Madd Style Cosmetics: Glitzy Neutral

Hi Readers!

After my last more "out there" Madd Style Cosmetics tutorial, I wanted to follow it up with a much softer neutral-ish look. And I wanted to showcase my new (and very awesome) Royal and Langnickel brushes so I'd figure I'd do it all in ONE post! :)

If you want to find out how I achieved this look:


Then please--keep on with the reading!

First, gather the supplies!

(Gabriel Color Mascara in "Black", Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Madd Style Cosmetics piggies (clockwise from the top left): Dirty Beats, Birfday Suit, Secret Sinner, Kiss with a Fist and Brown Suga; Flat Liner Brush; Shadow Brush; "Eye Fluff" or Angled Fluffy Blender/Crease Brush; Pointed Crease Brush (or a pencil brush would work too, of course).)

And as always, you want to begin with a clean eye!

(Oooo, clean!)

First, we prime. Here I used my newest primer, Too Faced Shadow Insurance. As you can see in the middle picture, that is how much I use for both of my eyes. I apply this amount (roughly) to my ring finger and then rub my two ring fingers together and then gently spread the product out on my entire eyelid--up to the brow and using whatever is left over to run along my lower lash line and inner tear duct area.


The first step seems like a backwards one. But I begin by applying a liner (with dry pigment) to my upper and lower lash line before adding any lid colour--since I am not going to be applying a base (because I wanted this look to be pretty light), I wanted the lash colour to really stick to the primer. Taking a flat liner brush (the GL-9 Flat Liner from Royal and Langnickel's Silk Green Line), dip it into Madd Style Cosmetics's Dirty Beats (a wonderful rich dark brown with copper red and gold shimmer) and line your upper lash line.


Using the same brush, apply the same colour to your lower lash line.

Now, switch to an eyeshadow brush (GL-3 Eye Shadow brush) and dip it into MSC's Brown Suga (a light brown with light shimmer and a hint of brown and gold glitter). Press the pigment into the bristles of the brush (to avoid fallout) by using the inside of the lid of your pigment--swirl and press the colour into the bristles and then pat the colour on to the first 2/3rds of your eyelid. With the tip of the brush, make sure the Brown Suga goes all the way up to your crease/orbital bone.

(If you look closely (after enlarging) at the third picture, you can see where I stop applying Brown Suga!)

Switch your brush to a crease brush. Here I'm using my "Eye Fluff" (seriously--I've said it before and I'll say it again--the name of this brush tickles me PINK. It's the GL-6, if you're curious!) brush. Dip it into Secret Sinner (a glitzy neutral with pink undertones and lots of red glitter) and swirl your brush around in the inside of the lid--the red glitter will end up all over your face otherwise! Apply this colour to the very outside of your lid--see how I'm really pushing the brush into the eye socket area in that middle picture? The third picture shows the exact placement--before any blending.

Using the same blending brush, blend Secret Sinner in your crease and lightly into the Brown Suga at right where they meet on the lid area. Then, sweep a *little* bit of Secret Sinner under the outside corner of your lower lash line.


If, at this step, you feel you've lost too much of the power of Dirty Beats--feel free to apply more using your flat liner brush! I did! (I did not take a picture though!)

Using this same magical brush--I wiped it off and then dipped it into MSC's Birfday Suit (my go-to neutral matte brow highlight). I applied this first under the the middle part of my brow and then blended the colour out towards the outside part of the brow bone and then also from the middle towards the inner brow bone an down into the duct area.


Lastly, for a little bit of sparkle at the ducts, I used a pointed crease brush (the GL-4 Smudger) and dipped it into MSC's Kiss with a Fist (which was part of the Valentine's Day collection--so it's not available--however, I do remember Mo saying the colour might make it into the permanent collection. If you don't have it, use any sparkly white you might have!). Apply this colour to your duct and blend it out slightly at the lower lash line and slightly up into the inner most part of your eyelid.


