Madd Style Cosmetics: Teal Ribbon Fund Inspired

This tutorial is brought to you by Madd Style Cosmetics (now at Artfire!) and by the lovely colour: Teal. And there is an extra special purpose behind my choosing teal, too! To learn more about how to achieve this look and to find out more about what the Teal Ribbon Fund is, please keep reading.

The Teal Ribbon Fund was established by a wonderful group of crafty ladies (a.k.a: The Glitter Bitches) when they discovered that a fellow GB member, Kim Mayhew, was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Kim is the brains behind Ant Farm Studio and her struggles were not just her fight (and subsequent win! YAY!) against cancer, but also that she was faced with medical expenses to cover the cost of the surgical procedure necessary to rid her body of the disease. The Glitter Bitches have since banded together to host giveaways and they have several Artfire shop items (marked with the TRF emblem) whose sales will help to raise money for Kim's medical expenses. To read up more about the fund, please go check out this wonderful blog post--it explains how you can donate handmade items to the fund, where you can buy products that support the cause, and updates everyone about how the fund-raising efforts have been going! So far the GBs have helped to raise $730 for Kim, but their goal is $1,500--so *you* can still help out!!

Now on to my Teal Ribbon Fund inspired look!

First, gather the necessary supplies:

(Left to Right: Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils in "Zero" (black) and "Yeyo" (white); Gabriel Color Mascara in "Black"; Mt Coffinz "Under the Rainbow" Eye Primer; Madd Style Cosmetics pigments (clockwise from the top left): Vortex, Pisces, Birfday Suit, Up in Smoke collection "Black", Ol'55; Paddle Style Eyeshadow Brush; Angled Liner Brush; Fluffy Pointed Blending Brush; Slanted Eyeshadow Brush; Pencil Style Brush; Thin Angled Eyeliner Brush.)

Next, have a squeaky clean lid!


Start by priming! Taking your favorite primer (mine at the moment is Mt Coffinz "Under the Rainbow" primer) and apply it to the center of your lid. Then blend this out to your whole lid, up to the brow, down into the inner duct area and finally on the lower lash line.

Then, you're gonna dirty it up with some black eyeliner! Take your UD pencil in Zero and cover your entire eyelid with the product. Be careful to get as close to your lashes as possible--this will help intensify the look of your lashes. I used a black base for this look, instead of my usual white, to help deepen the look of the main teal colour I am going to use in this look.


While you have the black pencil out, do some tightlining. See what I have marked as the "waterline"? To tightline--you're going to put black pencil on that same part of skin, but the skin on your eyelid and not your lower lashes. This will take some practice--but just trust yourself and try not to poke yourself! Hold the pencil up against your upper lashes and slowly draw the colour on to that piece of skin. This will further help darken your lashes and make them appear fuller. It will also help darken the entire look.

(I don't know why my black pencil has white pencil on it!!! That's a bunch of silliness!)

Next, taking the white pencil, you're going to line just below your lower lashes.


Then you gotta blend out that black a bit. By blending the base out you're going to help the teal colour you're going to apply over it blend out more seamlessly from the lashline to the crease. If you didn't blend it out, what you could end up with is a line where the black ends and the pure colour begins--and that wouldn't be quite as nice! Gently use your finger to blend the base out towards your crease in the general shape that you want the finished look to take.


Once that is nice and blended, take the white pencil one more. Apply it to your duct area and blend it slightly up into the white. By putting white in the inner corner you're going to open up your eyes--this is especially key since the lid is going to be quite dark.


Your lids are now primed and based! Yay! You're ready for some pretty colour!

Using a flat-ish paddle style brush, dip it into MSC's Vortex. Vortex is a gorgeous navy blue with a heavy green iridescence--this makes the color appear a very dark teal once it is applied (and it is especially dark on my lids because of the black base I applied under it!). Press the pigment into the bristles really well and then press it on to your eyelid. Cover the entire lid.


To blend out this color use the tip of your flat brush and press the colour up from your lid into your crease. I found that my paddle brush worked VERY well (better than I expected--because I rarely use *this* specific brush in my collection). If you feel like you need to blend it out even more, follow my next step.


Taking a clean small domed fluffy brush and starting at the outer corner of your eyelid, blend from outer to inner--concentrating on moving the color up into the crease and fading it towards your brow bone. Let the brush do the work for you!


Switch your brush again--this time to an angled liner brush. Dip it into Ol'55 (currently Ol'55 is not listed in the MSC shop--but it will be back! You should all wait with baited breath because it's an outstanding blue-teal colour!) and apply it (starting at the outer corner and moving inward) to the entire lower lash line. Then, using the same brush, dip it back into Vortex and apply it to the outer most corner of the lower lash line and create that outer shape that you want your shadow to take (I am doing this in the third picture).


At this point, you'll have something like this:


Next--switching to an itty bitty pencil brush--take it and dip it into the magical Pisces
(an AMAZING light aquamarine colour with a CRAZY heavy gold duochrome). Apply this colour to your duct area--being careful to blend it in slightly with the Ol'55 on the lower lash line and blending slightly up into the Vortex in the inner most part of your lid.


For the brow highlight, take your favorite highlighting brush (right now I'm pretty much obsessed with using my Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics slanted shadow brush for this purpose) and dip it into Birfday Suit. Apply this colour below your brow and make sure to blend it together with the Vortex.


Apply some mascara--and you could be finished at this step! But if you want to make it a bit more dramatic (I was feeling particularly dramatic the other day!) then follow me to the last step!


Take that same Urban Decay black pencil and line your waterline (remember, it's that skin between your eyeball and your lower lashes). Then, to help this black colour stick--set it with a matte black pigment. To do this, take your thinnest angled liner brush, dip it into your matte black pigment (I used the Madd Style Cosmetics Up in Smoke collection matte black--but it is no longer offered through the shop) and slowly press it over top of the black pencil. You'll notice in that third picture that I have some of the pigment on my actual eyeball. Don't worry--you can dab that away!


Now, you're left with something like this:


And that concludes the look!


Thank you for taking the time to read about the Teal Ribbon Fund and I hope my tutorial has inspired you to play with some dark colours over a dark base to create your own smoldering look!!

And for something new! Something I'm going to do at the end of each tutorial is share something with you all about myself that you might not already know! :)

The new piece of information for today: I wear glasses!


I don't wear them all of the time--mostly just when I'm reading or trying to see the computer screen more clearly! These are my newest pair though...and I am kind of in love with them. Yay for glasses!!

(Also--I just realized--if you're coming here from Facebook, then my current profile picture totally gives away my glasses secret!! Ha ha!!)