Dusk at noon

So, I've been doing a lot of job hunting lately, and feeling like a total one-trick pony with my looks.  Hair down, three color gradient eyes, neutral lips.

The majority of my professional clothes are gray or black for pants, and red, purple or teal for tops.

Yesterday was a dusky purple top with dark gray pants.  What better excuse to try out a daytime smoky eye than that?

Start with a clean, dry face.  I just touched up with a baby wipe and a soft, dry cloth, as I had taken a shower a couple of hours prior.

Top to bottom: Madd Style Cosmetix Bubble Gum Crisis, Gunslinger Girl, Glitter and Doom, and UiS Dark Gray.  Brushes top to bottom: small shader, medium shader, small pencil, with large blending brush on the side.

Accent colors: MSC Birf'day suit for orbital highlight, MSC Mudd Slinger for brows.

L to R: Almay Smart Shade Anti-Aging Foundation, Korres Quercetin and Oak Anti-Aging Primer, OCC Lip Tar in NSFW, Estee Lauder High Definition Volume Mascara, MSC Pop Rock Uber Boss Lip Gloss, MSC Effin' Perfektion Powder.

NOT PICTURED: NYX Shadow Base in White, ELF Under-eye concealer, Benefit Stay Don't Stray eye primer, black kohl pencil.

Line your waterline with a black pencil of choice.

Blink hard.  The purpose of this is to spread the liner to your top waterline, eliminating the need to attempt to line it yourself.  I always poke myself in the eye when I try to do it any other way.

Li-ine eyes!

Next pat on some of your NYX base.  You want to use a heavier amount than I generally recommend, because you want the colors to pop.

Blendy blendy!  Apply Bubble Gum Crisis to your ducts.

Pat Ginslinger girl on in an almost pyramid shape.

Fill the rest of the lid in with Glitter and Doom.

Blend the purples gently with your fingers, and then using your small pencil brush, draw on your dark gray.

Blend that inward with the fluffy brush using a short, fast flicking motion. 

Blend any other spots that may need it gently with your fingers.

Touch up with a wet wipe for fall out.

All cleaned up!

Lashes, highlight and brows!

Put on the rest of your face, and you're ready to go!

September Send-off: Berry Lovely.

A challenge was recently issued.  The task? To re-create a look done by Ronnie over at Bows and Curtseys.

Being a new Madd Model, I find that challenges like these are perfect for creating tutorials.  They allow me to put my own aesthetic spin on things, while really testing out the product that I represent for the purpose of teaching and of course, in a way, selling.

Cranberry shadows are my favorite, and always have been.  It's only recently that I've been brave enough to attempt pulling them off, and I've found that like most hurdles, once you jump in, it's pretty cakey from there on.

As always, we're going to start out with our tools.  Now, you may have noticed that I don't always use every brush I start out with, or that I occasionally add in a brush I didn't originally picture.  You have to bear with me - organization is not my forte.

Top to bottom, left to right pigments (Since the rest is pretty self explanatory,): Mudd Slinger, Dark Crystal Ruby, Up in Smoke medium gray, Young Blood, UiS dark gray, Birf'day Suit, UiS black.

Prime those peepers.  I'm in the middle of a wicked allergy attack, so my entire face is puffier than normal.  makes getting primer even in all those crevices quiiite interesting.

Primed and puffy!

Line away!  DO THIS NAO.  You don't want to muddy or smudge your top lid later.  A light line is fine, you're really only using it as a guide.

"Happy little trees..."  Only, you know, different.

Now, neither Ruby or Young Blood were berry enough for me, so I mixed them 1:1 to get the sultry shade I was aiming for.

Inner halves get the berry coloring.  Again, it's a unique experience to try and saturate an area with <x,y,z> when it's puffed to twice it's size and wrinkled from the swelling.  If you're going to be like me, just resign yourself to popping a benadryl and blinking a lot to make sure you've gotten your color even.

Now the medium gray goes on.

Just a thin stripe of it needed, for blending into...

The dark gray.

See that nice color gradient?  OCD Jalackie is happy.

Now polka dot your black on.  I use dots, some people do dashes, some outline and blend in... whatever your preference, always remember THE UTMOST IMPORTANT THING WHEN WORKING WITH BLACK:  It's always better to build than to wipe.

Moar black.

Using the fluffy brush above, I blended the black well, taking care to maintain the gradient look while still getting a very defined black color on the eyelid.  Then I used my liquid black liner and lined my top lid.

Birf'day Suit to highlight on the orbital bone!

