Kabuki Fun!

Inspiration

My inspiration for this look was, obviously, the Japanese art of Kabuki. The thing about it is that these characters have to have their entire faces painted. They start off white, then shadows and colors are added, and different colors mean different things. Some of the parts require so much makeup that the inside of the actor's mouth must be painted a color as well. There are also rules about certain kinds of eyebrows, and the size of women's lips. Funnily enough, Kabuki was invented by a woman. I would love to meet her.

Intent

I wanted to capture the spirit of Kabuki, without full-on creating a character. I love colors and I thought that the idea of creating a blank face, a stark white canvas, was a really good idea. It's harder than it seems, though, to do successful Kabuki makeup. This was my first time experimenting. Let me know how it goes.

Tools & Techniques

 From left to right: Sephora Brand shadow brush, Smashbox straight-edged brush, Sephora Brand Stippling brush (usually one uses this to get an even application of foundation...I thought it appropriate for trying to get an even layer of white face paint on.), BH Cosmetics 88 Color Matte Palette, Make Up For Ever 12 Color Flash Case (which I used to paint my face white, and to draw on new black eyebrows. It didn't work as well as you'd think. The formula is simply too oily to make for good coverage and staying power.), Urban Decay 24/7 Lip Liner in "Naked" and L'Oreal Paris Infallible LipColor in #300 Cerise. Below are the three colors I used from my BH Cosmetics palette; red, pink and lilac purple. I chose to use these three colors because I don't very often get to wear red eye makeup, and in addition, red is a very often used color in Kabuki. The fade out from red to purple looks really interesting, I think.

Outcome

 Painting my face white. Oy. I hate how you can still see my eyebrows. More proof that this MUFE stuff is terrible!

 I am obscenely annoyed at the lack of symmetry between my two new eyebrows. Oh, well. It was interesting to do. I've never had to draw on eyebrows before.

 For some reason, this picture reminds me of my little sister. I can't explain why. And I certainly don't mean that as an insult. How cool is this finished product? So cool. I love the gradient from red to lilac. Also, look at my silly teeny lips! I'm so amused by that. 

 You can still see my skin tone through the white! You should not be able to! Ugh. How annoying.

 I love this close up. I think it allows you to see the colors better, however you can also still see my eyebrows...something is so wrong with that.

 Tiny lip close up! They're so funny to me. When I would really smile, my teeny tiny little lips would move too, only slightly. Just enough to look really weird. Anyway, that's my take on Kabuki. I don't think it's my thing. It was so hard to wash all of that off of my face. So much effort for about 20 minutes of actual picture taking...worth it.

Peacock

Inspiration

The inspiration for this animalistic look was a peacock. Specifically, a peacock feather. I think that peacock feathers are beautiful, and they have so many colors that creating one on my eyes looks interesting, even from far away. Something I didn't know was that peacocks actually have white beaks...that means my lips look really weird here. Anyway, the inspiration was a peacock feather, so that's what I drew.

Intent

I wanted to translate a feather onto my eyes in such a way that from far away it would simply look like sweeping eye shadow, and then when you got closer it would look like the feather. There are so many colors and I wanted them all to stay alone, so that the shape was clear, no matter how hard that seems to be to accomplish.

Tools & Techniques

From left to right: Tarte Eyeliner in "Ballet Dancers," Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in "Mildew," "Underground," "Graffiti," "Deviant," and "Rockstar," Make Up For Ever 12 Color Flash Case, Sephora Brand angle brush. I like to use eyeliner pencils when I'm actually drawing something, it goes on much more smoothly and stays put in comparison to eyeshadows, or gel liners. The different colors are necessary for the different rings of a peacock's feather, and I recommend using some sort of primer, or your eyeliners will slip and blend together. The Make Up For Ever palette (the one that I really, really don't like) is what I used on my lips. As it turns out, peacocks have white beaks, and so I decided to do white lips. This seemed like the best choice. I used the angle brush to apply it smoothly and avoid hazy outlines and feathering.

Outcome

 This is some creep-tastic lip action. On the plus side, I love the feather, I think the eyeliner created the desired effect. From far away, it just looks like really intense eye makeup.

 Close up on the feather! the green around the outside started to slip a little...but no big deal. 

Creepy white lips! Fortunately, this segues perfectly into my next makeup look. The peacock, c'est fini. And for the record? Don't wear white lipstick.

Dog

Inspiration

The inspiration for this look was actually my dog, Gracie. She's a Bernese Mountain Dog-Poodle mix. She's an 85-pound black furball with these eyes that you can't see half the time because she's so black. In my Photo 1 class, I tried to take a picture of her. Even in bright light, she's so black that you can't distinguish her facial features. The point of all this is that I wanted to mimic her eyes, and the darkness that surrounds them.

Intent

I wanted to try and make my eyes look a little bit deeper-set, and I wanted to use some techniques that I know to make my lips look fuller. First, a little warning: my lips look creepy. I wanted to copy the fact that dogs have black lips, and the insides of their mouths are pink.

