Eyes of the Day - Purple Winged Cut Crease

Today, I decided I was going to play with the cut crease in a flattering color for brown eyes: a dark plum, deep purple shade (MAC's Fig 1). I know it's fairly common to produce a cut crease in a smokey eye or to define the eye, but I wanted to take it a step further and really wing it out dramatically.

I will tell you that going grocery shopping with this look, I was receiving a lot of stares - I think people couldn't tell what it was that was so different about my face. This is not an every day makeup for the office, I could see how it would be inappropriate in some places, but if you're just having fun, it's great!

I wanted to keep the lid a light color, pretty much a stark white with some glitter for extra pizzazz (as if a dramatic winged crease wasn't enough!) - apparently the pizzazz decided to get onto my lashes for this photo though. I made sure to blend the purple color in my crease out and make it more smokey so that the look was less stark.

I cleaned up the bottom of the crease by adding the purple first, then a peach color above it and making sure to add my lid colors last (the white-ish). I also went in with a fine angled brush and used more of the purple to get the line more precise and opaque. A good trick for creating a cut crease is to apply a similar-colored eyeliner as your base and then follow that line with your eyeshadow brush, this is especially useful if you're just starting out this kind of look or your orbital bone doesn't naturally dictate where that wing would look most flattering.

Products Used:

MAC's Nylon - all over lid shade
Sephora Wedding Day - layered over Nylon for white glitter effect
MAC's Fig 1 - cut crease
Fresh Peach (Anastasia Beverly Hills - Maya Mia Palette) - above the cut crease wing as warm transition shade
MAC's Vanilla - as brow-bone highlight shade
Pacifica  Waterproof Eyeliner in Fringe - to line the waterline with a plummy brown color
Stila's Stay All Day Liquid Eyeliner (Black) - to create the cat-eye on the lid
Ardency Inn Punker Eyeliner - to make the line extra back, layered on top of Stila liner

Hope you enjoyed this cut-crease, double wing look!

New Release: Anastasia Beverly Hills Tamanna Palette

I received an email from Anastasia Beverly Hills announcing their newly released product: the Tamanna Eye Shadow Palette. It is presently available for online purchase on their website. It will hit stores in the near future (probably at the usual retailers of Ulta, Sephora, and Macys). I am so susprised that they released another palette so soon, the Maya Mia palette was released barely 3 weeks ago (you can see my review of it here).

Tamanna Roashan (@dressyourface) is yet another instagram makeup artist with a serious following that has caught the eye of Anastasia and her daughter, Claudia (you should really look up Tamanna, she does the most beautiful double-winged looks I've ever seen!). Anastasia Beverly Hills keeps bringing us fresh new faces from various ethnic backgrounds who have one thing in common: their love of beauty and style. I give serious kudos to Anastasia for sticking with this theme and making it a true collection. Tamanna chose all of the colors herself and they are her "must haves" which she religiously uses on clients of any skin tone.

The packaging is elaborate and has a repeating scroll pattern, inspired by the middle eastern and Indian background of Tamanna. It is beautiful just like every other palette in this collection, it's diversified and absolutely stunning packaging (I love how the packaging always reflects the shadow choices inside the palette).

For color reference, below this image I have included the Maya Mia Palette, the Amrezy palette, and the Lavish palette (Holiday 2013 release).

Fresh - creamy matte highlight; looks similar to Cream from the Lavish palette
Blush - shimmery highlight; looks very similar to Glisten from the Maya Mia palette and Amrezy palette
Venezia - teal blue shimmer; looks like a greener version of Aqua from the Maya Mia palette
Gilded -  metallic antique gold
Custom - metallic grey taupe
Sangria - cranberry shimmer; looks like a shimmery version of Deep Plum from the Amrezy palette
Bengal - matte warm brown; looks like Caramel from Maya Mia palette and Amrezy palette
Chocolate - dark brown; looks like a warmer version of Deep Brown from Maya Mia palette
China Rose - goldy, pink coral; looks like a more orange version of Fresh Peach from Maya Mia palette
Noir - matte black; looks like LBD matte black from the Amrezy palette

So obviously this palette is going to have some repeats or similar colors, I would say there's 1 from the Lavish palette, 4 from the Amrezy palette and 5 from the Maya Mia palette. Some of the colors will have some slight variations in tone or finish, but if you're a collector like me you're definitely going to want to pick one up! I've gotten great use out of my previous Anastasia palettes and I think the quality for the price ($29) is outstanding.

