EOTD: In England, We Call It Petrol

I placed another Sassy order quite recently - one full-size eyeshadow, and around 25 samples. It still only came to low $20something. Shipping was $10, which made me frown a little, and then when the package arrived (in, I'm not kidding, five days. Five days from the US. Wow.) I saw on the padded envelope it cost them $9something shipping, so that kind've shut me up.

Guess which full-size I got? Gasoline Rainbow, naturally, which I used immediately.

Scroll down for the EOTD.

I ordered a lot more Silk Luster colours this time, and they sent me 2 free samples as well, which were both very-sparkly liner type colours, so I was pretty thrilled with that. They even managed to make the 2 free samples not anything they'd sent me previously, I don't know if that was luck or conscious effort, but I'm still pretty thrilled. I haven't had chance to play with them all yet (I'll do a big swatch post when I do), but I can tell you my opinion on Sassy has only improved. I e-mailed them to give them some feedback after my review, things where I and you guys thought they needed improvement - like the website looking dull and uninspiring, product shots not doing the products justice, and the suggestion they should develop/carry an eyeshadow sealant or base, specifically for sparklier shades.

They got back to me within 5 hours.

Dear Anastasia,
Thank you for the link and the mention! We are so happy to hear your thoughts and can't agree with you more on all points! When we developed the site we had to budget ourselves and functionality of the site was our top priority, since if the site doesn't work what's the point? The design was a place where we had to cut spending with the hopes of being able to invest in it more after we got up and running. Based on your input we can see that our estimates were pretty accurate.

We completely agree on the issue of the images just not doing the products enough justice and have spent quite a bit of time this month testing out new photo techniques. The trick is to get the interference to show without changing the base color. It is a challenge to say the least. We are also trying to figure out how to integrate user images to highlight the products.

As for a sticky base, we have been working on one for quite some time. So far the challenge with this has been to get it to hold the shimmer, pop the color, and not feel gross on the skin ;-) As soon as we get some testers we will be sending those out.

We are also always looking for color requests. If you or any of your readers think of a color we should be offering, please send those suggestions along. We appreciate any and all advice, input and inspiration.

Thank you again for your wonderful insights and thoughtful comments, it really helps us to improve and grow.

As always, pretty impressed with their courteous, prompt responses, and that they're on-the-ball and already working on everything I suggested. Plus, they like feedback! So if there's any shades you'd love to see them make (personally, I'm thinking of asking them to dupe some Archetype shades, since I hate Archetype's customer service - or lack thereof) drop them a line.

With all that said, here's the EOTD. Incredibly simple, because I was using such a complex colour - which is one of the nice things about complex colours. It looked really nice on, but you don't get full-face pictures because I was wearing this on one eye, and my last Aromaleigh EOTD on the other eye (I looked great in profile, and fucking weird head-on!).

In England, We Call It Petrol - Step-by-Step

Gasoline Rainbow is an intensely sparkly shade with a black base, and rainbow sparkles.

You might want to try this before applying foundation, or sweep some loose powder foundation/finishing powder etc under your eyes beforehand, to minimise fallout-related-raccoon eyes.

• Apply primer! Strongest, stickiest base you've got. I used my MAC Paint Pot in Painterly, I'll try this again with Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy when it finally arrives.


• Because we want extra sticking power we're also going to foil it. So grab your MAC 239/GOSH flat eyeshadow brush, spray it with mixing medium (3 parts water to 1 part liquid glycerin) and mix the Gasoline Rainbow into a paste, either on the back of your hand, or the eyeshadow lid, etc. Once you've got a smooth (no lumps/powder) but not watery consistency, apply it all over the lid up to the crease. Go over it until you've got smooth coverage.


• It probably doesn't look so sparkly, so next press the brush into the dry eyeshadow, and dab/pat it on all over the lid. I repeated this over and over until I got a decent amount of sparkle, be wary of fallout. I didn't tap off the excess, since I didn't want to tap off the sparkles, so instead I loosely swept some loose face powder under my eyes which catches fallout and can be brushed away later.


• With a clean stiff-dome brush (MAC 217) blend out the edges of the Gasoline Rainbow over the crease and toward the brow-bone. Do it sparingly, because the black base will stretch a long way. You just want to soften the edges and start to smoke it out.


• Using another stiff-dome brush (clean), or MAC 275, apply your highlight colour over the brow-bone. I used MAC Shroom. You can switch back to your original MAC 217 and blend the Gasoline Rainbow further out into the highlight colour, if you like - I tend to switch back and forth until I have a nice smoked-out finish.


• With a pencil brush (MAC 219/GOSH round eyeshadow brush) highlight the inner-corner (both on the lid/lower lashline) with Sassy's Glass House, then use the same to highlight just under the highest point of the brow arch.


• Using another pencil brush (or just wipe the first one, y'know) brush Gasoline Rainbow under the lower lashline and smoke the edges out with a clean brush.


• Line upper lashline and waterline with black, I used Urban Decay's 24/7 pencil in Zero. I also use a very small brush/sponge to smudge the eye of the liner on my waterline and make sure it blends into the shadow along the lower lashline and that no skin-tone remains.


• Prime lashes with Urban Decay Eyelash Primer, top with Bourjois Liner Effect mascara and L'Oreal Telescopic.

And done. I love this, because it's like "smoky-eye-with-a-twist" in practically one jar. I used Sassy's Glass House to keep it all Sassy, but you could substitute it with virtually any shimmery white. I'd pair it with pale cool-pink lips, nude or something dark purpley.