Wearing the "wrong" eye makeup for your eye color (or: just try to stop me from wearing cobalt blue)

There are a ton of guides to coordinating your eye makeup with your eye color out there, and this has been a staple of makeup advice for as long as I can remember. Several cosmetics companies also sell eyeshadow palettes or sets designed around eye color. The usual idea is that you should wear colors that complement your eye color, or at least contrast with it, in order to intensify it. That often means coppery shades for blue eyes, for example, or purples for brown eyes.

But what if you don't necessarily want to enhance what you have? Makeup is good both for enhancing and transforming. For instance, I can make my eyes look more blue by wearing copper, but I can make them look less blue by wearing really bright blue, which is also pretty cool. Bold cobalt eyeliner is one way to get this effect. When I use it, my eye color looks a little more blue-green or maybe aqua than it's usual ordinary greyish-blue (compare with this, for example).

Cobalt blue eyeliner

Quick review: Hard Candy Ginormous Mascara (what a fucking mess)

I don't have any real complaints about the way this mascara looks on my lashes. It makes them thicker and longer. It's not amazing, but it's not bad.

Here's the problem though:

And this isn't even the worst mess I've made with this mascara.

Tricky tricky! Which package contains more product? (Eye makeup edition)

Okay, I've got another one for you. This is probably easy to guess, because I have only two products to show you. But let's take a closer look to see how makeup companies use packaging tricks to make you think you're getting more than you are.

Which one of these containers holds more product?

Left: Maybelline Color Tattoo cream eyeshadow; Right: NYX Eyeshadow base

I'm sure you guessed that the NYX pot holds more, because it looks smaller, and you know I'm talking about tricky packaging. If you have ever held these two products in your hands, you will know that not only does the Maybelline pot look larger, it feels much, much heavier. I wish I had a postal scale to weight these, but it's at least twice as heavy. That's because the Maybelline pot is glass and the NYX one is plastic. So by looking at the top of the containers and even picking them up, the Maybelline product seems bigger. That's why you really have to look at the label to understand the amount of product you're getting and its value.

The Maybelline product contains 4 g and the NYX one contains 7 g. It's not just the material the pots are made from that makes you think the first one is more generous - it's also the design of the package. The Maybelline pot has a wider diameter, and both pots are about the same height. But check this out:

Again, Maybelline on the left, NYX on the right.

While the well that the NYX product is in goes halfway to the base of the pot, the Maybelline product only starts at the bottom of the lid. If you look at the Maybelline pot from the side, you can't see any product at all. That's just a big chunk of glass with some shit sitting on top of it! This is a big, bulky pot that is not convenient to store or carry around, designed that way simply to make you feel like you're getting your money's worth. If you stick a pin into each product, it goes down about 3 mm into the Maybelline shadow and at least 11 mm into the NYX base.

These are different types of product, sure, but they both cost $7. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy the Color Tattoo (I happen to like it), but just be aware of how the packaging is designed to fool you, and how much product you're actually getting for your $7. They are nice little eyeshadows, but they are not generous portions. Tricky tricky!

(See the last installment of this series, on nail polish, here.)

What do you think? Would you have been fooled/surprised by these pots?

Fix Your Face: How to experiment with winged liner without buying new eyeliner (with photos)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Some people like the way winged/cat-eye liner looks on them, and some people don't. Depending on your eye size and shape, and your general style, you may think it is the absolute shit, or you may think it is absolute shit. You don't know until you try.

I understand, however, that people who are not makeup hoarders like me might be loathe to shell out the extra cash for a gel/cream/liquid eyeliner, in case they decide they are never going to do it. There are cheap options, but you might have everything you need to figure out if this is the right look for you at home.

