2018 Winter Cosmetic Picks – Lesley

Hello, lovely hackers and hacker adjacents! It’s the dead of winter here in Chicago – the absolute best time to counteract winter blues and chills by feeling great in your skin. Even if you’re fortunate to live somewhere blissfully warm during the winter months, these products will lift your spirits and feed your skin on even the shortest days.

#1 – Lush Body Conditioner – LushUSA.com

Battling dry skin in harsh winter weather? Is lotion alone just not cutting it? Consider a new approach – natural skin conditioners by Lush. Applied similarly to hair conditioner, you apply these lotion-consistency creams in the shower, then rinse off and pat dry. Available in a variety of scents, they’re a super easy, low maintenance fix that will leave you feeling moisturized but not greasy, all day. We love a good skin care hack!

#2 & #3 – Fenty Beauty Foundation and Pro Filt’r Primer – fentybeauty.com

Okay, so I have to confess I’ve absolutely fallen in love with Rihanna’s new makeup line, Fenty Beauty. Fenty has made a name for it’s immense range of shades which fit nearly any skin tone. It’s no joke, and absolutely fantastic. As a pallid NW15,  I have a really hard time finding foundations in a warm or neutral tone that are pale enough to match my ‘monitor tan’. I was stunned to discover that the lightest Fenty shade, 100, was significantly too pale for me. I actually ended up being a balmy shade 120.

The foundation itself provides flawless, soft matte coverage using only a couple pumps. It feels light, and I’ve had no problems with creasing. The matching Pro Filt’r primer is also utterly fantastic with foundation or by itself, and one of my empties for December. I highly recommend testing these products in person at Sephora to find a great shade match for you.

#4 – Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel – neutrogena.com

I was heartbroken when Target decided to stop carrying AmorePacific’s Laneige skin care products. South Korean beauty products have a reputation for being ahead of the curve scientifically and performance-wise, and the Laneige Water Gel was affordable and pretty ideal for dealing with dry, thirsty winter skin. So, in a pinch, I had to find an alternative product that was affordable and on shelves. I wanted something non-greasy with lots of hydration, with similar olive oil components. I could not be more pleased with Neutrogena’s new hyaluronic acid “Hydro Boost” line – specifically their water gel facial moisturizer. It’s light enough to wear under makeup, and moisturizing enough to put on before bed. The best part – the whole line is quite affordable and available at most drug stores!

[The only product in the Hydro Boost line I’ve been a little disappointed with is the day cream with SPF, which doesn’t seem to hold up through the day to me.]

#5 – Body Shop ‘Oils of Life™‘ Revitalizing Facial Oil – thebodyshop.com

So, tried everything else, and your face or lips are still impossibly chapped? ‘Oils of Life’ from Body Shop is my last ditch suggestion before you see a dermatologist. A bit pricey for retail skin care at $55 for 1.7oz, I recommend testing this product in store before shelling out. For me, it is a miracle fix. Applied daily, it’s the only thing that keeps my skin from peeling after a bad sunburn or windburn in the wintertime. It’s lightweight and great for sensitive skin – I’ve had no problems with breakouts despite it being comprised primarily of seed oils.

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(Neither I, nor VanitySec received any compensation or products in exchange for these reviews.)

Hot Geek Makeup for Cool Fall Con Parties

Summer’s almost over, but that means hacking con season! From DerbyCon in Louisville to GrrCON in Grand Rapids, we can’t wait to see hackers showing off all their unique personal styles. Still looking for ideas? No problem! We tested out some unique, fun, and flashy products from some of the top ‘geek themed’ cosmetics brands, and hand-picked three foolproof color palettes to get you started.

Look One: Ergo Proxy

The Basics: Teal to purple ombre.
Great For: Glaring diabolically from the recesses of a really good hoodie. Anime cons.
We Used:
Shiro Cosmetics – Eyeshadow in “A Fell Voice on Air” ($1.00–$6.50)
Impulse Cosmetics – Eyeshadow in “Ritual” ($3.99)
Geek Chic Cosmetics – Eyeshadow in “Krampus” ($5.99)

With a little help from:
Makeup Forever – Aqua Liner in Turquoise ($23)
We Learned:
All the Impulse Cosmetics shadows we tried were really pigmented. Any loose shadow requires good brushes, something to stick to, and patience, but “Ritual” went on reliably in 2 coats with a little Urban Decay primer on the lid, which is better than we could have hoped.

Geek Chic’s “Krampus” didn’t look the same under any light source we had to the photo on their site – it seems quite a bit darker than the advertised teal – nearly black. The hue was spot on, though, so we loved it for a crease color for the lighter “A Fell Voice on Air” by Shiro. It’s always good to remember to just try indie cosmetic products in person to see what works for you under your lighting. None of the shadows we used were prohibitively expensive.

A black liner on the upper lid just didn’t do this look justice, so we grabbed a Makeup Forever teal liquid liner that I already had.

