Everyday Neutral Makeup Look

Hello again! While I have my review on Annabelle CC in the works, I thought I would share this look I created today. I had an interview this afternoon to be volunteering at a community center and it’s something I’m very excited about because I never had time before to volunteer. Everything went well and I will be helping out elementary level students with their after school activities at this center once a week. I didn’t want to be wearing a look that was too bold because this is a casual setting, so this neutral look was an easy choice. I can see this look being used for any occasion, if you wanted to switch it up a little and give it a little bit of a pop you could always choose a bolder lip colour because bold lips and neutral eyes are a perfect match.

20130225-194335.jpg

20130225-194354.jpg

20130225-194402.jpg
Face:

    Annabelle CC
    Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation
    Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer
    Maybelline Instant dark circle eraser
    Annabelle CC pressed powder
    MAC Canteloup blush
    MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish, Superb

Eyes:

    MAC paint pot, Painterly
    Urban Decay Naked Palette, Buck (crease), Darkhorse (outer V, outer 1/3 of lid, outer lower lash line)
    Essence single eyeshadow, Cappuccino (lid, inner lower lash line, brow highlight)
    Maybelline Eye Studio Long Lasting gel liner, black (top lash line)
    Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes eyeliner, black (tightline, outer waterline)
    Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeliner, Nude (inner waterline)
    Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara, black

Lips:

    MAC Cream Cup
    MAC Angel lipglass

Finish off with Urban Decay All-Nighter Spray.

20130225-195700.jpg

20130225-195712.jpg

20130225-195722.jpg

Colored Liner using Pigments

I was recently inspired to try out creating my own colored eyeliner using pigments. Jazziebabycakes has been posting more videos lately and I really loved her look she posted yesterday of a neutral eye look with bright royal blue eyeliner using Sugarpill pigment and mixing medium. Click here to see the video and instruction on how to achieve her look. This is my recreation using purple shadow. 20130220-152631.jpg

This look requires very little in consideration of shadows because the eye is relatively neutrals, I used matte browns in the crease and then a shimmery cream on the lid. I then made my own “mixing medium” by combing glycerin and water (1 part glycerin to 3 parts water) and added the pigment to a little bit of the mixing medium so that it became a paste-like consistency. I used an angled tip eyeliner brush to apply the pigment (now paste) as an eyeliner and created a winged tip. I also applied some of the pigment on the lower lash line. 20130220-153322.jpg

20130220-153354.jpg

 

Face:

  • Annabelle CC, natural finish (I’m really loving this!)
  • Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation
  • MAC Natural Skinfinish, medium-dark
  • ELF bronzing duo (bronzer side) for contour and blush
  • MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish, Superb (highlight)
  • Brows, NYC eye/brow liner, dark brown

Eyes:

  • MAC paintpot, painterly
  • Urban Decay Naked palette, Buck (crease)
  • Two Faced Natural Eye Palette, Sexpresso (outer V)
  • MAC Ricepaper, brow highlight
  • MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish, Superb (lid)
  • Annabelle loose pigment, Spellbound (Discontinued but any pigment will work)
  • Cover Girl Clump Crusher Mascara, black

Lips

  • Rimmel Kate Moss Longlasting finish Matte lipstick, 103

20130220-153414.jpg

20130220-153424.jpg

Here is what the pigment looks like. This is also the same type of pigment that I’ve used in my green look and my pink valentine’s look. I never used these for a long time and I’m finally finding reasons to bring them into my makeup looks because they are so versatile and pretty. I love them! I plan on picking up some of their pigments that are currently a part of their permanent collection. If you live in Canada, I don’t think I need to reiterate now amazing Annabelle Cosmetics is!

