Verdict:

• Girls, these are some kuh-raaazzzy lashes! They're so dense I felt like I was wearing 2 sun-visors on top of my lids and everything was dark. "Who turned off the lights???"
• These lashes will cast a huge shadow over your eyes. If you have smaller eyes, or want to widen them, DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT - buy these. Like any huge, thick lashes, they can make your eyes look droopy and overwhelmed instead of larger and brighter.
• The lash band is super thick and stiff because of the double-stacking, although Eylure was pretty good at making them as malleable as possible. STILL, they're not the easiest things to apply, and without a super-strong glue, you will struggle with keeping these on all day.

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KA-POW

Purple tipped criss-cross wispies meant to bring out brown and hazel eyes. (There are versions for blue/grey/green eyes called Ka-Ching and Ka-Boom, but these aren't available in Asia.)

Verdict: 

• Now THESE I really like and will re-use. They're dramatic but not too dramatic.
• The purple does nothing to bring out my dark brown eyes. As you can see in the image, all it looks like is black. I'm not sure if you'll have better luck with lighter brown or hazel eyes. 
• That said, the color at the tips really helps to soften the look of the lashes and keeps them looking wispy and pretty even though they are so long.

Conclusion:

I'd definitely go for the Ka-Pows (or Ka-Ching/Ka-Boom depending on what color tips you want). The Oh Mys are WAY too thick and looked kinda tacky on my eyes. I don't mind the length and shape, but it was just the density that was a bit much.

Possibly good if you're trying to shield your eyes from glaring lights or you're going to a costume party as a doll, but otherwise, it has a tendency to weigh the eyes down and make them look small and dull.

Simple Eye Look for Wearing Huge Falsies With (below)

Simple and Polished: Basic Everyday Neutral Eyes and Warm Bright-pink Lips

Just because you have a quad or palette with 4, 5, 6, shades doesn't mean you need to think of how to incorporate every color every time. It can be extremely overwhelming. For daily wear, 2-3 shadow shades is plenty.

Here's a very simple look that I very often wear when I want to look polished but don't want to spend too much time. You can recreate it whether you own the same eyeshadow palette I used (Lancôme Hypnôse Star Palette in Brun Adoré), or a neutral eye palette that you already own.

Tutorial

Metal Decals: What they are, and tips for using them in your nail art!

Metal decals are a pretty cool way to accessorize and customize your nails because they share the intricate designs of nail stickers but are WAY more bling and cool to look at, besides being relatively simple to work with. 

They are made of a very soft, thin metal, can be used on acrylic nails or natural nails, and are usually pretty small in size (below 5mm or 2/8"). At this point, I've never seen colors other than silver and gold. 

Purchasing:

They're very affordable (120 pieces in a mixed set usually cost no more than about US$2.50 - 2.99) and come in tons of different shapes.

• If you're just trying them out and don't NEED to get the hello kitty inspired ones I used, I'd recommend skipping the shipping cost and buying a mixed pack from lightinthebox or bornprettystore.
• If you can't IMAGINE not using hello kitty metal decals and don't mind paying shipping, then I'd point you to reputable sellers on good ol' ebay who ship internationally.

How To Use:

First you want to apply your base polish of course. Because I'm doing a Hellow Kitty theme, I had to use a hot jelly pink. Try something like China Glaze Heat Index. (I actually toned it down slightly by applying this over a slightly less neon jelly pink I got from Hong Kong beauty supply store Sasa, but you don't need to.)

Now get your decals out. The bigger the decal, the trickier they are to work with, because you need to bend them slightly so they will fit snugly over the curves of your nail. Flat ones would just stick out. 

Tip: It's easier to pre-bend them by pressing them around the curved side of a pen.

Now you can place each piece over the designated nail to see if the curve fits properly. Make sure you leave minimal gaps underneath or it will pop off.

When you're ready to apply it, you can use a bit of clear polish, OR my preferred nail-art adhesive, repositionable craft glue. Just smooth it on where you want the decal to go, and before it's dry, place the decal on.

This is because you might need a bit of time to move it around until you get it into the perfect position or angle, and if you wait for the glue to dry, it would be too tacky to shift the decal.

I seldom ever do uniform fingers, so on my middle finger, I decided to do 2 diagonal stripes using gold holographic striping tape (#28 here). 

Tip: Striping tape has a tendency to lift and start peeling off at the edges after a day or so. To minimize this, always cut off the tape BEFORE the edge of your nail and make sure you apply a thick layer of top coat.

On the thumb I combined both, by using a bow on the top right corner (a la Hello Kitty herself), and 2 additional gold stripes along the bottom.

