FOTD: Red and Black Queen of Hearts Smoky Eye, from Crimson and Clovher’s tutorial

My lovely new internet friend Crimson and Clovher posted posted this Queen of Hearts-inspired tutorial last week, which I knew I had to try. Because a) I love Alice in Wonderland, b) red eyeshadow is my new favorite thing and c) it looked totally badass on her. So I did! And while I think it looks more extreme on me than on her (thanks, super-pale skin), and I skipped the heart shaped lips (since I wasn’t actually going to a costume party), I really like how it turned out. It was easy to follow along with her instructions and it was fun using some new techniques for a change! I love the red! I loved it so much I put it on my lips too. Like many of my more extreme looks, glasses tone it down. Obviously I had to wear my red pair.  Eyes:

• Notoriously Morbid Bloody Awful Poet
• Hello Waffle Vivaldi
• Shiro Unforgettable
• Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
• Lorac Behind the Scenes primer
• Kat von D Tattoo Liner
• Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Perversion
• Benefit They’re Real mascara

Face:

• MAC Face and Body in N1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Natural Beauty

Lips:

• Hello Waffle Vivaldi
• Shiro Unforgettable
• Neutrogena lip balm

Obviously, the full instructions for this are laid out in the tutorial, but I did make a few slight changes. I started by priming my lids and covering them with Bloody Awful Poet, a matte black eyeshadow, drawing a cat-eye shape at the corners. I cleaned up the edges using q-tips and face lotion. Then I patted Pixie Epoxy onto the inner 2/3 or so with my pinky and waited for it to set. I applied Vivaldi, a sparkly red, over the top. Then I blended the edges into the black. However, over the black Vivaldi was taking on some burgundy/purplish tones, and I wanted true red, so I patted Unforgettable, a warm-toned sparkly red, over the inner half of the eye or so and blended it into the already-blended other red. At this point I had totally screwed up the edges of the cat eye, so I retraced them with black and tidied them up with q-tips again. I lined my upper lids with black liquid liner, following the lower edge of my eyeshadow out at the corners, and I lined my lower waterline with black pencil eyeliner. I curled my lashes and applied lots of mascara, because I don’t own false lashes. Then I wiped tons of fallout off of my face. If you do this look, definitely do your eyes before your face. I did my face make up, with extra powder to set, and applied red blush very lightly, because one can never have too much red. I tried my red lipsticks, but they didn’t match the red of my eyes, and then I realized both red shadows were lip safe! So I used a lip brush to apply them to my lips with some clear balm. (Note: Neutrogena’s balm is terrible for this. Usually I use Lush’s Honey Trap for sticking powders to my lips and it works so much better. You want something thick and a little waxy otherwise it will slide all over your face. Which this did pretty much as soon as I finished with the pictures. I wound up taking it off and putting Shiro’s With Eyes Unclouded on.)

All in all, I was really glad how well Crimson and Clovher’s tutorial worked for me! I’d never really tried following a step by step tutorial before, but I loved this look and was so glad she wrote up her instructions! Although, between the lips and the eyes I think I used at least a dozen q-tips. Oh well, I think it was worth it. :)

Do you guys ever follow your internet friends’ tutorials? Any advice on wearing eyeshadow on your lips and getting it to stay?