The great mascara comparison

So, many moons ago I posted on Facebook that I had finally succumbed to purchasing Maybelline Great Lash, a mascara about which I had heard many legendary things. Unfortunately it was always tainted a little by the memory of the people I went to school with who would apply so much of it you worried they’d stab themselves in the eyelid if they opened their eyes too wide.

Going by brush size this does seem a little David-and-Goliath-esque.

In the following images you can see me completely sans mascara, and with Great Lash applied to my left lashes (your right) compared with Avon SuperShock mascara on the right (your left).

No mascara

Avon on the left, Maybelline on the right, party in the back

Closeup - Avon

Closeup - Maybelline

The verdict:  I like Great Lash, sure.  It was easy to apply, seemed to build nicely (though maybe not as quickly as I liked compared to my old apply-one, hand-wave dry, apply-different-one method) and the wand was far more manoeuvrable than the Avon behemoth.  But I can’t say I was head-over-heels, as-God-is-my-witness-I-shall-never-be-hungry-use-another-brand-again inspired by it.  The differences in the pics above are mainly attributable to the fact I have a lot more ease applying mascara to my left eye than my right.

Since the comparison test I’ve alternated between the two, even subbed in an ageing Smashbox mascara, and while there’s definitely some differences in the look they each achieve I wouldn’t get stressed out if I couldn’t find one and had to use the other.

For a supermarket-brand mascara, Maybelline Great Lash is just fine, and the packaging presents a significant advantage when hunting in the bottom of my handbag.  But I think you could get fairly similar results from something cheaper – wait until Avon has a sale brochure out and I’d guarantee it.

Shiro eye week – addendum

A quick look-see at all the eye looks I did two weeks ago which didn’t make it to their own posts!  Only one shot of each, but for more pics and details of the colours used see my Flickr or click on each image for their specifics!

First up – a yellow-and-silver look.  I think this started as an attempt to do a Pikachu look but then I had massive morning blah attack.

A more monochrome look, silver-on-white with some Avon metallic silver liquid eyeliner for extra metallic monochromatism.  Which is totally a word, or should be.

Third up, purple and brown, going (I think!) for a slightly dramatic look without frightening the horses.

Finally, I felt like something a little more dramatic the day I did this, but it wasn’t until I got to work that I realised I was essentially wearing Ursula the Sea Witch’s eyeshadow with nail polish fit for a Disney princess (more on that later!)  Photo taken at the end of the day, so it’s got crap lighting, but you can definitely see how well the colour has lasted!

Shiro eye week: Pink like candy

Fear not, readers, I’m not stuck in an eternal cycle of Pokemon-themed eyeshadow.  Today’s look is a pretty simple candy-inspired number, heavy on /kiss and highlighted with White from the iShadow set.

Photos were taken after a long hard day at work, but the colour has seriously lasted with just a little loss around the outer corner (i.e. the area I rub when my eyes are tired and I’m trying not to smudge my eyeshadow.)

We’re heading into the weekend so I’m thinking some playtime in front of a mirror is in order.  I’ve been revisiting a few of my favourite makeup tutorial peeps on YouTube and getting all inspired, particularly after this week’s success.  But that’s probably a tale for another post!

A wee tip if you feel like swatching some eye makeup looks?  Obviously your skin, especially around the eye, doesn’t really have the resilience of your fingernails, which (at least according to far more committed nail bloggers than I) can quite happily deal with multiple coats being applied and stripped off in short order.

So I am currently swearing by the Body Shop’s Unscented Elderflower Eye Gel.  It’s lovely and cooling and, like the name kinda hints, unscented and thus massively non-irritating.

The one regret with this look is that I think a heavy black eyeliner all around the eye would’ve upped the drama.  And I love drama!

Shiro eye week: PIKA PIKA

When your favourite indie cosmetics company is running a Pokemon-themed contest, and you’ve got yellow eyeshadow, there’s really only one option (especially if you’re a bit of a Pokemon noob like myself).

PIKACHU.

So – pardon the slightly bleary-eyed look since I took these pics first thing in the morning – out came I Feel Fantastic (discontinued, buy yours now!) and Black from the iShadow collection, together with a little /hug, all over the usual base (can you guess?) of Napoleon Perdis primer and Avon mousse eyeshadow in Pacific Pearl.

