Tutorial: Poison Ivy for Halloween

Fall has fallen and throughout much of the world, the Halloween hype is raging. I didn't grow up in a country where Halloween was a thing, although I would totally say YES if invited to a Halloween dress-up party. (HINT HINT!)

Since I recently dyed my hair bright red, I got the idea of doing a simple tutorial inspired by my favourite red head baddie, Poison Ivy. This is not a "costume-y" type of makeup, more the type of makeup to use if you want to dress up as Poison Ivy and don't quite know what to do for makeup.

Starting out looking a bit more like her day to day persona, Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley, with a freshly cleansed and moisturized face, let's get started!

We start out with first removing my glasses and put in contact lenses. Makes for easier application and Poison Ivy doesn't wear glasses. She's too cool for that! Or... Something. I then made an equal mix of one part Max Factor Facefinity Foundation in Light Ivory 40, one part Catrice BB Allaround Foundation in 010 Light Beige and my Essence My Base Illuminating Makeup base. The BB cream/foundation and the illuminating base help add a nice glow/shine to my skin and the Facefinity foundation gives me some coverage, which I need.

To fix up my comicbook baddie brows, I first filled them in with MAC Lip Pencil in Cherry and then used two different red tones from my big Boozy Cosmetics P117 palette with an angled brush to set and shade the brows in a bit more. Now, Poison Ivy's actual hair colour is of course a bright red, unlike my dark red hair. If dressing up as her I suggest a bright red wig to go with this and matching your brows to the wig exactly. The exact match will make the look a lot more cartoon-y/comicbook-y.

With a large, fluffy blending brush I applied Adam's Apple from the Sleek Garden of Eden palette on and above my crease, leaving my orbital/brow bone bare. Any matte minty green will do!

Using the same brush I applied a matte, bright grass green from my Boozy Cosmetics palette throughout my crease and blended it up into the mint green.

Using a flat shader brush, I applied a bright grass green with a golden shimmer across my mobile lid. This colour was also in my Boozy Cosmetics palette.

Going back into the Sleek Garden of Eden palette, I applied Tree of Life on the outer "V" shape of my eye with a tapered crease brush. This just intensifies the look and gives it a bit more OOMPH!

Using a fluffy paddleshadped brush, I applied a light, shimmery mint green to my inner corners and all over my browbone. I would normally NEVER wear something this shimmery on the browbone, as I personally just do not like that look normally, but seeing as this is a look for dressing up, I felt the green glow just added a nice touch. It IS Poison Ivy afterall. As you can tell on the latest picture, I also used the matte grass green and matte dark green along my lower lashline. I only the used the dark green on the outer third of the lower lid.

Using Tree of Life from the Sleek palette on an angled brush, I lined my upper lashline. I then tightlined both my upper and lower water line using Aparthy 24/7 Eye Pencil by Urban Decay, which is a nice dark green.

I contoured using NYX Blush in Taupe, used Catrice Illuminating Blush in 020 Coral Me Maybe (definitely not a coral, more of a peachy pink) and highlighted all the high points of my face using a light, mint green from my MUA Eyeshadow Palette in Pretty Pastels. It is not very obviously green on the face, but it's a slight green sheen when in direct sunlight, so seemed appropriate!

For the lips, I layered two different Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss Lipsticks. I layered two different reds on top of each other, in the colours 01 and 10, to get the colour I wanted. To mattify the lips I applied one of the red shadows I also used on my brows all over the lips. This also helps the lipstick stay on for longer. The matter, the better. Perfect for that famous, deadly kiss!

The finished result! Pair with either a full on Poison Ivy costume OR with a pair of glasses, a labcoat, greens shirt and a brown/black pencil skirt for a Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley costume, both with a bright red wig.

Unfortunately, I won't be going to any Halloween parties, but I will be doing a few more tutorials that are inspired by popular costumes.

Are you going to a Halloween party? What are you dressing as? Let me know!


Thank you for reading!

XXX

Tutorial: 90's grunge inspired

So the 90's are all the rage lately, fashion- and makeup-wise. I was a kid in the 90's, I remember all the cool kids looking and dressing a certain way and my older sister was one of them. I decided to jump on the bandwagon after having asked on Facebook for some inspiration (thanks, Kimberley!) and do a 90's makeup, just the grunge version.

