Beauty and Fashion Tech

Callas Cosmetics Vivid Veil Eyeshadow

Callas Cosmetics is a company with products designed in France and Japan, and made in Korea. They make a number of nice items and are one of the Korean/Japanese cosmetics that is not wildly difficult to obtain.

Callas Vivid Veil Eye Shadow is a silky smooth, finely milled shadow, with decent color payoff. It can be found at around $6-9 for a single shade, which isn’t too bad for its quality. I tried a light pink shade and have taken to using it as a common highlight shade.

Also available are Callas Four Color Vivid Veil Eye Quads. These quads have nicely coordinated shades and run in the $20-25 range.

I linked to order pages from Amazon.com, but I actually ordered mine from Yesstyle, which is my favorite Japanese and Korean fashion, beauty, and accessories site. It is a wonderful place to acquire unique items, and is well worth looking at for non-beauty items. For example, they have some incredible handbags and shoes that won’t look like the same thing everyone else has. I have an orange handbag from there that has been getting compliments right and left. You can also view Callas items at Callas.com.

By Carleenp Posted in Eyeshadow | 1 Comment

DIY Mineral Makeup Kits From Bramble Berry

Here is fun item for the do it yourselfer, mineral makeup lover, or craft maven: Make Your Own Mineral Makeup Kits from Bramble and Berry. I spent a morning playing with the neutral and metallics kit and had a lot of fun. I also got some decent eye shadow from the process.

Below are some of the items before I got started (I supplied the larger measuring spoons and larger baggie). The entire kit contains: Titanium Dioxide, Dry Flo, Kaolin Clay, Sericite Mica, Super Pearly White, and the following pigments: Gold Sparkle, Bronze, Honeyed Beige, Sparkle Copper, Cappucino, Heavy Metal Gold, Vintage Grey, Patina Sheen, & Luster Black Mica. There are also 2 eyeshadow brushes, 5 mini measuring scoops, and 10 black containers to fill with your creations.

The kit contains all that you need to custom blend mineral foundation in varying levels of coverage and a variety of eye shadow shades. It also includes a booklet with recipes for various shades and well written instructions. I decided to make a light, medium and dark brown.

To get started, I followed the directions for a matte base and then added color from the included pigments according to recommendations in the book. It is fairly easy to increase or decrease shimmer by changing the mix of the base. The kit also contained a light brown sample. I didn’t end up matching that, but I liked what I got. My attempt at light was more of a neutral beige and my medium and dark turned out to be differing shades of taupe. Then I decided to make a darker brown/gray by adding a bunch of the darkest pigment. Mixing is pretty easy. Simply measure into a ziplock baggie, seal it, and shake! However, for mineral foundation, using a food processor or coffee blender to thoroughly mix the makeup is recommended.

Below are my finished eye shadows, the one on the far left is the light brown sample that came with the kit:

Here are skin swatches in the same order:

Oh, and I made a mess. Clutzy people like me probably should be more careful with shimmery loose powders! Fortunately it also was very easy to clean up.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this kit and I liked the results. It would be a great gift or something fun for your inner do it yourselfer. There is also a kit for vivid eye shadow shades.

Bramble and Berry actually specializes in soap making supplies, so if you have an interest in that, also take a look at the rest of their site. In addition, they have a lip balm kit, that I just might have to try for Girl Gloss!

Comparison Shop for Mineral Makeup

By Carleenp Posted in Beauty Tech, Eyeshadow, Holiday Gifts, Mineral Makeup | 15 Comments

Nars Summer Collection: Duo Cream Eyeshadow

I was sent a NARS Duo Cream Eyeshadow Compact in Unconditional Love from the Nars Summer collection to try. Not only were the shades both unique and quite attractive, the shadow itself is very impressive.

This is a cream shadow, but it is quite silky and quickly turns to more of a powder consistency, but with the opacity often seen from a cream. I found that made it easy to apply and blend, while still getting a cream shadow look.

The shadow wears well. It lasted all day for me and I had no issues with creasing. The case is also attractive. In addition, both shades are gorgeous! This one does run a bit on the expensive side though.

Below is a swatch taken in natural light:

Nars has a number of nice items in their summer collection. They can be purchased from a number of online sources, including NarsCosmetics.com.

Shop for Nars Cosmetics

By Carleenp Posted in Eyeshadow, Palettes and Collections | No Comments

Review: New Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Cosmetics Inspired by Carmindy

Sally Hansen Natural Beauty has released a wonderful full line of cosmetics “inspired by” Carmindy from TLC’s show What Not to Wear. I am a big Carmindy fan and I liked her book, The Five Minute Face (Read Review). I also have been pretty impressed with Sally Hansen as of late. The new Sally Hansen Natural Beauty line focuses on natural ingredients and is paraben free.

When I saw the line at CVS, I bought a number of items to try. I was left highly impressed and am willing to bet that several items from this line will make my year end best of 2008 list (Read the 2007 list)!

The Sally Hansen Natural Beauty line includes foundation and powder, but I have so many unfinished items of those, I didn’t buy any. Instead, I got the primer, eye shadow base, an eye shadow trio, cream blush, lipstick, and a mascara. The look I created with the products and each item is covered below. All items are worn in the photo below. I am also wearing Laura Mercier Oil Free Foundation (Read Review), Laura Mercier translucent powder, and M.A.C. dual edged eye pencil in a blue/gray shade from the Heatherette collection.