The tricky bit – especially because it was first thing in the morning after all – was deciding on the precision required for the black accent.  Did I risk being late for the bus if I stuffed up royally?  Should I just go for the smear-it-all-in-the-crease-and-slowly-out-to-the-corner technique which I’ve pretty much mastered?

I took the risk.  And somehow that paid off.  I think it’s the Universe tricking me into more ambitious looks so it can make me even later for the bus.

The whole look was finished with red lipgloss, because Pikachu needs a little red on ‘im.

I posed the question earlier this week: can you really rock a bright, anime-inspired look in the workplace?  I know I don’t work in the strictest of environments, dresscode-wise, but my coworkers barely batted an eyelid, so I’m going with “yes”, in this instance.  Yesterday’s Purrloin look?  Not so much.

We’re now over halfway through Shiro Eye Makeup Week!  Three looks to go!  Tune in next time, for a refreshing blast of PINK.

Shiro eye week: Purrloin

So I totally fibbed on yesterday’s post (which is what happens when I write things in advance and forget about them) but I promise Pikachu-themed makeup some time this week!  Which you can probably spot, given how Pikachu is not known for being particularly purple.

In the meantime, in honour of attaining the lofty heights of 2,000 Likes on Facebook, Caitlin of Shiro Cosmetics declared a Pokemon Party!

(And while we’re on the topic … have you liked A Large Pink Woman on Facebook?)

Not being the hugest Pokemon fan myself, and living with a reformed huge Pokemon fan who would probably just be perplexed (or at least, roll his eyes and say “Ugh, girls” in a despairing tone of voice designed specifically to wind me up) by questions like “which Pokemon can I best represent with this range of eyeshadows?” I turned to that wonder of the 21st century, the inevitable fandom wiki.

Bulbapedia even categories Pokemon by colour.  So that was pretty handy.

I quickly pinpointed Purrloin as a likely contender.  I mean, look at the cutie.  And here are the results!

Products used:  Napoleon Perdis Autopilot eye primer, Shiro Cosmetics eyeshadow in /kiss and Rattata (since renamed), Avon mousse eyeshadow in Pacific Pearl and black liquid eyeliner, Maybelline Great Lash mascara.  Tools:  cheap-as-chips Avon eyeshadow brush.

It’s definitely not a work look, and it ain’t perfect, but I’m happy with how my skills are improving with vast quantities of practice.  A year ago, this would have looked … not good.

I did end up having to pry the little sifting inserts out of the eyeshadow containers to really load up the colour; the takeaway from that is to make sure you push them all the way down when you’re done or the lids stick and, even if it doesn’t explode in a cloud of pigment, you get really anxious that it might.  Or I do, at least.

Comparison: OPI Black Shatter vs. Avon Mosaic Effect

OPI Black Shatter on the thumb; Avon Mosaic Effect on the index and middle fingers.

Avon recently released the Mosaic Effects nail polish – i.e. their knockoff of a black shatter.  I don’t mean that in a perjorative way – the entire point of Avon, as far as I’m concerned, is that it recreates current trending makeup products at a far more affordable price.

I did already own OPI Black Shatter though, so had to justify purchasing Mosaic Effects (currently only in the one colour) on the basis I could run a comparison between the two for my loyal readers.  Here you go!

The executive summary: There’s not much between these.  Avon gets slightly higher points on application, but otherwise it’s pretty much a dead heat.

I applied both to the same hand to avoid any variation caused by using my dominant hand for one and non-dominant for the other.  The base was two coats of OPI Come to Poppy.  I applied top coat, but after taking these photos.

The comparison – application: The one thing I can say for the Avon is that it’s smoother, maybe a little thinner, than the OPI.  It’s just ever so slightly easier to apply, possibly because it feels easier to control, but it’s not a gamechanger.  Unless you really, really want (a zig-a-zag ah!) the shatter look but the thickness/clumpiness of OPI is too annoying.

OPI on the thumb, Avon on the index and middle fingers, OPI on the ring and little fingers.

The comparison – looks:  I waited some time before writing up this post, and when I went back to the photos I’d taken, it took a bit of hard thinking to remember which polish was on which nail!  That pretty much says it all.

The price issue:  I bought Black Shatter at … Farmers, I think?  For somewhere in the standard $26-29 range. The Mosaic Effect was $13, an introductory special down from the standard price of $15.  On the face of it, that’s a pretty big deal.

