Tutorials

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Disney Villains Makeup tutorial: Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

I’ve all but retired my Disney Villains Makeup tutorial series.  Although it was a lot of fun to begin with, in the last few months I just haven’t felt inspired to keep it going.  I was really struggling to think up ideas and I just felt it was better to leave it be than to try to force myself to film more videos that I wasn’t happy with.

That is until last week.  I got a comment on one of my videos requesting a tutorial inspired by Oogie Boogie, the Bogeyman from The Nightmare Before Christmas. And all of a sudden my mojo was back!  I leaped at the chance to create a seasonal look inspired by one of my all-time favourite movies.

For this look, I wanted something ghostly and gothic.  I chose a few shades of green and blended them together to create a striking eye.  I used a khaki colour that was reminiscent of Oogie’s sack-cloth body, but added a pop of day-glo green that reminded me of the glow-in-the-dark colours in his lair.  I’ve been dying to use a black lipstick for one of these looks, and it was the perfect way to pay homage to Oogie Boogie’s gaping maw.

I’ve actually worn this makeup a few times now.  I like the punk feel this look has.  If you feel that it’s a bit over the top, you can always wear a slick of clear gloss on your lips and just play with the green eyeshadow.

 

If you’d like to request a makeup tutorial, please feel free to get in touch with me.  Have fun playing with this look and let me know if you try it out for yourself.

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Disney villains makeup tutorial series: Gaston from Beauty and the Beast

It’s time for another Disney villains makeup tutorial!  This month I’m taking my inspiration from Gaston from Beauty and the Beast.

In my opinion, Gaston is one of the most interesting Disney villains. I touch on this a bit in the video.  When we first meet Gaston, he’s not really villainous.  When you think about most of the Disney villains, particularly the classic ones, you know right away that they’re the bad guy.  They start off pure evil and continue that way throughout the film.  But I really don’t think that Gaston is evil to begin with.  Sure, he’s chauvinistic and self-centered, but not really evil.  He acts like a jerk when he throws the ‘surprise wedding” for Belle, but again I don’t think his behaviour is exactly evil.  He’s just a guy who is used to getting his own way who begins acting like a brat. But then there’s a point where his actions stop being bratty and become downright vile.  That turning point comes when he plots of have Belle’s father locked in the asylum.  I find Gaston interesting because he’s one of the few villains that actually turn into villains during the course of the film.  We actually see his descent into evil, which I find really interesting.

Also, he has one of the best songs in the entire Disney song catalog.


For Gaston’s look, I chose shades of gold and red, to mirror the shades in his costume.  I chose a strong gold tone to highlight the eyes.


I added a deep contour to my cheeks and jaw to draw reference to Gaston’s chiseled features.


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For the lips, I went with a red-toned brown.  When I originally designed this look, I had intended to use a brighter red, like Gaston’s shirt.  However it was a bit too strong with the gold eye.  So I chose a brown with a red hint to it, which looks much better when paired with the gold.

If you’d like to request a villain to serve as next months’ inspiration, feel free to get in touch with me.  I always love hearing your suggestions.

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Disney Villains makeup tutorial: Kaa from The Jungle Book.

This month’s Disney Villains makeup tutorial is actually a reader request.  I had somebody ask me to do a look based on Kaa from The Jungle Book.  I was happy to accept the challenge.

I hadn’t watched The Jungle Book since I was about seven years old, so I had to check out Kaa’s scenes again to refresh my memory. I was instantly inspired to create a look that was very hypnotic, with a strong emphasis on the eyes.

DSCF9393In the end, I decided to create a green and brown smokey eye.  I wanted a look that would really make the eyes pop.  I added a little bit of definition to the cheeks with some bronzer and a touch of wine-coloured lipstick as well.

DSCF9396I used a combination of several warm brown shades and some gold-toned greens.  Both of the green shadows I used are from Urban Decay’s Oz The Great and Powerful Theodora Palette.  The Urban Decay shadows are ideal for creating smokey-eyed looks because they are so smooth and they blend beautifully into one another.

DSCF9398I wanted to keep the green-tones fairly earthy, to reflect the shades of Kaa’s skin.  So these gold-based greens blend beautifully with warm brown shades to create a lovely smokey eye.

DSCF9399I also ringed the eyes with a soft, smudgeable black liner.  This look is great for makeup newbies who aren’t confident with liner yet.  You don’t have to worry about making every stroke perfect because it all gets blended out in the end.

