Smoke On My Eyelids

You remember that old song by Deep Purple, right? “Smooooooke on my eeeeeeeeyeliiiiiiiiids …” Or something like that. I don’t remember exactly how it went.

Anyway! Today’s simple, subtly smoky look is brought to you by Fyrinnae Leshii, a rather dark, shimmery, gray-lilac. I wasn’t sure about this shade at first; when I swatched it, I found it sort of dull but sparkly, a weird combination. But I should have known better than to doubt the wizards at Fyrinnae. It turns out that this shade requires a sticky primer (such as the one by Concrete Minerals, or Fyrinnae’s own Pixie Epoxy) to bring out its true beauty. It’s dark enough to be dramatic, but still wearable, with some interesting multicolored shimmer and sparkle going on (turquoise and copper, according to the product description). It reminds me of charcoal and ashes, but purple.

In direct sunlight–click this first one to make HUGE for maximum turquoise-and-copper sparkly goodness:

 

I used Valhalla and Moon Child as the crease and highlight colors, respectively. Two things: One, these shades are incredible together. And two, Valhalla is one of those Fyrinnae shape-shifters. It looks like your standard pale lilac/lavender in the jar, but transforms as if by magic when you put it on, revealing a pink tone that is NOWHERE to be seen when it’s just hanging out in its little container. (French Vanilla Shake is another one that does this: it looks unassuming, even boring, in the jar, and comes to life when you apply it.)

In indirect natural light, indoors:

Product breakdown:

• Concrete Minerals primer
• Fyrinnae Leshii all over lids, up to crease
• Fyrinnae Valhalla blended into Leshii into and above crease
• Fyrinnae Moon Child to highlight
• DiorShow mascara
• Urban Decay lip gloss in Love Junkie, as usual

And just for fun, one flash photo:

Forgive my weird face and semi-wet hair here:

We Are Your Overlords

First things first: I am apparently the highly suggestible type. Once again, a cosmetic shade name has triggered a chain reaction in my brain, with the end result that I’ve spent a whole day singing quietly under my breath and thinking “OK, I need to get that song out of my head. Where did it even come from in the first pl–oh, RIGHT.” This happened a couple of days ago with an eyeliner name and a song from “The Labyrinth,” and it happened again this weekend with an eyeshadow and a Led Zeppelin song.

So, to what eyeshadow do we owe the pleasure of this unscheduled musical interlude? Why, Fyrinnae Valhalla, of course!

I love Valhalla. It’s sort of a silvery lilac with a definite pink tone. It’s really pretty and sparkly yet subtle and somehow festive-looking, like powdered sugarplum fairy in a jar. I used it as my lid color here. To bring out Valhalla’s purpley tones, I used Ravens and Writing Desks (a very saturated, matte, lilac-y purple) as my crease color. I used the shimmery and beautiful Moon Child to highlight; I hadn’t used this color before, and I think it’ll be a versatile addition to my collection.

Let me issue my usual slew of Fyrinnae-related disclaimers: These shades are all much, much prettier in real life than they look in these photos. Fyrinnae eyeshadows are flawless, and my camera is awesome, but my photo-taking abilities are nowhere near good enough to capturing the subtleties here. I barely managed to document the sparkle of Valhalla or Moon Child, an impressive feat of photographerial incompetence considering that they’re so sparkly (Valhalla in particular) that I ended up with sparkles all over my face, including my forehead and nose.

With flash:

This next one shows shadows’ colors and opacity more accurately.

Product breakdown:

• UDPP
• Fyrinnae Valhalla all over lids
• Fyrinnae Ravens and Writing Desks in crease and under lower lashes
• Fyrinnae Moon Child to highlight
• Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero on waterline
• DiorShow mascara over Urban Decay lash primer
• Urban Decay lip gloss in Love Junkie

To conclude in the immortal words of Robert Plant: The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, to fight the hordes, sing and cry, Valhalla, I am coming! AH AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH, AH! AH AAAAAAAAAAH, AH!

ETA: If you like kittens, Vikings, and Led Zeppelin, you’re going to want to check this out. Thanks to spinster-in-training for bringing it to my attention!

I Confess

I’ve been holding out on you.

