Retro Makeup; A Marilyn Monroe Inspired TUTORIAL.

As I've mentioned numerous times before, Marilyn Monroe is an icon of mine.  I love her effortless style, and the fact that without being a size 0, she was so beautiful.  To me, she is an inspiration- a rags to riches story, before her tragic death at such a young age.

Me, pre-makeup.

Garnier Pure A daily treatment moisturiser

I've loved this for about two years, and I use it under my foundation because it's not greasy, and it gets rid of any unsightly dry spots.

Foundation, powder and eye-primer done.

Chanel Pro Lumiere Foundation [in shade no. 10]

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder [in light/medium]

Front Cover shadow base [no idea what this is, I just can't find my Urban Decay eye potion]

I also fill in my eyebrows with MAC eyebrow pencil in 'Stud' [I haven't done it yet here]

Ok, time to start on the eyes..

1. I've already put a shadow base on my eyelids, so I begun by dusting over my eyelid with 'Mushroom', by Urban Decay.

My absolute favourite palette I own is the limited edition Urban Decay Disney Alice in Wonderland 'Book of Shadows', which was a gift from my dad.

The palette includes twelve Urban Decay eyeshadows (renamed), two 24/7 eye pencils ('Flipside' and 'Zero'), and one travel size eyeshadow primer potion.

2. Next I used Benefit's "Eye Bright" pencil to highlight underneath my eyebrows and Ulta's eyeshadow in "Iceland" to highlight the corner of my eyes.

3. I've tried and tested many a liquid eyeliner, and my absolute favourite of them all is Maybelline's "Liner Express"- it provides that heavy black line, which being absolutely fool-proof to use.

Now that your eyes are pretty much done, so just add a thick coat of mascara to finish them off.  I use Maybelline New York's 'The Colossal Volum' Express' mascara, which is my favourite.

4. In every picture of Marilyn I see, I notice that her eyebrows are quite pointed.  While I don't want to go around with triangular eyebrows, I do think we can adapt the pointed eyebrows, but with a more modern feel.  As I have mentioned, I use MAC's eyebrow pencil in "Stud" to fill in my eyebrows.

5. Obviously, Marilyn Monroe's trademark red lips really encapsulate her famous makeup look.

Here I am using MAC's "Russian Red" which is my favourite red lipstick.  My lips can get quite dry, so underneath my lipstick I usually use a thin coat of MAC's lip conditioner (the clear one).

A great lipstick trick I use, is to put a thin line of white eyeliner around my lips and smudge it in after I apply my lipstick.  It really makes your lips stand out, with defined borders [here I used a white Rimmel kohl pencil].

So, this concludes my very first tutorial of any kind;

Let me know what you think- there may be more to follow!

Makeup HAUL.

Recently, I've accumulated quite a few new products, all of which I really like.  

Part of the reason I've gotten so much makeup as of late, is because I've had two balls, both of which I got my makeup done for; the first in Chanel and the second in Mac.  

Both counters require a purchase of at least €40 worth in return for doing your makeup, which really isn't a bad deal.

So, here's what I got.

Chanel Pro Lumiere foundation in "10 Limpide- Nude"

Chanel Quadra Eye Shadow in "14 Mystic Eyes"

MAC lipsticks in; 

"Vegas Volt" (coral) 

&

"Cyber" (deep purple)

MAC "Mineralize Skinfinish Natural" pressed powder in Light/Medium

Topshop Nails in "War Paint" (fluoro-coral)

It's definitely going to be a while before I need to buy any new makeup!

What are the products that you can't live without?

THE FLAPPER.

She wore too much makeup, and she drove a car.  A cigarette dangling from her acrimonious pout seemed to be a permanent fixture and you never knew whose bed you’d find her in.  She consumed far too many cocktails, she listened to jazz music and she worried about little other than perfecting her status as a social butterfly.  She was brash, she was bold and most of all, she despised all the social norms set in place by the generations who had gone before her.  She was the flapper.

Flappers in the 1920's.

The term ‘flapper’ was used to describe a whole new movement of young women who emerged in the 1920s.  A descendent of the previous era’s ‘Gibson Girl’, the flapper shocked and appalled the older generations in equal measure, and made sure that she defied all the standards that society required her to meet.  Flappers had become inspired by the wave of transatlantic culture to which they were exposed at the end of the first World War.  Social and political turbulence had created this new young women, and there was certainly no going back.  The flapper realised that as an independent young woman, she no longer had to endure the male-dominated society of her female ancestors.  She could be politically active, hold down a job, and flaunt her sexuality without any reprocussions.

Clara Bow.

A typical flapper’s ensemble almost attempted to emulate that of her male counterparts.  She sometimes wrapped herself in cloth to minimise the appearance of her breasts, and she did not wear a corset.  She favoured sweaters of a nautically striped pattern, or a sleeveless blouse and she accessorised with long necklaces.  Her skirt usually stopped just below her knees, where you could see the top of her silk stockings.

