GemGlam! Week One: Everyday Garnet!

Welcome one, welcome all! Today's post marks the start of GemGlam! - a collaborative effort between Noon of peachy noon, Mieke of Miekeup! and myself! Through the month of April we will each be posting weekly blogs (and instagram posts!) showcasing makeup looks inspired by Steven Universe. More specifically - the Crystal Gems as well as the Homeworld Gems! We'll be doing wearble looks along with some more avant-garde stuff. This week specifically is Wearable Looks inspired by the Crystal Gems!

Noon's Amethyst Makeup can be found here!
Mieke's Pearl Makeup can be found here!

My look today is based on the best square mom a kid could ask for:

"Oh no. They are dead."

That's right. Mutha' fuckin' GARNET. If you don't absolutely love Garnet then you probably just haven't seen Jailbreak yet. Go watch it now (if only because I'll probably let some spoilers slip) and get your ass back here.

Garnet is a bold, confident space babe. She's strong and frank and endearingly, if at times awkwardly, maternal. I mean, she's made of love you guys. At the start of Steven Universe she definitely comes across as a bit more aloof - the standoffish leader of the Crystal Gem trio. I love watching her soften through the series and be more open in how much she cares about Steven - Future Vision and Jailbreak being beautiful examples of such. Also, I love how she dances - it's so counter to her usual stoic facade and it makes me wish she'd ravish me. But that's besides the point.

Here's the look I put together for today's post:

For this look I wanted to go bold but with softened edges, avoiding hard and sharp lines. I also wanted to reflect a bit of Ruby and Sapphire in the look as well but subtly. More of a suggestion than a representation. Those were really the only guidelines I gave myself - the rest was done by the seat of my pants.

Below, I'll break down the methods and products I used.

Since this is supposed to be a wearable, everyday look I more or less went with my mainstays when it came to my base. With a freshly clean and moisturized face (I've been using just a drop of hazelnut oil~) I start with my Diorskin Nude BB Creme in Light 001 which I mix with a touch of the Kevin Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer in SX01 as it leans a bit too pink for me normally. No brush or sponge - I just smush it on with my hands like some sort of feral animal. I top my dark circles and any remaining spots/redness with my NARS' Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantilly which is sorely in need of replacing. Skin is finished off with a light dusting of Hello Waffle's Finishing Powder which, as well as some mattifying, gives me a slightly glimmery glow.

For cheeks and sculpting (which honestly I do last but I'm putting this here because it just makes sense) I kept it pretty simple. I started with Hello Waffle's Marley from the December Visage Box to carve out a semblance of cheek bones as well as defining my jaw and nose bridge just a tad. Contouring is more of a special occasion step for me but Gem Glam April is worth it. MAC's Star Wonder Mineralize Skinfinish (a "plummy pink with a multi-dimension pearl" from their LE Heavenly Bodies collection) was really my only option for blush as the color is prefect for Garnet but also because outer space. For a bit more glow I used Aromaleigh's Pale As Icing Sugar Glisten from the January Ephemera Box on the tops of my cheeks. Pale As Icing Sugar's a lovely neutral, metallic leaning highlight that's quite subtle - the perfect quality for this look as the eyes and lips are a bit more bold.

My face is not a face without eyebrows. That's just science. So, as always, I used a tiny angled brush along with Make Up For Ever Aqua Brow in 25 Ash and created something out of (practically) nothing. For a look inspired by Garnet however I wanted something a bit stronger, more defined than normal so I used Lorac's Taupe and Espresso from the first Pro Palette to give these brows a bit of pop.

For my eye makeup I wanted to go bold but not too bold and incorporate some red and blue touches along with Garnet's everyday reddish burgundy color. Here's what I came up with:

I first patted on a layer of MAC's Stormy Pink Paint Pot as a base then moved on to picking my shadows. I didn't have a solid plan when I started putting together my eye look but you know fo' sho' that I was going to be using Lorac's Garnet from the first Pro Palette. This I blended into my crease and out towards my brow just a bit. The next step was dabbing some Too Faced Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue all over the lid and pressing Baroque Cosmetics' Sky over that, blending it into Garnet. I attempted to make myself a red/blue liner by mixing Darling Girl's London Calling with their Superstar Serum but the resulting liner was a bit too red and blended in with Sky. >_>;; But I didn't let that stop me! I finished up the liner by smudging a bit of Shiro's You Snow Nothing along the lash line. For the brow highlight I used Siren Song Cosmetics' Pyreflies - a soft highlight shade with blue and pink sparks. I chose to use two different colors for my inner corner highlights: on one eye I used Shiro's You Know Nothing - a soft blue sheen; on the other I used Hello Waffle's Kiji Fairy Dust Overshadow from the January Visage Box - a shimmery pink/peach with some gold and red sparkles. The effect is very subtle but you can see it when comparing each eye in my full face photos above. Lashes are CoverGirl's Clump Crusher Extensions Mascara in Very Black - a continuous, if unexciting, favorite.

I had a bit of fun throwing this lip together - it's interesting but I could still wear it to work if I wanted!

First things first! I've always gotta moisturize! I threw on Haus of Gloi's Mango Cream Lip Balm to keep these gob blobs from getting too flaky/crunchy. I used Nyx's Lip Liner Pencil in 803 Burgundy to line around the outside of my lips - I blended the liner inwards but didn't fully cover everything. Next I filled everything in with MAC's Dark Side. I was planning on stopping there but it just didn't feel quite right. So digging around I found CoverGirl's Lip Perfection Lipstick in Tempt and layered that over everything focusing it mostly at the center of my lips. To top it all off I patted a bit of Hello Waffle's Hisster Prynne in the center of both top and bottom lips for a little red sheen. I will say, I'm super happy with the results of this bumbling experiment!

Aaanyway that concludes it! This is my first collab as well as my first big girl "inspired by" type of makeup look and I've already had a ton of fun with it! I hope you enjoyed my first Gem Glam April post and I also hope that you're looking forward to our 2nd Gem Glam post coming up next Friday! And if not:

I THINK YOU'RE JUST MAD CUZ YOU'RE SINGLE.