When I posted that last Fyrinnae eye of the day, I was also test-driving another product for the third time: Fyrinnae Fluff.

What is Fluff? Well, here’s what the Fyrinnae website has to say about it (I’d link to the product page, but the site appears to be having a little holiday at the moment):

“Fluff is a lightweight, transparent, multi-use pure mineral powder to soften pores and fine lines, give a soft finish after makeup application, as a mild oil-absorbing primer. Unlike pure silica powder, this lacks the airborne “flyaway” aspect. Use alone, under makeup, or as a finishing powder. The round silica acts a reflective surface, which does create a very slight glow, but there is no noticable shimmer. The Titanium dioxide is very minimal (less than 1/2%), and does not make the powder whitening. It’s “fused” with silica. Like our Powder Primer, you only need to use a very small amount, which is best applied with a flocked sponge or kabuki/powder brush.”

When I first read about Fluff, I was intrigued. Although I don’t like to wear a lot of (OK, any) makeup on my face, I am, as I’ve mentioned, starting to see some signs of aging on my skin. And I also have combination skin that gets oily in the T-zone region, something I’d hoped to leave behind after I turned 20, along with Stridex pads and Noxzema.

Now, being the feminist that I am, I don’t see anything wrong with looking older. In fact, in a weird way, I kind of enjoy the fine lines on my face. They prove that I’ve been around the block, dammit! I have experience! I wasn’t particularly good at being a kid–I took everything way too seriously, just ask my mother–nor did I really enjoy it. So as far as I’m concerned, seeing signs of, uh, MATURITY on my face just proves that I’m a grown-up now. Anyway, that said, I notice that, by the end of the day, my face seems a bit shinier and linier than it does first thing in the morning. Fluff sounded like just the thing to combat that. I’ve tested it out a few times now, so, without further ado, here’s my review!

For starters, it really is transparent. I was worried that it would be whitish and make me look ashy, like other face powders I’ve used. Nope. This looks white in the jar, but that color doesn’t transfer to my face at all. Then again, I’m a white girl, so I can’t speak to how Fluff looks on darker skin tones.

As for how well it works, it does take the shine situation down a notch. This isn’t that noticeable on a freshly washed face, but when I applied it at the end of the day, it really made a difference in the way my skin looked.

And I do think it lives up to its promise of “soften[ing] pores and fine lines”. It just makes everything look a little more … soft focus. It’s a very subtle effect, and it really doesn’t look like you’re wearing makeup. (Mister Principessa didn’t notice I was wearing anything at all.) What it does, to my eye, is make my end-of-the-day skin look more like my freshly-washed-and-moisturized skin: glowy and healthy, but not sparkly or ashy.

Of course, I can blather all day, but photos tell the real story. On to the HARD PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE. I took these photos at the end of the day; in the first ones, I’m wearing no makeup whatsoever, and in the second ones, I’m wearing Fluff on my face, plus eye makeup and lipstick. I did not wash my face before applying the Fluff. These are all flash photos; sorry about that. Click if you dare … I left the originals pretty big so you can get a good look.

Before Fluff:

After Fluff (I think the pore-softening effect is particularly noticeable on my cheeks here):

Before:

After:

Am I happy with this purchase? Oh hells yes I am. It did exactly what I wanted it to do, and exactly what it claimed to do. I don’t wear foundation, and I really like the way this looks on my bare face. If you wear foundation, this won’t replace it, but if you want something to finish off your look and give your skin a very subtly glowy, airbrushed quality, Fluff just might do the trick. Nine thumbs up!

So that’s what I thought! How about you? Have you tried Fluff? Did it work with your skin tone? Anyone tried it over (or under) foundation?

It’s True!

Fyrinnae does, in fact, make matte eyeshadow colors! And even more exciting, I own some of them!

Now, Fyrinnae is obviously known for making glittery, complex eyeshadows with lots of layers of color and sparkle. However. Being the boring elderly non-vampiric mortal human person that I am, I’m not always in the mood to sparkle. Sometimes, a person just wants a nice matte eyeshadow. And wouldn’t you know? Fyrinnae augments their extensive collection of shimmery, glittery sparklies with a smaller but equally beautiful collection of matte and low-shimmer colors.

