This morning, lacking inspiration, I grabbed a handful of Nyx shadows and decided to play the cards I'd been dealt, which turned out to be pinks, purples, and Oro (which is something like a coppery orange). I sandwiched the two browns between the two purples for this:
February's birthstone is the amethyst, and today's eye paid tribute:
Products used:
Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer
Too Faced Eyeshadow in Violet Femme
Bare Minerals Eyecolor in Soul Sister
Stila Eyeshadow in Amethyst
Nyx Ultra Pearl in Purple Pearl
Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes 4L
Stila Major Lash Mascara
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! My V-Day has been pretty low-key, just the way I like it. Earlier today I went out for coffee with a friend, and now I'm at home with my husband, where we plan to sit around and watch a movie. I'd thought about doing over-the-top Valentine's eyes but decided to go low key on them, as well; I still went for romantic, though. :)
Products used:
Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer
Bare Minerals Eyecolor in True Gold, Waterlily, Soul Sister
Bare Minerals High Shine Eyecolor in Rose Gold
Too Faced Eyeshadow in Honeymoon
Manly Palette #84
Nyx Ultra Pearl Eyeshadow in Lilac Pearl
Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes in 0L
NARS Larger than Life Eyeliner in Campo de Fiori
Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara
Today's title comes from the name of the NARS shadow I used as a base. This is space-themed mostly because of the names of the shadows ;)
I used NARS Cream Shadow in Cosmic Girl as a base (over my Lorac Behind the Scenes primer), then dusted Nyx Ultra Pearl in Space Pearl on the inner corner, and blended it into Too Faced Eyeshadow in Neptune. Then I lined my eyes with NARS Larger than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in Campo de Fiori, and tightlined them with Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes in 3L. Then, as always, I finished off with my Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara.
Products used:
Lorac Behind the Scenes Primer
NARS Cream Shadow in Cosmic Girl
Nyx Ultra Pearl in Space Pearl
Too Faced Eyeshadow in Neptune
NARS Larger than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in Campo de Fiori
Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes in 3L
Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara
There's nothing in the sky quite as beautiful as the Northern Lights. I remember one particular occasion when I was sitting around a fire at my friend Holly's house, and we saw the glimmer of the aurora, so four of us drove out to the middle of nowhere in my husband's (then-boyfriend's) convertible and stared up at the majesty of the night sky for hours.
To create this aurora-inspired look, I started by covering my lid in Make Up For Ever Aqua Black, using a concealer brush, and blending up to my brows. Then I opened an array of Aqua Creams and set to work with the same (clean) concealer brush. I started halfway up my lids, the brush perpendicular to my lashline, and worked up toward my brows, creating what could only be described as stripes. The first color I used was the light blue (#21), and I filled in the gaps with emerald green (#22). Then I mixed some colors on the back of my hand. #21 and #4 were mixed together for a lighter blue, and #22 and #11 (gold) were mixed together to accent the top of the splash of color. Then I used a blending brush to tap a bit of Nyx Space Pearl on the bottom half of my lids. After that, I applied a little bit of Lorac Liquid Lustre over everything, lined with Buxom Lashliner, and finished with Urban Decay's Lush Lash Mascara.
Products used:
Make Up For Ever Aqua Black
Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream 21, 22, 11, 4
Lorac Liquid Lustre
Nyx Ultra Pearl in Space Pearl
Buxom Lashliner in Leatherette
Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara
Space Week rolls on, and today my eyes are themed on the great expanse that we see while staring up at the night sky. I wish I'd have taken this without the flash on, so you could see all of the flecks of silver glitter against the black, like stars in the sky...
Space week continues with an homage to my favorite sci-fi franchise: Star Trek. Rather than draw a Starfleet delta on my lids, as my husband suggested, I used the uniform colors of two of my favorite characters: Kirk and Spock.
Welcome to my first theme week: decades of makeup! Normally, I'll start theme weeks on Sundays, but I went out today and really wanted to do something dramatic.
Now, I absolutely love vintage. I've got a collection of hats, jewelry, clothes, shoes, gloves, etc. from the 1920s to 1950s. While the '40s and '50s were my favorite era for fashion, the Roaring Twenties are my absolute favorite years for makeup!
This is a look I learned from the Make Up For Ever Academy (eyes & lips). I'll go through this one step-by-step.
