FOTD: Gold Eyes and Bright Red Lips

Red lips + black glasses = win. I almost never wear my black glasses (they’re my “special occasion” glasses and I don’t want to scratch them up too much), but one of the times I’m most likely to pull them out is when I’m wearing red lipstick. It’s a classic combo and I love it.

I also wore gold eyeshadow! I’ve got a gold eyeshadow comparison post in the works, and having all my golds out made me want to put them on my eyes.

Eyes:

• Shiro Perfect World
• Baroque Versailles
• Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
• Marc Jacobs Highliner in Blacquer
• Benefit Stay Don’t Stray in Light/Medium
• Sephora Collection Outrageous Curl Mascara

Face:

• MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation in NC20
• Benefit Boi-ing Concealer in 1
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Shiro 1-Up

Lips:

• Life’s Entropy Recursion

I primed my lids and patted on Pixie Epoxy and waited for it to set. 20 seconds latter I applied Perfect World, a light gold, all over the top with a fluffy brush. I used a rounded blending brush to put Versailles, a darker gold, in the outer half of my crease. I lined my eyes with black liner, curled my lashes and applied mascara. I did pretty standard face stuff and finished off with Recursion, a bright red with a hint of orange, which I applied with a lip brush.

I really like Life’s Entropy’s lip theories. They’re smooth and super pigmented. My lips have been kind of dry lately, but I feel like it still looks good. It doesn’t cling too much to my dry patches. I lined up my samples this morning and let my husband pick which one I wore. Recursion is a super bright, almost neon red, but I still find it flattering. It’s being discontinued soon, so if you’re interested in it, you should probably pick it up now!

Mainstream Monday: Shiny Red Lips and Soft Smoky Eyes with Lorac Pro

It’s been ages since I’ve done a mainstream look, but I figured I’d toss in a few mainstream lip products during the makeup rehab lip dare, so decided to use mainstream eyeshadow as well. MAC Ladybug is probably my favorite red, and while I almost never reach for it since I am not much of a gloss person, their Viva Glam Rihanna Lipglass is just stunning. Unfortunately, the Lorac Pro palette is not so impressive. I hear a lot of good things about it, and I’ve tried to like it, but at the end of the day I think I just don’t.

Oh well. My lips are shiny, so it’s okay if my eye make up is boring.

Eyes:

• Lorac Champagne
• Lorac Pewter
• Lorac Sable
• Lorac Cream
• Stila Smudgestick in Damsel
• Benefit Stay Don’t Stray in Light/Medium
• Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara

Face:

• MAC Face and Body in N1
• Benefit Boi-ing Concealer in 1
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Bare Minerals Beauty Blush

Lips:

• MAC Ladybug
• MAC Viva Glam Rihanna Lipglass

I primed my lids and then patted Champagne, a shimmery champagne (many Lorac shade names are self explanatory), all over my lids. There was a ton of fallout that looked like silver glitter and it made me grumpy so I used a q-tip and some make up remover to attempt to get rid of it. Then I applied Pewter, a shimmery taupe brown, to my outer corner and blended it. It didn’t show up as much as I wanted, so I used a narrow angled brush to apply Sable, a medium-dark matte brown, to my crease and below my lower lashes. I highlighted my browbone and inner corner with Cream, a matte cream. I lined my eyes with a dark brown pencil liner and smudged it out with a brush before doing my usual foundation/concealer/powder/blush thing. Then I exfoliated my lips, and put on the lipstick and lip gloss.

I’m honestly not sure what to do with my Lorac Pro. I like it in theory, but in practice it doesn’t really work for me. I’ll probably give it another chance or two (and maybe look up some tutorials that use it to give me some ideas), but if it doesn’t click then, it’ll probably wind up in the destash pile.

Tutorial: Subtle Grey and Red Look with Purple Liner

I was talking to some of my friends in one of my reddit groups recently and they mentioned that they would like to see more tutorials. So I’m planning on doing tutorials for my favorite looks from my reviews. No time like the present to start, so I picked my favorite look from my Brilliant Deductions review to get started!

