Do two posts constitute a series? If so, here's another Testing Tuesday, featuring another look from Maquia magazine, this time from the September 2013 issue, very kindly scanned and shared by the lovely Claire.
Unlike the last edition, this time I followed the tutorial as faithfully as possible (as I'm currently travelling and not possessed of all my pretties, or indeed of my protractor) while youtubing some 'zuka tunes in the background i.e. the closest I'll ever come to being made over and serenaded by Chiharu-san in the lowest registers of her chest voice *swoon* Erm. ahem. Here are the products I used to recreate the look:
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(I left Step 12 (central lid highlight) for last, as I was using a Shu Uemura glitter topcoat [4] which is best pressed on over a 'finished' eye; I also used this shade for the inner lower lashline highlight i.e. Step 19.)
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For Step 14 (tightlining) I used the Clio Gelspresso pencil and for steps 15 and 16 (smudging and extending the liner straight out), the darker KATE green [3] to smoke out the liner.
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The full face. With the RBR face products above, over Shu Uemura Whitefficient pink/purple UV Underbase Mousse. Bobbi Brown Tinted Eye Brightener in Light Bisque under eyes.
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I really loved the effect of the triple-swept blush radiating from the outer corner of the eye (step 8) and low angled highlight (step 10) from this tutorial. Usually face shading (blush, highlight, contour) aims at either angular/sculpted or pretty, soft and rounded effects, so it's brilliant to find something that unites the two so neatly and easily.
What definitely didn't work -- the angled brows (steps 23-5). Ack, I am just too were to brush my gangling brow hairs so casually in opposite directions. A cleaner, less literal take for me would involve gel/wax to create a neater version of this shape.
A maybe on the 45º lip line -- perma-smirk has both advantages and disadvantages I suppose...
Everything else is a win! Expect to browse future looks with protractor in hand, to see if you can spot these angles recurring :P
Will you be giving these techniques a shot? Would love to hear/see the results and your thoughts!
Unlike the last edition, this time I followed the tutorial as faithfully as possible (as I'm currently travelling and not possessed of all my pretties, or indeed of my protractor) while youtubing some 'zuka tunes in the background i.e. the closest I'll ever come to being made over and serenaded by Chiharu-san in the lowest registers of her chest voice *swoon* Erm. ahem. Here are the products I used to recreate the look:
Face: Sea of Clouds highlighter, Gracilis blush, and Sweet Dust Seriema eyeshadow used as contour powder, all by Rouge Bunny Rouge
Lip: Suqqu Bright Up lipstick 02 Hanabeni.
Eyes: three shades from KATE Deep Trap Eyes GN-1 (dc) and the white gold glitter topcoat from Shu Uemura Karl Lagerfeld Smoky Velvet EU/Asia version to sub for the Tom Ford Sahara Haze used in the tutorial. Two Clio liners, the liquid Waterproof Brush Liner in Kill Black, and the gel pencil Gelspresso in 7 Golden Black -- closest thing to their black YSL pencil I had with me and, luckily, perfectly complementing the greyed green shadows in this look.
As you can see the detailed instructions over at Land of Lorp, I'll just focus on the steps which I found particularly interesting/counterintuitive. One thing to note is that I ran some Kiko white kohl over my lower waterline and lightly swept the pale shimmery ivory from the KATE quint [1] over my eyelids to mask some of my wages-of-travel/insomnia redness and veininess before proceeding.
Step 11. outer eyelid accent
I thought at first glance that this was the more usual "place the eyeshadow at a 45º diagonal relative to the corner of the eye" soft wing, but actually the 'horizontal'* line (white dots) is drawn between two points -- the centre of the lid directly above the pupil, and the outer corner of the eye. That horizontal, and the line at a 45º angle above it (green dots), mark the boundaries of a rounded, hazy eyeshadow placement -- tutorial advocates fingers; I used a Tom Ford 13 brush and the lighter KATE green [2].