We start out, as per usual, with my bare face. I just moisturized using my usual Neutral moisturizer and used my Too Face Shadow Insurance Primer on my eyelids.

Grunge makeup was very not really meant to be beautifying and was all about the pale skin as well. No need for a full-coverage foundation or concealer really. But this is an inspired tutorial, so it's sort of my take on the era. For my face I used my Essence All About Matt primer and then applied my Max Factor Facefinity foundation in Light Ivory 40, which I blended into my skin using a Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge.

I concealed under my eyes and around my nose. I also blended this in using the same Real Techniques sponge. I experimented with my brows a bit, since I went and coloured my hair bright red again. I used an old Catrice brow pencil and some random shadows from the palette you're about to see me use.

For the eyes, I started out with blending Maybellines Color Tattoo in Permanent Taupe across my mobile lid and into the crease. I just used my finger for this. Along my lashline I smudged the Essence Long Lasting Eye Pencil in Black Fever which I proceeded to blend out with a pencil brush.

For todays look I decided to break out my huge Boozy Cosmetics P117 palette. It has any colour I could ever need and was sure to get me the look I wanted.

With a large, fluffy blending brush I applied this very yellow/mustardy light brown throughout the top of my crease and almost on the browbone. This is to ease blending and help everything transition into my skin tone better. It also gives the look a very warm "glow" right off the bat.

With the same brush, I then applied a reddish medium brown into the crease itself, which again is just warming up the whole look. Ideally, to be proper grunge about it, you wouldn't blend it as much as I have, since that's very much not what the look was about. But this is my modern take on it.

With a flat shader brush I applied a warm, chocolatey brown over my mobile lid and blended it slightly into my crease. As you can see the liner looks a bit softer like this and a bit more "lived in". I also smudged the Essence Eye Pencil on my lower lash line.

With a pencil brush, I blended out the lower lashline with the very same chocolatey brown. This does not need to be neat or tidy in any way. Messy is good, and I have problems with messy when it comes to my makeup. So we'll stick to my modern take on this.

I lined my upper and lower waterline with the same black liner, curled my lashes with my Tweezerman lash curlers and applied mascara GENEROUSLY. To the point where your lashes are starting to clump, but aren't quite there yet. Good thing I like a lot of lash...

I powdered (a lot) using my Essence All About Matt pressed translucent powder. The 90's were ALL about that matte skin. I did this with a Real Techniques Powder Brush. I did my contour, also fairly heavily (for my doing), with Nyx Blush in Taupe and a Sigma SS109  brush (old numbering). I didn't apply any blush and would have actually preferred to get rid of some of my natural flush for this look, but alas.

We are going in to fall and as per usual lip trends are matte. THE lip trend of the moment is the brown-nude lip of the 90's which to me is one of the stars of the Maybelline Color Drama Intense Velvet Lip Pencil collection. I have two of them and both will work for this look. Let me show you!

First up we have 630 Nude Perfection, which is BANG on trend for the moment. It's brown, it's warm, it's matte and it's gorgeous. Even on my pale skin, it works. Freshly applied, it looks like it has a sheen, but it sets VERY matte and will last for hours.

A kind of midway option is the berry colour, 310 Berry Much, applied very lightly and blending it in with a finger to make it more of a stain. This would probably be the most modern and wearable way to do this with a darker lip. It is matte, on trend and wears for a good amount of time.

And the last option I provide you with in this tutorial is a full-on application of Berry Much. It's dark, it's vampy, it's matte and I love it. It looks great with my very pale skin and even with my new red hair. Most people would probably wear this with a bit of a softer eyelook and a bit less mascara to keep it wearable, but I am loving the full-on everything of this.

If me in the 90's had known  that 27 year old me would wear makeup like this, she'd be so excited!

To go with the fashion trend of the moment, wear this look with a trashed band/black t-shirt, destroyed jeans and a flannel shirt tied around your waist. Pair with combat boots or Doc Martens and you're set!


Are you on board with the 90's trend for the moment? All matte err'thang? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!


Thank you for reading!

XXX