Cee Me

Challenge 19 - Rachel McAdams at the Hollywood Film Festival Awards Gala 2009

CCee — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:45:37 -0800

Hi everyone,

I was Challenged to do this look (Rachel McAdams at the Hollywood Film Festival Gala in 2009). The challenge was by PeachyKeen19.

I wanted to do this Challenge on a blonde, so I asked Nic to be my model.

Nic is wearing Smashbox, Photo Finish Foundation Primer Light followed by a mixture of Smashbox, High Definition Healthy FX Foundation in L3 and I used the Make Up For Ever, HD Foundation in 155 Medium Beige to create a perfect foundation colour for Nicole. I applied this with the Make Up For Ever Finishing Brush 20N. With the same brush I tapped some Smashbox, Photo Op Under Eye Brightener under her eyes and on the top of her nose. Nic doesn't need more concealer so the lucky girl's almost done. I just added some Make Up For Ever, Super Matte Loose Powder in 012 Translucent Neutral on her face but not under her eyes. I added some bright pink blush on the apples of her cheeks for an innocent flush.

I mixed the White, the Red and the Blue from the Make Up For Ever, Flash Colour Case to create a light purple colour base that I applied on her eyelids with a Sephora - Professionnel All Over Shadow Brush - Small #22. Remember when using cream colour bases that a thin layer works as a base and a thick layer creases like mad. Over this I used GOSH, Effect Powder in Butterfly on her lid and to add a warm crease I blended GOSH, Effect Powder in Rose Gold in the crease blending it up. Under her eyebrows I used some Sephora - Colorful Mat Mono Eyeshadow - Mat No. 06 (matte white) Item # 936310 with my "new" Illamasqua - Blending Brush 1 adding a slight highlight here. Even though Rachel isn't wearing any eyeliner, on Nic's eyes I felt like adding this and I also felt like adding some lashes. I got the gold H&M lashes to place on the eyeline I drew ( Stila - Smudge Pot in Jet Black and my Smashbox - Arced Liner Brush no. 21 I drew the line on the inside of her eyes a little thicker, to make her eyes look closer together). The lashglue that comes with the lashes is HORRIBLE! The lashes came off in 5 minutes :( . Nic is wearing Rimmel Sexy Curves in Intense Black 003 again.

Challenge 17 - Christina Aguilera Hurt

CCee — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:39:34 -0700

Hi ladies,

Here is the Christina Aguilera Hurt challenge. I had the choice of three sets of false lashes I had bought earlier, I went with the Essence Lash Mania set in "01 Hi there, Gorgeous!".

Skincare
I took off my previous makeup using the Dior Duo Magique Duo-Phase Eye Makeup Remover, to remove the oily leftover I used Sephora Face Soothing Toner (Dry Skin). To help my skin transfer to the spring I used Dior, Capture R60/80 Serum followed by Dior, Restore Wrinkle Creme Rich Texture and as an eyecreme I took up Dior First Wrinkles Smoothing Eye Creme.

Because the sun is out again, extra suncare is in order. I use a product I've been using Clinique for years called City Block Sheer Oil-Free Daily Face Protector SPF 25. Many women forget that their lips need SPF too, for this I use Sephora, Face Very Sexy Nourishing Lip Balm SPF 15.

Face
I love using Smashbox, Under Eye Brightener to brighten my eyes and I love the feel of it. I still sometimes use Talika's Eyelash Conditioning Gel. I've had this Smashbox, Photo Finish Light Foundation Primer tester for a while, but I've never used it because I've been sooo in love with their normal Photo Finish Primer but now I might have to switch to their light version when I've emptied it. This feels sooo light, I don't get the super soft feeling the normal Primer gives, but it feels soooo fresh and light.

Canvas
To start my flawless canvas I mixed Yves Saint Laurent, Teint Parfait (Complexion Enhancer - Oil Free) in no. 3 Champagne with Too Faced, Magic Wand Illuminating foundation in no. 2 New York Light , for placement of the mixture I used my "new" Dior Backstage, Foundation brush. I used Smashbox, Camera Ready Full Coverage Concealer to conceal a little redness around my nose and a few blemishes. I used Make Up For Ever - HD Powder with my "new" Dior, Backstage Makeup Powder Brush to set everything.