Apply mascara and ta-da! You're done!


I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and if you haven't already--be sure to check out Madd Style Cosmetics on Artfire and on Facebook!

As always--if you have any particular MSC colours you're dying to see in action, please let me know! Chances are I have it...:)

Fun fact you didn't know about me: I recently finished reading Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game Tetralogy. I pretty much loved them. The firs three books more so than the whole four books together. They made me cry more than I can remember a series of books making me cry in a LONG TIME! Do you ever cry when reading books? What's the best book you've read recently that brought *you* to tears?!

Inglot EOTD

I jumped on to the Inglot bandwagon a couple of months ago, and boy oh boy--am I ever happy that I did! And I think at this point, I have played with almost ALL of my 10 (wonderful) colours!

Here is a quick shot of the palette (with added numbers--so you can see which colours I got) my wonderful friend, Izzy, brought from the U.S of A. for me!


These shadows are seriously OUT OF THIS WORLD. You won't understand me until you purchase some for yourself. Or, you could search "Inglot" on youtube and find a plethora of makeup "gurus" raving about them too! Then you'll know for sure that I'm not crazy. ;)

The look I put together for this EOTD looked like this:


And closer up on an eye:


Products used:

• Two Faced Shadow Insurance as a primer
• NYX Eyeshadow Base in "White" applied all over lid, up to under the brow
• Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide On Pencil in "Yeyo" to line the lower lash line
• Inglot 318 Matte applied to inner portion of eye
• Inglot 66 AMC applied to the rest of lid
• Inglot 446 Pearl applied to outer most corner of lid and up into crease
• Inglot 318 Matte applied as a brow highlight
  
• Inglot 70 AMC applied to lower lash line
• Inglot 65 AMC applied to outer most corner of lower lash line and blended up into the 446 Pearl colour
• Naked Cosmetics "Purple" from the Ivory Stack applied to the duct area
• Inglot's Gel Liner in 77 applied with an angled liner brush--for liner!
• Barry M Intense Black 3 in 1 Mascara--applied after curling my lashes with my new magical Urban Decay's "The Revolution" lash curler
  

The end!

Madd Style Cosmetics: Couture-d Up!

Greetings, readers!! The theme for the Madd Style Cosmetics models this month is...high-fashion/couture! WOO! Break out your falsies for SURE! :)

Recently I was watching a Michael James tutorial (isn't he wonderful?!) and I was inspired to do the following look. I really hope you all enjoy this tutorial!

First, as always, start out with supplies.

(Top to Bottom, left to right: Barry M Intense Black Mascara 3 in 1; Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on Pencils in Yeyo (white) and Zero (black); NYX Super Skinny Marker; NXY Eyeshadow Base in White; Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Madd Style Cosmetics piggies (clockwise from the purple): Sugar Plum, Taransula, Birfday Suit, Cob Webs; Angled Liner Brush; Pointed Crease Brush; Flat/Paddle-Style Eyeshadow Brush; Pencil Brush; Slanted Eyeshadow Brush; Small Concealer/Synthetic Eyeshadow Brush.)

Second--start out with a squeaky clean lid!


Next, prime and add a base to your lid. This is my first tutorial using the Too Faced Shadow Insurance product (which has been claimed, by Too Faced, to be a vegan item)! I apply it in the same way that I apply all of my primers--start with a tiny bit on the tip of your finger and blend it out to the entire lid--up to the brow. Bring some of the product down towards the inner tear duct area and apply some to the lower lash line area. Once the product has set (Too Faced Shadow Insurance doesn't take very long at all--since you really don't need to use much!), apply a base over top of it--this will help to really make the colours POP! My chosen base is NYX's Eyeshadow Base in white. I apply it the same way as the primer but concentrate it mostly on the lid area and blend it slightly out towards the crease/brow bone area.


To finish up with priming your lid--apply a white pencil to your lower lash line.


