Take Me To Arabia, Please

I have always thought that arabian inspired makeup is absolutely stunning, but it is a bit over the top for every-day wear in my opinion. Therefore I took upon me the task of creating a slight arabian-ish eye look that would be wearable for at least a party if not everyday. Continue reading below the pictures for a step-by-step tutorial.

How To:

1. Start off by applying your base and fill in your eyebrows (use whatever floats your boat for this step, really) I used Boots Tea Tree Pore Minimiser, Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation and Maybeline FitMe Concealer. And for my brows I used the NYX Eyebrow Pencil in Taupe.

2. Apply a shimmery, warm, nude cream shadow all over your lid. Rimmel Scandaleyes in Bulletproof Beige  is perfect for this. Over this cream, apply a similar shade in eyeshadow form, All That Glitters  from  MAC is what I used, which is a shimmery, golden pink colour.

3. Through the crease I applied Urban Decay's Buck (from the Naked palette) which is a warm, light brown. Focus most of the colour in the outer part of your crease and make it softer as you blend it towards the inner half. Also trace this colour along the lower lash line.

4. Eyeliner time! I used the L'oréal Gel Intenza Eyeliner in Violet Black with a small eyeliner brush by Sigma (#E10). This eyeliner is a deep violet shade with a hint of shimmer in it, and I created a thin line all across the upper lash-line as well as creating a long, thin flick on the outer corner. I also took it down to a little point in the tear-duct to create that feline, arabian look.

This is where I applied some false lashes, but feel free to skip that and just go for mascara on its own, I just felt like going all out.

5. For contouring I used Sleek Contour Kit in medium (along my temples, sides of my nose and under the cheekbones) and for blush I used a vibrant, shimmery orange-red colour  called P Pie which is also by Sleek. 

6. To finish it off I applied Rebel lipstick by MAC. This is one of my all-time favourite lip colours and I adore the combination of the golden eyes and the berry lips.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Please let me know if you try it and tell me how it went. Also let me know if there are any specific make-up looks you would like me to do! I am open do making it in video form if that is more preferable. Just pop it in a comment below and I will make sure to add your suggestions to my list :)

Lots of love,

Em

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Ps: Click HERE for a video all about unexpected events!

Old Classic

Lately I have been loving a good winged liner with a little retro shadow to go with it. In other words "The Old Hollywood Glamour Classic". There are tons of tutorial and "how-to's" on how to create the perfect wing on your liner, but despite their different methods there is one thing they all have in common: PRACTICE!

I have tried, and tried again a hundred times to get my liner right, and finally I feel I know my eyes well enough to make the wing the right angle, length and width to suit them. A few week ago I went to a birthday party and did my make-up in a slight retro-inspired cut-crease with, of course, a winged eyeliner. Here is an overview of the products I used and how I did it all:

I stated by creating a base for my eyeshadow + liner by usind Urban Decay Primer Potion, then I packed on MAC Omega Eyeshadow all over the lid as well as in the crease using my Sigma E60  Large Shader Brush. Next I added MAC Espresso Eyeshadow with my Sigma E45 Small Tapered Blending Brush through the crease, making sure not to take it down towards the lashes in the outer corner but rather "flick" it out and upwards (very subtle "flick") to create more of that retro feel. I then blended any harsh lines with a Sigma E25 Blending Brush. Ok, eyeshadow done, now to the tricky part or as I like to call it the you-need-to-have-a-steady-hand-for-this part. The winged eyeliner. A tip to make this part less messy is to

1. Keep your hand steady by relaxing it against your face (in an appropriate angle that is) 

2. Start from the middle, make a thin line to the end of your eye, then do the inner half of the eyeliner. For this I used the L'oréal Super Liner Carbon Gloss. 3. Look straight ahead and put a dot where you want your wing to end, then connect the dot with the outer corner of your eyeliner. 4. Fill in your wing/ make the wing as thick as you want it and thicken up the eyeliner as well depending on what look you are going for. I kept mine quite thin. 5. Add mascara (I used 

L'oréal False Lash Telescopic Waterproof Mascara) and false lashes if you'd like (I used Eylure Pre-Glued Lashes #117) and voila!

That is how I do my classic, glamorous winged liner. If you try it yourself, let me know how it went, and if you have a blog/twitter/instagram and post a picture of it then share it with me as I would love to see your twist! Also if you have any other tips for applying liner, share them in the comments! :)

Lots of love,

- Em

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Mila Kunis Inspired

I was playing around with make-up the other night and found myself crating somewhat of a Mila Kunis inspired look, and as a fan of her smokey eyes I figured I might as well make a post about it.