Eye base
To create a flawless eye I used Smashbox, Lip & Lid Primer on my lid only. On my browbone I used Benefit, High Brow and as an extra bit of light under my eyes I used Yves Saint Laurent, Touche Eclat in no. 2. I wanted to use some Cream Liner, there are two greys in the Cream Liner and Loose Shimmer pot I used the lighter grey on my eyelid and the darker grey on my lower lashline, because I want the colours smudged, I use my Smashbox, no. 15 Definer Brush for application.

Eye
Over this I use the grey colour from the Smashbox, Panorama Trio on my eyelid and the grey from the Shutterspeed Trio on my lower lashline. Because Christina has the colour very smudged and very low, I use the same no. 15 Definer brush for everything. I wanted a subtle shimmer so I took up my old trusty Diorissime, Make up Palette for Eyes and Lips in 002 Seduction Drama. This was a limited edition so it's no longer available. To build up a great grey colour, you have to build several greys on top of one another. The next layer of greys are the two greys from the Dior 5 Colour Eyeshadow Palette 140 Twilight. If you get this palette, try using the lighter blue over the dark blue and you'll get a great vibrant shimmering electric blue. But for this look I used the lighter grey on my eyelid and the darker on the lower lashline (still using the no. 15 Definer Brush). On the centre of the eyelid I used the Loose Shimmer from the Smashbox pot. Because Christina is not using any extra colour in her crease to create depth, I use the loose shimmer powder to give the eye a little depth.

Christina has a darker waterline, I used a small gift I've been given at my local cosmetics counter, it's a Dior, Crayon Eyeliner Pencil in 090 Noir. This is a great Pencil for the eyeline because even though it's not waterproof, it doesn't disappear quickly. There is a waterproof version of this pencil that you can buy, but I've been given this and I wanted to try it. I wanted to use another liner on my lashlines because even though I want to smudge this, I want the smudging to be my smudging and not some smudging I don't want. For this I used something I've been hearing a lot about, namely the L'Oreal Contour Resist in 201 Black. This is a retractable waterproof longwear liner, which is very creamy and easy to place in the lashline. Also because it's retractable, you never have to sharpen it. I used a Smudger brush to kill any hard lines but still keep the depth of colour in my lashline.

Lashes
To give my lashes the same look as Christina's I used the Essence lashes I thought looked most like the ones she's wearing. I didn't cut them to my eyelash length, but I kept them long. I used Duo Lashglue and I placed the lashes starting on the inner corner and placing them a little upward on my outer lashline. This makes my eyes look a little sadder and larger. If you want to make the lashes look better, add some mascara to merge your own and the false lashes together. I wanted to show you a more natural look though, so I only used a little Clinique Brush-on Cream liner in 02 true black on the lashband (to hide the colour of it).

After I took the pictures, I removed the lashes and the glue, redid a little of the black L'Oreal liner and curled my lashes using the award winning Shu Uemura, Lash curler. I used a trusting mascara, the Dior, Iconic Mascara in 090 Noir to give my lashes this more real look.

Lips
I blotted my lips and lined them with a 17 Perfect Pout Lipliner in Morticia, which is a colour that isn't sold anymore. To give a little more lasting colour to my lips I used a colour that is more berry then dark brown, I personally like this colour better. The colour I used as a base is Urban Decay, Lip Envy in Greedy and over this I used Urban Decay, Lipstick in Gash.

Nails
On Christina's nails she's either wearing a dark dark Red or a dark brown. The colours I own that I'd use are OPI, Lincoln Park After Dark, Bourjois So Laque in 16 Dangereusement Rouge.Other colours I've found online that should be pretty awesom are OPI Bastille My Heart, OPI A Ruby for Rudolph, OPI Midnight in Moscow, China Glaze Branding Iron, China Glaze Heart Of Africa.

