Persephone

Inspiration

Persephone, because she isn't one of the 5 major goddesses (Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, Hera, Demeter) is often overlooked. She's actually the daughter of Demeter, and the goddess of springtime. Her myth is that Hades took a liking to Persephone and kidnapped her, taking her away to the underworld. Persephone didn't know that if you ate food from the underworld, you were forced to stay there, and she ate a few seeds from a pomegranate. Demeter, discovering that her precious daughter had been taken, was furious at Hades, and demanded that Persephone be returned to her. Hades refused, and Demeter suggested a compromise. Persephone would remain in the underworld for six months of the year, and on Olympus for the other six months. Thereafter, Persephone became goddess of spring, her return to the surface of the earth giving her mother joy and ending the 6 months of cold weather.

Intentions

What do you think of, when you think of spring? I think of flowers blooming, the smell of rain, and the earth waking up. The bright colors of Daffodils and Lilacs and the green that spreads over the earth like a blanket. That was my inspiration for the makeup look based on Persephone: the bright colors of flowers. I wanted to make this look very colorful, after all, she is the goddess that ends the dreary gray winter months. I used pale and almost fragile colors, like the tenuous first weeks of spring in which the weather is unpredictable, and unsure. I wanted to keep the blending to a minimum, however, because I feel that flowers are always a pop of color, never fading into the greenery around them.

Outcome

The overall look...you can see the colors, almost pastel. The four colors are green, pink, purple and periwinkle. I love it, and the glossy lip is very sweet and springy.

 The eye close ups are my favorite, with all the colors...they're so awesome. The green is like the stems of flowers, and the other colors are like the petals. I didn't go to the trouble of blending all the colors, because like I said, different colors of flowers don't blend together, they stand out against each other. I think that despite the lack of blending, the makeup looks great. The pink actually didn't photograph very well, it's much more of a vibrant hot pink...

Awkward lip close up. I love gloss...it seriously makes your lips look much fuller. This one actually has sparkles in it, but I love it anyway (my glitter prejudice does not extend to this) it's totally spring-themed and good.

Tools & Techniques

 This is the first layer of my BH Cosmetics 120 Color Palette, 2nd Edition, the source of all four of the colors for this look. The first one is the pale green (the second row from the top, third from the left) the second is the pink (the bottom row, second from the right) next is periwinkle (third row from the top, fifth row from the right) and the purple (second row from the top, fourth from the right). I chose these colors because they're all very different from one another. I wanted to use the different colors to create the effect of a field of flowers, almost. The varied colors are extremely important in doing that. I chose to apply the green to the inner corners of my eyes, as a sort of stem, and after that I simply picked colors. The one thing to make sure of is that all of the colors stand out equally. Don't blend, and don't put very similar colors next to each other. Use a normal flat shadow brush to make sure that your colors go on brightly, and that the outer lines are straight.

The other three products I used were, from top to bottom: Sephora Brand Lipgloss Stick #3, which is the sparkle on top of the pink, Tarte LipSurgence Matte Lip Pencil in Lucky (supposed to moisturize your lips 6000% or something crazy like that, and is also the perfect shade of pale pink!) and Maybelline Illegal Length Mascara. The reason I chose to use a matte lip pencil (which just means that it's not shiny, shimmery, or glittery, but completely flat color), and then immediately slick gloss over it is simple; matte pencils tend to have a more opaque color. The pink of this pencil really does cover your lips to a completely matte and opaque finish. When things are opaque it's easier to hide imperfections, such as chapping, or this one freckle I have on my lips. What I mean is, matte lip pencils provide a clean and completely blank canvas to work with. Use it well. You can use any matte color, all will create a perfect blank canvas. The Sephora lipgloss pencil, when used on its own, is too glittery, and not pink enough to look normal. It gives your lips a sort of eerie, pale glow, instead of being pink and glittery. So, to remedy that but still keep the sparkle, layer it over a different shade of opaque pink. Last, but not least, Maybelline's Illegal Length mascara. This is a current favorite of mine, lots of length and definition, no clumps or extra volume.

