This I Tried: How To Do The Perfect Cat Eye

The cat eye is glamorous and never goes out of style. StyleCaster has some fantastic video tutorials and this one on how to achieve the perfect cat eye is so simple to follow, I had to try for myself.

I've always struggled with the cat eye look. I think it has something to do with the shape of my eyes or the angle I was aiming with the eyeliner. To try this look on yourself, I urge you to watch the video first. It's quick and easy and will explain far better than my amateurish pictures will ever succeed at doing.

I was going for a more natural cat eye look. Forget Amy Winehouse. This is why I like how they mix just a hint of plum eyeshadow as an eyeliner base and then liquid eyeliner on top.

What you will need:

• A concealer
• A setting powder of any kind (translucent is best)
• A neutral creamy eyeshadow close to your skintone or even a tinted eyeshadow primer.
• An all-purpose eyeshadow brush.
• A shimmery neutral powder eyeshadow, also close to your skintone.
• A plum eyeshadow, creamy, powder, whatever. Plum is hot, invest on it!
• An angled eyeliner brush. Very important. Just get one. 
• A liquid fine tip eyeliner. For this look I used black, but why not plum if you feel like it?
• A q-tip and a tiny dollop of moisturizer, vaseline or even water.
• Mascara.

1. I started by prepping my entire eye area with Maybelline Mineral Power concealer and Maybelline Mineral Power Finishing Veil in translucent. Don't forget the lids, this is how your makeup will stay on.

2. Using my fingertips, I applied Revlon Vital Radiance Mousse Shadow in Pearl Light (which I bought at the Dollar store!), but any creamy neutral eyeshadow will do. You're basically creating a background for the other good stuff.

3. With an eyeshadow brush, I followed with Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Sin, which is a great multi-tasking, all-purpose nude color. It has just enough shimmer to make your eyes pop and totally suitable for daytime. I use it as a base for pretty much any look.

Powder eyeshadow over creamy one makes color
stand out more and offers better lasting power

4. Next, I dipped an angled eyeliner brush on some plum eyeshadow. I chose L'Oreal HIP Eyeshadow Duo in Sculpted, which is a deep plum, so it doesn't scream "purple".

5. For the liquid eyeliner, I chose Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eye Pen in Blackest Black. It's a felt tip pen rather than a regular liquid eyeliner. It makes drawing extremely easy for the uncoordinated because you never have excess ink all over the place. Bonus: it's waterproof. 

 

6. Using a q-tip dabbed in just a bit of moisturizer, I drew the eyeliner upwards, kind of making a smiley face on my lash line. The video explains this step better. If you're using a waterproof liquid liner, act fast because it dries very quickly, making it difficult to blend.

7. Finally, I patted some concealer in the outer corners of my eyes, just where q-tip traced before, making sure my face looked even. Finish with some translucent powder (but not over eyeliner!) and then you can use the same powder eyeshadow from before to highlight the inner corners of your eyes and the lower lashline.

8. I used Benefit Bad Gal Mascara on upper and lower lashes and that's it.

 

Success! \o/

Today's Link Thingies: Labor Day

Happy Labor day, everyone! And if you're in Brazil (where I'm from), happy Independence Day holiday weekend!

I've added some new blogs and websites to my "Beauty Insiders" list (sidebar menu on the left), and in order to de-clutter my Google Chrome browser a bit by not having one gazillion (yet awesome) tabs open, here's a list of some of beautiful things I've been obsessing over the last 24 hours.

Let's call this:
  "Labor Day Weekend Best Of" List:

• 22 Best Facial Cleansers at Total Beauty. 

My favorites: Philosophy Purity Made Simple and Garnier The Brusher Gel Cleanser.

• 13 Best Face Concealers at Productaddicted.net. 

My all-time favorite: Lâncome Effacernes.

• How To Create The Perfect Cat Eye at StyleCaster . 

Very useful. For some reason, I always have a hard time trying to ace this technique.

Source: BecomeGorgeous

• Top 10 Makeup Brushes to complete your collection at Daily Makeover. 

The right tools really do make all the difference.

• 11 Best Drugstore Mascaras also at Total Beauty.

