polly esther: everyday smoky eye (an lightly detailed tutorial of sorts)

I set out to make a video tutorial the other day. But about seven minutes in my camera cut off. When I watched back what did record I was really unhappy with the lighting and how everything showed up on camera. I think it just may not be the time to take on the video tutorial endeavor.

But, I really wanted to complete some kind of tutorial for my friend, Misty, who requested a quick, everyday, very wearable smoky eye look.The smoky eye has really grown in popularity. Yet, it can seem a bit intimidating or even overly dramatic. But, it can actually be quite easy and wearable. It’s one of my favorite looks. A smoky eye is not so much about color as it is application. You can have a purple smoky eye or a blue or brown smoky eye. Smoky eyes don’t come in black alone! There are several variations on the smoky eye. But the one I will outline here is one of my favorites – especially for my eye shape. I find it to be pretty quick and therefore a great every day, go-to look.If you find that smoky looks you’ve tried before seem too dramatic when you look in the mirror I think you might be fond of this version. Try some hazy shades of purple or gray. You’ll need two to three shades in the same color family and a neutral highlighting/blending shade similar to your skin tone. In this example I used grays and silvers.1) Apply an eye shadow primer all over your lid and up to your brow. Make sure to add some primer to the corners and a little below the lower lash line.
2) (Hot pink line in photo above) Take your darkest shade of gray and apply it very close to your lash line with a liner or shader brush in a fairly thick line. Don’t worry about being too precise. You’re going to blend as you go.
3) Using a fluffy dome or blending brush apply a small, light amount of the darkest color along the line your applied in Step 2. Feather this color along your lid. But be sure NOT to go above the crease with this color. Blend and feather this color until your lid is covered while leaving the darkest portion along your lashline.
4) (Green line in photo) Using your medium gray shadow blend, in a windshield wiper motion, along your lid just below and into your crease, concentrating the most color in the outer corner of the eye.
5) (White line in photo) Just above the crease blend in your lightest shade of grey, again, in a windshield wiper motion while concentrating the most color in the outer corner of the eye.
6) With a small or pointy crease or liner brush apply the medium gray along your lower lash line stopping about half-way or around the point of your lash line where your lashes begin to thin. Make sure to join this color in the outer corner to the color on your upper lid.
7) (Yellow line in photo) Then apply a neutral toned shadow under the highest point of your eyebrow’s arch and blend out.
8) To brighten the inner corner of your add your neutral tone with a small pointed brush around the tear duct. And join this color under the lower lash line to the medium gray.
9) Using a very pointed pencil liner or a good gel liner with an angled liner brush apply a thin line of black liner very close to the upper lash line.
10) Curl lashes and apply mascara!

EYE PRODUCTS USED
· Urban Decay Primer Potion
· MAC eye shadow in Soot (darkest shade – indicated by the pink line in photo)
· MAC eye shadow in Knight Divine (medium, silvery gray – indicated by green lines in photo and used under lower lash line)
· Bare Escentuals glimmer in Marquise (light silver gray – indicated by white lines in photo)
· MAC eye shadow in Vanilla (skin toned, neutral – indicated by yellow line and used to blend lightest grey and in inner corner of eye and under inner portion of lower lash line)
· MAC Fluidline gel liner in Blacktrack
· Dior Show mascara in black

Optional: if you have smaller eyes and feel like your eyes need something to open them up and make you look wider eyed you can use a white or flesh toned liner to line your water line. But do so carefully and with a clean, newly sharpened pencil liner. I used a Rimmel kohl liner in Pure White and smudged it lightly and very carefully with a CLEAN small liner brush. I smudge this white liner so that it is not so stark white. I've heard great things about Stila Kajal eye liner in the nudge color Topaz .

LIP PRODUCTS USED
· MAC liner in Subculture
· MAC lipstick in Myth
· NARS lipgloss in Turkish Delight

When I wear a darker or a smokier eye I like to wear a light lip to keep the look in balance and keep the attention on the eye.

