Multi-tasking: Revlon Colorstay 12 Hour Shadow #01 Copper Spice

Revlon Colorstay Shadows are a bit of a hit-and-miss with me because I find they are all one texture. There is no contrast between mattes and shimmer and glitters. All of them are the same satin finish, and you don’t always get great color payoff.

But one of my favorites is Copper Spice, which consists of a champagne, a peach, a coppery-russet, and a dark cocoa. Nude Elements is popular, but I find it a little duller and less flattering than Copper Spice.

But here’s what I do with 3-4 color palettes to get maximum mileage out of the shades.

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Step 1: Apply the 3rd shade, the coppery-russet, onto the outer 2/3 of the lids. Having a good base and using a flat brush to pack the color on will give you more intensity.

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Step 2: Apply the dark cocoa along the lower lash line and outer corners of the upper lids for definition. If you have mono-lids, go ahead and sweep along the hollow of the eye socket a little.

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Step 3: Apply the palest champagne-gold to the inner corners of the lids, and downwards on the inner corners of the lower lash line as well. Then use a soft brush to blend out any harsh lines overall.

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Step 4: Apply black liquid liner to the upper lash line, and then black mascara to top and bottom lashes. Put on fake lashes if you need a little extra oomph. This is a look that transits well between day and night.

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Step 5: Here comes the multi-tasking step you can take with most neutral-to-warm eyeshadow palettes. With a big fluffy brush, apply the two palest highlight shades to your cheekbones as highlighter. (Yes, it doesn’t ALWAYS have to go onto your brow bone. And I DO recommend sticking with one spot, not both, if you don’t want to overdo it.)

This gives a lovely sheen and coordinates with your eye look. 

All About: My Earliest Makeup (Lipsticks)

All About: My Earliest Makeup (Lipsticks)

Everything Cover Girl.
I’m kidding.

No, actually I’m not.
We only had access to Cover Girl and Maybelline at Drugstores when I was getting curious about makeup at 13. And if you’ve tried Maybelline makeup in the mid-90s, you’ll understand when I say the shadows, blushes and lipsticks were absolutely horrid.

Cover Girl lipsticks, on the other hand, were sooo creamy and had such great color payoff.
I remember saving all my money to blow on 2 for 1 Cover Girl Continuous Color Self-Renewing Lipstick offers. When the lady at the cash register asked me one day why I bought so many, I mumbled something about errand runs for others, then ran off home to play with my “Raisin Craze” and “Red to Remember”.

The other I remember very clearly was Revlon Colorstay Lipcolor. I used to stare at the ad of Cindy Crawford with her mouth puckered into a deep brick-red kiss.

I’d never heard of budge-proof lipsticks at that point.

I had to have it.

I scrimped, I saved… I sneaked out one day and bought 6 of them at 1 shot, the way a dieter might obsess over food all day and sneak out at night for a massive binge.

They were drying, they brought out every line you never knew your lips had, they wore off when you ate, they came in a small range of shades, they cost double what other drugstore lipsticks cost at that point, plus I swear Cindy Crawford (at a shoot) was and still is the only person in the world who didn’t look bad with it on.
But I lost sleep over this lipstick.

And then of course, I never did wear them out much because Revlon Colorstay lipsticks back in the day did not come in very “wearable” colors for 13 year olds. Those very-expensive (for a teen without an income) black and gold tubes sat in my drawer for years, until they were finally thrown out when I moved.

The funny thing is I’m not sure I would wear them even if I had them again now. By today’s standards, these were terrible. And from the quality of Cover Girl lipsticks back in those days and even earlier, I can safely say we already had access to good products, so it wasn’t that we didn’t have a choice.

But how’s that for great marketing?

Out of the Box: Base (Revlon Colorstay with Softflex + La Roche Posay Anthelios SPF50)

Combine a heavy-duty foundation with a heavy-duty sunblock, and you get…

… a smooth, sheer foundation that has great sun protection, feels lightweight, finishes to a natural velvety (semi-matte) texture, and no longer has the following cons:

• Colorstay’s paint-thinner fragrance
• an SPF50+ broad-spectrum sunscreen’s white cast
• a mask-like and overly-matte foundation texture
• an SPF product’s greasy-looking sheen

Depending on the proportion of foundation to sunblock, it also could work as a satiny tinted moisturizer (my formula of choice), or a semi-sheer foundation.
Things to Note:

1. If you are going for a semi-matte, semi-sheer foundation look, mix 1 part sunblock with 2 parts foundation. Buy a matte foundation 1 shade darker than your skin (i.e. NC30 if you are NC25).
2. If you prefer a sheerer, more satin tint, you will need to mix about 1 part sunblock with 1 part foundation or less. Buy a matte foundation 2 shades darker than your skin (i.e. NC35 if you are NC25).
3. Never pick a foundation that is more pink-toned than you are. This is because sunblocks tend to make gold shades less gold. If you start out with a shade that’s already pinker than you naturally are and add sunblock to it, you’re just going to look like you have calamine all over your face.