#elf looks

[em-----dash]

not to be annoying but i had an ulta gift card and i ordered myself clinique black honey and im kinda irrationally excited about it

[yutazenn]

[immaterialgirls]

So this look is vaguely Arwen-inspired, because @forthegothicheroine sent me an elven crown from Ayalga on Etsy as a winter solstice/Chanukkah present and my mother and I marathonned LOTR this month, but it was also an excuse to do a look featuring new products of mine.

I’ve been getting into natural/organic cosmetics lately, and while I can’t see myself making a full switch, I tend to fantasize that this would be what I would wear if I were an elf.  Natural brands don’t tend to be long-wearing, precise or opaque, but they’re more comfortable on the skin and widely tend to be better for you, unless you’re sensitive to their ingredients. 

The base for this look consists of more products than it looks (especially since I didn’t achieve full coverage). RMS beauty Living Luminizer was used as a primer on the places my skin felt a little dry.  I seem to use this product as a multi-purpose salve more than I think it was meant to! RMS beauty’s un cover up foundation and concealer is a product I adore, but it tends to be low coverage, and my skin has been hating me recently, so I went back on the market for a higher-coverage foundation that would still be natural because I still want a product that feels comfortable after I’ve been wearing makeup for 15 hours.  Kjaer Weis is an expensive luxe brand with a very popular cream (but not liquid) foundation, so I gave that a shot and I’m a believer.  I apply this in the shade Illusion with a fingertip and then a damp sponge (I’ve been using the Real Techniques one; I am a beautyblender convert after trying a mini size from Sephora, but the Real Techniques one costs so much less).  Then I used RMS beauty’s un cover up in 22 on my under-eye area and 33 on blemishes that were leftover because I do think the Kjaer Weis cakes a little if you try to pile it on blemishes. 

Normally I set my makeup with RMS beauty’s un powder, but it’s a frustrating product to use and the finish of this foundation is much more matte, so I went back to my beloved Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Ethereal Light.  Not a natural brand, but this is what I meant when I said I wasn’t switching over.  I still felt a little dry so I sprayed on Glossier Soothing Face Mist.

I curled my eyelashes and then I started on the rest of my face.  Review is forthcoming on Glossier’s Boy Brow (I’m wearing Black) but the short and sweet is I adore its unique wax formula’s ability to style, darken, and hold my brows.  I’m also adoring the Bite Beauty Multi-Stick and ended up with four shades, but designs on more. My most recent one is Blondie, which is what the brand calls a “nude taupe”. I think anyone darker than me should pass this and either get Creme Caramel or Praline (corals and peaches) or Honeywheat or Anise (browns), but Blondie is just dark enough to add color and dimension to my cheeks without being noticeable. I used that on my cheeks and my crease, though it doesn’t work as well in the latter placement, I admit.  Next, on my eyelids and cheekbones, I used a sample of Vapour Organics Aura Multi-Use Classic Blush (a mouthful) in Tender, a “light peachy-pink”. I’m not seeing peach in this product, it’s merely not cool. This is such a light pink that it’s merely a glow - and as such has instantly become my new favorite highlighter. It has a shimmer to it that doesn’t register as shimmer, like products that are meant to be highlighters do, no matter how subtle they are. At the same time, it’s not matte, like Benefit’s Shy Beam was. This is how I hoped Shy Beam would look on me. It looks like the inside of a shell.  I think this would be even more beautiful and striking on anyone darker than I am, and anyone significantly lighter can probably start to use it as a blush as it’s intended.

After I applied my sample of Diorshow mascara (this is old and flaking u g h why me), I felt like my lashes looked a little thin and not fluffy and elfy, so I applied RMS beauty eye polish in Karma like a liquid liner. This doesn’t work as a liquid liner, I know; it fades throughout the day, and sometimes smudges because my eyelids are so hooded.  Don’t care, it looks really nice, it’s incredibly low-maintenance for an eyeliner and it’s not hard on my sensitive eyelids.

Lastly: lipstick! My favorite part of any look and meant to be the most pigmented part of this one since everything else is completely neutral, but this color is difficult to understand.  It’s another Vapour Organics product, their Siren lipstick in Madam, and it’s meant to be a “classic mauve”, but it feels neither especially mauve nor especially nude.  I read it was similar to Clinique’s Black Honey (the lipstick Liv Tyler is apparently actually wearing in LOTR) in its emollient texture and glossy finish, but its emollience and gloss wear off quickly, and its color seems to too. (Then again, most sheer lipsticks come off when you eat.)  In these pictures, I built it up very heavily, and i feel like if i used it a lot, I’d use up the tube quickly, because I prefer how it looks built up.  I’m sure it’s one of those products that stands out more on lighter skin, because my lips are already sort of that color anyway.

Here’s my color palette:

From top: Bite Beauty ‘Blondie’, Vapour Organics ‘Madam’, Vapour Organics ‘Tender’, and RMS beauty ‘Karma’.  Look at those neutrals doe.

I’m not in a position to buy every single natural beauty product I want right now, but color me intrigued. 

SOTD: BPAL’s “Elf”, fittingly enough, a mixture of forest scents, honey and musk with the occasional flirtation from violet and lily notes.

[vashti-lives]

It's 15 degrees out and I cannot bring myself to care that I look like an extra in a movie about Santa's workshop.