Epica Concert Makeup

Alright! So last night my boyfriend and I went on a very special date to the Baltimore Soundstage in Maryland to see Epica! In addition to Epica, The Agonist and Eluveitie also performed.  As a warning this post is going to be super picture heavy.

So we were a bit rushed to get everything done in time to get to this concert as it was on a weeknight in a not very close location.  Therefore I did a very fast dark makeup look focusing on my eyes.  I attempted to spruce up my overall look by doing a bit more with my jewelry.  My dangle earrings are ones I made and after all that headbanging only one of the leaves fell off....but I ended up finding it so it wasn't even a loss! The Zelda necklace you might recognize from my Pagan Pride post, I decided to put it on a drop style kind of chain.  As for the choker....I totally sewed that together the day before using some ribbon and jewelry clasps.  I'm honestly surprised it didn't fall off because I can't sew for crap, haha!

Well this post is on a makeup blog so let's get the details on my face!  To do this look I put Urban Decay's Blackout all over my lid and blended it out into a smokey eye.  I then took Shiro Cosmetic's Mother of Dragons and patted it on my eye lid to give my lid a neat shimmery effect.  I then took Blackbird Cosmetic's Ruca and blended it under my eye, into Blackout to add at least a bit of color.  I then lined my eyes with Jesse's girl liquid liner and then did another layer over that with Jcat Beauty's red glitter liner.  I finished with Urban Decay's Perversion mascara.  My contour was done using MAC's Strange Imagination and on my lip's is Colourpop's Trap.  This only took about 15 minutes and definitely had the desired effect of dark but not too over the top. I wore dark lipstick to Nightwish and it looked horrible by the end of the night so I opted out of doing double dark eyes and lips this time. 

My entire outfit wasn't too exciting.  I went with all black and comfortable.  My top is a hand me down from B Crew, my jeans are from Loft, and my boots are from Hot Topic.

Now let's move on to the concert!!!

Here is the obligatory pre concert selfie Aaron and I took before getting into the venue.  We arrived right as the doors opened and the line wasn't long at all, the venue was super tiny, so we weren't outside for very long.

Up first was the Agonist.  I am pretty familiar with their songs from when Alissa White-Gluz was their vocalist but I haven't listened to their new album near as much.  Overall they did a pretty decent job.  I think its great that they kept pushing forward after Alissa went to Arch Enemy and I hope they continue to improve.

After that was Eluveitie, a Celtic inspired band that incorporates a large variety of vocal styles and instrumentals.  They played for a very long time, basically just as long as Epica, making me think that this tour is perhaps a double headliner.  Anyway they did a great job.  I had only listened to a handful of their songs before this show but it didn't even matter, they really made it enjoyable.  Once my boyfriend helped me move away from Inconsiderate Blonde Chick, I had a really great time dancing and headbanging to their set. 

And then EPICA! Simone is seriously even more beautiful in real life.  They played a great show with a nice mix of old and new songs. Sometimes Simone's voice was drowned out by the instrumentals but overall it was an absolute blast!

The only thing that I think was missing was a nice ballad.......and more play time, haha.

Now the only band left on my top list to see is Kamelot.

Here is what I bought.  I didn't go too crazy and only picked up a t shirt and a flag.  I got the only small in this design they had.  The guy actually had to remove it from the display.  At the end of the concert this style was completely sold out, as was the small size in most designs.  I hope they refill the stock each night because this was the first night of the tour and there were tons of people being turned away from the stands because they didn't have shirts in mediums and smalls. As for the flag....its freaking huge!! I have no idea where I'm going to put it but I can't wait to decorate my apartment with it!

If you are catching a later show on their North American Enigma Tour then I hope you have a great time too!

Haven Inspired Digital Art

I'm really sorry about the lack of updates.  I got some bad news recently and have been a bit under the weather.  I do have some things planned though I promise!! Hopefully I'll be posting new makeup swatches before the week is out.

In the meantime here is a picture I just painted in Photoshop!

This is inspired by Kamelot's album Haven.  I tried to incorporate elements from both the album cover and the single.  Overall I am super pleased with this picture.  I think if I try and draw more of often I can keep improving both with my sketching and my Photoshop painting skills.  

