Valentine's Day EOTD: Silver Smoke

Here's my next look in my Valentine's Day mini-series of look posts! Check back between now and V-Day for more looks. I wanted to do something smoky and dark, but a bit glamorous. I chose to use partial falsies that accentuated the almond shape of my eye. Partials like this will give your eyes a more narrow appearance, so you should avoid them if you don't want to narrow your eyes a bit. I often like to wide my eyes so I use nice long, wispy ones like Chloe or Colette by Faux or Red Cherry #13 or #213. On the other hand, I know lots of people that prefer partial falsies because they find them easier to apply than full falsies. I don't have a problem wearing either kind, so I typically choose styles that suit the look I'm going for regardless of their type.

What I used:

• MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre (patted all over lid from lashes to brow)
• Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes liner in 0L (tightlined upper waterline)
• Wet N Wild lid color from Don't Steal My Thunder trio (patted over lid and blended into inner corner)
• Wet N Wild crease color from Don't Steal My Thunder trio (blended into crease and outer corner; blended under eye)
• Make Up For Ever 126 shadow (blended into outer edge of crease color and pulled up to brow)
• Make Up For Ever 152 shadow (blended right below arch of brow
• Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in 3 (patted over center of lid; patted over inner corner; patted over inner portion of area below lower lashline)
• Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Dime (tightlined lower waterline)
• Boots No7 Exceptional Definition mascara
• Sephora partial falsies in Flutter (fixed to eye using Duo lash glue)

Wet N Wild Don't Steam My Thunder Trio
I wanted to highlight this trio because I haven't done a review on it, but used it heavily in this look! I love this trio and the moment I saw it I knew it had to be mine--I love silver and black on eyes. This trio includes a silver, almost-black gray with tiny flecks, and brilliant white. The payoff is surprisingly good! I do want to point out that at first glance the crease color may look black, but it is really just an ultra-dark gray with flecks. I'm not sure if it was meant to be black, but either way it's a great smoky color to work with. I'm continually surprised by these Wet N Wild trios. They're really pretty great, especially for the amazing price of $2.99 retail.

Great palette, right? I know the crease looks black here, but it's really just a super dark gray with flecks.

Complementary Product Suggestions
Personally, when I wear a dark, smoky eye I like to either wear a nude lip or a colorful lip. Where this has so much silver in it and has more of a gray than black smokiness, I thought a nice colorful lip would be best! Also, I wanted to give my face a nice healthy glow so I used one of my favorite highlighters.

Lip
Boots Botanics Lipcolour in Rose
This product was recently sent to me by Boots Beauty and I have to say, yet again Boots has impressed me with the texture of their lipsticks! While I don't mind thicker lipsticks, there's something so nice about a light, super creamy, moisturizing lipstick--especially as it gets warmer out. This lip color was so creamy it almost melted into my lip brush, yet it was definitely pigmented! I find that with these super creamy, lightweight lipsticks I have to apply from the tube, otherwise I don't get as much coverage as I want using a brush since a brush tends to apply lipstick in nice thin coats. As you know, I'm partial by far to using a lip brush over using lippies right from the tube, so when I suggest using the tube it really is because it's how I get the best performance, not because I dislike lip brushes. ;)

This really reminded me texture-wise of the Boots No7 Poppy King lipsticks I had the pleasure of reviewing last year--love them! This lipstick is part of Boots' Botanics line and while it includes some great natural ingredients, it also contains synthetic ingredients, dyes, and parabens as a preservative, so it probably isn't what you're looking for if you want a completely natural lipstick. If you don't object to any of these ingredients then I definitely recommend it between the amazing texture and price ($7.99 retail).

Rose is actually a nice berry color on your lips.

    

Such a pretty color and definitely a great choice if you want color, but aren't completely comfortable with super bright shades! This picture makes the color look a tad more subtle than it is in person, though it's definitely not super bright. Keep in mind, if you're new to my blog, I barely have pigment to my lips naturally so this may look a tad darker if you have super pigmented lips.

 
Cheeks
Laura Geller Blush-N-Brighten in Como/Portofino
I have had this for a long time and I love it! It is a bit on the noticeably shimmery side even for a highlighter once applied, but I don't think it makes it look cheap or gaudy at all. I know that the point of highlighters is to reflect light, but I have highlighters that have a more subtle glow rather than sparkle so I wanted to point this out. This particular color combination works very well on my olive skin and it blends well.

   

It's about this shimmery on your face and at times you can see super tiny shimmery particles, but it's not chunky by any means. It's very blendable.

Would you wear this look?