Tutorial: Silver & Purple Look Inspired By PinkPerception Modified for Monolids

One of my followers suggested doing a tutorial inspired by this look created by the super talented Anna a.k.a @pinkperception! She wanted to see how it'll look modified for monolids, and I decided to give it a try. Here's how mine looks!

So in @pinkperception's tutorial, she uses a shadow shield, which can be replaced with tape. I ran out of tape, but figured I shouldn't procrastinate on this, so I'm doing this tutorial without tape. If you have tape lying around and prefer using it as a guide/to help you keep the edges crisp, go for it! If you don't have tape, I'll show you another way you can get a crisp edge!

For this look, I'm using a Wet n Wild palette & Dark Matter Makeup's Makoto.

1. After applying primer, apply the silver eyeshadow in a semi-circle, making sure it peeks above your "eye line". I know most tutorials call for this step last, but I personally find it easier to do this first with my monolids, since I have no crease to guide me and help me figure out how high this should go. If you're comfortable with doing it the traditional way, there's nothing wrong with that too! It's just that I have the tendency to look like I got a botched up plastic surgery when I do it the traditional way. Apply loose powder above the semi-circle. This will help you get a softer blend later.

2. Grab a tapered blending brush and blend a purple eyeshadow above the semi-circle. Now...this part really depends on the shape of your eyes. Some girls with Asian eyes have told me that a lot of typical non-Asian looks make them look "off" and they're not sure what it is. I find that usually, the high upward sloping (like cat eyes) shape typical of non-Asian make up may not be the most flattering for Asian eyes, and that's why it can look "off" for some women. I've applied the purple eyeshadow in the shape that's still similar to my inspiration pic (higher at the edges), but modified to make it more flattering for more Asian eyes (sloping downwards) towards the edges. Again, this really depends on your eyes. I like how dramatic cat-eye shaped eyeshadow placement looks on me, but I know it's not for everyone.

3. Now grab a dark purple eyeshadow, and with the same tapered blending brush, blend it into the edges of the silver semi-circle, going higher on the outer edges (view 3a for a rough sketch of eyeshadow placement & blending directions).

4. Grab a clean crease brush and brush it back and forth at the top of the eyeshadows to further soften the blend. This is the point where you take off the tape if you were using it. If you're not using tape, grab a cotton pad, soak it in eye make up remover, fold it in half, and align it with where you want the crisp bottom edge of your eyeshadow to be. If you're not sure how to angle it, a good guide is to just follow the angle of your outer lower lashline as it slopes out.

5. [OPTIONAL] Now here's how you can really create an illusion of a crease on monolids. Some people may find this a bit too dramatic for real life, so feel free to skip it. Grab a super precise eyeliner brush and use it to apply a line of black eyeshadow, outlining the silver semi-circle. Blend it well.

6. Now, @pinkperception tightlined her lashline, but with hooded monolids, I'm afraid that line just won't show up. If your monolids are hooded like mine, there's no way around it, you'll have to go way fatter with the line towards the outer corner, so it looks like there's a triangle sitting on the edge of your eye. It'll look slightly more dramatic when you close your eyes, but it'll be fine when you open your eyes, I promise.

7. Line the outer half of your lower lashline with the purple eyeshadow, dab the silver eyeshadow in your inner corners and apply lashes. That's it!

Using Eccentric Cosmetics' Iguazu Falls on my lips!

Review & Swatches: Dark Matter Makeup Blues & Brights Eyeshadows (15 colours) & 1 Lipsaber Colour

Here's my final review for my Dark Matter Makeup stash, and I'm reviewing 15 eyeshadow shades and a lipsaber in Darth Maulvelous. Head here for part 1, head here for part 2!

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Darth Maulvelous Lipsaber Swatch & Review

This is like a creamed lipstick and similar in texture to Fyrinnae's lip lustres...think mashed potatoes sort of texture but slightly stiffer. Like Fyrinnae's formula, it sometimes needs to be warmed up so the doe foot applicator can get the product out. I usually just stick it under my armpits since I'm not blessed in the boobage department, so I have no boobs to stick it in between. 

