Fables in Fashion

Some more holiday cheer, Giorgio Armani was my first ever luxury brand, way back in the day before I even knew about beauty blogs I was deeply in love with their foundations. Lately I’ve been making an effort to invest more into the brand, it’s always been one of those more “mysterious” beauty brands to me. Most bloggers are constantly on about MAC or Chanel, so I’ve spent a bit of time (and money) checking out the GA lines

Introducing their Eye Palette and Face and Eye palette as part of their Holiday 2011 line.

My thoughts on both palettes is pretty similar, these are palettes are nice to haves, pretty to look at, but if you’re thinking in terms of being practical, keep walking. The range of colours and pigmentation isn’t anything to rush into the stores for. However the quality at least does not disappoint. I found the powders to be soft, creamy and extremely easy to apply to one’s lids or cheek bones (as I could only see these being used as a highlight).

These palettes retail for $59US or $135AU, I really do love Giorgio Armani, but I’m hoping the company follows the path of brands like Kiehl’s and Lancome to adjust their prices to be slightly more competitive. It’s a real shame when it works out cheaper to hire someone in America to purchase product from Nordstorm, have them ship it over and have it still work out cheaper than buying at a local counter.

Pros:

• Soft and buttery texture
• Highly pigmented
• Solid secure packaging with mirror
• Easy to apply
• Minimal fallout

Cons:

• Disproportionate amount of shadow (not enough highlight)

Price: $59US

Rating:

Where: Giorgio Armani.

This palette was part of the Summer 2011 Heat collection released earlier this year by Giorgio Armani. GA is certainly one of my most favourite brands in the market, in fact my first high end foundation was by them and is still to this day my go to foundation for every single photo shoot I’ve done!

I absolutely love this palette, I can use every shade in this palette every day if I have to. The selection of colours are spot on and the pigmentation is second to none. I love how soft and buttery these shadows feel both on my fingers and on my eyes.

Admittedly all the shades are shimmer, with no matte. But to me, that’s a non issue. Even though I believe in using matte shades for contouring (crease), this is still a fun palette to use if you want your eyes to look a little more fun and festive. It almost gives the eyes a slightly flirty fun look.

The only down side I see with this palette is how small the highlighter shade is. I use highlighters for the brow bone, inner corner and often as an all over lid colour. So usually my highlighter shades get the most use and given how little is provided in this palette, I can see it being the first shade to run empty.

Other than that, and the price point, no regrets Still glad I purchased this palette!

I must have short term memory, because I always want to shoot up in the Dandenong, and constantly look forward to it…. until I get there and FIND A LEECH ON MY LEG!

I really need to schedule all my “forest” related projects to Spring and Summer, because not only was I attacked by bugs, I was absolutely freezing! Serves me right to be prancing around the forest in sleeveless clothes during winter. (Though now I’m thinking of a shoot I’d like to try during winter on the beach….wow, I must really hate myself)

That aside, I’m really glad I managed to get this video done. I think I created the makeup more to suit the theme, rather than building a theme around the makeup, which is what I usually do. I’ve always wanted to do a simple “Rambo” inspired sort of look, short of rubbing dirt on to my face I think I managed pretty well lol!

Favourite aspect was just filming the intro and outro for this tutorial, so be sure to check those out

Bobbi Brown Brightening SPF 50 / PA+++ UV Protective Face Base
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation – 4
MAC Studio Finish Concealer Palette – Light
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural – Light Medium
Rimmel Natural Bronzer – 022 Sun Bronze
Coastal Scents 78 Eye Shadow & Blush Combo Palette
NYX Mosaic Powder – Highlighter
e.l.f Eyelid Primer – Sheer
Revlon Custom Eyes Mascara – Blackest Black
Coastal Scents Brow Tones
Savvy by DB Lipliner – Poppy
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil – Cherry
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil – Milk
Prestige Eyeliner – White
Revlon Colorburst Lipstick – True Red
Savvy by DB Luxury Liner – Shimmering Slate

MAC 130
Sigma Angled Top Kabuki – F84
MAC 209
Sigma SS252
Sigma SS266
Lancome 17
Revlon Lip Brush

If you watch TV or have walked through either Myer or David Jones lately, you’ll have noticed Giorgio Armani’s latest campaign to help provide clean drinking water to third world cities / countries, starting with Ghana.

