some of my make-up looks of 2011

my make-up collection (and obsession) grew significantly in 2011. beginning last christmas when i got my sigma brush roll set to cheer me up after a horrible semester and my sephora train case from my boyfriend, i was on my way to growing my collection. during the summer, i also got the ikea malm dressing table to use as a vanity. because of school, i couldn’t do a lot of make-up gigs but the ones that i did do, i was happy with. in fact, last christmas eve, i did hair and make-up for almost 5-6 hours straight.

i wish i had more time to practice but i’ve gotten to know the structures of my face (it’s still growing, apparently) better than i have before so i thought i should post my top 3 make-up looks of 2011:

natural and glowing:

i wore this look for my friend’s graduation party. when dressing up, i’m known for wearing stronger looks with false eyelashes and lots of hair extensions. i was able to achieve this look without the use of either so i was quite proud. for the face, i used mac’s face and body foundation, some of their bronzey and gold shadows and their bronzer. i also used nars blush in orgasm. for my lashes, my favorite mascara is lancome’s waterproof hypnose. my favorite part about this look is the eyebrows. i do love a strong brow.

christmas red lips

during the semester, i pretty much wore sweats or scrubs so when winter break hit, i was determined to get some mileage out of my collection. for an entire week, i was obsessed with doing a red lip and decided that to be the focus of my look for a christmas eve party. i used mac red on my lips with a nyx lipliner. i kept my eyes simple using neutral browns from my mac and inglot palettes and a black cream liner using mac’s fluidline. i tried to keep the cheeks as bare as i could so i used mac’s oh so fair blush from their venomous villains collection. i almost never put my hair up but decided to go for it and try this simple up-do i saw on pinterest. (i was in a hurry and couldn’t perfect it so it didn’t last the entire evening but i did get a compliment from the lady at spec’s)

new year’s sparkle

for the last make-up look of the year, i decided that i wanted to look like my make-up collection threw up in my face (yeah, i said it) so this look was inspired by pixiwoo’s holiday tutorial but kicked up a notch. i used an inglot green as the base shadow but added an inglot navy blue for my crease. like the tutorial, i used mac’s relfects transparent teal that i got in a sample from make-up geek on the eyes. i used an urban decay 24/7 liner in stash to line the eyes. i contoured the heck out of my face like i was getting ready to lip-sync for my motherf*&#$^g life using a bourjois bronzer that i got from ASOS (i’m pretty bummed that sephora stopped carrying bourjois). for the lips, i used mac’s viva glam II. oh and the hair–it’s a wig. i love it! (oh yeah, pixiwoo and manila luzon gave me a compliment on this look on twitter so i was pretty excited about that)

etsy: eye heart c. lit

i am always amazed by the people around me. it was just a few years ago when a friend of mine started grad school at yale and now, she has her masters in epidemiology and is currently in romania doing research. i remember when anthony first got his camera in college. he now owns his own photography business in new orleans. another college friend of mine managed to land a job in her home country with a major ad agency in their jordan offices. she’s since returned home here in houston and is now embarking on a journey to document the faces of today’s arab through photography. i witness a lot of incredible things done by my friends.

today, i’d like to focus on two people: craig and suzanne.

snood circle scarf by cubist literature

i remember in high school when craig used to safety pin little pieces of fabric to the bottoms of his pants and paint his nails black. he was so creative then and is still so creative now. he has some pretty cool things on his etsy store, cubist literature, from regular tees to this most wonderful snood scarf (if only i could afford it!!!). his work has even been featured in new york magazine‘s fashion blog the cut this past june. if you’re short on ideas for christmas presents, head on over to his store and check his stuff out. it has an urban outfitters feel to it but less mass produced.

headband by eyeheartme

and then my childhood friend suzanne–she’s been talking about this whole headband idea for a while now. whenever i would visit her, i would see headbands organized neatly on her dining room table. i’m so excited that she’s finally set up her etsy store! each item is given a great deal of thought and is hand assembled. they’re pretty cute and great stocking stuffers for christmas! go to eyeheartme and browse through her items. you’re guaranteed to find something to give to your daughter, sister, niece or that awkward grandson you might have (there’s no point in denying it–embrace his fabulosity). she also takes custom orders.

if i had money, i would seriously buy all of my friends presents just for being amazing (and for christmas, of course). i can barely afford to buy presents for my boyfriend, much less a whole list of people. for everyone else, cubist literature and eyeheartme can help cross some items off the christmas list!

happy holidays, everyone!