LOTD January 21, 2011: Starry Night
Updated March 20, 2011. What could be better, you ask, than having a love affair with a gorgeous line of mineral makeup? With friendly customer service and great quality, beautiful product at reasonable prices? And a delicious "of the month" club that sends three lovely limited edition shades to your door for $15 a month? Not to mention a virtual community of fans that offer each other not only helpful tips, pics of the looks they've created and hauls received, but also emotional support for the trials and triumphs of each other's everyday lives? What more can a makeup fangirl want?
How about the opportunity to collaborate with the makeup-maker herself to create your own custom shades drawn from your imagination? Shadows that are not only dreamed up by you, they are named by you--would that make you feel all warm and gooey inside?
Can you imagine going to MAC, Chanel, Dior--heck, even Cover Girl!--and saying, "yes, hello, Major Cosmetic-Industry Entity, I really really really love your stuff and had this great idea for makeup shades I'd like you to create, and would you mind terribly putting my humble little name on the label right alongside yours as you sell these bits of gorgeous? I'm not asking for any profit-sharing here, just to bask a little in the glory with you while you make money off my creativity..."
Hope you have a padded seat for your landing (ouch!). Still, a girl could wish, right?
Well, wish granted! (okay, not MACChanelDiorCoverGirl, but hear me out!) Several indie MMU companies such as Mineral Maven offer the opportunity to collaborate with you to create the custom color(s) of your dreams; such options are available either in their shop policies (such as on Etsy) or as a "custom" or "special request" listing. Here's an example from Mineral Maven's policies page:
Custom orders are welcomed, although payment is required prior to any Custom work being done. Please note that custom orders may take longer. We will let you know the expected turn-around time for your individual order (TAT's may change due to availablity of product and dificulty of project). If you need the order expedited please let us know and we will make every attempt to accomodate you!How freakin' cool is that??
Now I admit, sadly, that this look does not make use of Mineral Maven or other MMU companies endorsed/approved by such consumer education/protection groups as Project Safe Indie or Healthy Beauty Project; it in fact uses shades sold by a controversial brand, so I have chosen to omit the actual names involved. However please feel free to use whatever similar shades you own or look to the inspiring women of the communities mentioned above to get recommendations on reasonable dupes (look-alike shades) that you can use to recreate this or any of the looks from this blog that you admire ;)
So with that disclaimer (#2, right? lol) here is: Starry Night!
Now this girl, you should have seen her in person!! But the pics, lowly and fuzzy around the edges as they are, will have to do *sighs* I am happy that some of the absolutely crazy glittery-ness of the sparkly blue shadow showed up though!
On the face:
Mineral foundation to match my skin tone, mineral finishing powder, and mineral color correctors to veil a few little flaws ;)
Eyes were primed this time with a new primer I'm trying out: e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer (for $3 it's worth a test drive even if I don't like it). This stuff has a completely different texture from the one I've been using; e.l.f.'s goes on quite a bit more slippery and has a more creamy feel. I don't know how this will wear all day, since I did the look in the evening, and my lids tend to be on the oily side to begin with. But it felt good and seemed to grab the shadows just fine, so it suited my purposes for this look ;)
The rest of the look went on as follows:
1) Pat your choice of metallic gold/bronze shade onto lid; don't be afraid to pack it on for a super-glam look!
2) Pat a smoky midnight blue (either with gold glitter already in it or mix with gold glitter such as this one, available from Mineral Maven) into crease and outer corner of eye and blend slightly upward carefully--the shade I have is pre-loaded with gold microglitter so fallout is a def possibility--though that's not exactly a bad thing (it's great for a night out!). Foil more of this shade/mix and paint into crease/outer corner and across outer 2/3 of lower lid.
3) Blend a satiny nude beige onto brow bone and dab a bit more into the inner corners and inner 1/3 of lower lid
4) Line upper lash line and lower waterlines with black eyeliner (I used e.l.f.'s mineral eye liner for this look--not bad stuff but not as easy to apply or as intense as MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack, my old standby)
5) Blend matte brown shadow into brows to shape & define (this time I used a more medium brown shade, Indy by Mixology--sooo in love with this right now!!)
6) Apply black mascara to lashes
7) Sweep your fav bronzer over cheeks, forehead, etc. to add a bit of golden sheen to the face
8) Mix more of the metallic gold/bronze with a bit of a rosy bronzer and gold shimmer gloss (I used e.l.f.'s Mineral Lip Gloss in Trophy Wife) and apply to lips
Seriously, this made me look like I had a little galaxy on my eyelids!! Incredible!!!
For me, this is an evening (on the town) look, something I'd wear when I really want to knock 'em out! You definitely need some attitude (translation: confidence) when wearing such a dramatic look; with a darker lip shade, I could even wear this on the stage ;) With my "drag-queen" false lashes, lol! There's even a song that was one of my first "hapa-haole" (modern hula with English lyrics) routines I learned that began, "Stars that shine, tonight...casting magic charms on you"
Yeah.
