Makeup Tutorial: Night Court Inspired Look
10:49:00 AM
For a long time I have wanted to find a way to marry my love of makeup with my love for books. And after finishing A Court of Mist and Fury, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
I'm in no way a professional, I'm essentially self-taught from hours watching my favorite beauty youtubers; makeup is a hobby and something I'm very passionate about. I love makeup because it lets me express my true colors and experiment with new looks to transform my appearance, if only for a little while. I tend to spend way to much money on makeup, I'll admit, so if you don't have the exact products I'm using, that's okay! As long as you've got similar colors and a little patience, you'll be just fine (:
And because I'll be showcasing photos of the products I'm using, I'm just going to state that I'm in no way sponsored by any of the brands I'll mention. Although, a girl can dream! (:
YOU WILL NEED:
- Eye primer
- Gray eyeshadow
- Silver eyeshadow
- Deep blue eyeshadow
- Blue liquid lipstick
- Eyeshadow brushes: flat shader brush, dense flat brushes for packing on color, fluffy blending brushes, liner brush, pencil brush, etc.
- Foundation/concealer/powder/foundation and powder brush or beauty blender (optional)
- Highlighter (kinda optional kinda not really :P)
- Patience!
STEP ONE: Prime!
A good makeup starts with a good base. Think of priming like starting fresh. Once you have washed your face and sanitized those mitts of yours, prime away. Your fingers are some of the most unique tools to use in makeup, and if you're going to be using them anywhere near your nose and mouth and eyes you want them as clean as can be. This will also help your skin by working to prevent any potential breakout-causing bacteria fromspreading! My favorite face primer is BareMinerals' Prime Time and I love using Lorac's Behind the Scenes eye primer. I use my ring fingers to prime my eyelids, making sure to run the remainder just under my bottom lash line, before using my fingertips to apply a pump of Prime Time like I would apply a moisturizer to my face. I like applying face primer before I do my eye makeup because it lets the primer set in and do its thang while I work on my eyes.
STEP TWO: Lid base
Dipping into my Lorac Pro palette with a flat shadow brush, I'm taking a touch of CREAM and a touch of WHITE and applying it from lid to brow bone. This sets our eye primer and allows for a smoother transition for our colors to blend together flawlessly.
STEP THREE: Transition color
With a fluffy blending brush, I'm taking MUSHROOM from the Urban Decay Shadow Box palette and running it softly within my crease to create our transition color. It's a gorgeous smoky gray with just a touch of shimmer, evocative of the "smoke and darkness" Feyre references so much while she winnows. So winnow this shade onto the crease of your lid in soft, circular "windshield-wiper" motions.
When you've applied it, it should look something like this, with no harsh lines and a soft gradient:
STEP FOUR: Halo
Start singing Beyoncé because we're going to create a halo eye. This is where the outer and inner corners are darkest/smokiest, and the center of the lid is bright or a pop of color. On a dense, flat brush I'm taking MOONSHADOW also from the UD Shadow Box palette. This is the color of Night, of Velaris, of Azriel's siphons. Intense and rich midnight blue. If you don't have a dense brush, use your ring or pinkie finger to pack the shadow on.
I'm aware there was an eyelash on my cheek I didn't notice until many steps later...
To get the most color intensity, you'll want to pack the shadow on in small patting motions; don't swipe it on or you will lose some of its intensity.
STEP FIVE: blend baby blend
The key to a halo eye is patience, because you will be going back and forth between steps until you reach the desired intensity of color.
Take that same fluffy blending brush from before and gently, with light pressure, blend the outer and inner color we just put down, lightly going over our transition color, that smoky gray.
STEP SIX: repeat
Like I said, the key is patience. Dip back into the MOONSHADOW blue color and repeat steps 4-5 until a nice and intensely pigmented, yet softly blended arc appears. The goal is to have colors transition seamlessly and without any harsh lines.
I also took the leftover pigment on my brush and ran it beneath my lash line -- remember how we primed there? Smoke out your bottom lash line with that fluffy blending brush.
STEP SEVEN: lid service
Taking ColourPop's super shock shadow in the shade BIRTHDAY BOY on a smaller dense shading brush, I'm going to apply this to the center of my lid. Birthday Boy was a limited edition shade that ColourPop gave with every order during their two-year anniversary. It's a creamy taupe with intense, intense glitter reflex in gold and purple. Birthday Boy is our Starfall. On our eyelids. And less....slimy. And eerie.
