Ready to Wear Beauty with MaryKay® and Project Runway®

I’ve been a fan of Project Runway® since the very first season. I love the creativity that takes place under pressure, the judges input, and who doesn’t adore Tim Gunn? One of the coolest parts of each Project Runway challenge is how in just a short span of time the beauty teams are able to take the contestants’ visions and make them a reality. Mary Kay® is the Official Beauty Sponsor of Project Runway® Season 13 and it’s cool to see an accessible brand known for everyday beauty create such creative, intense, and high fashion looks. MaryKay® asked if I’d like to experience their makeup collection, and with MaryKay Global Makeup Artist Luis Casco’s direction and recreate some looks from Season 13 of Project Runway®.

The “Emerald Smoke” face: click the image to view the instructions to create and shop this look.

I first tried Casco’s “Emerald Smoke” look, a bold face that is perfect for the upcoming fall season. I loved how this look is totally out of my comfort range, and loved how the colors could work on a variety of skintones. I’ll be honest, I’m clueless when it comes to makeup, especially eye color application so it was great to have on the MaryKay® site instructions from Luis Casco and videos showing how to achieve this season’s bold eye looks. I’ve always wondered how people achieve a really intense color that blends nicely; with Casco’s instruction I learned a cream shadow base will help colors pop on the eyelid. I’ve used MaryKay® before, but this experience has me loving a few new products. Their Cream Eye Color is a great consistency that blended well, didn’t crease, and was long-lasting. Meadow Grass gave a subtle hint of color on my lids that made my brown eyes stand out and would be wearable for any day, but when I applied MaryKay® Mineral Eye Color in Emerald over it I suddenly had bold intense jewel-like lids. Per Casco’s instruction, I then added their Mineral Eye Color in Lime in the inner thirds of the eyes and it really did brighten the whole look. I’ve tried MaryKay® LashLove Mascara before and am always a fan. It lengthens, separates, and doesn’t bother my contacts-wearing eyes. One coat is perfect for day, but a couple coats gives the drama needed for the “Emerald Smoke” face.

When I received the products to create “Emerald Smoke” the lipcolor and blush scared me; even in the middle of summer I have fair skin and felt that the deep plum shades would look clownish on me. I applied their Cream Blush in Cranberry and while it looked extremely dark on my skin, when I blended it I found it looked quite pretty – more dramatic than my normal blush, but perfect with such a bold eye. The True Dimensions® Lipstick in Mystic Plum and Lip Liner in Cappuccino is an intense look, but again it balanced the bold emerald eye and I could see myself wearing this lipstick come fall with a more subtle rest of the face. I like the creamy formula and how it made my lips look more hydrated and plump.

The “Graphic Eye” face: click the image to view the instructions to create and shop this look.

The second look was titled, “Graphic Eye” and this was a look I have always loved on others (and think I recall from Project Runway) but never thought I could carry off myself. Thanks to Luis Casco’s instructions, I was able to try it out. The Mary Kay At Play™ Bold Fluid Eyeliner in Blue My Mind is a gorgeous color and made quite an impact without looking too crazy. I was impressed by the quality of the MaryKay® brushes; their Eye Crease Brush makes a big difference with shadow application and gave a natural contour to the upper lid while being perfect for a touch of color below the eye. Mary Kay® Ultimate Mascara™ in Black is another winning mascara (though it can’t compete with my beloved LashLove), and I have been using Mary Kay® NouriShine Plus® Lip Gloss for over a year in various colors and found Au Naturel to be just as lovely and a great topcoat for lipsticks and stains. “Graphic Eye” is actually a pretty wearable look, and the bold blue could easily be replaced by a different color or just be a classic black cat eye. Having such instruction available makes runway beauty more of a reality for us beauty-application newbies! While these aren’t everyday looks, it was fun to recreate looks from my favorite television show and have a bit of the MaryKay® and Project Runway® beauty experience in my own home! If you’d like to experience the same, I have just the giveaway for you! Which of these looks would you most like to try? Leave an answer in the comments below for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card and a collection of Mary Kay® products to create one of the looks featured + some beauty essentials.

You can visit Mary Kay® on Project Runway, Facebook, Youtube, and of course, their website for more ideas and information!  Sweepstakes Rules:  No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
1.  Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2.  Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3.  Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4.  For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 9/4/2014-10/7/2014. Be sure to visit the Mary Kay brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!