The Natural Beauty Luminizing Face Primer is a really nice silicon based primer. It has a lighter feel than the cult classic Smashbox Photofinsh (Read Review), yet worked just as well. I found that it primed my skin quite well in preparation for foundation by leaving it smooth and silky. The luminizing properties are also a welcome addition. At around $10, this primer is an incredible value, and I am not aware of any other comparably priced primers of this quality. Revlon has a decent primer, but it does not provide the perfectly nice skin surface that the Sally Hansen product does.

Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Fast Fix Eyeshadow Base is another great value product. There are not a lot of drugstore shadow bases out there and this one is quite lovely. It has a light, easy to spread cream texture, that feels like it must have a touch of silicon in it. I found that it made my shadow look smooth and crease free all evening. This will become a staple product for me.

The cream blush is another great item in Salley Hansen’s new line. It is silky smooth, and Bloom, the shade that I purchased, has a nice rosy color. It is pretty well pigmented and builds pretty well, so those with darker skin can likely wear it just fine. At the same time, it also blends well, so I could wear it well with my pale skin as long as I applied with with a light and well blended touch.

Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Cosmetics Carmindy

The Natural Beauty Instant Definition Eye Shadow Palette comes in basic and fairly neutral color sets. I decided to go for the Ocean Eye Palette, a gray/navy combo, because I seem to have acquired way too much brown shadow. The shadow is decently pigmented, blended fine, and lasted well. I did not have any creasing issues. It seemed like a standard decent quality shadow to me with nothing really outstanding, but nothing wrong with it either.

The Natural Beauty Lift & Define Mascara was nothing special for me. The brush is small (I tend to like that), but has rather wide spaces between the bristles, which I think can make things clump easier. It went on OK, and looked OK. I don’t think it would be my first choice in mascara, but it wasn’t bad either.

Finally, I loved the Color Comfort Lip Color! Perfect Pink, Rose Parfait, turned out to be perhaps one of the best pink shades I have found in some time. For a full review of it, head on over to my post at Girl Gloss!

The bottom line: The Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Cosmetics line is a welcome addition to the available drugstore makeup choices. I particularly recommend the primer and shadow base. These items are comparable to, or perhaps even better than, other much more expensive products. The rest of the line is quite nice as well. Well done Sally Hansen!

Look for the new Sally Hansen Natural Beauty at drugstore and at ULTA Beauty.

By Carleenp Posted in Blush, Celebrity Looks, Collection Looks, Concealer, Eyeshadow, Face Products, Lip Products, Makeup Primer, Mascara, Palettes and Collections | 21 Comments

Stila Kitten Summer Palette and Swatches

I love Stila eyeshadow. I also particularly love the shades Kitten and Wheat (See previous review). So being in need of new ones of each shade, I jumped all over the gorgeous new Stila Kitten summer palette that includes both shades.

The new Stila palette isn’t in stores yet (watch for it to show up in May), but you can get it at the Stila Website. It has also been available on and off through the Sephora site.

I ordered one and was excited to see it when it came. The colors are gorgeous, and in true Stila fashion, they are finely milled with lots of pigment. The compact itself is a pretty summer bronze, with a mirror inside. There is no brush included.Below are skin swatches of the shades taken outdoor under cloudy conditions and with no flash. The gold and blue shades are particularly brilliant. All of the shades have a high amount of shimmer.

I also got a Stila Cherry Crush lip and cheek stain, and will have swatches of it up in another day or so.

Shop for Stila Cosmetics

By Carleenp Posted in Collection Looks, Eyeshadow, Palettes and Collections | 4 Comments

Question and Answer With Chase Aston, Makeup Artist for The Body Shop

I love the Body Shop, it is one of my favorite mall stores, and I particularly love their Satsuma Body Wash. It has the best citrus scent that I have ever found!

So, when I recently had the opportunity to ask a question to Chase Aston, International Makeup Artist for The Body Shop, I jumped at the chance.

My question:

I am noticing lots of pinks in many of the Spring cosmetics lines and some of them are rather bright. How can a person pull off wearing some of these pretty pink shades, especially on the eyes, without looking too much like a made-up Barbie Doll?

Chase Aston’s answer:

If there is one color which looks great on everyone… it’s pink! The pink tones in our lips and the blushing rose of our cheeks, give us a natural beauty which you can enhance by wearing shades of pink in your makeup. You have probably tried on a pink lipstick before and sworn never to wear it again, but rest assured - there is a shade of pink to suit everyone.

If you want to be a little more daring for a night out on the town, use a bright fuchsia eyeshadow over the lid, taking it as high as the crease of the eyelid. This gives a striking look when you blink. Compliment with some black eyeliner and lashings of black mascara. Keep the look clean by toning down the blush and using clear lip gloss. If you aren’t quite ready for such a dramatic look, try using a soft baby pink eyeshadow across the entire eyelid, strengthened with smoky dark shadow across the upper lashline and at the corner of the lower lashline. This gives a gorgeous baby doll look that’s girlie but with attitude!

Want to see more questions and answers with Chase Aston? Coming soon will be a list of links to question from other other members of the Beauty Blog Network.