Since the release of “Babelesque: Live in Tokyo” my inbox has been overflowing with messages regarding my bright blue makeup. People wanna know “What is it?”, “How did you do that?” and always “Why would you do that!??!?”. Well as she who shall not be named once said: “if you are scared of makeup or teasing your hair, you should be a librarian, not a bellydancer!” (I will have you know i WAS a librarian…in college….the music library) <-more on that later, after you’ve bought me dinner perhaps

well in an effort to calm the masses in one, carefully written dear diary moment, here it is: my very first Picto-Tutorial-howto-Blog-on-my-Baby-Blues!

Hopefully this will quench your undying curiosity & perhaps give you some new ideas for your own look. At the very least I hope my picture :: text ratio is low enough to keep things interesting.

Step one PRIME TIME

Any eyeshadow primer will do, I am using Urban Decay’s Eyeshadow Primer Potion. I like it because it is thicker than other primers. Your primer should give you an even surface to work on and should also help to keep your eye art from floating around your face, what i like to call the Dali effect.

Just a dab’ill do and smear it in with your finger, all over the lid, up to the brow and even under the eye… why not!!

Step 2: Basically Base

This is the secret to my bright blue eyes, and you can do this with any color scheme you fancy. I am using aquacolor wet makeup by kryolan. This is a water activated color that you can use anywhere. Once it dries it sets. the color wont be going anywhere, but we will be adding a lot of layers so you dont have to be perfect…yet. Be sure to give your eyes about 5 minutes to dry before opening them and moving on. This is the time i like to sing along with my ipod, “Spread for me” by andre 3000 is always a good one!

Step 3: Mix and Mash

This is starting to get exciting! In this step we are going to begin creating the highlight on the brow bone. I am mixing Ben Nye’s Lumier Luxe Powder with his Fireworks Diamond Ice to create a light luminescent turquoise blue. To mix I use my artist;s spatula. The metal spatula is perfect, it doesnt absorb any makeup and it is flat, making it easy to clean when i am done mixing. Just grab some cream, and add a pinch of the powder and mix em on a pallet, or the back of your hand.

Smear with your middle finger under your brow all the way to the crease, blending it a bit with the kryolan. I use my middle finger because i learned in my charm school that it is the weakest finger and therefore will cause the least amount of damage to the skin.

Step 4: Cream it up!

Time for another layer of Blue. Get out Ben Nye’s Cream Color in Turquoise and go over the area you used Kryolan on before. This is going to add another layer of boldness AND give our glitter a comfortable place to lay. This time around be a little more carefull about creating the proper shape for your eye. We all have different eyeshapes, for some people i know they follow the line of their eyebrow, others follow the shape of their lid. I say experiment and get an honest friend to help ya.

Step 5: Get in there!

Using Smashbox’s Matte Shadow: Concept and a small brush I press in some of this darker blue into my crease, adding depth and mystery to the look. In the Babelesque DVD i went for a light look so I didn’t go as heavy at this step. Lately though I have been feeling dark, so I use a heavier hand at this point. Go for it, embrace the drama, become your character! Remember to blend, but not too much… mwa haha

Step 6: Spark it up

Everyone knows glitter is a dancer’s best friend. The shinny sparkle reflect a lot of color and light throught the bright stage lights so your audience can see your beautiful face. I have a couple of glitter steps on my face, this is the first. I am starting with Ben Nye’s Sparklers in Royal Blue using a small tight brush I press the glitter all over my lid, up to the crease, go for it. why not?

Step 7: The Thin Black line:

Time to line the eyes. I use a liquid liner for my top lid. I like to give it a good, healthy, thick line, and might need to touch up after applying lashes.I like to give my self a nice winged cat eye.

for my Bottom lid i use a black cream eyeliner with my angled brush. For my eyes, i like to create an open shape. I feel like this makes my eyes appear bigger than they actually are. On the inside corner, i dip down a bit, then follow my lid to the half way point. I then gently separate myself from my lash line and hang out a bit lower, before finally lifting at the end. Its important to make sure the outside of your lines point up. This will give the illusion that you are always smiling and happy (even when you have just flown in from out of the country, and have had the runs for 3 days straight). If your lines point down, you may look sadder or older than you actually are…. imagine the horror.

Step 8: Lashes

This takes practice. be sure to read the directions on your lashes and glue. You may have to shorten the lashes if they are large, be sure you measure before you put glue on them. (Measure twice, cut once). After you have applied your lashes, and they are sitting up and perky (again opening the eye, making it appear larger and more alert) you might need to go over and touch up the liner.

Step 9: Silver lining

Here is a surprise secret. I take Mac’s Silver Fog eye pigment and line the inside of my lower lid with it. I also put a touch between my black eyeliner lines on the inside and out side corner of my eye. This is the icing on the cake for creating big open eyes that will project to your audience. Also, you can put a touch of this silver just under the arch of your brow to take those puppies up.

Step 10: The final glitter run

We are almost done with our look. for this step I use a bit of Eye Candy with their sugar water stuff and a thin brush. Using the sugar water on the brush, i dip it into the glitter and draw a thin blue line under my bottom linner. I also go into the inside corner of my eye and continue the blue glitter into a thin point ontop of the liner. You can also drag some of the glitter out onto your cat eye for extra drama.

Lastly take your Mac Reflects gold and touch some of that on your brow arch and top of the cheek bone.

Presto

The transformation from girl to Goddess is as simple as that! Now you know all my secrets….. well not all my secrets….. not yet anyways….

Give this a try and tell me what you think? do you like or no? do you think you have a neat look that you would like to share? Now is the time and this is the place!