Monster High Monday: Ghoulia Yelps

I'm hitting you with a brand new feature today, which I'm rather excited about (so hope you will be too)! I was taking some photos of one of my Monster High dolls for the blog at the weekend and I thought how pretty her makeup looked close-up, which inspired me to come up with this new feature. I already have my Lipstick Challenge running every week, but each Monday, I'll be taking inspiration from a Monster High doll for my makeup!

Each post will include images of the doll and my version of the look including a run-down of the products I used. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut and do a similar look or variation of that each day, so with a crazy MH doll as my guide, I'm hoping to try out lots of different things.  Today features the original Ghoulia Yelps. She has deep red lips, winged brown eyeshadow and thick black liner.

Here is my version!

I've even used a little computer trickery for Ghoulia-blue eyes on some of the images! I rather like them, they've grown on me (for some reason my 'real' eyes have looked brown all last week instead of green which has annoyed me)!  Obviously Ghoulia has greyish blue skin and wears no blush, but seeing as I'm not actually a zombie (and look dead without blush), I added a touch of MAC 'Legendary' powder blush from the Marilyn Monroe collection to my base of Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat and ELF Studio High Definition Loose Powder. I know some people go all-out with their version of MH/FOTD's, but this isn't for Halloween. I'm not aiming to look like an exact replica of the doll, I want it to be wearable whilst still taking the main colours and theme from the doll.

For the lips, Ghoulia's were deep red with a metallic finish, so I mixed Estee Lauder Pure Color in Extravagant Berry (a deep wine) with Dior Rouge in 865 Ruby which is a bright red with loads of glitter and an almost metallic finish. They were perfect together!

I was quite scared about the eye make-up, because it's very dark and very brown (not a colour I normally wear), plus I knew I had to pair it with bold red lips too! It's worked pretty well though, because I chose colours that had a slight sheen to them, so it wasn't so blunt looking. As always I use Too Faced Shadow Insurance as a base. Then I swept the lightest shade from the Lancome Color Design Palette in 103 Golden Frenzy (that I got in the Christmas Beauty Box), all over the lids concentrating on just under the brow. It's got a lovely sparkle and sheen to it, for the glitter bits Ghoulia has. Then I used Too Faced Eyeshadow Duo in Totally Toasted (the light copper shade) across the lid up to the crease. I took a little of the darker colour in that duo and combined it with MAC 'Smoke & Diamonds' to create the dark brown. I started in the crease and built it up, winging it out and also carrying it under the lower lash-line. I always apply my eye makeup before my foundation, so I can clean up any shadow fall-out and in this case wipe away the excess shadow, so I have a defined 'wing' shape.  I then took the tiny brush from the Lancome palette and dipped it into the black powder from that palette to create the black line Ghoulia has in the crease. This bit was quite tricky and I ended up blending it in with a smudge brush, which thankfully turned out very pretty. I went back again over the blended section with a thin, precise, defined black line and it worked much better that time. I finished off with black eye pencil (Lancome Le Crayon Khol) and liquid liner (L'Oreal SuperLiner Carbon Gloss and Topshop Felt Pen Liner) and lots of mascara (Yves Saint Laurent Shocking Volume).

I'm not the worlds best photographer at close-ups of the eye, so you cant properly see the detail, but hopefully you get the idea. I was wearing a black cherry dress which just happened to fit in with the Ghoulia theme-I can't say I'll be sticking to 'inspired by' clothes each week as it could get chilly come 'Lagoona' week (sea monster, swimsuits, erm no).  Sooo, what do you think of my new challenge? Could it be a keeper for the blog? Also time to slot in my massive apology for the lack of Beloved Beauty Bits! I attempted a post several times during the summer and it never materialised, but will be back next month with my December faves.