Challenge 18 - Kate Beckinsale 2009 Oscar Look

CCee — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:43:01 -0700

Hi ladies (and gents ;) ),

Here is Challenge 18, it's going to be a very short post because I'm sort of in a hurry all of a sudden, so I hope you don't mind.

Kate's eyes looked like this:

I did the look over the makeup I had on today (which was only perfecting the skin, my eyes were actually nude except for Smashbox - Photo Op and Urban Decay Primer Potion).

As a colourbase I used Bourjois - Liquid Eyeshadow Shimmering Shine in the colour 37 blanc chrome, I used a little extra on my browbone and I placed this with the applicator in the shadow and blended with my finger. Kate doesn't have extra highlighter on her inner eyecorners, so I didn't do that on mine either.
On my waterline I used Smashbox - Jetset in Midnight Black, placing this with the Smashbox Arched Liner brush no. 21. Go into the inner corner with this!! I use JetSet because this won't run or budge after it's dried.
The shimmery grey on Kate's eyes is right to the crease but not over it, she does have a little wing at the ends though. I did this with the shimmery grey from the Smashbox trio - Pretty Eyes and I used their no. 15 Definer brush. I also placed a little grey under the eyes (with the same brush).
I lined my eyes (top and bottom lashlines) with a Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil in Zero, creating a soft flick at the outer corners and making the line thin at the inner corners.
I curled my lashes (with the Shu Uemura lashcurler) and I have my lashes 2 coats of Diorshow Iconic in black.

This look took me about 7 minutes and this is the final eye:

Thank you for reading! Bye everyone!

Challenge 16 - Cover model New York Magazine Spring 2009

CCee — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:50:32 -0800

Hi ladies,

This is a look I was challenged to do my Eu a long time ago, I did it in January only I wasn't able to upload any pictures for a while and then forgot all about it, so now I don't remember exactly what I did. I do have a great solution for this though, I found a video on YouTube by Sam Chapman who did this look using almost exactly the same products I did. I did use a golden colour under my brows and in the original example there is a green just above the blue. I chose not to do that because that made it look very odd on my eye (I did one and then deceided not to do it on the other).

I'd been doing some research on the picture Eu challenged me with. I found out that the model is Anna Selezneva. The picture was taken backstage at the Gucci fashionshow.

The magazine is New York Look bi-annual Magazine! The Spring 2009 Fashion issue came out in November 2008. This magazine really goes in-depth into the fashion and beauty in this issue bringing pages filled with back stage info and pictures, fresh faces, trends, what editors said, wore and how they behavied.

I'm sad to say I haven't been able to get my hands on the magazine or flip though it. No scans online either, butttt I did find these backstage pictures of Anna at the Gucci Fashion Show:

And a runway picture:

If you compare these pictures to the cover:

you see that there's been some manipulation in the intensity of the colours. The blues are darker and more intense and the highlight colour under the brow seems different too.

That's the research part of the look
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So here is the final eye, I don't have time right now to tell you what I used and how I achieved it, but I did want to show you as soon as I could what I did.

________________________________________________________________________________________

I'll be back to posting and blogging new looks very soon, after the whole unable to upload pictures thing, some family stuff happened that's very sad and that's been taking up most of my time. I won't go into it any more, I think you guys know me well enough by now to know that family always comes first to me.

I do really miss you though!!

Big :hug:

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A great matching nailpolish to go with this look is Curacoa by Sephora.

Challenge 15 Victoria Beckham - Cover Elle US January 2008 Tutorial

CCee — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 09:50:46 -0800

Hey guys,

Maybe you like to see how I actually take on these Challenges... I don't know, but here is the entire process for the Victoria Beckham Challenge, if you like it like this, tell me in the comments

Research part of the look:

Did you know that Victoria has (had) a makeup line? Their own site dVb style is currently being updated so I'm not sure if they still have the line or if it tanked. I do have to admit that the line looks quite amazing and I'd never heard of it before. BellaSugar had blogged in 2007 but I wasn't here then so I didn't read it. You can find more information on V-sculpt here, here and , but the V-sculpt homepage is no longer online so I think it's no longer sold/made.

