No Such Thing as New Blacks

I have a strong tendancy to choose black over any other given color - probably some lingering side effect of my teenage pseudo-gothness (il faut bien que jeunesse se fasse...). I thus hereby declare the saying pink/grey/brown/turquoise/green-striped-with-purple-poke-a-dots is the new black bullshit obsolete.

Seeing that I am working today (Halloween), and felt too lazy to put a costume together, I decided that wearing some thick creepy black-and-red make-up would do the trick. Things you need to know about me : I rarely if ever wear colorful make-up; I own a ridiculous amount of colored make-up, because it's pretty; I (fairly) succeed in talking myself out of buying colorful make-up now - my drawers are full enough as it is.

For these reasons, I decided that buying a black base for the sole purpose of this black smokey-eye would be silly. That is why I used Mac's Blacktrack as a base.

I had my eye on Blacktrack for a very long while before I decided to purchase it, just because I already multiple black liners, either liquid or pencils. As it turns out, I adore this product as a liner - I find it easier to work with than a pencil (I have rather wrinkly eyelids) to draw a very thin line. I do  set it with a black eyeshadow, but I don't think it's a necessity.

As a base, I have to say, it does a very decent job. The product is very smooth, creates a nice opaque surface, it's smudgeable (thus, blendable) and once it is set, it does not budge. A little goes a long way - you do not need to build a thick surface for the shadow to go on very black, and if you put too much, it will crease. Sheer it out, and you'll be able to rock your dark look all-night.


My look :

I took a dense, short-haired brush to apply a thin layer of Blacktrack all over my eyelid - special focus above and into the lash line. I pulled it up into my crease and blended it out (roughly) in my upper crease in a kind-of-cat-eyed shape. I took the same brush and patted-on some shimmery black eyeshadow on top of the base (patt it on, don't brush it. You'll avoid a mess, it won't mess up the base and the color will go on more opaque).

I then took a fluffy blending brush, dipped it into a maroon pigment, and blended it around the edges of my black surface. Only a few strokes will make it seem like you've done a ton of blending if you use a duo-chrome color, or a satin-finish. It's pretty.

I lined my bottom lash-line with Blacktrack, put a little more pigment there, enhanced the cat-eye shape.

Black mascara, both waterlines lined with black eyeliner and there you go !