Beauty crafted in the dark chambers of the heart



Wednesday, May 27, 2015

FOTD: The Greatest Show On Earth

Hello! Today I bring you another FOTD! A lot of people seemed to like these two looks on Instagram (which is now public) so I decided to do a post on them.


Face:
Catrice Camouflage Cream Concealer in 020 Light Beige
Sleek Makeup Ultra Mattes V2 Eyeshadow in Dragon Fly (contour)

Eyes: 
H&M Gel Eyeliner in Black
Sleek Ultra Mattes V2 Eyeshadows in Noir and Fern
Sleek Ultra Mattes V1 Eyeshadows in Dragon Fly and Cricket Maybelline Colossal Go Extreme MascaraMakeup Geek Pigment in New Year's Eve

Lips:
Sleek Ultra Mattes V2 Eyeshadows in Fern

Sleek Ultra Mattes V1 Eyeshadows in Dragon Fly

Makeup Geek Pigment in New Year's Eve    

Face and Hand:
Makeup Geek Pigment in Prince Charming
Half pearl glued to the face with liquid latex

Eyes and Lips: 
Sleek Au Naturel Eyeshadows in Noir
Maybelline Colossal Go Extreme Mascara


I hope you liked this post and, although I'm going to Lisbon due to school matter, I will be posting an exciting new post on Saturday!

Love,
Anna

Saturday, May 16, 2015

I must not tell lies, Professor Dolores Umbridge

Hi! Today I have a Harry Potter inspired post for you. I was scrolling down Powdah's Instagram page, who is an amazing FX makeup artist, and I got inspired to do something in that area but I did not know what to do so I decided to do something simple that actually turned out pretty hard to get done.

After being "forced" to watch all Harry Potter movies, I started being a bit more keen on it and so this is dedicated to the one person that made me watch the movies.


I did this with liquid latex, cream paints, homemade stage blood and very small detailing brushes.

First I put down an orange base with the shape of the letters I wanted to create to serve as my guide lies. Then I applied two layers of liquid latex, one smooth and the second one I tried to leave it a bit messier to achieve the jagged effect of wounds.
Afterwards I went over with a very fine brush with a large rage of blood and bruise colours such as reds, pinks, oranges and blacks, blending a bit of a pinkish red color outside the limits of the cuts.
To finish it off I applied tinny drops of blood in certain parts of the letters until I was pleased with the result and this is it!
It took me about an hour to get done.

 





So this is it for this Saturday's post, I hope you have enjoyed it!

Love,
Anna

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Time Is Just a Concept and Always the First Thing to Fade

Hello again! I'm really excited about this week's post!
I was asked by my good friend Marisa, who's been here on the blog before, to do special effects makeup and hair for a short film she's making for school. I won't get too much into the story line but I'll show you the backstage of this scene. I was asked to create an old "mask" for Miguel to look aged and, precisely, old.
I went for the more realistic FX way to do it that isn't prosthetics, liquid latex.
Since they did not have a budget, I decided that, if everyone from the group wanted to invest a little bit of money, we could end up with a very true to life thing that would do the trick for camera. 


Here's how I got this 3D wrinkled effect on Miguel's face!




After a couple of funny faces, I got around tracing the natural folds that his skin creates when he smiles or does various faces.


Then we went on to the less pleasant phase: the latex layers.
I applied about 5 to 6 thin layers of latex with a cosmetics sponge on the stretchable zones of his face.
I also applied on his forehead, which isn't as stretchable, to mimic the texture of the rest of the face so it wouldn't look ridiculous. 



Once all the latex layers were dry, I went on to shading certain wrinkles and highlighting specific areas to further age his appearance.

I particularly love this shot!!!!


I also ran some cream paint on his hair and eyebrows to finish up the look.






And this was the final result!

I think we came up with a pretty wicked result! The removal part wasn't as nice but you'll have the chance to see that on the bloopers when the short film airs.
Look forward to posts similar to this about other scenes of the short film next week as we countdown to the day the short film is released!

I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I loved, LOVED, creating it and I will be back on the next one!

