Match Your Mood: Rainy Day Tutorials

When I think of Spring, I think of sunny, warm, bright colors, and I tend to stock up on those kinds of colors for my makeup. But there are always those days when you wake up and it's pouring outside. Now personally, I don't mind these days. In fact, I cherish it because I think rain is relaxing. But bright colors don't really reflect my mood on these dark days. So I had the idea to show you the rainy day makeup I wear:

It's not just dark, but it's fun to wear and really edgy but also very pretty. Plus it's super easy! It just consists of a purple eyeliner, a brownish-rosy cheek and nude-pink lip.

Let's jump right in!

These are the items I'm using:

Fun!

1. I'm going to be using a really shimmery off white color as an all over the lid color:

This will go on as a nice contrast to the dark liner we are going to put on, and it's just a nice base.

2. Next is the gel eyeliner from MAC in Macroviolet! With a thin line on top, you can wing it out a teensy bit. Now draw a thin liner on the bottom of the eye and connect it to the wing. Finally line the water line of your eye to thicken it up.

3. With either a smudge brush or an eyeshadow applicator you get in palette, smudge out the wing so it's a little softer and not as clean and perfect.

4. Now with a pencil brush dip it in a white color (you can use the same color as your base or a different one) and place some into the inner corner and under your brow. My reasoning for this is because even though it might be gloomy out, and your makeup is pretty dark, so I want to still draw light towards your eyes.

5. The same goes for this step: curl your lashes! And of course, apply your favorite mascara.

6. I don't really want a bright pink cheek, so a little more brown will still look great but it won't be as harsh and bright.

7. Finally I want to have a nude-y pink lip so I'm going to first put my Revlon Lip Butter in Creme Brulee, and then my NYX  Goddess of the Night Lipgloss in French Kiss. It's a nude pink combo and I adore it!

There you have it :) How does makeup reflect your mood? Tell me in the comments!

xxoo
Anna







Red, White, and Beauty- A Memorial Day Tutorial!

Ok. I couldn't resist.
I know, I know. Memorial day is weeks away. But I got really excited for a Red, White & Blue Tutorial...I just couldn't wait!

So here is what it will look like:

I know, awkward picture. Anyway, this is a look with a blue eye liner and a very pretty redish pink lip. It was tons and tons of fun to create :)

Lets jump right in!
1. After doing all that necessary moisturizer, foundation and concealer (how ever you prefer to do your face makeup), I'm going to prime my eyes. Since this will probably be worn to a party or something, primer is important! You don't want your makeup to smudge :)

2. Now with my finger I'm going to put a color that I found in my Ulta Makeup Pallette....thing. I've had this for years, so if you don't have it, obviously it won't make or break this look. Basically you just want to put a silvery-blue color like this all over your lid:

Don't mind my thing, it's a total mess!

3. Anyway, after this is all over your lid, take a blue-ish-white color and put this in your crease. I'm using another color from this pallete.

4. Once you've defined your eyes, you can move right into eyeliner. I'm using my Revlon Luxurious Eyes Eyeliner in Electric Blue. This is what it looks like!

It's an extremely bright blue, but it will look amazing. Just line the top of your eye and your waterline for a very wild but fun look.

5. Use your favorite shimmery white eyeshadow (I'm going to use just a plain white color in that palette) and place it into the inner corner and underneath the brow to bring lots of light to that area.

6. Now using your favorite mascara, curl your lashes and apply a few coats. I'm going for big, bold lashes that top off the look.





7. Moving onto the cheeks. I wanted a slightly less pink blush for this look, mainly because I want to focus on the eyes and lips. For the cheeks I used Ulta's blush in "Flush". I actually got this in a huge bag of Ulta stuff during one of their "Buy $20 worth of stuff and we'll give you tons back!" sales. I'm really glad I did though, because I got my Voluptuous Volume Mascara with it. Anyway, I'm going to sweep this color on to my cheeks and a little higher up just make sure the color doesn't get to dark in one area.

8. Finally we are at the best part! The reddish-coral lip :) I'm going to use my Sephora Brand Lipstick in the color "Sweet Embrace":

If you build up this lipstick, it gets darker (as you can hopefully see in the swatch) and it looks even more red for the flag!

And there you have it. This is an amazingly fun look and even though Memorial Day is weeks away, it's still fun!

Also: look out for a Mother's Day Brunch tutorial!

Have a lovely weekend :D
xoxo
Anna





Recreate It: Emma Watson

I'm crazy for looking at different celebrity fansites and their photoshoots, and then trying the look on myself. One of my all time favorite celebrities is Emma Watson. I think her style is wearable, and she's just plain gorgeous. So when I stumbled across her at the Tribeca Film Festival I couldn't stop looking at the makeup and outfit in these amazing photos.

Pictures from here

Of course, my first thought was how could I blog about this? I thought I'd give a little makeup recreation (nothing too much like a full blown tutorial, but more of an overview) and try to find similar clothing to hers in these pictures.

She has dark eyes with a lot of light in the inner corner, with rosy cheeks and a pinkish-coral lip. It's edgy but very feminine at the same time!

After priming my lids, I'm not going to do an all over the lid color, but I am going to put a really nice matte dark brown color in the crease. I found this eyeshadow in my drawer and had no idea what brand it is, but I have a swatch of the general color below (along with my Mac Mineralized Skinfinish and an eyeliner I swatched for a different tutorial):

This shadow is the one all the way on the right. You can use any matte brown shadow you want though. I like the way this one looks because there is absolutely no shimmer and it's dark enough to blend with the eyeliner we are going to use and still look beautiful. Then I'm just go to do a cat liner with any black liquid liner and smuge it a teensy bit so it isn't too harsh. Then to bring light to the eyes I'm placing a teensy bit of my Mac Mineralized Skinfinish is Soft in Gentle in the inner corner on on my browbone. These skinfinishes are extremely sparkly, but really help bring light to my eyes.

Finally I'm going to put a nice amount of my ELF Studio Blush in Pink Passion on the apples of my cheeks and pair my Sephora Lipstick in Sweet Embrace with my Nars lipgloss in Albatross. Albatross really doesn't have a lot of color, but it's shimmery and sparkly!

Now that the makeup is done, we get to move onto a recreation of the uique but stylish outfit she wore. Just saying, I probably wouldn't be daring enough to wear all of these pieces together, but I think seperately they are adorable! The first piece is the blue floral skirt. I found a really pretty one from Forever 21. The color is brighter and the print is more paint stroke-y than floral. I have other options, but this was definitely my favorite.



Picture from Forever 21, Get it for $11.06

Other options include these skirts (all from the Forever 21 website)

Left: $17.80 Right: $15.80

Next is the similarly printed top, which is black and white. When I saw this, I immediately thought "Urban Outfitters!"

I looked on their website and I found the closest to a black and white print. It's stripes, but I thought it had a similar cut and would look vey interesting with this type of skirt. If you aren't up for a printed skirt with it, a plain bright one would look great too!

On top is a black fitted leather jacket. Now, Urban Outfitters actually has a really nice one that is much less than their usual prices. This is actually only for $69!

Urban Outfitters pictures from here

There you have it! Have fun with this and have a lovely week! :)

-Anna