What's That Jacket, Margiela?

So I hope you get my Kanye reference with the post title, if not, shame on you. Anyways I am so excited to do this post today. Since I was in H&M downtown last, the Maison Martin Margiela for H&M collection FINALLY arrived in their store. As a lesser known designer, someone of you may not have heard of this label. They create some of the most sumptuous, modern, and sometimes out-there pieces. I can see the asian influence in a lot of their styles, with many pieces being very reminiscent of Alexander Wang and Thakoon and such. They use a lot of neutral colors, and this collection very trend-heavy, with a lot of high-fashion looking pieces that are impossible to find in stores as cheap as H&M. I fell victim to my love of "bossy" fashion as one of my instructors described me. I loved that by the way, made me feel super special. I bought perhaps the most outrageous piece in the collection, their insane asymmetrical puff coat. It's seriously only a zipper short of being a sleeping bag. But its SO WARM! The heels in the collection were lucite too, which made me go BOOYAH, I WAS RIGHT. Now if only my trend forecasting abilities could earn me some money. There was a seriously phenomenal leather jacket that was all deconstructed and piece that I wanted but they only had sizes 2 and 4 left. You'll see it in the photos and go bananas as I did, I'm sure. The only downfall of the collection, even despite it being at H&M is that it is quite expensive for H&Ms usual price point. Pieces run about 100-500 dollars, my coat selling originally for $370 but was on sale for $150. Lucked out. Being a temporary collection, however, these pieces are well worth the price. H&Ms new practice of inviting higher end lines such as Versace to do collaborations is so wonderful. However once these pieces sell out, they are gone forever. Good luck finding any of them on ebay that aren't being sold for twice their retail price. So if you're a triple M fan, I implore you to run over and scour this collection. I wish I could go back and buy everything, especially a pair of the black lucite heeled booties. The jewelry is really interesting too, very industrial. I have to make a stop at the IBM building downtown today and am going to strut down fifth ave in my outrageous coat. 

My ridiculous coat ^ I know some of you will laugh at me for this.

The delicious leather jacket! Its even more lovely in person. ^

Its celeb- approved ^

 

So excuse my lack of makeup and just plain decent-looking-ness in the photo below, I'm suffering the consequences of a very late night. 

I feel kinda like amber rose of one of my many swedish style blogger messiahs. Takes courage to wear pieces like this. I have such respect for people who try things that some may consider in bad taste. They're often the ones people emulate later down the fashion cycle when the masses finally accept a look.  I'm also thankful to not live on the island anymore where I'd be shunned for wearing something like this. Sweet fashion freedom.

 

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Foundation Routine

Doing these makeup posts has become a quick fix instead of doing "real" fashion posts, sorry. I got a request on my foundation routine, and decided to just take some pictures as I was putting on my makeup tonight. This ones going to be a funny one, since its definitely one of those "if you walk in on surgery half way it looks like murder" situations. But the more time you take and attention to detail you pay, the better the final result. I used a really garish light so you could see just how imperfect my skin is initially, and exactly how each product looks on my skin on its own. I hate watching tutorials and they film the whole thing from their little photo booth camera and their skin looks perfect from start to finish essentially because the low quality keeps you from seeing anything. 

1. Concealer. Typically I use a light, but skin toned concealer, but I just ran out and my new one is still in the mail, so I used my green one from physicians formula. The reason for the green is (as you may have guessed) green is opposite red on the color wheel, thus canceling out redness in your skin. Oh and I apply this concealer with my ring finger, because its the weakest and applies the least pressure. Before I put on my foundation I apply my liquid eyeliner too, so I don't smudge my foundation while applying the eyeliner.

2. Foudation. I used the revlon photo ready with the pump top in shell. I use a small (ish) flat brush to essentially "paint" the foundation on. it takes a while, but its what i've become accustomed to  doing. Some people use a sponge which is truthfully easier, but I feel I use less product cause the sponge isn't absorbing half of every pump. In the photo below you'll the spots i pump the foundation onto my face, and then what it looks blended around. 

