My Turkish/Byzantine inspired FOTD and tutorial!

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As I mentioned before, on my trip to Turkey, I did a lot of sightseeing in Old Historic Istanbul, and one of the places that I visited was the Ayasofya.  I was blown away! What stunning architecture, history, art and beauty!  Truly breathtaking to be able to see such well-preserved ancient works.  This was one of my favourite sites!

In the upper levels of the Ayasofya, the must see are a collection of Byzantine-era mosaics.  These are centuries old!  What I loved most about them were the detailed depictions of the subjects and the heavy use of tessera, which shone like fire even in the dimness of the dark corners and aspe.

What’s tessera?  These are created when flattened glass cubes are placed on top of each other with gold leaf sandwiched in the middle.  This amplifies the reflective properties of the gold, appearing very luminous, rich and giving a shine that appeared from within the mosaic.  Amazing!

So this was my inspiration for this makeup look, dark, rich colours accented with gold.  This is a great look to try for a night out, a very on-trend fall/winter look with the use of berry/plum on the lids.

Here’s the look!

Enjoy!

• Apply eye primer, all over the lid up to browbone, here I used NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base
• Apply a white base, to help enhance the colours, all over the lid, I used NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
• On the inner eyelid, apply a matte dark brown eye shadow, I used M.A.C. Handwritten eye shadow, with a fluffy blending brush like M.A.C. #224 or Sigma E40. For more Sigma brushes click here!
• On the middle and outer lid and up to the crease, apply a dark, matte plum/burgundy shadow, I used M.A.C. Pigment in Smoke Signals, with a flat shadow brush to pack on the colour, like M.A.C. #239 or Sigma E55
• I defined (accented) my crease by drawing a line just above it, using a matte dark brown eye liner pencil like Milani Liquif’Eye eye liner pencil in Brown
• For the gold accented colour, I mixed Make Up For Ever Metal Powder #2 (Maize Gold) and Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Loose Colour in Flawed, for a bright darkened, super shiny darkened gold.  I applied this with a tapered, eye shadow brush like M.A.C. #227 or Sigma E45.  Blend the gold shadows into the browbone.  There should be a smooth transition from the crease to the browbone.
• On the entire lower lashline, line with Smashbox’s Limitless 15 Hour Wear Cream Shadow in Neptune (a shimmery teal), using an angled liner brush like M.A.C.  #263 or Sigma E65.
• Over Neptune,  apply a dark, shimmery navy liner, such as M.A.C. Eye Kohl  in Blooz.
• To smudge out the blue liner, I applied a gold liner below, I used M.A.C.’s Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Orpheus
• Line the lower waterline with a black liner, I used M.A.C. Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Feline
• Apply mascara, Maybelline The Falsies Mascara in Blackest Black
• On the cheeks, I lightly applied M.A.C. Dirty Plum blush, a matte blush) with an blush brush (M.A.C. #168 or Sigma F40).  On lighter skintones, use a blush that is nude or close to your skin colour, since the eyes are intense.
• For the lips, I did a nude look.  Line lips with a brown or flesh-toned lip liner, such as M.A.C. Chestnut Lip Pencil then applied NYX Matte Lipstick in Maison and Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lip Gloss in Wallflower, which is a pinky nude.

Hope you liked!!

For inexpensive brush alternatives that I mentioned here, check out Sigma Beauty brushes! And you can get 10% off of all orders during the month of February with the code: BASE2013

Related Posts:

1. Turkey, in pictures
2. My visit to a Turkey hamani (bath)
3. What’s a peshtamal?
4. My LOTD in Bodrum!
5. NOTD in Turkey!