Tools & Techniques

 From left to right: Sephora Brand blending brush, drugstore brand small eyeshadow brush, Urban Decay's Black Palette, Urban Decay's Naked Palette, NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in "Dolce Vita" and black Sephora Brand eyeliner. 

 I used these two shades, from the Black Palette, to help give the look depth. "Black Dog" is pure matte black, and I used that all over my lids so that they looked a bit sunken. "Barracuda" is more of a gunmetal grey, it's very dark still, but it blended the actual "Gunmetal" (Below) into the black very well. I didn't want there to be a harsh line, it would have ruined the entire effect, so I used my blending brush to mix it all together, and the small drugstore brand brush to apply multiple layers of "Black Dog."

Outcome

These pictures are the basic look, the doable every day look. The one thing that is bothering me about this is that I didn't put as many layers as I needed of "Black Dog" and I forgot the eyeshadow primer so it's a bit...dull. Anyway, I still like this look, it's referred to as "Panda Eyes" or "Raccoon Eyes" if my family is being particularly opinionated. (http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/style_bubble/2011/11/because-i-heart-kay-panda-eyes.html this is just a video about how panda eyes are in.) I love this look, it's so easy because it's only one color, and you can use ANY color. Awesome. Side note: don't ever wear dark/overly bright lipstick with dark/overly bright/colorful eyes. Make the focus of your look one feature. That's why I chose this nude pink lip color to balance out this look.

 I look like a creepy goth kid. It's the black lips. Either way, I'm extremely pleased with the eye-makeup. I think that it actually does make my eyes look deeper-set. 

 The flash washed out the black a little, but you can still see that it's much darker than the silver on my brow bone. I like this shot a ton, it's a good close up, you can see the different colors I used.

Creepy lip close up! I think the black-to-pink fade looks pretty good, what bothers me is the fact that the photograph shows the shape of my lips still. On the plus side, even though black is supposed to make things look small, I think that my lips actually do look fuller. All that's missing is the lolling tongue!

Cheetah

Inspiration

As you can see, my inspiration has changed from Greek goddesses to animals. The inspiration for this look was a cheetah. Ridiculous as it is, I just love to do the cheetah print on my eyes, and I thought it would be interesting to see if I could make my face look a bit more cheetah-like.

Intent

I wanted to do my favorite thing, cheetah print, on my eyes, as well as make my face a little bit more angular using contouring. My face is pretty round, so contouring helps make my cheekbones look a little bit sharper.

Tools & Techniques

 From top to bottom: my BH Cosmetics 88 Color Palette, Sephora Brand blending brush, drugstore brand small shadow brush 

 The color on the right was used as a sweep of color, from my lash line to my brows, and originally, I thought that it would be bright enough to look the way I wanted it to, unfortunately it didn't. To that end, I used the left-hand gold, which is a much richer, deeper gold, to go over my lid and really make it pop.

 This is the brown color I used for the inside of the spots. I used the small shadow brush to apply it, because it is good for the precision needed in order to keep the darker color in one place, and not just make my entire eye look brown with black spots.

 Originally, I used my Sephora Brand black eyeliner to line my eyes in such a way that they looked a little bit sleepy, and a little bit more almond-shaped (I have pretty round eyes.) That worked pretty well for the first look, the daytime look. When it came to the actual cheetah-eyes, I decided I wanted a bit more precision, and a sharper, cleaner line. For that, I used my Kat Von D black Tattoo Eyeliner in Sinner. I think it had the desired effect.

This lipstick is my MAC Lustre Lipstick in High Tea. I chose it because it's just a nice simple shade of nude, with a golden shimmer to it. It doesn't detract from the awesomeness of my eye makeup.

This eyeshadow is from my Urban Decay Naked Palette, and the shade is called Buck. I used this to contour my cheekbones and make them more prominent, though I'm not entirely sure it worked to my satisfaction. I chose this color because, even though it's an eyeshadow, it's a dark, matte brown that wouldn't reflect the light and therefore would create deeper shadows. I applied this right under my cheekbones with my fluffy shadow brush.

Outcome

These are the pictures of the cheetah-inspired look, the simple day-wear. It's still sort of cool and cheetah-ish in the eyes, and this type of eyeliner (with wings on both sides) makes your eyes more almond-shaped, and sleepier, especially if the wings both face down (facing up makes your eyes look rounder. Also, if the inner corner has a facing-up wing, you'll probably look ridiculous!). the shadow itself is just gold, it's light and pretty, especially for summer.

These are the pictures of the cheetah print look. I love the cheetah spots, and I think that my eyeliner looks good here, the shape of my eyes is changed. 

It was hard to find a good picture of the contouring, but I think this is okay. It almost looks like a shadow, which is the intent.

 I love this. The top eyeliner kind of disappears, which is the point. If you have heavy bottom eyeliner, it draws attention to that, and changes your eye shape. The spots are also clearly a different color than the eyeshadow itself, which was a worry of mine when doing this look. The dark brown shadow pops against the pale gold shimmer.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this look. My first time contouring didn't turn out so badly, now did it? More animalistic makeup to follow!

