Makeup Tutorials

A Summery Sultry Sexy Smokey bronze makeup tutorial

brown smokey A Summery Sultry Sexy Smokey bronze makeup tutorial

I´ve been asked if I can do a bronze makeup look which is quite fun because it is a sexy look that also can be worn in the summer because the bronze really brings out a tan without being too heavy on the eyes and it suits all eye colours as well!

Most of the makeup brushes I used in this tutorial are from Sigma which you can get here. Most of the makeup I´ve used is from Mac, but if you live in a place where it´s difficult to get a hold of Mac you should get the beautiful Urban Decay Naked palette. This palette contains all the colours I´ve used in this tutorial. I warn you that there might be a lot of raving about the Naked palette in near future because my Naked palette is on its way to me as we speak!!! :D

1. Start with priming your eyelid. If you don´t prime your eyelids your makeup is going to end up underneath your eyes or smudged out all over the place. If you have very oily eye lids or are planning on a long night with lots of dancing I recommend using a primer like the Urban Decay Primer Potion underneath your cream base. My eye lids aren´t that oily so I´m only using Mac Paint pot in Painterly today. Put some underneath the eye as well so that the shadow will stick better here too. After priming apply a matte skin toned eyeshadow on the brow bone, this will make it easier to blend later on.

IMG 8186 A Summery Sultry Sexy Smokey bronze makeup tutorial

2. Find a gorgeous bronzey gold eyeshadow you like and place it on 2/3 of the eye, you don´t have to be very neat about this because we will blend out the edges later on. If your eyeshadow is very shimmery or glittery you should apply it with a patting motion instead of dragging it across as this will prevent fall outs on your cheeks. I´ve used Lancôme 569 ( I think, it was very difficult to decipher) with a Mac 239 brush.

3. Take a fluffy brush and apply a dark matte brown on the outer corner and blend it into the bronze. The reason why you will want to use a matte colour is that you want to keep the highlight in the bronze and blending the bronze and the matte brown together will create a beautiful transition colour which is a mix of those two as shown in the image below. I used a Sigma E25 blending brush to apply Mac Brown Down.

4. Take a big fluffy brush and apply a soft brown to the crease blending upwards and into the matte skin tones eye shadow we started out with. The reason why we blend is to create a natural and smooth transition between the dark colours and skin toned colour on the brow bone. I´ve used a Sigma E40 to apply Mac Kid.

5. Take some of the matte brown you used in the outer corner and place it underneath the lower lashline. I´ve used a Sigma E20 for this which really is the best brush for this purpose no matter what eyeshadow you are working with!

6. To create an illusion of slightly bigger eyes you can apply a light shimmery gold eyeshadow in the inner corner of the eye by the tear duct. I’ve used Mac Rice Paper.

7. Use a gel liner to line the upper lash line. It doesn’t have to be very neat because we are going to smudge it out. If you want a winged eyeliner the line should be extended at the angle that the lower lashline curves towards the end of the eye brow as shown in the image below. When you´ve found the right angle you make it thicker on the outer corner. I’ve used Bobbi Brown Black Ink and I applied it with a Sigma E05.

8. Now smudge the liner you just made with a matte black eye shadow :) By smudging we get a soft eye liner which makes the look more smokey and sultry at the same time as it is far easier to achieve a nice and even line ;) This is also a great way to wear eye liner in the day time with mascara, only brown would look better in daytime. Take some of the black eyeshadow and drag it down to the outer corner of the lower lashline to connect the two lash lines.

9. Apply false lashes or just apply mascara. I´ve used Ardell 113 and cut them a little bit shorter because I felt they were a little bit too long. I also used Dior Iconic mascara. You´re done

babe! :)

…. OR you can apply some gel liner along the water line to create an even more intense and sultry look.

IMG 8251 A Summery Sultry Sexy Smokey bronze makeup tutorial

bronze A Summery Sultry Sexy Smokey bronze makeup tutorial

James has been away since thursday and won’t be back untill monday. Right now he’s in Dubai whilst I´m sitting here – lonely@mc. I can’t wait to have him back and to finally get some sleep again as I sleep incredibly badly when he is not by my side! Oh well, it’s days like these that I have the time to do tutorials which is a lot of fun!!! Now I´m going to dive into a good book since there is thunder and lightning outside, there is nothing like it! :) I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend cupcakes!!