Make Up:

• Grey Eyeshadow (Aromaleigh Frailty of Genius)
• Burgundy Eyeshadow (Aromaleigh Damaged & Delusional)
• Dark Plum Eyeshadow (Aromaleigh Glittering Career)
• Foiling Medium (Darling Girl Superstar Serum)
• Eyeshadow Primer (Urban Decay Primer Potion)
• Mascara (Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara)
• Rosy Blush (Baroque Mucha Ado About Nothing)
• Burgundy Lipstick (Tilt/Shift Gravity)
• Foundation/Concealer/Powder or whatever your usual face routine is (MAC Face and Body in N1, Benefit Boi-ing in 1, Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light)

Brushes and Tools:

• Eyeshadow shading brush (Sigma E55)
• Fluffy angled eyeshadow brush (Sigma E70)
• Fluffy blending brush (Sigma E40)
• Eyeliner brush (mini Sigma E05)
• 1 or 2 Blush brushes (Nars travel blush brush, Eco Tools blush brush)
• Lip brush (Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics)
• Whatever you usually use to apply your foundation, concealer and powder (Real Techniques Buffing Brush, Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush, MAC 159)
• A flat non-porous mixing surface (a piece of mirror)
• An eyelash curler if you use one (NYC eyelash curler)

For this look you’ll need a grey eyeshadow, a burgundy or dark red eyeshadow and a dark plum eyeshadow. I used Aromaleigh shadows for this, but you could definitely substitute, you just want them to be similarly warm or cool toned (so if you use a cool-toned grey, it would probably work best to use a cool red and purple to go with it). If you have Shiro’s Scarlet Witch COTM, I think it would be perfect for this look. I used Darling Girl’s Superstar Serum as a foiling medium to turn the purple eyeshadow into liner, but you could use contact lens solution, eye drops or just plain water if you don’t have something similar. You could even use purple pencil liner instead of making your own, if you have it! For the lip color, anything dark red should work. I think Kae Q’s Mulberry would be a great alternative. And choose a blush that works for your skintone. Blush is just a minor player in this look, so it shouldn’t be too noticeable.

I started with clean, moisturized skin. I put a tiny dot of eyeshadow primer on my finger and smoothed it over my eyelid, and repeated on the other side.

Next I patted my grey eyeshadow all over my mobile lid with a basic shading brush. It doesn’t matter if the top edge is messy, because we’ll blend that away later, but do try to get an even coat of color on the lid.

I picked up a tiny bit of red eyeshadow with a fluffy angled brush. To make sure I didn’t pick up too much I just touched my brush lightly to the powder that was stuck on the sides of my sample bag, avoiding the pile of shadow at the bottom entirely. I used a very light tapping motion to place the red shadow in the outer portion of my crease. I also angled my brush to connect the line of red with my outer corner.

Time to blend! I used my clean fluffy blending brush to make little circles at the outer corner of my eye without picking up my brush. Then I used my brush to diffuse the top edge of the shadow with a windshield wiper motion. I blended until the red was pretty subtle.

Next I mixed together my purple shadow with Superstar Serum to make liner. I tapped out a little bit of shadow onto a flat piece of mirror and dotted one drop of serum next to it. Then I dipped my liner brush into the serum and used it to push the eyeshadow together into a paste. I added a little bit more shadow to get the consistency you see in the last picture.

Next I applied the mixture as liner. I did my upper lashline first, and then used what was left on the brush to get a lighter line under my lower lashes. I curled my lashes and applied mascara to both my upper and lower lashes.

Now it’s time to do whatever your usual base makeup routine is. You can see my foundation routine here, if you’re interested. If the red eyeshadow is too far down at the outer corner of your eye, you can either remove it or cover it up with a pat of concealer like I did.

