Cee Me

Shades of Grey

CCee — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:26:42 -0700

Hi everyone,

Nic was feeling very tired this week and wanted some pampering. I was of course happy to oblige and when I did her makeup I wanter her to look very refreshed.

I used Smashbox - Photo Finish Foundation Primer Light as a base (applying it with a MUFE Foundation brush) followed by a mixture of Smashbox - Hig Definition Healthy FX Foundation in L3 and Make Up For Ever - HD Foundation in 155 Medium Beige. I mixed these two together because the Smashbox Foundation is her perfect shade but I wanted her to have a natural tan and mixing a darker foundation created this.
To make her look fresh, I used Smashbox - Photo Op, Under Eye brightener under her eyes and on the tops of her cheekbones. I used a light dusting of Make Up For Ever - Super Matte Loose Powder in 12 Translucent Natural pressing it in with the puff.

I used Bourjous Blusher in 92 Santal (I think, the name has worn off) to contour under her cheeks. I used her own L'Oreal eyebrow pencil, but I used it with an angled eyeliner brush by Models inc. to apply it. I placed some of the eyebrow pencil on the back of my hand (warming it up) and then picking it up with the brush to apply it in her brows, giving a softer and more angelic brow.

I then applied white from the Make Up For Ever - Flash Colour Case with a Sephora - Professionnel All Over Shadow Brush - Small #22. I blended this up to slightly above the crease. I then used a Sephora - Colorful Mat Mono Eyeshadow - Mat No. 06 (matte white) Item # 936310 with my "new" Illamasqua - Blending Brush 1 I set the white and applied a little extra in her inner corners. I then took up Illamasqua - Pure Pigment in Lust on the inner half of her lid. The shimmer catches the light and makes it look even brighter then the white. On the outer V, I used Sephora - Colorful Mat Mono Eyeshadow - Mat No. 02 (matte grey) Item # 936211. I placed the colour on the outer V and blended it with my Laura Mercier - Eye Colour Brush, this brush blends wonderfully and I reapplied the grey again with the Laura Mercier - Eye Crease brush to add a little depth and blended it again slightly. This applying, blencing and reapplying means the makeup will stay on longer.

I lined the outer half of her eyes with Stila - Smudge Pot in Jet Black and my Smashbox - Arced Liner Brush no. 21 starting halfway and keeping it very very thin. The mascara Nic is wearing is Rimmel Sexy Curves in Intense Black 003.

Challenge 6 - Faith Hill - Video look "Like we never loved at all" (September 28, 2008)

CCee — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:06:12 -0700

I was challenged to this Faith Hill look from the video "Like we never loved at all", I loved doing this look because it it very different from what I normally do. Also she has a very different eye shape and I tried false lashes again, it's now 4 hours later and my eyes feel tired, but no burning so far.... so... I'm happy.

There aren't many pictures that show you the angles on this look and the video that was in the Challenge didn't work so I found these pictures online of her eyes and worked of these.

The eye I created was:

Okay, here is the tutorial for how I did this look.

Products in this picture:

Bliss, Sleeping Peel Cleansing Cream

Dermalogica, Professional Contour Masque

Sephora, Power Mask - Hydrogel Eye Mask

Christian Dior, Capture XR 60/80 Restoring Serum

Bliss, Sleeping Peel - Age-minimizing eye gel

Biotherm, BioPur

Preparation
It's Sunday, that means skin day in my house. I started by massaging my face with Sleeping Peel Cleansing Cream under the shower to clean thoroughly. After the shower I took the Dermalogica Contour Masque powder and mixed it with a little water and placed it on my face. I let that dry while lying down and when I wanted to take it off I made it wet and used a warm washcloth to take it all off. I then used the Capture Serum on my skin and placed the Hydrogel Mask on my eyes and let that do it's job while relaxing some more. When this was done I put some Sleeping Peel eye gel on my eyes and used the Biopur on my skin to finish my moisturizing for the day.

Products in this picture:

Smashbox, Photo Finish - Clear Foundation Primer
Sephora Brand, "Tricks of the Trade" Immediate Wrinkle Filler
Smashbox, High Definition Healthy FX Foundation in Light L3
Smashbox, Travel Foundation brush
Smashbox, Camera Ready Concealer in 3.0
Smashbox, Concealer Brush no. 4
Benefit, Erase Paste in Fair
Yves Saint Laurent, Touche Eclat - Radiant Touch no. 2
Urban Decay, Eyeshadow Primer Potion
Make Up For Ever, Super Matte Loose Powder in no. 12
Sephora Professionnel, Mineral Powder Brush no. 45
Smashbox, Bronzer/Blush Duo in Contour/Pop
Miss Helen, Highlight in Soft Pink
Benefit, HighBrow

Face
I started my face with a base because I need everything to look perfect and matte I decided on the Photo Finish Clear Foundation Primer. Also this will protect my skin because there will be a lot of makeup on my skin when I'm done.