Anastasia Beverly Hills - Maya Mia Palette

Eyes of the Day: Maya Mia Palette - Tropical Smokey Look

Maya Mia Palette Tropical Smokey Look

I'm so inspired by the Anastasia Beverly Hills Maya Mia Palette that I find myself going back to it day after day trying to create new and exciting looks that make me step out of my routine comfort zone. This pop of Aqua is my homage to the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica from my recent trip and a beautiful sunset overlooking the pier. You can check out my review of the Maya Mia Palette if you're contemplating a purchase!

Maya Mia Palette Tropical Smokey Look - Ambient Light

I really love how easily the colors can be blended together but how well they can also be placed to show the difference between them rather than getting all muddy like some eyeshadows can. If you'd like to purchase the palette, you can do so on Anastasia Beverly Hills website, Ulta, Sephora or Macy's.

Maya Mia Palette Tropical Smokey Look - Direct Sunlight

If you'd like to re-create this look, I have included a guide to help! I started with the crease color (Sienna) and then packed on the Deep Brown onto the outer 2/3rd's of my lid. I made sure to finish off the look with the pop of Aqua in the inner corner (but I purposely left this area blank when I applied the other colors and used a white eyeshadow base for maximum saturation). I blended out the top of the crease with Caramel and the outer edges of the eyes with Fresh Peach.

If you have this palette, I hope it keeps you in a summery mood all year long and that it inspires you to be passionate about your eyeshadow transformations often!

New Release: Anastasia Beverly Hills Maya Mia Palette (Limited Edition)

This week, a brand new palette was released from Anastasia Beverly Hills, and it is a collaboration between them and the Tanzanian makeup artist Maya Mia (maya_mia_y on Instagram), this is right on the heels of their Amrezy Palette Release last month. I notice familiar names between their latest palettes so let me delve right into my review of this palette.

The outer packaging and the cover of the palette itself are identical on top, the color choice is vibrant and frankly my favorite to date from Anastasia. I feel like their packaging has gotten more attractive and complex as their palettes have progressed over time.

The palette itself comes with the same dual-ended brush that was seen in the Amrezy palette and it is a very handy, usable brush (one side is a shadow packing brush and the other is a fine crease brush).

The back of the outer packaging includes a small preview, short explanation of the style of the palette, and details ingredients used.

Repeat colors from the Amrezy palette: Glisten, Vanilla and Caramel. 

Repeat colors from the Lavish palette: Sienna.

Unique colors: Nude, Deep Brown, Warm Taupe, Aqua, Fresh Peach, Gold Bar.

Out of the unique colors, the ones which performed best were Deep Brown, Warm Taupe, Gold Bar and Fresh Peach. I found that Aqua had to be packed on in multiple layers to get decent pigmentation, otherwise it just seems like a sheer wash of light blue. I really liked the impact of Deep Brown, it's a great shade to cut your crease with and darken your outer corner. I like that although there are repeats of colors in this palette range, the pops of color are unique, since those are probably the colors used least.

This palette included something extra special: 5 free look cards which detail how to achieve each look on the back - this is a great inclusion to inspire your daily makeup, especially if you want to do something extra special.

I used the first look card, it consisted of 4 shades: Vanilla, Warm Taupe, Sienna and Deep Brown. I chose to go with a less dramatic black winged liner, and this is the look I achieved:

Overall, I really thoroughly enjoyed this palette and I was able to pick it up from the Anastasia Beverly Hills flagship salon and store in Beverly Hills, close to Rodeo Dr. - which made it an even better experience for me! I also picked up a Contour Kit and am excited to review that for you soon (I have used it every day since purchasing it!)