3. Powders. After my foundation is on and looks even, I dust a translucent powder all over my face to set the foundation. I use a cover girl loose powder and a large powder brush. After that I use an angled brush to apply my bronzer/dark contour. I use NARS laguna. I apply this in a circular motion under my cheek bones (make a fish face!) on my temples, on my hairline, under my chin, under my jawline, and on the sides of my nose (this slims and straightens the nose) though thank god i don't have a witchy bird beak or anything ;) Next I apply a tiny bit of my crazy coral blush on my apples and drag it back above the bronzer. Then I use a white highlighter/ eyeshadow to highlight the bridge of my nose, my cupids bow, the under sides of my mouth, my cheek bones, my center forehead, above my eyebrows, and just above my mandibles. 

5. Above is the result on its own, and below is with my lips, eyes, and eyebrows done. No photoshop or filters or blah blah on any of these

6. So no one takes these unflattering HD photos of themselves, so here's some photo booth and instagram photos that show just how even and creamy this technique makes your skin look. 

 

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Crossing the Line

Today I'm going to share how I do my eyeliner. It may not be anything new or spectacular to some of you, as it is pretty basic. I do my eyeliner before applying foundation, so that I don't get any finger marks on the sides of my eyes. I prefer to draw a thicker line and a shorter wing to get a heavy marilyn-lid look. Extra length on the outer corners can be added with false eyelashes, though I'm not going to be applying them here.

The eyeliner I use is the Sephora brand name liquid liner in basic black. I've used this for a couple years now just out of habit. I prefer eyeliners with a brush tip rather than a sponge tip because you can make finer lines, and the amount of liner in the bottle just seems to last longer for some reason.

1. First pull your upper lid taut. This allows you to draw a straighter line and follow the contour of your lash line.

2. Start from your inner corners and using several brush strokes, build your line across your upper lid, staying as close to your eyelashes without delving into the eyelashes themselves.

3. Once you've brought your line to the opposite end of the lid, draw a thin 20 degree line to serve as the bottom of your wing. Be careful to keep it short, as you can always add more later. Avoid drawing it at too severe of an angle, so you don't bring your wing up into your crease. If you make this mistake, your wing will look like its popping out of your crease when you open up your eyes. If you follow the natural shape of your eye, you'll see where your crease ends and where to bring the wing.

4. Fill in the space you've created above the line and connect it with the rest of your eyeliner, drawing somewhat of a straight line from the outer tip of your wing line into the rest of the liner, then build the line to your preferred thickness.

5. Go back to the inner corner of your lids and draw a very thin line downwards past your tear ducts to the bottom of your eye. If you have down turned eyes like me, this adds to the "cat-like" shape your creating where you outer lids look upturned. Finally, using the dark eyeshadow color you plan on using on your lids, use a thin brush to drag the color along your lower lash line instead of using the actual liner. Keep the inner corner free of anything but your highlighter (white-ish) color so that your eyes look wider. You can even add some white eyeliner to your waterline to make your eyes look bigger. After all this, you should have a nice sultry looking upper lid that connects well with your dark shadow color on your outer corners.

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Introducing...

A new category in the blog!

I was hesitant to branch out, since this IS a fashion blog, but I was feeling a little detached from my posts, focusing more and more on the styles of other artists, designers, and creative minds, while my own talent seemed to be falling by the wayside. Besides its a blog, basically a free pass to talk about myself. Kidding. Kind of.  A personal and easily shared avenue that came to mind was makeup. I put it on everyday, I'm good at it (I like to think so, at least) and I am aware enough to be able to write about it. All the ingredients for a successful post. Plus I live five minutes away from Sephora (Booya!). I also really wanted an excuse to do a makeover on someone, and this is now my excuse, "Hold still, its for my blog!" So buckle your seat belts, you're in for some serious emily-making-an-ass-of-herself looks and hopefully a few good ones thrown in from time to time.

We'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start (Sound of music reference? Anyone?) Here are the products I use every day that I'm feeling motivated enough to put makeup on. Which truthfully is not every day. Maybe 50% of the time.. which is actually more than I did in High School. As you'll see I am not a snob when it comes to brands. A combination of being poor, having lived on an island with only one little drugstore, and being highly improvisational has left me as comfortable using wet n wild as i would chanel. So let me first name all the stuff I use then give a few basic rules. And things you should avoid. actually I may have to do a whole post on makeup no-nos that piss me off because I see people EVERYWHERE doing them. You don't have to be super talented to apply makeup well, just aware of symmetry, your own personal color schemes, and detail.

