Fables in Fashion

I found a promo photo from the MAC Feline collection (released in USA, not Australia, disappointed but not surprised!), and knew I had to at least give it a shot! It would also be a good excuse to use my green eyeshadows, a group of shades I generally neglect

I wasn’t actually aiming to –look- like a cat, instead I wanted my photos to give off a “cat” like feel. You know, the sneaky, stealth like nature. I tried to achieve this through primarily via the lighting, I spent a lot of time playing around with how the lights were positioned. Again, just using my two cheapo Ikea lamps. I do these shoots completely on my own, so it involves a lot of “pose, hit the remote, check camera, rise and repeat”. Usually I’ll hook up my laptop to make it easier, but the poor thing decided to crash during this shoot >_<

How to reproduce:

Face
This was going to be a quick look, so I decided to skip the primer and go straight into Revlon’s ColorStay in Sand Beige and concealed with Bobbi Brown’s Creamy Concealer in Beige. Skipped the powder since I wanted that creamy / dewy look. But I would certainly use powder if I was to wear this out and for longer.

Cheeks
To get my cheeks to pop, I applied Giorgio Armani’s Sheer Blush in 3 to the hollows of my cheeks, then NARS Albatross to all my high points.

Eyes
Primed my eyes with MAC’s Paint in Bare Canvas, applied MAC’s Eyeshadow in Goldmine to the inner half of my lid, then Tempting to the remaining half. Blend together. On the crease I applied Swimming, and on the outer corner I used Humid. Blending is key for this look! I dusted some NARS Albatross to my brow bone.

I lightly lined my eyes with MAC Technakohl Liner in Graphblack, curled my lashes and applied one coat of L’Oreal’s Telescopic Mascara in Black.

Next I applied my false lashes. I prefer using lashes with a clear lash line, they just appear more natural to me (though are a tad more expensive).

You’ll notice the last 2 photos are different, as I attempted to try cat like eye brows on myself. I think they ended up looking more like “waves” than anything organic, but hey! It’s a first shot lol, and learning is what the lookbooks are all about! I used Lancome’s Le Crayon in Poudre Mahogany. I know I said it last lookbook, but man I really need a darker brow liner! Just can’t seem to find any that match my shade

Lips
Lined the outside of my lips with MAC Concealer in NC20, and applied NYX’s Round Lipstick Iced Lavender direct from the tube.

Since seeing a similar look online (but with silver diamonds), I knew I had to give this look a shot. It’s not as polished as I had hoped it would be, but I suspect that is in part due to my lack of photo shopping.

Gluing the gems on was obviously the most time consuming part. And I couldn’t eat or drink anything, so I made sure to do the lips last! The eyes were purposely left with a “soft’ smokey look, as I wanted the attention to go right to my lips. Other than that, hope you enjoy

How to reproduce:

Face
Apply some MAC Prep & Prime all over the face after washing and moisturising your face. Then I applied Revlon’s ColorStay in Sand Beige, the coverage is great! Unfortunately this particular shade is a touch too dark for me, I think I may need to mix it with a lighter foundation. (Though you probably can’t tell since my lighting is very strong). Conceal dark circles, redness and blemishes with Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Beige (this is my favourite concealer, I need to review it!). I chose not to seal with powder for a dewy look.

Cheeks
To achieve higher cheekbones, I applied MAC’s Blush in Azalea just under the apples of my cheek, then NARS Albatross on the apples of my cheeks, forehead, bridge of nose, jaw line and chin.

Eyes
Prime eyelids with MAC Studio Studio Finish Concealer SPF30+ in NC20, then I used NYX’s Winter in Moscow palette to create the smokey eye look. I unfortunately don’t know the name of the colours I used, but basically I used a lighter shimmery shade for my lid, a medium shimmer for my crease and a dark matte grey for the outer corner of my eye. I used the white shadow for the inner corner of my eye and brow bone.

Lined my upper and lower lash line with MAC Technakohl Liner in Graphblack, curled my lashes and applied 1 coat of L’Oreal’s Telescopic Mascara in Black.

I extended my brows using Lancome’s Le Crayon in Poudre Mahogany. My brows are naturally very dark, so I’m thinking I may need to get a darker brow pencil for the brows to appear more seamless.

Lips
Lined and filled in my lips using Savvy by DB’s Lip Liner in Poppy. Then using DUO lash glue, and a pack of small red gems I picked up from Riot, one by one glue each gem to my lips. I started by creating an outline first, then filling them in, much time later, done!

I was aiming for an innocent, sweet yet dark look for this entry. I’m… still not sure I completely hit the mark, but I think I came close. Altering the shape of my brows really pulled it all together. This is the wig I have set aside for some future Yuffie cosplay, and I love how it looks on me. Makes me ALMOST tempted to cut my hair this short, though I can see my partner freaking out already.

