Natural Look with a Smokey Edge

Some friends of mine came over the other day. It was a no-makeup kind of day, and I had planned on wearing only foundation. But something happened to me when I was in front of the mirror, and I came up with this look.

I actually used a neutral pink eyeshadow that day, but the concept is the same. Just one sweep of color on the entire lid and a soft black eyeliner smudged on the bottom lashline. There's some eyeliner on the waterline too but not too much. I topped it all off with black mascara.

The color is Fairy Dust from mark. I love this color because it's a lovely champagne with not too much shimmer, so it can be used as a highlight or a base color and it combines beautifully with other colors. The eyeliner is Big and Bright Eyeliner in Black Coffee from Bare Escentuals. It's a velvety brown/black that works well when you don't want the harshness of black eyeliner but don't want to go completely brown either.

Something I've been doing lately is opting for not putting eyeliner on the top lashline because it doesn't take as long to do, and I like how it looks different from the traditional look.

Makeup Inspired by The Hunger Games

I devoured The Hunger Games in two days and for a while after I finished Mockingjay, I couldn't really read anything else for a while. The trilogy has become one of my favorite book series, and I was inspired by the first book to create this look.

The second I read about Cinna's gold eyeliner, I thought, "I just bought that! I can do that!" Perhaps, Avon's Twinkle and Shine Eye Liner in Gold is a bit more yellowish than Cinna's gold, but you work with what you've got. Unfortunately, the gold's a bit washed out in the center of my lid in the above photo.

I applied Amber Blaze by Mary Kay on the entire lid, which I thought was appropriate for Katniss when she is the Girl on Fire. I also used it on the bottom lashline to smudge Avon's Glimmersticks Diamonds Eye Liner in Smoky Grey and create a smoldering, after-the-fire effect. I topped it off with black eyeliner on the waterline and black mascara. The last time I did this look, I used black eyeshadow, which made it a bit edgier and suitable for nighttime. For the daytime, this much fire was just fine.

Blue, Green, and Pink Eyeshadow

As I reached for all the violet eyeshadows I had, I realized that somehow or other, blue was calling me today. And because it was just my family and me today, I felt I could be a little darker than usual; so I used a dark blue on my lids and a dark olive green in my crease. I balanced it out with soft pink eyeshadow on the browbone. The blue is from Avon's 12-in-1 Shimmering Eye Palette. The green and pink are from The Color Workshop.

I wanted to do a little something different with the eyeliner than just one color. I used blue eyeliner on the outer corner of my lower lashline and blended it into green eyeliner. The eyeliner is probably my favorite part of the look. The green eyeliner is Avon's Ultra Luxury Eye Liner in Khaki and the blue is Midnight Blue by Avon (discontinued).

 As is painfully obvious in this next photo, I completely forgot to put on mascara, and there was no more sunlight to take photos. There's some eyeshadow on my eyelashes, which doesn't look nearly as good. Always carry extra mascara with you. Lesson learned.