Subtle Smoke: A Romantic Makeup Look

 

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I thought I would share with you my go-to look for a romantic night out. This look consists of slightly smokey, plummy eyes, glowing skin, and light pink lips. Although I am a fan of more dramatic makeup looks on others, I just don't feel that I can pull them off myself. When I know I have an event or a special evening to attend, I really like to take the approach of my everyday makeup, but just bumping up one element of it, being either smoking out the eyes a little more or putting a vibrant color on my lips. 

As pretty as they are, for this particular occasion I avoided any bright or dark lip colors. I find that men don't really appreciate dramatic makeup the way that women do. Chances are, no matter how pretty your fuchsia lipstick looks on you, the person you want to be kissing tomorrow night doesn't want to be wearing it as well. 

*Please excuse the frizzy hair!*

Eyes

For the eyes, I built the look around the new Spring 2013 Chanel Eye Quad in Raffnement (review here). I prepped my lids with a little Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Barely Beige, then buffed the taupe shade across the lid. I then defined the outer corner, crease and lower lashline with the darker shimmering plum shade. To highlight the inner corners, I applied the iridescent lavender shade. Because I wanted to keep this look sexy and smokey, I avoided any pencil or gel liner and went for a black eyeshadow, MAC's Black Tied, to line my upper lashline. No smokey eye is complete without lashing of an ultra-black, volumizing mascara. My choice had to be the amazing new Chanel Le Volume de Chanel Mascara.

Face

I didn't want my cheeks to compete with the eyes in any way. I just wanted a glowing, healthy look to my skin. To achieve this, I dusted some Benefit Blush in Hervana on my cheeks, followed by Benefit Watt's Up! Highlighter across my cheekbones, browbone, and down the bridge of my nose.

Lips

For a romantic night out, you want your lips to look as soft and kissable as possible. For this effect, I chose Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Sourire, a warm light pink color. The glossy, balmy formula of this lipstick is ideal for a night out because you won't have to worry about it getting anywhere.

Let me know what your go-to look is when you have a romantic night out!

Hope you all have a very happy Valentine's Day no matter what your plans are!

xx