I’ve become so addicted to playing around with my “studio” lights (I say “studios” because all I’m really using are two $20 lamp shades from Ikea lol). See how different the feel of the four smaller photos are compared to the middle photo? and all I did was move closer to the camera by a few inches! Amazing After Manifest, I will probably get a couple more lights to see what else I can come up with

Instead of just listing the products I used, I’ve decided to turn them into tutorials instead. Hopefully people will find them to be a lot more useful

How to reproduce:

Face
Apply 2 pumps of Revlon Photo Ready in Shell all over the face, don’t forget to blend into neckline. Conceal dark circles, redness and blemishes with Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Beige. Then seal with a light dusting of MAC Select Sheer / Loose in NC15.

Eyes
Prime eyelids and around the eyes with NYX Eyeshadow Base in 02 (pearl white). Apply a liberal amount of NYX’s Eyeshadow in Rust all over the lid with a focus on the crease, wing out to the side and apply under the eyes as well. Apply NYX’s Eyeshadow in Prune just above your crease, blend well. Next using MAC’s Technakohl Liner Graphblack, line 2/3 of your upper and lower lash line, including your waterline. Then extend the liner to create a wing like effect. Use MAC’s Eyeshadow in Carbon to re-trace these lines and smudge it out, then use it to go over the crease with a wet brush to intensify the look. Remember to wing out your eyeshadow. Add some MAC’s Eyeshadow in White Frost to your brow bone and inner corner of your eye.

Curl your lashes, and apply two coats of Covergirl Lash Blast in Very Black.

For the brows, brush them out, then shape them using your concealer. I flatted my eyebrows by concealing the “high points”. Then extended them to align with my eyeshadow with Lancome’s Le Crayon in Poudre Mahogany. Apply a coat of clear gel if your brow hairs need to be set.

Lips
Prime my lips with any matte, non-greasy lip balm. Then outline and fill in my lips with NYX’s Jumbo Lip Pencil in Vixen. I use a lip brush for precision. Finish off with a liberal amount of Chanel’s Aqualumiere Gloss in 17.

Usually, I sketch out my look books before I try them out, I also plan time in my schedule to shoot them. Not this look, I came home one night and felt rather inspired to play around with my individual false lashes. Glued one by one and the look just grew from there. Very “organic”.

I think this is one of my favourite looks thus far, it’s very simple yet still quite dramatic! This look has officially gotten me addicted to individual false lashes, I promise I will have to post up a tutorial eventually

Also I wanted to note, I didn’t use any eyeliner on my upper lash line, so all that is thanks to these amazing lashes!

Products used:

Face
Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation SPF 15 PA+ Sand
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Light Medium
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Beige

Cheeks
NARS Blush Orgasm
NARS Highlighter Albatross

Eyes
MAC Paint Pot Painterly
MAC Eyeshadow Naked Lunch
MAC Eye Kohl Facinating
Ylure Individual Lashes Medium
1000 Hour Individual Lashes Short
Covergirl Lash Blast Very Black

Lips
MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF30+ NC20
MAC Lip Pencil Cherry
YSL Lip Twins 7C

Inspired by an advertisement board for Napoleon Perdis I found at my local Chemist The colours were so vibrant, it instantly reminded me of the Rosella painting I have hanging in my study room.

I’m pretty fond of the drama behind this look, if I had a wig I think it would be a pretty convincing transformation! Which is exactly what I love about cosplay and makeup And we all know I’m a sucker for strong pigmentation~ Want vibrant colours for your eye shadows? Use a wet brush, it seriously works!

Products used:

Face & Neck
MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage
Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation SPF 15 PA+ Sand
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Light Medium
MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF30+ NC20

Cheeks
NARS Blush Orgasm
NARS Highlighter Albatross

Eyes
Kate Gradical Eyes
Coastal Scents Matte 88 Palette
MAC Pigment Primary Yellow
MAC Fluidline Royal Wink
MAC Fluidline Blacktrack
L’Oreal Extra-Volume Collagene Black

Lips
MAC Lip Pencil Temperature Rising
NYX Lipstick Sunflower
MAC Lipglass Clear

Finally, bring on the wigs! As a cosplayer, I think last I counted I have about 25+ wigs in storage? But due to my taste in costumes, they all seem to be the same short blue colour :/ So I dug a little deeper and pulled out this cute number. It instantly reminded me of pixies, and as I’ve been meaning to do a Winter look for ages, what better combination? I kinda wish I attempted something with my eyebrows… they look a little out of place being so black.

Let me just say, two days after shooting this look I still find glitter randomly on me @_@ And yet when I look at these photos, I can’t help but think, NEEDS MOAR SPARKLE!

Products used:

Face & Neck
MAC Mineralize Satinfinish SPF15 Foundation NC20
MAC Select Sheer / Loose NC15
MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF30+ NC20
Coastal Scents Glitter Powder Fairy Dust
Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder Light
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Soft and Gentle

Cheeks
NARS Blush Orgasm
NARS Highlighter Albatross

Eyes
NYX Eyeshadow Base with Pearl
NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil Milk
NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil Baby Blue
Coastal Scents Ultra Shimmer 88 Palette
Maybelline Lash Stiletto Very Black

Lips
MAC Lipstick Creme D Nude
Chanel Levres Scintillantes 96

Inspired by my Seth makeup and a doll like shoot I am currently working to put together. I quite love horror like looks, if I had the materials and skills, I would certainly try and replicate a true zombie look!

