Skull Tutorial - Simple Halloween Makeup #5

I know what you're thinking...it doesn't look overly simple at first glance does it? But actually, when you break it down into the steps below this skull look is pretty easy to achieve! Just believe and give it a go! This was actually the first time I have ever tried a skull look so the pictures you see below are literally with no practice at all, so if I can do it, you lovely people most certainly can too!

As with all of the other Halloween looks I have put up this week, I used normal makeup bag items to create this one. For the white I used NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk and a white eyeshadow. You could definitely use facepaint to create this whole look however I will say unless you have a great white facepaint that gives a smooth, opaque finish, go the eyeshadow route instead. It makes the look so much cleaner and it's also easier to apply the black over the top. For the large black areas I used a black gel eyeliner (Seventeen Gel Eyeliner in Smoulder) and the teeth and smaller details were created using a combination of a black Kohl eyeliner pencil and a liquid liner in felt tip form. In reality you could create the whole look with just one of these products (or a decent black facepaint) but I found it a little easier to swap between products. I also used black and grey eyeshadows to help blend things out.

So to start, I really recommend using a primer. Not only will it help keep the look in place, it will also act as a barrier between your skin and the facepaint or large amount of makeup. This is particularly helpful if you have quite sensitive skin. Next, take your chosen products and white out your entire face. I drew lines all across my face with NYX Milk (which I really recommend by the way for both this and normal looks as a base) and then blended it out. Then I went over the whole area with a white eyeshadow which gave a more even finish as well as the added bonus of helping to set the NYX Milk.

Now it's time to get your main features in place. Outline the eye and nose shape, lightly sketching until you are happy and then fill it all in. Go for a slightly more square shape around the eyes rather than round circles as this will help it look a little more authentic. At this point my fiance came home and pronounced that I look like a dalmatian...good start!

Next, using either a smaller brush or an eyeliner pen, draw lines out from the corner of your mouth and out towards your ear on either side. Try to follow the line made in the hollow under your cheekbone as a guide and stop when you are as far out as the edge of the black circles around the eyes. Then it's time to add in the vertical lines which will form your teeth. leave fairly even spacing between the lines until you get to the last four or so. At this point, make the lines get gradually slightly closer together just to taper it off nicely.

Once all of the lines have been drawn, draw little v shapes coming off of each end of the lines. Don't worry about being super tidy here as these are more of a starting guideline.

Start extending out the lines of the v shapes lightly so that they start crossing over each other and begin to shade in the inner point to make it stand out a little more. One important thing to note here, don't panic that your teeth are all different shapes, this actually gives it a far more believable look. After all, are every single one of your teeth exactly the same?

Now that you can really see the shape of your teeth, add in a little more grey eyeshadow around the outsides of your teeth and then blend it out towards the rest of your face so that it gradually fades out. Also add in little diamond shapes at the point where the teeth lines and centre line meet to give definition between each tooth.

We've got a bit of a lighting change in the rest of the photos as at this point I lost natural light. The danger of makeup experimentation on winter evenings! Once you've got your teeth sufficiently blended, you'll want to go back in with some white to create your pearly nashers. I used a small brush to apply NYX Milk to each tooth and then just gradually brushed down with the edge of the brush to create the root of each tooth.

Since we've got our teeth sorted, it's now time to create the cheekbone. I have no idea how to decribe the shape here so follow the image below and draw it right where your ear is. The smaller part that comes out will follow the hollow line under your chekkbone so that it will match up nicely with where your teeth are. Use a grey eyeshadow to blend out the area around the teeth until they look like they gradually face into eachother. You may also want to darken up your ears at this point too!

If you like you could finish the look there but adding in some details will really add to the overall effect. I added in some little points coming off the eyes, some soft lines around the main features and lines running from the corner of my eye up to my temple on both sides. I then took a brush and gently blended them a little so they didnt look too harsh. Using a light touch I traced in a few cracks here and there as well.

 

Ever the fan of contouring, I took a grey eyeshadow and blended it along my jaw, temples and forehead. Depending on what you are wearing, you might want to extend the white down your neck and chest. Alternatively you could go all out and create a bare bone effect down your neck. I think if I created this look again, I would add in some more cracks across the cheeks and forehead for a scarier finish so you might want to add in more when you create this look yourself! 

To add a little flare, I decided to backcomb my hair as a sleek do just didn't look quite right to me. So here is the finished look!

Would you give this look a go? What do you think of the skull makeup? Would love to know what you think so do pop a comment below!

Galaxy Makeup Tutorial - Simple Halloween Makeup #1

With Halloween just around the corner, youtube and blogs alike are filling up with some amazing and seriously creepy makeup creations. I love them all but I'll be honest, sometimes I like to come up with a look that doesn't frighten me when I catch a glimpse in the mirror! Plus, I thought it might be a good idea to come up with some looks that you can create with items that you probably already have to hand for those last minute Halloween emergencies!

The look I have created for this post was so simple to put together and required nothing more than a couple of eyeshadows and some silver eyeliner! Even if you don't have a silver eyeliner on hand, you can mix a silver eyeshadow with something like Mac Fix+ or even a little bit of moisturiser.

What I loved about this look is how simple it was to put together and yet it was pretty effective! For starters, use a primer and your normal foundation to create a uniform base. I then used my urban decay eyeshadow primer to help keep the makeup in place and to make the colours pop. Next I layered on white eyeshadow pretty much all over the top half of my face. Now on to the fun part! If you want to give this look a try, take a blue eyeshadow and start creating a swirling pattern across your face. There are no rules here so literally just start making some shapes until you are happy. This will serve as the starting point for your pattern but you can always add in a little more later if you feel like you're missing something. The only thing I would say is try not to be too symmetrical. Here is what I started out with!

