Remembering the Fighters: Golden Biscuit Eyes and Red Poppy Lips for ANZAC Day

Greetings from a sunny and peaceful village, fellow rogues!

Adventurers in Australia and New Zealand are observing ANZAC Day today – every year, the 25th of April is set aside as a public holiday to remember the fallen and ponder just how lucky we are here to be able to spend our time gallivanting off into crypts and raiding dragon hoards, as opposed to suffering under the yoke of actual war.

ANZAC, for those not in on the secret, stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. They were formed during the First World War and quickly became famous for their hardiness, humour, can-do spirit and (sadly) the almightly mess of the Gallipoli landings. Commemorating war and soldiers can be a tricky thing, and I’d like to note at this point that using makeup in this context is in no way intended to trivialise the occasion. It’s just an idea for another way to think and remember, while enjoying the freedom that so many other fighters and adventurers struggled for.

Some of the poppies sold to raise funds for the RSA and commemorate ANZAC Day (source)

With that in mind, what are we going to base the look on? There are, perhaps, two main (non-military) objects that have come to symbolise the ANZACs today: red poppy flowers, and ANZAC biscuits. The poppies are an international symbol of war remembrance, most often seen in NZ and Oz around ANZAC Day, and other countries around Armistice Day. The little cloth or paper poppies sold to raise funds for returned servicepeople and their families were inspired by the beautiful poem by Lt. Col. John McCrae. ANZAC biscuits are a bit more complicated in origin, but (as the story has it), they were created by the wives and mothers of ANZAC soliders, designed to last the sea journey to where the soldiers fought, but still taste good and remind them of home. They consist mainly of rolled oats, desiccated coconut and golden syrup, and are magically delicious. For the interested, a traditional recipe can be found here.

What I ended up with out of all this was the idea for a golden brown biscuit inspired eye, and bright red poppy lips. So, without further ado:

Biscuit eyes! Truly, the light was changing as I took these photos. So you get to see what it looks like in both bright and cloud-difused sunlight! Yay!

I’d like to take a second here to apologise for the blending: this whole eye look (barring things that come in a pencil) was applied and blended with my fingers, because the one brush I own is dirty, and I was… unmotivated to clean it. *cough*.

How true is this look to the colour of an ANZAC biscuit? Well, as true as you can get when your shadow collection is very predominantly cool-toned 😛 I don’t really have the warm tan or orange brown that would have completed the look, but hopefully you get the idea!

I actually captioned this one already, hm…

Methods to the madness: I coated my lid and a little way into the crease with a good layer of Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in French Fries (brown copper) Then, I applied UD Half-Baked (metallic gold) all over that, and smudlged the crease-edge in a bit. I then used UD Smog (warm shimmery brown) on the outer V/crease and UD Chopper (warm copper) on the inner corner of the lid, and blended everything with the edge of my finger. Lastly, I used UD Suspect (shimmer beige/greige) to soften the upper edge and highlight the very inner corner. The lower lash line was the same pattern: smog at the outer corner, blending into Half Baked in the middle, with Suspect/Chopper in the inner half. The liner is UD Demolition (matte dark brown), on the upper lash line, and the waterlines. Mascara is Clinique High Impact Waterproof Mascara (review).

Another little eye-comic diversion, since the last one was so well-received 🙂

Now for the poppy lips! This is quite easy really: you take your favourite bright red lipstick, and put it on your lips. For a moment, I considered trying to do some sort of lip art, with a black centre to the red (or, in my case, dark purple), but decided that it would probably look terrible and creepy, and that *would* rather make a mockery of the poppy symbol… SO! What I did instead was compile a little selection of my favourite bright reds:

Red poppy lips! We have Lancome for the upper and lower left images, Revlon for the upper centre, naked lips for the lower centre, and two ways to wear Estee Lauder’s Rich Red at the right.

Poppies are technically a little warmer, I think, but (once again) we’re dealing with the collection of a cool-toned rogue here!  The Rouge in Love at top left is quite a glossy, pinky red, whereas the rest are more true blue reds. Fire and Ice is just complicated (review), but in a good way. At the lower left we have an alternative to the glossiness and dense pigment of most of these, with a more matte-blotted version of Estee Lauder Rich Red (review).

So there we are, fellow rogues. Would you wear a commemorative makeup look? Do you like crunchy, magically delicious biscuits?

Until next time, fellow rogues… just don’t forget.

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! All images on this blog are the property of The Painted Rogue unless otherwise stated. These images may not be reproduced without permission, unless you want a fleet of gelatinous cubes after you.