I've been searching for some great HQ pictures of her eyes and I was pleasantly suprised about how much she's with her kids, I never realised. I've been very much aware of Victoria's looks and everything because she's someone I find very beautiful and if I ever get the dream chance to do her makeup, I'll probably have trembling hands and be very very nervous.
She seems to me such a sweet, nice and gentle person with a great sence of humour, style and trends. I've gotten lots of inspiration through her book "That extra half an inch" (first cover) and now studying her makeup.

I found many many great looks, but for today I made a small collage of the eyes that pulled me in most. The Challenge eyes are in there as well so I'll go in search for the best makeup colours from here. I'll get some black waterproof eyeliner, black cream eyeliner, dark matte brown, a light brown and a matte highlighter from my makeup stash.

This great picture though, this is from a long time ago (around the time of her wedding). She's not as serious as people perceive her to be.

I did notice one think when looking at her makeup, that there's one thing I'd change about her makeup. I'd bring her eyebrows closer together. Her eyebrows are very far apart, maybe that's how they grow, I don't know. But compare the eyes from the collage to this set I made just now to give you an idea.

Makeup part of the look:

Skin
I started with my skincare today using MDSkincare - Alpha Beta Daily Face Peel this really is amazing stuff, pricey, but very great. As a moisturizer I used MDSkincare - Auto-balancing Moisture SPF 10 because after a peel you need a great SPF moisturizer. On my eyes I used Sleeping Peel Age Minimizing Eye Gel.

Face
I started my makeup with my favourite Smashbox Primer Hybrid 2 in 1 which is available again with the Muse collection. People have complained about the 2 openings in the tube (one for the primer and one for the luminizer). You have to hold your finger in front of one of the openings to get the mix you want. It isn't perfect, but I don't mind it that much, I love the product so I forgive the packaging .

As a foundation I used Clinique Superfit Makeup tester in 05 neutral (MF-N) (dry combination to oily skin (skin types 2,3,4) which I was really pleasantly surprised about. I used it on my sister as well, and I really loved how it blended into both our skins. Also it hid a lot of sins.
Because Victoria is pretty tan in the pictures, I used 2 drops of Lancaster - Infinite Bronze Face Bronzer (15 SPF) (no longer sold I think) to make the foundation a little darker. I'm never going to reach her level of bronzeness, but a little darker is achieved.

As a concealer I used my trusting Smashbox - Camera Ready Concealer in 3.0 with the no. 4 Concealer brush.

To set all my base I used Make Up For Ever, HD powder with the Sephora, no 45 Mineral Powder Brush (no longer available on the website, it is still sold here in the shops though).

I used an extra bronzer to add a little extra sunny glow to my face. I used Givenchy - Prismissime Mat & Glow Limited Edition in 72 Sunny, because that's a limited edition it's not available anymore either (sorry guys, I do have to use the makeup I've got once in a while). But there is a good alternative, also a Givenchy Prismissime only this one is called 34 Sunset. Even though both the Givenchys come with a brush I use my Fan Brush no. 22, by Smashbox because this creates a softer more natural glow and you have more control over the colour density.

To contour my cheekbones I used 2 contouring products both by Smashbox, I used the Pressed powder / Bronze Lights Duo in Fair/Light (no longer available on the Smashbox website, but it came from the Smashbox Master's Class Vol. 3 Complexion Perfection - Light still available at Sephora in several colours). I used this colour to contour under my jawline and cheekbones. Then I used the
Smashbox, Blush / Bronzer Duo in Cosmopolitan from the Smashbox 'Socialite' Beauty Collection (also no longer available on the Smashbox website, but if you google it, you can probably still get your hands on it) also under my cheekbones, but I used it further towards my ear to make it look darker there and blend better with my normal skin colour thanks to the other contour colour. I placed both the contour colours with the Smashbox, Angled Blush Brush (only available in kits).