If you’re using loose blush in a sample bag, you can tap it out on to the clean side of your mirror or mixing surface. I’m pretty light so I only need the tiniest bit of blush.

Oftentimes when I’m using indie blush I wind up applying a little bit more than I need. When I do this I take a clean blush brush and use it to blend out the blush using a circular motion to make the color less intense. The difference is subtle on camera, but in person I can see it.

Last comes lipstick. Since I’m using a sample I need a lip brush to apply it. When I use a lip brush I outline my lips first, then put a little bit more lipstick on my brush to fill in the middle.

So that’s my look! I think it’s simple and I love how the grey balanced out the red and makes it more toned down and wearable. Combined with the the lip color, this look makes me feel really classy.

I’d love to hear how it works for you if you try it out. I like the idea of continuing to do tutorials for my favorite looks from my reviews, so keep an eye out for more in the future. If there’s a look I’ve done on the blog before that you’d like to see a tutorial for, you can request one in the comments too!

FOTD: Glamorous Red and Sparkly Taupe

Over on r/makeuprehab, they’re doing a lip dare, which means using a different lip product every day for the rest of the month. It sounded like a fun challenge, so I decided to join in. While I use a pretty good rotation of lip colors, it seemed like a good way to encourage myself to give some love to my lesser used lip colors. So in that spirit, today I’m wearing a blue-based red, which I think is pretty, but don’t wear often.

I paired it with a simple sparkly taupe eye, to keep the focus solidly on the lips.

Eyes:

• Darling Girl Jeweled Taupe
• Blackbird Atlas
• Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Crave
• Benefit Stay Don’t Stray in Light/Medium
• Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara

Face:

• MAC Face and Body in N1
• Benefit Boi-ing Concealer in 1
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Baroque Mucha Ado About Nothing

Lips:

• Fyrinnae Glamorous Rebel

I started by priming my lids (but with a different primer than usual). I then applied a wash of Jeweled Taupe, a sparkly light taupey tan, all over my lids. I applied Atlas, a matte brown, in the crease and below my lower lashes and blended it in a lot to soften the lines. I lined my eyes with a brown-black pencil liner and applied mascara. I did my usual face stuff, with a warm rosy blush. I finished with Glamorous Rebel, a blue toned red lip lustre, which I applied with the doefoot.

I think it’s worth noting that I don’t always put my looks up on the blog the same day I do them, so my blog posts might not reflect the lip dare perfectly. (For example, I technically started the dare yesterday with a post that’s going up later this week, since yesterday was the Planetary Challenge.) But I’m keeping track of what I use, and at the end of the Lip Dare challenge I’ll post a round up of all fifteen lip colors.

FOTD: Kae Q Lychee

Since I started wearing indies, my sense of what make up I like and looks good on me has expanded an insane amount. I feel like the make up equivalent of a toddler who claims to like only broccoli but then it turns out actually likes every vegetable ever once she tries them. I’m pretty sure every single thing I thought I didn’t like, I’ve been wrong about. On the list: warm eyeshadows (pinks, oranges, reds, yellows), smoky eyes, cool blush, bold lip colors, super pale lip colors, dark lip colors, setting powder. I feel like now I need to add brown-based lip colors. For the longest time I avoided any lip color with even the tiniest hint of brown. But I feel like this look proves me wrong. Lychee is a browny brick red. Yet I actually like it on me. Not just a little bit. I like it a lot.

 

I like pairing it with the red/orange eyeshadow and warm blush.

Also, I think this look really works with glasses. It makes the lips the focus.

Eyes:

• Backstreets Makeup Co. Nectarine Sheen
• Backstreets Makeup Co. Coraline
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Stila Smudgestick in Stingray
• Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara

Face:

• MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation in NC20
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Tarte Blissful

Lips:

• Kae Q Lychee

This look was pretty straightforward. I primed my lids and applied Nectarine Sheen, a soft peachy color, all over. Then I put a little bit of Coraline, a red orange with glitter, in my crease and blended it in and down towards the middle of my lid. I took what was left on my brush and applied it under my lower lashes. I lined my eyes with black pencil liner and smudged it with a brush. I did my usual face stuff, with a peachy coral blush. I finished by applying Lychee, a brownish brick red beso balm, with a doefoot applicator.

