Get Your Mage On – A Magical Makeup Collaboration

Greetings from a band of true adventurers, fellow rogues!

Let me ask you this: what’s better than the wisdom and flair of a beauty adventurer? Why, the wisdom and flair of TWO beauty adventurers, of course! Today, I’m very excited to bring you the results of a classic beauty quest – a makeup collaboration with the incomparable adventuress Melissa over at Kiss and Make-Up!

We set ourselves the task of creating a look that would evoke the style of an elven mage. Each of us took a different route, and I hope you’ll enjoy the journey with us into the world of fey beauty. To check out Melissa’s amazing look, just click on the link to her blog above! 😀

Right! So – what sort of mystical elven mage’s makeup did I end up going for? Well, to give you a teaser, here are some of the products I used – can you guess what sort of mage I’m taking inspiration from?

Noticing a theme, anyone? 😀

If anyone guessed ‘blood…mage? *gosh, you’re wierd, Syl*’, then you are absolutely spot on! Yes indeed, I let myself be inspired by the Blood Mages of Dragon Age – in this case, post-conversion. If you’ve played Dragon Age you know that generally, blood mages look more or less like everyone else…then WHAMMO, all of a sudden blood is spurting everywhere and hideous demons are bursting out of the Fade to come and ruin your day. You might reasonably assume that this makes Blood Mages kind of…bad, and you’d probably be right. But, like so many anti-heroes, there’s no reason they can’t look fabulous while doing it.

How do you capture that essence of (slightly bloodstained) badassery, you might ask? Read on!

The Eyes

Alright, I admit it. Part of the ispiration for this look was the pan of brand new BRIGHT RED eyeshadow that I have been looking for an excuse to go all out with. As you can see in the picture below, the colour does not hold back. However, neither does a blood mage.

Red eyeshadow is tricky to pull off. Fortunately for a Blood Mage, red is always the perfect colour…

Lid, from inner corner to outer corner: Urban Decay Grifter, UD Last Call, KIKO Makeup Milano Infinity Eyeshadow in #208.

Crease: KIKO 208

Browbone: UD Grifter

Lower lashline:  UD Last Call, KIKO 208.

Liner: Lancome Liner Plume 01 Noir, topped/smoked out with UD Oil Slick

Waterlines: UD 24/7 liner in Zero

Mascara: Diorshow Iconic Overcurl

When I think of elves, I tend to imagine a more almond shaped eye than I personally possess – so I wanted to kind of get some epic liner going (regardless of personal skill in that area!).  If you wanted to amp this up to the extreme, you could make the flicks at both corners of the eye more pronounced, and maybe add some liner art. I just wish the glitter from Oil Slick had shown up better (CHANEL MIRIFIQUE, WHY ARE YOU NOT IN MY MAKEUP BAG?!). Red eyeshadow, especially blended with pink-purple, especially on pale skintones, can leave your eyelid looking a little…bruised. Fortunately, the KIKO shadow is bright enough to combat this slightly, and let’s be honest, when you’re the kind of elf who uses her own blood to summon demons, you’re probably looking a little bruised, anyway, right? (Don’t try this at home, kids – the demon summoning, I mean. This eyeshadow look you should totally try).

The Lips

OK, let’s be honest. I can’t do ‘blood mage’ lips without drifting a little bit into vampire territory. Unfortunately for me, I don’t own theatrical blood liquid. Fortunately for you, this rogue’s ingenuity has come to the rescue, as you’ll see below!

How’s THAT for a creepy lip montage? Fortunately, Blood Mages are quite fabulously creepy…

Whole lip: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Fire and Ice

Lip lining and contouring at corners (for depth of colour):Estee Lauder Signature Lipstick in 35 Rich Red

Bloody gloss: Nyx Butter Gloss in Cherry Pie

Blood drips/stains: Benefit Benetint (actually works quite well, given its limitations, i.e. not being actual theatrical blood!)

This lip look is great for a variety of reasons, but the two principal ones are that it’s incredibly easy to do, and actually very comfortable to wear. Also, bonus: if your lipstick bleeds it just looks more awesome, not less. The idea behind it is to have it look as gash-like as possible, while still looking like a ‘classic red lip’. There’s a bit of a bluff to it – this elf knows she’s up to no good, but in a pinch she can just pretend she’s eaten a particularly juicy steak and smudged her lipstick a bit. The rampaging demon might be a bit of a clue, though…

The Nails

This last section’s a bit of extra fun, in part to make up for the fact that I haven’t given you a ‘full face’ look (hey, a rogue’s got to preserve her stealth somehow, right?), and in part because I was desperate to try this particular nail art!

What on earth has this elf got in that dish…?! No…don’t ask…

Base Colour: Butter London Come to Bed Red (love that name, and this is an incredible polish – review to come soon!)

Drips:  OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

Amazing topcoat: Sally Hansen Mega Shine (they don’t lie)

These nails are beyond fun to wear, but quite difficult to do if (like me) you just use the brush that comes in the polish bottle. If you have nail art tools (or, you know, actual nail art skills), please use them instead! I did two coats of the base colour, daubed on the drips, and coated the whole thing in a thick coat of topcoat. It’s worth noting, however, that both of these polishes are insanely shiny without any topcoat at all… this nail art was inspired by the (infinitely superior) version on Nailasaurus!

There we go! I hope you enjoyed my elf blood mage look, and please go check out Melissa’s wonderful work too – it was amazing fun collaborating with her, and I hope we can turn this into a regular series. Any suggestions, adventurers? 😀

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided!