Hey everyone! I recently have received some Rocks! colors with matte textures and they've got me stumped as for application. I've been having a really really hard time applying them! How do you guys do it? I have samples of Ice and Ebony and Umber and they apply really well and soft, but for the rocks! (atomic, prettyinpink, to name examples) I haven't had much luck. I'd love some tips and tricks from all of you skilled experienced ladies.
Thanks!!!

What are your biggest problems with application?Are you getting more fallout onto your face? Are the shadows not applying as smoothly?

I find some of Rocks! matte shades not as smooth so I just apply them in more sheer layers and build(I do this with most shadows anyway) until I get the effect I want.Also applying on a primed eyelid helps.Whether you just have a little concealer,powder,or an actualy eyeshadow primer.

When I use my shadows I dip the brush into the powder and tap off the excess into the lid.This also helps with fallout and building your layers.

Also what type of brush do you use to apply these colours?

Well I've tried applying them with a flat synthetic brush as well as with a normal fluffy one (which by default gives a lighter application). They just don't come out as bright as I'd like them too, I guess. Plus they're harder to blend. . . I'm using several e/s bases as well (not at the same time, obvciously). I should try applying in layers to see if I get the results I want from that. Thank you for replying to my post!

I use the pointed fiber optic brush when applying them in the crease, or one of the all over taklon brushes (large or small, depending on what I'm doing) to apply over a wider area. The fiber optic brush will allow you to apply more sheerly, so the color will be lighter. I add additional as needed.

Also try them wet, they'll be more vibrant.

Check out Melissa MO2A's YouTube tutorials, she's got a bunch and some of her application techniques are sure to help!

What I do is apply a cream shadow so they have something to "stick" to, and pat the shadow on rather than stroking or smoothing them, and Cin's suggestion about wet application is a great one, but takes some practice! Good luck!
--Tanya

Hello,

I have atomic and it just doesn't apply very bright. (See last week's FOTD). Personally, that is one of AL's misses for me (although there are only a few).

I posted a review for it, and Kristen answered as follows:

quote:

Alex on the Rocks Collection: As a whole, I love this collection. Some of the colors, like googoomuck and agentorange apply wonderfully with a slight satin shimmer without a base. However, others that are matte, like atomic, apply too sheerly for my taste when using a fiber optic brush and no base. Even when applied with a normal brush atomic is a bit chalky and so it doesn’t adhere well enough to the skin for the swatched color on the website to come through. However, a base like the one aromaleigh sells or the cream shadows and/or a wet application solves that problem. But a reformulation of the matte shades so they adhere better would be nice. (* Note from Aromaleigh- we can’t keep the colors that neon, hot and bright and mix these shades with enough adherent fillers to not kill the color. So finding an eyeshadow base that works for you is key. If we reformulated with adherent fillers, these wouldn’t be Rocks!… they’d be pastel like easter eggs.)

I answered that saying that with a base atomic applys nice and bright....well sort of. Not quite as bright as it is in the jar at least unless you use a lot of base and then pile a lot of atomic on. But then you are just asking for creasing, and the shadow looks chalky. So I would say don't expect atomic to be as bright as it is in the jar with normal application (a light layer of base, and several light layers of atomic). If you are looking for a bright yellow, use sunshine PH (I have that, I can vouch for the fact that it is bright even when dry), or I have seen bright yellows when people foil the rocks! livewire.

~Edit~ Atomic does look brighter on women with light skin (level 1 and lighter) but for people like me who are a bit darker (level 2-3) and already have natural yellow pigment in our skin, it just doesn't really show up). And yes, I applied atomic wet in that challenge, and then dry on top of the foiled part... The problem is I only foiled it with water, and when it dried, it looked chalky. Maybe foiling it with sealent would prevent the chalky look once it dries. B.c when applying it dry in several layers, it just isn't vibrant enough. I'll try foiling it with sealant tonight and see how that turns out. Hey, I'll even post you a pic

I apply the matte rocks! shades wet (using water) w/a synthetic brush and then pat on a thin dry layer after the wet layer "sets." For me, the key is to wait until the water evaporates from the wet layer of shadow before patting on the dry shadow. If you apply the dry layer too soon, you get some clumpiness. I have used both the eyeshadow base and the Indelible creme shadow in Bare Necessity, and I found that they both work well.

Ooh, maybe that was the problem. I'll try both methods now (your method, and the foiling with sealent)

I think I only have used a few of the matte rocks (prettyinpink, funkytown) and I didn't find them as difficult to use as some other brand's mattes, but I did use an eye shadow primer and cream eye shadow on my eye before I put them on. I've not tried foiling them, but I imagine that they'd be super awesome bright. I really need to do a rainbow eye with the Rocks! colors.

Edited to add:
But I can definitely second that foiling with the sealant is AWESOME! I prefer using that to water these days.

Ok, so I did the following with atomic, in this order (AL base used):

dry, dry on base, wet on base, wet on base plus dry on top, sealant on base, sealant on base plus dry on top



A closeup of the last four

It looked pretty bad with the sealant. However, I was using a flat liner brush to spread the swatch around. Maybe if I patted it wet with a different brush, the results would be different. Out of these, my favorite was it wet over the base, and my second favorite was it wet on the base plus dry powder added on top.

Those swatches are very helpful! Thanks for posting, Horselover.

thanks! I must sit down and experiment. been lazy lately, haven't even done my MU that much!

I know this post is really old, but I found a way to make Atomic pop out, I wore it yesterday for glow bowling lol

I just used my primer, and then a white cream eyeshadow pencil and smoothed it even and then piled Atomic on. In the end it looked like I used an office highliter and I loved it! I think I will get the full size.
I wasnt a fan when I first swatched it on my hand because I could barely see it, but on top of white it looks pretty wicked bright!

thanks for the tip! I used it once over Kryolan UV Yellow as a base and it was WOW intense

So I know we aren't supposed to mention other brands, but this primer fixes this specific problem of getting atomic to be vibrant but not cakey/settling into lines.

I used Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. Here is a look I did using the epoxy as a base:

http://aromaleighaficionadas.i...01061831/m/972106114

I only did one layer, but I bet if I had applied the epoxy a bit thicker and had layered atomic, it would have been even brighter.

AxSDenied, that is a great idea. I can see how having such a sticky base, and a white one at that, really made the color pop!

The only Rock's Color I own is Agent Orange, which looks matte to me. What works well is applying it wet for a very bright look.

Hey, sorry to butt in, but Agent Orange isn't a true matte. It applies much smoother than the true matte rocks! colors. I bet it looks awesome wet! Shockingly, blindingly bright !

XD. Ok, if it's not a true matte, then that would explain why it applies so nicely! And it seems to be one of the few shades of orange that looks good on me! XD

The only rocks matte that I sometimes have problems with is suspectdevice. I love the color but I sometimes get it to apply easier than others.