Tuesday 22 October 2013

Pop art meets Comic Imagery LOTD

Yes another of mine late night post kittens   J
I had to get real crafty this Halloween and what happens when one doesn’t have a costume and gets invited to this flamboyant party (well your boy is going to be there so we might just call it fab as well!).The Pop Art Makeup looks are well known for the bold primary colors, exaggerated contours and lots of Ben-Day dots. Now the question arise what exactly are  Ben-day dots? The Ben-Day dots  printing process, named after illustrator and printer Benjamin Henry Day, Jr. is a technique dating from 1879.Depending on the effect, color and optical illusion needed, small colored dots are closely spaced, widely spaced or overlapping. Magenta dots, for example, are widely spaced to create pink. Pulp comic books of the 1950's and 1960's used Ben-Day dots in the four process colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) to inexpensively create shading and secondary colors such as green, purple, orange and flesh tones.They are visually striking, fun to do and wear and highly appreciated for a fashion project, a costume party or a Halloween character design.
 The Comic Book Character Makeup that I’m about to give you points on is an eccentric look and calls for great confidence and an open mind towards makeup and art in general.

When creating a Pop Art Makeup design, you want to look like you just stepped out of a Comic Book. Lichtenstein’s heroines are generally used for inspiration and guidance to achieve this look.
His best known works, such as Drowning Girl, the M-Maybe Girl and the Ohhh…Alright… Girl are Comic Book Characters from “Run For Love!” DC Comics and are considered Pop Art icons and a constant source of inspiration for Pop Art Makeup looks.
Lichtenstein’s post-1963 comics-based women look hard, crisp, brittle, and uniformly modish in appearance, as if they all came out of the same pot of makeup.
The look calls for certain elements, as portrayed by Lichtenstein’s heroines:
·         Thick outlines;
·         Scketched mimical expressions;
·         Bold & vibrant colors;
·         Applied art;
·         Patterns;
·         Ben-Day dots, as if created by photographic reproduction;
·         Large zones of flat colors;
·         High contrast between the subject and the back ground;
·         Comical, decorative, fashionable and fanciful technical manner.
In Pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context, isolated or combined with unrelated material. The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it, and although the art itself might be considered eccentric, its interpretation calls for undemanding social observations.
·    What are the key elements that give the uniqueness of Pop Art?
·    When examining pop art images, you’ll find there are several key elements that tie these seemingly unrelated art pieces together, and for our purpose – mashing them into a Pop Art Character Makeup – it is essential to decipher and adapt them to your design.

Not the first time I’ve seen images of make up like this but I think it looks awesome. I’ve noticed a growing trend of artists trying to make real life look like pictures rather than making pictures that look like real life. I really Like this image and I just wanted to share it.


Also today I’ve tried doing a full faced tutorial and I shot everything on the front camera cellphone :P So apologies for the quality.

1.I've started with clean moisturised face. This look is to achieve that stepped out of the comic book look. Hence a clear skin is must .The foundation lies in well moisturised face.


2.Next I use the Garnier BB cream,you can use a foundation if you want .I rarely use foundations.


3. I use a flat top foundation brush from my Coastal Scents kit and use it to buff the loose powder on my entire face.



4.Using the camouflage palette from Coastal Scents I use the 2 concealers that I’m pointing to highlight and conceal any spots on my face.



Okay now starts the fun part.I’ve personally used a liner and face paint for my face.I know you’re all great at face  painting and have won competitions but trust me you do tend to get shaky so a steady hand use your pinky finger to rest all your weight. Even a better option get a friend along ,you could do each other makeup and go as the twin!

5.Contour your eyebrows with a liquid liner and a brush, striving to achieve sharp edges. If you need to perfect the edges, use a Q tip dipped in cleanser or concealer.
6. After you achieved perfectly contoured eyebrows in an angled 50s shape, use the same eyeliner applicator or brush to draw a line down the center of your nose, on one side of the bridge of the nose and around the nostrils.  Thick outlines are a characteristic so don’t worry if your outlines are slick.



Basically we are going to highlight all the highpoints on our face.
7. Your eyes and lips will be only areas (except the dots, ofcourse) where you’ll have bold & vibrant flat colors, so choose a color blocking shade and apply it with hard edge.So I chose a purple and a pink eyeshadow for my eyes.I really wanted them to pop. Your another set of friendly options are neon greens,vibrant oranges or turquoise.


