Chanel Peridot Inspired Eye Look: Gold/Green/Blue/Purple!

After all the Chanel Peridot (along with its two dupes, OPI Just Spotted the Lizard and Sephora Diving in Malaysia) hype, I thought to myself, since I liked the Chanel Peridot colour so much, why should I limit myself to just wearing it on nails? I wanted to see if I could recreate the look or feel of Chanel Peridot on my eyes!



I was looking at my own bottle of Sephora Diving in Malaysia (one of the Peridot dupes - I'm cheap like that, but hey, my spending money comes out of my salary, aka money I actually have to earn), and I paid attention to the colours at the edge of the bottle, where you see the duochrome. To me, it looked as though the gold colour was ringed by concentric circles of green, blue, and purple, each blending into each other. Well, it's quite complex, but that was my oversimplified way of breaking it down.

So, in order to recreate this look, I used a bunch of colours. I used Urban Decay Maui Wowie for the gold part, mixed with the tiniest bit of Sleek Screwdriver, from the Sleek Curacao Palette, to make it a little bit more yellow for colour accuracy. For the blue and the green I used two shades from an el cheapo Love Alpha Palette I got sometime back (middle two shades on the bottom row, if you really want to know). For the purple shade, I used the purple shade in my BeautyUK Day and Night Eyeshadow Palette. I don't know how much of each of the individual colours you can see (other than the gold), because I was trying to blend them one into the other - sort of like the nail polish.



Anyway, I used the gold shade on the lid, and then added on the blue, green, and purple respectively nearer the contour area. And then I blended everything together. And that's it, really. I had to adjust some of the blending a little bit here and there to match my bottle of Diving in Malaysia a little more. It's not a perfect match, but it sort of looks like Peridot, right? Sort of?



While this isn't normally a look I'd wear (or a colour combination I'd even think of making up), I think I quite like it. I wouldn't wear it out or anything, but I did have fun doing this look!

Flirty False Lashes: Before and After!

Nothing makes a pretty eye like a gorgeous set of lashes. And if you don't have it, why not fake it? While I'm not a big fan of false lashes in general (I don't like the feeling of something being stuck to my eye), I do appreciate the effect that it gives. And, holiday season is the perfect time to go all OTT with length, volume, and bling on lashes - I don't know about you, but I always feel like consumers tend to buy more false lashes whenever there are holidays.

The false lashes I tried out were from KKCenterHK, a Hong Kong-based online retailer of various types of makeup and beauty items. I've previously reviewed another of their lashes which were more natural-looking. This pair I have now is ES A63, which really gives you that va-va-voom effect!



Although the lashes are advertised as short and natural, they aren't actually very short or natural looking, in my opinion. These are some serious lashes! They come with a clear lash band, so you don't get that thick black lashbone being visible, but the individual lashes themselves are long and thick. This isn't a bad thing though - if you want lashes that have a bit more drama, these are perfect, without being to OTT.

Don't believe me? Here are some before and after photos. I used my sister's eye for this shot, and it wasn't easy persuading her to stay perfectly still, hold her eye open, and look straight at the camera, so I hope someone appreciates the effort it took me to bribe my sister to do this!

Here's a before shot of my sister's eye. I cheated and used the shots from my previous false lashes review, because i didn't want to go through the trouble of taking another set of bare eye photos (see paragraph above).



And here's the before shot of my sister's eye, closed this time. (Once again, photo was nicked from the previous review, for the same reason).



Now, ready for some magic? Let me wave my wand and bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, awesome lashes have you! Man, don't you love those classic Disney movies?



And here's a closed eye shot of the lashes. In this shot, you can see how long and thick they are in comparison to my sister's natural lashes.



Although these don't look that natural to me, they're perfect for that special night out. In terms of wear, they're relatively comfortable for a pair of falsies, and the lashbone is relatively flexible and pliable. So there you have it - a gorgeous set of lashes at a reasonable price, that really transform the look of the eye.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Mimididi 3D Flashing Diamond Powder Eyeshadow: The Foiled Eye Look

Every so often, I come across a cheap-yet-awesome makeup product, and then it becomes my mission to share it with all of you guys. My most recent cheap, unknown, but still pretty darn good find is the Mimididi 3D Diamond Powder Eyeshadow. I'm not too sure where the Mimididi brand hails from, other than that it's from somewhere in Asia - it kind of sounds Korean, but I can't seem to find a Korean makeup brand called Mimididi (I did find an online clothes shop/fashion website of the same name though).

The Mimididi Flashing Diamond Powder Eyeshadows come in a range of shades, and can be found on KKCenterHK, a Hong Kong-based retailer and wholesaler of a wide range of cosmetic and nail items. I've had a few dealings with KKCenterHK, and so far, they've been pretty reliable and reasonable in terms of communication, shipping, and quality of products. I got the Mimididi Powder Eyeshadow in shade 5 - it was so hard picking just one, because I was just so attracted to how shiny and blingy and awesome they looked online.

The Mimididi Diamond Powder Eyeshadows come in a small little plastic box, with a see-through window showing the colour of the eyeshadow. You actually get quite a generous amount of product - the pans are quite a lot bigger than your typical MAC-sized eyeshadow pans. They're closer in size to the Stila eyeshadow pans. For US$7, it's not a bad deal.



