No no no.. This is not a review. I don't need to review Pixie Epoxy, this baby sells itself.
Never heard about it? Let's start with an introduction. Let's just say, if you haven't tried any Fyrinnae products, my very first advice would be to visit this link and start browsing. Pixie Epoxy is Fyrinnae's idea of eyeshadow 'glue'. It is made to be worn underneath your eye makeup and hold the sparkliest, glitteriest (okay, those are not really words) eyeshadows you have. Just like another glitter glue, huh? Well, Pixie Epoxy also gives you the 'wet look' eye makeup without having to wet your brush or your eyeshadow. Still not convincing enough? How about a picture?
My point, exactly.
It comes in a tube with doe foot applicator. It literally looks like a white glue from outside. But once you apply this and blend it on your lid, it turns transparent. For $7 you get 10ml of products which doesn't seem like a lot but since you need just a small amount for each application, this one tube will last long enough.
This entry is just to give some tips on applying Pixie Epoxy. All based on my own experience. And here they are:
Not a primer. Fyrinnae website specifically mention that this product is not a primer or base. It is recommended to put a primer first before applying Pixie Epoxy. However, I sometimes skip eye primer when wearing this and I don't have problems with my eye makeup fading at the end of the day. Then again, it's a trial and error thing.
Pat pat pat away... Pixie Epoxy (Can I just call it PE from now on, only in this post?) has a sticky consistency (hence, this is an eyeshadow glue) so sweeping your brush wouldn't give you the smoothest result. I like patting my brush on top of this. Works a lot better. After you applied this, wait for it to dry a bit (it will still feel sticky) then pat your eyeshadow. I once applied my eyeshadow while PE was still wet and I had my eyeshadow sank into my eye fold.
Doesn't need to be everywhere. Working with sticky base could be tricky. Sometimes it holds you from blending your eyeshadow. The thing with PE is that you need just a little bit of it. I usually put this on areas that don't require a lot of blending, and that would be my lid and my brow bone area. Inner corner would work as well. I don't like applying this on my crease as I need to blend a lot in that area. Then again, I don't wear glitter on my crease.
Not suitable for matte. Just no. As if you didn't have enough problems with matte already. Applying PE underneath your mattes will make it super sticky to the base so you'll be having a hard time blending and the eyeshadow will look cakey. I learned it the hard way.
After a previous fun post, let's move on to a bit more serious topic. In this post I’m going to share with you what I got from Meet & Greet with David Arbid. You might find this post kinda boring since there'll be too many writings and not much pictures, which is totally the opposite of my other entries.
Honestly, I’ve never heard about David Arbid before. Little did I know, he is actually the international brand ambassador for Make Up Forever HD line. His job includes traveling from one country to another, presenting about MUFE HD line, tutoring make up artists or common people who are interested about make up, which includes bloggers. He works together with Dany Sanz, founder of Make Up Forever. If you are familiar with MUFE products and their HD line, I’m sure you have heard about their no-retouch campaign. David Arbid is actually one of the make up artists who worked for the advertorial. If you go to mufepro, which is Make Up Forever official youtube channel, there’s this video of David doing an interview about HD products. So that’s pretty much how big of a make up artist he is.
You see the red haired girl with a cheetah next to her? David did her make up.
The line itself has been around since 2008. In my opinion this event mostly is to share more information about makes up basics, in general. And also to learn more about their HD line.
The event started with Ina Balasong, Make Up Forever General Manager, welcome us. She was very glad to see how enthusiast the bloggers are. There are two events that were held on the day. The earlier session is for media and the later is for bloggers. I think bloggers here represent common people, who are not professional make up artist nor poeple who works in beauty industry, and later going to write and share stories about the products just because they like or dislike it.
First, David Arbid told us a little bit about the background of this line. Make up for cinema has come a long way, from those days where television can only provide black and white, where make up doesn't really play a big role, to higher and higher pixels cameras that accentuate all the flaws on your face and even unnatural make up. MUFE HD line was designed to deliver flawless looking skin and yet still look natural. Even now, camera is pretty much everywhere. Almost everybody has pocket camera and, not to mention, smart phones. People can take pictures anytime, anywhere. So HD line works not only for high definition camera, but also pocket camera and smart phones so you can look good anytime.
The are 3 steps.
Step one is hydration and smoothing the skin. This is where you prime the complexion using elixir and primer. You can use both or just one of those.
Step two is to add coverage for your face using foundation and concealer.
Step three is finishing step using blush and mineral powder.
Step One.
While working on the model, David used a regular foundation brush and a mixing palette. He started by applying elixir on the model's face.
He uses the brush the apply elixir that works as base for your make up and also moisturize your skin. It provides long lasting hydration to the skin, about 520% after 15 minutes and helps reduce the appearance of wrinkles on your face. You can keep the elixir in the fridge.
Step Two
The foundation works for any skin type. This oil-free foundation gives you a medium coverage with natural glowy finish. Again, he applied the foundation with the foundation brush. He told us to apply your foundation all the way to the neck to make your foundation looks well blended. Now, here's how he does it kinda differently. Well, at least different than how I usually apply my foundation. David applied a little product along the jaw and the neck and then, using his palm, he gently blend the foundation on the neck area.
David really emphasized the fact that foundation only works to cover. Which means, you have to have a good base and that is healthy skin. Make sure you take good care of your skin properly on daily basis to get the best result from your make up. Remember that foundation is not skincare. It's something you wear to accentuate what you already have, not something that will magically change you. Apparently this is an important point even David actually told us, "Please write this down on your blog" and that's what I'm doing. lol.
Concealer is applied after foundation. I know there are mixed opinion about whether you should apply your concealer before or after your foundation. But here's the logic, when you apply your foundation first, you can see areas that will need more coverage or not. If, with your foundation, you can already cover your under eye area, there's no need to apply concealer there. Therefore, you'll use less product on the face.
Another way to use the concealer, other than to conceal the imperfection, is to use it as a highlighter. That is, if you prefer a matte highlighter. Or if you want a shimmery finish, you can use their recently launched HD Uplight.
Step Three
HD blush has a matte finish. It works not only for your cheeks, but it's also safe to be worn on your lips as well as on the eyes.
This blush looks very natural and rather foolproof, it's almost impossible for you to fail wearing this blush. But, if you think your blush it too pigmented on your cheeks, all you have to do is dab a thin layer of foundation on top of the blush. If you think the blush is too matte and tacky, you can mix it with primer. And if you want shimmery finish, you can also mix it with Uplight.
The powder is what you use to set the whole make up. HD powder is a finely milled silica based powder that comes in one universal translucent shade to match all skin tones. Using MUFE kabuki brush is highly recommended to apply the powder.
David did mention ab0ut pictures of celebrity that came out few time ago. I'm sure you've seen pictures of Eva Longoria and Nicole Kidman with white cast all over their face. Well, that's the result when you don't use the powder properly.
Once the powder set on your face, remember to always sweep the excess powder from your face so you won't end up with white cast.
While the make over is in progress, the whole process was being recorded using video camera and being aired directly to an HD television, so we can see the result in real life as well is on TV. Honestly, in real life, I didn't really see the difference on the model's face, considering she has a flawless complexion already. But on TV I can see how glowy her skin looks. Really gorgeous.
Okay, I think that's all that I want to share with you about some tips from David Arbid. Excuse the super long post. Hope that would be helpful for you.
Anyway, here's what I got from the goody bag. Really can't wait to give them a try and I'll report back in this blog.
