Nefertiri Makeup

I've been really enjoying more artsy and less "wearable" makeup these days. The past few experiments prompted me to do another Egyptian-themed look. Many years ago, while watching The Mummy films, I was really enamored with the characters of Anck Su Namun and Nefertiri. Michelle Phan's Egyptian Queen makeup brought this to mind and I did an Egyptian royalty-inspired look very, very loosely based on this concept. This was the result:

For the eyes, I used Maybelline Color Tattoo in Edgy Emerald as well as Sugarpill eyeshadow in Midori. I used both black gel eyeliner and liquid eyeliner for the graphic eyeliner. To finish, I traced each shape out with Urban Decay liquid eyeliner in Eldorado. I also added Ardell #120 eyelashes.

For a glowing, gilded complexion, I dusted my cheeks with ELF Golden Bronzer. I used Jordana's Matte Lipstick in Berry for my lips.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday! Thanks for reading! :)

Hugs,
Cat

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

Monarch Butterfly Inspired Makeup

Some really nice ladies from Instagram asked me to join them in a butterfly-themed makeup collaboration. Today was the due date and I'm still sick as heck, but I managed to come up with something reasonably cool.

I simplified the butterfly a bit, obviously. Had I felt well enough, I may have considered tackling a more accurate representation, but, ya know? All eyeshadows were from the Burning Heart palette by Sugarpill and ombre lips were fashioned from Make Up For Ever's Flash Palette. I also used a combination of pencil, gel, liquid, and pen eyeliners for the details.

Anyhoo, hope everyone is having a good weekend. It's raining here. :P

Hugs,
Cat

Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire

Good afternoon, everyone! I am so excited to present a collaborative makeup project I've been working on with 3 other amazingly creative, international artists. We deified the four elements and interpreted them in our own, unique ways using makeup as our primary medium.

To view the complete photo set with detailed images of each look, CLICK HERE.

Ms. Saskia, the Earth deity on the top left corner has a delightful blog called Pretty Trivialities. I highly recommend you check her out, she does comprehensive product reviews and gives a lot of in-depth insight on beauty and other fun stuff. She also has a very engaging Instagram account.

Ms. Josephine, the Water deity on the upper right, is a consummate artist in many mediums…I've seen that she's amazing in makeup and photography, as well as digital work. She's a pure artist who simply enjoys art for art's sake, therefore you won't find her with a blog or Instagram…though she should really start one of the three so that her admirers, myself included, can stalk more of her creative work! She did start a YouTube, so, hopefully, more cool stuff to come from her!

Ms. Ayannah, the Wind deity on the lower left, flawlessly carries every look she creates. Not sure at the moment if she has a blog or YouTube yet, but you can see more of her work on her Instagram account. If she isn't already, she can definitely pass as a high fashion model and makeup artist, but I have a feeling that this is just a fun hobby for her, as it is for the rest of us. :)

Anyhoo, here are additional, detailed images of my interpretation of FIRE:

This was such a fun shoot and collaboration! It was a lot of work, but totally worth it. I'm really happy to have met and bonded with these ladies and look forward to doing more creative work like this in the future! :)

Hugs,

Cat

EOTD: Modified Retro

Happy Saturday, everyone! I had planned to do a tutorial over the weekend, but it's just been a flurry of events here in my neck of the woods, so I hope you don't mind me doing a simple posting of today's makeup. Lately, I've been really inspired by some beautiful, old Hollywood glamour looks, so I translated them into a version that would work with my eyes. Voila! My modified-retro eye makeup for today:

Product list:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden
• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk
• Sugarpill Pressed Eyeshadow in Tako
• Limit and Nooner from Urban Decay's Naked3 palette
• Maybelline Lasting Drama gel eyeliner
• Ardell #122 eyelashes

The elements that make this look really stand out are the white shadow and the thin, elegant winged eyeliner. The light contouring under the brow bone with a dusty pink shade as well as the eyelashes add more dimension. I'm very pleased with how this turned out for me, overall. Better than I had expected, as I never thought I could pull off an Asian-version of this look.

Alrighty, well, I hope you all enjoyed today's post! I'm hoping to work on a Valentine's Day tutorial tomorrow (crossing my fingers) which also includes video. Of course, the project will take about a week or so to complete, but I'm aiming to work hard and be optimistic!

Enjoy the weekend, and thanks for reading! <3

Hugs,

Cat

Hot Pink Dollipop Wings Video Tutorial

Hello hello!  I made this video a few weeks ago, but I've been having some problems editing it on YouTube.  Well, I've finally gotten it (almost) right so I guess it's good enough to share now. :D

Here you go!

Hope some of you find this helpful.  Happy Monday and enjoy!

Hugs,

Cat

Pinky Wings

Hey you guys!  Quick and fun eyeshadow tutorial coming your way. :)  As I mentioned in my previous post, the new school quarter has started for me and I've been frazzled trying to get everything in order.  This means barely any time for makeup.  Yeah yeah, I know I have my go-to makeup for school days, but I've been thinking...I'm an art student for gosh sakes!  Shouldn't I be doing something colorful and creative to reflect my passion?  With that in mind, I came up with a way to make my makeup flashy in a flash!  Check it out:

 I've been wearing my eyes this way all week, in a variety of colors.  Hot pink is one of my favorites however, I've received the most compliments from this combo.

