Monster High Monday: Robecca Steam

Ah, the beautiful Robecca Steam. I don't want to start this post on a downer, but it was never going to be easy to compete with the striking, dark and exotic looking features that make up this stunning doll. I went into it a little tentatively and while I found duping the colours easy enough, the application was a little more tricky. The finished result? Well, I'm no Robecca it has to be said!
See what I mean? Gawgeous! She's one of the newer characters and you'll probably recall my post last year when I got her. I find her English accent a little irritating from what I've seen of her in the webisodes/movies, but she seems very sweet and I'm looking forward to new versions of her (better than the Dance Class one which didn't do it for me).
She's got lots of really cool and quirky details like her cog shaped eyes and rivets which I couldn't begin to replicate, but I did try out the shimmery skin and gave the colourful eye application a go. Her deep purple lips are the perfect finish to her look. Sadly my hair isn't as blue as this just now (really need it fixed soon but trying to put it off for as long as possible).
So starting with the face and I mixed Pout Face & Body Illuminator in Love Glow in equal proportions to Lancome's Teint Idole Ultra 24h in shade 005. I think they actually complimented each other rather well. It's kinda hard to notice any shimmer in these photos, but there was a definite pearly sheen and shimmer in the flesh. I only applied the littlest bit of ELF Studio HD loose powder and some Illamasqua RF115 as an undereye concealer. I had wanted to try a bronzey or at least warm peach cheek as a nod to Robecca's bronze skin, but I didn't think a warm tone like that would work well with the cool toned eyes and deep purple lips, so just used a little of MAC's Don't Be Shy, a sweety pink blush.
For the eyes, I knew I'd need something intense or a least more precise than powder for the technique I was about to try, so on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance, I used the lilac end of a chunky pencil (Stuf Duo Eyeshadow Pencil in 04 Musky Cruise) to create my base shape. If you look closely at her eyes, the lilac section tapers into a sharp point right up at the end of her eyebrow. The colour wasn't enough on it's own, so I applied Exclusive (also available in a duo eyeshadow) from the Too Faced Liquif Eye Shadow palette over the top. This surprised me by being much more purple that I'd thought, but I wasn't about to restart the whole thing!
Then I had to add the pewter shade from Lancome's Colour Focus Quad in 350 above the crease but below the brow. On Robecca it looks like it works in opposition to her brows, so I just started following the crease in the inner corner of the eye, but ended it straight across ignoring the crease and leading into the lilac section. She also has a thin brown line, similar to Ghoulia last week but this time not properly following the natural crease. For this I went into the same TF palette and used Full Frontal (again available as a duo if you don't own the palette) which is a deep bronzey brown. I used a thin eyeshadow brush and keeping one eye in the mirror and one on Robecca, just winged it as best I could! I definitely looked at the doll for a guide much more than previous weeks. It looked very Halloween-ish, probably because I'm not familiar with wearing such severe lines, but that's what looks great on Robecca.
I finished with a lot of YSL Waterproof Eye Pencil! On Robecca, her lashes create a cool effect going against the lines of her eyeshadow, but my wee lashes will not stretch anywhere close to my brows, so that was out for me, but I tried to emulate it a little using the eyeliner. On my lashes is Lancome Hypnose mascara.
Finally for the lips, I applied Lancome Le Crayon Contour in Violette with Topshop Lips in Ruthless, which is an almost black purple. There's a dusky sort of tone to Robecca's lips, so I added some Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Facade (a deep taupe brown) and blotted and reapplied this process until I got the correct tone.
I cheated a little and changed my eyes to deep brown rather than the lighter shade of Robecca's cogs because remembering back to Clawdeen-week, the yellowish tone was scary and I already had enough weird eye things going on this week! Looking back at these images whilst writing the post, it actually turned out better than I'd first thought. What do you think?