Persephone is responsible for bringing about spring, and I honored both her and spring time with this colorful and fresh makeup.

Artemis

Inspiration

Continuing on my track of Greek goddesses, the next one up is Artemis. She's the goddess of the moon, the hunt, and maidens. She was said to have eyes as luminous as the moon, and to be fierce in protecting those loyal to her.  She was one of the twin archers, sister to Apollo, god of the sun. Artemis was the younger of the two, but the fiercest, never hesitating to tackle the greatest challenges. Along with her group of hunters, the girls who pledged themselves to her service, she was said to have rid the world of many an evil creature. It is also said that Aphrodite despised Artemis for shunning love and the company of men. The two did not get along, as Aphrodite's more feminine nature clashed with the maiden hunter's stance on life. 

Intent

My intention was to mimic the colors of the moon, and the simplicity of the lifestyle Artemis was said to have led. She was fierce and strong, and stuck to her guns, and clearly she wasn't the type to wear makeup, or to spend time on stuff like that. Given that fact, (Which I find totally ridiculous! Who doesn't love makeup??) I think even the goddess of the hunt would make time for her beauty routine if it included just 4 easy steps.

Outcome

 I thought the silvery-grey shade of eye shadow was a perfect modern representation. I was thinking soft and diffused, like the light from the full moon, and a little bit of shadow, so my eyes didn't look like reverse raccoon eyes...anyway, I think the general look was successful! See, luminous? The blending was extremely necessary, because otherwise it would have been an awkward line of grey...anyway. I like it.

 All silver and glowy...and look at my eyelashes! I have another picture of my mascara down further

And I figured that if she was the goddess of maidens also, the eyes could be glowy and the lips could be plain...simple simple.


Tools & Techniques

 To do the shimmery moon-thingy, I used Urban Decay's eye shadow in "Uzi" which is the top row, second from the left. It looks like a shimmery white, but it's actually glittery, with pieces of glitter. I love the effect, but I really do hate glitter because it gets everywhere and never comes off, not even with epic amounts of makeup remover. Anyway, aside from my prejudice against glitter, I think the effect of the silver is pretty. Use a fluffy blending brush to make sure the line isn't too harsh against your skin.

To do the blending on the outer corner, and make my eyes look something other than flat, I used Urban Decay's eye shadow "Gunmetal" which is the top row, second from the left. Again, with the fluffy brush: the moon's glow has no harsh shadows.

These are the other two products that I used. The bottom one is Fresh "Sugar" lip balm, which is amazing (if pricey...) and I figured that I wanted to keep everything simple so chapstick seemed good and healthy. The top is Maybelline's new mascara called "Illegal Length" and I love it! It gives literally no volume (so if that's what you're after this isn't the mascara for you) but for length it is amazing! I applied 3 coats, and my lashes are so much longer than without it. Get it, get it, get it. You will love it, just like I do.

I think I did Artemis proud. Doesn't everyone look at the full moon and think about how beautiful it is? I do. This look represents some of the way I feel about the light from the moon, and the beauty that Artemis was said to have possessed, inspiring many men to try, and fail, to win her heart.

Aphrodite

Hi guys, so first of all I wanted to say that I'm extremely sorry that I haven't posted since September, things got a little hectic and I lost track of all things fun. The good news is that I managed to create my own class at school, recording my makeup looks, and keeping them all on here! That said, now may be a good time to start talking about the looks. So lately, I've been reading Rick Riordan's series' Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and The Lost Hero. They're all about the Greek gods and goddesses still existing today, and Greek mythology is a huge component. The point of all this? I'm obsessed with the Greek gods! So I decided it would be fun to create makeup looks based on the goddesses, titans, and spirits within Greek mythology. The first goddess, in alphabetical order, is Aphrodite.

Inspiration

Aphrodite is known as the goddess of beauty, love and lust. She is the subject of Boticelli's Birth of Venus (her Roman name) and is known for being so beautiful that if you looked upon her you would fall instantly in love. She is one of the oldest gods, having been born out of the sea foam before Gaea (mother earth) and Uranos (the sky) had any children. Aphrodite, being the goddess of lust, is married to Hephaestus (the god of blacksmiths and the forge), but her consort is Ares, the god of war. Legends say that Helen of Troy was the daughter of Aphrodite, and that it was because of her inheritance of her mother's lustful nature that the Trojan war occurred.  