Nightwish Concert Practice Makeup

So tonight I will be going to see Nightwish, Delain, and Sabaton and I am sooo excited! Nightwish has been my favorite band since I was in middle school.  Once Tarja left I couldn't stand Annette's voice and got out of symphonic metal until just last year when my boyfriend brought me back.  I am so overjoyed that Floor Jansen is the new singer.  I loved her in After Forever and Revamp and she works with Nightwish perfectly.  I do miss Tarja's operatics but I love Floor just as much.   And then there's Marco who I've always loved.

Anyway I did a concert makeup trial run and decided to wait to post it today since there's no way I'm updating on the day of the concert.

This is my custom Nightwish shirt that I ordered from Artscow.com.  I want to do my makeup to match this as it is what I'm wearing to the show. Century Child will always be my favorite Nightwish Album. 

I don't really feel like going super dark for this show so I decided to do something a lot more colorful! I started by tracing a wing with Jesse's Girl liquid liner.  then I dabbed Fringe from the Electric Palette towards the outer half of my lid.  Then I took Cosmic from BH Cosmetic's Galaxy palette and blended that from the corner of my eye and into Fringe.  I then took Urban Decay's Blackout and filled my wing in while also blending into Fringe.  I then blended the three  colors again under my eye.  I lined my lid lightly with my liquid liner and finished with mascara! For the concert I may decide to go a bit darker with the black and line my eyes a bit thicker with the liquid liner.

I'm still not 100% sure of what lipstick to wear.  I may go pretty dark since my eyes aren't too powerful. Regardless I have to make sure to pick something that will stay all night.

I'll be sure to make a concert post again like I did after Sonata Arctica!

Charlotte Wessels Inspired FOTD

Happy Easter Everyone!

Since I know I will be busy today I have prepared this post ahead of time.  If I do an Easter look it will have to wait for another day.

It seems symphonic metal goes hand in hand with awesome makeup because I've been doing a lot of looks inspired by the genre.  Today I decided to base a look off of Charlotte Wessels of Delain.

She is very pretty and even more talented. I had not listened to them too much but after seeing them open for Sonata Arctica I've been loving their album Lucidity.  I'll be seeing them again open for Nightwish so I'm very excited!!

If you've never heard of Delain here is a video for Frozen off Lucidity.

It's weird....sometimes the close up eye pictures look better than the face as a whole and other times the whole picture is way nicer than the zoomed in eyes.  This is definitely the latter.  I just could not get a good close up picture of this look but I adore all the full face shots.  Oh well!

To get this eye look I used all Urban Decay products! It wasn't actually intentional, it just happened that way.

I started with the Naked 3 palette and put Factory on my entire lid and crease.  Then I blended Darkside onto my lid and highlighted with Strange.  Next I took the single Blackout and blended it along my lashline and in the outer corner for depth.  To finish up I grabbed Urban from the Electric Palette and blended it under my lower lashline. 

 I also contoured heavily with a combo of NYX Taupe and MAC Crazed Imagination.  On my lips is Urban Decay's Andromeda gloss which is discontinued.  I didn't really have any shimmery peachy nudes like she was wearing so I had to improvise.

So dark but yet so wearable! I might just do this again tomorrow.

And of course as is necessary here is my side by side comparison.  Photoshopped of course to fit the lighting of the original. So much contrast.  My purple is a little more intense and my darks could have been darker but overall I'm pleased with how I did.

One final picture of the lovely Charlotte to end the post!

Kamelot Haven Makeup

Recently Kamelot has announced the release of a new album on May 5th.

After Nightwish's lack luster album cover reveal I was totally blown away by Kamelot's! I love it and I need a shirt with this design.  NEED. Anyway because I like mixing my interests as much as possible I decided to attempt copying the makeup of the girl as closely as I could.  There wasn't much to work with but I gave it a go.

Here is the album cover for reference.  From this you can see she is wearing a thick upper eye liner with a dark even shadow all over the lid almost up to the eyebrows.  Also there is a lot of black shadow smudged underneath her eyes.  The lips look pale and almost skin colored.

So here is me! 