Next to make the wrinkles seem less (especially after loads of concealer and highlighter) I used an Immediate Wrinkle Filler. Remember when using a wrinkle filler that less is more, too much can make the makeup slip off.
The next step High Definition Healthy FX Foundation, if you need a perfect canvas, this foundation is perfect because it doesn't look like a mask of foundation on the skin. I used a Travel Foundation brush for the foundation, because this means I have more control over the product placement.

For this flawless face I used three concealers, I know it's a lot! I used Camera Ready Concealer out of the tube all the way under my eyes and blended this with the no. 4 brush to make the skin look perfect.

Over this I placed a little Erase Paste to lighten the area a little. This concealer is more pink which makes the skin look more radiant.

But to make it even more highlighted I placed some Touche Eclat in no. 2 in a V shape under my eyes. Here is a picture to show you the placement:

You really need to pat this in because you don't want to move the concealer under the highlighter. You can pat using the brush flat, or with your finger.

As a base on my eyelid I used my trusting Eyeshadow Primer Potion.

I set the foundation and concealer with a dusting of Super Matte Loose Powder (not over the eyelid). I used a Mineral Powder Brush for the powder placement because this gives more control.

To contour my cheeks and jawline I used the Contour Bronzer by Smashbox with the no. 45 Mineral brush again. This means I have so much more control over placement. Remember to blend like mad. I like to make a 3 or E shape (depending on the side of the face I'm working on ;) ) to contour perfectly on the temple, under the cheekbone and on my jawline. Do work the contouring into the hairline to make it look less like a mask and more like a natural shadow.

I used a shimmery highlighter in Soft Pink on the top of my cheekbone to catch the light and make them stand out more.
Under my brow bone I blended some HighBrow.

Now the face is perfect. I would so go out during the day with a face like this, even though it's very sculpted it still looks very beautiful and the fact that the eyes and lips are nude is very pretty on me. I have naturally dark eyelashes and brows, so I don't need much to be honest, I just love using much :P

Products in this picture:

Bourjois, Noir & Blanc pencil
Smashbox, Eye Shadow Trio - Panorama
Smashbox, Shadow Brush - no. 26
Smashbox, Eye Shadow Trio - Shutterspeed
Bourjois Paris, Ombre Stretch - Intense Black
Sephora Professional, Smudge Brush - no. 19
Smashbox, Definer brush - no. 15
Rimmel London, Colour Rush in 214 Black
The Body Shop - Slanted Brush
Stila, Smudge Pot - Black
Sephora Professional, Flat Liner brush - no. 16
Smashbox, Smudge Brush - no. 20
Urban Decay, Smoke Out Eye Pencil - Smoke Out
Make Up For Ever - False Eyelashes Ref 25014 - long full black lash (Item # 1039940 at Sephora)
Smashbox, JetSet - Midnight Black
Smashbox, Arced Liner Brush - no. 21
Christian Dior, Diorshow - 090 Black

Eyes
To make the inner corner stand out I used the white half of the Bourjois, Noir & Blanc pencil. I go to Bourjois for this because their pencils are very soft, this means you don't have to press hard on your skin to create a white base and the colour is very easy to blend out. I used the Smashbox no. 20 Smudge brush for fading the colour at the edges on the lid (not on the top edge).

On the other hand, this blendability also means that you have to set it if you don't want it to move, I chose the white matte shadow from the Panorama trio. I placed this with the no. 26 Shadow brush and blended the colour to a fade. I then took the same brush (cleaned on a towel) to place the lightest colour from the Shutterspeed trio all over the rest of my eye as a colour. This is a matte skin tone which is perfect because the greys I'll use later will have a powder to blend with.

I then set the first lines of the crease above the crease with the Ombre Stretch in Intense Black, now it's great that they called this colour intense black, but it's not, it's a very dark grey. I love the colour and used it to place the first lines for this look, but the name is not the perfect name for this colour. I used the brush that came in the Ombre Stretch because it actually is a good brush for placing this kind of line. I placed the line a couple of millimeters above my own crease. I wanted the crease entirely above my own and that means placing the crease with open eyes looking straight into a mirror. I smudged the line on the top only using a Sephora no. 19 Smudge brush (this is a medium sized smudge brush, the Smashbox smudge brush no. 20 is a small smudge brush), The bottom of the crease line will be getting my attention later.

In the outer corner in a < and > shape I placed some of the grey out of the Shutterspeed trio with the no. 15 definer brush and faded this. The place where the grey slowly turns into white is after 1/3 on the outer corner. Halfway the white should be almost at it's whitest and after 2/3 it should be perfectly white.

I used my loyal slanted brush to place Rimmel's black on the outer line, making the outer line and the outer half of the crease line darker. I also placed the black as close to the lower lash line as possible.

Taking up my Stila Smudge Pot in black is something I only so when I need a very smudged line that is matte. Also this line stays put better then the Smashbox cream liners and blends better then the JetSet. I took up the no. 16 flat liner brush to line my eyes and make the wings at the point of the black line I already drew. I went all the way up to the crease and went into the crease I had drawn. On the crease line I blended the line out using the no. 20 smudge brush by Smashbox (the small smudge brush).

