Sophistique Noir's monthly theme: make up

Hello all! As is evident by the title of this post, I'm taking part in Victorian Kitty's monthly themed blog challenge, which this month is on the topic of make up. Make up is something I'm utterly fascinated by; it has a kind of power in how it can so utterly transform one's face, which feeds so heavily into our concepts of beauty and self-perception. Though I enjoy make up and wear it most week days, I'm happy enough in my relationship with it that I don't 'need' it whenever I leave my flat, but I also don't think that those who do are worthy of disdain, or indeed that any all or nothing opinion is the best. My only advice would be to understand what you're using, I guess.

 I'd considered featuring my key make up products, but due to a) losing my favourite lipstick and b) needing to change my current foundation badly, that went out the window. I also considered a tutorial, but time constraints due to life events made this difficult.

Why hello there, natural hair texture.

Though I've expanded my make up repertoire significantly over the past year or so, I do have a bad habit of falling into the same comfortable styles; whilst I like my make up and know those styles suit me, recently I've been feeling like experimentation .

Adora Batbrat's make up is usually far beyond not only my skill level and lifestyle, but also what suits my face; this eye look was heavily inspired by one of her facebook posts, however, which attracted me because of the black, grey and dark red colour scheme (my favourite for make up). I've always been a fan of dots along the line of the eye (and have been incorporating them heavily into my make up recently), though the shape and block colour of the eyeshadow was very different for me.

Ben likes this one, though I'm not so sure.

The line of dots is very 'tribal' (god, I hate the use of that word), but the dark cat's eye called for some femme fatale glam to match; my earrings were a christmas present from my parents, and I will never get tired of a sleeveless polo neck. Illamasqua's liquid liner Scribe is fast becoming a favourite in my make up bag, and using it in the corners of the eyes is incredibly effective at opening the eye and stopping them looking too small, even with a very closed dark eye such as this. The lipgloss seen here is a temporary and disappointing replacement for my treasured Lord and Berry black-red, which I managed to lose in or around Edinburgh at the fringe. Rest in peace, baby.

Although I like this, I'm not 100% sure that it suits me; the eyeshadow should have been extended out from the corners further, and some white perhaps could have been used to highlight my brow. Nonetheless, it was fun trying something radically different from my usual, and I might reuse it. Obviously, it's more of an evening look; being me, I wore it during the day time anyway.

 

Has anyone else wondered about trying something radically different to what they're used to? Any foundation suggestions for a greasy blob like me? 



Fee

Make Up: Lesser Spotted Goth

Psst - As a favour to an old friend, you can find me moonlighting on The Pop Culture Cynic this week discussing grown up geek and my pick of classy merchandise. Got to let the geek out somehow.


Second disclaimer: this was photographed after a full day of indulging in food, swimming, and a lazily done reapplication, but perfect make up wouldn't be an accurate portrayal of my existence.

Disclaimer: this is a short post, given that I'm on holiday and have more serious, important things to be doing (having saunas, sketching, working out how much vodka is in a White Russian) than writing blog posts. Regardless, I intend on keeping up with my update schedule, and I've been doing interesting things with make up recently.

Red and Black Week, Day 6: Red and Black Gradient Make Up Tutorial

I can't decide whether I should be appalled with myself or not; a whole year since I last did my two tone red and black make up for last year's R&B Week, and I still haven't purchased red eyeshadow. I'm not sure if it counts as lazy or thrifty, but it's probably the former. So before we start, I would like to clarify that there is probably a reason that they don't market lipsticks for use as eyeshadow, and I wouldn't recommend it for use on a regular basis for health and safety reasons.



As mentioned above, my most successful post of last year was my two-tone make up look on the final day (see here), and I wanted to do another make up look for this year; red lipstick is a classic, but red eye shadow is more difficult to pull off. I don't tend to incorporate red into my club and night time looks, so this was a challenge on that level too, which I relished.

Excuse the frizzy hair. 

I'm overly pleased with this look! To contrast last year's effort, I focused more on gradients as opposed to colour blocking, and in honour of our wonderful host Ms. Kitty I included her signature black-lined red lips. This look can be split up into its components and each part worn on its own, but I've done a brief tutorial for you guys on how to do it for yourself.

Red and Black Week 2014, Day 5: Creature of the Night

Day five - we're on the home stretch, readers!  For the fifth post, I want to celebrate something more personal - a phenomenon dear to me and probably many others out there on the fringes of mainstream taste and culture. Warning for those easily offended: this post contains tackiness, scantily clad men in drag and campy fun. I have no idea why you'd be on my blog if you didn't like those things, but just in case.

Cyberpunk Camoflage Make Up: CV Dazzle




Source.

"CV Dazzle explores how fashion can be used as camouflage from face-detection technology, the first step in automated face recognition."

- CV Dazzle



One of my favourite things about cyberpunk is how the aesthetic and the practicalities of it intersect. CV Dazzle is a thesis project by Adam Harvey looking at just that, and how hair and make up styling can be used to evade facial detection cameras. It examines the impact of future facial detection software and information use, and describes the concept on its website, saying, 'CV Dazzle uses avant-garde hairstyling and makeup designs to break apart the continuity of a face. Since facial-recognition algorithms rely on the identification and spatial relationship of key facial features, like symmetry and tonal contours, one can block detection by creating an “anti-face”.'




Source.