Tip: Finish by applying 2-3 coats of topcoat just to make sure everything is secure, and the surface is smoothed out so there are no sharp edges. Especially important if you're doing this on a child as they could scratch themselves or rub their eyes.

One Other Idea: 

Use these to bling up your cell phones!

Makeup 101: 3 Common Smoky Eye Shapes to Try!

Everyone can wear a smoky eye. It just takes a little experimentation to find out which shape suits you better.

These are just general guidelines, and you should remember that they will each appear different on different eye shapes. There are also more complicated ways to do smoky eyes. I'm just running you through the basics.

For demo purposes, I'm using black face paint (Snazaroo) and 2 brushes. One synthetic concealer brush to pack on the black, and one dry blending fluff brush (below) for smoking out the black.

For your own looks, you don't need to use black or a facepaint!  You can use black kajal, khol, gel liner, pencil or even a powder shadow. Anything that doesn't set too quickly, since you need time to smoke it out.

[Requested] Basic, Polished Brow Tutorial (tips, techniques, and choosing the right products and colors)

The one I’m doing today is just a regular polished brow and the basic guidelines apply to ALL brow shapes no matter how thick or sparse yours are:

• Trimming/plucking for a neat appearance, without altering your natural brow shape too obviously
• Filling in sparse or patchy areas for a slightly fuller look
• Grooming the hairs so they look and stay neatly combed rather than pointing in all different directions

Disclaimer: Now there are different ways of doing brows, and this isn’t the only way. You can also choose to do:

• dramatic, thick, strong brows (40s- 50s bombshell brows and boyish brows)
• super thin and dramatically arched (20s-30s flapper brows and theatrical/drag brows)

Quick Glitter Liner: Tips and Tricks

One of the highest-impact ways to wear glitter is as a strip of glitter liner along the lids. It's also relatively simple to do, but can get extremely messy if you're not careful. Here are a few tips to make it a little less painful.
You will need:

• Glitter glue, or clear mascara
• A small gel liner brush
• Q-tips and makeup remover
• Black liner and mascara

1. Some people like to mix the glitter glue with the glitter before applying. I find that wastes a lot of product because some of it will always dry before you can apply it. I like to use the small brush to apply the glitter glue or clear mascara directly onto the skin area, in a strip like you would apply black liner. (Thin at the inner corners, thick at the outer. Don't worry about being too neat at this point.)

Step 2: Then with the same brush, dip into the glitter of your choice (I'm using a bronze-gold called Leo) and dab and coat gently along the glue you applied earlier. You should go over it with two coats of glitter to make sure there are no gaps or patches of skin showing between the flecks.

Step 3: Glitters, like pale shadows, can obscure your lash line and sometimes fall further than you intend. You want to gently pinch away anything that's on your lash line with your finger tips, and then run a black pencil along the inner rim of your lash line to darken it and add some definition back.

Then check if the glitter has dried, and if it has, you can go ahead and curl your lashes and apply mascara. (You can apply false lashes, but do note that if you apply too much glitter the lash strip could come undone in the middle of the day, as it's sticking to the glitter instead of the skin. I prefer mascara for these looks since big lashes can obscure the shine and sparkle anyway.)

Step 4: Now it's almost GUARANTEED that you'd have a mess in the general eye area, with flecks of glitter everywhere. That's fine if you're going for a glitter-dusted look, but a glitter liner always looks more dramatic and beautiful if the skin around it is quite clean.

Here's where you use a Q-tip dipped in a little non-oily makeup remover (or just plain water) and clean up. This is especially useful if your liner shape is far from neat, because all you need to do is wipe firmly to carve out the shape you want, and then reapply concealer just around the edges to get a super-clean line.

A note on the cleansing:

Glitter can be extremely tricky to get off, especially if it's been coated on so thickly right at the lash line. You're almost always going to get some in your eye, which is why you should be careful to use cosmetic grade glitters. 

1. Soak a cotton pad in makeup remover and press it down onto your lids. Hold for about 10 seconds before wiping firmly up and out. (Pulling downwards gets glitter into your eye.)
2. After you remove as much as you can, use foaming wash and running water to get the rest off. Water is the best way to remove most of it.

Glitter used:

Leo is the more sparkly and dramatic glitter, which I used for the demo, but if it's a little beyond your budget or you need to buy glitter in bulk, I suggest Coastalscents.com's Gold Medallion. (The shade I used was Sahara Sand, purchased a couple of years ago, and it seems the company has replaced or renamed it.)

The color is identical to Leo, though the particle sizes are different.

