Guys, it’s my anniversary today! My amazing hubby and I have been married for four years now. It was such a beautiful day, probably the most beautiful of my life. We had our ceremony up in the mountains…

And had the best party of our lives for our reception at an old, renovated industrial building with our family and friends.

It is amazing how much you can learn in four years! Back then I didn’t wear much makeup, if any at all. I knew some things from being on ballroom team and doing theater, but my every-day look was just mascara and a tinted lip balm, as we can see:

I had decided to try to do my own makeup for my wedding and went to Laura Mercier to get some makeup for it. There I met an amazing artist who taught me the basics I needed to know. We liked her so much that we ended up just booking her to do my makeup, and my bridesmaids’ makeup. She helped me feel as pretty as I have ever felt for my wedding, following to a T my request to still ‘feel like me’ (now I know I was asking for no-makeup makeup, but at the time I wouldn’t have known to call it that). I felt so made up, but looking back I find that sort of funny:

So subtle in comparison to what I tend to wear daily now! I’ve only been ‘into’ makeup for about a year now– April 2013 I decided to try to really develop my makeup skills, so what I do now compared to then is certainly fairly different. I’ve found myself wondering what I would have requested if I was getting married today… or maybe even if I would have done my own wedding makeup! But even though my look would be different if I requested it today, that doesn’t change the fact that I felt absolutely lovely, and I’ll always love the look.

Today’s Look

Here we are four years later! For my anniversary today, I wanted neutral eyes with a bright lip, something romantic with a pop without being too intense. I also wanted to give my Notoriously Morbid shadows a spin. Here’s what I came up with!

I used Tea Tosh across the lid, blending toward the outer edges and into the crease with Ladder to Hell, and accentuating the outer V with Autumn Flowers.

Today was the first day that I used Darling Girl’s Primed and Primped eye primer, and I’m pleased with it so far! I applied all of the shadows over that first, to get the blending I wanted, then tapped a thin layer of Darling Girl Glitter Glue over the shadow. After letting that dry down, I reapplied the shadows, blended through, and got the luminous quality of the shimmers from the shadows that I wanted.

For blush, I put down a very light layer of YSL’s Kiss and Blush in Rouge Libertine and Illamasqua Hollow pigment. Then I used Darling Girl’s Don’t Eat The Apple closest to the contour, and My Pretty Zombie’s MDMA blush higher on the cheek. Of course, for contour I used Pumpkin and Poppy’s Oak Bark powder. I don’t have an indie highlighter yet, so I used NARS Albatross along the top of my cheek bone.

To get a glowy-er look to my skin, I finished my foundation with Fyrinnae’s Hollywood Sorcery finishing powder across my whole face.

For a lip that stands out, I used Fyrinnae’s Sexy Nerd lip lustre. It’s no secret that I love the lip lustre formula, and I found that this one leaves a bit of a stain behind, so even after eating a burger I didn’t have to reapply immediately.

Ta da!

I plan on packing a picnic for the hubby and taking us up to a mountain crest nearby (where he proposed to me) for dinner, and hopefully catch the sunset while we’re up there. Gotta get packing!

Products

MUFE HD foundation in 110

Palladio herbal foundation primer

Darling Girl Primed and Primped eye primer

Notoriously Morbid Tea Tosh, Ladder to Hell, and Autumn Flowers

MAC fluidline in Dipdown

Covergirl Clumpcrushers in Black

Pumpkin and Poppy Oak Bark contour powder

Darling Girl Don’t Eat The Apple and My Pretty Zombie MDMA blush

Anastasia dipbrow in Auburn

Fyrinnae Sexy Nerd lip lustre

Edit: Picnic was a SUCCESS! 🙂