Playing hair and beauty with Caroline is my idea of a perfect activity. She does my hair (she’s a super talented hairdresser). Then I wave my makeup brushes around getting creative. All of this while drinking great coffee, listening to good beats, with great conversation to boot. On this particular day, following Caroline hiding the silver in my hair, it was my turn to play makeup. We thought we’d go for a slightly different look – I was keen to try out any look that would take Caroline out of her reported comfort zone of neutral colours. Caroline kindly gave me free reign to do whatever look I liked! So, I went for a smokey eye using pinky/plummy and burgundy tones. We were both rapt with the look. Here’s the products used:
Eyes
- MAC’s Star Violet eyeshadow all over the lid. This is a unique pinky/plummy colour with a slightly frosty finish that I’m yet to find a dupe for and it looks particularly sensational on blue or brown eyes. You can check out Mac’s eyeshadows here
- MAC’s Sketch eyeshadow on the crease. This is one of my favourite Mac eyeshadows and is a burgundy shade with a bit of a shimmer.
- MAC’s Beauty Marked eyeshadow on the outer v of the eye. Also a much loved colour of mine, this is a great alternative to a black eyeshadow to bring depth and smokiness to a look. Beauty Marked swatches almost black, but is actually a very dark burgundy with purple undertones. A teeny bit of this eyeshadow goes a long, long, way.
- MAC’s Brule eyeshadow as a brow highlight.
- MAC Prunella Eye kohl applied on both the upper and lower lashline – blended out with a teeny bit of Beauty Marked to generate a smokey effect. Prunella is a dark brown eyeliner with a hint of burgundy and I’m yet to find anyone it doesn’t look gorgeous on (my favourite ever eyeliner).
- Mascara – Maybelline the Falsies (what else?!).
- Rimmel eyebrow pencil in the colour ‘Hazel’, with a little bit of MAC Brun to soften the look.
This combination of pinky and burgundy colours really made Caroline’s gorgeous blue eyes jump out.
Base
- Estee Lauder Doublewear – Caroline’s own foundation. This is a fabulous full coverage foundation and it’s brilliant – it deserves to be one of the world’s best selling foundations.
- MAC’s Mineralise Foundation in NW25 in the under eye area (wasn’t quite the right colour, but it was all I had on me!)
- Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder in Medium, used as a contour
- Rimmel’s Stay Matte Powder in ‘Translucent’ to take away any excess shine
- Rimmel Blusher in Spring Flower across the apples and cheekbones.
Lips
MAC’s Cremecup lipstick with Nars lipgloss in Turkish Delight on top.
The verdict? She loved it. Her lovely hubby also made a point of letting me know she looked beautiful (awwww). I guess the ultimate compliment is when the photo of the finished look ends up as a Facebook profile photo… I was pretty pleased about that 🙂