I’ve gotten my paws on a few of them, and let me just say that yes, they are every bit as stunning as the shinier ones. The colors are incredibly saturated and lush. And although mattes can be difficult–patchy to apply and a bitch to blend–Fyrinnae’s mattes are anything but. They apply just as smoothly as the shimmery shades and blend like a dream.

Enough of my blathering! Here we have two mattes–Marshmallow Puffs, a no-nonsense white, and Ravens and Writing Desks, a stunning violety purple that’s a bit on the pink side–and one low-shimmer shade, Tasmanian Devil, a purple-leaning pink with a sort of bluish cast.

Pardon the spottiness of my skin in these photos. You see, there comes a time in every godforsaken month for approximately 45 years of a young woman’s life when she cries for no reason, is mean to her boyfriend and/or mother who didn’t do anything to deserve it, retains five to seven pounds worth of water, eats all the potato chips, and breaks out like a goddamn 15-year-old.

Here come the giant eyeballs! Super macro mode FTW! Incidentally, when you read the words “super macro,” I’d appreciate it if you’d pronounce it in your head (or right out loud, if the spirit moves you) in the style of a Mexican TV announcer. SSSUUUUP-ERRR MACROOOOO!

Details time!

• UDPP
• Fyrinnae Marshmallow Puffs in inner corners and to highlight
• Fyrinnae Tasmanian Devil all over lids
• Fyrinnae Ravens and Writing Desks on outer lids, in crease, and under lower lashes
• Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero on waterline
• Christian Dior DiorShow mascara over Urban Decay lash primer
• Milani Cocoa Sugar lipstick

It’s been more humid than usual around here (we have some sort of subtropical air hanging around), and it’s making my hair super curly. Check it!

Things That Have Become Apparent

1. 103.6 degrees Fahrenheit is too hot to support human endeavor.

2. It’s not much fun to play with makeup when it’s boiling hot out. Nevertheless, I persevered, for the good of the country. After all, I had new Fyrinnae to test out.

3. Macro mode is good for taking close-up eye pictures.

4. SUPER macro mode is even better.

5. I need full sizes of Fyrinnae Sequined Master, Valhalla, and Moon Child, STAT. Also, Avian Shapeshifter and possibly Titania, but that’s another post.

6. It is well nigh impossible to take photos of Fyrinnae eye shadows that do them even the teeniest bit of justice. The three I used today are all incredibly sparkly and complex and beautiful, and a total bitch to photograph–Sequined Master in particular, which, depending on the light and viewing angle, displays various purples, aqua, silver, and pink. Insane. This next photo is a bit blurry but does give an indication of the complexity.

7. There is such a thing as “too hot to swatch.” I usually take some of my swatch photos in direct sunlight, and I’m pretty sure that today’s particular variety of direct sunlight would cause me to burst immediately into flames and/or melt into a sticky, sparkly puddle. I really wanted to do swatches, but in the end, I just sat on the couch eating a popsicle, sobbing quietly, and asking the universe to please, please provide me with slightly cooler temperatures. Or, you know, the sweet release of death. Whichever.

Product breakdown!

• UDPP and Pixie Epoxy under everything
• Fyrinnae Sequined Master on lids and under lower lashes
• Fyrinnae Valhalla above Sequined Master and in crease
• Fyrinnae Moon Child to highlight and in inner corners
• Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero
• Christian Dior DiorShow over Urban Decay Lash Primer
• Urban Decay XXX Shine lip gloss in Love Junkie. Which reminds me,

8. I seriously love Love Junkie. It looks pretty dark and foreboding in the tube, but it’s this gorgeous sort of berry stainy color when you put it on. It’s what I wanted the much-ballyhooed and, in my opinion, wildly overrated Clinique Black Honey to be. I don’t think it’s available in XXX Shine anymore, but you can get it in one of Urban Decay’s other gloss varieties, I forget which one.

9. It is too goddamn hot to have a laptop on my lap. I’m going to go stand in front of the refrigerator with the door open for a while.

Presenting Mister Charcoal

Just when it seemed that the Matter of the Train Case was settled, a dark horse appeared out of nowhere.

