Monday, November 9, 2009

Halloween Looks:
Lucent Rainbows & Pink Calamari!


As I promised on Twitter earlier this week, here's a peek of a couple Halloween looks I created this year, one on myself and one for Stacey Vest, wig guru and the talent behind Sweet Hayseed's Wearable Wonders.

This was the first year we took my daughter Trick-or-Treating (she was Abby Cadabby, if anyone is curious!) so I had a busy day on the 31st- this culminated in me having to slap on my own makeup as fast as I could, as my fiance, mother and daughter waited anxiously. I wouldn't say this is a great representation of my work- I spend a ton more time on my clients. Still, it was fun, so here it is! You'll also have to excuse me if my photo quality isn't great- I think you'll still get the gist!



















This first one is a close up of me wearing the Shu Uemura Lucent Rainbow Eyelashes that inspired the entire look. Honestly, I wanted these from the moment I saw them. When Nordstrom opened here last month and I realized they had a Shu Lash Bar, I had to get them; Halloween was really a convenient justification!

Though the picture is not in the sharpest focus, hopefully you can also see my Geo circle lenses- cute and freaky at the same time! I got them relatively last minute from CandyOps for only $10! They're just cosmetic- no script, but for that price, they could have been disposable for all I care!






















Unfortunately, this was the best picture we were able to get of the actual eye makeup, but who are we kidding, the lashes were the star anyway! Still, it was a pretty rainbow look, and something I might like to re-create some day.

I created the entire look with my Sleek I-Divine Acid Palette, which is (as it promises) acid bright! It's so bright, in fact, that when I tried to photograph the palette itself in sunlight several of the neon shades (which are matte) actually glared back at the camera like a bicycle reflector!

To get this look, I started with yellow on the inner corner (I know you can't really see it, but trust me, it's there!) I packed the palette's neon orange shade onto the outer 2/3 of the lid, then added the hot pink in the outer corner and crease. To add a bit more dimension, I worked just a bit of a slightly deeper magenta into the outer V and blended it into the crease. On the bottom lash line, which is more visible in the other photos, I rimmed with purple, blue and neon green from the outer to the inner corner.

In case you're wondering, right now Sleek Makeup is only available overseas, something the company promises it's working hard to remedy. The Acid palette itself was actually a limited edition; I had to hunt down mine down on the UK EBay, but it was totally worth it. Aside from great, original colors, Sleek Makeup is ridiculously inexpensive- the palette itself retails for £4.99, which is a little over $8.00. Combine my purchase price with overseas shipping and it was about the same price you'd pay for a single MAC shadow!




















This one is the lovely Miss Stacey, wearing the look she coined Calamari. Up until the day before Halloween, I was working under the assumption that Stacey was going to dress as Little Red Riding Hood. In all fairness, she had told me that something snake-like was also a possibility- knowing how kooky Stacey is, I should have known the look would morph into this!

After prepping Stacey's skin with primer, foundation and concealer, I created a mottled pattern with Kryolan's UV Purple Aquacolor. Using a piece of netting from a pair of crocheted stockings as a stencil, I sponged the pattern onto Stacey's forehead and under her cheekbones. I also used the UV Purple to fill in her brows and cut her crease. Though the picture cuts it off, the cut crease wings out and up to meet her extended brow line, which reminded me of tentacles. Keep in mind, the UV Aquacolors all glow under black-light, an effect that I hope Stacey was able to make use of!

After blending the crease upward with the purple and white shades from my Sleek Acid palette, I used the neon pink shade from the palette on Stacey's lid, forehead and cheeks. I topped of her lids with a coat of Mehron Paradise Glitter in Electric Magenta. Truth be told, I wasn't thrilled with this product- it was a plastic-like material with almost no reflective quality; it looked more like pink sanding sugar (the kind you decorate cookies with) than glitter. It's times like these I most wish we had a MAC Pro store nearby, but alas...

To finish things off, I lined Stacey's lips with NYX lip liner in Prune, filling in all but the center of her lips. I topped this off with an bright coat of true blue-based fuchsia lipstick.

As a finishing touch, I wanted to add a bit of sheen to mimic the opalescent glow that you can see on the skin of many underwater creatures. I used TKB's Hilight Violet on the center of the upper portion of Stacey's forehead. I also mixed a bit of the pigment into Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics' Clear Lip Tar, which made an incredible iridescent gloss. A pair o' big pink lashes and a quick snap with my iPhone camera later and Stacey was out the door.

Though I wasn't able to see Stacey's full calamari getup in person, she did have some images taken for promotional use. Hopefully, I'll be able to get more shots, but I couldn't resist giving you guys a peek of the look complete with one of Sweet Hayseed's custom wigs!

So, that was my Halloween. In addition to my makeup and blue wig, I wore a HUGE rainbow tutu, made by the multi-talented Ms. Vest. Though the extent of my festivities was Trick-or-Treating with Rorschach and a 21 month old fairy-in-training, it was one of the best Halloweens in memory (and not just because we got 3 full sized Reese's Cups from one house!) So, any ideas for next year?

4 comments:

Phyrra said...

OMG really cool looks!

Unknown said...

Both are awesome and I'm totally in love with the lashes you have on. I might steal them ;)

Suzanne C. said...

I LOVE those eyelashes and I really want some but I looked at the price and I can't believe anyone would pay that much for false lashes! WOW!

oh and good job on staceys make-up. badass.

Unknown said...

Thanks for all of the compliments gals! As Suzanne pointed out, the lashes were a bit pricey. Actually, they're on the low end for Shu's Tokyo Lash Bar collection.

I also loved the Snow Twist lashes, and tried to convince myself that $79 wasn't a ridiculous price to pay for falsies- after all, the Snow lashes come with tops and bottoms. I didn't fall for it- though you'd better believe I'll be watching the sample sales for them!

Having said that, I just want to point out that the Rainbow lashes are well made on a thick band. When treated gently, they should last through several uses (though I will say the band made the lashes less flexible, and therefore a bit difficult to apply.)

You may also notice I didn't use any liner or mascara on my top lashes; I wanted to ensure that the colored filament didn't get stained since I wouldn't be confident cleaning them like I do other lashes.

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