Eyeshadow, Face, Floss Gloss, Lips, Personal, Sephora Collection, Smashbox

Birthday List

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve tried to become the kind of person who can just be cool about their birthday; or, one of those people who can at least pretend to be cool about their birthday. It won’t take. I can’t be an, “Oh. It was my birthday last week, I just didn’t say anything. I don’t like to make a big deal,” person. It’s just not in me. I’m sorry, everyone. We’re just going to have to keep eating cake.

Except this year, we’re having pie. Because crust.

Look, I used to make my birthday lists in August. My birthday is less than a month away (Oct. 5th, if you’re curious. LIBRA LADIES REPRESENT.), so I think this is appropriate. As appropriate as a 31 year old woman with a public birthday wish list can be anyways. And this isn’t even everything! This is the stuff I’m super obsessed with right now! PERSONAL GROWTH.

Floss Gloss Nail Lacquers in STUN & DIMEPIECE

fg stun

STUN

fg dimepiece

DIMEPIECE

Every time I buy polish from Floss Gloss, I hover over these two glitters. I can never make up my mind, so I just end up without either one of them. Isn’t that a sad story?

I want one of these sexy stickers too.

fg skripper

SKRIPPER STICKER

This sticker would give my laptop a little bit of, how you say, je ne sais ass and titties. It’s subtle, but I think it will work.

Smashbox The Master Class Palette II

smashbox mc2 I wanted the original Master Class Palette, but I waited too long, and I didn’t get it. Another sad story! Lucky for all of us Smashbox released their Master Class Palette II! I want to put this into my makeup bag and never let it leave. It will travel everywhere with me! It’ll see the world! Won’t someone PLEASE give this poor palette a chance to make something of itself!?

Han Cholo – Loco Skull Ring in Brass Plated Gold, in 9

han cholo ring

‘AY. How cool is this ring?! Too fucking cool, right? It would look pretty great on my hands, and it would let everyone know what’s up. Namely, that I’m way, way loco. I take pills for it, but science can only go so far. People think Jason is the one to look out for, because he’s 6’5, and his fists look like hams; but you really gotta watch out for me. While you’re all distracted by Jason way up there, I’ll come in under your eye line and CUT CHU, MANG. Nah. I’m just playin’. I won’t cut chu. UNLESS YOU ASK FOR IT.

Nah.

YES!

5 Drawer Acrylic Case

acrylic makeup storage

I WANT THIS SO BAD! I would really like to be able to see more of my makeup. The majority of it is packed away into a giant train case in my closet. I can’t gaze upon them from there. Also, you guys wouldn’t believe the stuff thats’s just sitting in there, never getting used, because it’s out of sight and out of mind. If you really think about it, this is kind of an investment that actually saves us money! If my forgotten eyeshadows are out where I can see them, they’ll get used, and they won’t go to waste. See! I’ve got all the best moneymaking ideas. You gotta spend money to make money! That’s what I always say. Or is it that I always just say spend money? I can’t remember. Better spend some money just to be on the safe side.

SEPHORA COLLECTION Cream Lip Stain in 04 Endless Purple

sephora lip stain2

I’ve really liked all of the Sephora branded lip products that I’ve bought in the past. In fact, for my birthday last year, I wore one of their matte long wear lipsticks in a crazy hot fuchsia. Natch. It stayed on for a loooong time. Through a lot of drinks, and birthday kisses and dip. I’m into this gloss, I’m curious how it stacks up to the stila stain that was in my Birchbox last month.

Well, there you have it, some of the things that will ease my transition into 32. The rest of the things that will help are drinks, friends, tacos, and pie. And drinks. And pie. And some of that potion from “Death Becomes Her” that keeps you young forever.

Eyeshadow, Friday I'm in Love, MAC

MAC Trax Eyeshadow

fridayiminlove4

It’s my favorite fucking eyeshadow color of all time, ladies and gentlemen….the hardest working shadow in HO BUSINESS……

mac trax 3

MAC TRAX!!! ($15)

Trax is a plummy-purple with a shifting gold shimmer to it. I’ve seen it described in other places online as a burgundy, but I really disagree with that.