Love,
Anna

Monday, May 11, 2015

Dramatic Prom Look

 Hi! Today's post is the so promised look, it's late, I know but I'm sorry, I was busy with upcoming events that I'll update you on it in future posts.
Here's a look that I did supposedly for prom but turned out much more dramatic than I anticipated. But here it is anyway, a cut dramatic cut crease cat eye!



I won't be taking you through the steps but I'll just give you some tips throughout the post to achieve this look.



Use tape to achieve a sharp like on the wing and a small and dense brush to define the crease and achieve the elongated shape.


Use black eyeshadow instead of eyeliner to achieve the ultimate glam cat eye without looking too sharp.


Use a shade that is slightly darker and a tad warmer than your skin to contour and bronze all at once.
For a soft glow all over the cheeks use a champagne color for light to medium skin and a golden shade for darker skin tones.


Tone the look down with a nude'ish lip color. If you want full on drama use a dark warm plum lip liner such as MAC's Wine over your lip balm.


 Add the smallest bit of gloss to the cupid's bow and the center of the lower lip to create the illusion of fuller plumped lips.

I feel very Khloé Kardashian in this last picture, I don't know why!

Here's the list of the all products used:

Face:
Benefit Boi-ing Concealer in O1 and O2
Benefit Hello Flawless Powder Foundation in "I love me" Ivory
Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation in "I'm pure 4 sure" Ivory
Sleek Makeup Ultra Mattes V2 Eyeshadow in Flesh (contour)
W7 In the Mood Eye Colour Palette Eyeshadows in Shrimp (highlight)

Eyes: 
Sleek Au Naturel Eyeshadows in Nougat and Toast
Sleek Ultra Mattes V2 Eyeshadows in Villan, Dune, Noir and Flesh
IDC Color 44 Palette Eyeshadows in 4, 12 and 20
Maybelline Colossal Go Extreme Mascara
Ardell Lashes in 107 and 118

Brows:
Essence Eyebrow Designer in 02 Brown
Essence Lash & Brow Gel Mascara

Lips:
Essence Stay Matt Lip Cream in 03 Soft Nude
MAC Lip Liner in Nightmoth (to darken the outer corners the slightest bit)
H&M Lip Gloss in Nude Rose

(I'm sorry for the lack of quality of some photos)

That's it for this post! I hope you have enjoyed it and I will be back next week with exciting new posts!

Love,
Anna

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

FOTD: Nude Peacock

Hi! Today I decided to do a post describing the products I used to create the looks of my latest Instagram posts. Since Rita is having some trouble uploading lately, I decided to take her turn and do a quick post like previous FOTD posts.
You can find these photos on my Instagram page which I'm working on making it public when I find out how to completely block my sister.

Let's get to it!


Face:
Benefit Boi-ing Concealer in O1 and O2
Benefit Hello Flawless Powder Foundation in "I love me" Ivory
Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation in "I'm pure 4 sure" Ivory
Sleek Makeup Ultra Mattes V2 Eyeshadow in Flesh (contour)

Eyes: 
Sleek Au Naturel Eyeshadows in Nougat, Taupe, Conker and Noir
Sleek Ultra Mattes V2 Eyeshadows in Dune, Maple, Flesh and Villan
Maybelline Colossal Go Extreme Mascara

Brows:
Essence Eyebrow Designer in 02 Brown
Essence Lash & Brow Gel Mascara

Lips:
H&M Lip Pen in Cherry Lips



Face: 
Benefit Boi-ing Concealer in O1 and O2
Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation in "I'm pure 4 sure" Ivory
Catrice Nude Illusion Loose Powder

Eyes:
Sleek Makeup Au Naturel Eyeshadow Palette Eyeshadows in Nougat
W7 In the Mood Eye Colour Palette Eyeshadows in Shrimp
W7 Paint Box Palette Eyeshadow in 41, 51 and 52
H&M Dip Eyeliner
Maybelline Colossal Go Extreme Mascara
H&M Extreme False Lashes
Cosmetic Glitter in Silver and White

Brows:
Essence Eyebrow Designer in 02 Brown
Essence Lash & Brow Gel Mascara

Lips: 
Catrice Long Lasting Lip Pencil in 020 Hey Macadamia Ahey!
Catrice Ultimate Colour Lipstick in 380 Nude-Tastic
H&M Lip Gloss in Nude Rose

And that is it for this post, I hope you have enjoyed it!
I try out makeup for fun on my free time and when it turns out well I post it on Instagram, so yeah, that's that..
I'll be shooting a look tomorrow so look forward to it on Saturday!