20130220-153440.jpg20130220-153448.jpg

20130220-153457.jpg

Valentine’s Day Look (Makeup, Outfit, Nails)

Well it’s Valentine’s Day and this would be a pretty good day to go all out with the pinks and reds and I think I went a little overboard with the pink. As you will see, I have pink on my eyes, cheeks, lips, dress and nails. Now, not all of us are celebrating today but I will be spending tonight with my loving boyfriend, likely having dinner and then going to a movie. Pink is very versatile and very feminine so this could be used for a night out or dinner or just for fun! So here’s my look:

20130214-144648.jpg

Face:

  • Annabelle CC, natural finish
  • Revlon colourstay, normal/dry in 006
  • Maybelline Instant Rewind Dark Circle Eraser, medium
  • Annabelle CC pressed powder, medium-dark
  • CoverFX, BronzeFX in bronze
  • MAC blush, Dollymix
  • MAC Extra Dimension skinfinish, Superb

Eyes:

  • MAC paintpot, Painterly
  • NYX jumbo eye pencil, Milk (lid)
  • Urban Decay Vice Palette, Noise (crease and outer lower lash line), Vice (outer V, very blended with Noise), and Echo beach (brow highlight)
  • Annabelle loose pigment, Golden Pink (lid, pressed ontop of Milk, blended into Noise)
  • MAC eyeshadow, Crystal Avalanche (inner corner, inner lower lash line, blended with Noise)
  • Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes eye pencil, black (tightline, waterline)
  • Maybelline Eye Studio long-lasting gel liner, blackest black (top lash line)
  • Cover Girl Clump Crusher mascara, black

Lips:

  • MAC Love Forever!
  • Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss lip colour, Lovechild

20130214-144657.jpg

20130214-144705.jpg

20130214-144714.jpg

You can always use a more neutral colour lip if the pink is too much, I just wanted to go all out and I love the colour I got when I mixed the MAC and UD colours together. 20130214-144730.jpg

This is the dress I’m wearing today, I don’t have a full-length mirror to take a picture of it but I’ll post a picture of what it looks like on a model.  I’ve had this dress for maybe 2 years and I think I always wear it on Valentine’s Day because of the hearts and it’s so cute! I’m wearing it with black tights and knee-length, flat leather boots. 20130214-144741.jpg

Material girl


Material girl


Here are my nails, I actually did them earlier this week and I really love how they turned out. I used OPI Pink Friday (Nicki Minaj collection) as a base and the glitter is Revlon Sparkling. I did a similar nail look last week using a mint base and silver glitter.

20130214-144748.jpg

Green Pigment FOTD

I have a whole bunch of these Annabelle loose shadows/pigments and I feel like they don’t get enough love so I was inspired by my outfit (see picture at the end of post) to do a green eye.

20130212-120246.jpg

20130212-120304.jpg

20130212-120313.jpg

20130212-120319.jpg

Face:

  • Annabelle CC, natural finish
  • Revlon Colorstay foundation, 006
  • Annabelle CC pressed powder, medium-dark
  • ELF blush/bronzer duo (bronzer side)
  • MAC blush in Moder Mandarin mixed with Immortal Flower
  • Marcelle highlight powder

Eyes:

  • MAC paintpot, painterly
  • NYX jumbo eye pencil, Milk (lid, blended out)
  • Urban Decay Vice Palette, Junkie (crease), Echo Beach (brow highlight)
  • Annabelle loose pigment, Cool Mint (lid and over Junkie in crease) I think this shadow is now discontinued but they have another pigment called Dragonette that is also green and very pretty. 
  • MAC eyeshadow, Crystal Avalanche (inner corner)
  • Maybelline long lasting gel liner, Blackest Black
  • Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes eye pencil, black
  • Cover Girl Clump Crusher mascara

Lips:

  • MAC lipglass, Lychee Luxe

20130212-120333.jpg

20130212-120657.jpg

Pinks and Purples FOTD

Here’s yet another Face Of The Day post! I’m gonna have to start posting some more reviews or first impressions because I think it’s getting a little repetitive with all these FOTDs. Anyways, tonight I’m heading out to the last night of Igloofest here in Montreal. If you don’t know what Igloofest is, it’s basically a really crazy outdoor dance party that is held for 3 days a week for 4 weeks and each day there is a features set of DJs and everyone dances outside for about 3-4 hours. It sounds crazy but if you show up dressed up properly and really warm (think extra socks and long johns under your pants) dancing all night should keep you from freezing. It’s a really fun way to spend a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night! 

