Makeup Is Easy: Life Is A Cabaret

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!
I guess that's not a very excited face, but it's still a FIERCE face. I went to my friend Cha Cha's cabaret show at 86 Winter last night with my friend Dan and my Dad, and I figured it was the ideal time to fire up some hardcore makeup. I've been loving Michelle Phan's YouTube channel because she does totally awesome makeup and she is great about explaining the mechanics of and reasons for what she's doing. She's basically the Alton Brown of makeup. I was looking for something fun to try out, and one of the looks that caught my eye was an Avatar inspired one that incorporated the lush colors of the movie. It looked great, so I decided to give it a whirl.
I used my She Space colors, which are powders instead of creams like Michelle used. I started out by using Fairy Tale Failed (light green) from my inner eye to the middle of my eyelid, about halfway up the lid. I then took Scared Silly (light blue) and continued the line out to a long wing on the side, and did a mirror wing from my lower lid. When you're doing winged eyes, it's easy to get disenchanted by fumbles, but the good news is that they're super easy to fix. You just want to use a wet Q-tip and pull firmly along the line you want while holding your skin taut. Once I was done refining the wings, I applied some sparkly Extra Caution (glittery blue-green) in the center of my eye.

Once I had the wings established, I took Fire and Brimstone (punchy strong yellow-orange and filled in the space between the two wings. I liked the pink overlay that Michelle used, so I applied Kitty Kat (salmony pink - I REALLY love this color, it's so pretty!) about midway up to my eyebrows. I finished the whole thing with white accents in Snow Capped along the eyebrow and my inner eye. Once all the shadows were done, I applied a round of mascara and defined my brows with Anastasia brow powder.

Then came the hard part.
I'm not good at applying false eyelashes. I usually wind up with a creepy V shape that makes no sense, gives a distinct drag feel to my look, and requires a two inch application of eyeliner to fix, which shoves the look from "drag" to "cat lady." It's not good. However, I liked these Sephora lashes so much I couldn't resist. The style I am wearing here isn't on the website anymore but the construction of them is so good I'll link you to the page anyway for other styles. They're really long with a criss-cross section at the inner eye. The nice thing about the Sephora lashes is that they have a band that's thick enough to give you good glue coverage but isn't obtrusive. I applied the glue, let it get tacky, then carefully placed the lashes along my lash line. I have literally spent twenty minutes one eyeball before (followed by swift giving up) and applying both lashes only took me about three minutes this time. I'm NEVER going back to drugstore lashes!

All in all, I was really happy with how this came out. The only thing I would have changed would be my lips - I think I probably should have used a light coral lipgloss just so my lips could keep up. The color in my lips has faded a bit as I get older so I'm used to being able to go without, but I think I need a little somethin'-somethin' these days. Enjoy!