You've Never Seen Glitter Makeup Like This Before
By Sophia Panych. Photos: Amber Venerable/Allure.
Glitter is glitter is glitter. Except when it's not. Introducing Lemonhead Spacepaste Glitter Spackle, which is quite possibly the coolest, sparkliest, most mesmerizing glittery beauty product I've come across in my six years here at Allure. No really, I've never seen anything like it.
OK, so I've seen something kind of like it. The twinkly pomade is vaguely reminiscent of the glitter gels my friends and I favored in middle school...in the mid-'90s...except that Spacepaste is glitter gel on steroids. First off, it's a paste, not a gel, so it's not slimy, goopy, or sticky. Second, it's so jam-packed with glitter particles that it re-creates the intense sparkle of a disco ball (let's get real, that shit in the '90s had, like, ten flecks of glitter per jar), and it comes in several pretty, shiny, fantastical shades. I came across the twinkly pomade in Violette's Instagram story last week. The French makeup artist broke it out for a recent photo shoot, and filmed the process of her painting it across a model's eyebrows on her iPhone. Mesmerized (and looking for some Halloween costume inspiration), I immediately Googled "Lemonhead glitter," and shot Violette an email that literally had one line: "So Lemonhead—tell me everything."
Turns out, Violette discovered the brand the same way I did—on Instagram. "The owner of Lemonhead reached out to me because she follows my account and after seeing my work she thought it might be something I would be interested in," the makeup artist told me over the phone. And it turns out, founder Megan Dugan was right. "When I received the glitter, I was like, Oh my God, this is amazing, because it's this superinteresting texture," said Violette. "It's a paste—a glitter paste—so when I applied it on the eyebrows, it no longer looks like makeup anymore but more like jewelry. And that's really my thing, I like using makeup as a fashion statement but for the face, and this product does that."
Lemonhead Spacepaste and Spacejam (a glitter-flecked pomade) were originally marketed to be used in the hair (the brand got its first taste of success when glitter roots became a thing online and on Instagram), but Violette, being the makeup badass that she is, used it along the eyebrows. "It's pretty easy to do," she said of the process, which involves flattening your brow hairs by spraying your finger with hair spray and pressing your brows against the skin to make the hairs lie really flat. "You want to use something dry to flatten the hair, not something wet, like a gel," she explained. Then, using a brush as big as your brows, you press the pomade onto the brow starting from the inner corner and working your way to the tail. "I applied it pretty messily at the beginning, and then with a clean Q-tip I cleaned up all the edges. In two seconds it was done; it's so much less complicated than using loose glitter." In fact, there are a lot of advantages to using the paste for special effects like this. "Loose glitter flies all over the place and gets on the rest of your face, which you then have to remove with tape," said Violette. "And if you want to put glitter on your brows, you have to use glue, which can be irritating, and your brow hairs might poke through. This is like a glossy paste—it's superflexible but superstrong, and glitter doesn't get everywhere." It's also a cinch to remove. "Take something like a spoon and gently scrape off the paste," Violette explained. "You'll have a bit of glitter left behind, but it comes off easily with an oil-based makeup remover."
Watch Violette explain how to wear sparkle IRL:
It's clear you can use this stuff on hair, but I was curious: What about skin? A fellow Allure editor tried the paste on her lips yesterday and while it was no Pat McGrath Lust 004, the effect was dazzling and resulted in a lot less glitter stuck between the teeth. "I've used it on the eyes as well, on its own and also over a matching cream shadow," said Violette. "What's going to happen is it's going to move around, but I think that's OK because it gives this rock and roll effect. It is a bit thick though, so I'll admit, it might not be the most comfortable product to wear on your eyes." It is, however, completely safe according to the brand's website: "All lemonhead.la products are vegan and free of parabens, phenoxyethanol and alcohol. As far as glitter being safe, we use only cosmetic-approved polyester glitter in Spacepaste." The brand's Spacejam glitter pomades, however, which contain a mix of polyester and craft (metal) glitter, are not recommended for use on the face, and should be kept to use on the hair and body.
So head over to Lemonhead's website (or if you're in Los Angeles, head to Nigel's Beauty Emporium in North Hollywood, which carries Lemonhead), and check out the sparkly offerings. Depending on where you live, I can't promise you'll get a tub by Halloween, but with the holidays fast approaching, there's never been a better time to get your glitter on—or surprise your favorite makeup junkie with an under-the-radar beauty find.
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This story originally appeared on Allure.
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