5 Days 5 Ways: MAC Blue Brown Pigment

I mentioned before that Blue Brown seems to be a shade that people either love or hate. The main problem associated with this pigment or type of color is that when it's sheered out, the brown fades into a soft wine-red, which can make some people look like they just did 10 rounds in the boxing ring. 

Since the reddish undertone is the main problem for many people, here are 5 ways to get around it. 

Day 1: Full-on wash. 

To get the true rich blue-brown shade you see in the jar, you need to be able to pack the pigment on intensely. Unfortunately, powders will tend to spread out and fade with blending and general movement even if you foil it, so to get it to stay looking great, make sure you apply a brown base. 

MAC Blue Brown applied over MAC Take Root Cream Color Base, with black kohl along the water line and black mascara.

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Day 2: Sheered out mauve wash

Sometimes it's nice to bring out the red tones of the pigment instead of trying to fight it. Try loading your brush with a light silvery shade first, and then dipping it into Blue Brown before applying it to your skin. It will transform into a soft silvery mauve brown with pale teal highlights. 

An even more interesting color to mix in would be a white pigment with a blue sheen.

MAC Blue Brown mixed with MAC Frozen White pigment. Apply a navy liner , and dab a little more Frozen White in the inner corners so it's brightened up.

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Day 3: As a liquid liner.

This is so simple I'm not sure why more people don't do it. Blue Brown is amazing as a liquid liner whether on its own or when paired with either aqua, teal or brown shadows. It blends in with those shades, but flashes a different color with the light.

You can use eye drops or a liner mixing medium for longer wear.

MAC Blue Brown worn as liner along the upper lash line, with MAC Concrete as a matte, dark cocoa wash.

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Day 4: Oomphed-up and Contoured with Gunmetal Liner.

This is a more sultry look and plays with lighter and deeper tones circling Blue Brown. I used a silver and a dark matte brown. 

MAC Blue Brown as main lid color with Vex at the inner corners and Concrete at  along the crease. Gunmetal pencil (Bourjois 51 Noir Effet Miroir) applied along the lash lines for definition.

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Day 5: Colorful Fantasy Glimmer.

 I armed myself with 2 other items that had the same answering teal/aqua gleam with Blue Brown. A soft aqua-teal shadow and a white duo-chrome glitter with aqua sheen. Apply Blue Brown as you would usually, over a good base, then run an aqua shadow along the lower lash line and finish by dampening a little aqua glitter and dabbing it onto the center of your upper lids.

MAC Blue Brown pigment paired with aqua shadow along the lower lash line and MAC Reflects Transparent Teal dabbed onto center of the lid.

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Conclusion:

These are just 5 ways to wear it. There are definitely more.
If you like how Blue Brown looks in the jar, then it's simply a question of using the right methods to get it to look its best on your lids, and playing around with different color combinations to give yourself some variety.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON ALTERNATIVES/DUPES:

• Bare Escentuals Bon Bon
• L'oreal HIP Intrepid
• Lime Crime Dragon Scales
• MAC Club
• Urban Decay Lounge
• Wet n Wild Coloricon Palette in Comfort Zone (bottom-right shade)

Why do they all look so similar?
Because the "raw-ingredient" mica that gives the duo-chrome finish came like that; it's not an effect that cosmetic houses achieved by blended a dark brown and an aqua interference shade together.

It's important to know because the bad news is that you're going to find it really hard to accurately recreate or dupe this shade by blending brown and aqua shadows on your own.

The good news is that it's readily available to most cosmetic houses from their pigment suppliers, so the color is not at all rare. 

Amber-Tan Lids

Summer's over, but your honey tan doesn't have to fade. Not on your lids anyway.

If you want to wear a stronger eye, but are unsure or a little wary of really loud or dramatic colors, then there is just one shade that you need to invest in. A warm, honey-gold tan with a bit of coppery heat.

Not only does it look great on the eyes, but you can also wear it as highlighter, mixed in with lipgloss, and even as a bronzer if you're very fair.

MAC Tan Pigment

 The quintessential golden-tan tone in my books is MAC's Tan Pigment. The deeper skinned you are, the more pink you can lean. If you're really pale, I suggest a more straw-gold tone like MAC Retrospeck, as copper bases can make your eyes look swollen if you're not careful.

Swatches (L-to-R): 1 MAC Tan Pigment, 2 Coastal Scents Opal Tan Mica, 3 I Nuovi Topaz Dust, 4 I Nuovi Cosmo Shadow, 5 MAC Retrospeck, 6 Coastal Scents ME13 Hot Pot.

An all-round flattering and easy-to-wear color would be I Nuovi's Dust in Topaz (#3 above) which is a true honey-beige which is neither too yellow nor too pink. If you want a stronger and warmer eye, go for MAC Tan. Of course, if you like that shade but don't want to break the bank, just get a sample size of Coastal Scents' Opal Tan Mica, which is very similar to the MAC, although a tad cooler toned. 

MAC Tan Pigment packed over the lids, with black liquid liner and false lashes.

Of course, if you have a dark skin tone, you can probably wear ANY amber-tan shade. 

Fall Look: Gilded Antique Lids with Kitten Lips (Coastal Scents Antique Gold Mica with MAC Kinda Sexy Matte Lipstick)

Metallic textures can play up very muted or deep colors for Fall.

Fall doesn't need to be a time of monochromatic shades. As you start to deepen up the colors, look out for stronger textures like metallics, that can give a lush and gilded finish to very jewel-toned and neutral shades.

Step 1: Apply MAC Blooz pencil or any soft metallic navy pencil along the upper lash line and the outer half of the lower lashes. It should be thicker on the outer halves of the upper lids, as it would be if you were applying winged liner.

Step 2: With a short bristled smudger brush, pack a dark navy blue  shadow over the navy pencil. Don't smoke out the color too much. I'm using Poison by Stage Makeup, but you can use MAC Deep Truth as well. Just avoid anything too black or you won't get the beautiful deep blue sheen.

Step 3: Pack a deep tarnished antique-bronze over the entire lids, above the blue. You can over lap the blue JUST a little, but not too much or you will muddy the colors. Blend towards the outer corners, following the downward curve of your socket line towards the navy flick. Run along the inner half of lower lashes as well. I used Coastal Scents Antique Gold mica here.
If you find pigments hard to control and messy to use, try MAC Sumptuous Olive.

Step 4: To keep the lash line blue, apply navy mascara. I don't own colored mascara so I applied black mascara and then picked up navy blue shadow with a fluffy brush and wiggled it gently over my top and bottom lashes to coat them with a little blue.

Finished Looks with flash; Coastal Scents Antique Gold mica pigment with MAC Blooz pencil and  Stage Makeup Poison eyeshadow

 To finish off, I wanted muted cheeks and lips but not to erase the color altogether, so I used MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Dark as a subtle bronzer on the cheeks, and MAC Kinda Sexy Matte Lipstick for a kittenish lip.

Home-brew: "Goddess" pigment

Who says brown is boring?

Meet my favorite custom-blend pigment, which I’ve named “Goddess”. It’s earthy, but it’s a strong, gold-flecked high-sheen metallic brown which is never boring to wear.

In fact, it’s not always appropriate for the day, especially if you work in a more formal corporate environment where too much sparkle is frowned upon.
Ah, well… I’ll look forward to the weekends.

I mixed this up on a whim and then realized I didn’t note down what pigments I used and in what proportion, so now I’d be very hard-pressed to replicate this ever again.
Woe, me.