Fables in Fashion

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

Fine I’ll admit it, I caught a little bit of the Vampire fever too! Though I haven’t gone to see Eclipse or any of the Twilight movies in the cinemas, I’ve watched downloads from friends, does that count? Either way, I’ve always love the regal polished look of Vampires in almost any movie, whether it be Underworld, Van Helsing, Dracula etc. Plus, I’m a girl who loves love porcelain pale skin (I’m one of the few people I know who detests tanning), and that’s pretty much all there is to this look!

It’s nothing dramatic, just very simple and more an overall “feeling” than anything. I tried my best to stain my lips, instead of paint them. Attempting to get a “blood soaked” tint, not 100% happy with how that turned out, probably would have been better off using a lip stain instead (and being less neat?), and I had to end up lightening my eyes digitally Even tho my eyes are kinda light for an asian, they aren’t this light! Hopefully some new contacts will change that tho

Products used:

Face
MAC Studio Sculpt SPF 15 Foundation NC15

Cheeks
NARS Bronzer Laguna

Eyes
NYX Eyeshadow Base with Pearl
Coastal Scents Matte 88 Palette
MAC Technakohl Liner Eye-Liner Kajal Graphblack
Covergirl Lash Blast Very Black

Lips
NYX Lipstick Snow White

So I bought these little nail stickers whilst I was in Japan earlier this year. Whilst I am a total nail polish addict, I don’t do fake nails. This is mostly since I’m a pianist, I need short neat nails at all times. But it was too cute not to buy, and a few months later I bought myself a small collection of nails to paint and this was the result! I love love the way these look, so girly! But I was pretty much an inelegant mess as I tried to set up my camera and later on remove my makeup. (Surprised I didn’t end up taking out my own eye)

Whilst I’m on the topic of inelegant messes, glitter how I love/hate you. I think this is just an area of makeup I’ll need to keep working on. A fine balance between the amount of glitter vs the amount of adhesive, plus method of application. Ah yes, a fine art indeed.

Products used:

Face
MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage
MAC Mineralize Satinfinish SPF15 Foundation NC20
MAC Select Sheer / Loose NC15
MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF30+ NC20

Cheeks
NARS Blush Orgasm
NARS Bronzer Laguna

Eyes
Coastal Scents Glitter Powder Pinky
MAC Glitter Silver
NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil Milk
NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil Hot Pink
MAC Technakohl Liner Eye-Liner Kajal Graphblack
Covergirl Lash Blast Very Black
Coastal Scents 88 Matte Palette
MAC Pigment Vanilla

Lips
MAC Lady Gaga
Stila Rose Pinky
NARS Orgasm Lipgloss

You always want what you can’t have, and what I’d love right now is a bit of sunshine and warmth. Winter in Australia (well Melbourne at least) means no snow, but a lot of icy cold winds and rain. Whilst I love wrapping myself in lots of layers, I’ll admit that I find it hard to really move around when I’m sporting about 5 layers of clothing.

So I decided to throw together a bit of a sunset look, using no liner on my upper lid gives my eyes a much softer look. Despite the weather, the Winter sun is beautiful. Especially through my bedroom window, at around 3-4pm the sun rays pierce through the clouds and bathe my room in a beautiful rich glow.

Products used:

Face
MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage
MAC Mineralize Satinfinish SPF15 Foundation NC20
MAC Select Sheer / Loose NC15
MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF30+ NC20

Cheeks
NARS Blush Orgasm
NARS Highlighter Albatross
NARS Bronzer Laguna

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Lime Crime Magic Dust Siren
Lime Crime Magic Dust Cleopatra
Lime Crime Magic Dust Circus Girl
NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil Cherry
MAC Technakohl Liner Eye-Liner Kajal Graphblack
Covergirl Lash Blast Very Black

Lips
MAC Lipstick Creme D Nude
NYX Lipgloss Frosted Beige

Lately I’ve been on a huge mascara spree, trying everything I can find~

Covergirl’s traditional LashBlast is most likely one of my HG mascaras (can you really call it HG if you have more than one!?)

So of course I wanted to try out the other mascaras from the LashBlast series, unfortunately they don’t currently stock the LashBlast Fusion mascara in Australia So I’ll be leaving that out *sigh*

LastBlast Luxe
I purchased this online for a very discounted rate, though I can’t quite remember the exact URL According to the website, this particular mascara is tinted with shimmers for that extra sparkle to the eyes. Honestly, as you can see in the photo below, I see no shimmer at all. However, it’s a solid mascara, it isn’t as easy to apply as the original LashBlast as it does take a bit longer to really get the formula to stick.

However, the up side of this mascara is it’s buildability. I’ve found it very easy to build luxious even lashes without becoming clumpy at all.

The colour I’m using is called Black Platinum.

LastBlast Length
This is the lengthing alternative of the original LashBlast formula. And it is a great lengthening mascara because it’s also wonderful at seperately all my lashes, making me look like I have many more than I do! It does take a bit of work to get the right look, but practice this is hardly a sacrifice for long lashes.

This would be the perfect mascara if the formula was more thickening. But I can compensate by throwing up a very light layer of the original LashBlast.

The colour I’m using is called Very Black.

LastBlast
The original LastBlast formula, and as mentioned one of my HG mascaras. It’s a great volumising formula, that is very quick to apply. Huge deal for me given how rushed I am in the mornings to get to work. I do find that the formula can be a little clumpy if you don’t watch what you are doing, but nothing a bit more practice can’t take care of.

I know it appears sparse in the photo below, but I’d be tempted to blame the strange lighting (it was a very cloudy day, so I had to rely on lamps) I was getting on the day because this mascara doesn’t disappoint thickening wise.

The colour I’m using is called Very Black.

Verdict?
Why LashBlast of course! Original and still the best But this is coming from a girl who can’t spend more than 5-10 mins in the morning doing her makeup, so speed is the most important thing for me. If I’ve got the time, I’d certainly invest in the two above~ Completely depends on what your lifestyle is like! (But as a beauty blogger, I’ll probably continue to buy them hehe)

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