It's definitely comfortable to wear and non-sticky. Like most lip products formulated for comfort, it's not too long-lasting and they do transfer a lot, but I don't mind it since I prefer comfort to longevity. I found the formula a tad drying, but it could be because my lips have been feeling dry for a while. There was a bit of feathering after some time, but it's nothing that can't be fixed with concealer or a lip liner.

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Eyeshadows Review & Swatches

Glitter Glue Macros:

Under natural light, over Darling Girl's glitter glue

Primer Macros:

Under natural light, over Urban Decay's Primer Potion

Now that I've tried all 52 colours, I'm comfortable giving a general review of the formula. When I chatted with Dom about the swatches I'd do for her, she asked for glitter glue swatches since that's the base she recommends customers to use. I agree with her since the colours are generally best patted on over glitter glue as the main part of your look so you can really capture the gorgeous shifts. These colours are really pretty, and most of the prettiness is lost over primer, or goes bald when blended out. Due to the limitations of glitter glue and the steeper learning curve, I'd recommend these colours for people who are more practiced with using glitter glue with loose shadows, or prefer graphic, unblended looks. Personally, I love them the most as ombré liners (tutorial here). 

I also find that the mattes tend to have a slight sheen to them, so they're not as matte as I prefer. 

I noticed that any colour with a blue/green base and Leo tends to stain heavily, and even several washes with an oil-based make up remover won't remove the stains:

There's more, but these are the ones I took pictures of. 

The staining on my lids usually last about 2 days. I'm personally not a fan of the staining since it limits what kind of looks I can do the next day since I have to cover up the green stains on my lids.

They're definitely pretty colours though, and I love how pretty they are over a sticky base!

Under Natural Light

Makoto is a pretty silver. It's supposed to have a green shift. I don't really see much of a shift IRL, but I don't mind as much since the colour's easy to use. 

Why So Sirius? is this blackened silver that sometimes darkens, depending on what primer you use. It's pretty pressure sensitive too, and may look more like a dark grey when blended. 

Ariel is pretty easy to use over primer, I like this colour a lot. It turns more teal when blended and tends to stain your lids.

Sagittarius is extremely sparkly so it's very glitter glue dependent. It's best patted on since it tends to look like Chiaki or Margeret when blended, and turns into this muddy black.

Chiaki is best patted on since it tends to look like Margaret or Sagittarius when blended, and turns into this muddy black.

Margaret is best patted on since it tends to look like Chiaki or Sagittarius when blended, and turns into this muddy black.

See You Space Cowboy is pretty enough over primer alone and isn't glitter glue dependent. The colour is rather pressure sensitive, so apply it carefully and avoid creasing. This colour tends to stain your lids heavily.

Marie is supposed to be matte, but like most DMM mattes, it has a bit of a sheen. This colour tends to stain your lids heavily.

Neptune is gorgeous and my favourite formula out of the blues. This colour tends to stain your lids heavily.

Triton is really gorgeous but I did struggle with getting an even application with this colour. I ended up with a lot of fall out and it still ends up a bit patchy. This colour tends to stain your lids heavily.

Pisces is such a gorgeous colour, but like Triton, I struggled getting an even application and found the formula even more prone to going bald on my lids than Triton. Definitely glitter glue dependent. This colour tends to stain your lids heavily.

Michiru is apparently supposed to have an orange highlight and I didn't know about this until I checked the description. I thought I got a bad batch, but when I look closely at the macro swatches, I think I see it. When you use it though, it's too subtle to really show up.

TMTYL is a bright colour I really like, and it looks best over a white eyeliner. I find that the colour does not show up when blended over another eyeshadow and tends to just add a mild green tint, so you can create cool effects with it. The colour mildly stains your lids.

Leo is a very vibrant colour and mildly stains your lids. The duochrome's a bit on the fragile side, so I can't seem to capture the shift when I apply it over glitter glue on my eyes because of the way my eyes crease. 

Minako is a great bright yellow. I could capture the duochrome in my swatches, but on my eyes, they tend to just go bald and turn into a plain yellow. 

