From my Moleskine

I've been fooling around with some sketching. My daughter and I took an online class together from Suzi Blu.

Purple and Gold

Today's contrasting colors are in the eyes. Purple Flash in the crease, bronze Smog all over the lid and under the eye, and sparkly pinky beige Chopper under the inner corner of the eye and a tiny bit on the brow bone.

Blush is Mac's Breath of Plum, a muted purple, with lilac eyeshadow on the cheekbones. (My quick and dirty dupe for Mac's Briar Rose, which I was unable to get my hands on!)

Lipstick is a purple from Covergirl with a hot pink NYC gloss over the top. So, it's mostly purple today!

(Smog, Flash and Chopper from the Urban Decay Summer of Love palette.)

My birthday shoes

Hubby Don bought me these shoes for my birthday. Yes, he really did pick these out! It's hard to see in the picture, but the trim in the front is purple and the heels are bright orange. Love them! ;-)

Mismatching colors for fun

I love to try new colors for makeup, like purple lipstick or blush. I used to make the mistake of thinking I had to match all the colors on my face, for instance, pink blush with purple lipstick, and maybe even purple eyeshadow too! But I've found I like mixing up the colors much better. Here I am wearing peachy coral blush with purple lipstick. Just the antidote I need for a cool, dreary day.

Purple Explosion

Feelin' like a purple look today! 

Purple Pearl by NYX is amazing, it's a pretty lilac with gold sparkles. I put that on the lid, with Wildflower by Ulta in the crease. Wildflower is a bit sparkly, but the sparkles blend out with a brush, which is perfect since I like a matte finish in the crease.

Eva's Violets by L'Oreal has a beautiful pale lilac perfect for a highlighter under the brow, and a medium lavender which was perfect as a transition color between the darker lavender in the crease and the highlight color.

There's a purple Wet 'n Wild palette with some great Mac dupes (Yogurt, Fig and Beauty Marked) which I used on the inner corner of my eye and as eyeliner.

As you can see by the picture, it isn't as crazy looking as it sounds with all that purple.

Don't call them hooded eyes, Part 3

Sophie Marceau

Matte eyeshadows are a beauty tool you can't do without if you have this beautiful eye shape. (French actress Sophie Marceau is another gorgeous example of this.) 

There's no need to swear off shimmer completely, but a calculated use of matte shadows in the crease is really helpful. If you usually start off with eye primer, try a matte one. Or if your primer has shimmer, like the classic Urban Decay (original formula), just put it on the lid and stop just short of the crease. Then take a light neutral matte shadow or even face powder, and dust it all over your crease and above, all the way to the brow. This lays down a friendly base to make it easier to blend everything else. It will also help prevent over emphasizing the large space beneath your brow. If you want a light eye, throw on any light color you like on the lid, add mascara, and you are done.

To make your eye shape look more conventionally molded, take a slightly darker neutral matte shadow, like a light to medium brown, and sweep it in your crease and just above. You can play with your eye shape by either making a rounded shape across your eye, or elongate your eyes by drawing it straight across and just past the outer corners of your eyes.

Add some liquid liner and you have a classic retro/pinup eye. Or if you like to play with color, there are lots of ways to add in some color. I'll post about that next time!

Scandinavian/Asian Eyes

(Please see my last post for an explanation of why I don't say hooded eyes!)

 

If you have Scandinavian/Asian eyes (like Blake Lively), there are makeup advantages and disadvantages. So, we can use techniques to make the most of your eye shape.

 

Your eyelids are mostly hidden much of the time. Because your lids are shaded, the skin there will hold up a bit better as you age, allowing you to continue to use shimmer when many women your age are starting to feel they need to drop the shimmer.

 

On the other hand, your crease is a bit trickier. You have more skin showing where most people have a crease, and the space above your crease is bigger. So, even if you are young with perfect skin, you might not want to emphasize that part of your eye. And as time goes by, you might also find shimmery eyeshadow showing imperfections in your skin there. But it's easy to fix if you have some nice, smooth matte shadows to help you out there.

 

It can be a bit frustrating to have so much of your color and handiwork hidden on your lid after you apply makeup. And when you smile or laugh, forget about it! Then it really disappears, LOL. 

 

The fun side of this is you can boldly apply brilliant green to your eyelid and you will still look work appropriate, because it only shows in little flashes. If you want the green (or purple or yellow or blue . . .) to show a bit, just run the color under your lower lashes. You can also bring it up above the crease if you want it to show more, but switch to a matte version of the color you are using. It's also very effective to use color on the lid and switch to brown or a neutral color in the crease.

 

Because your space beneath the brow is large due to your eye shape, you can play more with color in this area than ladies with a more conventional eye shape. You can use a shadow just above the crease (see picture -- XXXXXXX) in a slightly playful color with a bit of sheen, like Mac's patina (peachy tan). Leave a bit of space just under the brow (BBBBBBBB) for a cream or pale beige matte shadow. The pale color just under the brow sharpens up your brow definition without making the upper lid look too prominent.

 

I'll be back in a few days with another eye look to try!