Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate Review

The Shade and Illuminate palette by Tom Ford contains a gorgeous highlighter and contouring cream. The textures are soft and luminous and perfect for creating that Tom Ford sculpted look, or just to subtly enhance your bone structure. Intensity One is the lighter of the two available and it contains a warm brown cream and a glimmering white highlighter. The texture is soft and blends out perfectly, retaining its intensity even as it dissolves into the skin.


The contour is quite warm, I was worried once I swatched it that it would have the same orangy tone on my super pink fair skin that most "contour" products have, but it blends into the skin so well that it doesn't appear that way on my face. But you can see the warmth in the swatch on my super, super pale inner arm (seriously, I couldn't give you a foundation match for it because there isn't one in most lines; my Bobbi Brown foundation stick in Porcelain is orange against it).


The highlighter is more glimmer than color payoff; paired with the contour it's enough to softly highlight the cheeks, but I think most people would be disappointed by it without the additional contour.


The packaging is, of course, stunning and luxe, hefty in the hand, but not overly bulky. It's the ideal for high end packaging, if you ask me.


The brush (not included) is the like a larger, but proportionally shorter MAC 239 eyeshadow brush. It's soft and dense, but an unusual shape for a contouring brush.


I hope to do a look with this in the next few days, so I'll post a full face picture. In the meantime, however, enjoy these photos.

Halloween: A Dark Fairy Tale Look

This is the first of what I hope will be many Halloween looks I'll be posting, as the only thing I love more than cosmetics is October 31. I'd consider this a gothic fairtale princess sort of look; I think it would suit those hideous short skirted costumes that are everywhere in the Halloween stores these days. You could be any sort of Fairytale princess or character costume, and this look would work, especially if you're not the pink and glittery sort. For someone like Snow White, you'd probably want to go darker and more matte on the lips. Think of this as the anti-Disney princess makeup look.

Eyes:
MAC Paint Pot in Quite Natural, a chocolatey brown, on the lid as a base color; using a brown underneath the black gives a warmer undertone to the black shadows. This was blended out in the crease with MAC Eyeshadow in Folie, which is a reddish brown. Both were applied heavily underneath the eye, too.
MAC Typographic eyeshadow on the lid. I chose this color, not only because it was a blendable black eyeshadow, but because it wasn't the blackest I have. This was applied more heavily at the lash line and blended into the crease. Also, this was applied heavily underneath, and blended at the outer corner to crease a big circular eye shape.
Around the outside of the black, in the crease and underneath, Make Up For Ever 49, a reddish plum color, was blended into the edges.
Make Up For Ever Aqua Black on the upper lash line, upper and lower waterlines. The top was blended with Urban Decay Blackout from the 15 Year Anniversary Palette, and a small amount underneath.
Urban Decay Vanilla (from the same palette) highlighted the brow bone and inner corner.

Ardell Wispies lashes finished off the eyes.

Eyebrows were filled in with MAC Coquette, a grayish brown.

Skin:
Make Up For Ever HD Foundation in 115.
Make Up For Ever Full Cover concealer in No. 4.

Blush:
Make Up For Ever HD Blush in No. 2--a bright raspberry red--as a base, high on the outside of the cheekbone, just under the outer corner of the eye.
The same No. 49 Eyeshadow was applied on top, blending down from the eye.
This was topped with Illamasqua Panic, a cherry red, then everything was blended forward towards the front plane of the face and backwards towards the hairline, but not down.
Contour was NYX Taupe blush.

Lips:
A mixture of Tarte Lipsurgence Natural Lip Tints in Lust, red, and Moody, berry, were applied and blotted slightly, for a dark red tint.

Fall Nail Polishes

The usual suspects for fall nail polishes include the usual vampy creams, shimmery bronzes, browns, etc. This season, break out of the box and try one of these alternatives. They're still autumnal, will go beautifully with traditional and trendy fall clothes, and will have you staring at your nails for hours. Not that I did.

Chanel Peridot and Chanel Graphite

I stick these two together, partially because two Chanel polishes on my list was pretty cruel, and partially because I think they suit different skin tones. I don't like Peridot on me, though I think it's a beautiful nail polish anyway. It's a metallic gold with flashes of different shades of green; on me, a brassy gold dominates, and it doesn't look as nice as it does in the bottle. Graphite, however, does suit me, and it's a glittery steel color. Either polish (or both, if you're inclined) are perfectly on trend for the fall, and continue Chanel's reputation for trendsetting nail colors.

China Glaze Trendsetter

Speaking of trendsetting...terrible pun...China Glaze's sparkly mustard yellow green is a sincerely cool color. It might be one of my favorite polishes of all time. It's smooth, multi-colored without a lot of shine. I would probably wear this everyday if I didn't have so many nail polishes.

OPI It's My Year

Sort of the color version of Chanel Graphite, this glittery sheer (this is three coats) purple polish is full of microglitter in shades of green and gold. It strikes a balance between sophisticated and fun, and I think it would work if you're afraid of color or addicted to it.

Butter London God Save the Queen

If you like neutrals with a kick, but have grown tired of the variations on purple-greige polishes that have been around for a few years, God Save the Queen (formerly McQueen), is the answer you've been looking for. A relatively neutral light taupe, this nude polish kicks things up with holographic glitter.