Swatches: Pale Foundation

Geekily (that ain't a word), I'm rather excited about this post. I would like to head it "the eternal search for a pale foundation", but that sounds more like a film than a blog-post and was too long for the title ya know! I mentioned in my last post, the review for Lancome's new Teint Visionnaire foundation, that I'd spent some time swatching and photographing a bundle of my foundations to see how they compared to each other and to Teint V. This is probably half my current stash (!) and as you'll hopefully be able to see there is quite a difference between them.
It's harder than it looks to photograph this amount of swatches on your own arm whilst taking the photo with the other hand! However, if there are any you'd like me to compare separately (all the Lancome together for example) then just let me know and I can provide (probably more accurate) swatches on the back of my hand. I've also tried to mix photos with and without the flash as they can look different.
I tried to put the foundations into some sort of light-dark order before swatching, but I was only guessing from memory and through the bottle, so don't take that part as gospel. They always appear in the same order though, on the arm, on the shelf and individually.  First up is (the definite lightest) Illamasqua Rich Foundation in 115. Lancome Teint Miracle in 005 Beige Ivoire
Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat in BR10
Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat in B10 Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24H in 005 Beige Ivoire
Estee Lauder Double Wear 1C1 Shell
Lancome Teint Visionnaire 005 Beige Ivoire Lancome Teint Miracle 010 Beige Porcelaine MyFace Cosmetics MyMix Fair MF101
Soap & Glory Show Good Face in The Fairest Of Them All
Clarins Ever Matte in 103 Ivory
E.L.F. Studio Flawless Finish in Porcelain
Now onto the swatches and firstly I applied them to my arm straight out of the bottle, easier said than done in some cases! Estee Lauder I had to apply to my finger then onto my arm or it would've gone everywhere and MyFace had an air bubble blocking the hole, so I squeezed out way more than I intended on that one! It took a lot of labelling on these photos, so the one without the flash is exactly the same, I just added a few reminders of which was which, but you'll be able to see clearly from the 'flash' pic above it.
and some close-ups Illamasqua is clearly much lighter than any of the others. I was definitely correct in saying Teint Visionnaire was darker than my other 005 Lancome foundations (Teint Miracle and Idole). It is actually closer to (Teint Miracle) shade 010 which is two shades darker!  It sometimes even looks darker due to it's orangey tone compared to the beige of 010. So please don't think that just because it's shade 005 and the lightest that it will be a perfect match, something to note definitely. I think it's also quite clear to see the pink tone of YSL's Le Teint Touche Eclat in BR10 compared to B10 which is more beige. Blended (actually 'smeared' would be the correct term)...
and closer...
None of them quite have that blue-Scottish undertone do they?!  I don't have much else to add as I think the images speak for themselves.  I would say I am eternally searching for the perfect pale foundation.  I do really love at the moment, YSL and Lancome Teint Miracle (005) but have to be honest and say if they were a little touch lighter they would be perfect.  I'm very disappointed that Teint Visionnaire is that bit darker as I usually think the 18 shades Lancome provide are relatively conclusive.  As for the darker Teint Miracle, ELF, Clarins, Soap & Glory and MyFace, I never use them.  I guess I expected them to be lighter.  Expensive mistakes maybe! Illamasqua is light enough but I don't like the finish (too mask like and doesn't wear well), so I use that purely as an undereye concealer.  Do let me know if I can help out with some more swatches/comparisons of these.  What are you currently using and is it the 'perfect' match?

Monster High Monday: Dance Class Operetta

Sometimes it feels like Monday comes round real fast and it's 'Monster High Monday' again! This week I'm featuring one of my newest dolls and she's gone right up to my favourites list. I wanted her, but when I got her, I realised she was even cooler and more amazing than I'd originally thought! She is Operetta, daughter of the Phantom Of The Opera.
She has lilac toned skin and a rockabilly style which I think is super cute. She's pretty partial to a red lip! She always comes with a little mask like the Phantom as she has some 'artwork' and 'disfigured' carvings on her arm and one side of her face, just like Daddy! As scary as that should be-I think she looks stunning with it.
I also got to add a little beauty spot just next to the lower lip and switched my eyes for grey ones, not too scary actually.
So, I started with Lancome Teint Miracle in 005 with Illamasqua Rich Foundation in 115 under the eyes, Playboy First Blush in Pink Pussycat and finishing with E.L.F. Studio HD loose powder in Translucent.
On my lips are Pout Lip Line Definer and Clarins lipstick in Passion 330 (now discontinued).
The eyes took quite a lot of products. Starting with Too Faced Shadow Insurance, I applied the all over base shade (shimmery) from the Lancome Color Design palette in 103 Golden Frenzy. Next I took the pink shade from Lancome Color Fever Quad in 350, which is a really frosty pink that was required for this look. I just applied it from the lash line to a little past the crease. On top of that in the crease, I used Estee Lauder 08 Dusk (I had a GWP duo pot), which is a dusky purple for the smokey look. I didn't think there was enough of a contrast between the purple and the pink, so I applied a little Sonia Kashuk (no idea where I got this from) Enhance Eye Color in 06 Amethyst, which is a brighter purple. Under the lower lash line I blended some of the silver shade from Too Faced Ooh & Aah duo.
My liner is YSL Waterproof pencil with a flick of Lancome ArtLiner and Lancome Hypnose Star mascara.
It was alright-ish this week, the lipstick was ridiculously bright in the flesh, but I think in real life all the colours at least looked similar to Operetta. We'll see what I manage to come up with next week and in the meantime if you'd like to see me sans grey eyes and beauty spot, then head over to The Shoe Girl Diaries for an outfit I think Operetta would be proud of actually!