beauty

Say what you will about my mom, but the woman is always nicely put together. She gets her hair done regularly (I may not like the style, but she does get it done), dresses impeccably (and, I may add, in a smaller size than mine – damn) and she always, always wears makeup. My mom is one of those women who wear makeup every day, no matter whether they are going to work, run errands, go out to dinner, or stay home for a quiet Sunday.

So I started experimenting with makeup when I was pretty young, and eventually the pupil surpassed the master, when I mastered the perfect “Cleopatra eye” with liquid eye liner. My mom never managed.

Just like that, except without the blue and yellow eyeshadow. And the fake eyelashes. And the whole costumey thing. So basically, just *kind of* like that.

Of course makeup trends come and go, so I since experimented with different looks – and in the past couple of years I have been semi-obsessed with perfecting the smokey eye in all its forms, be it the classic dark and dramatic, or a more “day” version using browns, or a more glamourous and modern version in purple … love them all. So I watched tutorials, read explanations, even had a very unhelpful Sephora girl show me (she only did one eye, the cow.) And then I happened upon a video from MissChievous, who vlogs about new makeup products and makeup techniques.

When she mentioned cream liner and I saw how she used it, I felt like there was a huge DUH button on my forehead. So when I found a fabulous special edition cream liner by Clinique at Manor (which is kind of like a Swiss Nordstrom) during the Holidays, I couldn’t resit. The color was Violet Luxe – and since I am incapable of resisting anything when it comes in purple, I bought it. (It was surprisingly affordable for Switzerland, $32.)

Once you throw away the tiny little brush provided, which is quite useless, and opt to use a cream eye liner brush (or like me, an angled liner brush) it’s… simply awesome. It’s super-easy to smudge and blend, making it the ideal choice for the smokey eye look, no matter if you want to go subtle or glamourous.

The fabulous Violet Luxe was a Limited Holiday Edition, so I don’t know where you might be able to find it – but the Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner always comes in True Black, Deep Brown, Smoke Grey and Black Honey (a warm brown), and you can get it at a much more affordable $14.50 anywhere there’s a Clinique counter, and online at Dillard’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Sephora, and of course on the Clinique website.

Only one caveat to this fabulousness: if you wear contact lenses, be careful not to apply too much on the inner rim of the eye, or it will fog up your contacts.

Other than that… go forth and be gorgeous! And while you’re at it, check out one of the video tutorials by MissChievous:

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