I was talking to one of my internet friends the other day, and she didn’t even realize I wear glasses. But I do! Every single day, in fact. Which it would be very reasonable for you not to know if you read my blog, because I actually take very few pictures of my make up with my glasses on. There are a couple reasons for this. One, I don’t have a very strong prescription, so I do my makeup sans glasses and take pictures before I put them back one. Two, I love eyeshadow and it’s easier to see my eye make up without my glasses. And three, I take my pictures in front of a window and a lot of the time the angles that have the best light also have glare on my lens, which is a pain. Anyways, I actually love my glasses (I’m a proud glasses wearer for sure. As a kid I longed for glasses cuz I thought they looked cool.) so it’s kind of weird that they’re almost entirely erased from my internet presence. To counteract this, I want to take more pictures of my make up while I’m wearing my glasses. I’ve also added a glasses tag, if you’re interested in finding all my glasses wearing pictures all in one place.

Do you wear glasses? Do they affect your make up choices?

FOTD: Psylocke Inspired Black and Purple Look

So I’m still figuring out my camera, but I’m making some progress on getting pictures to come out actually me-colored. (Although I didn’t color correct these cuz I was lazy and therefore they’re a bit too yellow.) Anyways, I’m hoping to be blogging more regularly again now. This was my look for Darling Girl’s monthly contest. This month, the theme was superheroes, so I did a look based on Psylocke, one of my favorite X-Men. I’m really happy with the theme, because I love superheroes and it inspired me to start reading some comics again. in 2013 they started a new X-Men series (which is just called X-Men, no adjective or anything) that focuses on an all-female X-Men team, which is what got me to start reading comics in the first place. Yay female superheroes!

Psylocke’s black and purple thing comes off a bit more supervillain than superhero, though. But she’s a good guy.

Eyes:

• Darling Girl Indigo
• Darling Girl Pornstache
• Darling Girl Duct Tape Couture
• NYX Black Bean
• Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner in Intense Black
• Sephora Collection Black Lace Eyeliner
• Sephora Collection Outrageous Curl Mascara

Face:

• MAC Face and Body in N1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Tarte Exposed
• Tarte Blushing Bride

Lips:

• Kae Q B.S.
• Kae Q Passionfruit
• Kae Q Passionflower

I started by applying NYX Black Bean to my mobile lid and blending it in with my finger. It was way slipperier than NYX Milk and wound up kind of everywhere, so I tidied the edges with a q-tip and smudged some under my lower lashes. I patted Indigo, a shimmery purple that shows up over a black base, on top. I used a pencil brush to darken the outer corner and crease with Pornstache, a dark shimmery grey. I applied both Indigo and Pornstache to my lower lashline as well, with Indigo in the inner portion and Pornstache in the outer half. I used Duct Tape Couture, a lighter gray with a pink sheen, to highlight the inner corner. I applied black liquid liner with a strong wing along my upper lashes, and lined my lower lashes with black pencil liner. I curled my lashes and applied mascara. I applied my foundation and powder. I wound up layering two different blushes, a reddish tan and a pinky plum. For my lips, I started by applying Passionfruit, a dark purple balm, all over with a doe foot. Then I used a doefoot to line my lips with B.S., an opaque black. I tried to blend them together, but the black was dominating the purple. So I used my finger to dab Passionflower, a bright light purple, in the middle of my lips and blended to get a gradient.

Not my tidiest look, but I had fun with it, and it feels good to be doing some more creative looks again. During my blog-hiatus I mostly wore pretty low-key make up.