The first brush I used was my angled liner brush (by Alima Pure). I dipped it into Madd Style Cosmetics's Sugar Plum (a wonderful pink toned purple--this is honestly one of my very favorite MSC pigments!). I pressed the colour into the bristles of the brush by using the inside of the lid of the jar--apply the colour evenly throughout all of the bristles--this will help for even application. Starting at the outside of your eye--decide on what kind of shape you want! You could extend this line out even more beyond your eyebrow--since this *is* couture and all! I created a nice little swoop shape by angling the brush almost like how I would to do an extreme winged liner--and then I brought the brush in and up into my crease.


For the inner part of the lid, I continued the shape and traced the rest of my crease. Then I brought the brush down towards my nose a little bit.


The lower lash line is done with that same angled brush and more of MSC's Sugar Plum. Apply it over the white pencil base and in the inner corner, angle the colour down towards your nose--mirroring the shape you made on your lid. Do a similar thing on the outside corner of your eye--leaving a space between the outer lower lash line colour and the upper lid outside swoop.


At this point, you should have something like this:


Next, grab a pointed crease brush (the one I use is from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics). Dip it into MORE Sugar Plum--evenly apply the colour to the bristles by swirling it around in the inside of the lid of the jar. Basically for this step you want to fill in the upper portion of the shape you made on your lid (try to leave the line you created with the angled brush quite crisp--just fill in above that). You can take this colour as high as you want! You could even have kept it quite thin--that would have looked neat too, I think. :)


To deepen up the crease a bit--grab a pencil brush and dip it into MSC's Taransula (a very awesome blue-black with green and purple glitter). Apply this colour to the lower edge of Sugar Plum (all the way into the inner eye area and all the way out towards the swoop you made at the very start).


Taking the same pointed crease brush you used to blend out the Sugar Plum--blend together the Taransula with the Sugar Plum--you want to keep the Taransula quite dark at the outer most edge, but you also want it to be blended in with Sugar Plum just a bit so there isn't just a dark line at your crease.


And now for the lid! To help your lid colour stand out even more--and to help define the cut crease you have created up to this point, apply a bit more NYX Eyeshadow Base (in White) to a concealer brush. Apply this to your lid and bring it down to the bare area at the inner part of your duct area and the outer part of your eye.


Next, take a paddle-style brush and dip it into MSC's Cob Webs (this is a wonderful silver/grey colour that was part of the Drop Dead Fred collection!). Press the colour into the brush using the inside of the pigment jar's lid (as usual!). Then pat this colour all over your lid. This colour is quite glittery, so be careful NOT to swipe the colour on as this will cause some fall-out. Pat or press the colour right into the NYX base you just applied.


Using the same brush, apply the Cob Webs into that bare space at the outer corner of your eye and in the inner duct area (I used the same pencil brush I used earlier for the duct area).


Then, for your highlight, take a slanted eyeshadow brush and dip it into MSC's Birfday Suit (a light matte neutral). Apply this colour below your brow and blend it down slightly into the Sugar Plum to help fade Sugar Plum out just a bit.


Now for some liner! Using a black pencil, line your waterline and really press this colour into your lower lashes--this will help disguise the lash band of the falsies you will be applying to your lower lashes (if you choose to do so!).


Then, using a super skinny felt tip marker type liner (or use whichever type of liner you are most comfortable with), line your upper lash line (quite thinly--mostly, again, just to disguise the lash band of the lashes you will be applying to your lid) and make a small wing at the outer corner.


Apply some awesome falsies, and you're done!

(I used Ardell's "Accents" in #305 for the lower lash line and Quo lashes in #806 for the upper lashes!)

And here the final look is again, with the flash this time!

I hope this has inspired you to get a little crazier with your makeup today! :D

Thing you didn't know about me: I *just* got back from my trip to Florida yesterday! The thing I was most UNprepared for: all of the lizards!! Lizards kind of scare me. Eep! Even though they're small--I couldn't stop thinking they were going to jump on me. Ha...