Complexion
A 1920's complexion was matte, pale, and flawless. The makeup of the era was inspired by what the stars of the silver screen wore-- pan cake foundation. My face is unfortunately only one of those three (pale) so I got some help from a few of my favorite products. I dabbed a bit of Pores No More in the T-zone areas where my pores are enlarged, and mattified/primed my entire face with the Clear Prep FX. After that, I concealed. Benefit Lemon-Aid takes care of the dark circles under my eyes, while the two shades of Kat Von D concealer take care of slight redness and acne scars. To create the flawless look, I used Cover FX cream foundation, which is what I love any time I need full coverage, and perfected the face with Smashbox Halo and then a light dusting of Make Up For Ever HD Powder.
Eyes
Eye makeup in the '20s was dark and smoky. Steps to recreating a '20s smoky eye:
1.) With a concealer brush, cover your lid in Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in #2 (Gray). Blend up slightly past crease.
2.) Lift up on your brow and, with an angled eyeliner brush, apply a thick line of Make Up For Ever Aqua Black at the lash line. Smudge the edges of the line with a round smudge brush in circular motions to soften.
3.) Using the product left over on the smudge brush, line the bottom of the eye. Start in the outer corner and work inward to create a soft look.
4.) Go back and intensify with Aqua Black. Rim the entire eye, including the waterline, using a diagonal downward motion. Blend in with a regular smudge brush.
5.) With a blending brush, take a small amount of NYX Ultra Pearl Mania in Purple Pearl and gently apply a thin veil on the outer edge of the crease for a slight purple shimmer. Hold the blending brush horizontally and parallel to the lid, and sweep on gently.
6.) With a small, natural-hair eyeshadow brush, apply Make Up For Ever Eyeshadow #307 directly on the upper lash line. Blend up to the edge of the purple shadow. Also apply to the lower lash line.
7.) With a heated lash curler, curl your lashes. (If you don't own one, use this trick: heat up your regular eyelash curler by holding your blow dryer to it.) Apply two coats of Stila Major Lash Mascara to the top lashes. Layer one coat of Urban Decay Lush Lash mascara over the top. On the bottom, apply Stila Major Lash Mascara with a concealer brush.
Lips
The Make Up For Ever Academy has a five-step technique to perfect lips. Before lining the lips, I plumped and conditioned my lips with Peter Thomas Roth Un-Wrinkle Lip.
1.) Line center of top and bottom lips to establish symmetry (I used Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip in 8C).
2.) Establish width. Line up the corners of the lip with the irises of your eyes. A 1920's lip can be narrow (early in the decade) or filled in to the corners (later in the decade.) I chose the latter to make the look more wearable.
3.) Starting in the outer corners, draw in one motion from the outer corner to top center, then bottom center.
4.) Fill in the entire lip with pencil.
5.) Apply lipstick (I used Make Up For Ever #43, Moulin Rouge) with a square-tipped lip brush. Don't press the outer edge of the brush to the lips; drag instead.
To add volume, you can apply a darker shade of lipstick in the center and create depth by lining the outer corner of the lip. The educator recommended using Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes in 0L (black) and blending; I dabbed just a bit in the center of my lips, and contoured on the outer edge as well.
What do you think? Which decade are you looking forward to seeing?
Word is spreading about my 365-day challenge, and I'm getting suggestions from people (which I love-- it would be tough to come up with 365 ideas on my own!) A friend of mine challenged me to create a look with white eyeshadow, and this is what I came up with. As a bonus, I got to wear my favorite lipstick today, which usually stays shelved because I wear such bright and bold eyes!
Products used on eyes:
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Eden
Sephora Nano Liner in Pure White
Nyx Ultra Pearl Mania in White
Manly Palette #65, #71
Lorac Front of the Line Pro Eyeliner in Black
Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara
Products used on lips:
Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip in 8C
Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense in #43 Moulin Rouge
I'm feeling inspired by the night sky lately. Sometime this week, I'm going to do some galaxy-inspired eyes; for today, I stuck to some simple starry skies.
I started, as usual, with my favorite base: Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer (Sephora, $20). On my lids, I used three shimmer shades from the Second Edition Manly Palette (Manly Cosmetics, $27.95). To make the stars, I dotted on some NYX Liquid Crystal Liner in Crystal Silver (NYX, $4.50) over my lids. To line, I used my Lorac Front of the Line PRO in black (Sephora, $23) on the top lashline and the top waterline, then drew it across the bottom waterline only. I drew a thin line with Sephora Nano Eyeliner in Azure (Sephora, $5), then drew another thin line beneath that with my Sephora Nano Eyeliner in Lagoon (Sephora, $5). For the finishing touch, I layered two coats of Urban Decay's Lush Lash Mascara (Urban Decay, $20) on my top lashes, and lightly coated the bottom ones.
Chime in: Has anything in nature ever inspired you to create a makeup look? Do you have any sky-inspired ideas for me to try?
