Heavy Cat Eyes + Hot Pink Lips (and how I remove all that)

Giving my winged cat eyes a break (the one with the eyeliner-hanggang-bumbunan level), I wanted to make cat eyes again, this time smokier, fatter, darker, blacker. And... paired with red lips. This is my first attempt though, which took like an hour on the eyes alone, since with cat eyes, the biggest challenge is to creating the shape and make sure both sides are equal. Strong eyes with nude lips? Uhm. I want hot pink. Wala lang.

I can't seem to get them to smoke up enough without looking much like there's a lot of silver and gray. Maybe it's my eye shape, I think. Hot pink lips go with hot pink lipliner.

I certainly used a lot of black eyeshadow that day!

A strong and dark makeup would go well with big spiky falsies on a day out. Hmmm... maybe in the next show.

Face:

MAC Studio Sculpt concealer NC30 on redness and imperfections and also on undereyes

MAC Studiofix Powder NC25 on undereye as a highlight

MAC Studiofix Powder NC35 all over

MAC MSF in Gold Digger as a golden blush highlighter

Eyes:

MUFE Eyebrow Corrector in 0

MAC Paint Pot in Painterly as a browbone base

MAC Nylon on brows

Stilla Smudge Pot in Little Black dress to shape the cat eye

MAC Mont Black on lids.

Kohl pencil (the ones I buy in Indian stores for Php150, the one that goes really smudgy, creamy, and smoky) to line and shape and then set with Mont Black

MAC Pigment in Soft Washed on the crease, for a soft blend and transition of colors.

Lips:

Fashion 21 hot pink lipliner (I'm sad F21 phased this out na. I love it coz it's super waterproof)

MAC lipstick in Hollywood Nights

I think I'll try putting the base eyeshadow first before shaping the cat eye so the browbone highlight stays true to its natural color instead of having a silvery gray tinge to the supposedly champagne-y color it has. Anyway, this cat eye is just for practice. Maybe I'll try it out Wednesday come Sensual Grooves class time, yes as I'll be out of town tomorrow. Or whattheheck later!

And what I use to remove this, since this is such a heavy color and I used three pain-to-remove products (paint pot, smudge pot, and kohl eyeliner)? Clinique Take The Day Off Makeup Remover! I swear, I'm so glad they invented this or else I'll be having wrinkles now.

I get this usually as hand-me-downs from my mom since she loves Clinique skin care and when she gets the GWPs when she purchases her favorite moisturizer, I get the cute purple bottles since she doesn't use them anyway. Yay! I think I have about 5 travel size bottles of this. It's so ironic because I have adverse reactions to skin care products of Clinique (but not the makeup, since I use their eyeshadow and mascara) but not this one. In fact, my eyes love it.

The fact that it's so easy to use I'll show it to you in simple steps. Step 1: You see that there's a barrier separating the oil part from the water part? You have to shake the bottle well before using. Step 2: Dispense a good amount on a cotton pad. Not too much to soak it wet, but just enough. Step 3: Gently press the cotton pad on (closed) eye just to get the product in. I wiggle this a bit sometimes so I get the makeup to loosen up. Not too hard to poke your eye out. Be sure not to get product inside the eye. That can sting, so keep the eye shut. Once there's product on the lid, wipe eye area gently with the cotton pad until it's clean.

My right eye has no more makeup as compared to my left eye. Stubborn eyeliner can be removed with a q-tip soaked in makeup remover. The makeup's all in the pad almost effortlessly. The lids are a bit oily after though, from the oil so after removing the makeup, cleanse face with your favorite makeup remover/cleanser (like cold cream or cleansing oil) to remove makeup that remained on the face like foundation, blush, leftover eye makeup, etc. And wash face as usual with your facial wash.

Not only did I use this to remove my very heavy eye makeup, I was able to wipe my lips of all hot pink lippie traces effortlessly too, like on cue. I like using this product when I want to remove makeup in a flash since I'm too tired to go through an entire roll of tissue, wipes, and makeup remover and I'm wearing very heavy makeup that day.

The Battle of the Makeup Removers

Knowing how much I love makeup, taking it off is five times more of a chore than putting it on. Putting on makeup since age 16 (although less pro than how I do now), I just thought plain ol' facial wash and water would do. As i got older (and wiser and more OC with my skin care), I figured that I do something more than just facial wash, because come on, admit it, can simple facial wash remove 10 coats of waterproof mascara? My cardinal rule is that I always remove makeup if I feel it has been sitting too long on my face and/or before hitting the sack.



One famous cleanser that has been through ages is cold cream.
Cold cream is very effective though, until now, I still have a (huge) jar of Walgreen's cold cream on my dresser. Cold cream has also been my best friend with avante garde makeup practice sessions and it can impeccably remove kohl from heavily-lined eyes (a feat that Marc had to go through when I did his flame makeup).

According to wikipedia, cold cream is

"an emulsion of water and certain fats, usually including beeswax and various scent agents, designed to smooth skin and remove makeup. The name derives from the cooling feeling that the cream leaves on the skin."

Meaning to say it does not just remove makeup (stubborn waterproof liquid liner, kohl pencil, and mascara included) but also moisturizes the skin. So how it works is that you massage it to the skin then tissue off, repeat until no makeup or dirt is left. It was great in removing makeup but it was too heavy so I needed a good facial wash after. Plus, it was quite a long procedure (I sometimes have to repeat the whole process thrice just to get that all off) and it can be taxing for someone who just wants to plop on the bed after a looong looong day. Nevertheless, it is quite efficient in terms of makeup removal.

I discovered cleansing oils when I tried the ever-so-famous Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil and its variants exactly a year ago. I got home 2 am from a function and I got a packet of cleansing oil with me. Surprisingly, it felt great on my skin and just 1-1/2 pumps removed all my makeup. Clearly, it was love at first touch since it was able to save me time and energy. I've been hesistant to use cleansing oils not because of the price (well yeah... that too) but because of the fact that it's oil. Actually, I found out that these cleansing oils are not like your regular olive oil or minola cooking oil or baby oil but a special oil with low mineral content that emulsifies upon contact with water. It's like a facial wash, except more potent.

I've also tried the more affordable brands. They also work quite well and I use them during my "practice" makeup sessions. They work quite effectively, although there are some brands that will require an extra step of foaming cleanser/facial wash. It could even remove spirit gum and plastowax for avante garde makeup. Cleansing oil works by massaging it onto the face then wetting the face emulsifying the product than rinsing it off. Surprisingly, in one step, it was able to remove as much as what I could remove in 2 rounds of cold cream and tissue. However, this didn't remove kohl pencil quite effectively as cold cream did.

As of now, I'm partial to the cleansing oil as they save me a lot of time and are lighter than cold cream. However, on occasion that I want a bit of pampering or on days that I use kohl pencil, I whip out my jar of cold cream.

Anyone share what cleansing products/makeup removers they use?