Here is a neato picture I took of one of the *many* lightening storms!

Oh boy!

I'm getting so close to 100 subscribers/followers!! YAY! I have started collecting things for a giveaway. They should be coming in the mail...in about two weeks!

;)

Royal & Langnickel "Silk Green Line" Review

July 23-24 in Vancouver (B.C.) was an exciting time--it was my very first IMATS (International Makeup Artist Trade Show) experience!! The first thing that caught my eye as I entered into the show was the Royal & Langnickel booth's synthetic "Silk Green Line" brush set. It was ticketed as having a regular price of $119 (if I remember correctly) and I snagged it for only $50! WOO!

The Royal & Langnickel site (www.royalbrushes.com) describe the set like this: "SILK GreenLine™ was developed for our customers seeking eco-friendly brushes without sacrificing the luxurious feel and precision of natural professional brushes. These high-end brushes boast a special blend of synthetic filaments, along with 100% bamboo handles and chrome plated nickel ferrules. Packaged in a sustainable cork case, the GreenLine™ is unrivaled in quality and price."

I was in love with everything about the set as soon a I saw it!

Here are some photos I took after finally opening it up this past weekend.

This is what the set looked like from the outside. Isn't the cork case neato?

When I opened up the case, each brush was wrapped in a nice plastic sleeve. The only brush that got kind of smooshed from this was the large powder brush, but I'm sure it will regain its perfect shape after having a few days out of that silly sleeve!

Without the plastic sleeves, the brushes were like this. All nice and fresh!

The left side of the brush set contains these six brushes (from left to right): GL-4 "Smudger", GL-3 "Eye Shadow", GL-5 "Liner", GL-1 "Powder", GL-2 "Blush", and GL-12 "Lip". These brushes are wonderfully soft. The Powder brush and blush brush, especially, are sooooooo soft. I do find myself wishing that the "Smudger" brush was a fluffy blending brush, but it will still be useful for deep crease work and for smudging (of course). The "Liner" brush I find quite thick for a liner brush, but I'm sure I'll be able to think of a way to use it.

The right side of the set contains these brushes (left to right): GL-8 "Eyeliner/Brow", GL-6 "Eye Fluff", GL-7 "Foundation", GL-11 "Concealer", GL-10 "Brow/Lash", and GL-9 "Flat Liner". I loooooooove how fine and small the "Eyeliner/Brow" brush is! It's awesomeness. And the "Eye Fluff" brush's name is enough to make me giggle. I will probably use the "Concealer" brush as a paddle-style eye shadow brush (since I have a tendency to like using that kind of brush to really pack on mineral pigments). Not pictured is the spoolie that is on the bottom of the "Brow/Lash" brush--it's a typical spoolie. I do like that the comb on the GL-10 is metal. It's nice and sturdy. I was also rather excited to get a flat liner brush, as I don't have one in my collection--and this one is nice--I wish its tip was a bit finer, but I'm sure it'll be okay!

Although I have not used these brushes yet, I am very pleased with the way they are made and feel. I love that their handles are bamboo and the brushes themselves feel really sturdy--the ferrules don't budge at all. Once I test these bad-boys out with makeup, I'll be sure to link back to this blog.

If you have these brushes (or any from Royal and Langnickel), how do you like them? :)

Edit (08/11/2011): I have tried these brushes out a couple of times now and I am really really happy with how they've been performing! No shedding, they're SUPER soft. Gah! I'm so glad that I bought them when I had the chance. The GL-4 Smudger brush works well to put colour in the duct area and to blend it up towards the inner crease. The strange GL-5 "Liner" brush worked really well today for me to put a pressed shadow along my lower lash line. The GL-6 Eye Fluff brush has been great at putting colour into the crease or blending a lid colour out into the crease area. I am a happy vegan brush consumer, yes I am!