To help with their campaign they’ve released a perfume called Acqua di Gioia, which I was fortunate enough to be sent a bottle of. Purchasing either Acqua di Gioia or their other fragrance, Acqua di Gio will allow the customer to help provide up to 100 litres of drinking water for children living in poverty stricken areas. I admittedly buy beauty products left, right and centre so a concept like this, whilst indulging in something I love that actually contributes to improving the world is certainly a good feeling

The scent is probably not something I usually wear, in fact I think it is a stand out and unique scent out of my entire existing collection, which is filled with sweet, floral fragrances. Upon opening this bottle, I found it to be much sharper with almost a mint / mojito note in it. Throughout the day, the sharpest remained, but unlike other scents I’ve tried, the scent had a cool and refreshing feel to it, not to mention it latest an entire working day.

The scent is almost unisex to me, besides the bottle it doesn’t strike me as being overly feminine, and I honestly wouldn’t have known otherwise if men did choose to wear this scent.

I think if sweet, overly feminine scents are not your thing, this could be what you are looking for. And after all, it is for a good cause. You can purchase this limited edition bottle for $140AU at any departmental stores, The Perfume Collection etc, or if you are interested in the cause, read more on their website.

If you live in Australia, then hope you are enjoying your long weekend~ I figured most people will either be on holiday or at least enjoying their break away from their computer (except for me because let’s face it, I’m a bit of a nerd / geek), so I decided to bring in a pretty simple look I’ve had in mind for a while.

CLAMP are a group of talented women who have written some amazing Japanese series such as Card Captor Sakura, X/1999, Chobits and of course Magic Knight Rayearth. CLAMP’s illustration style for female eyes tend to be very similar throughout all their series. And so I wanted to present a simple tutorial with my interpretation of CLAMP female eyes.

I had actually recorded this as a video tutorial, but… I’m not 100% happy with the results, so I’ll hopefully re-shoot it again soon Enjoy!

MAC Prep + Prime – Skin Base Visage
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation – 4
Giorgio Armani Micro-Fil Loose Powder – 1
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer – Beige
Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish Loose Powder – Pale Yellow
NP Set – New Neutrals *
NARS Powder Blush – Orgasm
e.l.f Eyelid Primer – Sheer
MAc Fluidline – Blacktrack
DUO Lash Glue – Dark Tone
False Lashes
SHU Uemura – Lash Curler
NYX Mosaic Powder – Highlighter
MAC Lipglass – Cruise Control
Maybelline Brow Styling Gel – Clear
NYX Felt Tip Liner – Extreme Black
Prestige Eyeliner – White

_{Product marked with * were sent for consideration}

Face
Nothing too special here, prime, foundation, concealer and powder to set. When cosplaying, your makeup will be thicker than usual just because you will be photographed often and you want absolutely flawless skin . Apply blush to the apples of your cheeks and a white shimmering powder to highlighter.

Eyes
First prime your lids, for my Shidou Hikaru photo shoots I went with red eye shadow, but for the sake of making this tutorial more general, I went with a neutral eye. You are trying to make your eyes appear larger than they are, so the most important thing to remember is where you set the crease. Even tho my eyes are large, I tend to apply the crease colour -just- above my actual crease. It’s not clear in the photos (hence why I want to reshoot the video), but it does make a big difference.

Next would be the liner, CLAMP eyes tend to go very heavy on the liner, but the exact same you want will depend on the character you are portraying. You want to make sure your liner is thicker and less winged out for younger characters, and wing it out a great deal more for vampy characters.

Curl your lashes and apply mascara and make sure to apply a good set of false lashes. I’d go as far to say that the majority of female characters, no matter what mangaka needs to wear false lashes.

Lips
The colour of your lips will again depend on your character, Hikaru is youthful hence why I settled for a sheer pink shade. But naturally vamper characters will require a darker colour.

I will do my best to make sure my video is as comprehensive as possible, please let me know if there is anything you would like to see in it!

Last weekend I was invited to attend Circa Nocturna, Melbourne’s Alternative Fashion Parade. This particular look is to me, more about the hair than the makeup.

Cause I’m hardcore like a fox cosplayer, I decided to cut parts of my hair to get this look. I have to create the fringe and longer side strands to achieve that “rocker” feel to my hair. The makeup is pretty basic, a standard pink / purple look (that would have photographed a lot better in my home studio!).