It’s so beautiful as a light wash of color, or built up darker as an alternative to a traditional smoky eye colors. I wear it alone a lot, or with one of my gold shadows in the inner corner of my eyes, or lightly added over the top to intensify the gold in Trax. Natural, or dramatic, it really is a brilliant, versatile color.

mac trax 4

Doing makeup, I’ve used it on lots of different eye colors, and the result is always gorgeous. Purple is one of those colors that really makes a lot of other colors pop. Brown, green, blue, hazel…pretty much everyone looks good in purple and gold.

mac trax

mac trax2

Trax is part of the permanent line at MAC, so you can just go pick it up. The color works in so many different ways, on so many different people, it would be a great addition to nearly every makeup bag. It’s like, my easiest way to look like I really did something to my makeup when I haven’t. Sometimes I use an aubergine colored pencil to line my eyes, sometimes I don’t, blush, mascara, nude gloss, BAM! FACE! I’M READY TO GO OUT!

Buy MAC Trax HERE.

Education, Eyeshadow, How-To, Links

The Blends

One of my biggest beauty pet peeves is seeing unblended eyeshadow out in the wild. Like, I get it, these things take practice. But, DAMN GURL, YOU GOT A MIRROR OR WUT? How do people not see these things?

It can just look really bad. That’s all I’m saying.

Check out this tutorial: 3 Easy Ways To Blend Your Eyeshadow Like A Pro

The first two blends are especially relevant to the looks most people want to do. That last one, the cut crease, that’s some more advanced shit; use only if you’re ok with people looking at you.

Eyeliner, Eyeshadow, Fave Looks, How-To, Links

Too much eyeliner for the house!

rachel bilson the to do list tbd

I have a sort of complicated relationship with The Beauty Department. Some of their stuff makes me roll my eyes, some of their stuff makes me scramble for my brushes and a reason to do fancy makeup. Like this “RED CARPET BREAKDOWN” of Rachel Bilson’s look at the premiere of “The To-Do List” has got me wishing we weren’t broke right now, so I could get dressed up and go out.

Check it out HERE.

Eyeshadow, Face, How-To, Moisturizer, Unsolved Hysteries, Urban Decay

Unsolved Search Hysteries

unsolved hysteries

One of the best things about having this site is getting to see the summaries of search engine terms that bring people to the Lab Bunny every day. In this grab bag of internet psyche, some of the searches are hilarious, some are disturbing, and some are actually decent. I thought I’d do some little quickie answers to help with these UNSOLVED SEARCH HYSTERIES!!

“is Trader Joe’s body butter good for face?”

I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Body lotions and face lotions have different ingredients and different properties. Even an all natural body lotion is probably going to be much heavier than anything you’d want to use on your face, and they probably aren’t non-comedogenic, so they’ll maybe block your pores. You only want to put lotions on your face that are non-comedogenic and, preferably, made specifically for faces.

“how to UD eyeshadow no glitter fallout”

Those UD glitter eyeshadows are pretty notorious for their fallout. I getcha. They’ve worked to improve their formulas over the years, and I’ve found the fallout issue has improved, too. Improved does not equal no fallout though. These are the best things you can do to minimize glitter fallout from any brand of shadow: 1. If you’re doing a heavy glitter or dark shadow look that you know to be prone to fallout, do your eyes before doing your foundation, powder etc. It’s easier to clean up any mess that way, and you don’t have to redo anything that got smudged, or you had to wipe off. 2. Use a primer, or an epoxy. If you can, instead of layering different shadows underneath, apply the glitter shadow directly to your primered lid. 3. Use a flatter brush to press the glitter shadow onto your eye instead of brushing or swiping. You deposit more glitter that way, and you’re able to concentrate color with less distribution onto your cheeks and around your eyes. 4. Hold a folded tissue under your eye, against your cheek, to catch anything that drops. This works under your bottom lashes too to keep mascara from getting where it shouldn’t. 5. Setting spray.