*so if your eyes tilt upwards or curve downwards, you'll end up with a correspondingly sloping 'horizontal' as base, and a lid shadow-placement that depends on the shape of your eyelids, rather than a continuation of the curve of your lower lashline, which is so often used as a reference for liner angles, or of the outer crease which is usually the referrent in 'outer-v' placements.
(I left Step 12 (central lid highlight) for last, as I was using a Shu Uemura glitter topcoat [4] which is best pressed on over a 'finished' eye; I also used this shade for the inner lower lashline highlight i.e. Step 19.)
Step 13. lower lashline shadow
Again, the two lines mark the boundaries of where the shadow (lighter greyed green, KATE [2]) is placed: the 'horizontal' (white dots) is drawn from the pupil to the outer corner of the eye and the diagonal (green dots) comes 45º below it.
For Step 14 (tightlining) I used the Clio Gelspresso pencil and for steps 15 and 16 (smudging and extending the liner straight out), the darker KATE green [3] to smoke out the liner.
Step 17. liquid liner
Another interesting one -- rather than angling the flick by following the outer curve of of the lower lashline onwards and upwards, as most English-speaking makeup artists advise, this tutorial extends the inner curve of the lower lashline down (white dots running from inner corner to centre) and then places the wing at a 45º angle to that line (following the black dashes), with the centre of the lower lashline (directly below the pupil) as pivot point.
On my eye, this makes for a wing that's slightly closer to vertical i.e. a few degrees perkier! than usual, and which is slightly in-set before the end of my eye proper, which gives even more of a lift. There's no 'floating' liner effect at the outer corner, because of the smudging/extending of the tightliner (powder in my case) in the previous steps.
Step 18 lower mirrored wing
You'd think (or I did, anyway) that this would be a simple case of 45º mirrored from the first flick, right? Nope, the horizontal line (white dots) actually runs (in an absolute horizontal) straight out from the end of the eyelid fold, and the lower wing (black dashes) is supposed to drop 45º below that. Again, kind of counter-intuitive, but makes perfect sense if you think about it -- the line of your fold is also a part of any look, and mirroring it opens out and frames the eye more naturally than mirroring a drawn-on wing, even one that follows the natural curve of the eyeline.
Unfortunately at this point my concentration and ability to follow directions (never particular strong suits) had failed, and my hotel keycard (key prop and staff in these complex geometries :P) had gone awol, so my lower wing is a wonky 38º abomination *self-immolates*
Steps 20-22 lashes
Curlers held at a slight angle and mascaraed (with Fasio Full Dynamic Volume BK001) lashes tilted outwards with the aid of a brush handle. This is probably the subtlest tweak yet, but for someone (like me) who is totally addicted to her curlers and mascara, it made a huge difference, and a noticeable one -- I rather tragically ended up doing double-takes all day, every time I caught sight of my own eyes in a reflective surface.
I even like that this left my inner lashes untouched in their straightness (my curler fits my eye perfectly held straight, so messing with the angle was bound to leave things out) -- if you already tilt your curlers to get a good curl, I'm not sure how you'd recreate this effect -- a mini curler maybe? Ideas in the comments please!
(this recent lookbook post shows how my curled and mascaraed lashes usually look)
The final eye look without random chicken scratches :P
The full face. With the RBR face products above, over Shu Uemura Whitefficient pink/purple UV Underbase Mousse. Bobbi Brown Tinted Eye Brightener in Light Bisque under eyes.
What definitely didn't work -- the angled brows (steps 23-5). Ack, I am just too were to brush my gangling brow hairs so casually in opposite directions. A cleaner, less literal take for me would involve gel/wax to create a neater version of this shape.
A maybe on the 45º lip line -- perma-smirk has both advantages and disadvantages I suppose...
Everything else is a win! Expect to browse future looks with protractor in hand, to see if you can spot these angles recurring :P
Will you be giving these techniques a shot? Would love to hear/see the results and your thoughts!