Each eyeshadow comes with a flip-up base, containing a small little mirror, as well as a sponge eyeshadow applicator. Both of these would be useful in a pinch, although they are probably too small for everyday use. The extra bulk makes the eyeshadow case a little clunky, but it's nothing I can't live with.



The shade I got, No. 5, is a gorgeous neutral antique gold-brown shade, but with lots of foil-y shimmer Think of Stila's Golightly or Wheat, or MAC Patina, but all blinged up and on steriods! I gotta admit, I really love this shade. It's a neutral shade, but totally taken to a whole new level with the kickass shimmer and glitter. The perfect illustration of a shade that's neutral but not boring!



Now, as a rule I generally don't like products that are too glittery, but this isn't like some eyeshadows with irritating big glitter bits. The effect is really more like a foiled pigment when applied on the eye. Don't believe me? Just check out the EOTD (Eye of the Day) I did with this eyeshadow. I loved the colour so much, I didn't want to pair it with anything else, so it was just this eyeshadow on the eyelid area, blended out a bit towrds the contour area.



One big advantage of the Mimididi eyeshadows is that you can acheive a foiled effect, without the risk of knocking over a container of loose pigment and having its contents stain the carpet. (That actually happened to me...I had to vacuum the carpet, then use tape to remove the coloured residue that refused to be vacuumed out. Sigh.)

Of course, since the Mimididi Diamond Powder Eyeshadows are essentially like big bits of pigments, but pressed, I would still recommend extra care when applying them, since there is fallout to be sure. I'd say the fallout is more than your average pressed eyeshadow, but isn't as troublesome as some loose pigments I've dealt with.



Also, in order for these to really pop and give that "I-foiled-a-pigment" effect, I recommend using a primer, or some sort of sticky base, under the eyeshadows, as on a dry, bare eye, the effect isn't as great. Here in these photos, I was too lazy to use a proper primer, so I just a bit of my undereye concealer for the base. I was using MAC Studio Finish Concealer, but I don't generally recommend using concealer as a base, because the concealer may slide and shift, moving the eyeshadow along with it. This is where I have to encourage you to do as I say, not as I do :P



All in all, I'm pretty impressed. For a no-brand, unknown-origin eyeshadow, the Mimididi eyeshadow really exceeded the lowly expectations I set for it. I love the neutral-but-not-boring colour that's classy but with a touch of bling, I love the foiled effect it gives, and I like that I can create such an effect without having to use loose pigments. I'm quite glad I discovered this cheap, unknown gem, and am quite happy with it. The only downside is that it does still have fallout when used without a base, but hey, I guess if you want that foiled look, you gotta put in some work, right?

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Work Appropriate Neutral Brown EOTD on the Cheap!

Today's EOTD is a rather boring, basic one - it's just a simple brown EOTD that you're supposed to be able to wear to (most) work places. And it's pretty good example of how you don't have to spend a fortune on makeup to look good!



This simple EOTD (Eye of the Day) was done with my awesomely cheap 26 Colour Eyeshadow and Blush Palette, which I got from KKCenterHKa, a Hong Kong-based retailer of various brands of affordable Asian makeup. Over the past week or so, I've been playing around with this deceptively cheap and simple palette, and I've been quite happy with the variety of looks it can produce for the cheap price of the palette. Sure the palette's no MAC, but it's good for what it is.

The two shades with the "X" on them are what I used for this look. The lighter brown shade was used on the lid, while the darker brown shade was placed in the contour area.



Here's a look with the eye closed, so you can see the shades and the blending. I really am quite fond of the light brown, for some reason. It's a light matte, malt brown, which looks deceptively boring, but is so wearable. For some reason, the darker brown seemed to pull quite red on me, but not so much that it became unwearable.



Pigmentation and texture of this palette was pretty good - the shades showed up, although the lighter brown required a bit of layering to get it to that intensity that you see in the photo. The dark brown was quite pigmented, and blended easily.



You know I'm a neutrals kind of girl, so this look is totally up my alley! I absolutely love this look, and I hopefully haven't bored the colour addicts out there with this one. I guess after all the brights, everyone could use a little palette cleanser now and then!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Deep Purple EOTD with a Cheap Palette!

Ah, purple - one of my favourite colours both on the nails, as well as on the eyes. This gorgeous deep purple eye look is courtesy of my awesome 26 Colour Eyeshadow and Blush Palette, which I got from KKCenterHK. This time, I decided to go for placing the darker colour on the lid, instead of in the contour area, and I think it worked!



Here are the two colours that I used. The purple is was used on the lid, and the shimmery brown was used on the contour area.



The colours were pretty good, pigmentation-wise. The purple, having a more matte finish, had less pigmentation than the brown, but can still be built up for a more intense eye look.



And here's a look of the eye from a weird angle, just so you can see the blending of the eyeshadows. For some reason, although the purple is a bit more matte, it looks shimmery in the photo due to the blending, and the shimmer from the brown shadow got into the purple colour.



I like this look a lot, I think it's dark enough to be smokey, but not dark enough to look like you have a black eye, so it's quite versatile that way. I'm starting to like that 26 Colour Palette, as it can be used to produce quite a variety of looks.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)