8. Next I drew some fake lashes on my lower lids. You could wear falsies too ,whereas in the parallel universe I’ve to wash everything and go to sleep after this :P No editing here cos I wanted you to see my lashes clearly.Fill i
n your lips with a bold red and add white for that 3 dimensional luscious effect.

9.We are one step closer to ending this. Patience girl, time to place  your Ben-days dots .I asked Sanky to do it for me he used red face paint and the end of a brush ,we stopped halfway to achieve a gradual spread effect.You should definitely add a wig  preferably yellow or red :)
Voila!You are ready to rock this look.









·         I personally enjoy a mix of  vintage & pop art and  if you are one of those archetypal treasure hunters you'll like it too. I had so much fun shooting for this LOTD and I hope it really does make you smile and you try it.
I’ll be back very soon doodles. Till then,
Stay Chic
Xoxo

Saturday 19 October 2013

Let's go the Cyndi Lauper way :D "DISCO+GLITTERBALL" LOTD

Evening my puppies,In good spirit may I present to you another Halloween LOTD.

The 80's are back! So this Halloween simply break out the crimping iron, bright eye shadows, blush and frosted lipstick and let your 80's tribute begin. Remember how I was itching to do a disco inspired makeup, so I surfed ,read, watch a couple of videos and end up with my own version of disco makeup. Now in the 80’s it was all about being extremely OTT
 (Over The Top). 80's Makeup- Eighties makeup was heavy. Not so much because we wanted to hide behind it (although maybe just a tad), but because we wanted to stand out. Everything on the face was accentuated with makeup. Some women opted for liquid foundation one or two shades lighter than their natural skin tone so that any bright colours they used would pop more. Eyes were covered in block coloured shadows, from the inner corner to the temple and right up to the brow bone. Smoky eyes in unusual colour combinations is what most on-trend were aiming for all lined with stark black eye-liner on the lower and upper lash line.

No fashionable 80's woman was complete without the perfect winged eye-liner effect. But we are not talking a delicate flick. Eye-liner was applied in heavy strokes, often continuing past the end of the brows with a characteristic winged shape forming between the liner and shadow.

For the hair you have very liberating options of going absolutely crazy .
First being imitate a perm, perms were  way popular in the 80’s.A great alternative if you either use crimpers or simply braid and sleep over it .Hairspray to make your hair stay :D
 Second being  a classic 80’s ponytail. Side pony tails, half way up and half way down after you have crimped you hair .

Third option is an instant touch by adding hair accessories. Items such as scrunchies, headbands and bows were popular in the 80s. For the most authentic affect, select something puffy in a bright colour or bold pattern.

Lastly Tease  your hair. To tease your hair, you take a brush and start low on the shaft of your hair and stroke upwards. Tease hair all over, making sure you get the back. If your hair is layered, start at the top layer and work your way around, finishing with the bottom layer. Also, make sure to tease your bangs well if you have them. After the initial teasing, spray your hair all over well with hairspray, then go back and tease again. Repeat as many times as you feel necessary. Once you've teased, you can carefully flip your hair over as you would to backcomb to create more volume at the crown, or blast it carefully with the hairdryer.

I start with my eye makeup first as there will be some severe fallouts.

Use a scotch tape on the side of your eyes to get that sharp edges.Remember you do not have to be neat with this look the more unblended the look the more 80’s is the mantra here.

First take any creamy white base for the light colours to pop up.Don’t forget your basics love,prime you eyes.I use MAC paint pot and prime and layer it with the NYX jumbo pencil in milk.

Blend the pencil thoroughly taking upto your brows.this shall be you canvas for playing with colours now .

Start with a light turquoise –powder blue all over your lids.Here I used fingers but if you are finicky go ahead and layer on with the flat shader brush.

Next on my crease line I go ahead and use bright pop of pink and extend it towards my inner corners  .


Blend away till your browbone.



Next I add a darker shade of blue on the corners of my eye and blend inwards not bringing it more than ¼ th part of my eye.


Adding more dept to the look I add a purple and layer on to my dark blue ,think of it as a wing liner only doing the  outwards.


Remove the scotch tape  and repeat the same shade on lower lids or you could stop there.


Next is to define my brows and I wanted them really thick. So first I filled them with this NYX auto pencil in dark brown.Next filling all sparse spaces with my brow gel from FACES.

 Since I wanted my brows to stand out for this look I define their outer edges more using a concealer and loose powder.