Makeup tutorial: Mila Kunis Sag Awards

Mila Kunis is a celebrity that often shows up with beautiful makeup not to mention her dresses. When I saw the pictures of her from the Sag awards -11 I just had to copy her makeup. The Alexander McQueen she was wearing was also beautiful on her! I read here that the makeup atrist has used Lancôme products on her but since I don´t own any of the products I´ve dug through my makeup collection for something similar and you can do the same if you don´t have any of the products mentioned. 1. Mila Kunis has big and beautiful eyebrows with a high arch so I used Mac Omega eyeshadow together with Mac Coquette eyeshadow to make my own eyebrows bigger like hers. Since I´m blond I´m using lighter shades, but still as dark as I can go to make them dominant. 2. Since we´re using eyeshadows we need a primer and a base. I´ve used Mac Painterly paint pot and Mac Blanc Type e/s all over the lid. Instead of Midnight Rush and Volcano from Lancôme I´ve used Mac Scene on the lid washed on with a Mac 217 brush. This is actually one of my least favorite eyeshadows to use over bigger areas because it´s really difficult to blend evenly but it works brilliantly to smoke out other colours! 3. To add some warmth and definition to the crease I blended in Mac Swiss Chocolate in the outer corner of the crease and blended it upwards towards the end of the eyebrow. 4. To get her sultry intense glance we need a lot of eyeliner. If you have small eyes you might want to avoid lining up your waterline. I´ve used Mac Blacktrack and Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on pencil in Zero. You don´t have to be very careful with the lines as we´re going to smudge it out in a second, just make sure you get it really close to the lashes so that you don´t get any white patches in between. 5. Take some of the same grey eyeshadow you used earlier and use it to smudge out the eyeliner with small back and forth strokes. The Mac 214 brush is brilliant for this purpose! 6. Apply some highlighter to the brow bone and finish off with mascara. I used Mac Dazzle light on the brow bone and YSL Faux Cils in black. If I was going out I would definitely apply some false lashes to this look but since I forgot my glue in Norway I didn´t have a choice. You´ll absolutely get a more flirty look like Mila´s with falsies!

Which celebrity do you think always look stunning on the red carpet?

Summer loving :) – Tutorial with turquoise, blue and purple

Inspired by the beautiful sea and watching it turn from turquoise to blue and by the way it hits the purple sun setting at the end of the day I created this look as my first summer look! I can´t emphasise enough how excited I am to see summer just around the corner! This whole look is done using products from Mac Cosmetics simply because I was standing with my palettes in front of me, you can obviously switch out the products for what ever you have that is similar :)

1. Start of with a primer on the lid to make sure that the eyeshadows don´t crease and to get a more vibrant colour pay off. I like to use Mac Paint Pot in Painterly. Pat on some turquoise eyeshadow in the inner corner and buff it outwards almost to the end like in the picture underneath. I´ve used Mac Steamy with a Mac 239 brush.

2. Blend in a blue eyeshadow in the outer corner and towards the green. Make sure it´s well blended without any harsh transition lines. I used Mac Fresh Water and applied it with the other side of the Mac 239 brush I used for Steamy.

3. Blend in an indigo eyesshadow around the blue and blend it upwards into the crease. I used Mac Parfait Amour and applied it with a Sigma 226.

4. Take a warmer dark purple and blend it in your crease and blend it upwards. I used Mac Fig 1 and applied it with a Mac 224.

5. To get some more depth in the outer corner you can apply a dark blue. I chose Mac Contrast and applied it with a Mac 217.

6. Drag the blue and purple underneath the eye as well and apply the turquoise eyeshadow in the inner corner. Finally it´s starting to take shape ;)

7. Line your eyes with a dark grey/black eyeshadow. This creates a softer and more smokey line then using a pencil, gel or liquid liner. I used Mac Typographic which is my all time favorite when it comes to a blackish colour for smokey looks.

8. If you don´t really like to use falsies then you can jump over this step and just apply mascara. I decided to go for a pair of cute and flirty falsies from Mac in no 7.

On my face I used: Mac Studio Sculpt in Nc 20, Mac Studio finish compact foundation in Nc 15, Mac Pinch o´Peach blush, Mac Fleur Power blush, Chanel bronzer and mac Omega and Coquette eyeshadow on my eyebrows.

