Pantone Color of The Year 2013 - Emerald

After 2012’s highly successful Tangerine Tango, Pantone has announced 2013 color of the year… Emerald!

I personally find Emerald super easy to work with… it is cheerful enough for spring/summer outfit and makes you get noticed during grey cooler months. To tone it down, pair up with beige or navy. When I feel like adding splash of color, I pair my emerald with a little sunflower. Emerald is one of those versatile colors which make both silver and gold jewelries pop equally.

In my beauty beauty & make up universe, I loved a little emerald eye liner in rotation with my staple jet black – like Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil in Covet. Or, apply little green eye shadows from Lancome’s Color Design 5 Palette in Vert Tendresse.

My personal Asian drugstore pick would be Kanebo Kate’s Eye Blend Zone Eye Shadow palette in GN-1 and Majolica Majorca Jeweling Eyes palette in GR 780.

Nails… ah… there are thousands, if not millions, of gorgeous emeralds out there- in variety of finish too! Like China Glaze Exotic Encounter if you like crème or China Glaze Deviantly Daring for duochrome lovers.  

So, are you going to embrace emerald next year?

(pictures from pantone.com, Sephora.com, chinaglaze.com, adambeauty.com, shiseido.co.jp/mj, head2toebeauty.com). 

Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Shadow Pencil in Morphine

What can I say... the color is amazing, the texture is amazing, the lasting power is amazing

I first fell in love with Urban Decay colourful and creamy 24/7 pencil eye liners. Graduating from the eyeliner, I saw Morphine. The color is simply... amazing... light purple with iridescent glow. It just makes my eyes appear fresher and bigger when applied properly.  

This chubby pencil is so creamy and glides easily without tugging. Easy to work with (as long as you don’t let it set), easy to blend with the 24/7 eye liner pencil. It applies evenly too.

The loveliest thing is... the color stay put and vibrant all day long. My lid is super oily, most shadow wont stay fresh and will migrate by the time the clock hits 4pm. Not this one. 

I am sooo going to buy more... totally recommended!

Eye Shadow Base Comparison: Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Urban Decay Primer Potion Eden, Urban Decay Primer Potion Sin, Urban Decay Primer Potion Original and Canmake Eyeshadow Base (tried with Urban Decay Eye Shadow in Sabbath)

Now now... I never use eye shadow base before... So this is my first time trying to pick one for myself... Overwhelmed by options available for me, I decided to swatch and compare them to each other!

Let’s go to the swatches! Here are Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Urban Decay Eden, Urban Decay Sin, Urban Decay Original and Canmake blended on my hand on top and the bottom are the bases with Urban Decay Sabbath.

This was Sabbath on its own. Sabbath is part of UD’s Black Palette. Deep blue-black with blue shimmers. I like it.

As most of you know, Too Faced Shadow Insurance comes in small squeezeable tube. I find Too Faced’s packaging the easiest to handle. It is pale beige cream which easily blended yielding colorless base with matte finish. After applying Sabbath on top, I don’t see any difference between Sabbath alone vs Sabbath on top of Too Faced.

UD Eden is yellowish beige, after blending it was pretty opaque matte. I am sure this baby can double up as concealer as well...the pigmentation is fantastic! Texture is nice and light as well. Eden makes Sabbath appear deeper... I like the effect it give on Sabbath.

All UD eyeshadow base has same texture, just different finish and pigmentation. UD Sin is pretty pink champagne shimmer-borderline metallic. Pretty good on its own, IMO. As I expected, this one increase the sparkle factor of the shadow!

UD Original is colorless with matte finish. Just like Too Faced, It doesn’t do anything to the color or sparkle of Sabbath.

Before applying the shadow on top, I don’t like Canmake the most. First of all, I have to dip my finger on the pot and Its creamy texture is slightly oily. My eyelids are oily...so I am not sure how this will work on my lids. But on my hand, pigmentation is pretty good, it brightens my skin visibly. I find Canmake strengthen the sparkle factor of Sabbath... I have weak spot for shimmering sparkly stuff...love it!

Soooo... how effective are these eye shadow base? I rub them slightly with dry, clean cotton pad and this was how they looked like...

Sabbath only (without any base) after light rubbing

UD Original and Too Faced loss a bit of the sparkle, but the color intensity remained more or less the same.

Eden was sooo good, it retained the color intensity and sparkle. Whereas Sin’s color faded a little, shimmer was still around though.

Canmake was surprisingly good... Sparkle and color remained similar with before light rubbing.

Prices in Singapore after GST:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance 11gr : 30 SGD
Urban Decay Primers (Original, Sin or Eden) 10mL: 32 SGD
Canmake Eyeshadow Base : 17.9 SGD

I am loving Eden and Sin... simple reason: good coverage and the shimmer in Sin is just lovely. I think I will try Canmake base too... looks interesting. At least if it doesn’t work as base, I can use it as concealer.

UD Original and Too Faced Shadow Insurance would be suitable for those who would like to get the shadow color as it is, not accentuated in any way.

Any previous experience with these brands or other eye shadow bases? Recommend me something here...