Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama gel eyeliner: blue is the new black series!

Hi, all! Today, I'd like to share my new eye liner discovery and look with you. Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner in 03 Blue. Lately, I've noticed lovely shades of cobalt, indigo, navy, and royal blue cropping up everywhere. The next few posts will be about how I'm incorporating these shades into my everyday look.  After all, blue is the new black.  So the Maybelline gel eyeliner in blue- it's a gorgeous shade, somewhere between dark indigo and dark sapphire blue ...somewhere along midnight blue combined with ultramarine in some light. I would name this color "outer space."

 This gel eyeliner has replaced my usual black.  So far, it's been amazing! The brush that comes with the pot is SO good! The texture is very creamy and blendable. It's just too fun and easy creating looks with this particular gel eyeliner. Some people say it dries up after a few months, but I expect I will have used it up by then...this is indeed my new daily eyeliner! 

Parlez-Moi D'Amour John Galliano Fragrance Review

{ note to readers: this blog was feeling a bit cluttered so I'm moving the hauls, perfume reviews, and nailpolish reviews to the "Little Posts" section...the sidebar }
...so here's a fragrance discovery and it's one I'm quite fond of (keep in mind Starlight is my fragrance love).  Parlez Moi D'Amour by John Galliano (created 2010 and named after the famous Edith Piaf song from way-back-when) is just so precious! I could go on and on about how the opening notes are blueberry, bergamot, and ginger, and the middle notes are jasmine and rose and the base notes are musk and patchouli and cypress...but that doesn't really "explain" a fragrance. I want to "explain" fragrances my way. Parlez Moi D'Amour is a romantic smell, and it smells just like beautiful scented stationary! PMDA smells like love letters we used to write in the 90's, before email took over! PMDA smells like Fall to me...new semester of school, passing notes to friends, writing with scented markers, etc! It's lovely! Think ballerinas, floral chiffon, headbands with bows.....I feel this frag is for very young teens and tweens. Apparently, the face for the ad is Taylor Momsen, but I haven't seen the ad and don't want to.   PMDA just smells like beautiful days gone by! Also, the bottle and bottlecap is so elegant, as is the box,. It looks like an envelope with a postage stamp on it. It's so ...not vintage...but maybe retro??? The sillage and longevity of this frag are pretty good...a couple of spurts last for easily three hours...on me, anyways.  Also, for some reason, I feel this smells far better in the Fall or Spring than in summer.  When the mercury rises, this smell fades somehow. Basically, overall conclusion: PMDA is a BEAUTIFUL frag, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone over 35. 

Essie Garnet nailpolish- super shiny!!!!

{Note to readers: This blog was getting somewhat cluttered so I moved the other Essie nailpolish reviews and Essie haul to the "Little Posts" section on the sidebar. http://starlightshimmer.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html  }

Wow! So it started off a a beautiful, not-too-hot-more-like-late-spring-than-summer day.  Even though red is my most avoided color, summer is just not the same without bright red nails, red watermelons, red popsicles, and red shirts with white polka dots, etc.... All of the above just spells "summer to me."  So, I pulled out my Essie Garnet nailpolish. Unused and brand new at the time.  Just a few words describe the reaction- "shiny", "super glossy", "wow!" (Sorry, the application was a little messy around the cuticle area of a couple of nails, but......) Essie is one of my all-time fave brands and the nailpolish formula is just always so smooth and light!!! It has been 3 days since I did my nails, and they're still nearly as shiny as they were in the pics above.  Essie Garnet is a must-have!

Colorful Nails!

