Friday 31 May 2013

Great Gatsby Inspired 1920s Makeup & How To Create A Faux Bob

Almost everyone I know is super excited to see The Great Gatsby and I don't blame them! Baz Lurhmann's (director of Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge) film looks absolutely gorgeous and stars one of my personal favourites, Leonardo Decaprio ;) I was also given the book for my eighteenth birthday and it is an absolutely stunning and moving read.


BUT, that's not even why I'm so keen to see the film! I'm actually dying to go and see all of the beautiful costume design and hair and makeup!

So for today's blog post, I've created a wearable makeup look inspired by The Great Gatsby, complete with a slate-grey and burgundy smoky eye and deep plum lips. Plus, I'll even show you how to create a bob, without having to chop all of your hair off! I've had long hair my whole life, so creating this faux bob was so much fun. And yes, I totally got my flapper girl gear on for this post! #ilovedressingup

Trying to be a femme fatale... And no, that isn't a cigarette, it's actually a NARS eyeliner pencil haha

Taken By Surprise Tutorial: Great Gatsby Inspired 1920s Makeup


1. Women from the 1920s all seemed to have porcelain-like skin, so start by applying a primer that will smooth out your skin and minimise the appearance of pores. 

Then with a light reflecting foundation to create a natural finish, apply all over your face using a foundation brush or clean fingers. Make sure to blend! I actually had to use two applications of the Rimmel London Match Perfection Foundation because its coverage is fairly sheer, but it still gave me the look that I wanted.

Make sure to conceal any dark circles, discolouration or blemishes with a concealer slightly lighter than your foundation. Then set with a finishing powder applied with a kabuki brush.

From left to right
TheBalm Time Balm Face Primer
Rimmel London Match Perfection Foundation in "200 Soft Beige"
Garnier Roll-on Under Eye Concealer in "Medium"
Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in "20 Sand"
Essence Mattifying Compact Powder in " 04 Perfect Beige"
2. Makeup back then was more about the eyes and the lips, rather than the cheeks. Everyone seemed to have just a naturally dusky red flush on their cheeks, so taking a red powder blush, apply a very small amount to the apples of your cheeks and blend upwards toward your temples. 

Colorete Girl Rouge in "Frambusea Raspberry" - it looks really dark, but you only need a tiny bit.
3. Time for highlighter to create a glowing finish! With a liquid highlighter (or a shimmery white eyeshadow applied with a flat eyeshadow brush) apply underneath your brows, along your cheekbones and the bridge of your nose, and above your cupid's bow.

Benefit Highbeam Highlighter
4. Define your brows by applying a brow gel to tame any unruly hairs. Then fill in using a matte brown brow powder (or eyeshadow) and a flat angled brush. Apply another coat of brow gel to set the powder.

Benefit Speed Brow Brow Gel
Urban Decay NAKED2 Palette in "Tease"
5. Now to get those peepers looking like they woke up in the 20's! Start off with a taupe or steel grey creme eyeshadow and apply all over the lid using your finger tips.

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in "35 Tough As Taupe"
With a shimmery black creamy eyeshadow stick, line your top lash line and softly blend upwards using a short-bristled blending brush.

NARS Soft Touch Eyeshadow Pencil in "Aigle Noir"
With a matte grey eyeshadow, press the shadow onto your eyelids and it should stick to the creme shadow really well and really make that grey stand out.

Rimmel London Glam'Eyes Quad Eyeshadow in "001 Smokey Noir" using the shade "1"
Using a shimmery deep pink and a fluffy blending brush, apply a very small amount to the outer corner and gently blend into the crease using a windscreen wiper motion. This should give the grey a pop of colour and some more dimension.

Lancome Eye Brightening All-In-One 5 Shadow and Liner Palette in "308 Violet Magnetique" using the shade "Paupiere"
To define the eyelid even more, using the same fluffy brush, apply a deep burgundy shadow into the outer corner and blend into the crease. Softly bring the colour out towards the end of your eyebrow, tapering the colour into a soft point.

Beauty Essentials Be Essential Eyes 12 Colour Eyeshadow Palette
To bring some light into the eyes, apply a gold creme eyeshadow to your lower lash line using a flat angled brush. Then line your tightline and waterline (halfway) using a creamy black eyeliner pencil. To make eyes look brighter, apply a little white eyeliner to the inner corners and bring the white in towards where the black liner ends.

