Today's Makeup and an Easy How-To: Smokey Eyes with NARS Brousse and Urban Decay Sabbath

Smokey Eye Look for the Winters with NARS Brousse, MAC Saddle, and UD Sabbath

Ever since I discovered them on one of my Sephora-swatching sprees, NARS eyeshadows have become one of my favorite makeup products as are the Urban Decay eyeliner pencils.  For today's makeup, I used some of these old favorites - NARS Brousse from the Fairy's Kiss palette, Madrague eyeshadow duo, and Urban Decay eyeliner in Sabbath - as well as a new love - MAC eyeshadow in Saddle.  NARS Brousse isn't a universal favorite from the brand; at least one review I read said it ought to be named "bruise" because that's what the purplish taupe color translates to on some skin tones, but I love this greyish purple shade and pairing it with a warmer brown like Saddle instead of the usual pinks or lilacs keeps it from looking ashy on my eyelids.  Combined with a softer lip color, this darker purple/taupey smokey eye is an easy but perfect look for winter days, and it's what I have been wearing all of last week and weekend.  Here's a look at the products I used and an easy how-to.

For the eyes:  NARS Brousse from Fairy's Kiss eyeshadow palette
NARS Madrague eyeshadow duo
MAC Saddle eyeshadow
Urban Decay Sabbath eyeliner
Makeup Brushes used:  Chanel #25 flat shadow brush, NARS #13 fluffy blending brush, Hakuhodo J5523 blending brush,
NARS #15 smudger brush, Chanel #26 contour/shadow brush, NARS #14 pointed blending brush.

Swatches of products used: (L to R)
Pale beige shade, left side of NARS Madrague eyeshadow duo
NARS Brousse eyeshadow - dark taupey purple shade from Fairy's Kiss palette
MAC Saddle - matte golden orange brown eyeshadow
Urban Decay Sabbath eyeliner - a deep navy

How-to:  1.  I started with Urban Decay primer potion (original) applied all over the lids and applied the pale matte shadow all over lids to help other shadows go on better and to help with blending the shadows.

Easy Purple-Taupe Smokey - How-to

2.  Using a flat eyeshadow brush (Chanel #25), apply the darker taupe-purple shadow all over the lid but stopping short of the crease.
3.   Using a fluffy shadow blending brush (NARS #13), apply a soft wash of the warm brown shadow - MAC Saddle - along the crease, blending the edges of the darker shadow.
4.  Using the pale beige eyeshadow on a flatter blending brush (Hakuhodo J5523), buff the edges of the warm brown shadow applied earlier in step #3.  This helps take off the harsh edge the shadows and blends the colors together better.
5.  Apply the dark navy liner along the upper lashline.  I have big round eyes which I don't want to magnify any more, so I apply the liner only on the outer third/half of the lashline.  Pick up some of the darker taupe-purple shadow on a small shadow smudging brush (I used Chanel #26) and soften and diffuse the navy liner.
6.  Apply the same navy liner on the waterline.  Using a smudger/pointed blending brush (NARS #15 and #14), place MAC Saddle along the lashline and blend it slightly.  I also buffed a bit of leftover eyeliner/shadow on the smudging brush from step #5 along the outer third of the lower lashline to give just a hint of darkness.  Curl lashes and apply black mascara to finish the eye makeup.

Clean up any eyeshadow fallout and finish the rest of the makeup.  In my case, that involved a lot of concealer and my usual Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation.  I used Rimmel Stay Matte powder along the center of my face and along the sides of the nose and Chanel Les Beiges powder along the outer edges.  For color, I used the peachy pink Chanel Fleur de Lotus blush on the cheeks and for the lips Chanel Charactere lipstick topped with Chanel La Distinguee to give a soft neutral but not zombie-looking lip.

Makeup used - Face - Chanel Perfection Lumiere Foundation
Em Brow Defining Pencil
Bobbi Brown Corrector in Dark Peach
NARS Cream Concealer Sticks (Biscuit and Caramel) 
CoverFx concealer - sample - am trying out Neutral Deep
Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder 
Chanel Les Beiges Powder #40 
Chanel Joues Contraste Fleur de Lotus
Chanel lipsticks Charactere and La Distinguee
Brushes used:  Suqqu Face Brush, Tom Ford blush brush,
Sephora lip brush from a some random mini set, Ecotools smudger eyeshadow brush from THIS set.

Swatches of products used (L to R)
Chanel Charactere lipstick, Chanel La Distinguee
Chanel blush Fleur de Lotus (is just a bit more coral than in the swatch)

And that's the finished look! :)

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