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Hard Candy

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Color Focus: Teal Eyes & Nails Inspired by Marion Cotillard

January 20, 2010

I watched part of the Red Carpet coverage of the Golden Globes and was inspired by Marion Cotillard’s beautiful deep teal-green dress, eyeliner and nails she wore to dig through my collection and find similar shades so I could try to recreate the look. You can see her look linked here.

I don’t have a lot of blues or teals in my stash but with a little practice was able to combine the shades to achieve a similar result. Just a disclaimer: I have no idea what products or colors were used on her actual look, this is just what I tried myself to get a similar effect.



My application steps/technique:

Cheeks: First apply MAC Dainty on apples of cheeks followed by a sheer dust of Pink Swoon.

Eyes: Apply a pale champagne cream on eyes as a base like Nars Copacabana and dust MAC Quick Frost pigment from lash to brow (apply heavier near lash line). Right around the rims of the eyes, apply a seafoam green shimmer like the Bottom Left shade of Chanel Murano followed by a smokey line of a darker smokey grey-green like the Top Left shade of Chanel Murano. Apply a teal green liner like Laura Mercier Black Turquoise Eye Kohl heavily along upper lash line and lower lash line. Take a slightly damp brush and apply a shimmery teal-green shadow like MAC Deep Blue Green Pigment or Chanel Murano right over the pencil blending with a soft brush for a smudged look. The last step for the eyes (not pictured) is to take a contouring powder or soft brown like MAC Soba or Era and apply right over the middle of the eye for depth/contour.

Lips: Line with a pale pink shimmer like Trish McEvoy Essential Pencil in Baby Pink and top with a shimmery shell pink lipstick like Chanel Waikiki Aqualumiere. Top with a matching gloss for shine like Dior #431.

I would have liked to get a brighter smokey teal along the lash lines, the teals I have are darker and more subdued. I learned from experimenting that the key to get a brighter teal is to layer the colors from light to dark. Layering the Laura Mercier Black Turquoise, MAC Deep Blue Green Pigment and dark green shade from Chanel Murano over the lighter shades brings out the teal shimmer more.

For nails, I pulled out my green shades. I’m still in search for a dark teal shimmer that doesn’t look black in natural light. It’s hard for me to find something that’s the right balance of teal and dark shimmer. Most teals are either too bright for my taste or too dark. All swatches are taken with a flash, each has 3 coats. Anyone have alternative recommendations on pretty dark teal shimmers?





I already featured some other teal shades in my Smokey Eye Series in Color Focus: Smokey Eyes Part 5 (Blues & Greens) last November.

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Recent Bargain Beauty Finds

January 8, 2010
Yes, I am a high-end beauty snob for so many reasons, but finding good products at a bargain or cheap price is always good! Finding cheaper products that I end up keeping and liking is another story.

I ventured to Walmart and my local outlet to check out what was available and this is the loot over the past couple months:

From the CCO: MAC Flower Mist Dew Beauty Powder, Strada Blush, Gentle Shimmer Slimshine, Warming Trend Eyeshadow, Smoke & Diamonds Eyeshadow, Goldmode Pigment, Silverstuck Nail Polish
NYX Finds: Red Blush, Stone Blush, Nude Eyeshadow, Iced Mocha Eyeshadow, Nutmeg Eyeshadow, Deep Bronze Eyeshadow, Utopia Gold Eyeshadow
Walmart Hard Candy Picks: Envy Nail Polish, Hypnotic Nail Polish, Hula Hula Baked Bronzer

This was my first experience with the NYX brand. I’ve been intrigued by the raves for these products and the fragrance outlet was having a special for certain 5 items at $9.95, so of course I couldn’t resist. The eyeshadows are indeed decently pigmented and soft – along the lines of MAC Starflash eyeshadows but softer but not quite as pigmented in my opinion. They are almost too soft for my taste, but at the cheap price I’m not complaining. I’ve contemplated ordering some more of the taupey shades online, but the problem with lower priced items is that more often than not, I end up neglecting them, so in the end, the fact that I spent $4 on an eyeshadow is $4 wasted.

The Hard Candy nailpolishes are pretty nice for $5. Be warned that Envy needs 2-3 coats since the formula is pretty thin. In natural light, it’s so dark it looks black. You can only see the shimmer in sunlight or with a flash. Hypnotic is a pretty sparkley pink with a foiled finish. The Baked Bronzer in Hula Hula has decent pigment for a drugstore brand. On my MAC NC30ish skin, it doesn’t seem like a bronzer, but gives a pretty nude shimmer blush. I did have to pack it on to get it to show because it’s lighter.

Do you have any recent bargain finds that you like?

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Color Focus: Purple Nail Polish Photos & Swatches

November 6, 2009

Thanks to several e-mails and other blog recommendations, I checked out the new Hard Candy Mr. Wrong at Walmart and the new OPI Merry Midnight Nail Polishes. Hard Candy Mr. Wrong is very sparkly with a base similar to Dior’s Silver Purple but with chunky gold glitter mixed in. I was initially worried that OPI’s Merry Midnight would be too over the top, but when I tried it on at home, it turned out really pretty. The formula is super sheer though and required 3 full coats for me. Here are a few swatch pictures to compare.

Unique Purples: Hard Candy Mr. Wrong (Walmart), Dior Silver Purple (Holiday 2009), Dior Lemon Balm (Nordstrom Exclusive)


Plummy-Mauve Purples: Le Metier Violaceous Splendor, OPI Merry Midnight, Le Metier Black Orchid

* Note, the OPI Merry Midnight sparkle doesn’t show up so well in the swatch photo, I highly recommend you check out All Lacquered Up or Scrangie’s Blogs for better swatch pictures!

Light purple shades: Like purples, but don’t like darker colors? Check out Le Metier de Beaute Phlox, Chanel Violette, MAC Love & Friendship


If you want to see more purple nail polishes I’ve written about, check out these links:

* Color Focus: Dark Vampy Nail Polish
* I *HEART* MAC Baby Goth Girl
* A Few Alternatives to Super Dark Nail Polish . . .