Kat Von D Triple Threat Tattoo Eyeliner

These three felt-tipped eyeliners are quickly becoming my favorites. They're all black, but they have different tips, so they create different lines. I've tried many different black eyeliners, from many different brands. Some were too smudgy and wouldn't stay on (Korres eyeliner, Maybelline eyeliner), some were sticky (Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Liner), some were perfect pencils (Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil, Sephora Pencil, NARS) and some were gels (Bobbi Brown, Buxom). Of all of these, the easiest to apply are the Kat Von D "Tattoo Eyeliners." The reason these are the best is because they come in a "Triple Threat" pack, and each is good for a different thing. I use "Saint" for thin black classic lining, "Sinner" for dark, gothic liner, and "Poetica" for cat eyes, because its unique shape is more conducive to that than the other two. So far, of all of the black eyeliners I've tried these are the best. All three glide on like pens, don't smudge or crease, and they don't get sticky and peel (like Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Liner). You can easily make wicked cat eyes, slim black lines, or designs (such as my Anthousa themed look). These are my current favorite eyeliners, and they come in more colors as well (Tattoo Liners, or Triple Threat Set).

From top to bottom: Poetica, Sinner and Saint 

From left to right: Saint, Sinner and Poetica

I recommend these for anyone who has a hard time applying eyeliner, but likes it a lot. Really, I recommend this for everyone. They're just such great quality, they're worth the $40 for the set.

Khione

Inspiration

Khione is the daughter of the North wind and an Athenian princess. The North wind, the coldest of the four, could only have his daughter be the goddess of snow and ice. Her name is sometimes spelled Chione, which comes from the Greek word "chion" which means snow. She is often portrayed as one with a dangerous temper, and a penchant for freezing heroes and defrosting them for fun. 

Intent

I wanted to capture her general snowy-ness, and the idea of slight cruelty, a bit of fear. I almost wanted to use the same techniques as I used on Amphitrite in order to create a swirling snow-like pattern.
Tools & Techniques

From left to right: Make Up For Ever Flash Color Case, Nyx Special Effects Theatrical Lashes in "Snow", Smashbox flat ended brush, Too Faced Starry Eyed Liquid Eyeliner in "Silver Lining" and Revlon Lip Butter in "Cotton Candy"
There really aren't that many colors or items that I used for this, but the techniques are a little bit more involved. I said I wanted to create the image of a snowfall, and I only used one color to do that. I covered my entire eye with the white color from my Make Up For Ever palette, and then used the flat brush to create swirls of windblown "snow." I thought that the Make Up For Ever palette would be a good choice, since it goes on smoothly, and is almost the consistency of oil paints, so I thought it would be a good choice for painting swirls onto my face. As it turns out, it's a little bit too much like oil paint, and refuses to stay in place. When my sister was taking the pictures, she asked, "Is there supposed to be a white line in the very middle, and no white around it?" It turns out that there's really no way to stop this paint from creasing, so you have to blend it constantly. (to see my whole review of this, click here: Make Up For Ever Palette Review) Other than gathering in my crease, the swirls stayed on fine, and looked okay. The flat brush was the best brush to use for that, because it allows for more options in terms of application, and is small enough that the color won't just go everywhere. It is ideal for details like that. Though the brush was good, on second thought, I should've used a white eyeliner pencil, because those are more likely to stay put. Aside from that small blunder, everything turned out well. I used the silver glitter liner to add faint sparkles to the look, the way snow does in the sunlight, and I used the lashes because, obviously, they're white. In comparison to the pure white makeup, however, the lashes looked a little bit yellowy, and I that bothered me a little bit. Also, when I opened the lashes, they were giant. No, really. These lashes were almost long enough to use one on both of my eyes. The spine was also a bit unyielding, so it was sort of difficult to apply them correctly. The lip color, I chose because it has a frosted quality to it, and I could have both color and general wintery-ness.
Outcome

 I did notice that the lash on my left eye is badly applied...it makes me look a bit sleepy. And when my mom came in, she said I looked like an alien. It's freaky to not see a dark outline of lashes when you look at someone's eyes, because we're so used to it. Also, note the reflection of silver, it's faint but noticeable, giving an air of glittery snow.

 In the closeup, you can see the faint line of my lashes against the false ones, so it looks a bit more normal I think. in addition, you can now see the silver glitter better, so I like this picture.

 The biggest problem in this picture is that the glue that holds the spine together is yellow, and very noticeable. Aside from that, this is post-re-blending, so it looks a little bit better. No glitter is on my lids, so I think it's a little bit stark compared to what I was thinking of. 

Awkward lip closeup! Note the frostyness, which is my favorite part.
All in all, I think that the outcome was very close to what I was imagining, but some products could be changed. It's also not as scary as I expected, but I still think that it looks interesting and alien.