Urban Decay Smoky Eye Look

I recently dismantled my Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette so that all my shadows are in palettes and easy to find. I am sure that some beauty bloggers would have literally cried as I shamelessly tore apart the gorgeous packaging. Honestly though, it was a shame that those colors were not getting the true love that they deserved.

When Urban Decay shadows are good, they are very, very good. And when they are bad they are glittery. This look had a bit of both. The Alice in Wonderland palette has a surprising array of neutral colors, and I wanted to put something together that would be great for summer time glam. You know - late nights, cocktails on the roof deck, golden smoky. One of the shadows I was most excited about was Maui Wowie (Wonderland in Alice), which is a dirty gold. It looked so pretty and versatile in the pan, but ended up being a horrible glittery, fall-out mess. Honestly, I did clean up before I took these pictures, but even then there was still glitter everywhere. Such a shame. The rest of the shadows were beautiful to use - soft, rich, easy to blend. Mushroom is a particular favorite, although I already have it from the Book of Shadows Vol II. It's the perfect transition shade between brown and gray. I probably could have defined the crease more and gone a bit more over the top.

All products Urban Decay unless otherwise stated.

Base: MAC Paint in Bare Canvas
Inner Lid: Maui Wowie
Middle and Outer Lid: Mushroom
Outer Lid and Crease: Baked
Crease: Oil Slick
Highlight: Vanilla
Waterline: El Dorado
Lower Line: Stash
Mascara: Maybelline Full and Soft

EOTD: Golden Smokiness

Another very quick EOTD today folks! This is a look I use a lot when I'm rushing for a going out look and need to do something fast as it's very quick and easy. (I must come across as the laziest person ever on this blog!). The only issue with it is that because I'm using a mineralize eyeshadow, there is definite cleaning up to do after you finish, so I always do it before doing my base.

All products MAC unless specified.

Base: Paint in Bare Canvas
Lid: Amber Lights
Outer Lid and Crease: Gilt By Association
Highlight: Manila
Upper Liner: MAC Penultimate
Lower Liner: Feline and UD El Dorado

New Smoky Eye Technique

Does anyone ever learn anything from flicking through magazines? I hardly ever do, but did come across a tip that seemed interesting and worth trying out. The tip was to line your eyes with a black kohl, and then smudge that out using a cream eyeliner to create a subtle, smoky eye. I tried it out late one night this week, so these are not the best photos of it. I found it a fun technique, but a little messy and will rely some practise to get it even. It felt much harder to control than a straight up powder eyeshadow look, although I very rarely use cream eyeshadow. I did like the subtle smudginess, and there was an organic prettyness of not being perfect that I did love. One issue that I did have was that I used MAC's Feline pencil, which is very very black and very very smudgy. It smudged very heavily, and it was hard not to end up with a generally dirty, messy looking eye, rather than an artful smudgey one. I will keep working on this technique to get it working, because I do think it's got lots of pencil. Maybe in a few months I'll post again and those pictures will be lush!

Products used:

MAC Paint Pot
Stila Smudge Pot in Kitten
MAC Feline Pencil

EOTD Blue Smoky Eyes Using MAC Holiday 09

I’ve been obsessed with blue smoky eyes for a while, and have been using MAC’s Blue Flame from Style Black alternated with NARS Night Flight to build up that dark blue glitter. For some reason, I think that a blue smoky eye is much more modern, edgy, and rocky than the more traditional one built with blacks, grays, and silvers.

This was one done using MAC’s Mystic Cool Palette from Holiday 09. I’ve done a look before from this palette, where I mentioned that the colors themselves are not obviously complementary. The blues together are gorgeous though. In putting this look together, I didn’t want to use any eyeliner on the upper lid, as I thought that it would start to look like those 80s smoky eyes which are so planned and constructed. This is much softer, more organic, and smudgier than that.

Base: Paint in Bare Canvas, and NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
Inner: Turquoise
Outer: Dark Blue
Crease: Dark Brown (very little)
Lower Lid: Zero and Dark Blue
Tear Duct and Brow Bone: Shimmery Gold Highlighter

Roman Goddess EOTD Using MAC Devil May Care Palette

I was thinking Roman Goddess when I put together this look, and really wanted to bring out a rich, opulent, luxury feeling. I deliberately didn’t line the upper lid to really bring out the golds and bronzes, as I love how gorgeous they look shimmering together. I also extended the shadow to almost touching my eyebrows to really bring out that imposing, gorgeous feeling. A little bit over the top maybe, but the colors are so beautiful that I felt they deserved it. I used the MAC Devil May Care Palette from Holiday 09, but the colors are not so original that duping isn’t possible.

I haven’t got full face pictures, but I’d recommend a gold or bronzey tinged lip gloss - Liberated from MAC Style Warriors is my first choice, though anything with a hint of gold shimmer will work nicely, as long as the color is kept warm. Again, warm toned blush and a touch of bronzer will really work the glamazon opulence going here.