So, to create this smokey, eye-popping look all you need is a very dark brown eyeshadow, a lighter one (e.g. Espresso by MAC), a light brown with some slight shimmer (e.g. Soba by MAC), a black liner (e.g. Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer in noir) and an optional highlighter for the inner corner of the eye (e.g. All That Glitters by MAC). For the face you need, except from a non-matte foundation of your choice,  a good, matte bronzer that will give your skin a naturally darker colour and glow (e.g. Chocolate Soleil by Too Faced), and a light coral-pink blusher (e.g. Fleet Fast by MAC)

For the eyes, you start by applying your dark brown shadow close to your lash-line and smudging it out and up across your lid, making sure it is darkest close to the lashes. I used the darkest brown in a mall palette by Isadora called 50 matte chocolates, which contains 5 matte, gorgeous neutrals. I applied and smudged this colour using a Sigma E30 pencil brush. Then I repeated this step for the lighter brown, Espresso, only this time I used a Sigma E25 blending brush which is a great, more affordable dupe for the MAC 217. Using a short shader brush, E20 by Sigma, I traced that same colour Espresso along the lover lash line to create that smokey feel all around the eyes. Then I dusted some of MAC's Soba over the lid to blend the colours and to make the look smoother and softer. To finish it off I applied some of All That Glitters  to the inner tear-duct using the Sigma E55 eye shading brush and then I lined the upper and lower waterline with the Rimmel eye definer. After curling the lashes and applying a good coat or two of the L'oréal Telescopic waterproof mascara  the eyes were done and looking a little like Mila Kunis' sultry and smokey eyes. 

The matte bronzer was swiped through the hollows of my cheeks as well as lighlty tracing my cheekbones and temples, down the bridge of my nose and along my jawline. The gorgeous and fresh blusher was popped on to my cheeks and poof! Just like that I thought I was looking at Mila Kunis' face.

Ok, maybe not, but I wish I did! She is absolutely stunning and although it is impossible for us mortals to reach that level of gorgeousness, the least we can do is try, eh? I hope you found this helpful and that I managed to make a half-decent recreation of a Mila Kunis look. If you try it, let me know! Or even tweet me a picture if you dare :)

I will now resume to my ever so exciting celebrity life as a Mila imitator...

...oh I wish...

-Em

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ChanelChanelChanel

So that was a strange title, but I have a reason for it. Chanel was my inspiration a few weekends ago when I created the make-up look that my good friend Siren is wearing above. You see I have been applying to universities and a few of them require a creative portfolio. Now I am not very good with sketching, drawing and all that stuff so to have something to put into this portfolio of mine, I ended up doing some of my friends makeup, and well...with one of them I became quite a lunatic and took my inspiration from Chanel's famous glitter brows from the Autumn 2012 Runway. 

It was a friday and I was going shopping for the bits and bobs I would need for this look I was going to create, and 1st if all - I am one to stick with high street products as I don't really have a budget for all the high end products out there, so to go into the more "luxurious" make-up stores was quite fun. Very fun actually - just imagine me as a little kid in a candy shop and you've got it! Secondly I had no clue as to what exactly I was looking for so I had to come up with something as I went along. But oh well, with Karl Lagerfeld's out-of-the-box brow designs in the back of my mind, I stepped into the streets of Stavanger and started this quite exciting little hunt which in the end led me to this:

Make- up Store had quite the selection of loose glitter, and such a gorgeous range of cream highlighters!  (I will add the name of the products later today as I am not at home right now)

Eyeshadow palette from Accessories which has surprisingly good pigmentation! Care for a review?

Smashbox HD complexion set with a travelsize foundation, concealer, primer and powder.

Very good sizes for the price (£30) and the quality is extremely good so I will definitely do a review of these soon!

I am not sure if any of you are interested, but here comes a quick run-down of how I created this look: I primed her face and eyelids, then used a pritt-stick to "cover" her brows (just remember to wipe away any of the glue that might have come outside the brows). I then applied the Smashbox foundation in Light all over her face. Next came the "Very Berry" pencil from Make-up Store which I used to outline and fill in the brows with. I then added eyelash-glue on a cotton bud and spread that on the eyebrows (one at a time) before I applied the glitter, gradually moving from pink to green/blue (I created a mix of the two colours for the middle part so that they would fuse together naturally. Then I cleaned up any fall down of glitter with a tissue and then applied some concealer where it was needed, which was pretty much nowhere :) (a tip is to make your model hold a  tissue paper under her eyes while working with the glitter to reduce the amount of "cleaning" needed. )  For the eyelids I applied the cream highlighter from Smashbox and a swipe of the eyeshadows Copper and Bootycall by Urban Decay (Naked2) all over with some mascara on the lashes just to keep it subtle and natural. To finish off the face I used my Chanel Soleil de Tan Bronze Universal (Review Here) to warm up her complexion and do a little contouring, and the Smashbox highlighter on her high-points set with the TopShop highlighter in Crescent Moon. And that was it, as simple as that. Well it did take me about 2.5 hours so I guess it wasn't that simple but its not too complicated, just very time consuming.

I will leave you with a few more pictures of Gorgeous Siren and the completed brows, and if you want to know anything more about the products, the procedure or just have any questions or comments then don't hesitate to write them below or send me a tweet :)

  

Have a lovely weekend!

-Em

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