I was entirely too excited to do this. I love math, science, (really anything with nerdy connotations, LOL! My day job is Queen of the Nerd Herd, true story!) and I love beauty/skincare/fashion, so when I saw this eye look that was directly associating the two- HEAVEN!
For reference, the palette image below: Rows, top to bottom I am calling A,B,C, and D. And I will be numbering accordingly left to right. (e.g. "A1-Vanilla" is the top left most color on this image. "C5-Highlight" is the right most pan in the third row from the top. I will answer any questions in the comments below.😎)
Let's begin! I started with a clean, dry face. I washed with the PMD Cleanse I have been testing out (and will be reviewing later) and followed up with Kiel's Calendula Toner that I got in a skin care 'favorites' set from Ulta for $15 (that's unfortunately not available any more or I would have linked it here, sorry guys!) (Side note: I really like how this toner performs, but it's got plant chunks in it that just gross me out, I pick them off the cotton- I am not sure if you are supposed to leave them and rub them on your skin, but they have a cold, over-cooked spinach feel to them and I just can't, y'all). I then (forgot the serum yesterday) moisturized with Philosophy- Renewed Hope in a Jar (This has been my go to moisturizer for years.) And voila! This is my 'I am too lazy for makeup today' face:
If you haven't been scared off by that, kudos to you! I am well aware of my ability to terrify small children at the Walmarts. Next up, primer. I am a big fan of Lancome's La Base Pro. It's worth the splurge to me, and I like getting it at Nordstrom in the physical store because for some reason every time I go get it, it's less than on the site, and they always hook it up on the free samples (also my timing has always been pretty good and there's usually a gift with purchase, too!). And let's be honest, I am not anyone special enough to receive any kind of VIP treatment, just some wonk-eyed, pretty much middle-aged lady who carries a cat purse. So they are either taking pity on me, or they treat everyone like that (and I like to think they treat everyone like that).
After letting my primer soak in, I like to use my knock-off beauty blenderesque egg shaped spongey-thing (that I think I got at Marshall's for about $3) and smear Stila- Aqua Glow Serum Foundation - Light on my face and then dab, dab, dab, dab, dab, dab until blended out. Then I used the Benefit Goof Proof Brow Pencil in 03-Medium (I actually got mine in store at Ulta on sale a while ago, but Nordstrom has free shipping on it, so if you order online, and you don't meet the "minimum free shipping" elsewhere, Nordstrom ends up the most cost effective option.) And here we have officially set up for the PHI Eye and Smashbox palette test drive!
As I previously talked about in this post, the trick is to map out the highest and lowest points of the eye and drag the color out in straight lines. I have marked the high and low points on my eyes with red dots on the image below:
I then map out the edges of the lines I need to use, I marked with green dots below, since I couldn't seem to get any decent photos during the process last night:
I then tightlined my eyes (using Stila- Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in Damsel), and line the outer upper and lower lash about half way from the corner to the red dots and smudge downward to acheive the 'straight line' on the bottom and just smudging the top a little towards the top red dot to smooth out and then smudging the rest in the direction of the outer upper green dot. Then I line the inner lower corners and smudge down to finish the 'straight line' across the bottom. You can use the same method on the inner top as the outer top, but I did not. (Side Note: if you use this eyeliner, work in sections to smudge, because once it sets, this $#!& isn't budging. )
Shadow time! I used A1-Vanilla on my inner corner and beneath my brow to highlight. (I used to paint a lot and I always went light to dark and I tend to use the same methods with my makeup for the most part, as well.) And put A3-Nude all over the lid and smooshed some under the low lash line as well. Lastly, for the PHI Eye look: I used my smudge brush with A4-Hazelnut and A5-Armor mixed together to smudge out and create more definition of the straight line underneath the eye and to drag it out a little past the outer corners and then rounded my way up the top crease stopping at the upper outer green dot marked in the photo above. (I marked those dots on my face with eyeliner faintly when I did this, but the photos were useless, so you get dots...) The below photo is my (almost finished look:
True story, you can stop there, PHI Eye Mission: complete! But I had COLORS TO TRY!!!!!!
And I did! Using the magical palette, I added A6-So Spicy to my entire lid and then decided to try some of the transition shades in row B. I then put B1-Bewitched in the inner corner and used a little to highlight just under the brow from the top of the arch to the tail, and added B2-Dial Up to the inner third of the lid and blended B3-Filtered to the middle section of the lid. It brightened it a bit, and looked stunning in the mirror, but the camera didn't seem to pick up on it too much. I had run out of natural light at this point, and the pictures were the best I could get in my living room. I also am so pale that C5-Highlight (matte) is just hair darker than my skin (::eyeroll:: so pale, so very pale) that I used it to powder my under eyes after I finished contouring with C3-Contour. I lightly used C1-Guava to blush my cheeks from under the pupils back to my temples, and used the B3-Filtered as my highlighter on my nose, cheek bones (rather, where they should be under my chipmunk cheeks), the cupid's bow on my upper lip. I finished the look off by lining with Buxom Plumpline Lip Liner in 'Hush Hush' (it's $18 almost everywhere that carries it, I picked it up at the link for $10 and got the full size lip liner AND a mini lip gloss, I love the set together, compliments my pale @$$ beautifully and does actually plump a little!) and I finished the lip using D4-Audition and added a little D3-Fiery in top of that just lightly tapping it onto the fullest parts of my lips. The finished look:
And some after thoughts:
*I did notice some fallout with the shadows in the pan. I did not notice any fallout on my face after tapping excess off the brush (it's a habit at this point, I have been playing makeup for probably three decades. Maybe it takes 4 to actually develop some skills? LOL, I kid. I am by no means a professional, but I like to think I don't leave the house looking like a complete goober.)
*The lip colors I used did seem to go on fairly sheer, and they didn't survive a couple of hours (granted, I did eat, but I was careful while doing so with the wear test in mind) I can say that the lip liner stuck it out like a champ until it was washed off.
*I didn't conceal and bake under the eye, which I usually would have done with this look, since I knew I would be washing my face and going to bed after only a few hours of wear. (total time after makeup finished until wash off- probably about 5-6 hours)
*I FREAKING LOVE THE CONTOUR POWDER. I have been using and really liking the Shape Shifter Palette by Urban Decay, specifically the cream contour, but this might be a new winner, guys.
*I also really liked the blend-ability of the powders. The shadows were nice and build-able, blended nicely and have good pigment, but I really liked how the blush applied.
Ok, so that's about it for this one! Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions, if there are products you'd like me to test out, or anything else you would like to see me do or try here! Thanks, I hope you all have an amazing day! (all 3 people who will probably ever read this, LMAO! Hi Mom!)
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