WINTER GLAM

This may come as a surprise to you but I've been really into ~natural~ makeup lately.

By lately I mean the last two/three weeks .. and by natural makeup I mean if I wear any makeup at all it's just base makeup. Hence my small hiatus. Skin care has been taking priority over a full face recently (I promise I'll have a skin care routine up soon!) - and my seasonal depression has surfaced again causing me to be severly lacking in makeup inspiration.

I watched one of NikkieTutorial's newest videos the other night and had the urge to try my hand at her cut-crease halo eye technique. This is actually a technique I've been wanting to try for  a while but for some reason couldn't for the life of me figure out how to achieve the look. Now that I've got it figured out (thanks, Nikkie) I can tell it's a technique I'm going to be using pretty frequently.

Today I went to my beauty room, pulled out my Morphe x Jaclyn Hill palette and got to creating.

I started the look by buffing "Silk Creme" in/slightly about my crease with my NYX Pro Blending Brush. I put this pretty generously on my eye using small circular motions while sweeping back and fourth. Silk Creme is a pretty light transition shade once blended out so while it seemed it was kind of blown out, it just made for a beautiful gradient from my skin tone into the next shade "Roxanne". I put Roxanne just below Silk Creme with the same brush, using the same motions. This was essentially just the background colors for the brighter shades to really pop against.

Once I was satisfied with my blending of Silk Creme and Roxanne, I dipped my Sigma E25 into "Jacz". I pressed this into my outer and inner corners, blending it out using very short back and fourth motions. This technique helps to blend the color without losing too much pigmentation. I brought the colors towards the center of my lid, keeping the most color on the outside and leaving the majority of my lid empty. Don't worry if you bring the color in too far, once you "cut" the area in the next step it'll be covered.

My favorite part of the look. Cutting the crease. For this look, instead of using my usual brush I used a Coastal Scents Classic Round Detail brush. This brush is much smaller than the one I use for regular cut creases, so it is better for the preciseness I was looking to achieve. I picked up a *tiny* bit of Tarte's Shape Tape on the brush. With the product on my brush, I placed the flat side of the brush in the middle of my lid just above my crease. I sketched out where I wanted to widest area to be and pulled down the concealer towards my lashes in a funnel shape. Or upside down triangle.

Once I had the shape the way I wanted it I picked up "Sissy" on my Morphe M326 and placed the color on the smallest area of the newly cut area. On the same brush I placed "Faint" on the largest area of the cut crease. This makes the bright area of the lid look even brighter.

To finish off the look I deepened my inner and outer corners with "Chip" on a Morphe M574 then smoked out my lower lash line with Roxanne on my Sigma E25.

JK, I thought I was done. The look wasn't popping the way I wanted it to so I traced over the tippy top of the crease with NYX Lip of the Day (liquid liner) in Gem. Then, I was truly done with the look. Aside from lashes (House of Lashes "Smokey Muse") and liners - Sephora long lasting liquid liner for the wings + Urban Decay Torch on the bottom lash line.

Other things I put on my face today:

- The Ordinary Coverage Foundation shade 1.2Y mixed w/ NYX Pro Foundation Mixer in Olive. The foundation on it's own, like most other foundations, is slightly too yellow on my skin. I'm still trying this foundation out, not 100% sure how I feel about it. Can I blog about it??

- Glossier Wowder in Light/Medium. First time trying it today so no real opinion there.

- Glossier Boy Brow in Brown. OK LISTEN. This is hands down the best brow gel I've ever used. Listen. I usually pluck my brow tails so I can shape my brows differently but ya girl is growing her brow tails back out just to use this more. This shit right here has me contemplating rocking the natural brows. Life changing. (In fact, I love it so much here's a link to get yourself a 10% discount)

- Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow in Medium Brown. This was just to add back in said brow tails I plucked off.

- Cover FX Illuminating Setting Spray. I don't know how I set my makeup before TBH.



My next post I'm thinking will be my current skincare routine. Because seriously, I am OBSESSED right now.
Til then, follow me on Instagram.

- Ambz