Beauty: Pinch of Purple

Finally, another makeup tutorial!  Sorry I've been neglecting the "beauty" section of the blog.  I've been wearing too many hats as of late: student, employee, jewelry designer, blogger, sister, daughter, wife, etc.  It suddenly dawned on me that all this is pretty demanding!  Good thing I have yet to wear the "mom" hat, lol.  We'd be in trouble when that happens!

Ok, so why a "pinch" of purple?  Well, I have *very* yellow undertones and I learned early on that full-blown purple doesn't look the best on me, although I'll probably do a bold purple eye one of these days for fun.  Today, we're going to do a  corner-smoke technique using pretty, subdued shades of violet.  I'm going to deviate from my fav 100 shadow palette and turn to Covergirl's eyeshadow quad in Berries and Cream instead.

I've had mine for at least 4 years now and I love it.  It's easy to find at any drugstore for about $5, give or take a few cents.

Starting with a primed eye, I'm going to apply the second-lightest shade to my eyelid up to the brow bone using a large, flat shadow brush.

Next, I'm going to apply the lightest shade with a medium shadow brush in order to highlight the arch under my eyebrow.

Then, using a crease brush, I'm going to apply the second-darkest shade to the outer corners of my upper eyelid, up to the brow bone, using small, circular strokes.

Next, using a small smudge brush, I'm going to apply the darkest shade to the outer corners of my upper eyelid, stopping just before the brow bone and blending well with the previous shade.

Once I've completed this step, I'm going to take some black eyeliner and, starting with the outer corner of my upper lid, draw a smooth, tapered line to the center of my lid.

Notice how the shading has formed a "v" shape.

Now I'm going to line my bottom lid, however, starting from the outer bottom corner, I'm going to draw a smooth, tapered line all the way to the inner corner of my eye.

Next, with a white or silver eyeliner pencil, (I'm using HIP Color Chrome liner in Silver Lightning) I'm going to line the other half of my top lid from the inner corner to the center.

Once I've done this, I'm going to grab my smudge brush again, pick up some of the darkest shade, and layer it right over the bottom liner, smudging evenly as I do so.

Then, using a small, domed eyeshadow brush, I'm going to smudge and blend some black eyeshadow on the outer corners of my eyes, right on top of my liner, making a small "v" shape. (just like in the basic eyeshadow tutorial)

For the next step, I'm going to take a liquid eyeliner and draw a tapered, modestly winged line starting from the inner corner of my eye and sweeping outward towards the outer corner.

To complete the look, I curl and apply mascara to my lashes.  Here I'm using Maybelline's Full & Soft Waterproof mascara, my favorite in the whole world. (you'll find out why when I do my next product review)

The result is a soft, subtle finish, yet still purple-hued.  Another reason why I wanted to keep things tame was because I headed off to work right after I was done with the shoot.  This makes for a great, dramatic look while being still being daytime-appropriate.