Brushes Used:
(Face Brushes)
1. Barry M 3 in 1 Powder, Blush and Bronzer Brush
2. Color Works Blush/Powder/Bronzer Brush
(Eye Brushes)
1. MAC 239 Eye Shadow Brush
2. Ms Make Up Small Eye Shadow Brush
3. Ruby and Millie Blender Brush
4. Ruby and Millie Slanted Liner Brush
5. Ms Makeup Eye Blender Brush
Products used as a BASE:
1. Urban Decay Primer Potion
2. Barry M Shimmering Eye/Lip Pencil in #1
Face:
1. Collection 2000 Sheer Loose Powder in 'Translucent'
2. NYC Bronzer
3. No7 Blusher in 'Petal'
Eyes:
1. No7 Trio in 'Twilight'
2. Beauty UK Quad in '9'
3. Revlon Colorstay in 'Pink'
1. Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara in '01 Black'
2. MeMeMe Eye Spy Eyeliner Pencil in 'Cleopatra'
Lips:
1. Color Works Lipstick in '08'
2. Nivea Pearl and Shine Lip Balm
3. No name clear glittery lip gloss
Apply whatever base you use to your lids to begin with. This will ensure your eye shadow not only sticks to your lids better but the colour shows up and does not fade throughout the day. I can not stress this enough. Without a good base you’ll be there forever piling on the eye shadow to try and get the colour to show up and it’s not likely to last very long on your eye if it has nothing to stick to so use a good base. There’s no need to waste eye shadow by trying to pile it on in this way. Just use a good eye primer or even a cream shadow/pencil. I use both because I find my primer does not prevent my shadow from fading on me when worn on its own.
I applied Urban Decay Primer Potion and then used my Barry M cream pencil over the top to give my eye shadow extra staying power. The cream shadow will act like an adhesive for my eye shadow and give it a stronger colour whilst the UDPP stops the shadow from creasing.
It is entirely up to you whether you wish to apply foundation and blusher (I used brush #1 in my 'face brushes' photo to apply my blusher and loose powder) before or after you apply your eye make up. I also contoured my cheek bones with bronzer (using brush#2 in my 'face brushes' photo) for this look. I personally apply my facial makeup last because if I have any accidents with my eye makeup along the way I won’t ruin my facial make up by wiping off the smudges. It’s all about personal preference so do what makes you happy.
NOTE: If you do not have these palettes then feel free to substitute the shadows with your own. Just use a light/medium/dark silver shadows where required. So you would use your own silver light shadow for the first step, then a medium silver (something that's a medium darkness) for the second then dark (dark grey/silver) for the third. You can choose to use two types of dark grey if you want to since there are two used to create this look here. Whichever one you have that is most dark should be used last.
Apply the silver shadow from the No7 trio all over the lid with a regular eye shadow brush (brush #1 in the 'eye brushes' photo). To begin with I like to blend the colour into my cream base using sweeping back and forth motions with my eye shadow brush for the first layer of colour I put on. I then use patting motions to add extra colour on top. The sweeping motions will blend the cream base with the shadow and stop any of the cream base showing through whilst the patting motions make the colour of the shadow appear stronger.
Next take the lighter grey shade from the BUK palette on a dense, smaller eye shadow brush (brush #2 in the 'eye brushes' photo) and work it into the outer half of the crease. Follow along the natural crease line and if you don’t have a crease (or have mono lids) just follow along the line where your eye socket ends. You can feel where it ends with your finger and go along that area. The purpose of this lighter grey here is to soften the darker colours we’re going to put on top in the next steps.
Using a fluffier eye shadow brush (brush #3 in the 'eye brushes' photo), grab the darker greys from the BUK palette and blend into the outer third of your lid and into the crease over the top of the lighter grey. Now there are two darker grey colours in this palette. Begin with the one that is a very dark grey and blend that into the outer third of your lid. Then take the blackish grey and blend over the top of the two shades into both the outer third of your lid and your crease. This will leave you with a nice dark grey smoky appearance. Use circular motions to create that pretty ‘smoked’ appearance. Go just above the crease line but not too far upward into brow bone. Rather stop just above the crease to avoid looking like you have a panda eye. Also if you notice any of the lighter grey has faded because of the blending feel free to top it up :)
Next using a black eye liner pencil draw a line from the centre of the upper lash line to the end of the upper lash line. Try to go in between the lashes but don’t worry if you can’t, you can always go over the line later using a slanted liner brush (brush #4 in the 'eye brushes' photo) black eye shadow to fill in any gaps. Smudge the line out using a smudge brush or even a cotton bud if you don’t have a smudge brush. I used the smudger on the end of my eye liner pencil.
Line the upper and lower waterlines with a black eyeliner pencil.
Apply 2-3 coats of black mascara to the upper lashes. You can also do the bottom ones if you wish. I don’t usually bother doing this unless I am wearing brightly coloured eye shadow under my lower lashes.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: Line the lower half of your bottom lashes with either a black eye liner pencil or black eye shadow and smudge the line out.
Highlight your brow bone using a fluffy blending brush (brush #5 in the 'eye brushes' photo. I used my Rimmel Colorstay eye shadow in 'Pink' which has been discontinued.) Use a light shadow and add some light silver to the inner corners of the eye. This will really open your eyes up as well as brighten them nicely :)
Finally apply some lip balm to your lips (to moisturise them and stop your lipstick sinking into the lines of your lips - if you find this method doesn't work try applying a clear lip liner over the lip balm and then applying lip stick over the top) and blend a light pink lipstick over the lip balm.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: Adding a clear lip gloss over the top of the lipstick will allow you to almost turn your lipstick into a gloss as it will give your lipstick shine without changing its colour.
(Close Up)