Special thanks to Surfaced Music for taking these photos for me~

MAC Prep + Prime – Skin Base Visage
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation – 4
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer – Beige
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural – Light
NARS Powder Blush – Orgasm
NYX Mosaic Powder – Highlighter
NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base
Prestige Eyeliner – White
Estee Lauder Eye Shadow Powder – Pink Flash
MAC Eye Shadow – Vibrant Grape
MAC Eye Shadow – Parfait Amour
MAC Eye Shadow – Hepcat
MAC Fluidline – Blacktrack
Coastal Scents – Brow Tones
Maybelline Falsies Volume Express – Very Black
Maybelline Brow Styling Gel – Clear
DUO Lash Glue – Dark Tone
False Lashes
Lancome Color Fever Lipstick – 312

Face
Nothing new here, primer, foundation, concealer then powder. Apply pink blush to the apples of your cheeks and then a matte highlighter to all your high points.

Eyes
After primer, use a white eye liner pencil and apply to the inner corner of your eyes and brow bone. Blend with your finger. Then on top of that, apply a shimmery white powder to intensify the effect. Bring the shadow to under your lower lash line.

Then apply a medium purple shadow all over the lid and blend into the crease. Then take a darker purple to the outer corner of your eyes and blend. Apply just a tiny bit of the dark purple to the outer 1/3 of your lower lash line. Take a shimmery pink shadow and apply to the inner 2/3 of your eye lid and lightly apply just above your crease.

Apply your gel cream liner and make a thicker line than you normally would whilst winging it out at the same time.

Curl your lashes and apply two coats of mascara. Apply your false lashes.

Take a brow eye brow powder and fill in your brows, then set with a clear brow gel.

Lips
Lightly apply a fuchsia pink lip stick.

Hair
Pretty simple! Separate the majority of your hair from your fringe, and pull out a few strands for the side of your head. Tie your hair up in a ponytail. If you have short hair, you can flip your ponytail up and start pinning strands of it to the top of your head. Spray with hair spray to get the strands to stand up more and flick out.

But if you have longer hair like me, what I did was still flip my ponytail up, but created a small loop at the base of my ponytail, then tied it down with another hair tie. Next I took a few strands of hair and then pinned it over the loop to disguise it. This (hopefully) gives the illusion that I had shorter than what I really did

I’m really getting into entering as many makeup competitions lately, not so much to win (though it would be nice) but it helps give me ideas and inspiration on what looks to do next. This is my next entry into Makeup Geek’s Valentine look~ It’s much more toned down than usual, to me it almost looks wearable, just need to lose the excess blush and hearts ;D

Face
MAC Prep + Prime – Skin Base Visage
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation – 4
Giorgio Armani Micro-Fil Loose Powder – 1
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer – Beige

Cheeks
NARS Powder Blush – Orgasm
MAC Powder Blush – Azalea
NYX Mosaic Powder – Highlighter

Eyes
e.l.f Eye Primer
NP Set – New Neutrals Palette
Prestige Eyeliner – White
MAC Fluidline Blacktrack
Maybelline Falsies Mascara – Very Black
Maybelline Brow Styling Gel – Clear
Shu Uemura Eye Lash Curler
False Lashes
DUO Glue

Lips
Revlon Colorburst Lipstick – True Red
Revlon Colorburst Lipstick – Carnation
Savvy by DB Lipliner – Poppy

Face
Prime, foundation, conceal and set with powder as usual.

Cheeks
Apply a soft coral pink to the apples of your cheeks and extend all the way to your temples. Then take a more pigmented magenta pink blush and work that into your temples. Take a matte white highlighting powder and highlight all your high points.

Taking a red lipstick, draw 5 hearts along your cheek bone and place a heart shaped rhinestone at the end of one of the lines.

Eyes
Prime your lids, take a white eyeliner pencil to the inner corner of your eyes, inner lower lash line and brow bone. This is my way of “priming” for white eye shadow to make it stand out more. Then apply a white eye shadow over the white eye liner.

We’re going for a generic neutral brown eye hear, so take a medium brown to the lid and a dark brown to your crease, concentrating on the outer corner of your eye. Blend! Pat on a bit of white eye shadow to the center of your lids.

Line your upper lash line with a black gel liner, curl your lashes and apply mascara. Then apply your false eye lashes.

Define your eyebrows and extend them using a dark brown eye shadow. Then set them with a clear brow gel.

Lips
Line your lips with a red lipliner and fill in, I always fill in as this is my way of priming the lips but also ensuring the colour stays on for longer. Go over the liner with a red lipstick, then apply a pink link stick to the center of your lips for added dimension.