Face of the Moment: The First Real Smile of the Year

Forgive the terrible lighting on this one; as you can see, this is an amateur photo, and my only regret is that I didn't have Mr. Scribe around to fix it. ;) 

So: I put this face on for a presentation that I did yesterday at the local university. I am not at liberty to disclose the details of said meeting, except to note that there were times when I did ask myself, "Well, how did I get here?"  (Forgive me.) I am however, more than willing to tell you about the excellent makeup that I did for this particular day; it's not every day that I feel sad about scrubbing off my makeup, but this was just so beautiful that I wished I could look like this every day.

Face: I started, first, with concealer - a blend of Max Factor Erace in Natural around the eye area, including lids and browbone, plus Cover Girl CG Smoothers in Dark to blend around the under-eye circles. The foundation is my usual L'Oreal Bare Minerale in Sun Beige, and the contour is Maybelline's Mineral Power in Dark. On the cheekbones, however, is the most excellent BeneFit Dallas, which comes with the Celebutante kit that I got last Christmas. I say this because I believe that Dallas has all but replaced BareMinerals' Warmth as my go-to bronzer - excellent for that "went on holiday at the beach" glow, but not too orangey as to look sunburned. Seriously, it just turns up as a healthy glow on me, and I couldn't be more pleased with it. 

Eyes: More Celebutante goodness here - this time with the super-versatile Velvet Eyeshadow in Leggy, which goes over the lid. (BeneFit describes this as a "pink nude satin"; feel free to sub with the pinkish-nude eyeshadow of your choice.) For the darker shadow, though, I skipped the other BeneFit shadow and went with two shades from ye olde MAC Colorforms Warm Eyes x5 palette: Fertile (brown satin) on the lower lid, and Rustic (rusty, reddish plum veluxe pearl) on the outer corner, contouring with a very fluffy (and full-sized) eyeshadow brush. The eyeliner - on the top lid and outer corners - is actually the black end of an Ever Bilena duo-pencil that I bought from the local Mercury Drug. (Bargain tip: Ever Bilena eyeliner pencils are the bomb.)

Brows: Smashbox Brow Tech - this time, blending together Brunette and Blonde to come up with a softer brow. 

Lashes: ...Why, hello, tube of Maybelline Unstoppable Curly Extension mascara! I'm actually going to run a more comprehensive review of this later on, but for now all I can say is that this new mascara excites me. What's not to love about a mascara with a pre-bent wand, a full brush, and a long-lasting formula, all in a gorgeous pink tube?

Lips: Here's where things get interesting. Instead of a lipliner, I used my CG Smoothers concealer in Dark, which I blended out with a brush. Over this I layered (and blotted) a brown NYX lipstick, followed by Maybelline's Shiny-Licious lip gloss in Banana Pudding. Quite nude and neutral, as you can see, but it's one of those moments when I didn't look - or feel - washed out. I think it compliments the neutral makeup nicely.

Hair: Bench Fix Clay Doh. Amazingly, it held every hair in place, and I didn't need any hairspray to keep it that way. 

The rest: Black-and-red shirt by Old Navy (with the Australia cufflinks); trousers by Marks and Spencer; 1440 sports watch by Timex; earrings by Minicci; red flats by SM Parisian. A few spritzes of Chanel Chance, and I'm up and running.