New Year's Eve Glitter Edition!

Hello! I’m later than I was planning, but here I am!

Last day of the year, lots of parties going on, and lots of last minute makeup decisions!

Here is a step by step of a glamorous glittery sparkling eyes look!

After priming my eyes, I’ve applied a golden cream eye shadow on the mobile lid. This is just the base, so don’t worry too much with this step, you just need a rough shape.

Holding a piece of tissue, I make a guiding line for my eyeshadow. Hold it from under your eye (try to keep the natural shape, hold in the angle you lower lash goes up).

Now, for this step you can use any paper or a tape, but if you choose the tape, be really careful when taking it off, or you can hurt the skin around your eyes.

With a crease brush, apply brown shadow as far as you want your smoke to go on a straight line following the paper you are holding. Then connect it with the crease. You can go close to the inner part of your eyes, remembering that when you blend, the colour goes a few millimeters furthers than it is when you apply it.

Blend it still holding the paper. The top line should fade into your skin.

Now, same way you did the out part of the brown, you do with a black. Apply it in a straight line, following the paper line, stopping before the end of the brown line and meeting only the out part of the crease. Remember that the black shouldn’t cover the brown, just make the inside darker.

Blend the black into the brown.  And this is what you have.

Always go slowly with the black, it’s easier reapply it than it is to take it off.

If you want to make it darker, apply a bit more black in the corner of the eye crease on a small ‘V’ shape.

Blend just the top toward your eyebrows.

Eyeliner time. I made rough line, really thick, following the eyeshadow line. This makes eyeliner  10 times easier. I know my line is not perfect, but you will see why I don’t mind it now.

Glitter time! I’ve chose one of those glitters that change colour according to the light, so I applied on top of everything. And most of my liner is covered as well.

Now, reapply the liner (I prefer liquid ones for this part, I think it easier to cover the glitter). You just go on top of the liner you had and tidy it up. As you can see, I made it longer on the inside corner, this is optional, I just think it looks good with what we will do soon.

Run a black eye pencil on the lash line and with a flat brush, apply the same brown you used before, on the lower lash. I cleaned up the glitter form under my eyes, applied mascara and did the skin before this step.

With an eye pencil, draw a small thin line coming from the base of the winged line, the thinner, the better.

Black eye liner on top of the line, make the base thicker and voila. If you can’t make it thin, you just need to shape it with a cotton bud until you are happy with the shape.

I added some individual crystals in between the liners, added nude lipstick and that’s it.

Hope you all enjoy your New Year’s Eve and start the years feeling fabulous! 

Happy new year!

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New Year's Eve

Hello hello, after ages, I’m finally back and with good news!

Very soon I’ll have video options for my tutorials, hopefully it will make easier to understand my makeup craziness (or may end up scaring people…).

So, my post today and the following one are about New Year’s Eve makeup ideas. This one is a bit more simple and quickly to do, and most likely it is what I’m going to wear on the 31st.

Just a hands up, the next one will be more glittery and bright (I will do my best to post it tomorrow).

Ps.: Some of the photos aren't in good quality, but I was searching for light to get descent photos. 

So, let the fun begin!

First, prime your eyelids. I always use eye primer or long lasting cream eye shadow.

We can start with a Champaign/Light beige eyeshadow all over the mobile lid until the crease of your eyes (aaaaand, I’m so pale that champaign colour = same colour as my skin. Hope you can see the idea on the photo ).

Now, you can grab a dark brown and apply as a thick line on the crease, it’s supposed to show a bit over the crease, for opened eyes purpose. Use a pointed brush or a thin one going back and forth reeeeally softly until you are happy with the thickness.

Then, you will look straight to the mirror and shape a wing, like you would do with your eyeliner, but from the out edge of the crease of your eye. You need to look straight to a mirror, to see the perfect height for your lid/brow bone shape.

I know it looks weird! I promise it will come together! 

A cotton bud is always your makeup's best friend. You can clean all the edges with a clean dry one. It will help with the shape and make easier to create the harsh pointed end to the wing.

Reapply the base colour on your mobile lid, shaping your crease, and apply it under the wing… Just slightly, so you have some lightness there.