As always, start with a primed eye:

Next, using black gel/cream eyeliner, I'm going to draw a dramatic wing along my upper lash line:

Don't worry if it isn't too tidy.  We'll clean that up later.  Then, I'm going to line the outer corner of my lower lash line with the same gel liner:

Now's the fun part!  Let's add some color!  I'm going to grab some hot pink eyeshadow, here I'm using Sugarpill's Dollipop, and I'm going to trace along to top of my winged eyeliner:

I'm also going to add a little bit along the outer corner of my bottom lash line as well...just a touch, we want the wing to be the star, but this pulls the entire look together:

To wrap it up, I just refine my eyeliner using some liquid liner (which gives you sharp, crisp lines), curl lashes, and add mascara:

Tada!  Easy, colorful "Cat" eye. (lol)  Hope you found this useful and have fun with it!  Thanks for reading and have a great night!

Hugs,
Cat

Mermaid Lagoon

One of my favorite films is Disney's Peter Pan.  Well, pretty much every Disney film is one of my favorite films.  Anywho, I always thought the part where Peter and Wendy visited Mermaid Lagoon was super-cool. (except for the part where they started assaulting Wendy)  I LOVE mermaids.  They're so pretty.  So I decided to do an exotic, cool-toned look with mermaids for inspiration with the help of Sugarpill and Lime Crime. :D

I'm going to start by priming my eyelids with Lime Crime Candy Eyed primer:

Next, I'm going to whip out my Sugarpill Sweetheart palette and play with some colors.  Today, I'm using Midori, a ultra-gorg cool, bright green with slight shimmer and Afterparty an intensely bold, turquoise blue.

You know, I never got a chance to talk about how much I adore this palette.  It's like, Barbie-meets-Comic Book!  The colors are incredibly pigmented and vibrant.  You get the impact of loose pigments with the convenience of a pressed shadow.  I can't wait to get the Burning Heart palette once that comes back in stock!

Ok, I'm going to apply Midori to my upper eyelids:

Then I'm going to apply Afterparty to my bottom eyelids:

Next, I'm going to smudge along the edges of color for a soft, blended look:

Using black pencil eyeliner, I'm going to thinly line my bottom lash line:

Then I'm going to layer some matte black shadow over the pencil liner:

I know it looks like it didn't make much of a difference as far as looks, but the shadow helps the liner stay put with minimal smudging and smearing.

With my new favorite eyeliner, LA Splash Glitter Liquid Eyeliner in Onyx, I'm going to draw a winged line along my upper lash line as well as tracing a little along my bottom lash line:

Finally, after curling my eyelashes and applying mascara, I'm going to add some Daiso eyelashes:

 

OMG!  I blinked during application and got black eyelash glue everywhere!  I must have screamed at this point because I felt like I ruined the entire look.  Waaaaaaaaaah!  However, after several minutes of carefully peeling off the eyelash glue and re-applying eyeshadow and liner, my eyes ended up looking like this:

As long as you don't look too closely, you can hardly see my mistake.  Whew! :D  You can't have exotic eyes without having exotic lips too!  To complete the look, lacquered my lips with Lime Crime Lipstick in Airborne Unicorn:

My Cheeks are Studio Blush in Fuchsia Fusion by ELF.

Wish I were wearing seashells and a fishtail in the Caribbean instead of a sweater in cold weather...sigh.

Hope you all enjoyed the post, it was a fun look to do.  I love playing with new colors! :D

Hugs,

Cat

Hot Pink with Sugarpill and Lime Crime

Who says monochromatic has to be boring?  I decided to go crazy with hot pink today and did eyes, cheeks, and lips in the brightest pinks that I could find!  While I'm at it, I'll include a step-by-step tutorial on how to get pink eye (not the icky kind):

As usual, I'm going to start with primed eyelids.  Today, I used Lime Crime's Candy Eyed Eyeshadow Helper.  Then I'm going to apply a little bit of Sugarpill's Dollipop, from my Sweetheart Palette, to my top and bottom eyelids:

Next, with the help of a medium flat eyeshadow brush and my finger (one of my favorite and most-used makeup tools to date), I smudged and smoked the color to soften the edges and to create a gradient.

Then, I'm going to line my upper and lower lash lines with black pencil eyeliner:

Now I'm going to use my finger (you can use a smudge tool if you'd like) to smudge the pencil liner:

Using matte black eyeshadow, I'm going to layer over the smudged pencil liner:

To finish, I'm going to apply mascara and false eyelashes, as well as a little bit of glittery black eyeliner along the outer corner of my bottom lash line:

Now that's pretty darn pink, if you ask me.  To coordinate, I'm going to apply some neon-pink lipstick to match.  I FINALLY got a chance to try my new Lime Crime lippie in Countessa Fluorescent:

How's that for some hot hot heat?  Such a gorgeous shade of fluorescent pink.  It's a little bluer than the eyeshadow, but I think it still works:

Oh, and that's ELF Studio Blush in Pink Passion on my cheeks.  Yeah, that's pretty wild-looking.  Lol, I don't really know what else to say.  I stayed inside today mostly, though I did get a compliment during a brief trip to the grocery store.  Where would you guys suggest I sport this mug?

Happy Monday and have a great night!

Hugs,

Cat

p.s. My eyelashes are by Daiso. :D