Miss Molly Says:
I don't usually blog about product. In fact, I don't usually talk about product at all, because 1) half the time I'm not even paying attention to what I'm using, and 2) I'm friends with a bunch of dudes who really don't care, and 3) the women I hang with regularly are either the "natural beauty" type or the "wait, HOW do you use eyeliner without stabbing yourself?" type. And 4), I like to keep secrets.
But. When I found myself raving about Maybelline's Shadow Stylist to my best friend (solidly in the Stabby Camp), and then to my mother at her birthday dinner (she looked around the restaurant as if searching for the hidden camera – I don't think she's ever heard me talk about makeup, ever)… well, I figured I should find an audience who would appreciate a little gushing.
So, all disclaimers aside, I looooooove this product. I wanted to marry it, but apparently the Bible says Adam and Eve, not Eve and a little pot of eye shadow.
I am an eyes girl, all the way. If I only have time for one product on my face, I will choose eyeliner before anything else. I had this Barbie and the Rockers doll (basically, the Barbie version of JEM) when I was little, and I remember coveting her eye makeup. Her eyes were pink, purple, AND blue. (It was 1986.) Why didn't my boring social worker mother wear three shades of eye shadow to work, I wondered. When I grew up, I would wear three colors – or more! -- on my eyes every day!
Now grown up, sometimes I do.
Like anyone, I go through phases. Last fall was a major liquid eyeliner phase. The wonderful thing about liquid eyeliner is that it can be so delicate, and so precise. The terrible thing is that if you screw up, you look like Cleopatra, drunk. It's not pretty.
Toward the end of that phase, I started to tire of the look. I started to worry that my eye makeup was making me look like those old ladies who have it tattooed on, which is a look I hope never to achieve. The lines were a little too clean, a little too sharp. I wanted softer, smudgier lines.
And then I discovered Shadow Stylist.
The Shadow Stylist container looks exactly like the liquid eyeliner container, which is great because they're such nice complements to each other it seems fitting they'd come in matching containers. Like salt and pepper. Only when you open it, it's not a paintbrush, like liquid eyeliner, but a conical little sponge, covered with powder.
The first time I used it, I made a mess of my face, spilling black powder all over my cheeks. (The trick is to tap off the excess BEFORE you put it near your face!) But. Once I got the hang of using the sponge to draw a line of soft black powder across my lash line, I was head over heels enough to gush to my still-a-social worker, still-not-wearing-Barbie-makeup mother. "Isn't this such a pretty, soft line?" I kept asking.
Lately, I've been using it to darken a charcoal pencil line. (I dropped the liquid phase over the holidays –too much laughing until I cried – as it turns out, liquid liner gets all over your face the second you start tearing up. It's embarrassing.)
Shadow Stylist comes in a variety of colors, but I've been using "sultry black" to soften my eyeliner line, to darken the outer corners of my eyelids, or just as a substitute for actual eyeliner. I realize that you can achieve the exact same effect with regular eyeshadow, a very fine brush, and a steady hand. Indeed, back in college, when I was reacting to the dirty hippies all around me by paying meticulous attention to makeup, or just procrastinating on a paper, I had a whole set of tiny brushes I used. Out of college, though, who has the time? SS gives me the softness of a shadow with the applicator of a pencil, and I don't even have to be surrounded by filthy college kids to use it!
And though I know that we are all going to grow old with dignity, and embrace the fine lines in our faces as testament to the beauty, wisdom, and grace that comes with our years (right? we certainly won't stand two inches away from the bathroom mirror and trace the frown lines that cut like the Rio Grande Gorge across our foreheads, mourning the years of elasticity we never appreciated!) – still, you might find it comforting that the soft sponge applicator allows you a nice smoky line without having to stretch your too-delicate skin out to your ears just to get a straight line, and thus buy yourself a few extra months before the crow's feet really set in (making you look extra beautiful and wise…. ahem).
Shadow Stylist, I don't care what the Bible says, I will be Eve to your little pot of eye shadow any day.
6 comments:
I'm addicted to make-up of any type and actually shudder at the idea of only having time for one product to go on my face-- I'm all about lipstic and mascara. The rest can wait for when I'm not writing, cleaning or chasing my three little male monsters (who btw love to use my lipstick as warpaint)around the house.
Thanks for the tip, Molly, I will totally check out the little silver pot.
Hey Molly, would you be interested in maybe posting a "before" and "after" (even a "during" if you want) photo of your eyes shadowed??
Natasha, I will certainly think about it! The prospect both interests and terrifies me... !
I have been terrified of my little pot of shadow since the night I dusted black powder all over my face. I have been inspired to give it another go, thanks to the "how to" tip. Tomorrow night is date night. Smokey eye date night, thanks to this.
No pressure, M!! Just thought it would be cool to see it in the flesh, since I'm so bad with eye makeup.
Another way to work against the eye-shadow fallout is to apply your eye primer and concealer only, not your base. Do your eye makeup first, then use a damp pad of eye makeup remover to remove the fallout, before you apply your base. I'm absolutely addicted to super-bright and pitch black ye makeup, and this always works for me. :)
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