I hope you´re having a lovely saturday night!! I´m off to have some wine at a friends place.. :)

A green makeup look

IMG 6849 A green makeup look

In this look I used four beautiful shades by Mac: Manila Paper (a frosty white gold), Valient (light green with golden reflects), Diana Undercover (matte dark forest green) and Spinning Transformation (deep olive bronze with golden reflects).

IMG 6877 A green makeup look

What do you think of the look?

How to: Easy smokey eye in brown using few products :)

A friend of mine asked me if I could do a smokey eye with brown eyeshadow and showed me a picture from the Maje spring summer collection. My friend has big beautiful green eyes so I chose quite a reddish brown which will make green eyes pop even though it suits other eye colours as well. I tried to keep it simple and use few products because I know how annoying it can be to see a look you like but there´s just too many products you´ll need so this look I think is very achievable without spending much money.. if anything as you probably have all you need already :)

This was the picture she showed me (I´m sorry for the blurr, but it was the best pic I could find):

1. Start with a clean face and prep your eyes with a primer/base and apply a concealer underneath the eyes. I´ve used Mac Painterly paint pot and washed a little bit of Mac Blanc Type all over the lid and up to the brow to make it easier to blend and to get a nice even base on the brow bone. Then I used the YSL Touche Eclát under my eyes with the Benefit Powderflage powder on top to set the concealer (which is such a good combo for concealing dark circles btw!!)

2. Line up your eyes along both the upper and the lower lash line with black, you don´t have to make it too even. You can use a gel liner or a pencil for this, I decided to use the Urban Decay 24/7 glide on pencil in Zero because it easily smudges out without losing the black colour. I just used my finger to smudge it out.

IMG 6658 How to: Easy smokey eye in brown using few products :)

3. Fluff on some matte black eye shadow on top of the smudged eyeliner and blend it upwards untill it fades out. I used Mac Carbon and applied it with a Mac 217 brush.

IMG 6660 How to: Easy smokey eye in brown using few products :)

4. Apply a matte reddish brown where the black starts to fade out and blend it up to the crease. You can blend it outwards to get a cateye effect, but I decided to go for a round shape as in the picture above. Normally it looks better with a round shape for big eyes and a cat eye for smaller eyes. Do the same underneath the eyes and blend it out quite far underneath the eye. I used Mac Swiss Chocolate and applied it with a Mac 217.

5. Apply mascara and you´re done with the eyes already! :) I decided to use a brown mascara as I think it gives a softer bed room touch to the look. The mascara I used is a big favorite of mine and it´s the Lancôme Hypnôse Precious Cells.

IMG 6761 How to: Easy smokey eye in brown using few products :)

6. When you apply the foundation you´ll get a much better result around the eyes if you feather it on with a duo fibre brush like Mac 131/188. This makes the eyeshadow fade out evenly. I used a Mac 131 to apply the Mac Studio Sculpt foundation in Nc20. I also used the bronzer and highlighter of Pink Power from the Wonder Woman collection, the Mac Pinch O´Peach blush and my favorite lipgloss of the moment Emancipation which there will be a review of very soon.

I hope you´ve had a wonderful thursday sweeties!! <3

A smokey Valentine´s look in blackish pink with Ombres Perles de Chanel 2011

Since Valentine´s day is coming up I´ve decided to do a couple of looks for the occasion. I´ve already done a simple clean look with pink and brown. Today I went darker, but still with a splash of pink. When I saw the new palette from Chanel I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Hope you´ll enjoy it :)

The palette from Chanel:

1. Start with a black base colour on the lid just up to the crease. I´ve used Mac Blackground.

2. Put a blackish pink (or another blackish colour with shimmer) on top of the black cream base. I used the blackish pink from the palette and applied it with a Mac 239. Such a gorgeous colour!! Do the same underneath the eye as well. Make sure you blend out the edges to avoid harsh lines.

3. Draw a black line along your lashline with a gel eye liner or a pencil eye liner and smudge it out to get a really smokey effect. I´ve used Bobbi Brown Black Ink gel liner and smudged it out with a Sigma E20 brush.

