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Wearing MAC Beth Ditto Shade & Smoke Shadow/Liner in “Drag, Strip”

Dual-ended eye makeup brushes, cream shadows that double as primers, twist-up eyeliners that never, ever need sharpening — what’s the key word here?

That would be convenience. 🙂

If it makes my life easier, I’m generally a fan. Like, if it’s something I can apply in the back of a cab on the way to meet the cast of Magic Mike for drinks at the Tonga Room, I’ll probably say, “Yes, please!”

Speaking of that, “Siri, remind me to Fandango tickets to see Magic Mike…”

Oops! — back to convenience. If we also happen to be talking about convenient eye makeup, my resistance is futile. Anything that saves space in my makeup bag and shaves a few steps off my eye makeup routine, like the new dual-ended Beth Ditto Shade & Smoke Shadow/Liners ($22 each), can be characterized as one of my weak spots.

On one end, a slanted eyeliner; on the other, a creamy, intensely pigmented coordinating eyeshadow with a rounded tip. And both ends laugh in the face of sharpeners! With their twist-up tips, they just don’t need ’em.

When you get the urge to go bigger with your eye look or just feel like skipping your brushes, just twist up the eyeshadow tip, apply the product directly to your lids, and smooth out the edges with a finger. Then, follow up with the liner, but only if you feel like it (I usually do).

The four limited edition pencils include Little Miss Moffett, which pairs a true black shadow with a true white liner; “Drag, Strip,” which pairs a smokey navy shadow with a pale blue liner; Beth Mask, which pairs a reddish brown bronze shadow with a golden peachy pink liner; and Beth or Glory, which puts a deep brown shadow together with a bright blue liner.

Application tips from MAC Senior Artist Keri Blair

“The tapered end is the ‘liner,’ so it’s better for more detailing and defining (I don’t recommend it for the water line). The slanted tip makes it easy to apply to eyelids or the inner corners of the eyes. Use it to pop the lid, and with a flick of your wrist, you can use the rounded side to smoke out the outer and inner corners of the eyes.

The rounded side is great for smudging and ‘smoking’ out the eye. You can blend with your finger or a brush, but work quickly because the long-wearing, water-resistant formula dries fast! My best advice is to work one eye at a time to achieve a perfectly smokey, smudgy look.”

Shade & Smoke Shadow/Liner

From bottom to top: Little Miss Moffet, Beth or Glory, Beth Mask and Drag, Strip

Swatches from the left, Shade & Smoke Shadow/Liners in #1 Beth Mask, #2 Beth or Glory, #3 “Drag, Strip” and #4 Little Miss Moffett; Zoom Lash Mascara in #5 Plum Reserve, #6 Blue Charge and #7 New Hue; Pro Longwear Lipcremes in #8 BOOYAH!!, Dear Diary and Heart Hangover
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MAC Beth Ditto Zoom Lash Mascara from the left: New Hue, Plum Reserve and Blue Charge

During the week, I usually reach for reliable, basic (boring?) mascaras in brown or black, but even reliable standbys can seem a little uninspiring after a while.

Now, whenever I feel like I’ve “hit the wall” on basic black and brown and need a change, I can turn to one of the new MAC Beth Ditto Zoom Lash Mascaras ($15 each), three new limited edition tinted mascaras in Plum Reserve (a light violet-ish purple), New Hue (a blackened burgundy) and Blue Charge (a deep navy blue).

If Yves Saint Laurent Majorelle Blue Volume is your party shade, then the Beth Ditto Zoom Lash mascaras want to be what you wear to work.

For comparison, the formula feels a little thicker than MAC Extended Play, another mascara I’ve been wearing lately.

From about an arm’s length away, all three of these could pass for basic black. But get a little closer (don’t be shy!), and they reveal their true colors.

When I wear ’em, I like to start by swiping the brush against the mouth of the tube or a clean tissue to remove any excess, which seems to reduce their tendency to clump and deposit stray mascara on my lids.

Then, I apply one coat on freshly-curled lashes before using a lash comb to further separate my fringe, and after that first layer dries, I repeat the process with a second layer to intensify the color.

Two layers is probably my sweet spot for lashes that look noticeably longer, thicker and lightly tinted, with just a slight relaxing of the curl.

No mascara!

Two coats of Blue Charge
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