Pack that onto the center of your lid. ColourPop shadows are unique in formula where they start like a cream but the more you work with them, the more they take on the properties of a pressed powder or pigment. It takes some getting used to to work with but its very buildable and so pigmented, and for only $5 a pop it's hard to find something wrong with it.
STEP EIGHT: blend for days
Didn't I say halo eyes take patience and a lot of back and forth? As JKissa would say, put your patient hands on and get to blending one last time to make sure everything is seamless.
STEP NINE: just wing it
Smearing the lipstick off the doe foot applicator and onto the back of my hand, I take my liner brush and dip it in the product, and then use it to wing out my eyeliner like the wings of an Illyrian warrior. It's kind of hard to hold a mirror and wing your liner while also taking a picture, so I don't exactly have a photo of the process. But here's the end result:
Don't worry about that small amount of fallout you see, we'll take care of that in a second.
STEP TEN: channel kylie jenner
Using the liner brush we just used, line your lips with Foul Mouth so that you can have a more precise application. I have a tendency to slightly overline my lips so that my Cupid's bow is more rounded and heart shaped, so channel Kylie Jenner and overline to your heart's content. Then make some silly faces, because why not. It doesn't have to be neat inside the lines, just lay down a good outline. Then fill them in using the good ol' doe foot applicator in the tube.
STEP ELEVEN: beat that face
Take your favorite concealer (mine is the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind but sadly it isn't cruelty free. Anybody have some suggested drugstore dupes?) and your favorite foundation (mine is CoverFX Natural Finish Oil-Free Foundation, but since it's around $40 a tube I'm going to be using my old as dirt Rimmel London Clean Finish foundation. Both have extremely good coverage and will neutralize the redness in my skin and minimize my acne scarring appearance, their finishes are just varied by dewy and matte.) and strategically place on your face. Please ignore my atrociously dirty beauty blender, I promise I cleaned it after this look! 😅
Take your (hopefully clean) beauty blender or a foundation brush and bleeeend! If you're using a beauty blender, I like to smear the product around whatever "zone" of my face I'm working on, before using bouncing, stippling motions to dab it into my skin for a natural and streak-free finish.
STEP TWELVE: bake that face like a cake
Take a little more powder on that brush and powder your face, gently swiping the bake away at the very end.
STEP THIRTEEN: sculpt those cheekbones
My usual contour color is just a little bitty bit of SABLE and ESPRESSO from the Lorac Pro palette on a fluffy face brush. Contour your face, sculpting your cheeks like Feyre sculpts water animals.
Now, as NikkieTutorials would say... Time to make our highlight glow to the gods. You want a highlight so bright, it puts the Rainbow of Velaris to shame. A highlight so bright, it could blind a passing Illyrians straight out of the skies. So bright, you need to glamour it so as not to blind those nearest to you. (too much?)
To make this highlight bright enough, I'm first dipping my fan brush into the bottom four shimmery shades in the Lorac Pro palette: NUDE, CHAMPAGNE, GOLD, and LT. BRONZE. Sweep over your cheekbones and appreciate the subtle glow, and then proceed to take the 100 Layers challenge and dip into Makeup Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighter in Radiant Lights. Sweep over your cheekbones. And then sweep on a little more... A little more...
Take a moment to appreciate your glow and pose. Because it's a necessary step, of course.
STEP FOURTEEN: finishing touches
Swipe on a couple coats of your favorite mascara, I'm using an ancient sample of Lâncome's Hypnose Drama, and add false lashes if you want. I tried to but my lash glue is not the best, and therefore my lashes didn't stay on that long.
Let your hair down.
Or braid it up. Take 200 selfies, find your optimal lighting.
Appreciate the glow radiating off your highlight like the mating bond snapping into place.
Captivate others with the city of Velaris in a single look.
Take a few more selfies...not out of vanity, but because makeup is a form of creation and self-expression and damn, you look good!!!!
And then contemplate where to start in cleaning up the mess that is your bathroom sink...
I really hope you enjoyed this Night Court inspired makeup, and if you decide to recreate it PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tag me on twitter and instagram to show me! I can't wait to see what you guys do with your looks!
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