When wearing a mask, focus on the eyes

By Zsarlene B. Chua, Senior Reporter

THE PANDEMIC has forced most people to wear face masks for health and safety reasons, which means that more than half of people’s faces are now covered. But that doesn’t mean that they should stop enjoying playing with makeup and that is what the newly launched beauty brand, Ready Set Glow, wants to do.

Launched in February, the local brand has an impressive array of colored eyeliners, eye shimmers, and lipsticks, with the eyeliners touted to be “smudge-proof and waterproof.”

This writer was given a selection of the eyeliners and lipsticks to try out and at first glance colored eyeliners can be intimidating, especially for someone like me who has only been using either dark brown or black eyeliner.

But then again, if people are discouraged from going outside unless absolutely necessary and to  wear masks when venturing into the wild outdoors, this may be the perfect time to experiment with colors.

And that’s what this writer did over several days: try creating graphic eyeliner looks.

Graphic eyeliner is a makeup style where eyeliners are not only placed near the lash line but are made to highlight the entire eye using sweeping lines over the lids, under the lids, etc. Many of the more popular styles were inspired by ancient Egyptians’ eye makeup.

In the kit delivered to this writer, there were three liquid eyeliners: the royal blue OMG! Liquid liner, the ocean green Slay! Liquid liner, and the bright yellow Lit! Liquid liner (P249 each); and three gel liners: the Unicorn Magic (pastel violet), Frilly Tutu (crimson), and Wild Tiger (tiger yellow (each for P599).

Over several days, this writer has almost exclusively used the liners for her online events and true enough, the liners (both liquid and gel) were smudge-proof and waterproof as they managed to survive 12 hours on my usually sweaty eyelids.

The felt tip on the liquid liner had enough stiffness and flex for enough control — putting on a cat eye was a breeze. The liquid liner does take a few seconds (half a minute maximum) to dry, so please try not to blink in that time, otherwise, an eye look that took 25 minutes to do will be ruined in seconds, as what happened to me. It wasn’t a complete disaster though, as a good Micellar water — I recommend Bioten Skin Moisture Micellar Water (P350/400ml) and a pointed cotton bud to fix mistakes.

The gel liners — called Badass Gel Liners — are a bit more workable, though I suggest that if you find it too stiff, run the liner back and forth on the back of your hand first to soften it a bit because you really don’t want to keep tugging on the very thin skin on your eyes.

While stiff, I found that the gel liners are workable enough if you want to use it as eyeshadow, just move fast otherwise it sets and it’s on forever (until you remove it with a cleanser, that is.)

Here’s a pro-tip for you: the three gel liners I got also work perfectly as color correctors — the Wild Tiger is great to use under the eye to cancel those under eye circles, while Unicorn magic is to correct yellow undertones and you can also use it under the eyes, and the Frilly Tutu can color correct blue undertones for those with deeper skintones. Again, blend fast and use a little at a time.

OTHER PRODUCTS AND NEW ENDORSERS
Despite being a less than a year-old brand, Ready Set Glow has definitely set itself apart from other brands in the color cosmetics space because of its vibrant products, but the brand is not stopping there as it does plan on introducing more products soon.

“We have in the pipeline a very good variety of products coming in maybe at the late 2020, before this year ends, or early 2021. There’s so much in the lineup and we are so excited about it,” Carla See De Castro, assistant marketing head of Ready Set Glow, said during the launch on Oct. 24 held via Zoom.

“Being a versatile brand, we’re not just focused on color or graphic makeup but we will come up with something that is more for daily use — but one that’s definitely unique because that’s our character and our brand’s statement,” she added.

The brand also announced its two new endorsers: actress Ina Raymundo and her daughter, singer Erika Rae Poturnak.

“We really wanted the mother and daughter tandem because we wanted to show that our products can be used by your daughter or tita (aunt) or even your cool lola (grandmother), who loves colors and who’s still creative and enjoys life,” Marian Lao Siggaoat, co-founder and creative director of the brand, said in the same conference.

Ready Set Glow products can be purchased on its website: https://readysetglow.ph/. From Nov. 6-11, the brand is holding a Buy 2, Take 1 promotion for all its items, and free shipping for purchases over P899.