FACE
· Make Up For Ever 5 Camouflage Palette cream concealer No. 1
· Bare Escentuals i.d. Prime Time foundation primer
· Bare Escentuals Bare Mineral foundation in Fair
· Bobbi Brown Taupe (for contouring)
· Bare Esentuals Mineral Veil
· MAC sheer tone blush in Dollymix

BRUSHES & TOOLS I USED FOR EYES
· Sonia Kashuk small blending brush
· MAC 222 tapered blending brush
· MAC 219 pencil brush
· Sonia Kashuk small flat shader brush
· Sonia Kashuk fluffy blending brush
· Bare Escentuals full tapered shadow brush
· Sonia Kashuk bent liner brush
· Shu Uemera lash curler

If you're looking for a line of budget friendly brushes to invest in I recommend the Sonia Kashuk line that can be found at Target. Another affordable alternative is the CVS line Essence of Beauty.

Try a smoky eye look soon and let me know what you think! If you have more questions or who like to make a request for another tutorial please leave a comment.

polly esther: mail bag

Following my recent review of eye shadow primers I received a few questions about the use of these products that I'd like to address.

QUESTION: Do you allow primers to dry before applying shadow?

ANSWER: Yes & no.

This depends on both the primer and which type of shadow you are using. With a primer that starts out tackier - such as Urban Decay's Primer Potion - you want to allow the primer to dry slightly before applying shadow. This really doesn't take long at all. In the time it takes to gather your shadows and brushes your primer should be dry and ready to go. Primer/bases like MAC Paint Pot really require no drying time.

Now, with loose pigments or minerals - such as Bare Escentuals, MAC pigments , or Make Up For Ever Pure Pigments - you'll want to act more quickly and take advantage of the sticking power of the primer while it's still wet or tacky. Pack a flat shader brush with the loose powder and pat it onto your lid to avoid fall-out.

This is actually a comment from my mom

QUESTION: You told me if use an amount about the size of a rice grain.

ANSWER: If you use a primer from a tube - such as Too Faced Shadow Insurance that had no applicator-a good tip is that you''ll need an amount that is about the size of a grain of rice.

So, have you tried an eye shadow primer yet? I've love to know! Leave a comment.

polly esther: bare escentuals 20% sale

Shop on-line this weekend at BareEscentuals.com and receive 20% off your order. Use the checkout code SHARE.


For more info click here.

polly esther: TIP - bare escentuals on qvc

I have found one that, when it comes to Bare Escentuals, one of the best places to stretch your dollar QVC. This weekend brings us several opportunities to get our BE on...

• Friday, May 15 - 11am & 6-9pm ET
• Saturday, May 16 - 2-4am & 2-5pm ET
• Sunday, May 17 - 9-11am and 4-7pm ET

Here is a great limited edition set to perk up your complexion. Bare Ecentuals brushes are great tools to add to your brush collection. This set comes packaged in a gold case...all at a great price!

bareMinerals Brighten Up 4-pc Collection & Gold Case

Retail Value $66.00
QVC Price: $36.00
This weekend's Anniversary Price: $29!!

Includes:
0.02 oz soft focus warmth all-over face color in sheer chestnut
0.02 oz rose radiance all-over face color in sheer pink glow
0.02 oz soft focus dune all-over face color in white wash lemon
Double-ended lighten and brighten brush
And a fiercely cute golden case.

Also keep an eye out for BE Buxom Lip Polish. This tingly and minty lip gloss/polish comes in fourteen colors can plump up your pucker!

Tune into QVC this weekend to check out the original mineral makeup!

cookies, candies, and lip gloss

This not sleeping normally thing has got stop. Every night I think, “Tonight will be different. Tonight I will sleep like a normal person.” Okay, so my life is not so normal right now. But I try to take my meds that make me drowsy early enough for them to do their job. I drink a glass of milk. I get comfy. I listen to some soothing music. But I’m just awake. Meanwhile, Derby is snoring away at the foot of the bed.

Well, while I’m up…

I got a few wonderful packages this week!


