Carnival Queen

It's carnival time girls (and boys!). It's not really a UK tradition to dress up and party but it really should be. In the rest of Europe the fancy dress and feathers come out and everyone has a whale of a time. There are delicious specialities on offer during carnival week, in Italy they fry EVERYTHING and then coat it in sugar. How can that possibly be wrong?? I decided I wanted to make little fried doughnuts, but then I settled on brownies as a "healthier" option. So carnival brownies in the oven, I sat down at my laptop and caught up with one of my gorgeous girlfriends. The lucky lass was going out partying tonight with a pink wig and she needed make-up help. Always happy to oblige, I brought down my massive haul of make-up and designed a look for her. What a blissful way to spend a Sunday evening, playing with make-up with the smell of warm chocolate in the air...

My friend being the ultimate blonde-haired, blue-green eyed beauty that she is can carry off almost anything, including the pink wig. She wanted to keep everything looking quite feminine and soft but with a twist, so first I demonstrated (over Skype!) a soft pink shimmery eye winged out with a deep purple and lined on the inner rims with black. Then on the the other eye I decided on a deeper brighter pink, almost magenta actually, all over the eye lid to just above the crease line and the lower lash line, again lining the inner rims with black and using lashes of black mascara. The second look won. I was so surprised by how much I loved it as it was so simple. Just one colour had so much more impact and lining the waterline top and bottom just made it even more punchy.

I used the first pink colour on the top row of the Sleek iDivine palette in "Acid" (pictured above) with a shimmery pale pink Benefit eyeshadow underneath. This palette is perfect for carnival time where the only limit is your imagination, but for any other occasion try using just one of any of these colours all over, just as I used the pink, line the waterline in black, and you've got a very on-trend monotone smoky eye. Yes, even the fluorescent colours, just don't forget to blend properly. Patchy is not a good look. Skin must also look flawless and go with a light hand when you apply blush or you'll look like you've just stepped off a float in Rio... but of course it's carnival week, so maybe right now that's the look you're going for.

Er, no, the blush goes on your other cheeks

To my darling friend in the pink wig, have a great time at the carnival party!
To all my lovely readers, how will you all be celebrating this week?
Carnival kisses to you all!!!!!!!!!!
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