“boringporno.com”

Sounds great. Good luck with that. Sorry I couldn’t help. Or, maybe I did. Since there aren’t any people f’ing on this site, this would make some pretty boring porno. So, I’m sorry. Or, you’re welcome.

Unsolved Hysteries: SOLVED. Keep the search engine terms coming, weirdos.

Benefit, Eyeliner, Eyeshadow, Fave Looks, How-To, Stila, Urban Decay

SF Smoky Eye

This was the eye look I did on Saturday night before we went out to a party.

SF smoky eye

With the exception of my Stila liquid liner, my mascara, and my white highlight liner, I used all Urban Decay products.

First, I applied UD’s Primer Potion in Eden to my entire lid up to my eyebrows. Second, I used “KINKY” (matte nude) from UD’s Smoked Eyeshadow Palette over my lid to the crease. Third, I used an angled brush to apply “GUNMETAL” (dark grey) from UD’s original Naked Palette to the area a little above my crease and down to the outer corners, connecting in a “V” to my upper lash line. If you want to make your eyes look bigger, creating a false crease a little higher than your actual crease is a way to do it. Third, I used a fluffy brush to wash “TEASE” (taupe) from UD’s Naked 2 Palette over my entire lid, up to the dark grey crease, blending the edges as you go. Then, I picked up a little more of my matte nude color on my fluffy brush, and blended the outer edges of the grey crease. Last, I used “BOOTYCALL” (frosty white-beige) from the Naked 2 Palette to accentuate my brow bone, always blending.

I lined my upper lash line and water line with “WHISKEY’ (dark brown) from UD’s 24/7 Double-Ended Glide-On Pencil, then I lined below my bottom lashes to about 3/4 across, leaving the area near my tear ducts, unlined. I went over the top line and created a winged line with my black Stila liner. Then, I used a white liner to line my bottom water line to also give the appearance of bigger eyes. I finished it off with my They’re Real mascara from Benefit on my top lashes only.

Since this look uses dark colors, I did my eyes before I did my foundation. That way, you can clean up any fallout you have and sharpen up any edges you’d like to define with your foundation brush. I’m not wearing it in this picture, but I did a nude lip.

Add a bun and giant earrings, and you’ve got yourself a look!

Sorry the photo quality isn’t great. I wasn’t taking pictures to put up here, I was taking pictures to check the blending and symmetry. Remember in “Clueless” when Cher takes Polaroids of all her outfits because she doesn’t trust mirrors? It’s like that. Plus, I was showing off and sending pics to my sister. Shame on me! PSYCH! I’m not ashamed.

Beauty Tools, Eyeshadow

Brush Up, Part 2

I hope everyone enjoyed the first post about brushes yesterday. I realized way too late that I should have cleaned all the makeup off them before taking pictures. Oh well.

brusheyes

I did this. With these brushes and some liner. Maybe some spit.

Don’t use spit to fix your makeup mistakes. That’s really bad. The enzymes in your saliva that break down food will go to work on your skin. Gross! That tip was extra. *WINK*

Everyone pumped for some eye and lash tools?! Enjoy more photos of my dirty brushes!

Y’ALL READY FOR THIS?!

brushroundshadow

Sephora, N/A

Great. Another brush that doesn’t appear to exist anymore. Good opener, Sarah! That’s ok. Serenity now. This brush is technically a crease brush, but it pulls double duty most days; applying base color and then blending crease colors. The rounded end is good for getting into the eye crease, and the fluffy bristles are great for picking up a lot of color to wash over large areas, or blending to finish. Sephora has THIS brush on sale right now. It looks like it’s similar, and it’s only $6.