 

Something hilarious that I noticed while I was watching Kaa’s scenes from The Jungle Book is that the same voice actor did the voices of Kaa and Winnie the Pooh.  It’s so funny when you realize the similarities between the two voices.

 

If you would like to request a villain for me to base my next video upon, feel free to get in touch with me.  Let me know if you recreate this look at home, I’d love to see how you interpret it.

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Salt and vinegar soak for soft feet.

My new year’s resolution for this month is to experiment with making my own household and beauty products.  A few nights ago, I was researching some recipes and I found one that was too weird not to try.  It suggested using a foot soak made of salt and vinegar to soften dead skin on the feet.  As it’s summer, and my toes are on display all the time, I figured it was worth a shot.

DSCF7447And you know what?  It worked a treat!  The dry skin on my feet came off easily with a pumice stone after a short soak in this concoction.  My toes are super soft and gorgeous. I just had to share this weird-yet-brilliant home remedy with you.

You will need:

– 1/4 cup white vinegar

-2 tablespoons salt

– 2 cups of water

– Large bowl or bucket

– Towel

– Pumice stone or foot file.

Step 1.

Mix the vinegar, salt and water in the bowl or bucket.  Make sure that there is enough liquid to cover your feet.  If you need to, add a bit more water and a splash more vinegar until you have enough.

Step 2.

Soak your feet in the vinegar mixture for 15-20 minutes.  Chill out with a book, a magazine or an episode of The Office.

Step 3.

Carefully towel dry your feet.

Step 4.

Use your pumice stone or foot file to gently slough the dead skin off your feet.  You might want to spread a towel on the floor to catch all the fall-out.

This method can be used once a week to keep your feet soft and smooth.  You can also use a vinegar foot soak to treat athlete’s foot or to deal with smelly feet (the vinegar will kill the bacteria that create foot odour).

Do you have any weird-but-brilliant home beauty remedies?

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Disney Villains makeup series: Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove.

I can’t believe that this is the final Disney Villains makeup tutorial for 2013.  Where did this year go?  It feels like just yesterday that I was trying to create the perfect graphic eyeliner for my Jafar look, and now it’s December.

This month, I’m taking my inspiration from Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove.  Yzma isn’t one of the most well-known villains, but she is one of my favourites.  I like her because she reminds me of an old woman who was very glamorous and gorgeous when she was young, and has always kept her passion for fashion.  There are just some women who never succumb to the tracksuits-and-jeans look and keep wearing elaborate costume jewellery, turbans and wild eyeshadow until the day they die.  And Yzma is one of them.  She’s also wildly theatrical and over-uses the word “brilliant” which I find endearing.

Yzma’s appearance is similar in many ways to Cruella De Vil.  She has a similar angular frame and sharp features.

For this look, I used a palette of different shades of purple and a splash of blue.  In the film, shades of purple are reserved for Yzma, as it is said to represent madness.  She is almost always shown wearing shades of blue, black and purple.

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See you next year!  As always, if you’d like to request a villain for me to interpret, please feel free to let me know.

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Vintage-inspired bun hair tutorial

A-hoy-hoy!  I’ve got another cute vintage-inspired hair tutorial for you today.

About a month ago, my friend Peggy sent me a picture of a gorgeously-crafted vintage hairdo, with the message, “Can you do this?”  After a bit of experimenting, I replied, “Yes, I can!”

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DSCF9101The style looks very elaborate, but it’s actually much simpler than you’d think.  It’s basically a smooth bun in the back, a big victory roll at the front and a couple of pin-curl accents.  It should work on long-ish hair.  There’s also plenty of room to customize this style by playing around with the placement of the pin-curls, leaving your bun a bit messy and undone or adding different accessories.

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Marilyn Monroe makeup tutorial

Marilyn Monroe is one of the most iconic women of the 20th century.  For more than fifty years, her films have dazzled audiences.  Her look is instantly recognisable and loads of fun to copy.

I’m a huge Marilyn Monroe fan.  In addition to being fascinated by this singular woman, I am also inspired by her style.  Everything about her reeked of sensuality and a certain air or sex-kittenish charm.  She was the quintessential bombshell, with her curvy figure and round lips.

Today I’m going to show you how to recreate Marilyn’s makeup.  It’s relatively easy and very flattering.  This look is perfect if you’re hoping to dress up as Marilyn for a costume party.  It also looks incredible when paired with your favourite vintage wiggle dress and a killer pair of heels.

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