4. Apply false lashes and mascara. I´ve used Ardell wispies, Lancôme L´extreme mascara and YSL Volume effect mascara. Finish of with a highlighter in the inner corner and on the brow bone. I´ve used the lightest shade in the palette. Voila, you´re ready for a hot eye gazing night ;)

On my face I used Mac Studio Sculpt foundation in NC 20, Mac skinfinish natural in light, Guerlain light reflecting concealer, Benefit Powderflage, Guerlain Terracotta 4 seasons bronzer, Mac Pinch O´Peach blush and the perfect pink lipstick Chanel Rouge Allure in super (from the holiday collection 2010) with Pretty Quick lipglass (from the Mac A Tartan Tale) on top to make it more peachy. On my nails I´m wearing Christian Dior Gris Montaigne Nail Enamel which I LOVE!!

The lipstick was a limited edition, but the Dior #658 from this spring/summer collection is very similar and even more peachy than the Chanel Super:

Dior on top and Chanel underneath

I also got a package from the beloved Asos which contained, amongst other pretty things, a fabulous jumpsuit I´ve been waiting for for ages and an amazing blazer which I of course jumped straight into ;) I´m also wearing Jimmy Choo shoes for H&M and a YSL jour de belle clutch.

How to cover acne and get flawless looking skin

I´ve been writing a lot about eye makeup and not so much about the base which is strange for me. I’m a complete skin geek when it comes to learning new ways to trick people into thinking I have a flawless skin. I have been struggeling with acne for so many years that all the information I come across about covering up imperfections just sticks. You want your base to be natural looking and glowing and pimples and stuff to be covered. You want to be approachable and touchable while still looking beautiful basically.

Here is a video by the very talented Lisa Eldridge on how to cover acne:

My favourite full coverage foundation is by Nars, and you can get it here. It’s been a favourite for years and no other foundation covers as well as this does while still keeping the skin natural looking. It’s hands down the best.

I hope this was helpful and that you might have learnt some new tricks from it :)

Pink my Valentine – An easy pink and brown makeup tutorial

Since Valentines day is coming up I thought it could be fun to do some Valentines looks this week. For many, pink is just the ultimate Valentines colour. I´m personally not a big fan of pink so I Celinafied it with some brown to make it a little more wearable for us non-pinkers as well and it turned out flirtatiously pink without being too much. :)

1. Since we are using pink in this makeup look it is very important to start with a base so that the pink colour really shows up. If you have a white base you should definitely use that, but if not you can just go ahead and do what I did and use a nude base with a white eyeshadow on top. It works just as well. I used Mac paint pot in painterly with Mac Gesso eyeshadow on top. Make sure you get the white all in the inner corner to really lighten that area up. We don´t want the pink to make us look tired!

2. Place a hot pink eyeshadow on about 1/3 of the outer corner. I used Hot Pink from Nyx and applied it with a 239 brush from Sigma. Blend out the edges with a fluffy brush so that you get a nice gradience from the pink to the white. I used a mac 217 brush for this.

3. Use a fluffy brush to work in some soft brown eyeshadow in the crease, outer corner and underneath the eye so that you get a nice backwards C-shape and blend it out. Make sure it´s nice blended in with the pink. Apply a nude highlight colour on the brow bone and blend it into the brown. I used a 217 brush from Mac to apply both Cork and Kid from Mac in the crease/outer corner area and Mac Brule on the brow bone.

4. If you want some extra sparkle you can apply a shimmery light pink eyeshadow on the inner part of your lid. I used the pink colour from the Chanel Les 4 Ombres no 27 Golden eyes. It´s a very subtle colour with lots of glitter and shimmer. Apply false eyelashes, mascara and eyeliner. I used Ardell wispies, Lancôme L´extreme in black and L´oreal liquid eye liner. Tadaaa, wasn´t that easy?? ;)

I hope that was helpful and stay tuned for the next Valentine´s look ;)

Sexy smokey eye with the beautiful Erica F ;)

IMG 5156 Sexy smokey eye with the beautiful Erica F ;)

I went to the dentist today and it turns out I have to extract all four wisdom teeth eeek! To get my mind on something else I decided to do a tutorial of a dark, sexy smokey eye with one of my favorite eyeshadows of all time and it´s not even from Mac ;)

IMG 4907 Sexy smokey eye with the beautiful Erica F ;)

1. Start with a black cream eyeshadow/shadestick on your eyelid and blend out the edges with a clean blending brush. I´ve used Mac Blackground paint pot and blended it out with a Mac 217 brush which is my absolute favorite for blending out outer edges :) If you crease easily underneath your eye you should put a nude cream shadow/ primer there as well.

