Anastasia Lavish Palette - Look #1

You heard from my review about how much I love this palette, so I wanted to create a few different looks with it. This is the first one using only colors from the palette along with some gold glitter on the inner corners. More Lavish tutorials to come soon!

Eyes
1. Prime the eyes to prevent creasing and ensure long lasting and intense color. I used my Urban Decay Primer Potion.
2. Take 'orange soda' and blend it into the crease and softly up towards the brow bone on a fluffy blending brush.
3. Place 'sienna' into the deepest part of the crease to add dimension. Also blend this into the inner corners of the eye.
4. Mix 'rum cake' and 'antique' on your brush and place it onto the lid, blending it into the crease colors.
5. Place 'ballet' onto the center of the lid to highlight the roundest part of the eye.
6. Use 'cream' on the brow bone to lift the eye.
7. Add some gold glitter to the inner corner of the eye, I used my Sephora Glitter Liner & Mascara in 'VIP Gold'.
8. Trace the upper lashline with a liquid liner and add mascara. I also lined the outer corner of the bottom lid with a black pencil and then smudged 'sienna' overtop it for softness.
9. Fill in any sparse areas of the brows to finish the look. I used my Anastasia Brow Wiz in 'Medium Ash'.

Face
Foundation: Nars Sheer Glow 
Concealer: Mac Pro-Longwear 
Powder: Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in 'Ethereal'
Blush: Nars 'Orgasm'
Bronzer: Estee Lauder 'Bronze Goddess'
Highlight: Laura Mercier baked matte in 'Highlight 01'

Lips
Lipstick: Nars Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in 'New Lover'.

Anastasia Lavish Palette Review

In my opinion this is the perfect fall eyeshadow set! With warm hues of berry, copper, bronze, and green this palette is sure to make your eyes radiate on those chilly fall days. Now that Thanksgiving is coming and the leaves are falling in vibrant shades of orange and gold, it's time to change up your makeup and add a little bit of spice to your routine.

Anastasia Beverly Hills is the brand when it comes to eyebrows. If you haven't checked out her products you should do so immediately. I am happy to say that her eyeshadows deliver the same fantastic results as all of her eyebrow products! This is a limited edition palette that not only comes with 10 shadows, but also 1 mini eyeliner, 1 mini eyebrow pencil, a double ended eyeshadow brush, and tweezers. It comes packed up in a cute little box-style palette so you can travel with everything in one piece. It retails for $38.00 which I think is very reasonable.

The palette has a mix of matte and shimmer shades, while 'black diamond' is the only one with glitter. Its base is a true matte black but it has tiny, beautiful specks of gold glitter within it. With my Urban Decay Primer Potion as a base, these shadows are highly pigmented with barely any fallout. They are extremely smooth and blendable, and the matte shades glide on like butter, definitely the best mattes I've ever tried. The versatility is endless, you can do simple neutral looks, sultry smoky looks or just add a pop of color with the 'moss' and 'pink sapphire' shades. It would be amazing on those with green or blue eyes, but it is very flattering on brown eyes as well. This is definitely my favorite palette that I have used or purchased all year and I am very excited to try out more from the Anastasia brand. Absolutely 5 stars!

Tutorials with this palette are coming soon!

Dead Pinup Girl

Even though Halloween is over, I figured I would show you guys what I did for the night. It was a last minute idea, so I used one of my vintage sailor inspired dresses and created a pinup girl with a slightly scary twist!

You can do this half & half gore makeup with any other style of beauty makeup, so it doesn't have to be strictly pinup inspired. Just play with it and make it your own!

Gore Side
All you need for this look are tissues, eyelash glue, and some red and black face paint. First you want to separate your tissue by pulling it gently until in disconnects into two sheer pieces (you are not ripping the tissue in half, just sheering it out). Now you can rip it into thin jagged strips. Place the eyelash glue over the whole 'dead area' and press the tissues onto the skin creating an uneven, peeling texture. As it starts to dry, you can rip and peel up random pieces to make it look like lacerations in the skin. I would avoid placing the tissues too close to the eye because it will be a bit tedious to remove.

Now that your face has texture, mix up some red and black paint and press it onto the wound. Use brighter reds on the highest points, and deeper black/reds into the shadowy areas. You can also use this deeper color all the way around the eye socket. I used my MUFE flash palette for this, but face paint will work just as well. Make sure to cover all of the white of the tissue so it looks as realistic as possible. If you have some fake blood, add a little bit around the eye socket right at the end.