While I was on vacation, the wily and elusive Train Case the First finally arrived, a mere 43 days after I ordered it. To make a long story shorter, the seller shipped it in a timely manner, but it apparently languished at my local post office for about a month. Not until it was stamped FINAL NOTICE did our intrepid mail carrier muster up the wherewithal to attempt to deliver it, supposedly for the second time, although we never received a first delivery attempt notice and nobody could manage to find it when I went to the PO in person to see if it was there.

No matter. It was absolutely, positively worth the wait. I mean, check out the interior!

It’s practically pristine! It looks like it’s barely been used. AND, it’s that grayed-out lavender color with which I am obsessed lately.

The payer-attentioners among you might have noticed a little something on top of Mister Charcoal in that first picture. Yes, friends, it’s the original key, shiny as the day it was forged by … whoever did that sort of thing for American Tourister in the 1960s. This little fella completes the Holy Triumvirate of Vintage Train Casery: original mirror, tray, and key.

And this wasn’t the only package I had waiting for me when I got home. I also had a little something from my beloved Fyrinnae. I knew immediately what I had to do. It was clearly fate. It was DESTINY.

(I transferred the rest of my eyeshadows into Old Faithful Brownie, who now resides in a much more high-profile location on the coffee table in the living room.)

Bright Idea!

Having sated my longing for drama with the pink smokey eye, today I decided to try out this whole “bright colors” thing I’ve been hearing so much about. I’m not a huge wearer of bright colors (as you might have noticed), but I recently bought a couple that I wanted to play with–namely, We’re All Mad Here, a chartreusey green from Fyrinnae, and Juvenile, a bright greenish yellow from Concrete Minerals. (Actually, that one was a free sample, but I THOUGHT about buying it, and it’s the thought that counts.)

As always, click photos for big versions, because I KNOW you want a better look at my spider plant.

I was inspired to some degree by Marianne’s post about bright colors, although she put her yellow color on the lid and the green above it (I did the opposite). I was enjoying the yellowy greenness of it all, but I wanted to throw some purple in there, so I added Herbivore, a purple Fyrinnae shadow with green shimmer, under my lower lashes. I also wanted to see how Herbivore looked with We’re All Mad Here, because I suspected they might be great together, and I think they are. Take a look at the swatches and let me know if you agree!

Swatch notes: First one is in indirect natural light, second one is in direct sunlight, third one is with the flash. Also, let us consider the black line to be the Maxon-Dixon Line of the back of my hand. The northern states are armed with nothing but Urban Decay Primer Potion, whereas the southern states also have the benefit of Pixie Epoxy. And yet they STILL managed to lose the war. (KIDDING!)

We’re All Mad Here on the left, Herbivore in the middle, Juvenile on the right.

These photos, as usual, don’t do justice to the colors in real life. You can’t really see the green in Herbivore at all. But trust me … it’s there, and it looks really freaking cool next to We’re All Mad Here.

And now … THE EYEBALLS!

No flash, indirect outdoor light:

With flash:

Product breakdown!

• UDPP
• Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on lids
• Fyrinnae We’re All Mad Here on lids and into crease
• Concrete Minerals Juvenile in and above crease
• Concrete Minerals White Rabbit to highlight
• Fyrinnae Herbivore under lower lashes (over Pixie Epoxy)
• Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero on top lid and waterine
• Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara over UDPP
• On lips: Bishop’s Violet mica from TKB Trading mixed with clear gloss from Victoria’s Secret

This was a lot of fun to put together. And the Mister liked it, which shocked the hell out of me. Two thumbs up!

Lush Update and Quick & Dirty Fyrinnae EOTD

My Lush skin care stuff arrived on Wednesday, so I’ve had a chance to use it a few times. And damned if I’m not impressed with all of it! Just as a reminder, I bought Angels on Bare Skin and 9 to 5 cleansers and Celestial moisturizer.

So far, I LOVE 9 to 5. It’s a “cleansing lotion,” which is kind of weird to me; I don’t believe I’ve ever used one before, unless Noxzema counts. It does a good job of taking off my makeup, even mascara. And shockingly, it works even better if I actually use it the way you’re supposed to, i.e., wipe it off with cotton balls or a washcloth rather than rinsing with water. Using water doesn’t work so good. It also leaves my skin really soft–none of that tight, dry, flaky feeling at all. Nice! Plus, I’m hoping I’ll be more dedicated to washing my face at night now that I’ve seen what ends up on those cotton balls. Bleah! No wonder I have cloggy pores!