Brushes- Somewhere online, can't remember (helpful, right?) Eyeshadow Palette- Bella il Fiore, from Daisy Bloom. Blush-bronzer duo- NARS orgasm and laguna from Sephora. Mascara- Big Fatty by urban decay From Sephora. Lipstick- NYX Circe from Cherry Culture. Concealer- Maybelline from drugstore. Foundation- Revlon photo ready in shell from drugstore. Powder- Covergirl loose powder from drugstore. Eyeliner- Sephora brand liquid eyeliner from Sephora. Lipliner- NYX in peekaboo neutral from Cherry Culture. Brow pencil- Maybelline from drugstore. Lipgloss- NYX whipped from Cherry Culture. Blush- Sonia Kashuk in sunset from Sephora.

It may seem like a lot of stuff to some, but from a makeup lover's stand point its really basic. Other things I use off and on are false lashes, darker lipstick, and maybe a different colored eye shadow. Here's what I look like when I use all of these, and these EXACTLY (ok plus falsies) No filter, photoshop or any other magic on this picture. just me. Its my Im-too-lazy-to-try-something-new look:

Basic rules. If you aint doin' these then you doin' it WRONG

1. Use brushes. Don't use your goddamn fingers to do anything. I mean it. I used to use my fingers for foundation in middle and early high school and it makes a huge difference when you use brushes. cleaner, better blending, and quicker. I use a flat brush to do foundation while a lot of people use sponges. Matter of preference I guess.

2. EYEBROWS. Pay very special attention to your eyebrows. the shape, color, and length of your eyebrows is so important, and a lot of people seem to miss this. This doesn't just mean filling them in or just plucking them, it means really learning to pluck to sculpt them. and filling them in so that they look enhanced, but still have a natural color and shape. They are really a dead giveaway as to whether or not you know what you're doing. A lot people don't know, but the pros trim their eyebrows. I do this too, and see a lot of people who really should. Brush them upwards and trim with tiny scissors. Heres a picture so you can see just how subtle my filling is on my eyebrows.

3. Contour. don't just slap on some foundation and call it good. you have to set the foundation with a clear or light powder so that it doesn't get funky through out the day, and so that your other powders go on easier. You need to be using a bronzer or contour powder too to add dimension to your cheeks, jawline, temples, and nose. Blush is also important too. A lot of younger people shy away from it, but its just a matter of using the right color. Don't use a bright ass pink that will make you look like Miss Piggy, look for something thats very nearly a face powder with just a hint of color, or learn to use a bright color sparsely. Mine is this bright tangerine/ coral color, but i just use a tiny bit and blend really well so it looks oh so subtle. Here's the color up close so you can see how clownish it looks in the compact

4. Lipliner! People always seem to forget about this too! you wonder why lipstick on celebs and models looks so crisp and sexy, its because they lined first. It creates a buffer from the rest of your face so that your lips are more defined and don't end up looking like you ate fried chicken or something when you put on lipgloss.

5. Use liquid eyeliner. don't bother with pencil unless you are using it on your waterline. it is messy looking and fades/bleeds through out the day. I know some people say liquid is too hard, but if you practice practice practice it gets easier. IMPORTANT- don't go over board with the "winging" or cat eye. learning to make a very subtle wing that follows the shape of your eye is so important. Let Mascara or falsest add the extra drama. also DONT line your lower lid. I did this forever and regret it so much now. just use a thin brush to drag whatever dark eyeshadow your using a long the outer 2/3 of your lower lash line. it keeps your eyes from looking squinty or too close together.

6. You better not be using just one color on your lids. you need at least two. highlighting on your brow bone under your brow is so important. same with highlighting your inner eyes. then you need a mid color to drag from your crease upward to create that nice blended, gradient look, and then a dark color on your crease line to add depth and to blend your little "wing" of eyeliner so that it doesn't look like you tried to draw some weird eqyptian things on your eyes.

So I could go on forever, but these are some very basic rules that I hope you people take time to read, because they can make a HUGE difference in your routine. Taking the time really focus on each part of your face makes for a better overall look. I believe the more time you take, and the more careful you are, the better, which usually leaves me taking over an hour to put all my makeup on. Its worth it though, because its the first thing people look at when they see you. Putcho' best face forward!

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