Illamasqua Vice

If this are just too out there for you; Illamasqua Vice is a traditional fall color, but the finish of this deep raspberry polish is an unusual rubberized finish. No shiny top coat on this polish, though hand lotion etc. can ruin the finish.

Make Up Pet Peeves

Do you have anything that drives you crazy about makeup, beauty, or the way other people talk about it?

1. The term "holy grail" or HG. Drives me nuts. Maybe it's just because I was raised Catholic, but it offends me. It's just foundation (or lipstick, etc.), it's not that important. What's wrong with "favorite?".

2. Light lipgloss over darker lipstick. Excuse me while I shudder in disgust. It looks outdated and gross. I had a sales associate at MAC try that trick and it was so ugly I couldn't look at myself. I actually think gloss over lipstick looks really--okay I think most lipglosses, especially super shiny ones--look dated. There are plenty of super pigmented glosses if that's the look you want, and lots of lipsticks with enough emollients to give a dewy shine. And if you want to add gloss to an existing lipstick, try the lipgloss first and the lipstick over it, so pretty.

3. Everyone is "super pale.". Does this come from the idea that every caucasian has a tan, or wants one? So of you don't have a tan, you are automatically the palest person you know. There seems to be some paleness competition on certain message boards and the comments on certain blogs. "I'm NW5!" "I'm NW0!" "I have no pigmentation to my skin and am an alarming web of veins!" which leads to my pet peeve of people describing their skin tone using MAC foundation names, but that's for a different time. Now, I am on the fair side of things for sure; I burn easily and I often wear the lightest or second lightest foundation in a brand. And there are lots of people fairer than I am--Christina Hendricks and my beloved Cameron Mitchell (who's from Texas of all places). I am far from mandating that anyone get a tan (wait for number 4), but the paleness battle some people seem to get into makes me want a person who has albinism to shut them all up.

4. Bronzer. I don't get bronzer, and I hate it when brands/makeup artists/YouTube gurus insist it can be used as contour. No it can't. contour should usually be cool toned, since shadows are cool toned. And all those bronzers that aren't bronzers but highlighters/blushes/face powders should just be labeled as such. I guess bronzers are for people who tan their bodies, but not their faces. I get the purpose for pros on photoshoots who need to add a tanned look to someone who doesn't have one. But honestly, does every cosmetics line need five or six of them?

5. Over-highlighted brow bones. Anyone remember Britney Spears' video for "Oops I Did It Again" from more than a decade ago? All I remember is her white frosty eyeshadow all the way to her brows. It was hideous then and that hasn't changed. The under brow highlight is over used. For instance, if the lid is dark for a smoky eye, the brow ridge is automatically highlighted; it might look better if a muted taupe was used to blend out the shadow. Makeup artist Carmindy who has been in a rut for six seasons of What Not To Wear insists every woman needs highlight under the brow and the inner corner. I'm not a fan of the teary eyed look, either, which is always the result of shimmer placed around the tear duct, but I vehemently disagree with the reasoning that everyone needs anything, especially brow highlight. It can be useful for showing off the arch of the eyebrow or for people with heavy lids, but a lot of people would benefit from highlighting the lid rather than the brow bone.

End of rant. I promise to come back with some things I love (one word--blush) soon.

Bronze and Gray Smoky Eyes

My beautiful sister let me do her makeup for a night on the town. I gave her a mix of warm and cool smoky shades. I have to say this is another one that looked better in person than in photographs, but I like it either way.

Mulch on the lid and underneath.
Scene in the outer corner.
Copperplate in the crease.
Urban Decay Ace (from 15 Year Anniversary Palette) on upper lash lines and outer third of lower lashes.
Clinique High Lengths Mascara in Black/Brown.

I don't remember what she had on her lips, if anything, and nothing on her face.

Purple Smoky Eyes

Dusky purple eyes using one of my favorite MAC eyeshadows. The full face shots wouldn't work out with this look, the sun was too glaring for outside shots, and the flash washes me out so much, since I'm pretty fair. I'll post what I used on the rest of the face, though.

Eyes:
On the lids, I used MAC's Shale, with Shadowy Lady in the outer corner into the outer crease. Shale under the eye with a little MUFE No. 4 close to the lashes. I used MUFE Aqua Black on the upper lashes, adding a tiny flick at the outer corner, then I blended the edge with No. 4 because I wanted a soft edge on the liner. I'm blanking on the details since this was a few weeks ago, but I think I used Shroom on the brow bone, and I definitely used a touch of MAC Big Bounce Shadow in Count Your Assets in the inner corner. I think I may have used MAC Omega in my brows. I really should have written this all down, or at least posted this sooner, but life has been incredibly hectic with the changes to my bedroom.

Face:
Bobbi Brown Foundation Stick in Porcelain on the red areas of my face. MUFE HD Microfinish powder to control shine, and I used either (or both) Laura Mercier Secret Camouflages in SC-1 and SC-2 on ugly things.
Blush was MAC Desert Rose.

Lips:
Tarte Lipsurgence Lip Tint in Lust. I didn't love how this turned out, as it was a little bright for the look. I usually love red lips with purple eyes, but this didn't work. If I was doing this look over, and I might, since I loooved how the eyes turned out, I'd probably use a rosy, mauvy pink gloss like Urban Decay Pocket Rocket in David.

Sparkly Blue Nails

OPI Swimsuit...Nailed It with three coats of OPI Last Friday Night on top. So pretty, but it stained my nails something fierce when it came off.