So, I’m going to Igloofest and I wanted to do something a little more dramatic and fun (even though no one can see my makeup in the dark, but if I get any flash pictures taken then I’m sure it will look good! Here’s my look:

20130209-184106.jpg

All the colours on the lid are from the Urban Decay Vice palette. I got this palette a little before Christmas and I haven’t really had a chance to experiment with all the colours. I love the palette a lot but there are a couple of shadows that have quite a bit of fallout but all the colours are gorgeous and I anticipate playing around with them a lot more in the future.

20130209-184114.jpg

20130209-184121.jpg

Please excuse my unkempt upper brow area. I only notice these stray hairs when I take photos with flash.

20130209-184131.jpg

 

Face:

  • Annabelle CC, natural finish
  • Revlon Colorstay foundation
  • Maybelline Instant Rewind Dark Circle Eraser, medium
  • Annabelle CC pressed powder, Medium-Dark
  • Revlon cream blush, 200
  • MAC Dollymix
  • CoverFX BronzeFX, bronze
  • Marcelle pink highlighter, “Because I’m a girl”

Eyes:

  • MAC paintpot, Painterly
  • NYX Jumbo eyepencil in Strawberry Milk
  • UD Vice Palette: Freebird on lid, Vice in the crease and Noise blended ontop of Vice on the crease as well and Echo Beach as highlight. 
  • Annabelle eyeliner in Fiesta on the lower lash line
  • Annabelle smudgeliner in Chichi Girl on top of Fiesta (blended)
  • Maybelline Eyestudio long lasting gel eyeliner in blackest black on top lash line.
  • Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes in black to tightline and waterline.
  • Cover Girl Clump Crusher mascara

Lips

  • Rimmel Vinyl Max lipgloss in Goddess. (my lips look pink because I had tried other lip colours before choosing just a peachy gloss) 

 

 

 

 

20130209-184144.jpg

Now here’s a creepy picture of my face, trying to be weird/cute/I’m not sure.

20130209-184153.jpg

I was having a hard time picking what lip color to wear with this eye look and I was experimenting with a darker look using MAC Rebel and Viva Glam Nicki. I liked this photo so I included it but I felt that the look was already pretty eye heavy and the dark lip was a bit too much.

20130209-184201.jpg

Neutrals with Bright Lips FOTD

Lately I’ve been spending more time focusing on my skin care routine and I think it is starting to pay off because from these flash pictures my skin looks pretty glowy. I’ve started using an eye cream and a better toner and generally more vigorous with my cleansing, just to make sure I remove all the makeup/dirt off my face. Anyways, I’m just happy with how my face looks even without makeup! Here’s my look:

20130207-122524.jpg

Face:

  • Annabelle CC in natural finish
  • Revlon Colorstay in 06
  • Maybelline Instant Rewind Dark spot concealer in medium
  • MAC Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
  • Revlon cream blush in 200
  • ELF Studio blush in Pink Passion
  • Cover FX BronzeFX in Bronze

Eyes:

  • MAC paint pot in Painterly
  • Maybelline color tattoo in Bad to the Bronze
  • MAC Espresso
  • NYX jumbo eye pencil in Yogurt
  • Maybelline Eye Studio long lasting gel Eyeliner in blackest black
  • Covergirl Clump Crusher in black

Lips:

  • OCC Lip tar in Anime

20130207-122533.jpg

20130207-122540.jpg

20130207-122551.jpg

20130207-122609.jpg

Superbowl Makeup!!

It’s that time of year again! Your friends may or may not be throwing a Superbowl Sunday party and if they are then hopefully you can share your support for your team through your makeup!

Now, neither of these teams are my teams (I was rooting for Atlanta in the NFC championship) buuuut regardless, most of us are rooting for someone. I personally don’t like the Ravens but to each their own!

So I created these looks simultaneously (because let’s face it, I’m trying to save time) one side of my face for each team, which is only fair.