However, the difference in retail price is exaggerated by the ridiculous mark up on OPI in NZ brick-and-mortar stores.  If you’re purchasing online from overseas, or even from NZ-based stores like Gracie Lou, it’s much less painful to go for the more expensive brand.

Thing is, as you can probably tell, I don’t think there’s a significant difference.  Even after a week, there was no noticeable difference in lasting power or chipping.  So if you’re an Avon customer, and it’s more convenient, go with Avon; if you’re an OPI fan, stick with OPI if you like having all your bottles the same shape.  No one’s will ever know.

Nails o’ the week: Rosy Rainbow Connection

Following on from last week’s glitter-tastic extravaganza of sparkle, I felt like something a little toned down.

But still glittery.

Inspiration suddenly hit me:  since the main thing people seem to say about OPI’s Rainbow Connection is “the glitter’s not that thick, but if you layer it up/dab it on/scrape it along the edge of your nail …” – why don’t I try taking OPI at their word and using the polish just as it comes out of the bottle?

And just to keep things really dialled back after pairing it with a bright, warm yellow, I picked Avon Speed Dry+ in Adoring Rose.

So it was topcoat, two coats of Adoring Rose, and then, squinting one eye to control my natural put-glitter-everywhere tendencies, I just swept the Rainbow Connection over the top in one clean stroke.

And went back after it had tried to do a second coat on some nails, just to ensure even glitter-distribution.

The fact is, Rainbow Connection is a fussy, inconsistent little bastard polish.  As I went from nail to nail I noticed the glitter seemed to get thicker with repeated brush-dips – except for a few times when all the glitter ran away and hid.  It certainly wasn’t the simplest of processes to end up with a good, uniform result – but it was very pretty, maybe even a little too whimsical.

Compared to the bright yellow and the thicker application, the lighter base coat brought out the different colours in the glitter a little better, rather than being predominantly silver with a few flashes of green/blue/pink.

Verdict: happy!  But still questing to discover the One True Way to wear Rainbow Connection.  My life is so hard!

Nails o’ the week: Flower Power!

This whole back-to-work thing is seriously kicking my ass, but I was determined to keep the mood up this week … and try my hand, and patience, and general lack of being able to cope with not being perfect at something the first time I try it, to some nail art.

I even made it a fun challenge for myself by DIYing my tools instead of forking out for a commercial, professional, probaby-quite-a-bit-easier-to-use product.

Yep, I have the tiniest of issues with tempting fate.

But it all paid off, and voila:  flowers!  On ma nails!

Base:  Avon Nailwear Pro in Vivid Violet
Flowers:  OPI The “IT” Colour and Come To Poppy
Tools:  basic kitchen skewers, such as may be acquired in a $2 Shop or similar for not much money.

I am indebted to the many, many nail tutorials to be found on Google, and thankful for the fact I live in an age where (as a pretty well-off middle-class girl in NZ) I can just type “diy nail dotting tool” into a field and receive near-instantaneous response.

To the nails!

The process is simple enough, in writing:  apply two coats of your base colour, let it dry while watching Boardwalk Empire because if you don’t have your attention on something awesome you’ll get up and start doing something and ruin your nails.

Take your first flower colour, in this case the yellow, and remove the brush.  I rather pedantically scraped off as much excess polish as I could back into the bottle.

Using the blunt end of the wooden skewer, dip into the polish, not picking up too much colour, and create circles of five dots, with the edges just touching.  Some people then do all kinds of adorable stuff with the spiky end of the skewer, but my technique is not nearly advanced enough for that at this stage.

Depending on your polish or the size of your dots or any other random variable, you may wish to put a yellow dot in the centre just to make sure everything’s covered.

I did a flower on each thumb, and two random fingers on each hand.  With this colour scheme, adorable randomness totally works.

Wait for the petals to dry.  Keep waiting.  Put on more Boardwalk Empire, or maybe some Mythbusters.

Then repeat the same process with the pink polish, only you’re just doing one dot in the centre of each flower.  I considered not doing this stage since the amorphous yellow blobs looked quite sweet on their own, but the need to practise more dotting won the day.

Keep waiting some more!

And some more!

And when you’re done, apply topcoat.  Nails love topcoat.

It’s happy and fun, and it really annoys my partner, who cannot handle the whimsical non-matchy-ness.  He’s a systematic kind of guy.  But the whimsy relieves you of having to be too perfect – it would just look disconnected to have perfectly-symmetrical absolutely-even flowers trying to look like a twee child’s painting.