Next you'll want to start building up the pattern! Start by taking a black eyeshadow and with a light touch, start adding in black along the blue pattern. You don't need to follow every blue line exactly, just add in darker areas throughout the swirls. You'll then want to do the same with a purple eyeshadow and lastly add pink with a lighter touch in just a few areas. If needed, add in a little more white just to make the colours stand out a bit more.

To finish off the look, you need to add in the stars! Using a silver eyeliner, start adding little dots across the darker areas in a flowing pattern. As with the initial colour, try to give it a fairly random pattern until you are happy. At this point I also added in some eyeliner along my water line and upper lash line and then filled in my eyebrows.

To finish off the look I chose a suitably bright lipstick as I felt that would work nicely with the swirling purples and blues! However I think you could easily go for a nude lip with all of the colour on the top half of your face or even make it a bit moody with a dark purple or berry lip.

So there we have it, a simple galaxy makeup look you can create using just a few standard makeup items! I think this would look great paired with a sequin dress or go for a super chic look with a classic LBD.

Would you give this look a go? What are you planning to dress up as this Halloween? Let me know in the comments!

How To: Contour and Highlight Like a Pro

Ah the elusive art of contouring. Something that has been around for many, many years behind the scenes at fashion shows but has only really become popular in the wider mainstream of beauty in the last few years. Though its difficult to know exactly where the makeup technique started, it is generally credited to Kevyn Aucion, an American makeup artist to the stars who worked with nearly every A-lister imaginable. He was described as having "invented cheekbones" after he started using his revolutionary makeup technique and the art of defining features seems to have continued from there on.

Fast forward to recent years and everyone is all about contouring, from your little sister to your gran. But how on earth do you do it?! In this guide, I'm going to teach you how to contour and also show just how it can change the shape of your face and enhance your bone structure. In order to do that, I'm afraid I'm going to have to provide you all with some rather questionable and at some times downright scary pictures of my face so...bear with me!

First things first, what do you need? There are so many contour palettes these days as well as contour sticks, highlighter pens, bronzer / highlighter duos etc that it can be hard to know what to choose. In simple terms, all you need is a product that is a couple of shades darker than your natural skin tone and another that is a couple of shades lighter. Personally I prefer products that are matte and have a more ash tone as these tend to look more natural on me but it's really up to you what colours you choose.

One thing I will say is that if you aren't really familiar with contouring but want to give it a go, there is absolutely no need to spend huge amounts of money on the contour specific products. In fact, if you have a matte brown eyeshadow and a light creamy eyeshadow, you don't have to spend any money at all to give it a try.

My palette of choice was a cheeky eBay bargain that I bought to initially try contouring. I've since tried other various contouring tools but genuinely find this one the easiest to use plus the price keeps my bank balance happy so it's a win-win! There's a range of colours for contouring as well as a couple of colour correctors which is an added bonus. In this tutorial I'm going to use the cream highlighter (top row, 2nd in from the left) and the darkest shade in the bottom right corner. I then use a Cargo Bronzer and Rimmel Stay Matte powder to set it.

Here's where the scary stuff starts! Below is a slightly terrifying close up of my face to show my starting point. We can use these as a reference to compare with the ones after I have contoured to help see the difference it can make.

Next up is knowing exactly where to contour. Below is a picture of where I place my contour and highlight which you can use as a general guide. Please excuse the ridiculous face I am pulling but I was trying to show where all of the makeup was added! 

As you can see, I place the darker colour at my temples, either side of my chin and nose, along the bottom of my jaw and in the hollow of my cheeks. To find the right part of your cheeks, do your best trout pout impression and tap the colour from your hairline outwards, following the dip underneath your cheekbone. However, be sure to not bring your contour any further than the middle of your pupil.

The highlighter is then placed under the eyes, across the top of your cheekbones, the center of the chin, nose and forehead and above the centre of your lips.

The next step is blending and this might actually be one of the most important parts! Leave an unblended line across your face and you look less like you have the bone structure of a goddess and more like someone playing army dress up. So...yeah...get blending!

Since I use cream based contour products I like to use a fairly sturdy brush to blend such as the Real Techniques Stippling brush but if you use powders, you can use a softer blending brush. Again this is personal preference so see what tools make it easiest for you and roll with it. I tend to blend in the highlighted areas, then the contoured areas and then a general blend between each section to ease the transition between the colours. Finish off by gently brushing over a little bronzer on the contoured areas and a translucent (or skin toned) powder across the highlighted areas to set.

And here is the finished product!

When comparing to the previous image, you can see that my cheekbones look much more defined, as is my jaw line which gives the impression of being a little thinner (thank the lord!) and my nose has been slimmed down. The highlighted areas around my eyes gives a brighter and healthier look to my face and my top lip looks fuller.

The wonderful thing about contouring is that it can be adapted to any face shape and for any features. Once you've mastered the basics, there is nothing stopping you from using contouring and highlighting in different ways till you find what you like best. All you have to remember is that contouring can be used to reduce features and highlighting makes them more prominent. So if, like me you would like to give the illusion of a slimmer nose, add a little more contouring along the sides. Or if you feel you have quite a rounded face and would like to make it appear more angular, use more countouring along the sides of your face and really accentuate your cheekbones. To give you an idea of how it works, below is a handy little image of different ways to tweak contouring based on your face shape.

While it's certianly not something I would do every day, it's a great way to enhance your look for a big event and I am quite a fan! What do you think of contouring? Are you just getting on board or are you a contouring pro? What is your favourite contouring product to use? Leave me a comment to let me know!