FOTD: Elegant Evening Look with Mulberry Lips

When I swatched Kae Q’s Mulberry, I knew it called for a simple, but sophisticated eye look, so the focus could stay on the lips. Looking around my make up table, Notoriously Morbid’s Passion caught my eye. I opened up the jar and realized there were the most lovely little warm sparks in a cool grey base. I’d found the shadow for the look. Simple, but with a little something special.

I feel like I should be wearing an elegant gown and going to a fancy event. But with neater hair.

Eyes:

• Notoriously Morbid Passion
• Stila Smoke (In the Know Palette)
• Stila Air (In the Know Palette)
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Urban Decay 24/6 Liner in Crave
• Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara

Face:

• MAC Face and Body in N1
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Tarte Exposed

Lips:

• Kae Q Mulberry

I started by priming my lids like usual. I applied Passion, a sparkly cool grey with a ton of tiny sparks, all over my lids. I used a darker matte grey shadow to deepen my crease and a soft white matte shadow to highlight my brown bone. I lined my eyes with a dark brown pencil liner and smudges it with a brush. I curled my lashes and put on mascara. I did my face like usual and applied a little bit of pinky tan blush to my cheeks. I finished by putting on Mulberry, a deep warm berry red, to my lips using a doefoot applicator.

I was expecting Mulberry to be a bit cooler toned than it actually is, but I really like it. So far it’s my favorite of the darker beso balms, because it’s formula doesn’t get streaky and I think it’s a really flattering color for my complexion. It’s just dark enough to read as deep without being full on vampy, and I can see myself wearing it a bunch.

Also, just a heads up that my camera died, so I won’t be able to take pictures and post new looks until I get it replaced. I tried using my ipod and it just did not work. So there’ll probably be a little break in my posting schedule.

FOTD: Lavender Eyes and Dark Purple Lips

My starting point for this look was the lip color. I knew I wanted to try out my dark purple beso balm, but I wasn’t sure what sort of eye look to match it with. I was rifling through my shadows when a lavender caught my eye. I figured a lavender smoky eye would complement the purple lips without being too intense.

I think it worked nicely, although the shadows are a little bit cooler toned than the lips. Next time I might try warm purple eyeshadow instead.

Eyes:

• Blanche Neige Sweetest Voice
• Blanche Neige As Above, Below
• Blanche Neige Daughters of Air
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Stila Smudgestick in Halfmoon
• Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara

Face:

• MAC Face and Body in N1
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Baroque Sonrel Not Sonrel

Lips:

• Kae Q Passionfruit
• NYX Wonder Pencil in Light

I started my priming my eyelids and then patted Sweetest Voice, a lavender, on my lids up, stopping at my crease. I blended out my crease using Daughters of the Air, a beige. Then I pushed As Above, Below, a blueish grey, into the outer v and both lashlines. I lined my eyes with grey pencil liner, blended it out and finished with mascara. I did my usual foundation routine and used a plummy blush on my cheeks. I lined around the outside of my lips with a nude pencil and blended it in with my finger. Then I used a doefoot to apply Passionfruit, a dark purple balm.

I really like the formula of the beso balms, although this one was the trickiest of the three I’ve tried so far, probably because the color’s so deep. It’s not 100% opaque (which isn’t a surprise, because it’s a balm, not a lipstick), but it makes it a little bit tricky to get perfectly even coverage. It’s super comfortable to wear (like a really nice non-tinted lip balm, which makes me want to try Kae Q’s regular balm) but it doesn’t have much staying power. I ate a snack and when I was done all that was left was a faded line around the outside of my lips. But, on the plus side, it didn’t stain, so it was super easy to wipe off the ring with a tissue and my lips looked totally normal. I definitely wouldn’t recommend wearing this if you know you’re going to be eating, though. The color’s pretty much exactly like a non-sheer version of Shiro’s A Girl and a Cat tinted balm, which is kinda neat.

Do you wear dark purple lipstick? What do you pair it with?

