Spring/Sakura Inspired FOTD w/Product Review

Spring is slowly coming around and brings with it all of those pretty pastel colors. I tend to gravitate towards spring eye makeup collections because of the pretty colors but have to keep reminding myself that I can't use them because they are too pale for me.

Sakura has come early this year in Japan and from last week Tokyo was already in full bloom. I love sakura and it was either last year or the year before that I did sakura inspired look. I have decided to do a new sakura inspired spring look.

When you thnk of sakura, one normally thinks of white, pink and brown colors. If you look carefully at a sakura tree in bloom, you will notice that there aren't any leaves. The leaves come out after the flowers fall off.

Products used (some are not shown):

Urban Decay Primer Potion--Original**
MAC Eyeshadows--Vanilla* and Samoa Silk**
Addiction Eyeshadow--Mystic Mirage (Gift from Justine)
Sephora Prisma Chrome Eyeshadow--Gold Reflection
Quo All About Eyes Eyeshadow Palette--Bronze (I think that's the color. Gift from Winnie)
Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Eyeshadow--23
Urban Decay Eyeshadow--Kush (from BOS III)
K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner--Deep Brown

Covergirl Lashlast Clump Crusher Mascara--Black
Canmake Shading Powder--01**
Chanel Sculpting Veil Powder--Notorious** (Gift from Vicky)
Lise Watier Blush--Pink Power (gift from Justine)
Urban Decay Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Color--Love Child

I also used Boujois 123 Perfect Foundation, Sue Devitt Bermuda Triangle Concealer, Make Up For Ever Full Cover Extreme Camouflage Cream in #8, NARS Orgasm blush and Sephora Eyeshadow in Sun Kissed, which has been discontinued--so sad! I use these all to finish my face and if you haven't yet, you can read my concealing method here.

This may seem like a lot of products but it really isn't. The items with a pink asterisk are items that I use on a daily basis. For the eyeshadows in palettes, I marked the ones that I used for this look with a red asterisk.

As is standard preparation for my eyes, I prime my eyelids with primer potion. I then use Samoa Silk in the socket of my eyelid and bring it out to on top of the outer half of the brow/socket bone. My bone is very prominent and it makes my eyes look sunken in, plus with age, it seems to have sunken in even more. Using the orange-toned color helps to lighten the darker area on the inner eye socket. (This is the same concept with concealing.) Because the brow/socket bone is so prominent, I like to use matte eyeshadow to very thinly highlight just under the eyebrows. I usually use Vanilla.

I then applied Mystic Mirage from inner corner of eyelid to just about 3/4 of the way towards the outer eyelid, and bringing it gently upwards towards where Samoa Silk is applied. The outer 1/4 of the eyelid is where Bronze is applied sweeping it inward to blend into Mystic Mirage. I also pull it upward into Samoa Silk and going on top of the outer brow bone. Gold Reflection is lightly applied where Bronze and Mystic Mirage meet to blend the two colors in. Sometimes you do see a hint of yellow in the center of a flower, depending on the variety. I'm not sure if this applies to sakura too. Although this look is sakura inspired, it is also a spring look so I wanted to incorporate a little bit of additional color. I then lightly applied GA ETK #23 very lightly over the entire eyeld. This softens everything a bit but the main reason why I used it is because it is an iridescent eyeshadow with very fine iridescent flecks. Sakura season is a very special time of the year and its beauty and glory are quite magical. I wanted to have the wash of iridescent specks to create that magical feel. K--Palette eyeliner is applied to entire upper lash line and flicked up at the end a bit. The outer half of the lower lash line is lined also. I then apply Bronze over the eyeliner of the lower lash line and deepen the outer "V"  with Bronze, softening the flicked up line. Kush is applied to the lower lash line at mid eye, just to give it a slight pop of color. Again, green isn't part of sakura but it is a color associated with spring and new growth of plant life. Clump Crusher mascara is applied to my lashes.

My cheeks are contoured using Canmake Shading Powder 01 and I also bring the color up to the temples and forehead. Notorious is applied in in darkened hollow of my cheek, close by the ear. I also very lightly apply it from my jaw bone down towards the chin. I think that I have a sharp jaw bone so this helps to soften it as well as give the illusion of narrowing my face. Pink Power had to be used in this FOTD because of the sakura theme that the design has. Thank you Justine for this beautiful blush and for Mystic Mirage!

Lips were colored using Love Child, which gives it just the right hint of color. I think it's a perfect spring color.

As most readers are aware, I am not a brown eyeshadow person. Browns tend to wash me out or make me look tired. I am also not a big fan of wearing neutral or pale looks. Again, it's because I look washed out. Warm tones are definitely not good on me, although I love how others can make warm tones and neutrals work for them. It took me a long while to use the Quo palette because it was a beige and brown color palette. Also, there is a very pretty embossed design on it and it was just too pretty to use. After looking at the palette more and more, I began to think that it looked more cool toned than warm toned, which is why I decided to give it a go. I was very surprised that I liked the way the two shadows looked on me. The shadows themselves are very nice, not overly pigmented but are nice and soft. They are not chalky at all. With Bronze, the darker color, you can't over do apply the color, which is nice. I even liked that it was a more muted look that worked on me. I still prefer to have the outer corners of my eyes darker but feel that I can comfortably use this for a day time look without looking washed out or like I'm not wearing any makeup. Thank you Winnie!

Chanel Notorious was something that looked so interesting to me when it came out. I was curious to try it but hesitated purchasing it. I joined the Blogger Secret Santa exchange again this year and put this out onto my wish list. Vicky was my Secret Santa and she sent it to me! I was excited to try it and yet was a bit hesitant to see how a gray-colored powder could work as a contouring powder. Normally we use browns so gray seemed to be a bit harsh. If applied correctly, it works great! You really need a light hand. When you think about it, the recessed parts of your face actually look more gray/black than brown--at least on me it is. Thank you Vicky!

Mascara is one thing that I have trouble finding that will work well for me. I have poker straight lashes that are difficult to keep curled, unless I use waterproof mascara. Clump Crusher is water resistant so it comes off easily with a gentle makeup remover and washing with warm water. The formulation is on the drier side, which works better for me. The amazing thing is that this mascara WILL curl my lashes without using an eyelash curler first. I used a light application here and it gave my eyelashes a natural curl look. If I apply more mascara and really press the wand into my lashes, it will curl it even more and giving me a more dramatic look, which I don't care for much anyway. The other great thing about this mascara, it doesn't flake! I can wear it for 12 hours or longer and not have it flake. Definitely my favorite mascara!

I decided to (12 hours later) darken the eye up a bit to make it more "evening out" appropriate. I decided to pull out Urban Decay Smoked Palette, which I have had for a while but not used.

I decided to use Barlust, which is a medium brown color. I applied it to the outer corners of the eye to deepen the color a bit and added it to the outer 1/4 of lower lashline.

I'm not sure if it's the right brown for me yet. I have to play with it more. I've read varying reviews on what people think the color is--Temptalia calls it a reddish brown while others have said it's a golden brown, neutral brown, etc. If it comes out more reddish brown on me, then it'll definitely not work. It was already late when I did this and only artificial lighting so I will have to test it out again during the day time.

This was a long post. Thanks for reading through it all!

*Kat*

P.S. Happy Easter!

P.P.S. There are still items available in the blog sale