My sister and I planned to go see our cousin this weekend as he is studying at the Manchester Uni. We went a few months ago for a night out with him and his flat mates and we had such a good time that we arranged to go again. This time, we were told that we would be going to Antwerp Mansion. As the name suggests, this is basically an abandoned mansion in Rusholme that has been converted into a space where DJ’s and artists can hire out for exhibitions and gigs. Not my typical scene but I was willing to give it a go. My first thought however was ‘what the hell do I wear?’ and following that, ‘how do I do my make-up?!’.

Normally when I go for a night out, I go all out with the fake tan, hair extensions and lashes but this was a totally different ball game. Everyone was dressed as if they were at a festival and there wasn’t a false eyelash in sight. So this is what I went with…

I haven’t worn a red lip in a while and this gave me a chance to try out the new MUA Lip Lacquer in the colour Reckless. A full review of these will be coming soon!

I decided to go with a smokey eye and a red lip with some staying power. I knew I didn’t want to do anything light as I just can’t help myself, a night out is a night out, be it a fancy club or an abandoned mansion.

This is how I did it:

Eyes

- I primed my eyes using soft ochre paint pot from MAC, taking it right up to the brow bone

- I then took Blackground paint pot from MAC on a flat synthetic haired brush and mapped out the shape of my smokey eye, creating a precise wing at the outer corner

-I then took a fluffy blending brush and blended this out to ensure there were no harsh lines

- I then filled in my brows using my trusty Sleek brow kit in Light on an angled brush

- On a clean blending brush, I took Soft Brown eyeshadow from MAC and generously applied this above my crease

- On the same brush, I took Saddle from MAC and did the same thing, a tiny bit lower in my crease, creating a smooth gradient effect

- On a flat shader brush, I took Perversion from Urban Decay and patted this on my lid, making sure to keep below the crease

- Following where I had applied Blackground at the outer corner, I took Perversion on a pencil brush and patted this on to follow the shape of the paint pot, intensifying the colour in this area

- I then took Gunmetal by Urban Decay on a blending brush and ran this just above where I had applied Perversion on the lid to blend with the transition shades

- On a clean flat shader brush I took Sell Out by Urban Decay and applied this to my inner corner and my brow bone

- I tightlined using Avon’s black supershock eyeliner and lined my lower waterline half way to create the illusion of a more winged out shape

-For my lower lashline, I took Gunmetal on the tip of a black shader brush and applied this just below my lashes

- Finally, I used a couple of coats of Benefit’s They’re Real mascara to coat my lashes.

Face

-I used a Simple make-up wipe to clean up any fall out created from the eyeshadows

- I primed my face using Benefit’s 15 hour stay flawless primer

- I applied MAC’s Pro Longwear foundation in NC35 on a flat top kabuki brush

- I then used a Sonia Kashuk concealer quad to conceal my under eye area and sharpen up the line created with my eyeshadows

- Using the setting powder in the Sonia Kashuk concealer quad, I set my under eye area

-I then set the rest of my face with Ben Nye’s banana powder, applying with a cosmetic sponge and using a large powder brush to brush away any excess

-I then took MAC’s Matte Bronze on a fluffy brush and bronzed my face

-Then I took Benefit’s Hula Bronzer and contoured my face

-I then used Laura Gellar’s blush n brighten in the colour In Como on a fan brush to highlight my face

- To finish off the face, I took MAC’s Desert Rose blusher and applied this to the apples of my cheeks

Lips

- I applied some Carmex lip balm before I started with my make-up to get some added moisture as I knew I’d be using a lip lacquer which in my experience, have dried my lips out in the past

- Once that had chance to sink it, I applied MAC’s Brick lip liner around the perimeter of my lips

- I then took MUA’s Lip Lacquer in the colour Reckless and filled in my lips.

And that was it! I felt happy with what I had done and I felt it was appropriate for where we ended up going. If you have any questions about this look, feel free to leave me a comment or tweet me at @beasbeautyblog. I’d love to hear your thoughts

Thanks for reading!

Bea x