At this point I added the white to my waterline to see if the eye was looking wide enough. Faith's eyes are a lot more almond shaped then mine, so I'm trying to make my eyes look more that shape too. She has the eyeliner higher on her eyelid, but I didn't do this because of the different eye shapes.
I wasn't happy with the smudged line under my eyes and took up Smoke Out to line under my eyes again and I used the other end of the pencil to smudge the colour out some more.
Now I was ready for the false lashes, I haven't done this in ages and haven't done this much because my eyes usually turn red and teary very quickly and it itches and hurts sooo bad after an hour and after two I've usually taken them off already. I got these more expensive lashes from Make Up For Ever for this look because she really has false lashes on. If I wanted it more like Faith I should have cut the lashes a little shorter, but I thought of that after I placed the first set on my eyes, and I didn't want to cut at that point. I also placed the lashes a little above my lash line at the outer corners to make my eyes look more like Faith's.

I used a little JetSet on the inner corner of the top waterline to make the false lashes blend with the eye a little better.

(Showing also the highlight on the cheekbone:)

I was happy with the eye and only when looking at the picture again after I was done with taking the pictures of my own eye, did I see that her lower lashes where also false. I'm not doing that because I already have very long lower lashes, so I gave them a little coat of mascara at this point and took these pictures afterwards (using a flash to show a different lighting).

Sooo here is the look and the how to, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this and like the look!
I wish you a great Monday tomorrow.

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Edit:
Here are two close ups of the lashes in the box.

Eye look: Lit from within (September 12, 2008)

CCee — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:39:29 -0700

Well, I've been using many colours lately and I realised I hadn't used much white. Now using white is always scary because you can look like a ghost or extremely ill if you use it wrong. So I took some time to figure out how I wanted to do an all white look. I decided that I'd add a little blue and a little sparkle to the look to make it more alive and I took inspiration from the next two pictures (I added the MAC jampacked look at the bottom right of the picture). The look really is like you're lit from within... so that's what I'm naming the look. I hope you guys like it.

Inspiration:

My take on the look:

I was asked to use some drugstore products in a couple of looks so I mostly used what we got at the drugstore in Holland. Probably most of the things aren't sold where you are, but it's mostly about the look and these colours can be replaced by Maybelline, Cover Girl, Bourjois, L'Oreal colours if you like.

Products in this picture:

L'Oreal, true match Super-blendable powder - W5 Golden Sand
Smashbox, Definer Brush - no. 15
Bourjois, Noir & Blanc Eyeliner pencil
Mascara wand for brushing eyebrows
Benefit, HighBrow
Sephora, Eyelash curler
Smashbox, Eye Shadow Trio - Panorama (using the white colour only)
Sephora, Concealer Palette
Smashbox, Concealer Brush - no. 4
Miss Helen, Soft wet & Dry Eyeshadow (contains Jojoba oil) - no. 16 (using the white colour only)
Miss Helen, Waterproof Volume Mascara - no. 04 Blue
Bourjois Paris, Effet Paillete Chrome (Sparkling chrome mascara top coat)

Face
I'm skipping writing down the preparation step today, I did cleanse and moisturise before I did the following.
I used the lightest and the pink colour from the Sephora concealer palette, mixing them on my hand before applying them under my eyes with the concealer brush. I used quite a lot because I wanted my eyes to have a light colour base.
I used no foundation primer under the powder simply because I was too lazy to go downstairs and get the primer out of my bag. I used the True Match with the sponge it came with and patted the colour into my skin.

Eyes
I did use Urban Decay, Eyeshadow Primer Potion on my eyelid to give it a base. Under my eyebrow I used the HighBrow and blended this well, I then took some more Highbrow and made it even lighter, because I'll use white all over I still want this to be lighter then the rest to have still a little depth in the eye.
I then took the Bourjois pencil and used the white side drawing a few lines in the middle of my eye starting right under the brow and going all the way to my lash line. I blended this using a clean concealer brush (if you use your fingers you take to much of the colour of the skin). I took the Miss Helen white and using a clean definer brush I blended it all over my eye and also under my eye. I then took up the concealer brush I used for blending the white pencil and dampened it, I then filled the brush with the Smashbox white and went over the middle of my eyelid (up to the crease) I also went in the arch of the brow and drew an even lighter line under my eye from the middle to the outer corner and blended this white very well into the other white that was my base.
I went on to curl my lashes and gave them a thick coat of the Blue mascara. When that was dry I added some sparle with the Sparkling chrome mascara on the tips of my top lashes and all over my bottom lashes.
I used the clean loose mascara wand/brush to clean all the excess white out of my eyebrows and to brush them into shape.
The finished eye looks like this:

As you can see the eye is a lot less white then the inspiration was, but I did want to go out with this eye and not look like I fell in the white makeup kit. That is why I love bold makeup pictures, it inspires you to try new things and colours, but you can adjust it to your own face and mood.

I hope you guys like what I did with it, I do ;)
I might even do my nails to match this look later, but now I'm going shopping :D