Angels on Bare Skin is nice too. Weird, but nice. (I’m pretty sure someone wrote that about me in my high school yearbook, come to think of it.) It comes in this big roll thing and you pinch off a piece about the size of a pea, then mix it with water into a paste. Odd or no, it seems to work very well. It actually feels like a very mild, gentle exfoliant. But again, when I get done with it, I don’t end up with that tight feeling.

And you might have predicted this, but I’m liking Celestial too. It smells AMAZING … very nice if you’re into almondy/vanilla-y scents, which I am. It also leaves my skin really soft, and it definitely moisturizes, but it doesn’t feel greasy. Plus, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, like the last Lush moisturizer I bought, Paradise Regained (and have you seen this one? WTF???). Honestly, I think Celestial does just as good a job, and for less than half the price.

Of course, this is my very-early-stage, “I’ve been using these products for three days,” honeymoon-phase review. It’s entirely possible that in three weeks I’ll be back here going “DAMMIT! 9 to 5 is making me break out, Angels on Bare Skin has degenerated into common garden mud, and Celestial SEEMED nice at first, but I noticed that 20 bucks were missing from my purse this morning.” So no guarantees yet. But so far, so good–and my skin already feels a hell of a lot better.

And just so this whole thing isn’t a wall of text, here’s a quick & dirty Fyrinnae eye of the day! It’s sort of the lazy, everyday version of this one, using the same shades: Daemon’s Tail and Polar Bear.

Daemon’s Tail on the lid, Polar Bear in the crease. Forgive the crapness of these photos; I took them after work, about 9 hours post-makeup-application.

And some swatches, since I didn’t do any last time. With flash (DT on the left, PB on the right):

Direct sun:

This one is, um, “blurred to show sparkles.” Also, complexity? In reality, all my direct sun photos came out blurry and this was the best of them. However, in the big version of this photo, you CAN see purple sparkles in Daemon’s Tail that I didn’t notice at all until I saw it in the sun. And THAT’s what I mean when I say that Fyrinnae shadows are complex; I’m always noticing some new nuance. Keep ya guessing, they do!

Fyrinnae, AGAIN

Sick of Fyrinnae posts yet? No? Good! Me neither!

Last night, I decided that it was time to conquer the mighty PIXIE EPOXY. Pixie Epoxy is a magical, tacky, gel-like substance manufactured in a woodland glade from the powdered wings of sustainably farmed, organically raised fairy folk, plucked by moonlight from the branches of an enchanted apple tree. Or so you might be led to believe if you’ve read any one of the bazillion glowing reviews of this stuff that exist throughout the makeup bloggery corner of the intertubes. Essentially, Pixie Epoxy is intended to “glue” sparkly eyeshadows, glitter, and the like to your face, thus preventing the dreaded “fallout” and bringing out the true intensity and sparkle of Fyrinnae’s complex, shimmery, multilayered shadows.

I had fiddled with PE a bit right after I got it, but given that my technical makeup skills are nonexistent still developing, I wasn’t too pleased with the results. However, I refuse to be intimidated by inanimate objects (for example, the gas stove in my previous apartment that you had to manually light with an open flame any time you wanted to use it), so I girded my loins and determined to give the epoxy another shot. And I’m happy to say that this time, I was much happier with the way things turned out. This stuff WORKS.

Let us begin with a couple of swatches. The color that I used the Pixie Epoxy on (vice-versa, really) was Velvet Vampire, one of Fyrinnae’s “Arcane Magic” shadows. These colors are complex even for Fyrinnae; as their site puts it, “Fyrinnae’s Arcane Magic Eyeshadows are specialized colours with a highlight that changes hue depending on how the light hits it (closer to or further from a light). Different light sources may show different shades, too.” Velvet Vampire is described as “a complex deep reddish hue that varies between molten cool crimson and a firey phoenix-red, all laced with gold sparkle and glimmer. Bring it closer to light or change the angle, and it turns to a metallic glittering gold with subtle “underhues” of copper.” In these photos, Velvet Vampire is swatched dry over UDPP on top and over Pixie Epoxy on bottom.