All over my lid I applied Haywire by NYX Cosmetics.  I then created the thick liner using Urban Decay's liner in Zero.  Finally using Black Out by Urban Decay as well I smudged black under my eyes.  For my lips, I just dabbed them with powder foundation.  I really wish I would have had some false lashes in order to match even better.

I thought this would look pretty ridiculous in any position other than the eyes closed profile but honestly I don't hate it.  If I wore this in public everyone would probably attempt to avoid me out of fear, but I would definitely look dark and fabulous.  

Ok I always seem to do something embarrassing every time I use symphonic metal as a source of makeup inspiration. So here is me photoshopped onto the album cover.  I'm not near as adorable as the model they used and my facial features didn't line up quite right.  My eye is almost completely covered by hair :(

But all that aside I think I did an ok job for not being a photoshop master. 

I can't wait for the first single to be released! <3

Sonata Arctica, Delain, and Xandria Concert!

Since I had such an amazing time I figured I might as well share my experience with you. 

Here we are looking perfect and ready to head out the door to catch a trolley to the concert!

Because we paid for VIP tickets we got a signed poster.

And I also brought in my own copy of Winterheart's Guild.  It was my first ever Sonata Arctica cd so it holds a special place in my heart.  I'm so excited that they all agreed to sign it :)

And we also got a picture with Tony Kakko!! GAH! So much happiness!! <3 He is holding up a peace sign but it didn't make it into the picture, haha!

Since we were VIPs we got first dibs on the venue so of course we got to stand really close to the front!

First up was Xandria.  A band that I had heard a few songs of before but I didn't know too much about them.  Let me tell you, I WAS BLOWN AWAY.  I freaking love this band and picked up the album at the show. So much talent!

Next up was Delain.  This is one of my boyfriend's favorites bands.  When Charlotte, the lead singer, signed an album for him his hands were shaking so bad

 from nervousness and it was adorable. :)

And finally the main event, Sonata Arctica.  They put on a great show and I loved every second of it.   Some people who were there to see Delain left two big spots open right up front so my friend and I snatched them up.  WE WERE FRONT ROW OMG. I ended up catching a drumstick as well!!! :D

After the show Delain and Xandria were hanging out by the merch stands signing anything and taking pictures. It was so awesome.  This is a very sweaty and tired me with Dianne from Xandria.

This album is amazing. Seriously.

My spoils from the night! My signed cd, a sweet Ecliptica t shirt, and the drumstick I caught!

Overall, such an amazing night, 10/10, would see all of them again.

Kamelot Inspired Makeup Attempt

So as I mentioned in an earlier post I'm starting to rediscover my love for symphonic and prog metal.  In high school I was absolutely obsessed with Nightwish and Sonata Arctica.  I recently met a guy who is still very much into this style of music and he has rekindled my lost love.  He told me about Kamelot's newest album Silverthorn so of course I hopped on Youtube to check out some songs from it. Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife) was the first one I watched and I was instantly in love with the guest vocalist Elize Ryd's eye makeup.  I knew I would not be satisfied until I tried to recreate it, and so I did!

Here is the video, starting at 3:50 is where I took most of my reference pictures from. Silverthorn is amazing, if you like this kind of music I would definitely recommend it.

So here we go! I had so much fun doing this and just as much fun taking pictures! This look makes my eyes look HUGE.

Here is a side by side open and closed eye shot. This makeup is everything my high school self wished I had the skills to do.  On my lips is Buxom's Lip Polish in Sandy.

To do this look I first put down some UD primer potion and then NYX Milk as a base.  The eye shadow is entirely from Pop Beauty's eye shadow trio in Smokin Hot.  I lined my eyes with NYX gel liner and smudger.  I also put some NYX Milk on my waterline.  

And then because I'm ridiculous I tried imitating the faces from my reference pictures.  This was the result.  I am the definition of sexy, no? Hahahaha. This is embarrassing I can't believe I'm showing you guys this :P

I hope you liked my recreation attempt. I really wish I'd have had some false lashes I think it really would have added to the look.  Next up, I've been really loving Simone Simon's makeup from Kamelot's The Haunting music video...so maybe that will be next :)

<3__)~