Divergent Makeup Series: Erudite

Hey, guys! So, you know that Divergent is a film out in theatres right now. I haven't seen it, but I was curious about it because many people compared the story to the Hunger Games series, which I've read and enjoyed. I decided to check out the Divergent series by reading it, first. I'm not sure whether or not I'll see the film.  I've gotten through the first book. It's not bad. I'm waiting for the other two to come in from Amazon before I have an opinion on the entire series. Anyhoo, back to makeup. The population in the Divergent series is divided into 5 factions. This inspired me to do a makeup series based on each faction. It's only for fun and it's my own, personal creative interpretation. I don't think there's much of a deeper meaning in my looks other than tying in the correct color to the correct faction. :P For the first in the series, I chose to do Erudite.

The primary color that represents Erudite is blue. Therefore I did a smoked out eye with a soft wing and added a pop of blue in the center. Interpret the smoke any way you wish…maybe manipulation or deception. (hope I'm not giving too much away)

 

Products/Instructions:

1. apply Ulta Eye Crayon in Black Tie to inner and outer corners of lid
2. layer matte black eyeshadow (I used Black Dog from UD's Black Palette) over pencil eyeliner
3. apply Sephora automatic eyeliner pencil in Blue to center of lid
4. layer Sugarpill eyeshadow in Velocity over blue eyeliner in center of lid
5. blend blue-black shadow (I used Sabbath from UD's Black Palette) into crease
6. use more matte black shadow to create a soft, wing shape on the outer corners
7. line lower lash line with Black Tie
8. set lower liner with blue-black eyeshadow (Sabbath)

To finish the look, curl lashes, apply mascara, and apply Ardell Wispies eyelashes.

Hope you guys enjoyed today's Divergent eyeshadow tutorial. I'll concentrate on bringing tutorials of the other factions in the coming week or so. I'm so excited to do them all! (I'm such a book nerd.)

Hugs,

Cat

Sephora Ultra Vinyl Lip Pencil

Sephora's Ultra Vinyl Lip Pencils were on sale for $5 apiece so I couldn't help but to snatch a couple up. You know how I can't say no to a bargain! :) At more than half off the original price of $12, I got 2 lip pencils for less than the cost of one! Though I was really tempted to go with my usual hot pinks and fuchsias, I forced myself to get colors that I wouldn't normally consider. I settled on Gorgeous Peach and Strawberry Delish:

The Gorgeous Peach has shimmer and the Strawberry Delish has none. Both had a semi-opaque, glossy finish. I really like the jumbo pencil format, it makes shaping and filling in very easy. The formula itself is silky-smooth and the texture is moisturizing. Lasting power is pretty average, but since they're so portable, reapplying is a snap.

Gorgeous Peach and Strawberry Delish

I was a little apprehensive when I first received the Gorgeous Peach. When I uncapped the pencil, the color looked very orange-y and the finish looked very pearly. From experience, I know that such a combination looks ghastly on me. Upon application, however, the color was more of a warm, pinky-nude with just a touch of shimmer. Very wearable.

My favorite of the two is probably the Strawberry Delish, which ended up being a bright shade of light raspberry, demi-gloss, no shimmer. I liked it so much that I decided not to wipe it off and attended today's brunch with it on. I only had to touchup a bit in the center of my lip after two hours of eating and drinking. :)

 

Cheers!

Thanks for reading, happy Sunday, and goodnight! 

Hugs,

Cat

Gold Glitter Minx

 TGIF y'all!  What does everyone have planned for the weekend?  I'll be carving pumpkins tonight, so I definitely won't be wearing my best.  But that doesn't mean that I can't have pretty eyeshadow. :)  Just for the heck of it, I decided to deck my lids out in shimmery shades of pale blue and champagne with a dash of gold glitter:

I used some Urban Decay: Minx and Darkhorse (from the Rollergirl Palette).  Also Carbon from MAC and Maybelline gel eyeliner.  The gold glitter liner is from Sephora. 