Renée Perle- first muse of French photographer Jaques-Henri Lartigue.

(here pictured with some rather dangerous looking fingernails!)

Watch out for the flapper- she's not dead yet, and I have a feeling we'll be seeing rather a lot of her in Fall 2011.

FLAPPER MAKEUP:

Loose powder;

Eye liner;

Mascara;

Lipstick;

Perfume;

Flappers would wear these products and little else.  Products like foundation and eye shadow had not yet been popularised.

x

The Perfect GOODY BAG; up for grabs on 'THINK WHAT YOU LIKE'

Good news everyone! I'd like to tell you all about an amazing giveaway over on an amazing blog.

Aisling Keenan, of 'Think What You Like' has put a gorgeous goody bag up for grabs- perfect for chasing away those January blues.  The coveted bag includes a YSL lip gloss, YSL solo eyeshadow, a set of Chanel badges, a MAC Tartan Tale Limited Edition Eyeshadow palette, 'Desire' by Louise Bagshawe and, as if it could get any better than this, a Galaxy bar to top it all off.


Now, although I really want to win this myself, I suggest you all go on over to 'Think What You Like' and enter, because it's as easy as liking the Facebook page, tweeting if you use Twitter, and commenting on the blogpost- you'd be mad not to enter!  The winner will be announced on January 17th, so good luck!

My Current FIXATIONS; musings of a Sunday afternoon.

American Apparel maxi skirts;
Some day I will own one.  Until then, I admire them from afar and ponder the question; "what are the perfect shoes to wear with these?"

Hummus;
Mmm, can't get enough of the M&S humus.  It is absolutely delicious.  I also recently tried the red pepper one- I'm hooked on the stuff!  It's great with pittas, crudités or on plain tortilla chips!  It's quite healthy too, though I believe it's got a relatively high fat content..

Burgundy;
Honestly, who cares if this is considered quite Wintery?  I intend to carry the hue all the way into Summer with me.  New favourite colour, hands down.  And here's a pretty nice vintage car to demonstrate!

Long, straightish and rather plain hair, and I don't mean "grunge" style rats tails, a la Taylor Momsen;
I'm fed up with my fringe, and I'm fed up with short and unruly strands of hair.
So I'm beginning 2011 by attempting to grow out my hair, completely.  It's gonna be a long road baby, but you'll be worth it.
(let's see how long I actually last before I start mourning the loss of my permanent fringe).
Here's Cory Kennedy with said hairstyle.

Collared shirts;
Pointed collars and Peter Pan collars alike, I am in love, and drawn to purchase absolutely every collared item of clothing I can get my hands on.  Well perhaps this is a slight exaggeration.  Every nice collared item of clothing I can get my hands on.  They're so cute, and rather austere, I believe.

Dark lips;
Ok, so I haven't actually tested this look out on myself yet (I'm waiting until I have a spare €20 lying around with which I can buy a nice new Mac lipstick).  But I absolutely love how it looks, from what I've seen lately. The other great thing about this look in my opinion, is that it seems to suit all colouring and skin tones alike. Love it, just like I love Daisy Lowe..

..and camel nails;
I searched for ages to find this colour nail varnish in Cork, seeing as I've been down here since December 20th, and am here until some day next week.  Alas, it was impossible to find!  I checked all my usual high street makeup haunts; Boots, Sam McCauley's.. Then moved on to the less reasonably priced Brown Thomas, but just simply could not locate a bottle of the stuff!  I suspected that American Apparel probably stocked it, but not having one in Cork, I couldn't check.  At long last, Topshop got a shade called 'Geography Teacher' into stock, and I wasted no time purchasing a bottle.

The King's Speech;
Absolutely amazing film with a star studded cast including Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Michael Gambon.. One of the best I've seen in a while, five stars.

Lazy Days;
I'm still on my Christmas holidays- how generous of Trinity.  I have enjoyed masses of time lying around my house or friends houses watching Come Dine With Me (best show ever), keeping disgracefully late hours and doing absolutely nothing strenuous.  I'm certainly not looking forward to being jolted back to reality on the 17th.

Chai tea lattes;

They're such a warm and lovely combination of tea, spices and milk..  I had a really good one last weekend from Cork Coffee Roasters, the coffee shop I go to every time I get a chance because I adore the vibe in there and it's probably my favourite coffee shop ever.  I like the Starbucks one a lot too though, and it's a perfect Winter drink for me due to the fact that there's only about three types of hot chocolate that I enjoy.  And though I don't usually take sugar in my tea or coffee, chai tea lattes are perfectly complimented by honey.

Cork Coffee Roasters, Bridge St., Cork.