Friday, August 1, 2014

Flower Beauty Fridays #2 // Color Play Creme Eyeshadow

Recently a friend of mine asked if I wore a full face of makeup everyday, or if I tended to wear a more natural look on a daily basis. In my view, I tend to go for a more natural look. As much as I love makeup, ain't nobody got time for winged eyeliner every morning. (RIP Elizabeth Taylor.) Also, I tend to use makeup as a tool to look like an enhanced version of myself. (Read: me with minimized dark circles and darker eyelashes.) The "natural" face may or may not take a myriad of products depending on the day, but rest assured that no makeup hoarder enthusiast is above a slap-dash application.

Check out Flower Beauty's Instagram account. There are dozens and dozens of photos of everyday people and even Drew Barrymore herself doing the usual (manicures with the kids, hanging out at the beach, on the subway) with the occasional special event photo sprinkled in. And isn't this really how life operates? This is a line that is marketed toward and used by everyday consumers. These pictures are proof positive that more often than not, we want to enhance our own beauty and look like ourselves on an everyday basis.

While there is a time and a place for all products in the cosmetics market, I tend to put more stock in a celebrity that's selling me this more realistic approach to makeup. Who better than a self-proclaimed hippie to start a makeup line for those among us who want to look like ourselves, with just a little more color?

Cream eyeshadow is the busy girl's key to looking like you tried. It does not require fancy brushes or skilled technique to get it from pot to face. Use your fingers. No joke. No one is Orchid-Ing around here. Even the most famous makeup artists encourage us to use our own digits to do our face, so there's no shame in it!

There are 12 "Color Play Creme Eyeshadows" in the Flower Beauty lineup ranging from $6-8 depending on the shade. Given the considerable wear time of the product, the ease of application, and the fact that it's a product I'm likely to reach for in a hurry, I consider these to be a pretty amazing value for the money. (Let me not even start on the $40 cream eyeshadow palette I recently acquired from a high end brand. Crease City. High end brand, you have just been trumped by Wal-Mart.)

Flower Beauty Color Play Creme Eyeshadows

Shade Swatches: Awesome Blossom, Lilac You A Lot!, Good as Mari-gold
Shade Swatches: Awesome Blossom, Lilac You A Lot!, Good as Mari-gold
Today (and honestly, most any other time I use it) I applied Good as Mari-gold all over my lid using my index finger. With this neutral of a shade, I really could have thrown on some mascara and called it a day. Mari-gold is a light, yellow-gold shade that brings light to my otherwise dark lids. Also, I did use an eyeshadow primer. Regardless of whether a product claims to be crease-free or not, I always throw one on. Can't hurt.

Next, I applied Awesome Blossom to the outer corners of my lids and in my lash line using both an eye shadow brush and an eyeliner brush. This is a purpley-hued dark brown shade that lends definition to the eye. While I could have applied the product sparingly with my index finger, the brush helped me to give a more defined and blended application. It also helped me to be as precise as I wanted, keeping the shade on the outer edges of the eye and on the lash line. You could definitely use this shade as a smoky lid color if you so chose. As a note, I did apply dark eyeliner to the lash line.

Eye makeup close-up
And sometimes, we're too busy to do our eyebrows...
Side view of face

Eyeshadow in a cream form probably seems counterintuitive to anyone trying to get out the door quickly and get the most wear time out of their products. Anyone busy enough to work up a sweat knows that eye shadow creasing can occur on your lids by the time you hit the lunch table. Most cream shadows, however, set after applied so you're not left with a creamy, oily mess on your lids. Companies have upped their game with the quality of cream shadows in recent years, and Flower Beauty's Color Play shadows are no exception.

Flower Beauty Color Play Creme Eyeshadow - $6-8
Links provided are not affiliate links. 

No comments: