NYX Wonder Stick - Review & Swatches (New Product Alert)

If you haven't checked out the new NYX displays at your local CVS, Beauty Supply Store or ULTA Beauty, you'll be surprised to find the vast array of new Spring 2015 items from the line. There are many additions to the permanent line-up of products and one of those is their 2-in-1 Contouring Stick aptly named the NYX Wonder Stick.  

Since contouring is all the rage in the beauty community right now and I have begun incorporating it into my daily makeup routine for the past few months, I figured this would be a fun product to try out and review for you all.

My NYX Wonder Stick is in the shade Light and you can tell straight out of the tube that the highlight is very light and the contour shade is a rather warm reddish brown shade.

The product is extremely creamy and I have found that they perform better when they are set with a powder, especially if you're going to be somewhere warm. I also do not suspect that this would be a great product for oily or combo skinned girls, but I have dry skin so it worked out quite well. If you live in a warm climate, I would be hesitant to order this because it might melt on you, as with most cream-stick products (stick to potted creams if you want them to stay in place!).

The highlight shade leans yellow and not pink, which is perfect for me because I have a neutral to yellow undertone to my skin, but I have heard complaints from others that this appears "shimmery" on them. I have not experienced any excess shine from this product.

The contour shade swatches much more taupe-leaning than I was expecting so I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't appear reddish or orange on my skin, it looks like a very natural shadow.

If you want to create the illusion of a stronger jawline, more chiseled cheeks or even a slimmer nose, or just to add depth and dimension to facial features, read more below for some contouring basics (as well as photos included with this product for a demonstration).

 The basic rules are the same for all skin tones but you can change up where you apply the shadows or highlights depending on what you want to recede (push back) or make more prominent (bring out), respectively.

Colors lighter than skin tone will bring out a feature closer to the fore-front of your face.

Colors darker than skin tone will push back a feature to the back plane of your face.

After applying your foundation and concealer, use the highlight side of the stick on your cheekbones, the middle of your forehead, down the center of your nose, your cupid's beau (between the middle of your upper lip and under the tip of your nose) and slightly above the jawline.

Use the contour side of the stick along your hairline to frame the face, under the cheekbones and down both sides of your nose (for a slimming effect, if desired) and under the jawline and chin.

The NYX Wonder Stick comes in 4 shades, including one Universal shade which the company claims is suitable for all skin tones (I can't verify this claim since I did not purchase this shade).

Verdict

I think this is a very useful tool if you are new to contouring or you're in a hurry to do your makeup quickly since it's a no-brainer. The staying power of the product is decent but can be improved to last all day if it is set with a similarly colored powder. I found that the lighter shade can accentuate pores, specifically because it is a slightly greasy formula so using a banana-colored powder or mattifying powder to set it is ideal.

The NYX Wonder Stick is $12 (which is on the higher-end for NYX Cosmetics) and depending on daily usage, could probably be used up rather quickly. If I used this product exclusively for my highlighting/contouring routine, I could use it up in a month. I would prefer if this was priced at $9, but you can always get it on sale at ULTA Beauty.

I give this product a 7.5/10 since it is very easy to use, the colors are rather nice and easy to use but given the caveat that you set them with a powder for longer wear-time. It's worth your buy if you don't already have cream contouring products.

Bridal Makeup for Lover.ly Lavender Feather Dress

I've been wanting to show some bridal looks on my blog for awhile and the perfect opportunity came up! This relatively easy light smokey lavender eye makeup perfectly matches the Feathers dress by Kelly Faetanini on Lover.ly. If you want to take a look at the wide variety of wedding dresses featured on their website. I have also uploaded a Polyvore collage to show you how I would accessorize the dress for a Winter Wonderland Wedding, including everything from pumps to jewelry and a matching coat!

And now, since I know you're dying to find out what the wedding dress looks like, here it is:

Feathers dress - Retailer: Kelly Faetanini found on Lover.ly

This dress was an easy choice for me since the fitted criss-cross wrapped bodice accentuates curves nicely and is a very traditional look, but right below it is a spectacular avant-garde pop of feathers and color: ombre lavender! Purple just happens to be my favorite color of all so this dress was just a match made in heaven!

For the completed makeup look, specifically for the eyes, I wanted to pull in the ombre lavender of the dress which goes up and down the length of it. On my eyes, the ombre goes from the inner corner (where it is lightest) to the smokey lavender outer corner (where it is darkest), this effect very closely mimics the dress. The dramatic winged eyeliner and cut crease are reflective of the feather appliques of the gown. Since this dress undoubtedly flutters dramatically when the bride walks, I wanted to add some delicate false eyelashes for the eyes to flutter as well.

The complexion of my skin was kept snowy bright and I used a light pink blush for a natural flush of color but plenty of highlighter to reflect the light reflectivity and sheen of the dress' silk satin fabric. I wanted to use a more saturated (so my lips stand out), but still natural, lip color so that it doesn't compete with the color of the dress. The overall look is classic-elegant, with a slight twist of the unexpected pop of color.