Here's what you need:

Fix Your Face Quickie Review: NYX Slim Sparkle Eye Pencil in Bronze Shimmer (with swatches)

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.
I feel like I have a bunch of NYX products, but that I haven't reviewed many. But then I realized that it's because I feel kind of blah about them. They're not terrible, but not amazing - and usually it's one of those qualities or the other than inspires me to review something. So here is a review of an okay eyeliner, because if you're thinking of buying it, it's probably useful to know that it's okay. This is NYX Slim Sparkle Eye Pencil in Bronze Shimmer, which costs about $3.50, so even for just okay, the price is decent:

Without flash.

With flash.

Fix Your Face: Quick ULTA eyeliner photos

I took these photos a while ago, and honestly, I don't remember if I had a specific purpose for them. I just found them. You can see some more of the ULTA eyeliners I swatched here. These are the gold and cobalt blue liners from those swatches. They're really nice and bold. The gold actually isn't really showing its true splendor in these photos. It's very metallic and opaque, like liquid metal.

Eye brightening tip from The Beauty Department plus the $3 product you need to do it

Have you seen this trick for making your eyes look subtly brighter and more awake using lilac eyeliner? It does work, and the best part is that one of the liners they suggest is on sale from Sephora for $3. I have a feeling it's on clearance, though, so it might not be available for long. The Sephora one appears to be sheerer than the Eyeko version in the tutorial. At least on my pasty skin, it mostly shows up as a cool-ish shimmer, but it does the trick anyway.

Sephora Collection Smoky Kohl Eyeliner in Lilac
(natural light)

Do you know of any other affordable lilac eyeliners? It seems to be a rare shade.

Fix Your Face Review: e.l.f. Studio 3-in-1 Mascara (A $3 Tubing Mascara!?)

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
Spoiler: I've already revealed that I love this stuff, so you know what the outcome is going to be. Let me get straight to why.

First things first: I believe this is a tubing formula (here's a pretty good description of what that is). So if you like tubing mascaras, you should try this out. If you don't, it might not be for you. I have never personally used a tubing mascara, and I don't own one, and I'm not willing to spend the money right now to buy one just to compare with this. But if you have tried any of the tubing mascaras out there, like Blinc or the one from Too Faced or L'Oreal's, and you've tried this e.l.f. mascara, I would love to hear from you. If it is directly comparable, then what we have here is a $3 version of a type of mascara that usually costs $10-30.

Let me talk about the qualities this stuff has that lead me to believe it is a tubing mascara, which are also some of the things I like about it. Once you put this mascara on and it sets, it's not going anywhere. It's not waterproof, but it will not run from tears or rain, etc. I also have a bad habit of touching my face, and I have oily skin, and I always wear sunscreen, etc. Despite that, this doesn't smear. Basically, it doesn't dissolve. If I happen to I wake up in the morning with this mascara still on, it hasn't transferred to my pillow and it's barely flaked. It's still there. Now, I know that no one's necessarily looking for a mascara that will hold up over night, but I think that's a good demonstration of its tenacity.

Fix Your Face: Recent ULTA brand makeup purchases (swatches and review)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
I bought a few ULTA brand products recently, so I thought I'd show you swatches, in case you're interested in your own spree. These are all good options.

From left to right in the photos below: (1) Metallic Automatic Eyeliner in Starlet; (2) Metallic Automatic Eyeliner in Golden Eyes; (3) Automatic Eyeliner in Teal Blue; (4) Smokey Eyes Automatic Eyeliner in Cobalt; (5) Automatic Lip Liner in Bloom; (6) Lip Crayon in Fashionista; and (7) Cheek Stain in Desire.

In natural light (colors of the gold and teal eyeliner and pink lipliner aren't quite right).

Fix Your Face Review: e.l.f. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow

This is an unusual eyeshadow. It's a sort of spongey, moussey, springy texture. It's not super soft or moist, so you don't have to worry about getting a big glob when you stick your finger in it. And it works best when applied with a fingertip. Without primer, it will crease if you have oily lids. But it's worth it, since you can get a nice metallic finish that will last with primer. It's also buildable. In fact, you really need to apply two layers to get a really opaque, solid finish, but you can apply the second layer immediately, so it's no trouble.