But my favourite types of horror looks are those based of girls with a beautiful delicate porcelain appearance, only to have one feature looking very out of place. In this particular look, I’ve gone for the eyes. (Though I have seen some that go for distorted / demon-like fangs, now those were very creepy!)

I decided against using powder for this look as I wanted the colours to appear more saturated, not sure that really came across in the photos though, perhaps due to lighting. I love how white my foundation appears in this shoot tho, very ghostly.

Products used:

Face
MAC Studio Sculpt SPF 15 Foundation NC15
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Beige

Cheeks
MAC Mineralise Blush – Merrily

Eyes
NYX Trio Eyeshadow TS12
MAC Eyeshadow – Coppering & Carbon
MAC Technakohl Liner – Graphblack
Covergirl Lashblast Length
MAC Fluidline Blacktrack

Lips
MAC Dazzlegloss – Date Night

I saw a look similar to this whilst surfing the web, especially the lips and just knew I had to give it a shot! I suspect the one I saw online had some level of Photoshop applied to it, where as mine has none so I’m not feeling too bad that it wasn’t total success ahaha.

It was a fun look to rock, I did the mistake of putting up some white filters over my lights to soften them, but by doing so have added a “cold” touch to my photos. Which is fine for some looks, but Purple Pop was suppose to be a fun loving, warm look :/ Oh well, another lesson to chalk up!

Obviously NOT a practical look at all, if you tried to eat or drink anything the lipstick would be completely ruined, but not everything in life has to be practical If only I had a short cute blonde wig to sport with this look, it would have been even more cute/fun!

Products used:

Face
MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage
Giorgio Armani Lumious Silk Foundation 4
Giorgio Armani Micro-fil Loose Powder 1
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Beige
Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish Loose Powder Pale Yellow

Cheeks
NARS Blush – Orgasm
NARS Highlighter – Albatross
NARS Bronzer – Laguna

Eyes & Lips
MAC Paint Bare Canvas
NYX Trio Eyeshadow TS06
NYX Ultra Pearl Mania – True Purple
NYX Ultra Pearl Mania – Yellow
MAC Fluidline Non-Conformist
Covergirl Lash Blast – Very Black**

Lips
NYX Eye/Eyebrow Pencil – Purple
Lucas Pawpaw Ointment

The feature of this look were my half lashes, I’ve only recently really gotten into trying out various lashes and I have to admit I’m loving it! Especially with my recent trips into Asia, I’ve been able to snap up some really interesting lashes, these half lashes were not only cheap but I think if I trimmed them back a bit they’d look pretty natural too.

The other feature was contouring, I did a lot more contouring than I usually do (to be honestly I don’t usually do any), to give myself a harder look. Unfortunately I don’t think it quite worked out :/ Going to have to do a little more testing and might see if I can release a look that is very heavy on the contouring soon

Products used:

Face
MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage
MAC Mineralize Satinfinish SPF15 Foundation NC20
MAC Select Sheer / Loose – NC15
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Beige
Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish Loose Powder Pale Yellow

Cheeks
NYX Blush – Peach
NARS Highlighter Albatross
Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder – Light

Eyes
MAC Paint Bare Canvas
Laura Mercier Eye Book
MAC Eyeshadow – Carbon
MAC Fluidline Blacktrack
MAC Technakohl Liner Eye-Liner Kajal – Graphblack
Covergirl Lash Blast – Very Black

Lips
NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil – Narcisse
NYX Lipstick – Eucalyptus

I’m a fan of colour, and I love seeing colour used in atypical scenarios. So when I discovered this deliciously black lipstick, I knew I had to do a Lookbook entry with it! (And perhaps a photoshoot?) Black lipstick is so often associated with goth or grunge culture, so I tried to throw a different spin on it. And honestly I can see black lipstick being worn in normal social situations, I think it all comes down to how one would dress everything else up to compliment it.

I wish the orange would have shown up more, despite putting stacks of it on, in some photos you can see just barely see it At least now I know what pigment colour I need to purchase on my next makeup order! I think I really should have used some false lashes for this look too~

Products used:

Face
MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage
MAC Mineralize Satinfinish SPF15 Foundation NC20
MAC Select Sheer / Loose – NC15
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Beige
Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish Loose Powder Pale Yellow

Cheeks
NARS Blush Orgasm
NARS Highlighter Albatross
NARS Bronzer Laguna

Eyes
MAC Paint Bare Canvas
Coastal Scents Metal Mania
MAC Fluidline Blacktrack
MAC Technakohl Liner Eye-Liner Kajal – Graphblack
L’Oreal Extra-Volume Collagene – Noir/Black

Lips
NYX Lipstick Penelope
Dior Kiss Lime Glace 001