EOTD: L'Oreal Disco Smoking...

Have you ever fallen in love with a palette in the store, bought it in a flash, and then discovered the colours just don't work for you, no matter what? Fortunately it doesn't occur all that often in my make up world, but happen it did with the L'Oreal Color Riche Disco Smoking quad. I was somewhat shattered at the time, but I'm known for my determination to get ANYTHING to work, and having left this striking palette languishing in my drawer for over 12 months, I decided it was way too pretty to give up on...

I adore these shades, both together and individually, but almost all of my previous attempts to use them, either singly or combined, produced a series of results that were disappointing to say the least, and simply weren't worthy of publishing. I couldn't get the pigment to show itself off (especially the yellow) and my placement  of the colours seemed to be all out of whack, but I'm quite happy with how THIS particular combo turned out - perhaps my technique has improved, or maybe I'm just a little better at choosing what what should go where...

Anyway, I started with a base of Face of Australia purple gel liner - this takes longer to dry than my other gels, and therefore gives me more time to build a layer of shadow that well and truly sticks. I applied the pinky purple shade all over the top lid, then smoked the outside with the charcoal, and framed the whole eye (using a fine liner brush) to give the illusion of a crease...

Along the lower lashline, I loaded up a damp brush with the yellow hue, and smudged it over MNY Master Precise Liquid Liner - this summery shade has a gorgeous shimmer to it, and turned out looking almost metallic gold - delish!...

Next I lined the waterline with the same purple FOA gel, then panicked as it was way too pink for my old eyes - boo hoo, I looked like I'd been crying :-( Rather than removing it, I tried pressing some blue-purple gel from the Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Liner (for green eyes) in the centre, and fortunately this had the effect of almost neutralising the pink. 

I can't remember ever using TWO colours on my waterline before, but I'm quite taken with the result, and will be experimenting some more with different shade combinations in the future. What the hell, I might even do a waterline rainbow lol!

The only shade I didn't use from the palette this time was the deep lavender, but I already have some brain cells working on how to incorporate this stunning colour into my next attempt...

So glad I persisted :-) Gals, do you have colour palette that fails regardless of how and where you apply the hues? Would love to hear what you do with the ones that don't work...

Take care of you,

kats xxx