The Makeup Box

Color Overload: Jewel-toned Dramatic Eyes

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This is a dark and dramatic look that’s at the same time very bright and punchy. You have the option of wearing it 2 ways; one more of a traditional colored smoky look, and the other an all-out color-fest.

You’ll need:

A black base or eye liner

• A shimmery purple shadow or pigment (I used MAC Cornflower)
• A shimmery golden green (I used MAC Golden Olive)
• [Optional] Gold liquid liner (I used Lime Crime’s Rhyme)
• [Optional] Bright fuchsia lipstick (I used Barry M Punky Pink)

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Step 1: First smear the black pencil or base all over your lid, along the lower lash lines, and also the inner rims of your lids.

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Step 2: With a flat brush, gently smudge out the edges of the liner so you get a softer smoky look and look less like you walked out of Kungfu Panda.

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Step 3: The fun part is always applying shimmer on top of the black. I chose a violet-blue and packed it gently over the black. Do not rub back and forth as you might smear your liner. You can use any colors you want but remember the shades will tend to appear deeper and richer than usual, so choose brighter, more vibrant ones.

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Step 3: On the inner portion of the lids, pack the bright golden-green shimmer and let it fade slightly into the violet earlier.

Remember to run your brush along your lower lash line as well, so the color is there.

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Step 4: This is where it’s optional. Use the black liner from earlier and draw just the tail-end of a flick from the outer corner of your eye outwards. 

Then follow by running bright gold liquid liner along the entire upper lash line, meeting and stacking right on top of the black at the outer ends. Then add a bit to the inner corners of the lower lash line as well.

Finish with mascara and that’s all there is to it.

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Step 5: For the lips, you can choose either to go with a nude lip so the look stays focused on the eyes, or you can opt to just go crazy with a brighter lip like I did.

Warm, Foiled Metal Look

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This is a look that can go from day to night with just one single change; your lip color.

Both are pretty dramatic looks; make no mistake about it. The eye shadow is foiled for a very dramatic, metallic finish. But the main shade (a beige gold) is still “neutral” enough that you can wear a dark lip with it without things looking too over the top.

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Step 1: Run some dark copper shadow (try something like MAC Antiqued) from the outer corners of your eyes inward, arcing along the hollow of your socket line, and the lower lash line as well.

Pack a bit more shadow into the outer corners and blend.

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Step 2: In the center of the lid, I recommend a very high-shine golden-beige shadow. Try applying Urban Decay’s Half-Baked shadow dampened for a high-shine finish. If you have very pink undertones and Half-Baked is a bit yellow on you, try MAC Woodwinked.

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Step 3: With a flat angled brush or a small detail brush, apply the first shadow (deep copper-brown) wet as a liner thickly along the lower lash line. If you own MAC’s Richground Fluidline, that would work as well.

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Step 4: I cut a strip of lashes into 2 to create half strips, and then applied each to the outer corners of the eye. (If you’re new to false lashes and find them hard to apply, try this method. Just make sure you get lashes that are longest at the center and equally short at both ends.)

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Step 5: Finish by applying black liquid liner over the lash strip to hide it completely, and applying a bit of mascara to bind your real lashes into the falsies.

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On the Lips and Cheeks:

• I wanted a really burnished, tawny look, so I swirled MAC’s Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Dark with NYX Cinnamon blush (a bright vermillion coral) and dusted it high along the cheek bones.
• Natural/Nude lips: Revlon Super Lustrous Lip gloss in Nude Lustre
• Dramatic lips: MAC Deepest Wish Amplified lipstick