Love,
Anna

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Miss Rebecca Sunshine

Hi! As promised, today I have a very special post for you.
After watching so much RuPaul's Drag Race, and after trying a drag look on myself, I decided to ask Fábio, one of my closest boy friends, if he'd let me drag up his face.
I obviously had loads of ideas for this look, I wanted to do something more on the neutral side but when the day came, I gave it a colourful twist.

  

I asked him before anyone else because he has a fantastic bone structure and, as you can see, amazingly huge lips.
To me, the hard step of all drag looks seems to be covering the eyebrows. I still haven't mastered that technique so that's why it may look so rough.
So it's with great pleasure that I present you Miss Rebecca Sunshine's first photoshoot!




 






I'm not going to walk you through all the steps for this look because you can easily google how to do a drag look and end up with a similar result. I'd just like to point out how surprised he was when I showed him the finished look. It was a completely new person!


Here's a "two faced drama rebellion" kind of photo for you to see the difference and notice the contrast.
I know he'll be checking this post out so here's (another) massive thank you, thank you so much for this opportunity that I believe was positive to both sides. I will always be available to recreate Rebecca Sunshine whenever.

Also would like to note that all colourful matte eyeshadows are Sleek and the shimmery blue and pink on the lid are those reflective Essence eyeliners I showed in a previous haul. Lipsticks are Rimmel and Kiko and foundation/concealer are Benefit and Catrice.


So yeah, this is it for this post, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed making it and shooting it for you. It was great fun!

Love, 
Anna

Friday, May 1, 2015

Review: Confiança's Leite de Burra Soap

Hi! Today I'm here to review this product my tutoring teacher gave me. She gave me this jennet milk soap that she claimed to be great for makeup removal and smooth skin.


It is from the portuguese brand Confiança and is manufactured in Portugal with jennet milk, therefore, and unfortunately, not suitable for vegans.
It smells so so good that I obviously had the highest expectations for it.
I am very picky with soaps, I only use the Dove soap, it's the only one I'm able to use that doesn't dry out my skin extremely. I have to say that this one, as well as most soaps, did dry my skin out a lot.
Most soaps do this to my skin anyway, so far Dove is the only brand that has a block soap that leaves my skin smooth and soft.
Unfortunately, I do not share my tutoring teacher's opinion, it is not the best soap to wash your body and face.



But, as there are always two sides to the same story, this soap has surely impressed me.
I usually wash my makeup brushes twice a moth and today I noticed they were already getting very loaded with pigment from other colours so I decided to clean them.
Magically enlightened, I picked up my jennet milk soap and tried it out as a brush cleanser and, mother, is it the best brush cleansing engine I ever came across!!
It is fantastic as a brush cleanser! I simply swirled the bristles of my brushes in the soap after getting them a bit wet and swirled them in my hand till it formed white foam. I then run them under lukewarm water and they were completely free of all sorts of residue from makeup products.
I often find that I have to wash my concealer and lip brushes with a bit of coconut oil to break down the product and release it from the brush, this soap is so good that I basically just did the same as I had done with eyeshadow brushes and such and after running them under water they were clean as if they just came from the store! It is that good!
It eliminated all stains I previously had on my brushes and left them in pristine conditions, I am so so pleased with this product!!

My overall thoughts on this jennet milk soap are:

  • It does not meet my needs when it comes to soap to wash my face and body
  • But it is great for brush cleaning and that's what I'm going to be using it for
So that's it for today's post! I'll hopefully be posting something special tomorrow, so look forward to that!

Love, 
Anna