30 Day Makeup Challenge: Day 10, Nude Eyes, Nude Lips

Sorry for how long these blog post titles are getting. I much prefer short and sweet, but there's lots of info to convey.

So today's challenge was nude eyes and nude lips, which isn't so hard for me, and probably not for you, either, since nudes and neutrals are kind of the usual daily makeup look for those of us who do wear the stuff.

To make it more interesting for myself, I decided to use Mr, Wayne Goss's technique from one of his recent videos called "How to Blend Eye Makeup Like a Pro". I subscribe to his channel because his videos are brief and full of helpful info from a pro makeup artist. I also like his British accent, and he's pretty darned cute, as well.

The surprising tip in his video is to apply your crease color with your eye open so that you can really find the right groove. This is not terribly attractive, but it does work. And so that's what I tried for my eyes. I ended up with a bit darker application than I'm used to, but I like it. What do you think?

Eye Shadow, in order of application:

• MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre on upper and lower lids all over
• Lid: Mehron Natural Wheat
• Crease: Mehron Cocoa and Espresso
• Lid Outer Third: Mehron Black
• Upper Lashline: Mehron Black
• Lower Lashline: Mehron Espresso
• Brows: Mehron Cocoa

For the nude lip, those of you who follow my blog a lot will probably able to guess what I did. Yes, it's Revlon's Just Bitten Balmstain in Honey! It's a slightly pink nude, but I prefer that. With my small lips and my age, I need some contrast between my lip color and my skin color.

I used my Mehron neutral eye palette for this, and I finished the look off with my black felt tip pen liner, the Maybelline Eye Studio one, which is my favorite at the moment. I'm finding as I look at my pictures I notice I like how this looks, and without it, my eyes just don't look finished.

I have started using Revlon Colorstay Oily/Combination Skin Foundation in 220 Natural Beige. Not only does this color match my skin way better than my Tarte Maracuja Oil foundation, or any of my BB creams, but this seems to have a more seamless look on my skin. It doesn't seem to move and get patchy or settle into lines like other foundations I've tried. And it's a drugstore foundation. I love it!

I like using Mehron Cocoa on my brows when I'm using the other shades from that palette on my lids. It gives the eye look a nice unified feel. Plus I find shadow and an angled brush help me get a more natural but well-defined brow.

I'm going to The Makeup Show LA this weekend. I'll be there at 9 or a little before on Saturday, so I hope to see you there. Remember you need some kind of pro credential to get into this event. I had a great time at this last year, so I'm really looking forward to it. I just figured out that Viseart is going to be there, so I may walk away with this long-lusted after item, the Viseart Eye Palette #1, a favorite of Nickie Tutorials, whom I adore. I also want to pick up some Inglot, some Make Up For Ever, and so on, and hopefully I won't go too crazy. The deals are awesome, and the vibe can be intense.

So that's it, Beauty Fans! More 30 Day Makeup Challenge stuff coming tomorrow!

Love, BeautyJones

Depotting Adventure with Unii Cosmetics Palettes

Unii Cosmetic palettes are beautiful, solid, packable, and come in pretty resin colors with a bit of sparkle.

When you travel, if you're like me you want to bring along the most fun makeup options so you can change it up, say from day to night, or from warm and tropical to cool and overcast, but with all of these little palettes and compacts, it's hard. They take up too much room, you have to dig in your bag to find what you want. With Unii palettes you can organize what you have, and swap pieces an and out as needed.

I got my sisters and Mom one Unii palette each for Christmas. I told them about depotting and how to do it.  I even did a little demo. Every palette also comes with instructions on this, and Unii's site has instructions, and there are many videos on Youtube showing how to do it. The other ladies in my family opted to go to Aveda and MAC and buy new refills, which you can pop in without attaching the magnetic strips.

For my first palette, I used the flatiron technique to depot 2 Loreal quads, a Cinema Secrets blush, and a Clinique brow shadow pan. Then I bought an Aveda bronzer.

This time around I thought I'd try Goss Makeup Artist's oven technique.  For non-brits, start with your oven at 220 degrees F.  Cover a cookie tray with aluminum foil. You don't have to pop out the inner plastic casing as you do with the flatiron method. Just put your pieces in for about 5-6 minutes.

Steps:

1. Before putting the makeup in the oven, set up your work area with the following: Xacto blade, 90% rubbing alcohol and makeup pads, q-tips for fine work, small clean white towel with one nice smooth side
2. Lay your white towel flat with smooth side up.
3. Pop the pans out of the container using the Xacto blade as a lever--be careful and patient
4. Lay each pan of makeup product-side down on the smooth towel, soak a pad in the rubbing alcohol, and gently scrub the back and sides of the pan until all, and I do mean all of the glue is gone.
5. You can use the Xacto to scrape off stubborn bits of glue, but clean it off again before using it as a lever to pop out more pans.
6. Once your pans are clean, use a scissors to cut magnetic strips the size of your pans, and stick them on the back.  If you need to know the color/brand of your makeup for future replacement, you an use a fine sharpie to write that info on the magnetic strip, but wait for it do dry completely so when you pop it into your palette it won't stain the bottom of it.
7. Voila--your makeup is exactly where you want it, and you are Master of the Universe!

Some tips:

• Work fast and pull the pans out of their compacts right away.  The glue will harden and stiffen again as it cools
• While using an Xacto blade to get in between the metal pan and the plastic housing, be patient and careful about this.  It's easy to make a boo-boo and then that blade is scraping at your precious product, flaking it away
• It's OK to be pushing your product into the towel a bit as you scrub off the glue--this means your product will be pushed in their even more firmly than before, which you want, since you may now be packing it to go places.
• Don't try this with paper-based palettes, as I did with my Pixi palette. The paper gets pulpy and doesn't come off, and it's a mess.
• Some makeup is domed and thicker than others, like the little blue, black and white Sephora trio I depotted.  At first it may hit the mirror on the top of the Unii palette a bit.  But it just fits.  Be careful you stay within the height spec of these palettes so you don't have any accidents.
• The oven method works best with big long pans like the Physician's formula Green Pop eyes strip I depotted here, and the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick. The shimmer brick was also thick and tall, but it fit with a bit of room to spare into the Unii palette.
• Without the oven method I never could have depotted the tiny little pans in that Lancome gift with purchase palette, so I'm glad I discovered this technique--Thanks, Wayne Goss!
• Depotting lots of makeup at once from different kinds of packaging may take you longer than you think, so set aside some time.
• You may need to pop your makeup back in the oven if you take too long and the glue re-dries.
• It can be messy, but it's fun, and the result is worth it.  Check out my photos.

That's it, Thanks for reading, now go have fun!