Ugh, I know. There are so many ridiculous “beauty blogger” words in that title.
But! I assure you, this Making an Effort is actually very simple to do.
Making an Effort, by the way, is something I just made up that is not dissimilar to my original fruitybeauty concept of Make an Effort Monday, except this one is way more wild because it might be on a Tuesday or even a Friday. I know! The new fruitybeauty is so outrageous. She probably parks in loading zones. Point is, sometimes we just gotta make an effort. Easy to become lazy and neglect all those delicious eye shadows and lipsticks we own. I do. Gary Pepper Girl would want it this way.
Here’s my MAE look, taken at the prestigious Zoe’s Car Studios. I like metallic eyes with girly pink lips. It balances it out, adds some softness. Bronzed eyelids with red lips are also pretty high up my favourite looks.
THE BASE
Apply primer. It will make your skin look great. I used the Tom Ford Illuminating Primer, (fork out the $95 at DJs Elizabeth St and Bourke St) which is fucking incredible, if I may be so vulgar. It’s illuminating and skin-tone-evening, has some sunscreen and makes your skin look like you had a facial yesterday.
I compounded this glow by applying with my fingers the outstanding and much hyped Lancôme Teint Visionnaire liquid foundation, which deserves its own post, and may just get one. It’s designed for mature skin, (code for: will give radiance and glow and fill in lines, hence my favourite kind of foundation) and as such, gives my skin a rude shade of health. If I’m not wearing a lot of colour on eyes and lids I use BB or CC cream, but for this look I wanted a full and even base of foundation.
THE EYES
A quick swipe of cream bronzer over the lid, blending out just up and over the crease line, as is customary if I harbour any hope for my eye makeup to stay in place. I used Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream Shadow in Beach Bronze which is a lovely sheer bronzey colour and terrific for green eyes.
I followed on with Becca’s Eye Colour (Shimmer) in Jacquard, pressing it in lightly with my fluffy shadow brush just up until the crease. Then, black liner along the lash line to define. (I blended a more little shadow over the line so it wasn’t so sharp or obvious.) And then mascara. My regular tubular gear, Clinique Lash Power, probably.
THE BROWS
Filled them in (almost, anyone else see the gap atop my brow?!) Ahhh, what fun) with the Bobbi Brown brow kit, which is to say, a thin, stiff brush, and a brown brow powder. (Eye shadow works perfectly well, too.)
THE CHEEKS
Not too much here. Don’t want to compete. Just a very soft swipe of the wonderfully illuminating St Stropez Bronzing Rocks, currently my favourite and most loved bronzer due to its ability to, well, NOT look like bronzer. It’s not for those who don’t like shimmer, (even though I find it sinks seamlessly into the skin and isn’t so much shimmer as ‘gleam’) but it is for those who don’t like a matte, muddy bronzed look, and who are capable of a light handed touch.
I take it, using a fluffy blush brush, along the top of my cheekbones and around like a boomerang along the top of my brows, and then super lightly blend into my hair line on the right and left sides of my head. I finished with a touch of Benefit Coralista blush on the fleshiest parts of my cheek.
THE LIPS
An oldie but a goodie – Laura Mercier Lip Color in Tangerine Cream. Loved this shade for about a decade now. A gorgeous pinky-melon-coral that brightens the face, whitens the eyes and teeth, and suits A LOT of skin tones. It does! It really does.
THE NECKLACE
Since someone with terrific taste in fake jewels is bound to ask, is ZARA.
