halloween looks - inspiration from alice in wonderland

Halloween is so close! I don't have much of an occasion for an excuse to dress up, but I've decided that I'm going to be an older Wednesday Addams because that doesn't require me to buy a costume (so many old shirts and skirts in my closet!) and I don't have to cover up my undereye circles. In fact, I just have to exaggerate them, which is even better.

My friend Krystal on Tumblr asked if I could make a tutorial for this Alice in Wonderland inspired look and as soon as I saw the pictures, I knew I had to try it.

Of course, I haven't done anything with my hair because it's stubborn and I'm lazy, but if you're looking to copy something like the inspiration photos, I'd suggest curling your hair with a tighter iron, something close to 3/4" if possible, and brushing out some of the curls but not all of them. Mess up your hair with your fingers and pin it up haphazardly, or leave it down!

By the way, glasses are a huge hindrance when doing looks like this. I wasn't quite sure what I was doing with my glasses off trying to get the circle around my eye right, but it doesn't look that bad.

This photos is hilarious mostly because I look really unamused and trust me... I was. I think I might have stabbed my waterline with the wood of my black eyeliner and it still stings, so no heavy eye makeup for this girl for at least a few days until I make sure nothing serious happened. Take heed, darling readers: keep your pencils sharp so this doesn't happen to you!

This whole look is meant to look a little deconstructed and messy, so don't panic if you think you've made a huge mess. It's supposed to be haphazard and rushed!

1. Apply your foundation of choice all over your face. Ideally, you want something that's lighter than your skintone, but any foundation will work!
2. Conceal anything you need to--spots, acne, redness--but you don't need to cover any undereye circles, which is always a good thing.
3. After putting on eyeshadow primer from your lid to your browbone and down beneath your eyes (which will help your eyeshadow last longer), take a shimmery golden brown eyeshadow and start patting that on with your fingers. Start by applying it beneath your brows and then bringing it down to the crease.
4. Next, take an eyeshadow brush loaded with the same brown eyeshadow and map out the shape around your eyes. This look is not about being exact, but this is the only part that requires caution and a steady hand. The shape for which you're aiming is an oblong circle that extends up to your brows, into the bridge of your nose, and goes down toward your cheekbones. The shape will be different for every face, so don't worry if it doesn't look like any of the inspiration pictures or the ones of me!
5. Fill in the shape with the brown eyeshadow. You do not need to place any of this colour on your lid because we will be placing black cream over it.
6. Using a black cream pencil or eyeliner, fill in your lid and trace a thick line beneath your eye. This can be haphazard and messy.
7. Smudge the black as much as possible. The shape should be inexact, so don't worry too much about where the colour is going.
8. Set the pencil with a black eyeshadow.
9. Rim your waterline and lash lines with a black eyeliner.
10. Using your black pencil, sketch out a curve beneath the inside corner of your brow down the sides of your nose. Blend with your finger. (Alternately, you can use a black shadow but be sure to use the colour sparingly on a brush so it doesn't spread everywhere.)
11. Take a black eyeshadow and fill in your brows. The brow shape is meant to be slightly thin with a curved arch, not a pointed one, and the brow should extend quite far down.
12. Using a deep bronzer or the same brown eyeshadow as before and a big brush, contour beneath your cheekbones. The easiest way to do this is suck in your cheeks as though you're making a fish face and fill in the hollows. I did this quite a bit lighter than the inspiration photos because I was using my finger since the eyeshadow pan was tiny, but you can go wild with the colour as long as you blend it out.
13. Blend a deep brown-pink or plum blush onto the cheekbones and bring it up toward the hairline at the temples. You can also load the colour one far more intensely than I've done here because I was using a sparkly eyeshadow in a palette with my finger.
14. Fill in your lips with a deep burgundy lipstick. The inspiration photos have a burgundy that is far more brown than the colour I used because I unfortunately don't own any lip colours that are brown-toned.
15. Mix a light coloured lip gloss with a white eyeshadow and pat that on top of your cheekbones. This will give that radiant finish as seen in the inspiration photos.

BROWS

Sugarpill pressed eyeshadow in Bulletproof (deep matte black)

EYES

Around eye socket - Urban Decay eyeshadow in Smog (deep coppery bronze)

Under eyes - Oslo Cosmetics eyeshadow in Voltanis (tapped over Smog)

Lid - Ulta Eye Crayon in Black Tie + Sugarpill pressed eyeshadow in Bulletproof (deep matte black)

Lash lines + waterline - Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion (matte blackest black)

FACE

Urban Decay Naked Skin liquid foundation in 1.0

Benefit Fake Up concealer in 01 Light

Benefit boi-ing concealer in 01 Light

Contour - Urban Decay eyeshadow in Smog (deep coppery bronze)

Blush - Urban Decay eyeshadow in Last Call (metallic sugar plum)

Highlight - Smashbox O-Gloss Gold + Urban Decay eyeshadow in Polyester Bride (white snow shimmer with silver micro-glitter)

LIPS

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar in Black Dahlia (blackest blackened red)

Wet N' Wild Fantasy Makers lipstick in Black