From top to bottom:
Maybelline Colour Tattoo in "25 Bad To The Bronze"
Rimmel London Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eyeliner Pencil in "001 Black"
Rimmel London Soft Kohl Kajal Eyeliner Pencil in "071 Pure White"
For big flirty flapper lashes, curl those babies and apply a volumising and lengthening mascara to your top and bottom lashes. Wait for your first coat to dry then apply a second.

Rimmel London Scandaleyes Lycra Flex Mascara in "001 Black"
6. Now to get those deep plum lips! First line your lips with a red lip pencil staying as close to your natural lip outline as possible. Create a deeper V than you normally would however at the cupid's bow to achieve a more 1920s-esque lip shape.

Rimmel London Lasting Finish 1000 Kisses Stay On Lip Contouring Pencil in "061 Wine"
Then with a matte dark plum lipstick, fill in your lips using a lip brush for added precision. Once you're done, apply a matching gloss to the centre of your lips to make them look fuller and "bee-stung".

Sportsgirl Pout About It Lip Colour in "Dark Angel"
Sportsgirl Give Some Lip Liquid Lip Colour in "Cherry Pie"

Taken By Surprise Tutorial: How to Create a Faux Bob

Creating a faux bob is actually surprisingly easy. All you need is a stretchy headband that can fit around your head (I made mine by attaching an old fascinator to a scallop edged elastic headband) and a straightener.

1. Start with loose wavy curls. I just curled my hair using my straightener - if you would like a tutorial on how I curl my hair, let me know in the comments below!

2. Put your headband on across your forehead. I had to tuck my bangs into it, so if you have bangs, you'll likely have to do that too!

3. Then - this is literally the easiest thing ever - just take the end of one curled section, loop it, and tuck the end into your headband. Then just keep taking pieces of hair and tucking it into your headband until it's all in there.


And that is it; gosh, faux bobs are easy peasy!

And we're all done!

(Yup, I totally put pearls, a faux fur stole and a sequinned dress on! Loooove 1920s fashion!)



And of course, the cheeky selfie at the end! I can't imagine flapper girls ever doing this haha
 Are you looking forward to seeing The Great Gatsby? What other films can't you wait for? Let me know in the comments below!
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Wednesday 29 May 2013

My flower crown Etsy shop, CrownedByFlowers is now on Facebook!

Hi guys!

I have some exciting news! Some of you may already know that I make handmade one-of-a-kind flower crowns for my Etsy shop, CrownedByFlowers and I've just created a Facebook page for the shop!

If you would like updates on new arrivals, know about discounts before anyone else and see all of the snaps of happy customers wearing their CrownedByFlowers flower crowns, I highly recommend you take a peek at the Facebook page and like it (if you would like to) :)



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Sunday 26 May 2013

Girls with Glasses: Winged Eyeliner and a Pop of Pink Makeup Tutorial

As my bespectacled readers will know, figuring out what makeup to wear with your glasses can be a challenge! Glasses pretty much cover up your entire eye area, but you can still have pretty peepers that can and will show up from behind your specs.

How? By defining your eyes with some handy tips from this tutorial! This look uses liquid liner to make eyes pop and also incorporates a super lovely pink lip that doesn't fight for attention with your frames like a bold lip could do. 

Now, down to makeup tutorial business!
It's simple, easy, and makes your eyes the focal point of your face, not your glasses! If you wear contacts or have perfect vision (lucky you!), don't worry, this look will still look super cute on you. If you want glasses anyway, pop the lenses out of your 3D glasses from the cinema and we can all be geek chic together <3 

It feels like I haven't done a makeup tutorial in forever, so I was very excited to shoot this one for you guys. I hope it gives you some inspiration! So what are you waiting for? Read on to find out how to create this look!

Taken By Surprise Tutorial

Girls With Glasses: Winged Eyeliner and a Pop of Pink


1. Start off by creating the base for your makeup by applying a primer. For someone with oily skin, glasses can slip down your nose if your makeup doesn't have a matte finish. A primer will help keep your makeup (and your glasses) in place. 

Then apply a liquid foundation - I recently bought the Revlon Photoready foundation which is oil free (good for my shiny skin) and I find it works really well for wearing with glasses because it stays matte for longer than other foundations I've tried.

Add concealer to cover up any redness and gently apply to your under-eyes too if you have dark circles. Glasses not only magnify what you see, but also any bags under your eyes! So make sure they're less noticeable by using a concealer. 