Direct sun (as always, click for bigger versions of photos):

Indoors, with flash:

You can really see how the PE grabs onto the color and glitter, making the shadow much more intense.

The other 2 colors I used in this look were Koala and Cheetah. Koala, described as a “medium rosy taupe” with a satin finish, is on the left; I think this will be another go-to Fyrinnae neutral for me. On the right is Cheetah, described as a “soft glowing pale peach” with “a slight golden shimmer.” I love both of these.

Indoors, with flash:

I was actually fairly pleased with how this look came out. It’s sort of warm and … I dunno, sunsetty?

I would definitely click on this next one if I were you. Seriously. Click, and behold the gorgeousness and gorgeousity that is Fyrinnae.

Impressive, eh? Although Velvet Vampire must be seen in the flesh to be believed.

Here’s the details:

• UDPP
• Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on lids
• Fyrinnae Velvet Vampire on lids and under lower lashes over PE
• Fyrinnae Koala in crease above Velvet Vampire
• Fyrinnae Cheetah above Koala
• Clinique High Impact mascara in Black Brown

And one sort of crappy outside photo.

So there you have it! Do you have Velvet Vampire, or any of the other Arcane Magic colors? Have you conquered the Epoxy of Wonder?

A Few Unrelated Items!

ITEM THE FIRST, AKA Skin Care Product Decision Time! I think I’m going to start with a brand I know and love: Lush. I’ve narrowed it down to Angels on Bare Skin cleanser and Celestial moisturizer, which I plan to order tomorrow after I get paid. I might also try their 9 to 5 cleanser, because “most gentle cleanser to date” + Dolly Parton reference = strong possibility of awesome. Yes, I know I just asked for advice this morning and have already made up my mind. I’m impulsive. It’s a fact.

I also got some recommendations from Heather, Cacau, and the lovely Jette, and I will definitely investigate them. Soon. Probably later tonight. OK, maybe right after dinner. I enjoy hearing your suggestions, so if you’re using something you love, do tell! And if you’ve used any of the stuff I mentioned, let me know what you think!

ITEM THE SECOND! Speaking of awesome, I am still not done swooning over Fyrinnae. I wore Kurisumasu! (a rosy pinky color that works really well with my skin tone) and French Vanilla Shake (a warm, pale highlight) today. It was overcast when I took this first photo, and it was also about 7:15 AM, hence the wet hair, puffy lids, and general pre-coffeeness of my appearance. (Also, you can barely see the eyeshadow in this one … sorry about that. I had terrible photo juju today.) Click for big versions all around.

Not a terribly groundbreaking look, perhaps, but simple and subtle and totally work-appropriate. Here are the details:

• UDPP
• Fyrinnae Kurisumasu! all over lids
• Fyrinnae French Vanilla Shake to highlight
• DiorShow mascara

Took this next photo in direct sunlight immediately after I got home from work, about 10 hours after I took the above photo. Quite a testament to the staying power of Fyrinnae’s shadows and the magic of Urban Decay Primer Potion.

I did swatches of these two colors because I LOOOOVE THEM. I think they’ll be go-to neutrals for me. Kurisumasu! appears sort of frosty here, especially in the first photo, but that’s a trick of the flash. In reality, it has a gorgeous, satiny finish, which you can see better in the big versions of the photos.

French Vanilla Shake is another color that looks totally unassuming in the jar, like Generic Beige Cosmetic Powder Substance, and transforms as if by magic when you apply it. It’s pale and shimmery and warm and fairly opaque–in other words, it’s what I wanted MAC Vanilla pigment to be (with apologies to Jette for slandering her beloved).

There’s at least one more Fyrinnae look percolating in my brain, so stay tuned.

ITEM THE THIRD! Between telecommuting on Mondays, Labor Day weekend, and my upcoming vacation, I only have to go into the office 14 days this month. Realizing that was like putting on my heavy coat for the first time since last winter and finding $10 in the pocket. Maybe even $20. And a lip gloss.

ITEM THE FINAL! Speaking of vacation, I’m going to be in Colorado for a while toward the end of the month, so posting might be light. I could post some vacationy-type stuff, or even try to squeeze in a bit of makeupping. Or, I could just not bother. What do you think? Do you like vacation posts?