Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics- Platinum and Storm Pressed Individual Eyeshadow

Storm:

 Platinum:

The classic dark smoky eye doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. Now that everyone is in a holiday makeup mood there are even more kits and palettes promising that you won't get it wrong if you use them, which might or might not be true. But most of us know by now that the secrets for a wearable smoky eye that doesn't make one look like Taylor Momsen is a couple of good brushes, serious blending and most important- not overdoing it.

Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics offers a couple of good options in the smoky eye department. Their eye shadows have a great texture- smooth but dense in pigment- that makes it easy and pleasant to work with them. They blend seamlessly and require little effort. While these kind of colors are not my favorites (I usually prefer a softer look with just a pop of color) both Platinum (silver with an almost metallic finish) and Storm (mostly matte charcoal with some shimmer particles) are very pretty and wearable. Used together they give a very rock star smoky eye that can be easily tailored and balanced. They also work well with other colors to create simpler looks and I even like using Platinum as a silver liner- it can be applied with a damp brush for some extra sheen.

Both Storm and Platinum can also be found as part of Youngblood's Starlet Eyeshadow Quad. The palette includes an almost white highlighter and a matte black which fully complete the smoky eye look.

Bottom Line: Very very good.

Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics Pressed Individual Eyeshadow ($19 each) are available at Henri Bendel in NYC and from ybskin.com. I received both Storm and Platinum from the company's PR department.

All photos are mine.

Tricia Sawyer Smoke And Mirrors

Smoke & Mirrors, a loose eye shadow powder, was my first encounter with Tricia Sawyer's products. Sawyer, a Hollywood makeup artist had an interesting idea: to make smoky eyes a simple, one product process that doesn't require 30 minutes work. It's a neat idea, actually, even if reality is a bit more complicated than the vision.

Smoke and Mirrors is a very dark not-quite-black powder that has quite a bit of purple, brown and gray in it and a gold (or is it bronze?) shimmer and comes in a tube with a sponge wand. It sounds a bit like Guerlain Terracotta Kohl, but since there's no mention anywhere of using it on the water line I'd avoid trying it as such. The color, despite the several pigments used is flatter and not as vivid as any of the Guerlain kohls I've seen. So Smoke & Mirrors is an eyeshadow supplement of sorts, though you can use it on its own. You apply it over your existing eye makeup, depositing most of the powder over the lash line and blending/smoking it upwards and to the outer corner of the eye.

Then you look at the royal mess you created, mutter a few expletives and ask yourself where you went wrong. It's not you. Mostly it's the applicator. Loose pigments such as this one are messy by nature (remember my blue pawed kitten?), and the way the tube and applicator are constructed makes using them even worse. While you can't prevent the black cloud that comes out as soon as you pull the wand out without de-potting the whole thing into a jar, you can use a medium size eye shadow brush (to transfer the product from the applicator or if you pour a little onto a flat surface) that collects less powder, absorbs more and distributes it evenly. It also prevents some (but not all) of the fallout, which is a huge problem here.

If you're not using Smoke & Mirror over an existing eye shadow, make sure your eyelids are well-primed. Otherwise the powder wouldn't stay in place for more than an hour or so. It fades, migrates and smears if you  even look at it funny. So a primer and a nude base eye shadow that helps you blend the dark smoky one are essential. I'd also be very careful when using under the lower lashes. It's very hard to make Smoke & Mirrors remain where it's supposed to under the lashes, and I'm also not too fond of the shimmer particles in that area. It just looks off to me.

This tutorial on Tricia Sawyer's site shows both the strengths and weaknesses of the product, so you can make your own conclusions. My bottom line is that it's a good idea that could have used more tweaking. I'd also like to see more color options. If this shade is borderline too dark for me, it would be way too Lindsay Lohan on many others (the very pale model in the tutorial is a good example for that).

Tricia Sawyer's Smoke And Mirrors ($21) is available from QVC and through Sawyer's website. It was part of my free BeautyFix kit.

Photos by me.

Victoria Beckham Presents: Smoky Eyes- The Next Generation?

I'm not sure this even qualifies as a smoky eye look, because Victoria Beckham has taken the idea to new and very goth levels. While I wouldn't attempt it on my face (combined with my mass of long dark hair the result would be too scary), I think Posh actually pulls it off, in her own unique and not entirely human way.

Looking at her hair, it's obvious that growing out a pixie cut is a serious pain. I went through the same thing in the 80s, so I can identify. Come to think of it, that was the last time people left the house wearing this kind of eye makeup...

And for the sake of nostalgia and perspective, here's an ad for smoky eye makeup from the April 1971 issue of Mademoiselle magazine:

Victoria Beckham's photo from Dlisted.

Reality Check: Chanel Smoky Eye Quad

A couple of months ago, when I first got the sneak peak preview of Chanel's Smoky Eyes eye shadow quad (it was on the annoying promotional mini-site for the Exceptionnel mascara) I got a serious case of coveting. It looked utterly gorgeous.

Last week I got to play with it at my local Bloomingdale's. The compact is, indeed, beautiful (you can see the real-life photos taken by Annie of Blogdorf Goodman here. I'm not yet brave enough to attempt such a move, as the SAs here still give me enough dirty looks when I take my time testing and swatching. Apparently, I'm supposed to whip out my charge card just because they tell me "everyone looooves it"), but I didn't buy it.

Why?

I've always had issues with the smoky eye concept. The combination of a funky skin tone, dark circles and my age is making my first eye makeup priority be "try to look alive". While I use very dark colors on my lids and (upper) lash base because my lids are quite heavy and can use serious shading, I avoid any eye makeup on and under my lower lashes, and I always make sure that the rest of my eye area is "opened up" with a light wash of barely-there color. So my version of the look is the "half smoky" eye, where nothing is smudged downwards. Ever.

Now, the Chanel quad could have been the answer to my problem: all the colors, even the black one, are on the sheer side. The pigment is airy rather than dense, so there's no risk of looking like I just got a shiner. The thing is, what Smoky Eyes lack in pigment they compensate with shimmer. Lots and lots of shimmer. The white color, for example, doesn't show on me at all. It's a translucent base that holds tiny shimmery particles. Very pretty, but unless I was going clubbing or to a holiday party I wouldn't ever wear it. The black and the charcoal were seriously Halloween disco and the silver was pure shiny metal. Pretty, trendy, but not practical if you're me.

I really wanted a version of this look, but one that could actually work with my style and habits.there are several other smokey eye palettes on the market right now, and many, though shimmery, look more wearable than the Chanel (and they cost significantly less) with a better pigment/shimmer ratio. Worth checking: The Red Carpet Look or the Smoky eye quad from Stila, the Grey Eye from Du-Wop, Night Essence from Fresh and Guerlain L'Heure Fumee. I also took a good look at my already existing stash and realized I already have several black, charcoal, gray and silver eye shadows in various textures and finishes. I bet you have some, too (except you, Tom).

What I'm currently missing is a matte medium gray that can create the look for daytime. Bobbi Brown has exactly that: Slate (Steel also looks like a good option). I'd love to hear more suggestions.