Cheap Crap: Jordana 7" Eyeliner Pencils

Cheap doesn't always mean shitty, of course. But in this case, according to Scrangie, these pencils are not even worth the $1.29. They sound terrible.

Fix Your Face: The Winged Shadow Wipe Trick

This is a good trick for lifting your eyeshadow at the corners, creating a nice edge, and figuring out where to put your winged eyeliner. I usually just use my finger to wipe off the excess, because I don't want to waste a whole wipe for this, but it works.

Fix Your Face: Beetle's Wing/Scarab/Gradient/Ombre Eyeshadow Look

Whatever you want to call it, it’s fucking awesome. AND EASY. And cheap, of course.

I already directed you to this video tutorial a while ago. If you didn’t look before, do it now. Do as I say. DO IT.

In the video they use all sort of expensive shit to do this. Fuck that. You can do it for cheap.

• Instead of $25 Lorac eyelid primer, get the $1 e.l.f. shit.
• Instead of $20 Laura Mercier eyeliner in Black Turquoise, get the $6-7 Milani liner in Blackened Teal. (Ignore the glitter on the other end - it’s crap. Don’t expect to get two products out of this, and you won’t be disappointed when only one is useful.)
• Instead of $15 Mac Club eyeshadow, get the Wet N Wild Color Icon palette in Comfort Zone for $5, and get 7 other awesome shadows along with it. Use the bottom right shadow for this look.
• Instead of $23 Givenchy black eyeliner pencil, use whatever black eyeliner pencil you want. Seriously. It makes no fucking difference.

Fix Your Face: Wet N Wild Color Icon shadows

These are my favorite eyeshadows by a fucking mile. They come in three and eight shade pans (as well as singles, which I haven’t tried). The ones I own are:

• Comfort Zone (8)
• Silent Treatment (3)
• Walking on Eggshells (3)
• Cool as a Cucumber (3)
• Don’t Steal My Thunder (3)
• Sweet As Candy (3)

Comfort Zone, Silent Treatment, and Walking on Eggshells are my favorites, but the only shade out of all of these I was disappointed by was the darker brown in Sweet As Candy. It wasn’t as pigmented and smooth as all the others. ALL the others are wonderful. Here’s what I had to say about Comfort Zone in particular, recently.

Fix Your Face: Your Assignment

Get this stuff:

• Wet N Wild Color Icon Collection Eyeshadow Set in Comfort Zone 738 ($5)
• e.l.f. Essential Eyelid Primer ($1) (or any other primer)
• (Optional) e.l.f. Studio Makeup Lock & Seal ($3)
• Eyelids, if you don’t already have some

This is the best eyeshadow I have ever used, ever. I love it so much. Good range of colors, most of which are pretty neutral. They are really pigmented and smooth and wear like fucking iron. There are tons of reviews of this palette, so I’m not going to swatch them again myself, except to show you how awesome the darkest shades are as liners.

These are the shadows on the bottom left of the palette (“Define”) and second from the bottom on the right (“Crease”) over the e.l.f. primer, alone on the left, and using the e.l.f. Lock & Seal on the right. Just one swipe with a brush. As you can see, they are really fucking pigmented even with a dry brush. Wetting the brush (you could also use water) will change the look a little in terms of getting you a crisper line, but the color will be just as dark and rich without doing that.

The other shades are equally beautiful. They have labels to tell you which part of the lid to use them on, if you’re skittish, but there’s no need to stick with those.

Bonus: Since the bottom right shadow (“Define”) is an exact dupe for Mac’s Club or Urban Decay’s Lounge (a reddish-brown and green duochrome), you can use this set to create the scarab gradient look in this video. I’ve tried it, and it looks fucking awesome (just use whatever green or grey or black eyeliner you have kicking around for the base).

So for less than $10, you’ll be happy for the rest of your life. Or for a while probably at least. FUN.