Burnt Gold

A warm brown and gold look today:

Again going with the smoky/gradient technique of light color on inner corner, main color on lid, dark color on outer corner and crease. Blend, rinse, repeat. I like the texture and illusion this technique creates, so expect to see it with several different color combinations.

A little more general. I really don't have much to say about this look. I was wearing a brown shirt, one of my softest and most comfy, but I don't wear it very often because it's clearly a guy's shirt and I look pretty butch in it. So I tried to pretty it up with this makeup. I went with mostly bronzer rather than blush on my cheeks to complete the earth tone feel.

Overall impression is, as I said, smoky but natural, and warm and earthy. I added light sparkles (of course!) on the browbone for highlighting and because, hey, sparkles. Also glazed over the general eye with Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, a natural beige with lots of sparkle, but I didn't use a lot so it wasn't as overpowering as that color has the potential to be. Seeing it in the palette is pretty intense. 

And you get a shot of my butch-shirt. Naked lip here, but of course I later applied my standard tinted lip balm for an even tone and a healthy color. I like the Ulta brand well enough; color is really nice, with a hint of shimmer, but I just wish it stayed on longer. Again, though, it was free, so I really don't mind it that much. I'll probably get it again when I run out, just because I don't know that I can find another one so agreeable. I have issues with gloss and my long hair, as it's constantly sticking to my lips. Even if I apply it really thin, it's still sticky. So I guess I have to stick to shimmery and not shiny if I want easy wear.

I'm probably going to do a lip-focused look soon, just to make up for all the boring lips I've had so far. I'm really interested in the crazy colors of Lime Crime's lipsticks, but I've never been entirely sure what shades of lip go with my pale skin. Worth experimenting with, for sure, since I have an Ulta mega-palette that has a little of everything. Plus I can always go with the good old gloss-and-shadow mix if I just want to play with colors.

Anyway, there's my earthy brown and gold! More coming soon!

Products Used

Urban Decay Primer Potion
UD eyeshadow in Half Baked
UD eyeshadow in Midnight Cowboy Rides Again
UD eyeshadow in Twice Baked
UD eyeshadow in Sellout
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Bourbon
UD Supercurl mascara

Teal Sea Treasure

Did this to go with my teal Sinful v-neck tee--seen here on someone cuter--so I tried to bring out the teal and silver on my eyes. The name, to me, brings to mind some shiny silver object, like an old, valuable coin, sparkling in the sunlight under the flowing blue-green waters.

It's basically a smoky or gradient look featuring light silver/white (Uzi) at the inner corner, blended with teal (Flipside) on the lid, with a darker silver (Gunmetal) in the crease. I used my light silver pencil liner, Dime, once again because I loves it. :3 And the pencil liner, also in Gunmetal, provides a gradient look to my liner by being on the outer half of my eyes, where Dime is on the inner half.

And again with the eyebrow. My upcoming posts will not have this issue, I assure you. Even if I can't keep it from happening all the time, I'll at least make sure it isn't like that before I take pictures. These were taken on the run, really; I was in my car waiting for a friend and realized I hadn't taken any pics of today's look.

I tend to be lazy about my lipstick and just use the Ulta brand tinted lip balm (hey, it was free!), but a possible idea with this look is to gently apply the Dime pencil over whatever lipstick I'm wearing. I tried this once before, when I went overload with Dime:

It's a bit subtle, but a really cool look, I think. Could work for a winter theme in the near future.

Products Used

Urban Decay Primer Potion (original)
UD eyeshadow in Flipside
UD eyeshadow in Gunmetal
UD eyeshadow in Uzi
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Dime
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Gunmetal
UD Supercurl mascara

Pink Pearls

This is mostly because several of my favorite products happen to be pink:

A smoky sort of look, but with pink instead of a darker color. This turned out a lot more subtle than I imagined, but it really looks subtle in these pictures--in that it didn't show up practically at all. Working on getting a better camera, believe me.

It really did show up better in person, I promise. This is also my first time using the liquid liner Woodstock directly against my lashes, instead of bordering it with black liquid liner. Makes for a softer look, I feel.