Eyes
As a primer I used my favourite ever!! the Urban Decay, Eyeshadow Primer Potion. There are many many primers out there, and the Urban Decay one is knows to work best on oily eyelids, but the packaging again isn't perfect.

My eyeshadow base is Smashbox Eyeshadow in Vanilla (it's a matte eyeshadow). I applied it with the Smashbox, no. 26 Shadow brush (only available in certain kits).

I looked at a lot of the pictures and she doesn't use a highlighter under her brows much so I didn't do that here either, if you want to, go right ahead! I did however use a highlighter on the inner corner of my eye, I used the lightest colour from the Smashbox Eye Shadow Quad also from the Socialite Beauty Collection. I blended it inward a bit with my finger.

Next I used the Smashbox, Cream eyeliner in Midnight Brown on the outer half of my eyelid (blending into and a teeny bit over the crease). I also used this on the lower lash line, blending the colour out as I was going inward

On the outer quarter of my eyelid I blended Smashbox, Cream eyeliner in Caviar into the brown, making sure not to blend further then 1/3 inwards. I also used this colour on my lower lash line again.
For both the cream eyeliners I used the Smashbox, no. 15 definer brush, which I love for blending cream eyeliners, cream eyeshadows and normal eyeshadows.

To darken my waterline I chose a product I know won't budge after application. It's especially made for the waterline and unlike waterproof eyeliner pencils (like Make Up For Ever, Aqua Eyes and the Urban Decay, 24/7 Glide on Eyeliner pencil this actually doesn't run on me. The waterproof pencils stay on my waterline for maybe an hour before fading, on my eyes they stay very long and amazingly well, but for my waterline, I only go to JetSet liners by Smashbox, I used Midnight Black here. There are only 4 colours available, which I think is a very mean thing of them to do to me, but usually I use the black one anyway. If I want an actual colour on my waterline I would go to the Urban Decay liners before the Make Up For Ever lines because of colour pay-off. I used to apply the liner to my waterline with the no. 21 arched liner brush but ever since I saw a video where a Smashbox makeup artist used the no. 20 double ended smudger brush I use that too (I use the brush side for quicker application), the no. 21 is still a great choice for your top waterline if you're new at this.

I thought my inner corner needed a little more of a kick so I used Bourjois, Shimmering Shine Liquid Eyeshadow in 37 Blanc Chrome as an extra highlight only on the inner 3 mm or something.

I went over the cream eyeliners with the no. 15 Definer brush and the dark brown from the Eye Shadow Quad Socialite (Smashbox), and blended the colour up a little more. This also blends the colours on the eyes even more.
I used as a matte black an amazing colour named Perversion from the Urban Decay, Book Of Shadows Palette, this palette is no longer available through the Urban Decay website, but if you google it, many companies still have it. The perversion colour is still available as a colour though from their website. As a brush I used the brush that came in the palette, I think it's now sold as their Wonder brush.
I placed the colour at the out most corner and blended it inward on both top and bottom.

As a mascara I thought I'd use the Givenchy, Phenomen' Eyes Mascara in 1 Phenomen'Black, I didn't curl my lashes do if you compare the first (without makeup) picture and this one, you see quite a difference after only one coat of mascara.

The example eyes were:

Which mean a lighter colour on the inner corner as you can see in my finished eye with full frontal natural light.

But it's also a little dark like the other example picture I was provided with. This is the same eye, I didn't change anything, I only turned my face a little to provide with side lighting (also natural light).

Lips
For the lips I used SWF Lipgunk by Urban Decay, I chose not to show you a picture because you'll fall in love with it and then I have to tell you they don't make it anymore. This hasn't been part of their collection in so long, that if you do find it, it's over 4 years old I think.

Reflection part of the look:

Sooo, I think it went pretty well, I'm very happy with the eyes and I loved every minute of it.
I do wonder how you think the tutorial is with me blabbering more about the products and not giving you the pictures of my products at the start of the topic (eyes, lips, face), but the link to the official website. I chose to do this because you can find more information about the product there (like ingredients or other colours).
Sooo tell me, do you like this or last year's way better?
What do you miss in the tutorials?