Day One's Inspiration: Naiad

Without any explanation I sent this to the lovely Kate. She sent back a "Fae" almost immediately. That was a relief; it let me know I was on the right track. I loved tales with dryads and naiads. I think my first memory of them was in the creation of Narnia as told in The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis.

In trying communicate spirit of the river I knew I would be using pale colours and blues. I also wanted to stay way from mermaid (that will be a later look). I love the result and was a bit surprised at how well this turned out, from the blue lips to the cheekbone shadowing. I think last month's thirty day's of makeup helped me improve my skills. This means better cosplay makeup in the future; I am just thrilled.

I'll have tomorrow's mythical look posted by 7:00 am for those of you who want to play the guessing game and answer/explanation post around 11:00 pm tomorrow night. For those interested in details about the produces keep reading:

I knew I wanted to be as pale as possible. The other option would have been to go even more literal with costume makeup and turn my skin shades of blue but I do not have the products, tools, or skills to accomplish such a look at this time.

To wash my face out I began with the lightest NXY Can't Stop Won't Stop Concealer I could find, the shade is "white ivory." This was my first time using the concealer and I was surprised how dry it felt going on. Not a negative criticism, it just stood out to me as different from the other concealers I have tried (all two of them). I used the concealer more like a highlighter. Then used the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser, in fair, along the edges of the ivory concealer. Next was liquid foundation. I've been happy with Maybelline's Fit Me! Matte Poreless. I normally use something a few shades darker but for the pale look I went with a lighter foundation, 105: Fair Ivory. Aside: I find with things like foundation, I want to try new products and yet at the same time, I don't want to spend money to try something I might hate. Does anyone else feel like this?

I then moved onto the lips. I wanted to use blue and have it be frosty; but I don't have a light blue lipstick. To achieve the watery shimmery look I wanted I used Annabelle's Chrome Kohl eyeliner in frosty turquoise.  Then I moved onto the eyes. I used two palette's primarily with some light uses from other shadows that I can't remember. The first was a new palette I picked up recently while out picking up essentials (I picked a number of new products up during an essentials shopping trip knowing this makeup challenges was about to start). The palette is called Gilded Pastel by Milani. The second is my often used NYX Ultimate Brights palette. With a bit of mascara. The only thing I would change is fake eyelashes. I think all these inspiration looks will probably be better with the addition of fake eyelashes. I have two sets I want to try that require glue.

Only contouring and highlighting left. I think most beauty vloggers I've seen do these steps earlier but I'm not a beauty guru. The real reason was I forgot 'til the end. First I used my normal foundation powder to contour my face. Then I used my normal bronzer just on the cheekbone area. Then I used a darker shade of blue eye shadows to make the shadow darker and more watery look. I finished the whole thing off with the Maybelline's Master Holographic prismatic highlighter. I used the highlighter above the cheekbone and tip of my nose. Then for the shimmer effect I brushed the highlighter across my eyelids. That might be my favourite thing about the makeup look but it didn't translate with the camera.