brushcrease

Sonia Kashuk Medium Eye Shadow Brush, Target, $5.99

I bought this brush as part of a set. Like, the brush above, I use this one for detail work and large areas. It’s flat, so it’s great for making a really defined crease, packing color into inner and outer corners, and brushing shadow under your eye. This brush is the same brush, with a different handle. If you don’t have a lot of eye makeup brushes, or if you aren’t sure how to start pulling together a set, this brush, along with the one above, is a good place to start. Their versatility will get you through a lot of looks.

brusheyebrow

Tigi Angle Brush

This slim little brush has been kicking around with me since I was in beauty school. I’d use it sometimes to layer shadow over liner, but it wasn’t part of the regular roster until I figured out how amazing it was for putting on my eyebrows. I use it with my Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo to make my brows soft and natural looking, or sharp. The tips of the bristles are so thin, you can really make the exact lines you need. I even still use it to really define my liners with shadow, or as a liner brush. It’s really good to have at least one fine, thin brush in your stash. They come in handy all the time!

brushlashbrushandcurler

Tigi Brow & Lash Groomer, Amazon, $12.98 & Eyelash Curler, Sephora, $17

Comb for untangling clumpy lashes, brush for softening and taming brows. I don’t think I can explain anymore than that.

I have one weirdo eyelash on each eye that defies all my curling effort, choosing instead to either stick straight out or grow downward into my eyeball. No amount of crimping and poking will make those rebel lashes behave. I usually end up pulling them out with my tweezers. I do not tolerate insubordination. Get in line or get yanked out!

Even if your lashes are actively working against you, like mine, curling is still an important step. Curling your lashes opens up your eyes, and makes your lashes look thicker. When you use your curler, make sure to gradually curl up the length of your entire lash, guiding the shape into a gentle curve; instead of crimping directly at the lash line, which will cause your lashes to go straight up and down.

That’s it for this set of brushes. Look for the last post in this series on Monday; I’m going to talk about some highlighting and blending tools. Look, I’m not going to say it’s going to change your life, but you’ll never know if you don’t show up. Right? Better safe than sorry. That’s what I always say!

Eyeshadow, Urban Decay

Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow Diamond Dog

Cher, makeup by Kevyn Aucoin

This photo of Cher has been hurting my feelings with how beautiful it is since the beginning of the new Willenium. The glossy effect is done using petroleum jelly. That’s cool for a photo shoot, but way gross for real life. I’ve tried it out of curiosity, and it didn’t go well.

I thought about this look when I saw Urban Decay’s Moondust Eyeshadow in Diamond Dog at Sephora.

Moondust Eyeshadow in Diamond Dog, $20

Honestly, I just think about Cher a lot. She’s one of my beauty idols. She took her unconventional beauty and became a STAR.

Urban Decay describes this color as, “deep brown with white-gold sparkle.” The shadow is very pigmented, it can be applied wet or dry, and you can build it from a sheer wash to a deep, smoldering color. This makes it a great color for day, or night. I was worried about the “sparkle,” since UD’s shadows aren’t always easy to work with because of the large chunks of glitter. As a semi-responsible contacts wearer (they’re old, but I keeps ’em clean), I know glitter fallout can feel like someone dumped a handful of gravel into your eyes. However, the glitter is so fine, and the shadow is so silky, it applies beautifully with surprisingly minimal fallout. I wore this over Urban Decay’s primer during an unseasonably hot evening out, and even though I was dancing, drinking and sweating, and it didn’t go anywhere. I did have a little sprinkling of the fine glitter drop into my eyelashes over the course of the night, but it wasn’t too bad.

Diamond Dog

Diamond Dog on the lid, Urban Decay’s Bootycall on the brow bone

Yeesh. It’s going to take some time to get used to these up close photo of my own face.

This shadow is so lovely and multi dimensional, it was hard to get all the depth to show. Rest assured, it is flat out gorgeous from every angle.

Due to the shimmer in the shadow, Diamond Dog will apply best with a damp brush, or over something with a tacky or adhesive base, like a primer or a makeup epoxy.

The beauty of a Cher inspired eyeshadow job, with none of the Vaseline-in-your-eye side effects!

The Lab Bunny

Category Archives: Eyeshadow