Without further ado, let's proceed onto the makeup look:

I like to start clean makeup looks by doing my eyes and finishing it off with the face so I can achieve a flawless finish on my skin (so excuse the lack of face makeup and concealer at first!). I filled my eyebrows in prior to starting the eyeshadow look.

I used Essence Eye Sorbet as an illuminating pink hued base all over my lid (in shade 04 illuminating plum). As a transition base for my eyelid I used the Physicians Formula Quad in Canyon Classics using the bottom right-most terracotta shade in the entire crease, bottom left-most shade in the outer edge of the crease, and the off-white shade under my eyebrows.

I used an angled liner brush to apply a rough outline of the wing with the matte black eyeshadow from the LORAC PRO Palette. This is good for mapping out the location of your wing on both eyes before you go in with your favorite liquid liner, it ensures your wings will be even on both sides!

I created a faux cut crease shape above my natural crease to give my eyes a larger appearance, using the NYX Cosmetics Hot Singles Eye Shadow in Own The Night (dark smokey purple). I blended out that extra cut crease with a medium matte brown, specifically NYX Cosmetics Hot Singles Eye Shadow in Coquette. 

I also added a pop of shimmer and lightness to brighten the inner corner of my eye with Annabelle Mineral Pigment Dust in the color Prism but you could also substitute with the NYX Loose Pearl Eye Shadow in White Pearl. 

To create extra drama, I applied Ardell Lashes in 102 Demi Black and applied mascara. You can really use any mascara you'd like but I find that volume-enhancing mascaras do a really great job of camouflaging false eyelashes, so I went with the Rimmel Scandaleyes Retro Glam Mascara.

I also applied black liquid liner on top of my guidelines from the previous step to achieve a crisp look and carried the matte black eyeshadow into my waterline and right underneath my eye.

For my bottom lashes, I switched to Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara because I was looking for a lengthening and separation effect, to make my eyes appear wide open and larger. The synthetic, sparse bristles on the wand from Tarte's mascara is ideal for lash separation. 

To add some sparkle to the inner corner and in keeping with the Winter Wonderland Wedding frosty theme, I added a tiny amount of LORAC 3D Liquid Lustre in Diamond. I absolutely love the way this gives an elegant tiny sparkle rather than a large chunky glitter effect, it's perfect for the holidays and weddings (or any other classy special events in your life).

For lipstick, I chose to go with Essence Long Lasting Lipstick in Barely There! for a plum-leaning my-lips-but-better nude. I figured since I would keep the complexion relatively light (since it is wintertime and heavy tans are unlikely) and the dress is white on top, there could be some added drama in the eyes and lips.

I applied my foundation and did some basic contouring with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette. Bridal looks tend to be more soft and subtle rather than highly contoured as you want to look as fresh and natural as possible. Avoid using contour shades that are too dark, a good rule of thumb is to use a powder that is 2 shades darker than your skin tone and apply contour to areas you want to send to the background of your face, such as the hollows underneath your cheekbones.

Try to use a foundation that doesn't have SPF as this causes a flash-back in photographs and can make your face appear rather ghostly on your special day!

I did my own makeup for my wedding day and I highly encourage you to do the same, because no matter how good of a makeup artist you employ, you will know your skin-type, eye shape and habits better than anyone else.

I also suggest trying to use false lashes on multiple occasions leading up to the big day so that you are used to them since they can feel rather "heavy" and potentially uncomfortable on the eyes initially until you get used to wearing them.

I hope you enjoyed my look and draw some inspiration from it for the holidays, your big wedding day, or any other occasions you may have coming up!

Magic: The Gathering Nissa Revane Inspired Makeup

Up next in the Magic: The Gathering Makeup Series, we have Nissa Revane! She has seen a lot of renewed love from the card Nissa, Worldwaker from the M15 set. She is a nature-mage and of the elven race. 

This look was definitely more involved than the Chandra Nalaar look I did yesterday since it involved a lot of facial markings and it was more difficult for me to achieve the right facial proportions, seeing as her head is lean, long and her features are quite harsh (contouring ftw!). 

Here's the concept and art that I based this look of Nissa Revane on:

Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast - Artist: Jaime Jones, 2009

 As before, I'm happy to take you through all the steps involved in creating this labor of love!

Start with a completely bare face, cover up any redness (and general other color you may have) to achieve a creamy smooth complexion. I used a ton of concealer all over my face, including my eyes and eyebrows - I really caked it on my eyebrows since the reference art shows Nissa with very fine brows.

The next step was adding Taupe on my lid, Sable as my transition shade and Espresso to define a larger domed shape around my eye to create the elongated elf-eyes and change my proportions. All colors used were from the LORAC PRO Palette . I made sure to add brown eyeshadows all the way up to my eyebrows around the inner corner since she has a triangular eye look.

I used a NYX Retractable Eye Pencil Brown  to define the fake new crease I created to make the dimensions of my eyes approximately 1/3rd larger. Then I took a light green eyeshadow from my Coastal Scents 88 Original Palette to subtly create some nature elf eyebrows.