Beauty Side
Eyes
1. Prime the eyes to ensure long lasting, vibrant color. I used my Urban Decay Primer Potion.
2. Use a light, neutral eyeshadow and place it all over from the lid to the brow bone. 
3. Blend a medium grey tone into the crease, avoiding the eyelid.
4. Place a light silver shade onto the lid and blend it softly into the crease.
5. Darken the outer 'v' and edge of the crease with a matte black.
6. Add silver glitter to the inner corner and drag it slightly onto the lid. I used my Sephora Glitter Liner & Mascara in Sassy Silver.
7. Add winged liner, mascara and false lashes for drama.
8. Smudge a navy blue liner on the outer half of the lower lashline for a pop of color.
9. Finish the look by filling in any sparse areas in the brows, I used my Anastasia Brow Wiz in 'Medium Ash'.

Face
Foundation: Illamasqua Skinbase 
Concealer: Mac Pro-Longwear 
Powder: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in 'Ethereal'.
Bronzer: Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess
Blush: Mary Kay Velvet Mousse Cheek Color in 'Rosy'
Highlight: Laura Mercier Baked Powder in 'Highlight 01'

Lips
Lipliner: Illamasqua Medium Pencil in 'Severe'
Lipstick: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in 'Love That Red'

Fish Scale Eyes (last minute mermaid)

I decided to create a pretty mermaid/fish-scale inspired look as an idea for simple Halloween makeup. I wore this out on a regular day of doing people up, but I think it would look beautiful for a Halloween party as well, especially if you don't have enough time to come up with a full costume (it is Halloween night right now after all). I used very few colors in this look so it's easy to re-create while still looking like you put in a lot of time and effort. Then just throw on some seashells with a pretty dress and you will be ready to go!

Eyes
1. Prime the eyelids to prevent creasing and ensure that the shadows go on vibrantly and stay put. I used the anti-aging primer potion by Urban Decay.
2. Use a matte neutral eyeshadow on a fluffy blending brush similar to you skin tone to draft out where you will place the blue in your crease. Using a neutral color first will help you blend everything better for a seamless color application.
3. Take a tiny, tiny bit of a matte royal blue eyeshadow on a fluffy blending brush (I used 'chaos' from the original Urban Decay Vice Palette) and lightly blend over where you placed the neutral shadow. This acts like a barrier so that you know where to stop once you begin packing the color onto your lid.
4. Use the same blue shade on a flat shader brush to pack the color onto the outer and inner corners of the eye while avoiding the center.
5. Take a lighter, bright shade of blue, I used the blue from the Maybelline palette once again (one of my favorite blue's ever) and pat that onto the center of the lid. Lightly blend it into the darker blue, but don't over-blend because we want the colors to stay defined.
6. Run the lighter blue along the bottom lashline and into the inner corner of the eye to brighten it. You can add a tiny bit of the darker blue to the outermost corner of the bottom lashline for more definition and shape if you would like.
7. Line the waterline and tightline with a bright blue pencil.
8. Add black mascara to finish the look. If you wanted to make it really mermaid-y, glitter false lashes could also be added at this time.
9. Fill in any sparse brow areas to complete the look. I used my Anastasia Brow Wiz in 'Medium Ash'.

Face
Foundation: Illamasqua Skinbase applied with Beauty Blender
Concealer: Mac Pro-Longwear 
Powder: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in 'Ethereal Light'.
Blush: Smashbox blush in 'Carnation'.
Bronzer: Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess
Highlight: Laura Mercier baked matte highlight powder in 'Highlight 01'

Lips
Lipstick: Buxom Full Bodied Lipstick in 'Nudist'.
Lipliner: Palladio in 'Nearly Nude'.

Delicate Baby Deer

I love baby deer, and as a kid, whenever saw one I would try to convince my parents that we needed to bring it home and take care of it. There is just something about a little fawn, still shaky on its legs that is so beautiful and delicate, which is what I tried to convey with this look.

Hector Espinal (a member of the Sephora Pro team) designed this face chart which inspired me to create my own version his deer. I met Hector when he certified me as a Sephora CMA artist and I started following his instagram (haus_of_eduh) right away. This week he posted a bunch of face charts for Halloween and I knew that I had to try this one out! Enjoy!