Mudd Slinger for my brows, and Physician's PlentiFULL mascara in brown black (because I wasn't thinking. Though, the brown black didn't turn out too bad with this look.)

Ta Daaa!!!!

Oops, lash clump.  We'll consider this photo the blooper reel.

With glasses!

Peekaboo!

All in all, I'd say it was a success, doubly so considering it happened without any blood in my caffeine sys... err, wait.  Anyway.  It happened early in the morning. =P

This is definitely a clear candidate for the "intermediate" category, simply for the use of a true black in general.  Black pigment, loose or pressed, is intimidating.  Not only do you risk looking like you've stepped out of the Thriller video, you also risk turning everything around you black, from the toddler to the mini-fridge.

That said, step up and TRY IT.  You'll never graduate to intermediate if you're a novice if you never try. <3

As always, my darlings, Stay Madd!

Mer-Me

September is Signature September over at the Madd Style Cosmetix facebook page for us Madd Cat Models!!

My signature look is rather uncreatively called "MerMe." Sorry, ya'll - I can't be 100% awesome ALL the time. Then I'd be competing with Mo!

This look uses my signature and custom color, Pisces.  See, I'm a Pisces, and my birth stone is an Aquamarine.  It's been my dream since forever that my engagement ring, should I decide that marriage is an option, (which it may be,) be an aquamarine with diamond accents, set in a pale yellow gold. (Second-loved, of course.  I don't believe in contributing to the further mining of "precious" resources such as gems and metals.)

This ring was the inspiration, even though it lacked the sparkle of diamonds.  Therefore, Mo added some holo glitter, and Pisces was born!

So, as always, start with a clean, naked face.

Then assemble your tools and your products.

Those are all pretty self explanatory, especially if you've followed me for a little while now.  All pigments used are by Madd Style Cosmetix.  The gray base is NYX's Jumbo Eye Crayon that has been de-potted in the color Pots and Pans.  I'm also using a new product - ELF's under eye concealer and brightener in light.

Prime and conceal.  The primer was applied to both upper and lower lids, and brought up into my brows.  The under eye concealer was blended with fingertips only.

Then on goes the Pots and Pans!  I wanted it to be fairly opaque, so instead of blending with fingers, I used my stiff concealer brush to blend as well as apply.

Pisces and Waffle.  Pisces is used on the inner corner.  Pat that on fairly thick - it will blend out to nothing but the slightest glimmer if you're too conservative.  Do the opposite with Waffle - it's a very saturated, bold color.  Use your very large floofy brush and blend outward using single-stroke sketch motions.

Once you've blended the Pisces and Waffle, use your small floofy brush and pat on Final Fantasy.  You want to accentuate the gray, so blend pretty hardcore.  (Hardcore as in a lot, not with great force.)  That you'll want to bring inward, flicking from the wrist in single strokes. 

Now, I muddied it up a bit (sometimes it happens!) so the corrective measures I took were to just touch up the pisces and the waffle.  Imagine making an F without the -, facing your duct.  Then cozy another one up next to it in Waffle and Pisces, respectively.  blend barely with fingertip.

Line that top and bottom lid!.  Bottom lid is LIGHTLY lined with black Kohl.  Using your angled brush, line the upper lid/lash bed with Jubilee.  You want a thin but defined line there.

Once you've done your preliminary lining, you want to use your Double Rainbow to go over the bottom lash line.  I couldn't find my regular foiling medium, sadly.  Necessity is the mother of invention, though, and that's where my clear lash/brow mascara came in.  I put a bit on the back of my hand, dipped my brush in it, and picked up some Double Rainbow to mix in and create a gel.  Then I lined OVER the Kohl on the bottom lid.

Once the Double Rainbow dried, I applied my mascara.  Two coats, and then using the brush end of the lash tool, I separated and defined any lashes that may have inadvertently clumped.  Eyelashes ain't peanut butter, they're not supposed to be chunky.

Lastly, on go the brows.  I got a bit more of the clear lash/brow mascara on a clean part of the back of my hand, dipped my brush in it, and picked up some of the Maybelline brow powder.  It stuck like magic and did so much more for definition!  Not sure why I didn't think of that before, but I'm glad I've got it figured out now.

Add the glasses!  It was requested recently that I offer looks with both slim AND chunky framed glasses, so that will be a regular feature from now on!

Sans glasses!

A bit of a closer view.

Remember, your signature look is all about expressing YOU.  Have fun when finding your own style, and thanks for admiring mine!  Stay Madd!