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 yet another collaboration with the incomparable adventuress Melissa over at Kiss and Make-Up!
Adventuring can take you to some very strange places sometimes. Down the rabbit hole, as it were (usually to the Underdark to battle with Mindflayers, but perhaps that’s a story for another day). This time, we found ourselves in Wonderland – what were we to do, really, but create some makeup looks for it? Perhaps even ones that might be handy for people for …Hallowe’en…?
One of the original illustrations for the book (by John Teniel) of Alice trying to play croquet with a flamingo, as you do (source) and a poster for the 1951 Disney film (source).
Most people in the West (at least) probably got their introduction to Alice’s Adventures in wonderland with the 1951 (!) Disney animated film, but the original story was written by Lewis Carrol (real name: Charles Lewis Dodgson) in 1862, with the final version published in 1865. It recounts the adventures of Alice, an easily distracted seven-ish year old who follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole, gets lost, takes some drugs, gets arrested for theft, nearly gets her head cut off by a despotic ruler, etc. You can read all sorts of things into Alice in Wonderland, but at the end of the day it’s a delightfully nonsensical, irreverent fantasy story with the kind of spectacularly weird and wonderful characters that only the Victorian era could produce.
With that in mind, this rogue decided to tackle a couple of characters: Alice herself, and the Cheshire Cat.
Alice
Charactersied by Carroll himself as: “loving and gentle,” “courteous to all,” “trustful,” and “wildly curious’, and with the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood, when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names — empty words signifying nothing!’…but by others as kind of a bit bratty, Alice has a lot of sides to her. This is fairly difficult to pull off in an eyeshadow look, to be honest, so I decided to just go with some colours that meant something to me, and an overall look that’s a little bit fantastical, but not too out there (or too hard to toss together!). Imagine that the image says ‘Click Me’. If you do, it’ll get bigger!
Yes, I found a way to work blue into there somewhere. I’m a rogue. It’s what we do.
FYI, the pasty, even glow in that first image is what happens when you combine my skin, a light dusting of my HG YSL powder foundation, and morning sunlight with a camera. I feel the need to explain this, because the images look photoshopped even to me… 😛 ANYWAY:
Eyeshadow: Sephora Pool Party in the inner corner, the ‘Champagne’ highlighter from the Tarte Rainforest After Dark palette in the centre (but any pale gold will do), and Laura Mercier African Violet in the outer corner. Same pattern on the lower lash line.
Eyeliner: Urban Decay Roach on the upper lashline, and a little on the outer corner of the lower lash line. UD Cuff dotted along the upper lash line, and in the inner corner/of the lower lashline.
Eyebrows: Did nothing to them. I figure Alice probably isn’t big into her brows. I know seven year olds who would love to cover their entire faces in blue and gold and purple sparkly eyeshadow, but not too many who stress over their eyebrows as a beauty feature…
Mascara: I am in such a terrible mascara situation right now – this is the best I could scrape out of an old tube of black mascara from Dior. Ideally, I would use the false lashes I got recently. However…well, that’s a story for yet another day 😉
For lips with Alice, I think we need to keep it simple and natural. As many of you may know, I have a whole Guide dedicated to stealthy, MLBB pink lipsticks. Here are a few more options:
The Cheshire Cat
Since the Cheshire Cat is famous for disappearing, potentially in a puff of smoke, and leaving only its grinning teeth behind, I was set back slightly by the fact that a) every person and their dog has done a creepy, fang-toothed full face makeup look based on the Tim Burton Cheshire Cat (2010 – and many of these looks are awesome, mind you), and b) I don’t really own a product that I can put on my face to make opaque white pigment. With that in mind, I decided to go with a simple, easy look that isn’t too overt, but gives you the flavour of a magical, purple cat appearing in a puff of smoke. Since teeth weren’t an option, I’ve gone with tail and ears instead…
There’s a cat in my eye.
Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Fishnet, Freakshow and Grifter for the lid, the tail and the smoke swirls. UD Sellout in the inner corner. (Yes, I used the Fun Palette). Basically my philosophy was PURPLE ALL THE THINGS, so you can use whichever shadows suit you!
Eyeliner: Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister in the lower waterline, on the upper lash line, and for sketching out the tail, ears, etc. KIKO purple shimmer liquid liner for the dark outlines, and on the upper lash line, close to the lashes.
Eyebrows: Fluffed up with a rough brush/spoolie and dusted through with UD Grifter.
Lashes: a truly terrible brown fibre mascara from Majolica Majorca. I’m not sure if it’s just my tube that’s terrible, so I’m going to hold off on reviewing it for the moment, but man… I just wanted brown mascara!!
For lips with this look, I obviously wanted to go purple. I have many purple lipsticks, but I decided to try a new one (Maybelline Color Elixir in Vision in Violet), plus a striped look with old favourite MUFE 49. I applied the striped look straight from the bullet and doe foot respectively. If you use a lip brush, lipliner and common sense, you will probably get a more precise, long-lasting result. I’m going to invoke the rogue’s right to live in the moment on this one… 😉
Stripy! I am allergic to remembering to use lipliner. If you do, your lip look may stay more distinct…
Right! I hope you’ve enjoyed that little jaunt into Wonderland with me – if you’re keen to keep adventuring, then you need to follow that rabbit over to…
Melissa’s Journey into Wonderland
Where did Melissa’s magical journey down the rabbit hole take her? Why, to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, of course ;-). To see the look, and bask in the magnificence of Melissa’s epic makeup skills, click here.
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! All images on this site, unless otherwise noted, are the property of Syl, and may not be reproduced without permission. If you do, I will be forced to unleash drunken bards on you. The pukey ones.
The Painted Rogue 