Intent

Obviously (to me at least) those three things imply three totally different makeup looks; Beauty, Love and Lust. My intention was to translate my personal definition of each of these words into a makeup look in such a way that it would be obvious which look is which. So when I was thinking about beauty, it occurred to me that my definition was really just clean, bright skin, long eye lashes, and minimal actual makeup, so that's what I did.

Results

 I love this picture, even though there's an awkward shadow in my face...

Also I love this, the light and shadows on my face look really cool (at least, in my head...)

Tools & Techniques

 So, to make this (not quite) look, I used these four items. From left to right: NARS Velvet Matte lip pencil in Dolce Vita, Sephora Brand Top and Bottom eyelashes (but only on the top) YSL Touche Eclat, and YSL Teint Radiance. (Quick comment on false lashes? You have to blend them together with your real lashes using mascara. My current favorite is LashGasm by Too Faced, which has a small brush and works super well on your bottom lashes, also!)

This is a stippling brush, if you didn't already know. I got mine at Sephora, but you can pretty much get them anywhere. Use this to get that glowy, barely-there foundation. Used with my YSL Teint Radiance, it finishes my face perfectly, and blends out evenly.

Intent

Aphrodite is also, obviously, the goddess of Love. So what comes to mind when you think of love? For me, it's Valentine's Day, all the pinks and soft colors, and romantic candle light in restaurants. Building on that theme, I decided to go with pink eye shadow, a golden shimmer highlight on my brow bone, and a pale pink lip. Don't I just radiate love? 

Outcome

So, as you can see it's also a simple look. I'm sorry I couldn't get a good shot of my eyes. The pink is darker in the outer corners, and my lips are a few shades lighter, sort of a baby doll pink.

Close up of my lips...awkward, but the color is great, right?


Tools & Techniques

 So, to make matters easy, I built on my "beauty look" using a NARS Velvet Matte lip pencil in Roman Holiday.

 I also used this Urban Decay Limited Edition 15th Anniversary Palette, the shade "Tainted" (very top row, middle color) all over my lid, "Junkshow" (which is right underneath Tainted) and "Vanilla" as the highlight color on my brow bone (left row, middle color)

To blend it all together, I used this Sephora Brand blending brush. It's all nice and fluffy, and it makes the colors mesh together perfectly.

Intent

Also the goddess of lust, Aphrodite was the creator of simple attraction, which, to me, says "bright red lip!" rather loudly. A rule of makeup is that if you're going really strong on the lips, make the eyes simple. Vice versa, crazy colorful bright eyes definitely demand nude lips. In this case, bloodred merits black winged eyeliner.

Channeling my inner lusty goddess...right.

 Another awkward lip shot! 

 Eye close up! can you tell that my eyelashes are fake? I love them. Notice, the wing is not so pronounced, and the bottom only goes so far. It's a good, easy eyeliner trick to make your eyes look rounder.

 Note the eyelash glue. It's pretty easy to do, actually. However, I would be lost without my eyelash tweezers (this is not the technical term). they're a type of tool that can be used to hold the eyelashes, like pliers, but wide enough that you can hold the entire lash. I use it to hold the lashes while I apply the glue to the band, and then I move the whole thing to my lash line. It's an easy and clean way to apply your lashes.

 Side shot, and i think this looks kinda cool!

Tools of the trade. Just had to take off my shadow, and replace it with my black Sephora pencil (which I have totally worn down to a teeny tiny nub...) as well as my NARS Indian Red lip stain. I love lip stains! they go on like lip gloss, and then dry to a matte finish, and never budge. Fantastic.

So, Aphrodite is the goddess of all things beauty and love related, and I think these three looks based on her are pretty good primary representations of the three main points. I can always do more complex, interesting things later, building on these templates...thoughts? Questions, comments, concerns? Let me know!

xo, Goddess of Love