soft cranberry smokey eye

This past Christmas, my husband gifted me with a wonderful new makeup pallet that I had been hinting about, i wasn't sure if I would get it, because there had been a waiting list on the pallet, [it had been sold out for months] and with us being in England, i didn't even know if it could be delivered to the UK. I didn't really put too much hope in it and kind of allowed myself to forget about it. 

Christmas came and went, and one random day in January, a small humble brown package came in the mail. for me. that's a rarity:) 

I screamed like a little girl when i opened up the brown bulky envelope! I couldn't believe Nathan had gotten it for me! He was out working when i got it, so i couldn't wait for him to get home to thank him properly and pepper his face with thank you smooches. 

He eventually did come home and I showed him what came through the postal that day. He smiled shyly and was very pleased that i was so ecstatic delighted.  He explained that he ordered it after one of the first few times i mentioned it,  and it was supposed to get here by Christmas, but it didn't and that's ok!

I have been loving this pallet. Gorgeous warm, shimmery colors that complement any skin tone, they are easy to layer and combine, and i love experimenting with them.  The pallet includes 14 beautiful colors, including 4 highlighters and bronzers. 

My kind of colors are warm browns, soft champagne pinks, rich buttery coppers, and any where in between. This pallet has all of those. it does not disappoint. 

and better yet?  It was less than 15 dollars. That is an incredible deal [in my opinion] for 14 usable colors. 

This is just one of the looks i created using the Carli Babel Makeup Pallet. If you recognize that name, it is because Carli is a beautiful youtuber who is an amazing makeup artist who created this pallet with BH cosmetics. She is one of the first makeup gurus i discovered on youtube and i love learning from her and enjoy all the looks she comes up with. Check her out if you have a chance. 

i'll just move on to the look you see here. Again, if you are tuning in for the first time, this is not me thinking i am so cool and like to post pictures of myself all over the internet. I like makeup, it is fun and enjoyable, and i love learning and  creating with it. 

learn with me, would you? :)

starting with the top upper lid, i used a fluffy blending brush by TIGI and spread the deep cranberry color from the CB pallet on the top half of my lid. 

I then used a small flat brush, [i think] it was the brush that came with my Naked Pallet, and used the soft pink champagne color in the very middle of my eye to add some light to the center of my eyes. 

I packed on a little bit of the lighter matte pinkish brown color and started working from the outer V in and blended that in as well.

To get a sharp v with little fallout, i take a credit card, or a piece of paper, [you can use a piece of tape too] to create a diagonal line from the edge of your eye out, and i used the color blackout from my Naked Pallet and gently packed that on the outer edges, using the card as a guide to get that clean look. I switched back to my blending brush to smooth out any harsh edges and blend out the colors into one gradual softened look. 

I didn't use any eye liner this time because i wanted this to remain a softer look and i wanted to add lashes. 

I popped on red cherry lashes in 401, and that completed the look! 

I used the lighter shimmery highlighter with more of a fleshy tone for my highlight and placed that on the top of my cheekbones and down the center of my nose. 

I used the darkest bronzer [a deep coppery penny color] to contour and placed that in the hollows of my cheekbones. 

i hope you enjoy this look as much as i did creating it!