Pretty Vulgar Nightingale Tutorial

October 19, 2018

Pretty Vulgar Nightingale Tutorial

It’s been such a long time since I’ve played around with some of my cool-toned eyeshadows. That used to be all I ever wore, but the warm-tone obsession has been so strong lately I don’t even look at anything else. If you remember from my full review, I was beyond impressed with the quality in this Pretty Vulgar Nightingale eyeshadow palette. It has everything in it that I need to create an entire eye look and the formula is incredibly easy to work with. In this tutorial, I’m bringing it back to a classic smokey eye -- with a few twists!

I started by priming my eyes with the Maybelline Color Tattoo Eye Chrome in the shade Beige Luster. I love the formula of these eye chromes because they help bring shimmers to a whole new level and also really hold the eyeshadow in place all day. There’s only a few primers that work successfully on my oily eyelids and this is one of my favorites!

Along with the Nightingale palette, this tutorial will also be featuring the four other products that were included in last month’s Boxycharm. I love challenging myself to use all the products in one look!

Going straight into the palette, I’m first dipping into Hide & Seek, which is a beautiful matte taupe. I used the Alamar Cosmetics blending brush, from the Ojitos Brush Set, to apply that shade all throughout the crease. This brush was a little awkward to me for this step, but I was able to make it work. Thankfully this is just the base work so any mistakes made here won’t really be noticeable.

Then I switched to a slightly more dense brush to apply some deeper shades to the outer half of my eye. I combined Eye Spy and Flip Out together to make a custom shade. Both of these shadows are extremely pigmented, so make sure to start with a light hand and build up as needed. Once that was applied, I went back in with the Alamar blending brush to keep things as smooth and as seamless as possible.

Taking that same, slightly more dense brush I just used in the previous step, I added a tiny little bit of Swoop to the very outer corner of my eye. I worked that in as best as I could and cleaned it up again with an empty blending brush. This step will provide a little extra dimension. By keeping darker colors on the outer part of the eye, it will make the center appear bigger.

Normally I would use my fingers for this step, but I really wanted to see how the Alamar flat painter brush would apply the shadow. I took the shade Clutch and placed that on the very center part of my eyelid. Much to my surprise, this brush actually worked very well. I’d say it provided almost as much pigmentation as if I were to have used my finger. It’s very small and precise to get the color exactly where it needs to go without accidentally overlapping the other shades.

Clutch is a beautiful shade and could easily finish up the lid shadows, but I decided to take it a step further and add Pillow Fight to the inner part of my lid that was still empty. Adding more shades like this helps create a better gradient, which will provide a more blended appearance. I used that same Alamar flat painter brush for this step and it was a great fit for that area of the eye.

Pillow Fight has a satin finish and since the majority of the shadows on the lid are pretty dark in color, I decided to take the lightest shimmer shade in the palette (Break Free) and use that as my inner corner highlight. I used the flat painter brush for this step, as well, and brought it into the crease with a light hand to blend everything together.

To use even more shades, both for tutorial purposes and for added dimension with different finishes, I took Nocturnal as my brow bone highlight with the Alamar blending brush. This is a matte cream shade that is actually really pigmented. I’ve used this on my lid before and it was gorgeous for a lighter daytime look.

For a smokey eye, it’s important to bring some color underneath the lower lashes to create a more dramatic effect. Because there are so many shades on the lid, I chose to only combine Hide & Seek and Flip Out. I went with two of the lighter shades because they’re both pigmented enough to add the definition I’m looking for without making it too intense and dragging the eye down.

Moving onto eyeliner, I forced myself to use the Butter London Stroke of Wow Roll On Liner in the shade Pitch Black. I had tried using this a few times already this month and I really don’t like it. It’s so difficult for me to use! I got as far as halfway along my top lash line before giving up. This could easily mess up the entire look.

My line was a little wobbly looking, so I went over it with the matte black All Nighter shade and the Alamar flat liner brush both on my upper and lower lash lines. That black shade is extremely intense, so apply with caution!

Finishing up by curling the lashes and adding three coats of the Wander Beauty Unlashed Volume & Curl mascara. This mascara has been really impressive so far. It provides enough length and volume to my lashes without flaking off throughout the day. And if you haven’t already, make sure to check out my previous post on curling your lashes and why it’s so important!

Here’s a close-up of the final look:

And a quick, more condensed guide recapping every step for easy reference:

Other products from September’s Boxycharm that I’m wearing are the Laura Geller Baked Blush in Tropic Hues and the Hank & Henry Matte Liquid Lipstick in the shade Petal Pusher. The blush is actually a little too shimmery for my oily face, so I only have it lightly dusted over top of my favorite Makeup Geek blush in the shade Heart Throb. Used in that way, it provides such a healthy glow.

I did use my trick for making liquid lipsticks more comfortable, but this one was still a little sticky feeling and I think I would’ve preferred to add a gloss on top. The color is gorgeous, though!

This look was actually a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be to create. It felt so different applying such cool-toned shades to my eyes again. Sometimes Boxycharm does a good job at including products that work well together and these all match perfectly. I just really don’t like that eyeliner. It’s such a hassle!

If you enjoyed this tutorial, please feel free to share it using one of the buttons below. If you recreate this look or get inspired to create something similar, don’t forget to tag me on social media -- all of my links are at the bottom of the post. I’d love to see what you come up with!