Under Yellow-Toned Artificial Light

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On my eyes...

Flaming Lamborghini Inspired Look

I used Chiaki, Leo, Neptune, Leo & See You Space Cowboy. I found that Chiaki tended to go muddy when blended here, while Neptune's awesome to blend.


Michiru, Ariel & Chiaki Halo

Makoto is the all over lid colour, with Ariel being the overall halo colour and Chiaki on the outer corners. Michiru is on my lower lashline. You can kind of see the greenish sheen to Ariel, but it looks more grey. It's really blendable though.


Minions Inspired Look with Marie, Makoto & Minako

There's a slight sheen to Marie, and Minako ended up plain yellow. They're still nice and bright colours that are perfect for a Minions inspired look though!

Squeezing in as many colours as possible...

I used white eyeliner on my lower lashline to get such a vibrant colour. I struggled with blending Pisces & Triton, so I tried another look with just Pisces & Triton to see if they'll perform better.

The lips is Limnit's Bewitching Hour! Love this colour so much!

Pisces & Triton

Pisces is at the sides and kind of goes muddy. I definitely struggled with these two colours and wasn't happy with how patchy it looked with my eyes closed. I tried my best to make it smooth and this was how much fall out I got while trying to pat the colour on smoothly:

Neon Orange Cut-Crease with Leo, Annie, Chiaki

This was over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. I think because of the way my eyes crease, I can't seem to replicate the shift I got from my glitter glue swatches.

Sagittarius, Ariel & Ursa Major

As you can see, Ariel & Neptune blends really easily. Unfortunately, when I tried to get a bit of brown on the sides by blending Ursa Major in, I ended up wiping my eyeshadow away and ended up with that bald patch. Luckily it's not too obvious when I open my eyes..the joys of monolids!

Ariel tends to stain, and you can see where I placed the colour based on the stain:

Michiru over Pixie Epoxy with white eyeliner

I wanted to see if I can capture the orange sparkles in Michiru on my eyes, so I used a glitter adhesive. This look looks really patchy, but it's because I used that method where I applied the eyeshadow and blended as needed over primer first, then apply glitter glue in spots where I wanted the glitter to show up. Unfortunately, this makes it look patchy since there's a stark difference between how the colour looks like over a sticky base and over primer.


See You Space Cowboy Over Primer Only

I wanted to show how blendable See You Space Cowboy is. Here, I blended it with Ellen.

Review & Swatches: 17 Dark Matter Make Up Shades – The Pinks & Purples

Sorry the reviews are taking longer than expected. I usually can only do 1 EOTD per day, so trying to use most of the colours on my eyes is taking a while. In this review, I'll be reviewing and swatching 17 more Dark Matter Makeup (DMM) eyeshadows. For part 1 which contains 20 swatches, click here.

Swatches

Primer macros!

Under Natural Light

Mae is best over primer only and I found it very easy to use over primer. It's very blendable and pigmented over primer.

Annie is like Mae –best and easy to use over primer only. Definitely just as blendable as Mae.

Usagi is just gorgeous in swatches. I actually have to show more close ups of this colour:

Unfortunately, I found it slightly difficult to get this same effect on my lids —the colour keeps turning into this dark purple that's similar to Hotaru, only it's with a slight golden shift. It's pretty, but different from the arm swatches. I think the colour difference between the arm and eye swatches is because it's easier to capture more of the metallic gold duochrome on the arm swatches.

Ixion is supposed to be a matte, but it has a slight sheen to it. I found that using a fluffy brush can lead to a bit of streakiness, so for best results, it's best to blend with a short stiff brush.

Gemini looks really different over primer and glitter glue so it's like getting 2 colours for the price of one. If you like just adding glitter glue in spots where you want more glitter though, the difference may be too stark and you'll end up with a noticeable unblended patch. The colour also sheers out a lot when you blend it out over primer, which makes the difference even more noticeable. 

