Matte on Matte, On Gloss. Oh, My! 

Hey, there. Britt aka brokegrrrl here! It's been a while...

 I am trying to put an actual effort into bringing more of my blogging (previously available, only, on our Tumblr) over to our new-ish interweb home. I'm pretty excited about it! If you've followed brokegrrrl previously you'll know it's typically myself posting, but I occasionally have guest posts from friends/local creatives sharing relevant content. The broke crew is pretty cool-get excited!

The 'Self-Portrait' section of this blog will be full of in-depth 'makeup of the day' type posts. It might possibly be a behind the scenes look that you've already seen if you follow @brokegrrrl on Instagram. It may also be makeups created exclusively for the website. WHOO!

 As a professional makeup artist,  I know that it's important to share the work that we do on various models/clients. With that being said the culture of the industry has shifted with the invention and popularization of IG and it increases in users. Artists and enthusiasts alike are using social media to promote their current projects. A lot of the old barriers that kept professionals from sharing selfies, personal life tidbits, and behind the scenes vs only showing the world their final works are no more. I honestly think it's really cool for artists and businesses to be as transparent as they're becoming. Let's be honest, I work and create at home, AND on myself as much, if not more, than I'm off working on the set of a film, or at a photo shoot. I also like a good contest as much as the next makeup geek. 

Stop rambling, Britt- let's dive into what I did!

This is actually a bit of a throwback to a few weeks ago when I decided (very last minute) to create something for the KVDxNYLON BEAUTY contest. I didn't win any products, but I won in my heart of hearts because I honestly CANNOT get over this look, y'all. First I had to pick my poison...If you know me OR have followed me for literally five seconds, you will know that one of my go-to lips is a red ombre/'bitten lip' look, popularized if I'm not mistaken,  by Korean Beauty trends. I'm also a fan of dark lipsticks in general. I think I own like 5 oddly similar shades of burgundy matte liquid lips, from various brands. I have a problem. ANYWAY. 

My weapons of choice:

I started with a base of KVD Nosferatu and I followed up with layering a mixture of Vampira and Rebel in the center and blended them out towards the edges with a fluffy blending brush. This might be obvious, but I  find this is easiest to do while the liquid lipsticks are still a bit wet. Lastly, I concentrated Witches in the center on top of my first mixture and blended that shade out JUST A BIT. 

I remember the day a girl in middle school got me into lip gloss. It was a pretty magical time with all of the different scents and flavors. Totally worth it, even if it did suck when the wind blew and all of your hair got stuck in your mouth. I ended up taking a break from shiny lips around high school until literally like 2015. I was over it! Gloss has definitely made its comeback and this Glossier one has me a believerrrrrr. It made this lip look bloody in the best way possible. 

Throw some glitter on mahhhhhhh (in the name of love) 

helloooooo texture.

I loved the colors together so much, but it wasn't going to feel complete to me without adding more depth and texture. I discovered the lovely LemonHeadLA at the NYC IMATS. They sold me by putting in my hair and on my ear...yes, ear. The sales person was really into doing that and it's honestly a LOOK. They have two different formulas and while I believe this one is promoted for hair and body, I've been putting it...well, anywhere that I see fit! I threw in some craft glitter (I have plenty). shoutout to Target's $1-$3 sections, to be honest. NOT SPONSORED, just in love.

Anywhoo-BOOM, the lip felt too RIGHT!

There you have it,  folks. I hope you've enjoyed my first installment of the self-portrait series. You now have one example of how to be real extra with your lip art AND you know a few more cruelty-free/vegan-friendly products to do it with.

Cheers, for now.

-b