As for the actual layout of the colors, I used the same baby pink featured in my Nyan Cat makeup (UD Hotpants) as the base color, with Sphynx over it to add some sparkle. I love me some sparkles! And Sphynx is essentially the same color, but Hotpants is shimmery/pearlescent where Sphynx is sparkly. But I wanted both, darn it! Anyway, due to my lack of a darker pink that's actually a pure pink and not purplish, I used the Ulta brand pressed eyeshadow in Cherry Bomb as the crease color. I actually really like this eyeshadow; it goes on well, shows up well, et cetera; overall very cooperative. Best used in moderation, though, and blended very well, especially with Hotpants or Sphynx. It's actually a little bit too dark to be a good crease color for Hotpants; there's just too much of a difference in the colors. So I used veeery little, blended like crazy, and layered my lid with just a bit of Last Call, a darker burgundy/magenta color. Not that you can really tell, but it balanced out the Cherry Bomb very nicely. I also touched the inner corners of my eyes with the UD pencil liner in Dime, a pale light silver, to provide some highlighting.

You can see the overall look created with this zoomed out picture, thankfully. See? I promise I'm actually wearing eyeshadow! Anyway, like I said, a much softer look than if I had used darker colors or more contrast. And I also don't look diseased, which is a relief!

Please forgive my messed-up eyebrow; I can use styling wax and comb them until my arms fall off, but my bangs always drag my left eyebrow, and that's the result. Does anyone know how to stop that from happening?? I'd be grateful to you forever!

Products Used
Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
UD eyeshadow in Hotpants
UD eyeshadow in Sphynx
UD eyeshadow in Last Call
Ulta pressed eyeshadow in Cherry Bomb
UD pencil liner in Dime
UD 24/7 waterproof liquid liner in Woodstock
UD Supercurl Mascara

Nyan Cat Inspired

Because it's both cute and colorful, I couldn't resist trying a Nyan Cat (a.k.a. Poptart Cat) inspired eye.

Just in case anyone isn't familiar with the Nyan Cat (or hasn't been forced to watch it for at least five minutes straight by a sadistic friend), this is what it looks like:

And this is the video that started it all.

As for me, this look has many parts, each of which deserves an explanation.

The lid is a baby pink, to represent the icing of the pop tart, with dark pink sparkles for the sprinkles. Gray and silver gradient liner represents the cat's fur, with the silver being a special shiny twist on my part. The brow area is a sparkly beige color for the crust of the pop tart, and a rainbow trail finishes it off!

I added the rainbow to only one eye, for a few reasons. One, I like asymmetry when it's stylish (not just for the heck of it), two, the one rainbow gives a little pop instead of being a regular element, and lastly, my hair would have covered the other one anyway, making all that tedious effort go unnoticed.

For this rainbow, unlike a previous rainbow I've done, I tried to minimize the time and effort taken by using only eyeliners instead of having to wash my one angled liner brush in between each eyeshadow color I applied. Turns out, I do actually have enough liners for all the colors of the rainbow (except red, since that's a bad idea), but the rainbow itself turned out much darker than I wanted. So I ended up having to go over all my lines with the corresponding eyeshadow color anyway to brighten them up and add some sparkle.

I finished it off with light pink lipstick, shimmery blush, and cute pigtails. My jewelry was as cutesy as possible, as well: cupcake earrings that my boyfriend bought me from Shana Logic, with a candy jar necklace from the same source, and a Hershey's kisses bracelet from Macy's.

And fully zoomed out for the most possible cuteness.

Products Used
Face:
Clinique concealer
Pür Minerals foundation in Porcelain
Pür Minerals Mineral Glow/Mineral Light duo
Pür Minerals blush in Citrus Rose
Urban Decay eyeshadow in Hotpants (on cheeks)


Lips:
Ulta tinted lip balm in Bloom
MAC Lady Gaga lipstick


Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
UD eyeshadow in Hotpants
UD glitter liner in Catfight
UD eyeshadow in Sellout / Midnight Cowboy Rides Again
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Gunmetal
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Dime
UD Supercurl mascara

Rainbow:
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Flash / eyeshadow in Ecstacy
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Radium / Electric / eyeshadow in Jinx
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Covet / eyeshadow in Homegrown
UD 24/7 pencil liner in El Dorado / Loreal HIP eyeshadow duo in Striking (yellow side)
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Lucky / eyeshadow in X
Ulta pressed eyeshadow in Cherry Bomb