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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.

NoireTropicalBeauty Turkey Byzantine FOTD 1

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!

NoireTropicalBeauty Turkey Byzantine FOTD 2

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