Thursday, January 31, 2013

Glitter Liner/Mascara Review

 Welcome to my first cosmetics review! I find that traditional beauty blogs just don't answer all the questions belly dancers have about our makeup, so I'm here to provide opinions by a dancer, for a dancer. As such, it seems appropriate that I start with GLITTER! Specifically, the Sephora Collection Glitter Eyeliner and Mascara.

I was inspired to try this product after seeing Brandye in Skirt Full of Fire rock some glitter mascara. The brand she was wearing is only available at Wal-Mart (or at a significant mark-up on Amazon), so I decided to give Sephora's version a try. I like the fact that theirs doubles as a liner. I chose the Sunset Copper which is a nice brassy golden color.
 You can see that this product has an unusual brush that is part mascara roller and part fine eyeliner brush. This means you have to be careful when applying it as a mascara, or you'll get streaks of liner on your face. I learned this the hard way! But both parts of the brush serve their intended purpose well.
Here's the obligatory beauty blogger hand swatch. Why do bloggers swatch everything on their hand? I'm not going to wear it on my hand, I'm going to wear it on my face. I feel like if a company is send you cosmetics for free, the least you can do is show me how it looks when worn as intended. Now, I spent my own $13 on this product, but I'm still going to show you how it looks on:
Too bad that the poor lighting in my bathroom means you can't actually TELL how it looks! If I'm going to be a beauty blogger, I need to buy some nicer lights. Sheesh. So let me give you my impression of how it wore... The liner is nice and bright! I applied it under some winged-out black for a nice POP, which compliments the gold shadow I'm wearing under my brow-bone. I also applied the gold mascara to my false lashes. It's a subtle effect. I feel like Brandye's Wal-Mart brand gave more glitter, but maybe she applied it heavier or chose a better color. I'm going to experiment some more. Either way, I don't think the mascara shows up well in pics. I wouldn't recommend it for photos or for a big stage. This is definitely one for when you're going to be close enough for the audience to really appreciate your lashes! Great for restaurants and parties where you're mingling with the crowd.

I wore this all night, and while I admittedly didn't get too sweaty because it was a COLD night, it held up well. I didn't get much glitter fall-out and the liner didn't run or smudge. Removal was pretty easy, but I found that it lingered on the false lashes. If you're going to apply it over falsies, either use a cheap pair that you don't mind throwing out, or plan to always wear this shade of glitter with them.

Over all, I'd say this is a good buy at $13 and could be a good staple for a dancer of any style. The pretty wide variety of colors means there's something for everyone (though I am of course highly disappointed by the lack of a true green). And let's face it, we're all always looking for new ways to add glitter to our faces.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Sophia Ravenna, your pal Dawn Sehar here. So, I wanted to reply to your question regarding why the professional make up artists always show you the cosmetic they are featuring on their hand. Several reasons actually.
    1) It is a clean and unadulterated palette to show the actual color without groves in the face, contouring, base shadows, and miscellaneous other goodies that will change the look of the color once applied (particularly to eye lid).
    2) The eye lid is very small, curved, and has creases this makes it very difficult to show the true color.
    3) when you see the true color on a plain background you can make a better judgement if you have an alternative color in a comparable line.
    4) Often these Professional make-up artists are featuring products in what they call a "haul." It is their obligation to really highlight the color and the palette, it's their job to get in every little second of advertising for that product they can.
    5) It also shows the audience the texture and the intensity of the cosmetic. It shows how the product will apply so te audience is prepared for what they are about to see. For example it shows if it light and transparent is it translucent, opalescent (which often gets lost on eyes during these tutorials).

    I hope that helps answer your question as to why professional make up artists do the little quirky thing!
    Glitter on Girlfriend

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  2. Oh wait one more I missed. It is much easier to do a close up on a hand when the camera has been set up perfectly to feature your face. Not only that, lashes get in the way, you will lose lighting, etc...

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  3. Thanks Dawn, those are all good reasons! Though I don't feel that the hand is always the best indicator of how intense something will look on the eyes, as it's very different skin texture.

    The hand/arm swatch does have a lot of points for it in terms of just plain showing the product, but I'd still like to see some pictures of how something looks when used as intended.

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  4. I think you did the right thing indicating the color on both your hand and your face. It was informative to see the "true color" on your hand, and then the effect of it on your eyes.

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