One thing I've been doing lately is extending my eyeliner further into the inner corner of my eye, you know, ancient Egyptian style.  I notice that it makes my eyes look larger and more elongated, thus more exotic.  My eyes are naturally small and almond-shaped, so I really like the option of making them look bigger! :)

Hope everyone is having a good one so far!  I'll be celebrating Halloween early this weekend since the actual date is on a school night.  Will post pics, even though I'll be re-wearing last year's costume! :P

Hugs,
Cat

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15

I just got the neatest little gift set from Sephora today!  A mini lip treatment duo from Fresh:

I received two adorable little lip balms, one original clear and the other in a sheer, rosy tint.  They're both buttery smooth, are lemony-sweet scented, have sun protection, and keep my lips super-soft!  Love 'em! :D

Sephora Blues

Good evening all!  Just trying to keep things alive here at StyleByCat, lol!  I got a new eyeliner last week...the Sephora Collection Waterproof Retractable Eyeliner in Blue:

I realized that I had deep, navy colored eyeliners as well as bright teals and turquoises, but I actually don't have a medium-blue shade.  I used it to accent black eyeliner and then decorated it with Sephora Collection Glitter Eyeliner...also in Blue.

Here's the result:

Lol, unfortunately, the best image I had of it was while sipping on my daily dose of Jamba Juice.  But, it serves it's purpose.  Colorful and shimmery, but still casual enough to wear during the day!  The pencil itself is fine.  It's soft enough, decent pigmentation, and the shade of blue was just what I was looking for!  It also comes with a built-in sharpener as well as a smudge tool.  The quality suits the amount I paid...about $12USD.

Hope everyone's had a nice Monday, thanks for hanging in there with me and have a great night!

Hugs,
Cat

Subtle Shimmery Smoke

Hello hello!  TGIF everyone!  Too bad I'm about to head off to work, PLUS I'm getting over a cold.  Blargh...  I'm also going out to a super fancy-schmancy dinner...the kind where they serve an 8-course chef's tasting menu with wine pairings.  Sounds good, right?  Not if you've lost most of your sense of taste, which is oftentimes what happens when you have a cold.  Nooooooooooooo!  But, that aside, just thought I'd share my look of the day with you all.  I did a subtle, shimmery smokey eye which I'll  intensify with more black shadow and false lashes tonight when I go out:

Achieving this look is a piece of cake.  First, I applied a shimmery grey cream shadow all over my top and bottom lids.  Here, I used Buxom's Stay-There Eyeshadow in Pug.  Then I darkened my outer corners with Sephora Collection Eyeshadow in Starry Sky No. 7.  Next, I drew a winged line along my top lash line with black gel eyeliner and then finished with some mascara.  Done, done, and done!

To complete the overall look, I applied some ELF Studio Blush in Twinkle Pink to my cheeks and finished with a barely-there lip using ELF Studio Glossy Gloss in Pink Candy:

Thanks for reading and for listening to my rant, haha!  Hope you all enjoy a fabulous weekend! :D

Hugs,
Cat

Gilded Clash

My posts, about 80% of the time, are pre-planned to some extent or another.  But sometimes, I just do something on the fly and turn it into a review or tutorial.  This is one of those days.  I went into today's tutorial not really knowing what I was going to come up with in the end.  This was the result:

If you'd like to follow along, I'll show you how I did this.  Using my UD Rollergirl Palette, I began by applying Verve to the inner half of my upper primed eyelid:

Next, I applied Darkhorse to the lower outer corner of my upper eyelid:

Then I blended out the outer corner edges with Suspect:

From my UD 24/7 Shadow Pencil Stash, I'm going to grab Clash (an amazing electric-blue with a touch of shimmer) and line my lower lash line:

Then, using my Rehab shadow pencil, I'm going to accent the outer corner of my lower lash line, just outside of Clash:

Next, with black gel/cream eyeliner, I draw a winged line along my upper lash line:

Now I'm going to clean the black gel/cream off my eyeliner brush and I'm actually going to pick up a little Clash right off the pencil, and extend my lower lash liner against my winged line for added drama:

To increase the depth of the look, I'm going to apply some matte black shadow to the outer corners of my eye:

I'm going to finish the look by accenting my winged line with Sephora gold glitter eyeliner:

Curl lashes, apply mascara, and I'm all set!