Capricorn is one of my least favourite formulas. I found it draggy, patchy, and rather sheer. I was struggling to get an even swatch in all the swatches except for the one where I foiled it with water. I tried using it on my eyes to see if it'll look better once it was on my lids, but I wasn't impressed with the results. You can see the EOTD I did below.

Cassiopeia is my favourite for adding a pop of colour since the blue highlight is strong. The blue highlight often takes over and the colour looks just blue though. 

Monoceros is supposed to be a matte, but it has a visible sheen to it. It's pretty blendable and easy to use over primer only.

Henrietta is very blendable and easy to use over primer only. Definitely beginner friendly!

Chibiusa is seriously gorgeous over glitter glue. You get the most gorgeous purple to black gradient and it's really stunning. The macro shots doesn't really capture the gradient, but the arm swatches does! This colour is very glitter glue dependent and looks like a muddy black-ish purple on primer or when blended out.

Pavonis is best over glitter glue, since it tends to smudge out to a muddy grey-ish black on your eyes if it's over primer only. This colour also heavily stains your skin green.

Proxima is seriously one of my favourite colours. I need to show more angles of this:

Yup! Same colour under natural light, just different angles!

Unfortunately, it's very glitter glue dependent. I tried using it with a primer only, and lost most of the duochrome once I blink since the way my eyes crease makes the eyeshadow go bald. With glitter glue though, you can create an awesome 1 shadow look. This colour mildly stains.

Acrux is actually pretty over primer only, but the duochrome is much more fragile that way and I end up with a plain blue eyeshadow that's the same colour as the bare skin swatches after a few blinks. It's definitely best over glitter glue.  Without a glitter adhesive, Aquarius, Polaris & Acrux looks almost like the same colour. This colour mildly stains.

Aquarius is another colour that needs a glitter adhesive. Without a glitter adhesive, Aquarius, Polaris & Acrux looks almost like the same colour as soon as I blink since that rubs off the duochrome. This colour mildly stains.

Polaris also needs a glitter adhesive for best results. Without a glitter adhesive, Aquarius, Polaris & Acrux looks almost like the same colour over primer since the duochrome gets rubbed off as you blink. This colour mildly stains.

Ami is seriously gorgeous patted on, but it's definitely glitter glue dependent. When used with a primer only, the colour looks good initially, but goes bald as soon as you blink and it becomes a plain purple colour. This colour mildly stains.

Hotaru is a colour I like best foiled with water. It's so great as a lower lashline pop of colour when foiled with water!

Under Yellow-Toned Artificial Light

On my eyes...

Proxima 1-Shadow Look

2 layers over Darling Girl's glitter glue

The lids is Proxima only! Monoceros is on my lower lashline.

Usagi, Chibiusa, Hotaru & Cassiopeia

 

Yup, had to give the dots trend a try. TMTYL is on the inner corners, Capricorn is on my lids, Gemini is on the outer half of my lower lashline. Even though this look is pretty simple, Capricorn was really hard to apply. I also don't like the way it looks patchy on my lids.

Where Ami Goes Bald

Ami is the purple, TMTYL is on the inner corners, Henrietta's on top and Ursa Major is on the sides. Ursa Major doesn't show up at all except for giving the colour a bit of a brown tinge, Ami went completely bald. This was freshly applied, but I blinked. I wanted a soft, smokey look, so I couldn't use glitter glue and figured the EOTD looks good enough when my eyes are open.

Fleur Delacour inspired look using Pavonis, Mae, Annie, Rei & Ursa Minor

There's a bald patch in Pavonis on the side

This is where I'm kinda disappointed with Pavonis. The colour doesn't show up like in swatches since it's relatively fragile and becomes this muted, grey-ish purple when you blink a lot. This was the vibrant purplish-blue Pavonis was when I patted it on heavily.

I took like a million selfies with this look since it took forever to do:

The stain left by Pavonis:

This was after wiping with Innisfree's make up wipe, cleaning with Lancome's Bi-Facil make up remover and oil cleansing with Shu Umera's oil cleanser. It lasted 2 days.

Acrux Primer vs Glitter Glue

Acrux definitely looks way better over glitter glue. The darker colour is Sagittarius.