I also blended out the liner with brown eyeshadows and carried them under my eye as well to create a cohesive look. I padded Cream from the LORAC PRO Palette onto the inner to center part of my eyelid to create a brightening effect.

e.l.f. Dramatic Eyelashes were applied and topped with a black Physicians Formula eyeliner to create a more defined look.

Then my camera died for a little while so I don't have intermittent photos. I contoured my face and nose by carrying the brown from my eyeshadow down the sides of the bridge of my nose. I minimized my nostrils and the tip of my nose by also applying some contour shades from the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit (a mixture of Fawn and Havana).

I applied tape to the straight lines in the makeup, which you can see above. Then I mixed brown and black eyeshadow from the Coastal Scents 88 Original Palette and colored along the edges of the tape. I also used my brown eyeliner to draw guidelines where the markings on her face begin and end so I could connect them symmetrically - however, I would suggest you use a nude eyeliner because I had to go back and conceal the brown color where I didn't apply color.

The lips were an adventure! First, I lined my lips with the NYX Retractable Eye Pencil in Brown. This created a pretty harsh look, just what I was going for! Then I created an ombre by smudging the liner out with a darker brown, then I worked up to a medium brown in the center of my lips. I think they turned out looking rather earthy.

After lots more tweaking and perfecting with concealer, make-shift post-it curved stencils, and free-handing spiky designs, we have a completed look! Phewf! I do have to say this look probably took me about 2 hours to get right, I was surprised just how long it took me to get the contour of my eyes to be slightly less human and more elvish.

Happy Hallowe'en everybody! Hope you enjoyed this look!

Magic: The Gathering Chandra Nalaar Inspired Makeup!

For Hallowe'en (and even going past the season) I decided that an interesting series to do would be Magic: The Gathering inspired makeup! I've wanted to do this for awhile now since my husband is *really* into the game and we often go to tournaments and engage in the community. My husband has done a lot of border extensions and artwork so I figured a good way to express my artistic aptitude for the game would be using the only canvas I actually know how paint on: my face.

Here's what Chandra Nalaar looks like in Magic: The Gathering:

Credit: Magic: The Gathering, Artwork by Steve Argyle

I took a series of photos that breaks down how to achieve this look if you're interested!

Start with a bare face, apply primer to your skin and a foundation that matches your skin-tone. Conceal your eyebrows using concealer (you can also use glue and light powder but I didn't think this was necessary for this look).

Then I used a burgundy red eyeshadow to fill in my eyebrows to get a better match to Chandra's auburn fire-burned brows. She has a brown undertone in the artwork, so my natural color played well with this, if you're a blonde you may want to mix brown and red eyeshadow to create an auburn effect.

I used Urban Decay's single eyeshadow in Freelove (golden vibrant peach) in my crease and applied an orange eyeshadow from the Coastal Scents 88 Original Palette. I used this nifty trick of applying some tape extending out in a line from my lower lash line to achieve a precise edge - make sure to press the tape on the back of your hand a few times before applying it around your delicate eye area to make sure the adhesive is weak.

Near the lashline, roughly apply a matte black eyeshadow, I used the one from the LORAC PRO Palette. Then, on my lid, between the bold orange I applied in the previous step and above the Black shade, I used Garnet (or a deep, shimmery red) from the same palette.

I defined the line with my Physicians Formula liquid eyeliner in Black to get a very crisp and bold edge. Then I used the Coastal Scents palette and put the yellow-most shade all around the inner corner of my eye.

I used the liquid eyeliner to create a second "wing" going downwards in a sideways "V" shape from the original wing. The final look is achieved by further smoking out only the top of the liquid eyeliner with more Black eyeshadow. I also accented my inner corner and inside the sideways "V" with NYX Loose Pearl Eye Shadow in Yellow Gold. I also applied falsies, e.l.f. Essential Dramatic Eyelashes to be exact.

I smudged black eyeliner along the lower waterline of my eye and then smoked it out with the same Black eyeshadow. Then I used the NYX Cosmetics Loose Pearl Eyeshadow Pigment in Rust underneath to connect and transition between the yellow color accents. I wanted to add the extra yellow to represent "sparks"!

You can use any red lipstick or lip-stain as long as it isn't pink-leaning as a base for the lips. After applying that all over, I used NYX Cosmetics Loose Pearl Eyeshadow Pigment in Rust and right in the middle, I applied the pigment in Yellow Gold (the same ones I used on my eyes).

To finish off the entire face, I used the Yellow Gold pigment as a highlight on my cheekbones, down my nose, forehead, cupid's bow and chin. Then I transitioned to the Rust pigment and used that contour my cheeks and create the "hollows" that add definition and create a more overall "fiery" effect.

I hope you like the look I created!

If you create a look inspired by this series, I really hope you show it to me on Twitter or leave a comment below the post linking to it!

"Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire"

- Jaya Ballard, task mage