brows... lashes... lips...

the look: bold-brows, full-lashes and matt-lips.

skin: going with the very clean look, i used foundation to cover my skin, starting from the centre and blending it outward. i also used concealer under my eyes and at the inner corners of the eyes... along the bridge of the nose... and up to the bottom edge of the brow. finishing my face off with matt powder foundation and loose powder blush.

brows: starting by drawing a line, with an angled browbrush and brown eyeshadow, along the bottom edge, carefully starting at the insides. then i blended the shadow into the brow by sweeping it upward with the brush, without making a hard line on the upper edge. this way the brows look fuller, very groomed, but still natural. for the arch and outer half i like using a darker shade of brown, because  this is where my eyebrows are more scarce. to hold all of this in place i will finally set them carefully with clear row-gel.

eyes: i used two matte colors. first, a light tone (a couple of shades lighter than my skin), generously over the entire lid. with a medium eyeshadow brush i placed the second color, a light pink, on the general area of the crease.

lips: all i used was a liquid lipstick, that dries matt and lasts aaaaaaaall day. no lipliner and reapplying needed!

have fun!

oktoberfest.... b/w

i is time. i am getting ready to fly to munich, to see my beloved sister, niece, parents, cats, friends aaaand to visit the oktoberfest! i can hardly wait! looking at these pictures (i took last year) made me even more exited....

all oktoberfest pictures taken by madeau in munich, germany

fall is in the air...

manhattan, new york

all photos taken by madeau

summer is what happens in your head (...or on your face)

so, apparently summer has ended. yesterday, to be more exact. according to some calendar... or calculations or something..... but iiii don't care about that. quoting (a german band) wise guys in jetzt ist summer: ...jetzt ist sommer, egal ob man schwitzt oder friert, sommer ist was in deinem kopf passiert... (even if you don't speak german, have a look. it's worth it..... but ether way, her is the translation: ...it's summer, it dosn't matter if you are sweating or freezing, summer is what happens in your head...)

over the last (official) summer i have been experimenting with bright eyeliner colors. i bought green, blue and purple liquid eyeliners for buy-one-get-one-free. which is always a good opportunity to try different, more daring things. and i love them! .....and more versatile than you might think. 

her is a little selection of my (official-)summer looks:

 in grey t-shirt and jeans, the devil wears... purple and closer i also used these eyeliners for colorful highlights.

a classic

the look: whenever i wear a men's buttondown, i like doing a classic make-up...... a classic, perfect-red lip and big, feminine (event hough i don't like using that word to describe... well... myself) eyes. 

skin: foundation and concealer to erase any imperfections. since i am going for a very polished look, i also made sure to use a good amount of face powder. i then added a sweep of a deep red blush, and placed highlight on my cheekbones. 

brows: with a dark brown shadow, i made sure to draw a very clean, groomed brow, and setting it with  brow gel.

eyes: i started by covering my entire lid with a light shimmering pink. to sculpt the eye into looking bigger, i layered multiple shades of matt brown. light brown for the outer half of the movable lid. medium brown along the crease. and dark brown for the outer v. i added another layer of the medium brown, to the outer v and crease, using it to blend very well. this way i created a natural-yet-very-emphasized eye. the bottom lid was also shaded with a blend of the darker browns. i left the inner third bare, to highlight it with the shimmering light pink. any feminine look needs amplified the lashes. i drew a soft shadow, with an angled brush and black eyeshadow, along the roots, and darkened the upper waterline with eyeliner. volumizing mascara for more lashes, lashes, lashes.

lips: for perfectly painted lips, i always start by covering the edge with concealer and matting it with face powder, to start on a "clean canvas", and to keep the color from creasing during the day. with a sharpened lip liner (in the general color of the lipstick) i drew the shape of my lips. (yes... it is ok to cheat a little. i like exaggerating the cupids bow.....) with a perfect-red lipstick, i covered my natural lip color. to make my lips look even fuller, i used a red gloss and dabbed it only on the center my mouth. this is a high-maintenace-lip. i relined and repainted my lips multiple times during the day. also, eating sandwitches, spaghetti and.... lobster (i guess), is off limits. that is just what needs to be done. i don't see the point of starting the day, with gorgeously painted lips, and ending it with an uneven, smudged red mouth. or worse..... only being left with a red outer rim.......... but it is worth it!

have fun!

friiidaaayy!

it's friday... waaay to early. i am tired (especially because it was, my dear friend, rachel's birthday yesterday). i still want to look cooool, though.... because, it's fiiiiidaaaaayy!!!

the look: fast and cool. uuuuh! or fast and furious...? no fast and fierce! yes. the look is fast and fierce. (shout out to tyra!) ok, fiiine..... this look is not one of my fiercest... but! it is fast. aaaall of it only took me 20 minutes. i promise! yes, i have seen tutorials on tv/online, promising "beautiful make-up in 5 minuets!" but, sorry to tell you, that doesn't exist. fine, on today-i-don't-feel-like-doing-the-full-face-days (and yes, i definitely have those), five minutes is totally possible. but not if you are doing the brows and eyeliner and highlighting and... who-knows-what. 20 minutes is pretty much the minimum. so i guess this look is simply: fast friday. ha! wasn't that hard........

