Black Swan FOTD

Hi everyone,

A couple of days ago, the Academy Awards Nominations came out and Black Swan is one of the most nominated movies of the year. Although I haven't watched the movie yet, I love the Black Swan look Natalie Portman had in the movie promotion. Sadly, Black Swan did not get nominated for Best Makeup category. Yet, this is the look that's most replicated around the blogsphere and on YouTube.

Black Swan promotional poster

My look is quite easy to do since I used mostly pencils. Wanna know how I did it? Jump!

My version of the Black Swan

Stuff I used:

Face: (1) Adorned with Grace foundation in Grace 3.5, (2) Caviahue thermal water to spray on (3) ELF Studio powder brush; finish with (4) The Ultimate Powder using (5) EcoTools retractable kabuki brush

Eyes: (6) Fantasy Makers body stick in Black to draw the shape, intensified with the black eyeshadow in the ELF Drama quad (7) using ELF eyeshadow brush (8). Using Silver Lightning (9) to draw in feathers and smooth out with (10) Coastal Scents eyeliner brush.

Lips: Using the retractable lip brush (11) to apply NYC Blue Rose (12). Then apply Fantasy Makers lipstick in Black (13) on top of it.

Contour and blush: using Physicians Formula Healthy Skin bronzer in Fair (14) to contour using MAC contour brush (16); then apply Shu Uemura blush to deepen the contour line.

Close up at the eye
The advantage of this FOTD are no mascara and brow grooming powder :)

Since foundation is applied first, make sure to keep Q-tips and makeup remover handy.
Since the black pencil I use is not that dark, I layered black eyeshadow on top to intensify it.  I used the promo picture as a guide when drawing the feathers. I know a lot of beauty bloggers and YouTube gurus out there use white paints to paint the feathers but since I don't have it, Silver Lightning from L'Oreal HiP did the job quite well.
Also, make sure to layer some powder under your eyes to catch the fall outs.

Contouring and applying blush the 80s Warrior style
I looked like Lord Orochimaru in Naruto here :) *cue soundtrack for super-villain*

One last look at Black Swan FOTD

Overall, I'm happy with the outcome. It's not so difficult but if I have to do it again, I would go with a black eyeshadow base like MAC Blackground paint pot. The chubby eye pencil, while is soft and glides effortlessly, is not true black. A white or silver paint is not necessary. I would still go with Silver Lightning, though, just for the ease of using it. Grace 3.5 is about a shade lighter than my skin color and since I used it wet and applied twice, it looked a lot paler on my skin. While I love how the lips turned out, I would rather go with the black lipstick instead of creating something blackened maroon.

The key to creating this look is precision. Since you apply everything after foundation, a mistake can potentially mean wiping everything off your face and redo your makeup from scratch. Also, a lot of things used are black or dark, which means they can stain your clothes like crazy.

If you root for "Black Swan" and/or Natalie Portman, I guess this is a fun look to do before heading out to watch this year's Academy Awards. This is a super-villain look so please don't go on a date or a wedding with this makeup on your face (unless your date is another super-villain or it's a wedding of two Marvel/DC Comics super-villains, ha!)

If you haven't watched it already, here's a link to Jim Carey's spoof of "Black Swan." I laughed so hard while watching that video clip. Who knew that Jim Carey can really dance!

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