Inspired by Dusk

Inspired by Dusk

Last month I had the chance to visit Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Arches, and Canyonlands national parks and the thing I was most struck by were the colors. Imagine warm red sandstone, lichen on a boulder, or ghostly cast of trees burned by fire then bleached by sun... Not to mention, in a forest full of fragrant pine, there are infinite renditions of taupe.

One combination I found particularly striking were the cool greys, blues, and browns in the Yellowstone forest at dusk. These colors have inspired my makeup as of late. I've been mixing browns with blue greys; it's an unexpected combination with a lot of depth on the eyes.  In this post, I'll share photos and swatches of the products I've been using to acheive my dusk-inspired look.

Dusk inspired eye products

I've been favoring blue-toned greys and cool browns in combination. Usually I lay down a light champagne or nude shadow and a blue toned grey. NARS Tzarine is a really beautiful duo that's perfect for this. Urban Decay Gunmetal is a stronger more pigmented grey that leans blue that I love using as well. Then I take a cool coffee brown like Urban Decay Darkhorse or NARS Coconut grove and blend up from the lashline. Alternatively brown can be a crease color. I line with either a grey liner, such as Make Up Forever Aqua Eyes in 21L and 22L, or a brown such as Bare Escentuals Big and Bright eyeliner in Cork, Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in expresso, and Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Whiskey, depending on how I feel. Sometimes I'll use grey on top and brown liner on the bottom lashline to make things interesting. Finally, I top with layers of NARS Larger than Life Volumizing Mascara.

Light pinky-peach lippies and illuminator

A strong eye needs a delicate peachy pink or nude colored lip. Bobbi Brown Rich Lip color in Bare Pink really tones down my lips, though it sometimes washes me out if I'm not careful. Bobbi Brown Lip Color in Bare Pink is a really pretty nude pink that's darker and a little more natural. I'll add a dab of light peach lip gloss, such as NARS Lip Gloss in Greek Holiday and BUXOM lip gloss in amber. I use minimal cheek color, and only highlight with NARS Illuminator in Orgasm.

Side note: I'm more and more convinced that my skin reacts to powder blush and powder foundation, so I've been avoiding the two lately. However, a light peach blush or bronzer would look great here.

OPI Not Like the Moves (from the Katy Perry collection)

For my current pedi, I've chosen OPI Not like the movies (swatches here) which is really complex greyed duo-, no multi-chrome shimmer. It flashes purple, pink, and green.

Finally, the swatches.

Eye shadow and liner swatches; full sunlight

Lippie and Illuminator swatches; full sunlight

I hope you enjoyed my attempts to create a dusk-in-the-forest inspired look. I've been contemplating a look inspired by canyons and sandstone. We'll see if I can manage to scrape up some warm sandy colors. They seem to be trending right now judging from the new Bobbi Brown desert inspired tortoiseshell palettes and Laura Mercier's Canyon collection. Thanks for reading!

Love, Dovey