Color is essential. Shimmer is essential. French manicures are elegant. So combine all three already!!!! My fave combo: turqoise tips with lime-green shimmery nails to complement my mermaid eye looks.  Also, I now do my nails at home. Nails are so simple to file and paint, and I find I can do them just fine at home, so why waste money at the salon? Tips for filing square-shaped nails: just file straight across, then hold your emery nail file (emery files are best...they're the flexible, bendable kind) at a straight vertical angle to your nails and file the sides straight up. File only in one direction as it helps prevent wear&tear. Tips for French manis: just practise. It's really easy. Don't obssess over any small errors you make. Often, we make errors stand out by attempting to fix them. No one will notice if your nail tip isn't perfectly straight or the color streaked a tiny bit. Also, several of my friends have pointed out they are unable to leave comments on my blogs. NO idea why that's so and I dunno what to do about it. Sorry I've been away so long but I'm wrapping up a "rooms-makeover" project and may post pics of it soon. Interior decoration is FUN!!!!

4U2 Gemtone Amethyste: Icy-Pink Makeup Look for Summer

Well, I dunno abt other girls but in the peak of summer I don't like wearing a lot of diff eyeshadow colors or heavy black smoky eyes or much kajal. I pref a cooler, simpler, lighter look. So here's a frosty, icy pink look I created using the 4U2 Gemtones Amethyste eyeshadow quad (shown above.) Dunno where this brand is made but I LOVE the Gemtones eyeshadows! Unlike most shimmery shadows, these are both ultra-shimmery ANd ultra-pigmented and they just glide on beautifully!The lipliner, lipstick, and bubble-gum pink lipgloss I wore with this look is also shown above...as a swatch on my arm....I'm adding the tutorial to this look now, so enjoy and please do leave feedback. Feedback is always so important! Thanks and tc!

The Watercolor Eye- Trend for Summer '10

Here is "The Watercolor Eye" look I created. The Watercolor Eye is one of the biggest trends for Spring/Summer 2010 and it's all about a vibrant, playful burst of diff colors. Like a painting. I love violets matched with light, shimmery blues and silvers, so that is the palette I used for this look. I am going to try and post a step-by-step tutorial for this now...but not sure how to go about it lol. As in, not sure how this whole blog-thing works. So do check my blog for the tutorial to this look...it will be posted somewhere, just not sure where? Ok, I think I managed to add a page to this post, and that page contains the step-by-step tutorial for this look. Do leave your comments and feedback!

Makeup Look:using Body Shop cosmetics

Here are two ethereal looks I created using the Body Shop items shown above. The silver&lilac look was done using the Body Shop's eye&cheek palette from Winter '09 + the eye definer in Glowing Amethyst. The oceany, mermaidesque look (left) was created using the new Body Shop shimmer cubes (Spring/Summer '10) + the eye definer in Vibrant Emerald. Now, here's the deal w/ Body Shop eye makeup. It's in gorgeous colors. All their eyeshadows just shimmer for hours. They're gentle on one's skin. They're great quality at a reasonable price. The eyeshadow "cakes" always contain lots of product. However, they're always so sheerly pigmented!!!!!! That is where the eye definers come in handy. The Vibrant Emerald eye definer is my current fave. I used it as an eyeshadow base to bring out the sizzle in the shimmer cubes to create the look above left. For the topmost look, I used the Glowing Amethyst eye definer all over the eyelids to bring out the lovely lilac, which otherwise would have been too sheer. If you have a special occasion to attend, and would like to request a look, pls do let me know and I'll see if I can create one!

Glitter Gel Eyeliner- Makeup trends for 2010!

Glitter Gel eyeliner in bright, vibrant colors is another eye-catching trend this season. Here are some of the looks I created using turqoise and mint-green glitter gel eyeliner. I do have a step-by-step tutorial for the "shimmery mint-green-and-lavendar" eye makeup look....if anyone wants to see the full tutorial, I'll post it. Meanwhile, I may just post the main steps to it? 'Nyways...this spring, go ahead and splurge on bright, shimmery colors, esp eyeliners!

Special Thanx to "Sweet-Berry Pie"

This post is for my partner in makeup tutorials, beauty blogs, and glitter eyeliner- SweetBerry Pie! Nothing would have been possible without her. Thank you so much, Sweet-Berry Pie!