Face
1. Apply your foundation and concealer as you normally do, for this look I used one of my all time favorite foundations, the Make Up For Ever Face & Body foundation in #38, as well as my Mac Pro-Longwear concealer in NC-15.
2. Highlight the center of the forehead, the bridge of the nose and center of the chin to define your face shape. I used my concealer for this because it's slightly lighter than my skin tone. If you have a  medium skin tone I would still highlight the face with a much lighter shade than you would normally use because you want to mimic the white areas of fur on a deer.
3. Set your foundation so it stays all day because you definitely don't want your spots melting off! I used my Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in 'Ethereal'.
4. Heavily bronze your cheeks and the perimeter of your forehead until you start to turn golden brown like a deer. I used a combination of a cream bronzer (Chanel Soleil de tan) and a powder bronzer (Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess) to get the color I wanted, but any bronzer will do the trick.
5. Dip the back end of your foundation brush into a light foundation, concealer or white face paint to add the spots. White eyeliner will also work in a pinch.
6. Use a black liquid liner to draw on your little deer nose and make sure it's waterproof so your nose won't run with black. I created a flattened heart shape because I thought it was more flattering than going straight across. 

Eyes
1. Prime the eyes to ensure long lasting color and to prevent creasing. As always, I used my Urban Decay Primer Potion.
2. Take a light matte brown eyeshadow and blend it softly into the crease. Follow this up with a warmer, darker toned brown applied into the crease to deepen it. Bring this warmer brown out past the outer corners of the eye and down along the sides of the nose.
3. Pat a light beige color onto the lid and blend it into the crease to soften. I also used this same light beige as my brow bone highlight.
4. Use a liquid liner to create a super dramatic wing extending to the outer corners of the eye, almost to where your eyebrows end. I used my Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in 'Trooper'.
5. Take the same liquid liner and draw on your curved bottom eye shape leaving enough space to fill it in with white pencil. Don't get frustrated with this step, just take it slow and be patient. Once you have on the black liquid and the white pencil, you can choose to set each color with their coordinating eyeshadow shade.
6. Add mascara and false eyelashes, I stacked two pairs together for a 'doe-eyed' appearance.
7. Finish by filling in your brows with your usual brow color. I flicked mine up on the inner corners to look less human and more like a little forest creature.

Lips
Line the lips with a taupe/brown eyeliner and fill in the center with white eyeliner. Add a clear gloss on top and mix it all together.

I hope that you liked this look and please feel free to send me any photos of you re-creating this makeup as well! 

The Green Witch (or other ghoulish girl)

Halloween is fast approaching! It is my favorite holiday and I really wanted to create something more dramatic and costume-y than my previous kitty cat look... so I came up with this! Honestly my inspiration for this whole look came from the purple lashes that I used on bottom of my eyes. I bought them a few weeks ago because I loved the color and I knew I wanted to use them for Halloween. 

This is definitely going to be a longer tutorial, but I tried to leave you with all of the information necessary. It is important to note that I did my face makeup first this time because you really need the green base to cover everything before you can do your eyes. If you don't have these types of colors in your regular makeup collection you can usually find nice, inexpensive Halloween palettes at most drugstores. 

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Face
1. Take your foundation and mix it with some sort of green creamy pigment (I used L'oreal True Match in 'W1' as my foundation. It is too pale for me normally but it gave me the perfect 'dead' look). You can use mossy green face paint from the Halloween store, or if you are a makeup junkie like myself, you can use the green shade from the Make Up For Ever Flash Palette like I did. Apply this all over your face and down onto your neck if desired. Use a dense brush or a Beauty Blender to pat the foundation/paint onto the face. You want full coverage so that your natural skin color doesn't show through.
2. Powder your face well with a translucent setting powder, but make sure your foundation is completely dry before you do this or you will remove the green color you just laid down. I used MUFE's HD Powder.
3. Use a dark green eyeshadow (a matte or satin finish will give the best results - no glitter) to contour the face. Apply it heavily to sculpt and define the cheekbones, jawline and to shape the forehead. The darker the contour, the more sunken in and undead you will appear. 
4. Take a dark purple/plum eyeshadow and use it as blush. You can also blend it into all of the contour areas to appear bruised if you'd like.
5. Take the same dark purple shadow and contour the sides and bottom of the nose. This will separate your facial structure from the green foundation and make you look more like a character instead of a regular person.
6. While it doesn't really show in the photograph, I highlighted the center and high points of my face with a pearly green eyeshadow to add dimension.