From left to right:
TheBalm Time Balm Face Primer
Revlon Photoready Foundation in "005 Natural Beige:
Benefit Erase Paste Concealer in "Medium"
Garnier Roll-On Under Eye Concealer in "Medium" 
Oh yeah, I have aced ma base.
2. Even though my foundation has a pretty matte formula, I'm going to apply a setting powder over the top anyway. The Essence one that I bought recently was only about $5 and works really well at keeping my face shine free.

Essence Mattifying Compact Powder in " 04 Perfect Beige"
Adding powder means I can say goodbye to disco ball skin!
3. Let's add some colour to that face! I'm going for a pretty soft look with this tutorial, so I'm going to skip bronzer and go straight to blush. With a pink liquid blush (these are amazing, if you haven't got one already, I urge you to give it a go!) apply a few drops to the apples of your cheeks and blend in a circular motion with your fingers, taking the colour up towards your temples for a natural looking flush.

For a fresh faced look, apply a liquid highlighter underneath your brow bone, along your cheek bones, the bridge of your nose, your cupid's bow (the little dip above your top lip) and the highest point of your chin.

Benefit Posie Tint Lip and Cheek Stain
Benefit High Beam Highlighter
It's a subtle hint of colour but it is oh-so lovely! 
4. If you wear thick-framed glasses like I do, I cannot stress enough how important it is do fill in your brows! Having defined brows frames your face and will stop thick glasses from looking too bold. First use a brow gel or a clear mascara to comb the hairs into place, then apply a brow powder (or a matte eyeshadow that's a shade lighter than your brows) with an angled brush to fill in any sparse areas.

Benefit Speed Brow Gel
Urban Decay NAKED2 Palette in "Tease"
Scroll up to the previous step and you can really see the difference now that I have my brows filled in!
5. For eyeshadow, I find that complicated looks often get hidden by glasses, so I wouldn't bother. Instead let's focus on defining our eyes rather than dressing them up. So first, apply an eyeshadow primer to create a base for our colour.

Then with a matte white or neutral eyeshadow, apply all over your eyelid using a flat eyeshadow brush.  To define the eye shape, take a metallic light brown shade and apply to the outer corner of the eyelid, then blend the colour into the crease using a windshield wiper motion.

To really make our eyes pop, add a metallic champagne-like white shade to the inner corners.

Urban Decay Primer Potion in "Original"
All over the lid: Urban Decay NAKED2 Palette in "Foxy"
Apply to the outer corner and blend into crease: Urban Decay NAKED2 Palette in "Verve"
Inner corner: Urban Decay NAKED2 Palette in "Bootycall"
This is such a weird angle haha

6. For some more definition, line your tight line with a waterproof black pencil liner. If you're not sure what a tight line is, it's the the waterline underneath your top lash line. It will feel awkward at first, but doing this makes your lashes look thicker (yay!). Then with the same liner, line your lower lash line halfway (to about the centre of your pupil).

Rimmel London Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Pencil Liner in  "001 Black"
Already my eyes are starting to pop, all thanks to a pencil liner!
7. Time for liquid liner! I pretty much live in winged eyeliner because it really stands out from behind glasses and makes you look like you put a lot more effort into your makeup that you really did haha. Using your favourite liquid liner, create a thin line along your top lash line and flick out at the end to create a wing. If you would like a detailed liquid liner tutorial, I did a post on it a while back.

TheBalm Schwing Liquid Eyeliner
As you can see, I've used it a lot haha 

8. Now it's time for mascara! Curl those lashes and apply your favourite mascara to your top and bottom lashes. I've gone for a lengthening formula to help my eyes stand out even more from behind my glasses.

Rimmel London Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara
Whoa, hey there big eyes!
9.  For lips, I've been loving a baby pink pout and it goes perfectly with the liner look we have for our eyes. First I apply a light pink (slightly lilac-toned) lip butter and add a super cute pink lip stain over the top.

Revlon Lip Butter in "Gumdrop"
Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stain in "Cherish"
Now pop your frames on, because we're done!



For girls with glasses - I wear glasses pretty much everyday unless I have a special event on, so let me know if you would like a series of tutorials on makeup suited for ladies with specs!

Do you wear glasses? What kind of makeup do you wear on a day-to-day basis? Let me know in the comments below!
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