The one from Coastal Scents is a micro-glitter, which you can use in lotions as well, because it's extremely fine-grained; almost like fairy-dust.

Leo is better for more dramatic statements and nail art, when you want obvious glitter.

Soft Glamor: Easy Evening/Party/Prom Neutral Eye

Note: Leaving everyone with a look while I pop off to NYC for a holiday!
Posts will be a bit sparse for the next 2 weeks. Hope you all stay well and have a great Halloween!

For everyone who is relatively new to eye makeup and not sure how to add some flattering glamor for formal occasions, this is a look you can try.

It's comprised of neutrals, so it goes with pretty much any outfit, although you can change the lid shade from a smoky brown to any other color and retain the shape and application.

I used a:

• Matte black
• Smoky taupe brown (semi-matte)
• Coppery-beige shimmer
• Silver-white shimmer

Also, a black eye pencil, black mascara, and a single strip of wispy lashes cut into half.

Step 1: First use a firm smudge brush or angled brush to apply black to the lash line, like you would apply a thick swatch of liner. As always, draw in the outer flick first, parallel to the angle of your lower lash line, and then extend the line inwards to the inner corners.

Step 2: The main lid shade for the smoky look. I used a deep taupe brown (BH Cosmetics MS17; use MAC Satin Taupe if you have it) above the black earlier, and gently filled in the entire lid EXCEPT the inner corners. Follow the line of the black and wing the brown out at the outer corners.

On the inner corners, run it along the socket line only.

Step 3: On the inner 1/3 of the lids, apply a peach-tan shimmer. MAC Tan pigment or BH Cosmetics CS09). This doesn't show up that well on camera but in real life both these shades are very intensely metallic.

Step 4: [Recommended for the very pale to medium-fair skins; Optional for everyone else] Dab a bit of silvery-white shimmer right in the inner corners just to brighten things up a little. This is only needed if the tan shimmer is the same tone or darker than your natural skin tone. You'd need a little more brightness at the inner corners for a more flattering effect. 

If you have caramel to dark chocolate skin, the peach-tan shade should already pop against your skin.

Step 5: The lashes. I cut a pair of wispies (fluttery, irregular, natural-looking) into 2 halves and then used one half on the outer lash line. This beefs up your lashes only on the outside, and emphasizes that sultry, catty effect. You want to curl your natural lashes before you apply falsies.

Let the glue dry at least 30 seconds or until you see a bit of the glue going grey or transparent. Then place the inner corner in the center of the lid, and then tuck the outer corner down.

(Half strips are a much easier way to apply false lashes for those who aren't familiar with it, and cutting a single pair of lashes into 2 is cheaper than buying a single pair of half strips for the same price!)

 

Last step: Finish by applying black pencil along the inner rim of the lower lids to just intensify the lash line further, and then you can apply some mascara just to weave your natural lashes into the false ones.

Tips on cutting lashes:

1. Look for lashes that are symmetrical, with longest hairs in the center, and outer hairs equally short. 
2. The best lashes for cutting have short outer hairs and much longer hairs in the center. This helps if your natural lashes are short, because the short end of the false lashes should more or less blend in with your own instead of sticking out obviously in the center of your eye.

Product Highlight: Coastal Scents Paradise Rose Sky Mica

Pure Micas don't tend to work as well as some pressed shadows and pigments from brands like MAC, because they don't adhere very well to the skin. Under most circumstances, I wouldn't recommend buying micas for use straight-up as a shadow since they don't perform that well.

BUT - that said - Coastal Scents' Paradise micas are actually blended with cetyl dimethicone and metals to give them that incredible sheen and intensity on the skin, similar to pigments like MAC's Tan. (Although you should still wear a primer on your lid to minimize fallout and fading.)

The shade I'm featuring today is Paradise Rose Sky (a sample costs only $1 right now), a gorgeous burnished wine-red with rose undertones and a coppery sheen. This would contrast very well with blue and green eyes, but as I always remind everyone; don't limit your shade choices based on your eye color because eye makeup is NOT JUST about having max contrast with your eyes shade.

Step 1: For definition and that cat-eyed wing, I'm using a plum colored pencil first. To create the shape I did, you just run the pencil from the center of the lower lid outwards along the lash line, and then extend straight up at the same angle.

Step 2: Draw a line from the outer end of the line you drew earlier, and pull it diagonally in and down, until it touches the inner corners of our eye. As you draw the line, it will be quite straight. It just appears curved in the image due to the contour of my eyes.

Finish by coloring in the space within the wing.