this photo shows the colors I used, but you don't need to use these specific products to achieve the look

Eyes
1. Take a bright green eyeshadow and apply it in a rounded shape all over the eye and up through the crease. I used a green cream shadow from the Illamasqua Paranormal Palette and then I set it with a pearly green powder shadow.
2. Use the same dark green eyeshadow that you contoured your face with and place it on the inner and outer corners of the eyelid. Keep the shape rounded and dramatic but make sure the edges are blended. You can also add a little bit of the dark purple to the crease for contrast.
3. Line the upper and lower lids as well as the waterline with any black eyeliner. This will help hide the bands of the false lashes.
4. Apply mascara, then add your false lashes to the top and bottom lids. Make sure the glue is slightly tacky before you try to stick them on so they don't slide everywhere. My green lashes were from last year at Walgreens (they have an AWESOME Halloween lash selection) and my purple lashes were from Sephora but I haven't seen them in store recently.
5. Line back over the bands of the lashes with a black or dark green gel or liquid liner. I used a gel liner from Nars called 'Snake Eyes' which is a really cool green-flecked black.
6. Highlight the brow bone with a matte off-white shadow.
7. Shape and fill in your brows like normal, or curve them upwards like I did to add more character. I used a matte black eyeshadow.

Lips
Lipliner: Illamasqua Medium Pencil in 'Severe'
Lipstick: Bite Beauty Luminous Creme Lipstick in 'Cassis'
Lipstick in the center of mouth: Illamasqua Lipstick in 'Drench'

Hair
We just started carrying spray hair chalk at Sephora and I thought it would go well with the overall look, so I decided to spray some in. This is in the color 'Mint' by Bumble and Bumble.

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A special shout-out and thank you goes to all of my Sephora cast members for voting for me and this look to help me win our store Halloween contest! Let me know if you try out this look on yourself!

Pretty Kitty Eyes

Here is a super wearable, quick and cute cat makeup idea for Halloween! You can absolutely go all out by painting on a nose or whiskers, but I decided to keep it simple and polished. I got my cat ears at H&M a few months ago, but I have seen them there since then and also at Forever 21. You could also make your own cat ears with some wire, beads, headband and a glue gun if you wanted to. I wore this to work today and all of the little grandmas loved it!

Eyes
1. Prime eyelids to prevent creasing and ensure long lasting color. I used the anti-aging Urban Decay primer potion
2. Use a white pencil as an eyeshadow base and blend out the lines with your fingers.
3. Take a grey/taupe eyeshadow and blend it lightly into the crease and all the way into the inner part of the eyelid.
4. Take a darker charcoal grey shadow and blend it into the deepest part of the crease to add depth and dimension. 
5. Use a white eyeshadow all over the lid and blend it into the grey colors.
6. Add glitter on the inner  eye for some extra spunk. I used Sephora Collection Glitter Eyeliner and Mascara in 'Sassy Silver'. Note: this stuff is incredible! It comes encased in a gel-like formula so it will never fall out onto your face and make you look like a disco ball. I take all of my blog pictures at the end of the night after I have had my makeup on for at least 9hrs, so you can really see how long this glitter stays put! You can also use it over your mascara for added sparkle.
7. Line the upper lid with a black liquid liner in a very dramatic, winged out cat shape, my favorite is the Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in 'Trooper'.
8. Add mascara and false lashes for a more slanted, dramatic eye shape.
9. Highlight the brow bone and the inner corner of the eye with a pearl-y shade to make it appear more awake and lifted.
10. Finish the look by filling in any sparse areas of the brow. I used my Anastasia Brow Wiz in 'Medium Ash'.

Face
Foundation: Nars Sheer Glow in 'Ceylan' applied with Beauty Blender
Concealer(s): Benefit Stay Don't Stray & Guerlain issima precious light smoothing illuminator in 'Rose 00' applied with Beauty Blender
Powder: Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in 'Ethereal Light'
Blush: Hard Candy 'Living Doll'
Bronzer: Too Faced Chocolate Soleil 
Highlight: Laura Mercier in 'Highlight 01'

Lips
Lipstick: MAC 'Creamcup'