When creating this look, finish the eyeshadow before anything else, because you will make a mess. Blend the magenta shadow a bit farther out than a normal smoky eye. This can take a few tries – it’s very different than creating a clean cat eye. Ensure you use a small brush to line under the eye with the same shadow and blend lightly using your ring finger or a blending sponge, while still avoiding coloring the lower inner corner about 1/4 of the way. The teal colors should be applied about half way up the eyelid.

A little dab of white shadow highlight on the inner eye corner can add a lot to a dramatic look like this.

Look Two: Seriously, Don’t Call It Cyber!

The Basics: 90’s cyberpunk, with bold metallics.
Great For: The Paul Oakenfold concert at Derbycon.
We Used:
Geek Chic Cosmetics – Eyeshadow in “Totality” ($5.99)
Aromaleigh – Eyeshadow in “Coronilla” ($3.50)
Impulse Cosmetics – Glitter in “Allure” ($3.99)
Shiro Cosmetics – Eyeshadow in “Corona” ($6.50)
Geek Chic Cosmetics – Bronzer in “Perfidious Pyrite” ($10.99)
Makeup Monsters – Highlighter in “Zenith” ($14.00)

With a little help from:
MAC – Paint Pot in Dream Scene ($22)

We Learned: Our first attempts to get an Aromaleigh shadow to stick to my eyelid (or literally anything) failed miserably. Out of all the shadows we used, these were the loveliest, shimmery colors in the jar, but the hardest to apply. After trying a few cream shadows and eyelid primers, we found a MAC cream shadow held the powder the best.

Makeup Monsters highlighter in Zenith turned out to be great for way more than facial contouring. It also makes a great under-eye and corner eye highlighter and an decent base to build up powder highlighter for a more dramatic contouring look (which was exactly what this look called for). Both techniques were used in our example look. Zenith was our favorite face product we reviewed this month.

Our Face Product Pick of the Month: “Zenith” Cream Illusive Lights Highlighter – $14.00, Makeup Monsters, makeupmonsters.net

The Impulse cosmetic glitter will stick to a cream shadow okay, but the best bet is probably to use cosmetic glue for a large quantity. They sell a reasonably priced one. Aside from the usual mess that glitter involves, it was really fun to work with, comes in some amazing shades, and definitely adds shimmer under light that photos don’t do justice.

This set of colors could be used on somebody of any skin tone with a bit of reorganization. Golds are a great choice for anybody with a neutral or warm skin tone. Our look consists of a base of the MAC silver paint pot on the lid, shading to (covered in) Coronilla, then a little Corona as our outer lid and crease color. Totality was used for small highlights. We then added a sparkling of gold glitter and did dramatic, shiny contouring.

We ordered a few gold and silver lip products for this look and none did it adequate justice. We used our silver MAC paint pot instead with a small amount of gold glitter. If you choose something more “everyday”, ensure it’s neutral pale pink, a tan, or beige.

Look Three: Would You Like To Play a Game?

The Basics: Violet and gold smoky eye.
Great For: An easy switch from day to night – just add bold lipstick. Purples compliment brown eyes really well.
We Used:
Shiro Cosmetics – Eyeshadow in “Corona” ($6.50)
Geek Chic Cosmetics – Eyeshadow in “Our Greatest General” ($5.99)
Geek Chic Cosmetics – Eyeshadow in “Totality” ($5.99)
Geek Chic Cosmetics – Bronzer in “Perfidious Pyrite” ($10.99)

With a little help from:
MAC – Lipstick in “Kling It On” (Star Trek Collection – Discontinued)
Urban Decay – Razor Sharp Liner in “Retrograde” ($22)We Learned:
We tried a number of great purple shadows when tweaking this look. In the end, we went with amethyst shades that complimented Geek Chic’s bright gold “Totality” shadow that we used for our lid base.

A few of the shadows we tried this month were from various “Eclipse” collections. Although Shiro’s color of the month set has two shades, “Umbra” and “Corona”, we decided that Geek Chic’s gold “Totality” was way more complimentary to the red-violet “Corona” as a set.  “Umbra” is a very pretty sparkly dark shade, but we would definitely pair it was a light blue or gold on it’s own. We used a little “Our Greatest General” on the under eye and as an intermediate color. It’s a great violet with gold flakes, and our top pick this month as a standalone buy for anybody with brown eyes.

You may have noticed we used “Totality” in two of our looks. It’s really one of the most solid light gold shadows with intense sheen we’ve come across in a while and is very versatile as a corner or lid color. It also sticks extremely well. I’m a super pale NW15, and we suspect this shadow might be even more flattering on somebody with a darker warm skin tone. Totality is our “must have” shadow this month, overall.

Once again, black or brown liner just didn’t accent the shades we selected properly, so we ended up grabbing a dark purple Urban Decay liquid liner. A lipstick in a matching hue finishes the look.

Our Pick of the Month, overall, “Totality” Loose Shadow – $5.99, Geek Chic Cosmetics, geekchiccosmetics.com (Left)  and our Pick of the Month for dark eyes: “Our Greatest General” Loose Shadow – $5.99, Geek Chic Cosmetics, geekchiccosmetics.com (Right)