Holiday Makeup Look #1: green and silver eyes

Holiday Makeup Look #1:

Green and Silver eye makeup with a neutral lip
and then with a red lip.

 

I thought I'd do something nice and pretty for the holidays, and I wanted it to be something really wearable and straight-forward. If you can get past the plain-old pink t-shirt, I think you'll see I came up with a nice glowy look that's not OTT.

Eyes

Silver with a splash of green. Super easy to recreate!

1. Prime eye with the primer of your choice.
   (I like MAC Paint Pot in your skintone, or Urban Decay Primer Potion)
2. Dust a silver powder shadow onto the entire eye area, from lash up through the crease to the brow.
   Brush recommendation: I used a fluffy shadow blending brush to apply a sheer layer of silver. Using a flat shadow brush or shadow applicator would put on too opaque of a coat and it would look too cartoony.
   I used Bobbi Brown's Silver Chrome shadow.
   If your skin isn't one that works well with silver, try a champagne color - that works well, too!
3. Darken the silver on the inner portion of the lid (close to the tear duct), with the same shadow.
   Brush recommendation: Use a flat shadow brush for this.
   Press the shadow on - don't sweep! It places a more concentrated area of color.
4. Press a medium green shadow onto the outer half of the lid.
   Brush recommendation: Use the flat shadow brush.
   You can use either matte or frost for this.
   I suggest using cool-toned or neutral greens rather than olives or yellow-greens, since the silver base is "cool-toned".
   I wipe off my brush to "clear" the silver off of it first.
   I used a color from Yaby.
5. If desired, darken the outer third of the lid with a slightly darker green shadow.
   Brush recommendation: Use the flat shadow brush.
   This adds dimension.
   I suggest using cool-toned or neutral greens rather than olives or yellow-greens, since the silver base is "cool-toned".
   Again, a Yaby shadow.
6. Apply a green liner across the top lid.
   I used a LE MAC Pencil, Jealous Kohl Power, but you could use the dark green shadow applied with a wet brush if you don't have a green pencil!
7. Apply mascara to top and bottom lashes (use a mascara primer first for maximum impact).
8. Fill in brows if necessary.
   
   

 
 

Face

The aim is glowing but not glittery!

1. Prime face so makeup stays put.
   I recommend MAC's Prep + Prime Face or Mehron's Velvet Finish Primer.
2. Conceal under-eye shadows.
3. Apply a "radiant" foundation.
   I used my fingers, but feel free to use a brush or Beauty Blender sponge.
   My foundation for this picture was Armani LSF.
4. Smile and place blush on apples of cheeks (the "fat" part).
   I used an LE MAC Mineralize Skinfinish.
   Cheeks should be enough color to look healthy, but not enough to compete with the eyes, which should be the focus.
   If you use silver on the eye, stick with cool-tone blushes like blue-pinks, rose, plum and the like.
5. Go back and use a concealer to hide any "imperfections" not covered by the foundation.

Lips

I did two looks - one with a more neutral lip, and then with a bit more bright of a lip.

Neutral:

1. Use your favorite neutral or cool-toned lipstick or gloss. It's as simple as that!
   Here, I used MAC's Plum pencil and smudged it, then topped it with MAC's LE Dazzleglass Vie Veneto (a cool-toned, sparkly, translucent gloss).

Red or Berry:

1. Grab a berry gloss or a sheer red gloss and slick it on.
   I suggest a gloss here, because I still feel the eye should be the focus if one wants to keep the entire look fairly toned-down. A gloss will be less intense than a full-on lipstick (though if you have a sheer lipstick then that counts, too!).
   Again, stick with cool tones here, to make a cohesive look.
   I used a Chanel Glossimer from a few years ago (I can't read the name, so I don't know what it was); it's a sheer, slightly glimmery red.

Here's the difference with the more neutral lip vs. the "brighter" lip:

Notice how different the looks are with just a change in the lips (and the sun came out from behind some clouds for the second shot!).