First, a gift of cookies from CookieParcel.com courtesy of my friend, Robin, and her family. Robin is a really amazing woman. She’s had her own mountains to climb lately and she’s kicked butt climbing them. I found out that for a little extra CookieParcel.com will also send a dozen cookies to an solider who is recovering at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Robin said, “So because I sent some to you I was able to send some to a soldier who is probably in pain, too, so you can feel good about that (and know somebody else out there is mixing pumpkin cookies with their pain meds tonight). Knowing that made my pumpkin cookies all the more special.

Today I got a care package from my god-children. It was nothing but a box of fun! It included:

• Some original artwork.
• Two balls of dishcloth cotton – Peaches and Crème in the colorways Fiesta & Red.
• A purple recorder! (I’m considering learning something really elaborate to play for my Aunt Trudy, the elementary school music teacher, at Thanksgiving.)
• Burt’s Bees Pomegranate lip balm (always good to have on hand)
• Lots of fun candy – M & M’s, a giant box of Bottle Caps – which I L-O-V-E, some Tootsie Rolls, gummies… AND some Japanese apple gummies and ginger candy that is just awesome awesome, awesome.
• A bag of Beggin Strips for the dogs. And a squeaky pizza toy for Derby. He was immediately in love with this pizza slice and would not let Memphis or Keyara see, sniff, or touch it.

And on Thursday a new Bare Escentuals kit arrived from QVC. Yay! This is the first in the Diamonds Collection – Champagne Diamonds.

Bare Escentuals has tried to mix things up a bit and instead of doing a make-up bag they’ve been including everything in a mirrored vanity box. They are handy. But I have five of them now. But for the Diamonds collection they have changed things up and bit...and put the mirror on the horizontal!

I love love love the new Natural lip gloss. I love the packaging, I love the smell, the feel, the wearabilty, the brush. And the color in the Champagne Diamonds kit, Brilliance, is a really great neutral color. I am hoping they will be including new shades of the Natural lip gloss in the remaining Diamond kits. I also like...

• the peachy champagne colored eye shadow, Flawless Diamond,
• the steely chocolate liner shadow, Smoky Diamond.

The Cognac Diamond eyeshadow seems similar to other BE shadows I have. So I was not too wowed by it. I’ve not used the Diamond blush yet. A couple of the brushes I may put up for swap on MakeupGeek.com. But the Crease Defining Brush is great and I know I’ll get good use of it.

friends and sanctuary

After a sleepless night and only a few hours sleep late this morning my day shaped up quite nicely. Thanks to some CMA week goings on LYLASarah only had to work a half day. With the office closing early she headed north to come visit me! When you’re accustomed to seeing someone practically every day not seeing them for over two weeks seems like a really long time – especially when a surprise surgery is inserted in there. Sarah’s visit was good medicine for my soul. Not to mention that she brought me my much missed canister of Teavana Earl Grey Creme' that I had left at the office.

In the midst of her visit my dear friend, Louis, and his son brought by a wheelchair that will help me get around easier when I see my neurosurgeon in Nashville tomorrow. My sprained ankle cannot bear much weight and because of my back I am not able to use crutches. So the wheelchair will come in very handy.

Sarah brought me a great “get well” gift from the new Bare Escentuals boutique in Cool Springs (Franklin, TN). It’s an eye color exclusive to the BE Boutique stores called Sanctuary. Don’t you love that name? I just love that name. And the color is gorgeous. It’s pewter shade with flecks of jade. 100% of the proceeds from Sanctuary will benefit United Animal Nations (UAN). Sarah knows the many ways to my heart. And several of them involve eye shadows and lip gloss.

monday mash-up

I saw this truck on my way to work this morning. I saw it and immediately was sad. I still can't believe Vitor Meira won't be with Panther Racing next season. Here's hoping for a return to Rahal Letterman Racing or maybe a move to Luzco Dragon. I always thought Vitor represented the National Guard with such class and high regard. My Bare Escentuals 10 piece Fall Platinum set arrived today - the fourth in an auto-delivery program from QVC. Yay!I LOVE the eye shadow colors. They are stunning. I can't wait to use them. The set also includes Feather Light Mineral Veil, which is one of my favorite Bare Escentuals products.