Maybelline Define-A-Lash Hydrofuge in Brownish Black didn't make the cut, but it's my pick.

• Cosmopolitan's very own list of Life-Changing Beauty Products. 

Impressive list. Do people still read Cosmo?

Celebrity Inspired Purple Smoky Eye Makeup

Purple is the new black. I don't know if that's true but I'm kind of in love with purple right now and all its different shades. From burgundy to violet, purple - among other jewel tones - is gonna be hot for Fall.

I've been trying to play with the smoky eyeshadow look using different colors for a while. It can be tricky at first, finding the right shades that compliment best your eye color. I have blue-gray eyes that looks kind of green sometimes depending on the lighting and makeup, and I have noticed that blue eyeshadow, for instance, tends to wash me out a bit. I'm still trying to work the perfect blue eyeshadow combo that will suit my skin tone and eyes the best. But I digress.

There's a look I've been trying to emulate for a while. Last year, Kristen Stewart rocked a smoky burgundy eyeshadow for the MTV VMA's

that I simply coveted. Her overall look was demure, her dress was feminine, they really worked wonders on her then "Jett-Black" mullet and her makeup was perfection.

According to this source, Kristen's makeup artist used Dior's eyeshadow palette in Stylish Move, which is a combo of a dark-grape purple, mauve and pink. He used mainly the deep purple shades and lots of black eyeliner, including the water line (the inner rim).

I've been told by Sephora experts that Dior eyeshadows don't concentrate a lot of pigment so I've always been hesitant to spend nearly $60 on a combo of eyeshadows that won't exceed my expectations. Personally I love Makeup Forever and Urban Decay. They are highly pigmented and have an incredible lasting power. Too Faced duos are also great.

More recently, Kristen showed up for one of the Eclipse premiere's sporting an even better purple-pink smoky look that I am totally bonkers about. It's less understated than her 2009 VMA's look but no less gorgeous.

This time around, they added more black and shimmer to her look, making it more glam all around. Notice the bronze highlighted brow bone, shimmery black eyeshadow on the crease and a pinkish-purple hue dominating the inner corner of her eyes.

Her dress had purple undertones that were visible when it hit the light at certain spots, so the color choice was genius. Somebody knew what they were doing!

To recreate her look I did some research, coming across Lauren Luke's Youtube Channel. She's a Brit makeup guru who now has her own makeup line at Sephora!

After following her 10+ minute video tutorial (which deserves its own post to follow), I was able to create a smoky purple look that I was very happy with. It's a little too glam for daytime (and even night time, depending where you're going) but I've been downplaying this look on several occasions lately, using L'Oreal HIP Eyeshadow Duo in Sculpted, which is a shimmery combo of very dark burgundy and a pinkish mauve. Paired with either burgundy or black eyeliner (or both), those are colors that really compliment green, gray and blue eyes. It's a contrasting combo, so brown eyes benefit the play of of colors just as well.

Also loving Drew Barrymore's makeup on the Covergirl ads for the Smoky ShadowBlast. Featured in both Purple Plum (below, first) and Silver Sky (below, second), those are both gorgeous looks on her that seem easy enough to recreate. Haven't bought the tool yet; I'm personally not a big fan of eyeshadow sticks but I'm willing to give it a shot. For under 8 bucks at Target, it might be worth the sacrifice. ;)

For daytime or work, I like to stick to neutral shades of brown and caramel eyeshadow, using Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes eyeliner in 2L (golden brown sheen) for lower lids and deep purple eyeliner (like ELF liner in Plum or Jordana Easyliner in Eggplant) smudged lightly on upper lids. When it comes to colors, I like to invest more money on shades I wear often and will never go out of style, such as black and brown. For more interesting color choices such as purples, blues and turquoises, I don't mind going the drugstore or even the Dollar store route. It's a good way to try out a new shades guilt and commitment-free.

If you're very tan, I would recommend playing up the shimmery, brighter tones of purple and plum, contrasting with pink and black. If you're pale like moi, try deeper shades of burgundy and mauve with hints of brown and go from there.

For more inspiration, this site has lots of celebrity pics rocking purple eye makeup.