Let’s start with the Ravens. Their team colours are purple, gold and white. Image

IMG_2515

I had already prepped my face before doing these looks (foundation, concealer, blush, brows, etc.)

IMG_2489

20130201-145131.jpg

First step in eye prepping is using a primer. I used MAC paint pot in Painterly.

IMG_2490

20130201-145113.jpg20130201-144810.jpg

Then apply Maybelleline Color Tattoo in Bold Gold in the centre of the eye. On top of the cream shadow I applied the appropriately named Blitz shadow from the Urban Decay Vice palette. Be careful, there is a lot of fallout from the shadows in this palette that have a lot of glitter.

IMG_2492

20130201-145120.jpg

Apply a white sparkly shadow in the inner third of the eye. I used Crystal Avalanche by MAC

IMG_2494 IMG_2493

20130201-144818.jpg

Apply a dark purple shadow in the outer third of the eye and then blended up into the crease. I used Vice from the Urban Decay Vice palette. Make sure to blend all the colours so that there are no harsh lines

IMG_2496

20130201-145218.jpg

Take a small brush and apply the same dark purple shadow on the lower lash line, only go half way in. The other half of the lower lash line apply the gold. Highlight the brow, I used a champagne colour from NYX called My Favorite Color.

IMG_2501

Tightline and line the waterline with a black pencil and use black liquid liner on the top lash line. Curl lashes and apply black mascara.

IMG_2518 IMG_2519

20130201-145156.jpg

Choose a purple lipstick for the lips, I used a MAC lipliner in Just Wonderful (limited edition form last year) and then topped it off with a purple cremesheen gloss from MAC as well in Narcissus.

IMG_2523 IMG_2524

Now for the 49ers. Their team colours also have gold and white but instead of purple, we’re using red.

san-francisco-49ers-logo

IMG_2489 IMG_2491 IMG_2492

Repeat the first three steps from the Ravens look (apply primer, Bold Gold cream shadow in the middle third of the eye and then white shimmery shadow on the inner third of the eye)

IMG_2497

20130201-145208.jpg

With a blending brush, apply a dark red shadow in the outer third of the eye and blend it up into the crease. I used NYX Rust but any cranberry-like colour would work.

IMG_2498

With a small brush apply the red shadow on the outer half of the lower lash line and apply the gold shadow on the inner half. Highlight the brow, I used the same NYX shadow from the Ravens look.

IMG_2522

Tightline and line the waterline with a black pencil and use a black liquid eyeliner for the top lash line. Curl lashes and apply black mascara.

IMG_2517 IMG_2520

20130201-145147.jpg

Line the lips with a red lip pencil and finish with either a lipstick or a gloss. I used Annabelle’s lip pencil in Red Cherry and Revlon Lip butter in Red Velvet.

IMG_2522 IMG_2521

Hopefully most of you will choose one look and not wear both like I am in this picture! I hope you all have great Superbowl parties, eat lots of chicken wings and drink lots of beer! I’m pretty sure I’ll be sporting the 49ers look 😉

IMG_2504IMG_2525

January 31, 2013 FOTD

I did another look today using light pink and matte grey shadows.

20130131-112319.jpg

20130131-112331.jpg

20130131-112350.jpg

20130131-112358.jpg

20130131-112424.jpg

Shadows used:

Annabelle single eyeshadow in matte grey (it came a single eyeshadow with no pot and the name was on the packaging which I threw away) I would say that it is really close to MAC’s Concrete.  I used this colour in the crease, mostly concentrated in the outer V area, as well I used this colour smudged under the waterline.

Next I used a Wet’N’Wild single eyeshadow (discontinued) in Fine Wink. This shadow was known for being a dupe for MAC’s Naked Lunch. I used this colour all over the lid and blended up towards the crease. For highlight under the brow I used MAC Ricepaper.

I used a black pencil eyeliner to tightline as well as line the waterline and a black liquid liner on the top lash line. Finish the eyes with black mascara.

Blush: Elf’s Candid Coral from their studio line.

Highlight: Marcelle highlighing palette.

Lips: L’Oreal Balm #218 in Rose Elixir.

