Show Me The Make Up!

Warning: there are many up close and personal pictures of my eyes/face that are about to appear! Don't dispair though.. hang with me and by the end of this blog you'll be able to have fabulous make up too!

First off, I am a HUGE believer in MAC make up. I save money by using drugstore brands (usually L'Oreal) for my eye liner and mascara and simple eye shadows, but I spend my money on MAC base, powder, blush, eye shadows and a paint pot, which is a base for your eye shadow which makes it last all day long. While it is more money up front, I find that the products last much longer than drug store cosmetics.  I've been using my blush since July, powder usually lasts me around 6 months, and eye shadows last 6+ months. I think I figure out a cost per use {you know, to justify my occasional MAC purchases to my husband!} and it was about 4 cents per use.  Definitely a good deal in my book! I would encourage you to find a brand that works for your needs and stick with it!

{in case you haven't ever tried MAC and are interested in it, they do free makeovers at their stores! Stop by and have them play beauty shop on you... it's what changed my make up life forever!}

Here's the tools we'll be working with:


The majority of my brushes are from MAC.   5 years ago I would have told you that brushes didn't really make a difference in how your make up looked.  Then my mom bought me my first set of MAC brushes and I changed my thinking. Good brushes will make all the difference in how your make up is applied.  The only brush pictured above that is not MAC is the silver one, which is Mary Kay. I have some of their's on back up and they work well too.

The short red and green brushes you see came from a special package available every once in a while at MAC. For about $50, you get 4 or so travel size brushes. I find this is the best way to get a variety of brushes you need.  They last about 2 years before you need to replace them and are definitely worth the money!   If you're still learning how to put on make up and aren't ready to spend that money yet, stop by Ulta or a store like that and see if they have some good beginning brushes for you to start with.

Here's my eye make up:


I use these Ulta make up colors as a base for all of my eye shadows. {be warned: I have some wild, BOLD eyeshadows. I can't wait for the next tutorial... we call them peacock eyes!} They just provide a good simple start before putting on the real show! If you're looking at your make up bag thinking, "I don't have any colors like that at all!!" have no fear! To make this tutorial work for you, find a similiar color to the Silk and Truffel to serve as the foundation of your eye.  You want the crease shade to be slightly lighter than the corner color. {The Vainglorious will serve as my crease color and Beauty Marked goes in the corner.}  So find two complimentary colors in your make up bag to serve as your shadows and plug them in to the following steps!

So here is my routine: after washing my face, I moisturize, let it set for a few minutes, put on base, then a powder to set it, a coral colored blush and fill in my eyebrows.  So in this picture you see below, I have completed all of those steps and am now ready to start putting on my eye shadow.



The first thing I put on my eyes is the MAC paint pot in Bare Study.  This is a creamy base that helps your eye shadow to stay on all day long, plus I feel like it helps make your eye shadows bolder too.  Apply it all over from the base of the eye lashes till just under your brows. {I apply it heavier on the lid of my eye and lightly under the brow- it helps serve as a highlighter to open up your eyes!}


The next step is to take the Ulta Silk and apply it everywhere that you just put the paint pot.


I included this picture to show you your crease. The lines you see are my crease. This is basically where your skin folds when you open your eyes. {I happen to have a pretty defined crease. My mom's is not as defined as mine, so she and I can put on make up in the exact same manner, but it will look slightly different on us. Stare at yourself in the mirror for a while to figure out how defined your crease is. It's ok if you feel silly. You're not the only one doing it!}  Anything under your crease is what I will refer to as the lid.  We're about to get into putting makeup on your crease and lid which is why I wanted to make sure you knew where they were! {Better safe than sorry so I'm going really simple!}



Take the Ulta Truffle and put it all over the lid of your eye. It's not a drastic difference but I feel like it's a good  clean foundation to any eye shadows you would put on.



The next step is to take the MAC Vainglorious or your crease eye shadow. Using the brush for your crease, start lightly sweeping it along your crease.  Here's an action shot for you :)



This shows you how it starts to look as your lightly layer it in your crease.



I typically do several light layers, which helps me to control how dramatic I want it to look. After I get the crease to the right color, I then use the same brush to put color half way on to my lid as the base of the eye lashes, as you can see here:


Next I grab the corner brush and MAC Beauty Marked (aka your corner eye shadow.) You will take this color and put it in the corners of your lid and blend it a little into the crease.  This shows you where I put my brush:



And here is a shot to show you how it looks from the side (though I would go over it again and make it slightly darker.)


After  the darker color is in the corner, use the Blender brush and lightly go over your whole eye lid. This helps to blend all of the colors together and make it look more natural. Here is how it looks from the front after being blended:



The final touch is to put on black eye liner along the top of your eyelashes and about half way on the bottom eye lashes. Add mascara and you're done!


Viola!



One final step-  if you are wanting to spruce up your eye shadow for a night time eye, all you have to do is add a little more of the crease color and apply a slightly heavier amount of the corner color.  Here is the night time eye:


Here is the day time look:


See the slight difference? You don't want to make it so stark in the corner that people think you're going emo, just enough to help add some drama!


Whew! That is a lot of pictures! Writing it out step by step makes it seem more complicated than it is! I promise you, I do eye shadow like this everyday and can have it done in less the 7 minutes! It may take you a while, but if you keep practicing it, I promise you can become a pro when it comes to your eye make up! Let me know if you have any questions!


One more thing... your eyes look fabulous!  :)