It comes that moment to practice your patience. Eyeliner.

You need to follow the shape of the wing that you already have. I work my eyeliner like this:

First from the inside (near the middle of my eye) to the outside corner. I stop exactly where I want the highest point to start.

Then I just followed the angle of the line I already have, just not as long (unless you want a really dramatic look, in this case, go for it!)

If you are starting in the liner world, I recommend a pen liner. It makes much easier to wing it. And it’s (usually) easier to clean any messy line.

This is kind of you have by now:

If you like foundation, now is the moment to apply it. I've just applied moisturizer and concealer time.

Apply in a triangle shape covering your cheeks, so it saves you time and other products later (yep, the contouring highlighting drama).

Blend it with a brush, your ring finger or a beauty blender. I use brush followed by finger.

As soon as I finish blending, I apply powder on top of the concealer with a sponge and leave the excess, that makes sure that your concealer won’t move while you do your contouring.

The contouring here is pretty basic and simple, Just using a contouring powder (careful when choosing the contour, here in Dublin I always find the bronzer and contour products far too yellow for it purpose).

Follow the natural shape of your face. Find the hollows of you cheeks, apply softly from the outside of your face to the inside. Stop at least 2 or 3 fingers from your mouth. Apply the outside of your face in circular motions and bring inside just whatever you have left on your brush.

Tip: start applying a few centimeters from the sideburn, if you apply on top of any hair, will be a nightmare to blend.

You can blend it toward your temples. It actually makes the contour much more natural.

Now, powder your T Zone. I always start by my forehead, followed by nose and chin, Then with no more product on my brush, I sweep (really softly) under my eyes to clean that excess powder that I've left there.

And with the same brush, and still no product on it, I just go over the contour in circular motions, just to make sure I don’t have harsh lines there.

Eyebrows before finish the eyes, so I don’t have the sensation that my eyes look much dark than actually is.

I just apply gray brow pencil to pretend I have fuller brown and no holes in it.

Tip 2: After shading your brows, just run one of these brushes (you can use the wand of an empty mascara or a clear brow gel) on it. A extremely filled eyebrow can still the attention of any look.

Finalizing the eyes with a black eye pencil on your waterline and top and lower lash lines. Grab the pointed brush you used the darker brown on your crease, and run whatever eye shadow you have left on your lower lash line. You want a smudge of brown, to give a soft smoked look and blend a little of the black pencil.

This is the moment to apply your blush, your highlight on your cheekbones, nose bridge, cupids bow. Mascara and false lashes (this last one is optional)

For lipstick you can use whatever colour you feel like. Nude, pink, brown, any type of red….

Well, here is the finished look

If the cut crease don’t work for you or the result is not what you are looking for, you can always grab a clean blending brush (or any small fluffy brush) and blend the brown. It’ll look pretty and soft and nobody will think that was a plan B.

Whatever makeup you choose, the important part is having fun while applying and feel amazing after you finish it!

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Contouring 101

Hey pretties! 

Sorry took me so long, but I really wanted my second tutorial to be on contouring, and for that, I needed a victim (besides the fact that I don’t like contouring my face, I have weirdly sharp bones, so it’s hard to see any difference on photos, I tried, didn’t work).

So here is, a basic, simple contouring guide. It’s no one of those ‘ How to do Kardashian’s contour’ because, let’s face it, if you are not used to makeup, chances are: you end up with stripes on you face or you end up with your face in the wrong colour (go to heavy with the darker or the light, and it does look like you took someone’s head and attached it to your body)
Oh, sorry for the background on the photos, we made it in my living room to enjoy some day light!

My victim, I mean, friend with no makeup on

She had moisturize on her face already, so I just mixed some foundations to make the right colour for her, applied with my clean little hands.

On this side I’m using cream product (from a concealer pallete). Apply in a triangle shape from near your hair line following the hollow on your face towards your mouth (under your cheek bone). Stop around 3 fingers before from your mouth.

And a tiny bit on your forehead, close to your hair line.

Now blend. I prefer using my hand, I think the warmth helps to blend it with the skin, but you can use a brush, a sponge, a beauty blender… Always do it upwards! Gravity already brings everything down without our help.