Rant and Rave: TV vs. Movie Old Age and Race Changing Makeup

I am an avid American Horror Story fan. There are no words to describe how much I love this show and although my feelings about the season 2 finale are mixed, there is one thing about that episode that stood out for me, Sarah Paulson’s old-age makeup. ImageIn this photo, Sarah’s character, Lana Winters, is supposed to be 75 years old. It is hard to tell by this still photo, but throughout the episode, I was nothing but impressed with the execution. All the details down to the age spots on her hands were perfect. The lines around her eyes and lips, the skin around her neck, the coloration of her skin, just everything about this makeup was high quality. Here are some more photos from the episode:

Image

Image

Here is just a reference photo for what Sarah looks like normally (she’s absolutely stunning! I swear, Lana Del Rey must have looked at a photo of Sarah before getting plastic surgery and said, I want to look like her!).

Image  Image

Anyways, the point of this post, other than letting out my sheer admiration of Sarah Paulson’s beauty (and Lana’s, even if it is man-made), was to compare the quality of some TV makeup to that of some movie makeup I’ve seen recently. One example in particular that stood out for me was when I was watching Cloud Atlas.

Cloud Atlas was a movie that came out in late 2012 and many of the cast members change their appearance because the movie progresses along a certain timeline, from the early 19th century all the way to the future (I don’t remember exactly how far but pretty far). The cast members sometimes look like themselves and in other eras may have changed gender and in the most extreme cases some had even changed race (ex. Caucasian to Asian and vice versa). The movie was something else, I really enjoyed it (even though it was upwards 3 hours long!) but something that I couldn’t get over was how BADLY some of the makeup was! Here is a photo of Jim Sturgess normally and Jim Sturgess as Hae-Joo Chang in Cloud Atlas:

Image  Image

It took me a while when I was watching the movie to realize that this character was in fact Jim Sturgess but I noticed that the makeup artists only focused the transformation around the eyes, but the rest of his face remained the same. There were other characters that also had an Asian transformation. They gave the actors small hooded eyes and pointy-triangle eyebrows. It’s kind of offensive if you think about it.

Image

Now this movie got in a little bit of trouble with an Asian American media action group for using Caucasian actors with “yellow face” instead of just hiring Asian actors. The same group even criticized the movie makers for having badly executed the “yellow face” makeup and that the characters in the movie that had undergone a process of going Asian to Caucasian looked better than those that went from Caucasian to Asian, which is what I think is debatable. Here is a picture of Doona Bae, another actor from this same film, who is Korean, and for the most of the movie she is portrayed as a Korean woman, but towards the end of the film she is revealed to also play another character who is supposed to be Caucasian.

Image Image

Now this is what got me upset. I got over the fact that Jim Sturgess and most of the rest of cast that were “Asia-fied” and that the job was not that great but nonetheless got the point across, but this attempt to make Doona Bae look Caucasian bothered me a lot. Considering that there are Youtube gurus such as Promise Phan, who is self-taught and successfully transforms herself into Caucasian and African American celebrities (female and male), this attempt on Doona looks less than amateur.

Image

Angelina Jolie Makeup TransformationImage
Scarlett Johansson Makeup Transformation

Ok, so we’ve established that it is more than possible to transform a person who is Asian and make them look Caucasian with certain makeup tricks (either creating a crease or changing the way the face/nose looks with contouring), so what excuse do the makeup artists of Cloud Atlas have? Contouring is a pretty powerful tool, as well as colour correcting and ESPECIALLY the use of prosthetics. It’s like these people have never seen an episode of Face-Off before!

Image

Nope. I just don’t like this at all. It’s like they tried to hide her Asian features with hundreds of freckles. They should’ve hired Promise to do her makeup!

I know that there are plenty of other movies and TV shows that have used old age makeup but these are just two examples that really stuck out for me.

Are there any old age/race makeup moments that you thought were particularly amazing/not so amazing? Let me know!

Also, let me know if this type of post is something that you are interested in, I know it’s far from a tutorial or a FOTD but opinion pieces are pretty fun too, especially makeup related ones!