Holiday Look #5: Deep Dark Pleather Plum

A very “noir” look focusing on glossy dark lips that works on any skintone! There are a few tips to wearing monochromatic looks like this.

• Conceal, conceal, conceal! Dark, monochromatic looks can make uneven skin tone and any redness more obvious.
• Keep the eyes a little softer if you don’t want to look too vampish. I used a soft taupe as the main lid shade and plum only in the outer corners.
• Wear a brighter blush. Dark monochromatic looks can really drain the face or make you look sallow, so the way to balance it out and stop everything from going completely goth is to use a soft pink blush to add a little sweetness and color to the face
• Be prepared to touch up! Like a glossy red lip, you will likely need to be careful when wearing a glossy dark lip. Smears, smudges, track marks from your hair getting caught in your lips, you name it.

Product used:

• Foundation - LANEIGE Snow BB Soothing Cushion SPF 50 No. 21
• Concealer - MAC Studiofinish concealer NW20
• Powder - ClearLast Powder in Medicated Ochre
• Brows - Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Pencil in Seal Brown
• Taupe shadow - MAC Satin Taupe
• Plum shadow - MAC Rich Core
• Silver shadow - Lancôme Hypnôse cream shadow in Diamant Argenté
• Brown/plum liner - Rimmel Exaggerate liner in Perfect Plum
• Mascara - Lancôme Hypnôse mascara
• Blush - Benefit Rockateur
• Plum Lipliner - Make Up Store Jazz
• Plum gloss - Givenchy Gloss Interdit in 15 Velvet Purple

Deep, dark juicy purple lips with Make Up Store Jazz lipliner and Givenchy Gloss Interdit in Velvet Purple.

Tips and Tricks: Wearing dark berry-brown-plum lipsticks

Swatch flower: Revlon Raisin Rage against different eye shadow alternatives

Someone messaged me to ask about how to wear dark berry/plum/purple-toned lipsticks, specifically NYX Very Berry and NYX Eggplant. NYX Eggplant is quite an odd and unique shade (pearlescent deep purple with grey tones), so I'll break this post into 3 parts.

1. Eyeshadows to wear with a dark creme berry/brown (NYX Very Berry)

2. Eyeshadows to wear with a dusky grey purple (NYX Eggplant)

3. General Application options

---

Eyeshadows

Since most people will usually go for a rich prune shade like Very Berry, I did a "swatch flower" using Revlon Raisin Rage, which is very similar to Very Berry which I don't own. (I'm not going to list neutral beige-browns and black because those go with pretty much any lip color, so I'm going to just list alternatives to those.)

Starting from the top, and running clock-wise.

1. A pale duochrome ivory-gold: This looks beautiful contrasted with a dark lip. It brigtens up your eye area without overpowering or taking attention away from the lip. Options: MAC Vanilla pigment (not shadow), Lime CrimeNymph, The Body Shop Eye Shimmer #02 Gold.
2. A soft champagne beige: Slightly less low-key. This is the kind of shade that will allow you to rock that dark lip in more conservative environments. (Well, I would anyway.) You can get this color ANYWHERE, so just run down to the nearest drugstore. If you want to check out alternatives, try: I Nuovi Metallogy in Champagne, NYX Champagne, or MAC Jest
3. Rich copper sparkle: I don't like wearing bright coppers usually because I feel it makes my eyes look swollen, but this is the one product that I DO like. MAC Copper Sparkle pigment is not really an eyeshadow pigment. It comes in tiny flecks like crushed metal foil, so you need to use a base and clean off any fallouts, but once it's on, it's gorgeous.
4. Soft Silver/Ash: A touch more dramatic than a pale yellow gold, because silver contrasts more with the deep prune-brown. Good if you want a more noticeable look, but don't want to go overboard with the eyes. MAC Cyber from the Metal X Collection is a true silver, while Palladium (swatched here) will look good if silver is too stark on you and you want more warmth.
5. True Purple: If you really want more drama, I personally prefer purple in combination with a dark brown/plum-toned lip. This in no way means you can't wear other bright colors, but it might feel like a bit too much for some people. Try Urban Decay Ecstasy (shimmery rich purple-plum), MAC Vibrant Grape (deeper low-sheen purple) or for max drama, Lime Crime Empress(strong, incandescent royal-purple)

Read the rest of the post here!