FOTD: Yellow Blush

In my order from Baroque, Andi included her yellow blush, Klimt Eastwood, as my free sample. Yellow blush is one of those things that I probably wouldn’t have bought on my own, but since I have it I wanted to try it out. And you know what? It’s not bad.

I think it winds up looking like more of an apricot than a yellow once it’s on my face, so I paired it with some similar apricot eyeshadows.

Eyes:

• Aromaleigh Amelie
• Hello Waffle Summertime
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner in Intense Black
• Buxom Lash Mascara

Face:

• MAC Face and Body in N1
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Baroque Klimt Eastwood

Lips:

• Life’s Entropy Recursion
• NYX Wonder Pencil in Light

I started by priming my lids and then applied Amelie, a light shimmery peach to the mobile lid. I used an angled brush to place Summertime, a darker yellowish peach, in the outer portion of the crease and blended in down and in. I applied winged black liner on my upper lashline and black pencil liner on my lower lashline. I put a little more Summertime below my lower lashes as well. Then I curled them and applied mascara to both my upper and lower lashes. I did my foundation, concealer and powder like usual. I tapped some Klimt Eastwood, a yellow blush, out onto a piece of mirror and used my contour brush to pick some up, since it’s smaller and more precise than my blush brush. I applied it to my cheeks and blended it out with a clean blush brush. Then I lined around the outside of my lips with a skintoned pencil and blended it out with my finger. I used a lip brush to apply Recursion, a bright orangey red lip theory, to finish the look.

I was pleasantly surprised at how peachy Klimt Eastwood turned when applied. Even though it’s definitely a goldenrod yellow powder, the natural color of my cheeks shows through a little and makes it look more like a light orange. I like it. I could see myself using it again. If I wanted to make this look monochromatic, I’d swap out the Lip Theory for Shiro’s apricot Come Out, Come Out balm, which I think would match the blush perfectly.

Have you ever tried any unusual blush colors?

FOTD: Black and White and Pink

 This morning I accidentally primed my eyes with shimmer primer instead of regular. The look I’d planned on wouldn’t have worked well with the shimmer primer, so I decided to do something different. I’d heard Hello Waffle’s Catssic Literature collection was extra shimmery, so I grabbed some shadows from it and sort of made it up as I went along.

 I decided on black and white shadows and a bold fuschia-pink lip.

Eyes:

• Hello Waffle Call Me Ishmeow
• Hello Waffle Edgar Allen Prrr
• Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin
• Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara
• Life’s Entropy Brow Theory in Blonde

Face:

• MAC Face and Body in N1
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• Shiro Fatality Finishing Powder
• Baroque Sonrel Not Sonrel Blush

Lips:

• Life’s Entropy Fusion

I started by priming my eyes with shimmery primer. Then I patted Call Me Ishmeow, a super sparkly white, all over the primer. I used a stiff narrow brush to push Edgar Allen Prrr, a black, into my lashline, and extended the shadow out into a wing shape. I pushed some into my lower lashline as well. Then I curled my lashes and applied mascara. I also used a brow brush to apply a tiny bit of Brow Theory in Blonde to my eyebrows. I did my face make up like usual and used Sonrel Not Sonrel, a plummy pink blush. For my lips I applied Fusion, a bright fuschia lip theory, with a lip brush.

I really liked the way the soft shadow wing came out. The brow theory experiment was also a success! I really like the natural shape and color of my brows, so I’ve never felt much of a need to put make up in them. However, the blonde brow theory is pretty much a perfect match and it was super easy to apply with my Real Techniques brow brush, so I might try doing my brows more regularly. I did like the little bit of extra definition it gives. I liked the lip theory as well, although I did get a bit of feathering from it. I think a lip liner would help, as well as make it easier to get the edges nice. I don’t have a proper lip liner, but I do have NYX’s Wonder Pencil, which says that it can be used as a liner outside the lips, so I might try that and see if it helps.