Saturday 12 September 2009

Fantasy look: Maenad

Okay, I'm pretty much hooked on HBO's True Blood (well duh, it's about vampires after all). I'm not a fan of Maryann, the crazy maenad chick, mostly because she doesn't look batty enough. She's simply just too pretty. So, I decided to do something different for today. I decided to do a maenad look. I've always sort of thought that gold is a crazy colour. Not the "molten sunshine" gold colour, but the antique, tarnished gold. So I took that as the basis for my look.

Maenad look

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance (as a primer on upper lids)
Aromaleigh Elemental Lustre in Ego (all over upper lids)
Aromaleigh Bête Noire eyeshadow in Darcelle (inner corners)
Aromaleigh Pure Hue in Holy Grail (crease, outer vee and lower lashline)
Aromaleigh Pure Hue in Cocoa Bean (as a liner on upper lashline)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Choco-Cake Mix (on brows)
Lumene Blueberry Curl waterproof mascara in Black

Face:

Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss foundation in Inquisitive Himalayan (as a concealer and foundation,2 layers)
Meow Equilibrium Primp and Preen (as a primer)
Meow Top Cat finishing powder (as a finishing powder)
Meow Firefly blush in Illuminate)

Lips:

Makeup Store Star Lips in Hollywood

Aromaleigh's Ego is an antique gold shade that has that olive/chartreuse undertone. So that's why it appears a bit greenish. It's a very, VERY strong shade so I tried to be very meticulous when I applied it so it would look even. Holy Grail has stronger greenish undertones so it made a good crease colour. Both colours look a bit blackened so I decided NOT to use a black liner because I wanted a strong look but I didn't want it to look too stuffy. So I used Cocoa Bean instead. It is a golden brown with bronze undertones.

When I did my lower lashline with Holy Grail, I started from the outer corners and worked my way to the inner corners. I did this because I wanted the outer corners look darker. I applied Darcelle to the inner corners. Darcele is a bit brighter antique gold shade than Ego but it has aqua shimmer that's really interesting.

I didn't use a highlighter on the browbone because I wanted this look to be earthy as well. Instead, I made my brows look a bit darker (after all, this is a fantasy look) so that my eyes would look stronger.

This pic (as well as the one before) was taken before I did my brows because I wanted you to see how the colours on the lids work.


Maenads don't smile, they pout.

My main gripe with the makeup in the TV series is that they are obsessed to make sure that the beautiful women look as groomed as possible. I think that wearing red lipstick and being able to vibrate just isn't insane enough.

Usually I don't do both dark eyes and dark lips but maenads don't care. And they don't smile, not in photos at least. I do hate it though how my jaw disappears in this photo but I have to make do with the lighting and skills I have. I think this look reminds me a bit of flapper looks. But I think those are crazy as well so it's fine.

I flicked my hair with a straightener. The fascinator is from Topsy Turvy Design, they make fabulous hair decorations and hats.

I don't like Lumene's makeup in general (the pigmentation is so-so and the products in general quite uninteresting) but I like how this mascara doesn't smudge my browbone. Because that's the most common problem I have with waterproof mascara. Once my lids get a bit oily, I have black smudges below my brows. The fact that I have long lashes also contributes to this. But even when I was in Istanbul and it was 30 degrees in centigrade, this mascara wouldn't smudge. I wish it was a bit more volumizing, though.

So what do you think of the look?

6 comments:

Kim said...

Aah I just got Holy Grail not too long ago and I definitely want to try out a look like this!

Saila said...

Glad you like it, Kim :) Holy Grail is an amazing colour and because of it's undertones, you can easily combine it with golds and greens. It's also a great liner colour when used wet!

Nea said...

This is very pretty! I have Holy Grail but I haven't even tried it yet :-O

Saila said...

Nea, thank you :) You have to try Holy Grail, it can be really pretty. I tried it once on its own and it was too dark for me but as a crease colour it's very usable.

Phyrra said...

Aww, it ate my comment.
My comment was I love the metallics on your lids. I'm happy to see you blogging again.
*hug*

Saila said...

Phyrra, of course it did :( Thanks :) I love metallics, too. I guess that's why I caved in ordered stuff from Meow's Egyptian collection... Oops.