Next comes the face,here I want to contour my face heavily.So I’m adding a darker concealer from my COASTAL SCENTS  palette and add in the hollows of my cheek.Next using bronzer to add depth.


Using a heavy hand am using PURELY PRO ‘s blush in strawberry.It’s beautiful pink with fine shimmer.


Completing the eye with this glitter liner in ocean and glitter mascara from L.A.SPLASH.



For my lips I use a bright fuschia pink from JUSTGOLD and added pink lip gloss from Sally Hansen Inflation series.


You don’t want to forget the glitter.I love shimmer and here you can go crazy so splatter glitter wherever you want. I used it on the sides of my cheeks and side of my eyes.I used NYX loose shimmer .



Here’s my finished look.







I hope you like the tutorial I had so much fun filming this and I got to wear my favourite denim bow on my head .Wear your nautical stripe tee add a hair accessory ,I chose a spiky headband and you’r good to go !
Seeyou soon in my next post,it’s super fun and inspired by comics :D
Stay Chic,

XOXO





Wednesday 16 October 2013

MY ENVY BOX REVIEW

So,all my owls that are awake this post will definitely awaken your sense .
Well my envy box arrived a couple of days bag and needlessly to say we needed a break from Vellvette which has gone haphazard with the services ( I haven't got a single product I relish for over 3 months now) :( Honestly I did enjoy vellvette, after birch box just refuses to launch here ,at such a minimum cost.So when I cam across MY ENVY BOX I was more than willing to get a shot at the product.
Now for those who do not know what My ENVY BOX and all the hubla boo is about ,well you
  Get 5 trial sized beauty products (typically 2ml-10ml) from the top international luxury and prestige brands delivered to your door step every month
  Get Rs. 213 worth (25%) for a month's subscription, Rs. 557 (25%)  for 3 months,Rs.1,088 (25%) worth of MEB for 6 months and Get Rs. 2,125 (25%) worth of ENVY points  to redeem in our store.
  Free Shipping
  All products are sourced from brands and authorized distributors in India
  Access to special deals
  Be one of the lucky 50 to get a copy of the latest Elle Magazine.
Now as far as my experience goes I booked my box  I requested for the invite on 27th August and got replied immediately thereafter. I had to fill out my preference ,my skin type, hair problems,allergies well all the ruffian dealing s:P
Finally I was asked  to place the order on 8th of september and my box arrived on 14th September. So yeah the shipping is decent but din't test my patience like Vellvette did.(FYI My anniversary bag arrived around 9th of october :( )

So If you are interested in the box already go ahead My Envy Box now!



 image source: My Envy Bag's site 

And well what I loved about is that they donate 1% to the ELLE breast Cancer Campaign,do your bits girls :D
so coming back to my personalised box,here's what I got :D
 
Well it all came safe without any leakages and in bubble wrap.I love the clean chic packaging :D




 And here's my stash 




CLARINS. PERIOD. Okay this one  a gentle foaming cleanser, I was excited about it containing tamarind. God knows why this desi comes alive even thinking imli.So yay!




I absolutely am in love with the smell. God I wish it was a bigger sample.
I got a bit excited about the photography part and a wee bit creative ,what do you think :P So THALGO another amazing brand. And yes it's tiny but the container is super cure and purple *squeal*



I absolutely am in love with the smell.God I wish it was a bigger sample.(C'mon being their launch into the market they could have given us 1 full sized product *pch..pch*)







The Eminence Organic skincare, honestly I haven’t even heard of this brand *embarrassed* and its has won like 4 times in a row for the best spa products ! It claims to calm well,and i have it on as I write this post for you guys.
Ehmm yes i can feel the marigold  and it is kinda moisturising.



Out the cover and comes this tiny little tube ,I don’t know it's going t o be gone in like 3 uses! Highly disappointed here.
All in all I'm not really satisfies with the box.Also I see a lot other people getting the same stash so well the personalisation part goes to well again.I was expecting  1- 2 makeup items, and am not really a skincare person right now. Sticking to my KIEHL's routine of CTM.
Yes .it's certainly a whiff of fresh air with all the luxurious brands but personally i feel like they are reall too small for it to be reviewed. I had a lot of expectations from this box.

Am I re-subscribing? well not until I see the next month's boxe and hear some one rave about it!
Did you guys subscribe? Also did we get the same product? DO lete me know kinda queer!
I'll see you soon in my next post, till then

Stay Chic,
XoXo