Step 3: Using a flat brush, I packed Paradise Rose Sky pigment onto the lid from outside in, first filling in the mobile lid area, within the socket line (hollow curve arching above your eye ball).

I colored higher than the upper edge of the penciled wing earlier and only covered the upper portions of the purple pencil. This is to give the color a slight gradient effect, from defined plum below to smoky red at the top. 

Leave the inner corner of the lids bare.

Step 4: To lighten up the look a little, I packed a softer peach-pink (L'oreal Infallible in Forever Pink) onto the inner corners of the lid, smoothing into the coppery-red.

Step 5: Finish with black mascara!

Getting the Perfect Cat-Eye with Powder Liner

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This is a tutorial for getting a softer, simpler cat eye liner look using powder rather than gel, pencil or liquid.

The benefits are that:

• powder is easier to control, especially if you're new to eye liner
• if you make any mistakes you can rub it away easily
• you can go on light, and then build up intensity when you like the shape/angle
• you can use it dry for a softer look, or damp for something that looks more like liquid liner (be careful which shadows you use though. Not all work wet.)
• you can use pretty much ANY eye shadow or pigment of your choice, which means the color options are endless

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The application technique is actually the same as when you apply gel or cake liner with an angled brush.

The easiest brushes to use for this look are flat angled brushes. Wider/larger brush heads are actually easier for getting extended wings. Natural hair brushes also tend to work better than synthetic ones as they pick up more pigment.

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Step 1: After applying the rest of your eye makeup, dab the tip of your angled brush into black shadow or cake liner. I'm using it dry for a softer smokier line. You can dampen your brush to get an intense line if you're using cake liners or loose pigments.

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Step 2: Use the LOWER LASHLINE AS THE GUIDING LINE for the angle of the brush.  I simply place the brush along the outer corners of the bottom lash line and then gently stroke the brush along that line. Extend inwards along the lower lash line. 

This step is key because it:

• helps you to make the angle of the flick more balanced on both eyes
• gives that gorgeous sweeping arc of liner when you close your eyes, as this follows your natural eye contour. 

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Step 2: Next, line your upper lash line. All you do is pick up more powder with your brush and tap off excess before placing it right at the base of the lashes and wiggling gently to "push" the pigment onto your skin. Then remove your brush, pick up more powder, and then place it along the next section of your lash line. Don't try to stroke the brush all the way from one end of your eye to the other. This is MUCH easier and much more precise.

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Step 3: To get rid of a harsh angle between the flick and your upper lash line, place your brush along the flick and then stroke it inwards diagonally towards the center of your lid. This thickens up the line at the outer corners without ruining that beautiful angle.

Rich Green Smoke: Evening Eye using Coastal Scents Kiwi Green

Coastal Scents Kiwi Green Hot Pot with Raisin Berry for contour, and MAC Reflects Transparent Teal in inner corners

I'm on my Coastal Scents kick, and wanted to do a strong green look, which I haven't done in awhile.

Some people do not enjoy wearing green but if you pair it with the right shades to make it richer and add more depth, it is incredibly flattering on all skin tones. This is also a great look for brown eyes.

Step 1: Apply a mossy green base to the lids. I used MAC Paint Pot in Moss Scape, but  any olive green or khaki pencil or cream shadow would work.

Step 2: Gently brush on a rich metallic forest-green like Coastal Scents Kiwi Green Hot Pot.

Step 3: To add some depth, I used a burgundy-brown, Coastal Scents Raisin Berry, to deepen the outer corners and along the hollow of the eye socket. You can use a regular brown but the green will make it olive/khaki, so I used a burgundy instead as it shows up richer.

See the rest of the tutorial here!

Psychedelic Cyclamen Ombre Lips: Rimmel Color Show-off in 220 Shocking Pink and Lime Crime D’Lilac (plus tips)

Red and lilac ombre lips

When you combine 2 shades that look really vibrant and saturated on camera, you get day-glo Cyclamen lips like the above. 

Instead of going for a typical dark shade to contrast against the pale creamy lilac, I went for a strong red-fuchsia in a matte texture.

Read on for tips for application!

Lazy Girl's Guide to Perfect Winged Liner (and Shadow) for Valentine's!

Perfect Winged Eyes need not take weeks to master.

A winged eye and a demure kitten flick can give you really alluring eyes, but I got so many questions about how to do a good winged eye or flicked liner, so it I figured I’d do a more detailed tutorial on how to do it without requiring weeks of practice.

You will need:

• Black gel liner
• Flat, angled synthetic liner brush
• A sheet of paper or card (or tape)

View the step-by-step here!