skin: foundation and powder on the entire face, for a matt base. i emphasized the apples of my cheeks with a sweep of reddish blush.
brows: i always like to fill my brows, using a brown eyeshadow and a brow brush. for this look, i used a soft brown and didn't enhance them a lot, or draw any hard lines.
eyes: i started with a couple layers of (my i-love-u-everyday-and-foreverything-color) a light shimmering, warm gray. keeping the crease the darkest. with a matt medium grey, i drew a soft, not too thin, line along the bottom and on the outer half of the pper lashes. dragging it out a bit where they meet, on the outer corner. with my fingers i dabbed a light pink highlighter on the centre of my eyelid. mascara, for soft full lashes. eyes, already done!
lips: i used a lip stain and balm. i just bought this color. it is..... everything! don't you think? and soooo easy! if you don't want to deal with lipstick... lipliner... gloss..... (and giving hiiiiis lips that beautiful feminine pink sheen) this is what you want.

...ok, i used a lot of exclamation marks in this post.... but it is friiiidaaaayyyy!!!!!
have a nice weekend!

girls of the night....

girls of the night, shot by madaue in berlin, krakow and munich

gray t-shirt and jeans.....

the look: for a gray-t-shirt-and-jeans kind of day.... make-up that is cool with a little touch of color. 

the skin: i did my basic, light foundation and finished that off with some pressed powder and a light sweep of a natural rose-colored blush.
the brows: for a stronger (don't-mess-with-me-looking) brow, i used a dark brown, and drew them a little bit thicker than they naturally are.
the eyes: i used three colors of matt eye shadow. the base layer is a very light brown, that i blended up to the brow bone. on the movable lid i put a medium grey. in order to melt these two colors together, in a natural looking way, i swept a medium brown along the crease, starting with the outer corner. along the outer half of the bottom lash line, i put a light shadow of the medium brown and an grey. for a touch more..... coolness, i applied a hint of black, with an eye liner pencil, between the lashes . i created a color-highlight by placing a very thin line of, first the purple, and then, an even thiner shorter line, of the blue liquid liner, on the middle of the bottom of the lash line. mascara on the upper lashes and on the outer half of the bottom ones (not to cover up the purple and blue).
the lips: i dabbed a little bit if a flesh colored gloss on my lips.

have fun!

gisele's lost twin....

i was not having a good face-day, today......... everyone has those... good-hair-days... bad-eyelash-days. aaaanyway, i wanted to do a make-up that makes me feel good. well, make-up should aaaaallways make you feel good. no matter what look you choose, it should make you feel good. beautiful. fabulous. sexy. fierce.... whatever. well, today i needed a look that would make me feel beautiful. on some days that is harder...... when you don't wake up, naturally feeling like you are gisele's lost twin.

the look: i wanted to focus on the eyes. a big-eye-but-still-natural-look.

the skin: for extra coverage (because it was on of those days) i used concealer over my foundation. i also used powder and a red blush. 

the brows: strong brows.... i just feel like, they give me a little more attitude.
the eyes: i started by sweeping a shimmering, reddish-brown generously over the top lid and along the bottom lashes. the second step was placing light pink highlights on the centre of the top lid, on the tear duct, and along the brow bone (defusing the reddish-brown).  i drew a soft line of dark grey, with an eyeliner pencil, along the upper eye lashes. by using a matt, plum-colored loose powder, along the upper and lower lashes, and dragging out the outer v, i defined the eyes more. mascara was the finishing touch. 

the lips: i simply used a tinted lipblam.

have fun!
and wake up feeling like gisele herself, tomorrow!

freddie.... love at first sight

i met this little guy on hester street fair. a cute little street fair, that is unfortunately, conveniently located waaaay to close to my home. i am crazy about jewelry and stopped at the arms and armory stand, to try on some of their gorgeous rings... turns out there was not any more room on my fingers. when i was about to carry on, this cute little beetle caught my eye. it was love at first sight. after trying him on, he instantly became friends with my jurassic park-necklace (a little bug caught in a piece of amber, my dad gave my mom waaaaay back when). i named the gunmetal beetle, freddie. he got a coveted spot in my basic-jewelry-set. the kind of jewelry i really ooonly take off for yoga 

holding on to summer

the look: trying to hold on to the last days if summer, i wanted make-up that was light and fresh.

the skin: tinted moisturizer to keep that summery glow. i carefully swept a bright pink loose powder on my cheeks and only matted my nose with powder.
the brows: staying with the soft natural look, i filled my brows with a light brown.
the eyes: light pink shinny eyeshadow on the top lid, all the way up to the brow bone. i softly blended, the same bright pink loose powder, that i used on my cheeks, on the outer corner and along the outer half of the crease. the last step for the top lid is dabbing a bit of highlighter above the middle of the top lash line. the lower lashes was lined with sparkling, gold loose powder. if that doesn't say summer... then i don't know what does. i didn't use too much mascara, but made sure to get all of the little lashes.
the lips: a sheer pink lipstick to finish the look.

this is your day, new york

manhattan, pictures taken by madeau