IMG 4909 Sexy smokey eye with the beautiful Erica F ;)

2. Wash on some matte grey eyeshadow around the black shadow so that you get a smokey finish. I used Mac Print closest to the black and then Mac Scene outside Print, but it´s really fine with only one grey eyeshadow, I just couldn´t make my mind up. ;) Put it underneath the eye as well.

IMG 4921 Sexy smokey eye with the beautiful Erica F ;)

3. No dark smokey eye without eyeliner! Grab a black soft eyeliner and line along both the upper and the lower lashline and on the waterline. Blend it out and between the lashes with a small brush. I used Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero and smudged it out with a Sigma E-30 (small round brush).

IMG 4923 Sexy smokey eye with the beautiful Erica F ;)

4. Now that we´ve smoked out the eyeliner it´s easier to go in with the black eyeshadow so that we make sure we don´t get too much black and end up with panda eyes. Put the black in the outer corner and inner corner to get some depth, and leave the middle part as it is. I used a Sigma E-45 to apply both Carbon (black) and Typographic (dark tarmac-greyish coloured that blends wonderfully).

IMG 4924 Sexy smokey eye with the beautiful Erica F ;)

5. Now to the magic of the look. This eyeshadow has been one of my favorites for years because it´s a mix of silver, green and grey – depending on how light hits it – with beautiful shimmer and glitter. It really is the perfect party smokey eye colour for brown eyes, but works well for all the other eye colours as well. The eyeshadow is from Lancôme and is called G40 Erica F. Get some shadow on the brush and tap the brush to get rid of glitter that is in danger of falling down on your cheeks. Dab the brush carefully on the centre of your eye lid, do not stroke it as with other eyeshadows. This techique is great with all glitter eyeshadows that has a tendency to cause fall outs.

IMG 4926 Sexy smokey eye with the beautiful Erica F ;)

6. Use the same technique to dab on some of the same eyeshadow underneath the eye as well leaving the outer part dark. Brush on a light slightly shimmery eyeshadow on the brow bone to lift the eyebrows. I used a Mac 224 to apply Mac Mylar.

7. Slap on a couple of coats of a volume mascara and you´re done :) Keep lips neutral to dark eyes like this. I´ve used my favorite nude lipstick, Mac Hue.

Untitled 22 Sexy smokey eye with the beautiful Erica F ;)

If you are looking for a bit more dramatic look you can put on some falsies and a slightly winged eyeliner…. :wub:

Yes, I know I should have used some UDPP/paint pot underneath my eye as well but since I wasn´t going anywhere I couldn´t be bothered to waste product! I had a couple of hours on the phone to my mum in the process to help her book a ticket. So here you go miss sceptic out there.. it´s lines like these that appear if you don´t use a primer!

Tips for eyeshapes that might benefit of some changes (click here if you want to read more about eyeshapes):

Close set eyes: Instead of putting the dark colour in the inner corner you should place a light coloured shadow instead to widen the eyes. It can also be a good idea to smoke out the outer corner some more to extend the eyes further out. Don´t use a dark eyeliner in the inner corner either.

Hooded eyes: Use a matte silver eyeshadow instead of the glittery one to avoid attention to the fold. If you are young you can try to put some shimmery/glitter colour underneath the eye and in the inner corner if you want to sparkle. ;)

Down turned eyes: Blend the dark shadow up and outwards in the outer corner in a cat eye shape to lift the eyes. You can also try to put some falsies on only the outer part of your upper lashline to life that particular area.

Small eyes: Use a white/nude eyeliner on the waterline instead of a black eyeliner.

How to shade YOUR eyes

We all have different eyehapes and if you find yourself struggling with copying a makep look you´ve seen on someone else it might be that it´s not a lack of skill . It might be that your eyeshape isn´t really meant for that technique of makeup. If you are new to makeup this is absolutely something you should keep in mind. Makeup is after all supposed to emphasise your natural beauty, what works for your friends wont necessarily work for you.

Here are some pictures of celebrities to demonstrate each of the different eye shapes:

celeb eye shapes How to shade YOUR eyes

1: Anna Paquin (True Blood), 2: Taylor Swift (singer), 3: Helen Hunt (actress), 4: Aishwarya Rai (former Miss World, model, actress), 5: Katie Holmes (actress) and 6: Nicole Richie (jewellry designer, television personality)

Tip: Google the celebrity that shares your eyeshape and get an idea of what will suit you :)

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