FOTD: Cyborg Easter Bunny ft. NYX Twilight Tint
Happy Easter! Full disclosure: I'm one of those secular assholes who welcome the Easter season not for its religious significance but for the positively pagan abundance of egg-shaped chocolate. Growing up half-Jewish, I couldn't help noticing the difference in quality between Easter candy and kosher-for-Passover candy, which consisted (and still consists) primarily of coconut-covered marshmallows and those sinister jelly fruit slices. The marshmallows weren't bad, but they couldn't hold a candle to malted-milk eggs and Cadbury's Creme Eggs and Reese's Eggs. Come to think of it, have I ever encountered an egg-shaped candy I didn't like? There must be some deep primal significance to ovoid treats.
All this is to say that I really enjoy the symbolism of Easter, to say nothing of its color scheme. Most pastels pull out the gray undertones in my skin and make me look slightly zombified, but I still give them an ill-deserved chance every March and April. This particular Easter, I was also inspired by the Y2K-era silver-blue-lavender metallics that comprised the palette of my preteen years and seem to be making a comeback. During a recent visit to Ulta, I bought NYX's Duo Chromatic Illuminating Powder (just call it a highlighter, guys) in Twilight Tint, a spectral white with a strong blue shift.
The highlighter comes in a round compact that feels sturdy but is infuriatingly, nail-destroyingly hard to open. Here it is in my palm for scale:
All my highlighters, L-R: ColourPop Lunch Money, ColourPop Monster, Twilight Tint, Topshop Otherworldly.
Twilight Tint is my fourth highlighter but my first powder highlighter, and the learning curve has been steeper than I expected. The NYX formula is quite dry, and swirling a brush in the pan (I use an e.l.f. stippling brush) kicks up a fair amount of powder. (You can see some stray powder on the pan's black rim in the photo above.) Initially, the dryness fooled me into thinking the highlighter wouldn't be very pigmented, and the light color made it hard to see how much I was applying, and you can imagine what happened next: I ended up with a glowy blue face that wouldn't have been out of place in TLC's "No Scrubs" video.
Like most highlighters, Twilight Tint is best appreciated in motion, but here's an attempt at capturing it in a photo. I prefer an understated highlight, but the pigment can be built up (or, I assume, layered over a cream formula) for something more vibrant.
For today's look, which I call "Cyborg Easter Bunny," I paired Twilight Tint with a very similar eyeshadow: Topshop Mono Eyeshadow in Holograph, which has both blue and pink shifts. Since I didn't want to go full metallic, I grounded the look with NARS blush in Threesome and Bite Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Lavender Jam. (I'm using a very liberal definition of "grounded," of course.) I was disappointed in Threesome's pigmentation when I first reviewed it, but I've been wearing it constantly since then. Go figure.
Using a tip from Michelle, I left most of my lid bare, patting Holograph onto the upper and lower inner corners over Urban Decay Primer Potion. I also lined my upper lashlines with Urban Decay Demolition liner.
And here's the full look:
The light is really bright today, so I look a bit washed-out; sorry about that. My nail polish is Illamasqua Speckle.
I also tried applying a thin layer of Twilight Tint over Lavender Jam for a metallic effect, but it produced only a light shimmer:
I feel a tiny bit crazy in all this lavender and duochrome, but if I can't go full-on shimmery pastel today, when can I? Speaking of which, tell me I'm not the only one who's a little obsessed with Instagram's Easter stickers.
All this is to say that I really enjoy the symbolism of Easter, to say nothing of its color scheme. Most pastels pull out the gray undertones in my skin and make me look slightly zombified, but I still give them an ill-deserved chance every March and April. This particular Easter, I was also inspired by the Y2K-era silver-blue-lavender metallics that comprised the palette of my preteen years and seem to be making a comeback. During a recent visit to Ulta, I bought NYX's Duo Chromatic Illuminating Powder (just call it a highlighter, guys) in Twilight Tint, a spectral white with a strong blue shift.
The highlighter comes in a round compact that feels sturdy but is infuriatingly, nail-destroyingly hard to open. Here it is in my palm for scale:
All my highlighters, L-R: ColourPop Lunch Money, ColourPop Monster, Twilight Tint, Topshop Otherworldly.
Twilight Tint is my fourth highlighter but my first powder highlighter, and the learning curve has been steeper than I expected. The NYX formula is quite dry, and swirling a brush in the pan (I use an e.l.f. stippling brush) kicks up a fair amount of powder. (You can see some stray powder on the pan's black rim in the photo above.) Initially, the dryness fooled me into thinking the highlighter wouldn't be very pigmented, and the light color made it hard to see how much I was applying, and you can imagine what happened next: I ended up with a glowy blue face that wouldn't have been out of place in TLC's "No Scrubs" video.
 |
| See, if you can't spatially expand my horizons, then that leaves you in a class with scrubs. |
Like most highlighters, Twilight Tint is best appreciated in motion, but here's an attempt at capturing it in a photo. I prefer an understated highlight, but the pigment can be built up (or, I assume, layered over a cream formula) for something more vibrant.
For today's look, which I call "Cyborg Easter Bunny," I paired Twilight Tint with a very similar eyeshadow: Topshop Mono Eyeshadow in Holograph, which has both blue and pink shifts. Since I didn't want to go full metallic, I grounded the look with NARS blush in Threesome and Bite Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Lavender Jam. (I'm using a very liberal definition of "grounded," of course.) I was disappointed in Threesome's pigmentation when I first reviewed it, but I've been wearing it constantly since then. Go figure.
 |
| L-R: Holograph, Twilight Tint, Threesome, Lavender Jam. |
Using a tip from Michelle, I left most of my lid bare, patting Holograph onto the upper and lower inner corners over Urban Decay Primer Potion. I also lined my upper lashlines with Urban Decay Demolition liner.
And here's the full look:
The light is really bright today, so I look a bit washed-out; sorry about that. My nail polish is Illamasqua Speckle.
I also tried applying a thin layer of Twilight Tint over Lavender Jam for a metallic effect, but it produced only a light shimmer:
I feel a tiny bit crazy in all this lavender and duochrome, but if I can't go full-on shimmery pastel today, when can I? Speaking of which, tell me I'm not the only one who's a little obsessed with Instagram's Easter stickers.
Yes, I know I need a haircut. This week!
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