Rocking Mattes 3 Different Ways!
Sunday, January 04, 2015
So I've been trying to figure this post out for a while now - ever since I splurged (yet again) on an RBR sale and picked up the rest of their matte eye shadow line. Essentially I wanted to create a post that showed the variety of ways you can use matte eye shadows and showcase the beauty-bag-work-horses that they are.
I also wanted to share with you guys what I've discovered/fallen in love with over the last year or so since I started using mattes as part of my beauty routine.
Secondly, you can use any matte shadows you already own to recreate these looks, I'm using RBR's because they are the best (and my favorite) matte formula I currently own.
To make life easy, when any of the shade names are mentioned I'll be referring to them by their acronyms instead of their full length names:
To make life easy, when any of the shade names are mentioned I'll be referring to them by their acronyms instead of their full length names:
Blackpepper Jay ~ BPJ
Sweet Dust Seriema ~ SDS
Chestnut-Napped Apalis ~ CNA
Papyrus Canary ~ PC
Grey Go-Away Lourie ~ GGAL
Chestnut-Napped Apalis ~ CNA
Papyrus Canary ~ PC
Grey Go-Away Lourie ~ GGAL
Out of all 5 of the shadows only PC is available as a pan refill, the rest are individual pots so you'll have to get crafty with a hair straightener and depot those babies if you wanna put them in a palette. Unfortunately SDS is discontinued but it looks like you can still pick it up at Beauty Habit.
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| TOP ROW L-R: Grey Go-Away Lourie, Chestnut-Napped Apalis, Blackpepper Jay, BOTTOM ROW L-R: Sweet Dust Seriema, Papyrus Canary |
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| my poor SDS got dropped/fell off my bathroom counter and the hinge on the lid broke - I keep meaning to depot all of them but I've been |
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| Swatches L-R: Grey Go-Away Lourie, Sweet Dust Seriema, Papyrus Canary, Chestnut-Napped Apalis, Blackpepper Jay under bounced daylight balanced flash |
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| a collection of my Rouge Bunny Rouge neutral eye shadows - the matte shades are labelled in fuchsia :) |
As you can see I'm a bit of a fan of the RBR eye shadows =P Honestly though the quality is superb and they generally have two big sales per year where I go haul-crazy. If anyone wants a full swatch panel of the collection above or if you would be interested in a dedicated swatch post of my entire RBR eye shadow collection let me know in the comments below!
Look #1 - Cute Retro Sex Kitten Meets '60s Mod (kind of...lol)
This look is one of my go-to's for a night out or a dolled up day-date as its classic, easy to vamp up or tone down and honestly makes my eyes look huge which I like :)
To transform this particular look into an evening out/sexy-pants look it's as easy as ditching the kawaii-esk headband, taking down the sock bun up-do for epic loose Victoria's Secret like curls and throwing on a coat of clear lip gloss for a lush full looking pout!
In this look, the main focus of the matte shadows is to sculpt out a soft semi-cut crease effect which gives definition to the eyes and to extend the natural upper lash line into a longer more almond shape, creating a cat eye look. Liquid eyeliner and bold lashes complete the feline shape. At the very end I added the barest touch of Alabaster Starling (a gorgeous white/pale pink shimmer) to the middle of my eyelid.
I then used SDS to lightly contour my cheeks and PC to highlight through my T-section as I want a softly powdered and really finished feel to the overall look. I mixed BPJ and CNA together to create a soft natural looking brow shape and colour, and finally I patted on a translucent finishing powder over NYX's Fig lipstick to convert the satin texture to a matte one and brushed on theBalm's Down Boy blush. Gotta love how versatile matte eye shadows can be!
Originally I was going to post a tutorial of the entire look, however it a) made the post even longer and b) I didn't photograph each step >.< - I did however film it and have written out the steps. If you guys would like me to do a dedicated tutorial post for this look, let me know in the comments below!
Look #2 - Understated Vamp On The Red Carpet
Another staple look of mine, especially for date night with my lovely fiance, is a classic matte red lip with an understated smokey eye.
Here we have super easy eye shadow combination of PC in the inner corner and as the brow highlight, SDS through the crease area with CNA as the higher sitting transition tone on the brow bone itself and BPJ in the outer V and lash line to create definition. Brows are filled in with BPJ.
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| a little bit Goth looking here - definitely need to get my fake tan on this summer! :P |
And just because mattes are the feature here, doesn't mean we can't thrown in some satin/shimmer shades too! In place of black liquid liner and false lashes, I've used a damp MAC 263 with RBR's Abyssinian Catbird (a gorgeous olive toned shimmer) to line both the upper and lower lash lines and a few coats of black mascara. I love this mix of finishes and textures for the entire look as it creates dimension. I also enjoy the subtler definition to my eyes by nixing the falsies and winged liner as I feel it better compliments the bold red lip.
Speaking of, the red lip was a mix of things as I couldn't find the exact right shade I wanted in my stash; it's clearly gone on vacation to either my bestie's makeup bag or the deep dark depths of the back of my vanity! Either way, we've got a NYX lip liner in Burgundy over the entire lip plus Revlon's Really Red matte lipstick mixed with NYX's Hero lipstick.
Look #3 - Easy Breezy Beach Babe with a Neon Pop
My inspiration for this look was the S/S 2013 runway makeup. An effortless and healthy looking base with only the barest of concealer, natural brows and bold, bright neon pink lips! Not a look I'd normally wear but once I had it on I really dug it! I can definitely see me doing this again for those lazy beach-side Sunday sessions, as we are smack bang in the middle of Summer here in Aussie.
To create this look I applied Australis's Face & Body tinted moisturizer all over ma face then used Becca's Fine Pressed Powder in Spice as a matte bronzer/all over tan to warm up my current super pale I-work-too-many-night-shifts complexion. My brows have just a touch of SDS to fill in the empty spots in between my crazy sparse brow hairs and are simply brushed into their natural shape, while my lashes have just a single coat of mascara.
For the va-va-voom neon fuchsia lips I used of all things Sleek's Matte Me lip cream in Brink Pink - be warned, this formula goes on wet and then dries/sets in about 30 seconds flat, so be quick. It also dries the crap out of my lips, so not the most comfortable product to wear. I used Nuxe's Rêve de Miel lip balm underneath to try and mitigate some of the discomfort.
Add some beachy waves/curls, throw on a maxi dress and you're good to go!
Overall I've really loved working with matte tones/textures and have incorporated them so much so into my beauty regime that I can't imagine living without them.
For so long I would always go for the shimmery, sparkly variations/textures/shades in all my beauty products, but the older I get the more I find I want understated tones/textures that enhance and work with with my natural features while balancing the occasional brighter sparklier tones I enjoy. But hey that's just me :)
I've also found I can use matte eye shadows for so many more things than just adding colour to my eyeballs and that versatility rocks my socks off. Travelling with mattes is such a no-brainer as their dual purpose abilities + less clutter = more room for other stuff in my suitcase!
Phew, so another long ass post done - sorry guys! This one has been on the back burner for a while now so I'm stoked to finally get it posted.
Let me know what you think and if you'd like a tutorial on any of these looks just ask in the comments below. As I mentioned at the top of the post, all opinions are my own, all the products were purchased by me (except for PC which was a freebie) and there are no affiliated links in the body of this post.
Bambi xox
p.s
I promise to keep the next post under 500 words, I swear =P
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