Base: Paint in Bare Canvas and NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
Inner Lid: Antique  Gold
Outer Lid: Bronze
Crease brushed out to wing: Burgundy
Lower Waterline: Urban Decay Zero
Lower Lashline: Bronze shadow
Browbone: Light gold
Mascara: Maybelline XXL Colossal

Looking at the palette, the burgundy color could be duped with MAC A Little Folie, the gold color maybe Gorgeous Gold, the bronze by Bronze. Suggestions welcome for the rest of them.

Smoky Eyes Are A Super Cinch

I love smoky eyes more than anything else. One of my greatest regrets is that I didn't spend my teenage years rocking the ridiculous amounts of eyeliner that Taylor Momsem does these days. Yes, us mature twentysomethings might think it is too much, but come on, it's being a teenager! To be fair, I was a teenager in the 90s, when it was all about "the natural look" which involved wearing varying shades of brown.

Earlier in the week I featured a teal smoky eye look which was pretty experimentational. That one required me to think a bit about what I was doing. I do have another smoky eye look in my arsenal which is my "no thought required, always works" smoky eye that a MAC MUA taught me last year.

I used:

Elf Shadow Primer

MAC Satin Taupe

MAC Smut

NYX Black

MAC Shroom

MAC Feline

Covergirl LashBlast Luxe

 

FOTD Teal Smoky Eyes

I put this FOTD together partly as a way of testing out some products, and partly because it has taken me about 5 years to actually do it! This is incredibly embarassing, but I wanted to do this eye for my graduation ball, but didn't really have the skills to do it. I was just playing around the other day and realised that I could probably do a stab at what my mind's eye had imagined. I didn't really have an idea of how to get to where I wanted, and my limited google searching didn't bring up anything I was looking for. However, I do really like the results, although the mint on one eye got a little blown out.

 

Products used:





Eyes:
ELF Eyelid Primer
NYX Jumbo Pencil in Black Bean
MAC Pigment in Mutiny
MAC Knight Divine
NYX Rock
MAC Aquadisiac
MAC Shroom
NYX Geisha
CoverGirl LashBlast Luxe Mascara
Anastasia Brow Gel
ELF Liquid Liner
MAC Fix+

Face:
Smashbox Primer
MAC Moisture Select Concealer in NW20
Bobbi Brown Moisture Rich Foundation in Sand
MAC MSF in By Candlelight
MAC Fix+

Lips
NYX Lipstick in Pumpkin Pie

I used Elf's Eyelid Primer as my base to test out the product. Then I used NYX Jumbo Eyelid Pencil in Black Bean over the whole lid. I put a couple of dabs right in the center, and used a flat brush to smoosh (do we do that with our bases - smooosh?) it over the whole lid and a little into the crease.

Next, I sprayed a brush with Fix+ and took some Mutiny and used it over the whole lid. This created a teal-gray color which I really dug. I was tempted to stop here and be done. However, it wasn't the look I was going for. I then used a dry brush and used Knight Divine on the middle lid, and Rock on the outer lid. I took a small brush and put Aquadisiac in the whole crease, and used a blender brush to blow out the color. I then highlighted with Shroom. I used the ELF's Liquid Liner to draw a line along the whole of the lid with a slight wing. I actually liked the way this applied. I put Feline on the lower waterline, and Aquadisiac on the lower lashline. I also added a touch of NYX Geisha to my tearducts.

For blush I used MAC MSF in By Candlelight on my apples of my cheeks and up to my temples in a kind of C shape. Lips were NYX Pumpkin Pie from my recent NYX haul. It looks like, but smells like soap. I know they are cheap, but I'm not sure if I can get over that!

Oh, and please excuse the hair. I have been testing out a leave-in conditioner and it seems to have made my hair a horribble mess!

EOTD Smoky Pinks

Right now I've been going through a real neutrals phase, hence my love for the Warm & Cozy collection. But, every so often, a girl wants to have fun, and what better way to do that than play with pink? As a bonus, I get to tick off a couple of my never used items like MAC Stars and Rockets eye shadow, NYX Black Bean Jumbo Pencil and NYX Candy Pink Glitter Liner.

Products used (all MAC unless stated)

• Paint in Bare Canvas
• NYX Jumbo Pencil in Black Bean
  
• Stars and Rockets Eye Shadow
• Dark Blue shade from Mystic Cool Palette
• NYX Candy Glitter in Pink
• Highlight shade from Mystic Cool Palette
• Feline Pencil
• Covergirl Lashblast mascara
  

I used Bare Canvas as as base, then used Stars and Rockets all over the eye. I took the dark blue from Mystic Cool and used it in the outer third and the crease, blending with the pink to smoke it out. I then highlighted with the cool shimmery white shade in the Mystic Cool Palette. I then used the NYX Pink Glitter liner all over the lid for a glittery sheen. This was something I'd seen A Brilliant Brunette do in a gorgeous dark blue look I lined the waterline with Feline and the lower lashline with Stars and Rockets.

I think I'm slowly getting better at the whole picture taking malarkey, but it's a learning experience!