I’m now pondering how it would look in much closer colours, like three different pinks/reds, or something very monochrome, or going hell for leather and doing different base/petal/core combinations on each finger.

I’m thinking it would look awesome.

Face talk: Avon party set

Curse Avon, and curse its fantastic deals.  The above was (I think, it was a few months back) a SuperSaver deal with some kind of “complete party set” name for $40 with any $15 purchase.  Or it was just $40.

Either way: Forty.  Dollars.

For an eyeshadow duo in “Stardust”, a black “diamonds” eyeliners, a SuperShock mascara and a lipstick in my new favourite matte red, Red Kiss.  Red?  And monochrome eyeshadow?  And forty dollars?

SOLD.

And since it was marketed as a party set, I of course wore it to a party.

Besides some foundation and the faaaaaantastic Napoleon Perdis Autopilot eye primer which (touch wood) never seems to run out, that’s just the four products in the set on my pretty face.

(The frock and belt are City Chic, the cleavage is all me.)

I was totally thrilled by the way the eyes turned out, since I still consider myself a student in the art of eyeshadow.

On the other hand, wearing nice thick-purple-framed glasses means I feel okay experimenting with heavy amounts of colour – and on the third hand which agrees with the second hand, always remember: you’re always looking at yourself a lot more closely than anyone else probably will.

And if anyone else is looking that closely, they should be the kind of person who doesn’t give a crap your eyeliner’s slightly wonky.  Or, the kind of person who will in full friendship tell you it’s wonky because you really do want to know.  Or something.

Enough yabbering.  CLOSEUP!

The mascara is fairly basic but … somewhat intimidatingly big.  I’m really resisting the urge to make a Freudian joke here, but seriously, it’s a substantial mascara wand.

The eyeliner is your basic Avon Glimmersticks nice-smudgy-wind-up-crayon with a sliiiight shimmer.  But a spare black eyeliner is always nice, especially if you’re me and you constantly lose things.  No one tell my partner I admitted that.

If I have one criticism of the eyeshadow, it’s that the white/pale pale grey shade is very hard.  As in, scrape-off-the-top-layer-with-your-fingernail-and-then-dab-with-brush hard.  The dark dark grey, much less so.  Weird, but manageable for forty dollars.

One more look!  This was for work on a day when bright-red-lippie-management was too much effort so I attempted a bit more of a smoky-eye look, with the dark grey further down on the lid and lots of mascara.

The lippie is another part of my surprisingly-epic Avon collection (I know I order it, and it arrives, but then a month later I’m all “where the hell did this all come from?”), in a shade called Champagne Glow.  Goes on quite pink on my lips because they’re pretty dark compared to my pasty whiteness.  If you can’t afford/find MAC’s Marquise D’, from the Wonder Woman collection, buy this one instead.

(You may recognise the top of that outfit from a previous post.)

Everyone loves cheap makeup … when it works!

So after months of sniping at the Designer Brands ads on TV (“Can you tell which of us is wearing the cheap makeup?” “NO BECAUSE IT WAS APPLIED BY PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP ARTISTS AND YOU’RE UNDER TV LIGHTING” etc) I was in need of a pick-me-up one lunchtime and gave in to the power of $9 eyeliner.

I mean, if it was crap, it was only $9 of crap, and that’s cheaper than most pairs of stockings /bitter.

And you can’t really screw up a good colourless lipgloss, right?
To really amp up the frivolity, I went with a bright green.  It goes on very watery, and on a back-of-the-hand test it looks really unpromising, but once it dries it seriously lives up to the smudge-proof label.  I applied the above at 7.30am and the pic above was taken at around 3pm, and I am an incorrigible eye-rubber.

The gloss is less surprisingly awesome, but utterly serves its purpose.  High shine, not too sticky, lasts a decent amount of time.

I’m wearing it over Avon Ultra Color Rich lipstick in Red Kiss which is loooooove but pretty matte on its own.  Add some clear gloss, and pop, boom, bam etc.

The other excellent thing about a cheap lipgloss is that you just don’t care when the brush gets dark red lippie on it.

Final verdict: on frivolous eyeliner and throwaway gloss, Designer Brands delivers on providing pretty-good quality for a-lot-less-than-everything-else-of-similar-quality.

I’m not quite ready to give up on the OPI and MAC when budget allows, but it’s nice to have choice!