Fall is headed our way, and that means things in the makeup department take a turn for the sultry. Try out the monochromatic look and sweep on some plum hues this season.
Start out with a just-washed bare face! Apply a primer all over your face. I chose Maybelline’s Baby Skin primer for my look today. Follow up your primer with a sweep of concealer under your eyes to hide any dark circles, and pat the concealer in with your finger until it is blended. (Be sure to apply your concealer in an upside down triangle shape under your eyes– it will look more natural when you blend the concealer line into your foundation!) I’ve been using Benefit’s Stay Don’t Stray in the shade Light/Medium.
Set your concealer with a powder foundation.
Here, I am using Tarte’s Amazonian Clay foundation in the shade Fair Honey. I then applied foundation all over my face, using my Real Techniques buffing brush and MAC Studio Fix foundation in the shade NW18.
Since I am using self-tanning lotion right now, I had to bronze up my face to get it to match the rest of my body! (I don’t apply self-tanner to my face very often, because it tends to make my skin break out.) I used my Real Techniques powder brush to apply Wet n Wild’s bronzer in Ticket to Brazil, concentrating the product on the top of my forehead, my temples, cheekbones, the tip of my nose, and along my jawline. I decided to do some contouring today under my cheekbones and down the sides of my nose using this camel shade from a Sephora palette and my Paula Dorf cheek brush.
To give my brows a lift, I applied Benefit’s High Brow and blended it with my finger. I absolutely love this product and, as you can see, I am going to need to repurchase this soon! You can also sweep on an eyeshadow that is a couple of shades lighter than your skin tone for this step. To prep my lids for shadow, I applied some of the same concealer from earlier onto my eyelids and blended it in with my finger.
For my blush, I used this darker shade from a Lorac palette and my Real Techniques blush brush. (Real Techniques gets a whole lot of love in my makeup bag!) Your blush doesn’t have to be purple, (mine is more of a rose color) but it should be something a bit darker than a mid-tone pink, so the monochromatic look is achieved.
Using the same brush, I applied MAC’s Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle as a highlighter onto my cheekbones, and then I ran the brush across my pursed lips to deposit the product onto my cupid’s bow and below my bottom lip to make them pop.
Using a regular flat eyeshadow brush, I applied the lightest shade from this Lorac palette onto my lids. For this step, you can use any eyeshadow that matches your skin tone. This just serves as a base for the plum shadows we are about to use.
Take a fluffy crease brush and apply a bright purple shade into your crease, the outer V of your eyelids and halfway across your lower lashline (starting from the outer corner). I am using MAC’s Creme de Violet.
Using the same brush, darken up your look by going over that bright purple on your lids with a deeper plum shadow. Today, I used the color Darkside from Urban Decay’s Naked 3 palette. Don’t apply this new color over the purple on your lower lash line though– we still want to keep the brightness there.
Then, using the flat eyeshadow brush from before, sweep a shadow that is a bit lighter than your skin tone onto your brow bone as a highlight. Use your finger to pop some of that color across the other half of your lower lashline and into the inner corners of your eyes as well. For this step, I used the color Strange, again from Urban Decay’s Naked 3 palette.
Now is also the time to go in with some liquid liner and mascara. I used Jordana’s Fabuliner in Black and Maybelline mascara in Blackest Black. (I have eyelash extensions right now, so I only used this on my bottom lashes…but go ahead and pile any dark mascara of your choice onto both your top and bottom lashes for this look!) If you like to fill in your brows, feel free to do that now, too! I used Anastasia Brow Powder Duo in Ash Brown with an angle brush and then set them with Maybelline’s clear mascara.
Time to set your makeup with some loose powder, and apply some lip gloss! The setting powder I used was NYC Smooth Skin Loose Face Powder in Translucent, and I mixed two of the purple shades in this Sephora palette for my gloss.
Here is the finished look!