Second half, powder version. Honestly, I struggle to find bronzers or darker powders with a good colour for this(specially for pale people like me), everything seems to give me an orange(ish) tone, I guess it has something to do with the fake tan culture here in Ireland. My solution? Eyeshadow or brow powder. Any ash brown will do (as long as it’s not extremely dark for your skin).

Same thing, apply in a triangle shape from the top down, stopping at least 3 fingers before your mouth. I would recommend start to apply a few centimeters from your hair line, 3 or 4 only. It will be easier to blend it up than it is to take the excess from the baby hairs. Blend it in circular motions, trying to keep it upward.

Add some on your forehead, really lightly and blend it (this one works better for people with big foreheads if it’s not your case, skip it).

Now, to get a sharper looking face, apply it behind your jaw bone and bring it down, blending it under your chin. This will help to make the ‘second chin’ less visible and the face a lot more square shaped. I prefer to do it with powder than any other product, I think it blend easier in this area.

Nose! I wish I was paid extra every time I was asked ‘How do I make my nose look thinner?’

I extremely dislike this, but I think it is worth a try. Before you judge me, let explain myself. This looks amazing in photos and videos, but in real life the stripes are in the sides of your nose are pretty visible, even if you blend it, will still be to weird lines on your nose. But here is how you do it:

Literally draw to lines in the side of your nose using an eye shadow brush.

Then, blend the outsides with a clean blending brush . Don’t blend the top, we will highlight this area on the next step.

I’m using just a concealer to highlight. It’s one of those concealers made to brighten up under eyes. Here is where you want to highlight: under eyes and top of cheekbones, top of the nose, top lip, a little between your brows. You should look this cool!

Bleeeeend it! Again, I’m using  my fingers, as always. Tap it into the skin! Promise me you will never ever run your finger back and forward on your concealer!

Powder all over the face (I use a sponge for the under eyes and T zone, than I just go all over the face with a big face brush to take the excess). 

I’ve just applied a brown eye shadow on her eyes, mascara and a pale pink lipstick, and  that’s all!

Hope you enjoyed the post and have some fun giving it a try! See you soon!

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Smokey!

Hello, beauties! 

 What better way to (re)start if not the most basic and requested look? Smokey eye! That’s usually the main request I get in the classes. Prepare your hands for blending, let’s do it! You are going to need 3 colours : a really pale one (white, silver...), black and medium brown. And a lot of patience. 
Probably you will see a lot of difference between this make up and some other ones during my post, so to avoid some 'what the heck is going on?', this was one of my first posts 3 years ago, and my technique changed a lot  in the last few years. I'll re-post some of my old favorites sometimes.

Tip of the day #1: when you are working with black shadow (or other dark pigments), leave your skin for last. Black eye shadows tends to do a biiiiiiig mess under your eyes. 

 After applying your primer, apply the lightest colour you are using all over the lid until near your brows.

Tip of the day #2: it’s much easier to blend the black shadow on top of another powder than it is on top of your primer. The black won’t stick and will go wherever you push it during the blending process. 

 Start applying the black close to the lashes and wing out.

Using what you still have on your brush (or a tiny little bit more), draw a V shape a bit lower than the shape you want as final result. Don’t worry, it will get higher during the blending process.

Now that you have a rough shape to work with, you can start to bring a bit of black in, covering around half of your mobile lid.

With a blending brush, apply a little of your transition colour (some brown close to your skin colour) to blend from the edge of the black into your skin. Shall the blending begin!

Keep blending until you get the gradual effect, you can keep applying the transition colour (in tiny amounts!) to help the black to fade into the skin. If you think that it's getting to light, you can apply the tiniest amount of the black in the hollow of your eye, and blend it up. With the brush you used to apply the black, apply just the rest under your eyes (close to the lash line) and softly blend it.

Highlight the inner corner and under the eyebrow.

Add mascara and do your face makeup (soon a tutorial on that) , finish with a lipgloss or a nude lipstick. And that’s it! You can always go for brown tones if you want to rock a smokey eye during 

the day time. Now go and have some fun!

Hope you enjoy it! See you next time in the same bat-channel.

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