Splash Proof Sealer: I'd be lost without you. Review, Tutorial & FOTD

Do you own something in your beauty collection which would leave you upset if you suddenly misplaced it? I do. A few months ago, my stomach literally churned when I thought I had lost my splash cosmetics sealer.


 


This was originally given to me by my very thoughtful and generous  friend Jo, makeup artist in Bristol. Jo knows how much I love using ‘full on’ loose glitter on my lids for going out / party makeup. One first try of this and I immediately understood why she was raving about it: This little sealer is simply the BEST base I have ever used to make loose glitter adhere to your lids. And when I saw  my ultimate YouTube makeup  guru petrilude was using it too, I was literally squealing with excitement. (If you click here, it will direct you to precisely the bit where he’s talking about it at 4 minutes 14 )










In my pre splash days, I would use regular eyelash glue to make loose glitter adhere to my lids, but the removal process was very tedious and I always felt it was harsh to the poor tender skin of my lids. When I use the splash proof sealer I apply a fine layer of  product on my lids, then dab the glitter with a sponge applicator (I love sponge applicators and not ashamed to say it) and the glitter stays on all day or all night and it does not budge one bit.

The applicator dispenses just the right amount of product, but sadly as I discovered with clear lipgloss, you are best to apply the product on the back of your hands first and then transfer it to your lids as you don’t want to the wand to get dirty with the colour you have on your lids, and then colour contaminate the whole tube.





When I turned myself into a little devil on new year’s eve, I used this sealer on my eyes and some random red cosmetic glitter I bought on eBay. I usually never take step by step pictures of my makeup, but for some reason this time I did and I thought I would share them. Please Excuse the deep/crazy smoothing of my magic camera.


First, and before applying any makeup, I applied my false eyelashes (very controversial but this is the way I like to do it)  and worked on my crease. I applied some twofaced shadow insurance on the whole surface of the eye, then applied brown eyeshadow, blended it with vanilla or blanc type from MAC, then applied some black. Looks Like there’s a lot of black huh? Well, wait till my fat droopy lid covers it aaaaaaaall up.





See, by magic, my lids have covered all the black! Man these are my no.2 favourite lashes in the whole world but more on them in another post. Look below how neat they look and that they barely need any eyeliner at all. I am in love.






Then, it looks like I’ve applied some red eyeshadow on top of the brown and some red shadow on the main lid too. I took the red from the 120 eyeshadow palette from eBay.





And then I applied the sealer on my lids, and voila:
Better pictures of this look on my red devil post and on youtube if you fancy it.
My eyebrows look a mess but that didn’t prevent me to pull that night :)





To remove the glitter, I stuck some regular sellotape on my eyelids to remove most of it, and then, I pressed a cotton pad wet with oily makeup remover, and pressed it to make it soft and easy to lift off.  The removal process was a doddle compared to when I would use eyelash glue when i had to scrape it off.


The splash sealer is very affordable (about £5 I believe) but it’s not very easy to find, which traumatised me a bit when I thought I had lost it. In the UK, It seems to be sold in ‘dancewear’ places, with theatrical-ish makeup. Here’s a list of stockists if you are interested.  In America, I believe you can find at ULTA, under its real original name of L.A Splash Cosmetics. Blimey, you’ve made till the end of this long post. Well done. I am finding it hard to be concise when I am really excited about a product.
Thank you for reading. Let know about some makeup items of yours, which would leave you in total disarray if you lost them. I’d love to hear xx

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Pastels Liquid Eyeshadows from Miss Sporty

 



In my excitement over the bargain prices of the MUA eyeshadows, and in the mood for more bargains, my eyes got caught by some liquid eyeshadows from Miss Sporty. Ok, before you laugh, hear me out. They had an impressive range of colours which appealed to me more than the very neutral shades of any liquid shadows I had seen before. Only product I had ever bought from Miss Sporty before was a nail polish called ‘vanity’ which whenever i wore it got me heaps of compliments as they looked ‘freshly manicured. The nail polish was one of those, though which would be unusable after 1 month of opening it but it was still worth it. So I knew that I should not expect too much from the brand. I am not quite sure what possessed me but I ended up buying three in one go: a pale lilac, a light green and a off white.









Put it that way: I am so glad I wasn’t sent those products for free because I would have had a hard time to try to phrase in a positive and constructive way how rubbish those liquid shadows were. They did not shrivel as much as the Colourama from MeMeMe  which I bought incidentally on the same day but they creased even in places where you would not expect it to crease, as a clay mask would do, if it makes sense. What a shame, I would have liked this product to work, I love the idea of  those ‘Easter’ pastels.


The search for affordable creaseless liquid/cream shadows continues. What was I thinking? Cream/Liquid shadows have a reputation to crease on lids, why did I think a £1.99 cream shadow would not crease? D’oh! Have you ever bought something you know deep down it’s going to be rubbish? Similarly, have you bought something incredibly cheap which surprised you?

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Creaserama in Liquid Bronze

Reading about the Benefit Creaseless Cream shadows gave me the craving to buy some cream eyeshadows but I was not ready to spend £14.50 to see if I liked them, as my previous and only experience of cream shadows left disappointed: Revlon Illuminance quad shadow palettes which were too sheer and too subtle. When I heard that MeMeMe from Superdrug did some bright ones, I just could not resist and had to buy one. So I bought the Colourama, in shade  ‘Liquid Bronze’ at £5.50 from Superdrug


 

The promise: Colour with Drama Combined. Long lasting cream eyeshadow 8 hours longstay wear. Guaranteed

 
  


My first impressions: I love the packaging. I love how it feels in the hand, very nice and heavy, the font is gorgeous, and the plastic casing almost looks & feels like glass. I did one swatch in the shop with the sponge applicator and I was sold. This had to go on my lids. It basically looks like those delicate posh pears covered with a sheet of gold, that you could find in glossy Christmas editions cooking magazines. I was surprised at how quickly it set on my hand.










Sadly this is where my love affair ended with the product. I prepped my eyes with some Too Faced Shadow Insurance. As soon as I applied on my lids, it started to crease like nobody’s business. I just could not believe my eyes: it almost felt like you suddenly try to iron a fabric with an iron which is too hot and the fabric starts instantly to shrivel. I tried to apply it more carefully on the other lid, alas with no better results. Perhaps, I also went too heavily on the second eye, or that I pulled the skin a bit too tight, which caused the shrivelling on application? I am not sure. It was very hard to capture the shrivelling, but here’s an attempt (not a eotd!)





What’s your experience with cream shadows? Do they crease on you as soon as it approaches your skin? Any tips for the application of it? Can you blend a cream shadow?

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