Eye of the Day: Mulled Cranberry Cider

It's been a long time since I've done an EOTD...honestly, it's been a long time since I've done anything fancy makeup-wise at all (on myself anyway!) Having a VERY active almost-four-year-old takes makeup down a few notches on the priority list, and the fact that my camera is crap and I can pretty much never get pictures that decently portray my work doesn't help. Really, my blood pressure is high as it is, so spending the time to create a look and then not being able to get a photo that shows accurate color, depth and texture (sometimes I'd even settle for 2 out of 3) is sometime more trouble than I can bare. But enough whining!

The other day I was talking to the lovely Mika of aijuswhanakno, about a particular brand that I have no great love for, Urban Decay. Mika mentioned that she was a little jealous that I had the first Book of Shadows and didn't even like it. This got me to thinking, maybe I need to get it out and give it another try. That's where this look came from.

I wanted to do something seasonal, but not totally expected, and I also wanted to work strictly within the palette. I decided if I was going to give Urban Decay some love, I was going to go in full force: the first shade I dipped into was glitter-bomb extraordinaire, Midnight Cowboy.

After applying NYX White Eyeshadow Base (not my favorite, but it was the closest at hand) I used my MAC 239 to dab Midnight Cowboy on the inner corner of my eye, not quite 1/3 of the way toward the center.

Again with my 239, I took Baked and put it on the rest of my lid, blending it lightly into the Midnight Cowboy by tapping gently with my finger. I took the Baked out to the outer corner of my eye, and blended it just up to the crease.

With a MAC 219 I added Roach, concentrating the color toward the outer corner and crease and lightly pulling it in toward the midpoint of my lid.

Above my crease, I used a MAC 217 brush to blend Last Call into and slightly above where I'd placed the roach, stopping just on top of my orbital bone.

When it came to blending and hi-lighting my brow bone, I ran out of luck with my Book of Shadows. Of the 16 shades in the book, not one was light enough or matte enough to use as a blending shade, so I grabbed my Sleek Au Naturel palette and used my MAC 217 with Honeycomb to soften the top edge of the Last Call. I added a bit of Nougat under the high point of my brow and blended it outer end of my brow. As a last though, I took a little bit of baked in the inner 1/3 of my crease to add some interest and soften the transition from the berry-plum Last call and the fair champagne of the Midnight Cowboy (you can see this touch better in the picture below, it's not as apparent in the pic above).

I applied UD 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar on the top lash line from the outer corner inward to just about the pupil, and just about to the outer 1/4 of my bottom lash line. Using a smudger brush I softened the top line and pulled the bottom line in to about the mid-point of my eye. Then I used the same brush to apply a bit of Last Call on top of the liner. I cleaned my brush, applied 24/7 pencil in Eldorado to my lower waterline and the very inner corner of my eyes, and used my smudger to add a bit of baked to the inner corners and inner, lower lash line, blending the gold shade into Last Call.

I added some Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash in black, and called it a day!

You'll have to forgive me for the pictures- the lighting is awful, and the cropping and wonky angles are even worse, but these were the shots that I felt best captured the colors and placement. Hauling my Book of Shadows out of the depths one more time was a nice challenge- though that Midnight Cowboy almost made me regret my decision from the get go. One thing you can see in the pictures are some of the tiny white flecks that show the migration path Cowboy's silver glitter moseys along on. Keep in mind, this was after constant dusting and sponging to remove the glitter from beneath my eyes. Finally, I grabbed my makeup wipes and wiped away the glitter- 3 or 4 times! I re-did my foundation, but still, by the time I was ready to take pictures, the only place this glitter wasn't was on the part of my lid where I'd actually put it. Grrr....

As I mentioned, there also isn't a great hi-lighting option in this set for fair skin. There's also a lack of contouring shades, being that even the deeper shades like Roach are satiny and reflect light- making it really hard to get good depth out of them. The one good, dark contour in this palette is Perversion, but to my eye this "jet black" leans a little blue, so I skipped it this time lest I muddy up my look.

Product List:

• NYX White Eyeshadow Base (I prefer Urban Decay Primer Potion)
• UD Midnight Cowboy (pale champagne with chunky silver glitter)
• UD Baked (an almost-bronze gold)
• UD Roach (satiny deep copper brown)
• UD Last Call (mid-tone satin plum-berry)
• Sleek MakeUP Honeycomb (matte light wheat)
• Sleek MakeUP Nougat (matte off-white) 
• UD's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar (charred eggplant)
• UD's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Eldorado (gold)
• Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash mascara in Black.

Brushes:

• MAC 239 (small dense, short-bristled paddle brush)
• MAC 219 (pencil brush)
• MAC 217 brush (full, fluffy, round-tipped brush)
• Lancome #10 Smudger Brush

The Sleek product featured in this review was submitted for promotional consideration by a representative of the company.