Flying High

Flying High is a blackened blue-teal base with flecks of multi-colored shimmer and sparkle. Is it green? Is it blue? Is it gray? It's a melange of it all with an intense, metallic finish and faint micro-sparkle to boot. It has a dirty, greenish-teal base when really diffused and blended out, but the color itself looks bluer-teal at full opacity. The press is moderately-firm, not too dense and not powdery but not so firm that it lost its shimmer/micro-sparkle.

Inspiration: I wanted a grungy, blue-teal-gray with a high-shimmer finish, sort of like an oil slick but not so much the shift but the depth and murkiness. As you might be able to tell by now, I really dig colors that transform based on how they're applied or what they're paired with.

Behind the Name: My mom has always advocated for taking the high road, and I've tried to follow that advice whenever I've come to a fork in the road; this shade is in dedication to her mentorship and unwavering support she has provided me every day.

Development

I first described this shade as "dirty green-gray with bluish undertones." The first round included three, loose color samples for this shade, and version C was exactly as I had envisioned!  The first time it was pressed (by hand), which made it the fourth version, it became rather fragile and more prone to fallout.

This was the point where things went a little awry with this shade; the fifth version turned much grayer and was less sparkly, aka a different color than I wanted! Unfortunately, the sixth version was similarly darker and grayer and lost the bluish-teal look of the envisioned shade. The seventh version was too blue and too dark. The eight version was finally where I wanted it to be and approved for production in mid-March 2021.

FURTHER READING: Formula Overview, which is a detailed review of the range as a whole.

• Brand Description
• Ingredients