I first saw this project a year or two ago on tumblr, and it's fascinating how 'five minutes into the future' the whole thing feels, and how relevant it may become. The project is still ongoing, and since its creation in 2010 Harvey has done several collaborations with Wired, the New York Times and DIS Magazine to demonstrate the application of his work. For me, this is the heart of cyberpunk; how our life will change in the not so far away sci-fi future in a potential big brother world.


Source.

 The project's website features advice for stylists wanting to create their own privacy retaining looks, and more information on the process of developing these looks and the software it was tested on.

Fee

Punk's not dead - it just smells a bit: The Damned, Glasgow 2013

WARNING - This post features bad outfit photos and even worse camera phone stage photos, and goes into minute detail about and features some major fangasming over a fairly short gig by some aging punk rockers who now all have grey hair and beer bellies. Proceed at your own risk. ;)

Oh my god, you guys. Whilst most of you won't be aware of this, given most of my warbling was on facebook, but I went to see the Damned at the 02 ABC last night, and it was amaaaaaaazinggggg.

This is a slight deviation from my posting schedule, but I will probably start annoying people if I post anymore about it on the book of faces or gabble about it to my family, so where else to sigh about it than my blog?

Red and Black Week, day 6: Contrast Make Up

 

I finally made it to the last day of Red and Black week! Had I been prepared and thought posts out in advance of the week, I might have found it easier, but nonetheless it was a fun week.



You can tell that my foundation is a little too dark here, but I'm in the process of saving for a new one.

While my entry to R&B week was probably my most successful post (and, had I planned the week out better, should have been my finale), I actually really enjoyed doing this make up. Other than on my lips red isn't a colour I really use in make up, so this was a new one for me - and I loved it!
 



I love this shot!

Although high impact, it's almost laughably simple. It was somewhat inspired by Cruella Deville, hilariously enough (101 Dalmatians was my favourite book as a child), as well as comic books (where the top lip is often coloured in black for shading - I also think in some adaptions Harley Quinn from Batman has the same thing). Lacking red eyeshadow lip crayon was used - which worked actually very well - and a thin line of eye liner stopped me looking like I'd just tried to rub soap into my eyes.

Had I been intelligent I'd have done something with my hair to match it, but ah well. I'll maybe play around with that another day. If you plan on wearing lipstick like this out, I would recommend using some lip sealant so you don't get transfer between the black and the red. I'd probably pair the look with Katelynn's nails from Life of A Baby Bat from day two of the week here.

I've really enjoyed taking part in Red and Black Week this year - I've got to meet so many amazing bloggers and take part in a general outpouring of creativity, and I've loved it. I'd like to thank Ms. Kitty for hosting the event, and all you lovely people who have commented and joined in. It's been great, and hopefully I'll see you all next year!

Fee

Happy World Goth Day, chumps!

I've resurfaced from exams and discovered today that I have successfully passed first year medicine (whoop!), so I have a chance to celebrate World Goth Day!

... Which I did by putting on my favourite playlist and dancing about like a loon while I applied daft make up.

Ah well. Danse Macabre isn't until tomorrow, and my go to fellow spooky folks aren't back in Glasgow for a while yet. Still, I'm sure there's nothing gothier than applying eyeliner while singing along to Bauhaus.

The quality and light of these photos are terrible, being taken on my phone, but at least it hides the fact I've ran out of foundation! Still, now that I'm home I can start using the better camera.

Surprisingly, I wasn't terribly worried about exams - not because I thought I had done well (far from it), but because the medical school is fantastically terrible at communicating with students and told us we'd get them two days earlier, only admitting their mistake when students were frantically calling the office asking where they were. So I got the panic out the way early.



Ah, there's the acne.

This is actually something of a new look for me; black lipstick is always something I've been wary of, as it's quite difficult to pull off (plus I wasn't sure if it would suit my hair), so this was an experiment. I toned down my eye make up - usually it's far darker, with more eye liner involved - though given I was more interested in the lip it's rather messy here anyway. My outfit was just a black tank with shorts and tights for moping about my room, so nothing special on that front either.

All in all, I'd say it was a success! My lips aren't too thin for black, it turns out, and despite a few smudges and a lack of materials (this was done with eyeliner and clear gloss, so I didn't have to fork out for lipstick I might not use), I think it turned out not too bad. Black lipstick has something of a bad rep in the alt community, but I think if you avoid the 'sulky teenager in a hoodie' cliches and stick to a simple classy it work very well.

I'm thankful for world goth day because it reminds me of how awesome this subculture is - while I often get frustrated because nothing I wear seems to work or irritated because the course I'm doing doesn't let me experiment with my appearance to the limits, it's easy to forget that to other people I look strange, unusual and occasionally even magical. Indeed, I've been told by people on my course that they enjoy seeing the bizarre variety of clothes I turn up to classes in, and surprisingly several girls have admitted that they are jealous of the different hair styles I wear (lord knows why, as I rarely manage any of them particularly well).

We goths, like everyone else, are special. We're a bit darker than most, and we get dog's abuse sometimes, but at over thirty years we're still going strong, and from Kenya to Ireland, from Hungary to the US, from Columbia to the UK there's spooky folk out there like me that I have a connection with. So I hope you enjoyed your day, folks.

Three cheers for World Goth Day, and for not having to resit the year!

 

 

Fee

 

P.s. I couldn't talk about my experiences with black lipstick without mentioning Sincerely, Boot's posts How do you wear black lipstick? and her review of the Portland Black Lipstick Company.