Overall look:

I actually wear this look often (minus the glitter).  I enjoy the juxtaposition between neutrals and a pop of color, jazzed up with some sparkle.  Hope you all had fun following my little off-the-cuff experiment!

Happy Tuesday and good night!

Hugs,

Cat

Glitter Pug

Feeling a little under the weather, but still wanted to look pretty so I did a simple-yet-sparkly look using Pug shimmer cream shadow by Buxom as well as Sephora silver glitter liner:

To start, I appy Pug all over my top eyelid:

Next, I line my bottom lid with black pencil liner:

Then I soften the liner with a little more Pug:

With black cream eyeliner, I draw a defined wing along my top lash line while redefining my lower lash line:

For more depth, I'm going to apply a little matte black shadow along the outer corners of my eye:

Then I'm going to enhance my top winged line with Sephora's glitter eyeliner in Silver:

Curl lashes, add mascara, and I'm all set to go!

Overall look:

Totally not wearing the right colored shirt for the makeup.  Oh well, haha.  Does this lippy look familiar?   I wore it in the last post when I got my haircut.  If anyone's interested, it's WnW Wild Shine Lipstick in 928 Fierce.

It's a glossy lipstick that's packed with shine.  I like the smooth application and non-drying formula.  As for long-lasting?  Average, but the color is so pretty and for only $2.99, I'm not going to complain!

I'm also wearing a new pressed powder.  I dislike purchasing high-end cosmetics, especially when they're not on sale, but I bit the bullet and purchased a compact of MAC Studio Fix, shown here in C3.  Apparently, that's my color.

Studio Fix is a finely-milled pressed powder that offers excellent coverage over my tinted moisturizer.  Does it work any better than other pressed powders I've used in the past?  Not necessarily, but I did get a glowing compliment from a stranger today asking me how I get my complexion to look so flawless.  Sigh.  I guess hearing something nice did increase my opinion of this product, lol.  I'm going to have to try it out for at least a few more days before I can form an honest opinion, but so far, so good.  Set me back about $30 though.  Ouch!

Well, that's all for today!  I've been working on something kinda cool.  Looking forward to posting it soon. :D  Happy Monday and have a good night!

Contemporary Cleopatra

Cleopatra, in my opinion, was one of history's most intriguing people.  She was ambitious, intelligent, and, though not described as an incomparable beauty, worked her womanly wiles in such a way that snared the hearts of some the world's most legendary leaders.  She was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.  Thousands of years later, she would continue to be an inspiration.  Today's tutorial is dedicated to her.  I'm not really sure how she did her makeup then, there's only speculation and media representation, but I'm going to do my best to capture her essence in a modern, wearable way.  This is what I came up with:

Of course, there have been countless interpretations through the ages:

I definitely wanted the gilded look, but I was going for something a little more subtle, in fact, I ended up going to work like this and received many compliments.

So, to start, I'm going to apply Urban Decay's Primer Potion in Greed to my upper and lower lids:

Next, I'm going to apply Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Chase (from my 15 Anniversary Palette) to my upper and lower lids:

Then, using black gel/cream eyeliner (I'm using the Wet N Wild brand), I'm going to create a leonine eye shape by winging my upper lash liner and extending my inner corner liner:

With Sephora's Glitter Eyeliner in Gold, I'm going to accent my top lash line:

For extra shimmer, I'm going to highlight my brow arch with Josie Maran Argan Illuminizor:

Then I'm going to curl my eyelashes and apply mascara (Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof in Black):

To finish, I'm going to add some glittery eyelashes (from Daiso):

For a complete look, I applied ELF Studio Bronzer in Golden to my cheeks and applied Stila Lip Glaze in Vanilla to my lips:

Not bad!  I think I nailed Cleopatra without looking too costume-y, although it would have been cool if I had one of those ornate braided wigs with the gold accents!

Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed the tutorial and have a great Saturday! :D

Hugs,

Cat