arabelle

When the Chanel Spring/Summer 2014 show pictures were released, I was immediately obsessed with the makeup because it reminded me of the aesthetics of super-queer ’80s pop-punk bands. And when I noticed that the colors just so happened to match this month’s moodboard, I knew I had to try it. While this might look really difficult to do, it totally isn’t—it’s kind of like filling in a coloring book, except on your face.

inspiration

What you’ll need:

materials

Step One:

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Apply some kind of base, like a foundation or BB cream, to your face before starting on your eyes—this makes it easier to wipe off any mistakes as they happen. Then dampen your eye or lip brush on a wet paper towel and dip it into your first color. Since this is a painterly look, treat your shadows like watercolors—apply them wet for optimal vibrancy.

Step Two:

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Now it’s time to play around! It might look I just drew lines around my eyes randomly, but I was being really careful: Every stroke followed my natural eye or brow shape. You’re going to be using four colors, so be mindful of how much of each color goes where. No one shade should be hogging the spotlight.

Step Three:

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Draw outside the lines! Above the eyebrows, below the eyeball—it’s all good. Just remember to use your natural eye shape as a guide.

Step Four:

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I pretended the purple shadow was part of a cat eye by drawing a rough wing on the outer corner of one eye and doing an upwards sweep near the other. I didn’t make them the exact same shape on both eyes because I intended this to be an asymmetrical look. I also put some purple near my eyebrow, next to the lighter blue. You can use the same little brush to apply each color; just wash it in between, and make sure it’s still damp when you apply each color (squeeze out any excess with your fingers so it’s not too wet).

Step Five:

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With a green shadow, continue to accent the shapes you’ve already painted on by adding new lines and filling in spaces. Don’t overlap your colors—this look is supposed to be color-blocked, not blended.

Step Six:

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Use the red shadow to fill in most (but not all) of the remaining space on your lid, to line the space immediately under one of your eyes, and to extend the wings of your cat eyes, if you like. (None of this is set in stone; play around according to your own whims!) Red eye shadows can be hard to find (especially bold, bright reds like this one), but red lip liner works just as well.

Step Seven:

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Fill in all the blank areas with yellow shadow, then wipe away any lines that look too sloppy with a Q-tip dipped in a tiny bit of facial moisturizer.

Step Eight:

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Brush eyebrow wax onto your brows to get any stray hairs under control, then fill them in with dark brown brow powder. Use a dark powder no matter what your coloring is (every model at the Chanel show had dark brows). I shaped mine with the brush that came with my brow kit and my fingers.

Step Nine:

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Apply concealer under your eyes and blend well.

Step Ten:

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Use a liquid eyeliner to add a black cat eye. After drawing the wings on your upper eye, extend the line under the outer corners, too.

Step Eleven:

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Fill in your waterline with pencil liner so there’s no gap between your eye and the shadow. I don’t have black pencil eyeliner, so I used purple.

Step Twelve:

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Apply a neutral color of lipstick. Mine was too pink, so I dabbed a bit of concealer on top of it to make it match my skin. Then powder your face for a matte finish and you’re all done! Here’s what the finished product looked like on me:

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This was SUPER fun, even if it took a li’l while to do. It made me feel so much better after a horrible week—sitting down and listening to S Club 7 on repeat while playing with rainbow eye shadow can be therapeutic like that. Have fun! ♦