Belle Peacoque

Haha, sorry for the dumb title! I wanted to do a Peacock-inspired eye look, and the the colors in the result reminded me a lot of the color schemes employed by Alphonse Mucha in his Belle-Epoque era Art Nouveau posters. So of course I had to utilize a stupid pun.

As you may or may not have noticed, I've been doing a lot more neutral looks lately; some of this is not having much time to do my makeup on most days, some of it is wanting to focus more on lip and cheek color. But I've been kicking around the idea of using peacock inspired colors on an eye look; I didn't want to do anything too literal, but I was in the mood to use deep jewel tones on my eyes. The second thing I had going on was that I was out of town over the weekend and still haven't unpacked the makeup I took with me! I'm sure I overpacked; as a result, all of my tried-and-true basics are still in a travel bag in my as-of-yet-unpacked suitcase. I don't know about you guys, but I feel like I am more creative when I am working with restrictions; I can't fall back on the safe things that I know work. This also provided me with a great opportunity to draw inspiration from some older and under-used items in my stash, which is always fun! I also used a lot less foundation/ concealer than usual, and I was really happy with the way my skin looked, so I might try experimenting with sheerer applications of my different foundations to see if I can find a new sweet spot between getting enough coverage and getting a more natural skin texture than what I have been seeing with my current routine.

Take a look!

Here is what I used:

Face: Almay Primer, Benefit Stay Don't Stray (as concealer under the eye and to cancel out redness on my nose, and as primer on the lid itself), L'Oreal Infallible Foundation (very sheer application, focusing on the center of the face), NYC loose powder, Wet n Wild Color Icon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana (as highlighter on cheekbone, chin, and across forehead), Nyx blush in Raisin (to contour), Urban Decay powder blush in Quickie (on apples of cheeks).

Eyes: Benefit Stay Don't Stray (to prime; you'll notice above that I actually did this before my foundation and used it elsewhere on my face as well), Stila Smudgepot in Kitten (applied from lashline to brow bone), Aromaleigh Big Bang (focused in deepest part of crease), Aromaleigh Dark Matter (just above crease and blended up), Aromaleigh Alloy (top of inner corner and blended up and out into the crease), Meow Cosmetics Bast (top of outer corner into crease), Meow Cosmetics Reincarnation (middle of crease blended down onto middle part of lid).  Mark by Avon eyeshadow in Retro Peacock (outer corner, winged up and out), Urban Decay eyeshadow in Haight (patted on top of the bottom portion of Retro Peacock). Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Lucky (on lower lashline), UD 24/7 eyeliner in Covet (on lower waterline), UD 24/7 eyeliner in Yeyo (on lower part of inner corner), UD 24/7 eyeliner in Binge (blended onto Lucky on lower lashline, and used to create cat-eye wing on outer part of upper lashline; I did not line the rest of the upper lashline). Revlon Colorstay #4 in Addictive Quad (to fill in brows), L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara (top and bottom lashes).  Note: I applied all of the eyeshadows avoiding the bottom center of the eyelid so that Kitten shows through there.

Lips: L'Oreal Infallible lipstick in Brazen Bronze, Revlon Colorburst lipgloss in Crystal Lilac.

I'm not thrilled with the way the lip color paired with the rest of the look; I wanted something that leaned coppery-brown and was glowy, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Oh well.

The finished look

Cheeks! (Raisin and UD's old powder blush in Quickie)

Eyes

Outer Corner of Eyes

Lips: Brazen Bronze and Crystal Lilac

I am quite pleased with the way the eye look turned out! It's not what I usually do, in technique or in the colors, but I was able to pull out some products that don't get enough love and play around, which is always fun. I'm excited to try modified versions of this look until I get something closer to what I'd pictured in my mind's eye, but this was a neat and unexpected look.