by wearing the new MAC Red, Red, Red Collection on my lids and lips
Holy kitty cats, Batman! That’s a lot of red.
I expect I could’ve toned it down, but after vexing over the pan of matte red eyeshadow in the new MAC Red, Red, Red Collection (complete with furrowed brows) and trying to think of a way to make it seem less…terrifying? All I could come up with is “YOLO!”
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So I went for it.
I’m wearing three things from the collection today, which, by the way, is available now online (got some swatches best here) — Strike While Haute (the matte red eyeshadow), 5-Alarm fire (the soft orangey red lipstick) and night is young (the bright red creamy gloss).
MAC Matte Eye shadow in Strike While Haute ($16)
MAC Lipstick in 5-Alarm fire ($16)
MAC Cremesheen Glass in night is young ($20)
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Now, about that red eyeshadow? Um…wow.
You know how some mattes can be a bugbear to work with, right? They’ll apply patchy and battle you while you’re trying to blend them. Well, Strike While Haute has been simpler to work with than I expected.
I hardly notice any fallout from it, and it’s been quite cooperative, in that I haven’t had to bribe it with candy or ponies or kittens to get it to feather out into my transition colors.
Oh, and that highlight in the center and inside corners? That’s good ol’ MAC Shroom, the Old Faithful of shimmery beige highlighting eyeshadows. I effing love how it looks with the red, practically like it’s candy cane-inspired makeup.
MAC Ricepaper would’ve completely worked, too.
I’m not exactly sure if this look would qualify as wearable (anywhere in the world), but it could be, depending on where you work. maybe if you work for a video game company or another creative field, or in a hip hair beauty salon where you can get away with wearing colors that are a little outside the box.
I don’t know though… For many people, this is just a sh*t ton of red, LOL!
Eh, but like the phrase goes — you only live once.
If you decide to opt for it with this red eyeshadow or a different one, here are three things that may help you pull off the look…
1. wear falsies
Falsies by Eylure. These are the Eylure No. 117s. I’m a big fan.
Without false lashes, this look just didn’t seem ready or finished. I tried without the falsies first, and it was like something was missing.
In these pics, I’m wearing my new favorite false lashes, the No. 117s by Eylure.
2. tight line with a black eyeliner
I lined my upper lash and water lines with matte black MAC Superfly, one of the new MAC Technakohls ($16 each). I used it to create a boundary between the red eyeshadow and the whites of my eyes, to sort of make the red look much more “contained.”
I don’t know if that makes sense…but I do know this: before I incorporated the black liner here, I looked 50 shades of cray. even if you’re lazy, I don’t think you ought to skip this step.
3. get your warm browns
OH, HAI RED
I blended out the edges of the red eyeshadow with two warm matte browns — medium orangey brown Soft brown in the crease, and reddish brown Saddle just below it.
Layering the two browns just takes some of the edge off the red.
In other news…
How cute is this pup?!
This fine gentleman is Leo. He works as a greeter at Cousins’ Christmas Trees in Novato. I met him yesterday while El Hub and I were getting our tree.
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After speaking with Leo about his future plans, I feel that he would make a fantastic addition to the Tabs the cat industries team. I provided him a position, but he doesn’t seem ready to make a profession change just yet.
Your friendly neighborhood charm addict,
Karen
