Perfect Matte Brown Cream-to-Powder Shadow: An Odd Trick

Sometimes it can be hard to find the perfect natural-looking brown cream shadow that has zero shimmer, sets and lasts, but still has a soft skin-like gleam a la Burberry makeup looks. 

Here's one of my favorite tricks for getting a soft sepia brown gleaming lid that is quite hard to duplicate with a cream shadow. 

What I use is this. A liquid foundation in the darkest shade I can find.

Sephora 10 Hr Wear Perfection Foundation in 65 Deep

In Singapore, it's EXTREMELY hard to find a shade of foundation deep enough to do this, so I was extremely happy to see that Sephora actually stocked a shade of foundation that was this dark. And because it's a long-wear foundation, it's perfect for what I want to do with it.

The color you get is a rich sepia-tone, and because it's designed to be a skin shade, when it's sheered out, it looks very natural. Smoky but still glowy.

All I do is apply a tiny pump to the back of my hand, then use a soft synthetic buffer brush to blend that onto the lids in circular motions, then along the lower lash line lightly as well.

If you need, just dab a tiny bit of soft highlight in the inner corners of the eye to add some dimension, and then apply mascara. That's all you need for a soft, subtly smoky look.

Sephora 10 Hr Wear Perfection Foundation worn on lids

Poppy Fever: The Body Shop Spring 2015 Collection

The Body Shop Spring 2015 Shimmer Cubes Palettes 31 Yellow Poppy (left), and 32 Pink Poppy

The Body Shop is kicking off 2015 with fun, Poppy-themed face and body collections from 5 Feb. The makeup products include:

• 2 colorful Shimmer Cubes Palettes (SGD39.90) - 31 Yellow Poppy, and 32 Pink Poppy.
• 4 coordinating nail polishes (SGD12.90) - Apricot Kiss, Cupid Pink, A Sunny Affair and Mad About Blue.
• 6 chubby Lip & Cheek Velvet Sticks (SGD29.90) - there are 5 colors - nude, peach, red, pink and coral, as well as 1 Universal color-changing shade which is really interesting. 

I did quick swatches for the shimmer cubes without any base or water, so you can see the pigmentation levels. They're all quite smooth and pigmented, although I have to say it's unlikely that most of us would wear all these colors together on the eye at any given time.

The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes 31 Yellow Poppy swatches

The Yellow Poppy palette was not the one I grabbed for first when I saw both. I'll say up-front I like the Pink Poppy one more because the colors are so unique. But I do have to say that Yellow Poppy has 2 neutrals (dark brown and white) that help make the palette a little more "complete".

The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes 3 Pink Poppy swatches

If you were to get Pink Poppy on the other hand, you would probably need to add a darker neutral color to anchor the shades because they're all accent shades. There isn't really a "definer" shade unless you want to use the red around your lash line, and not many people are brave enough to do that!

I like this palette more but I would just use the colors individually or 2 at a time, and pair them with neutrals. 

I somehow can't look at Yellow Poppy without the Simpsons' theme song running through my head. 

The Body Shop Lip & Cheek Velvet Stick in 40 (left) and 50 Universal (right)

The Universal Velvet Stick is like a matte color-changing balm. The textures of these sticks are quite smooth and blendable, so I wouldn't hesitate to use them on the cheeks.

I do like the colored ones more than the color-changing black one, because depending on the pH level of your skin, if the color doesn't "bloom" completely, you end up with slightly grey-ish pink lips, which is an effect, but maybe not quite what you were going for. 

Still, most times I seem to end up with at least a nice berry color on the lips so it's not too bad. I just feel I'd rather know exactly what color is going on than play guessing games, even though color-change products are kinda fun.

And let's not forget the poppy-red brush. 

The Body Shop Spring 2015 Poppy Blush Brush

 Technically you can use this for mineral powder, regular powder, bronzer or blush. It's 100% synthetic and cruelty-free; plus it's very soft and good quality.

Aside from the face products, there's also a line of body products with the Forbidden Flower scent, which is centered around poppy (from which opium is made btw). I only have the shower gel to sample for a review so I can't speak about the perfume version, but if the gel is anything to gauge by, it's quite a powdery, musky, spicy floral that's not exactly very "flowery" or sweet. It's quite dark and soft and I think the lacquer black bottles with the red poppy visual are quite fitting.

The Body Shop Forbidden Flower Shower Gel

 The range includes the requisite 30ml eau de toilette (SGD24.90) shower gel (SGD14.90), lotion (SGD21.90) and the body butter (SGD32.90), but not a fragrance

My 5-minute Colorful Half-Liner Eye Look

This is a super quick eye look that I always pop on when I don't have a lot of time to do my face, and want an eye that is subtle but still has a shot of fun color.

I tend to pair this look with a strong blush and bright lips (a coral-pink mostly). 

The best thing is it's super easy and you don't need to be an expert or to have a very steady hand. Plus you have tons of shade options. Any colored liner pencil will work as that accent color on your lid.

You will need:

• A shimmery champagne or beige shadow (I used Sephora Prisma Chrome in MoonBeam)
• A medium brown shadow for the contour (I used The Body Shop's Chocolate Linger)
• A black pencil (I just used a black kajal)
• A colorful pencil of your choice (I used Milani Liquif'Eye in Aqua)
• Mascara or falsies (L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black)

Popster: Fuchsia Lips with Warm, Romantic Neutral Eye (Good for Mono-Lids and Smaller Eyes

I call this look the "popster" because it's SUCH a common look among celebs and popstars both in the West and in the East. 

A warm, glamorous eye focusing on winged liner and sometimes false lashes, paired with electric fuchsia-pink lips.

This is a look that's especially good if you want to "enlarge" your eyes a little, because the lashes, the shadow AND the liner all create the illusion of bigger eyes.

You will need:

• A brown cream shadow (I used Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in #14; you can use a regular powder shadow if you want)
• A soft bronze-beige shadow (I used The Body Shop's single shadow in #41; just look for something a little deeper than a beige)
• A pale yellow matte pencil (NYX Yellow would work)
• A black gel liner (or liquid liner if you want; I used Maybelline's black gel liner)
• Black mascara
• False lashes (I prefer soft fluttery, natural-looking ones like Ardell 122s for this sort of look because they are longest at the center, not the outer corners. You want to retain that very rounded, doll-like eye shape.)