I was inspired by this look on the Sephora site - classic and classy smokey eyes, perfect for an evening out or a holiday party. And since I already have most of the products used, I thought - "Why not?"

The original look:

My take:

I used almost exactly the same eye products as in the UD face chart/instructions, with a couple of substitutions.

Face: Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil and SPF15 Foundation in Fair

Cheeks: BareMinerals blush in Poppy (upper cheekbones), Lovely (lower cheekbones), and Kiss (apples of cheeks)

Brows: Urban Decay Brow Box in Brown Sugar, darker shade

Lids: UD Primer Potion, UD 24/7 liner pencil in Zero, MAC eyeshadow in Carbon (matte black, used in place of UD Perversion), UD shadow in Twice Baked (golden dark brown with subtle gold sparkle), and UD shadow in Foxy (matte ivory, in place of UD ABC Gum, which is matte peach)

Lashes: one coat of Bourjois "Yes to volume, no to clumps!" mascara in Noir Insoumis (black), combed through with the Sephora Professionel lash comb (metal teeth are a lot more effective than plastic ones...), then followed with several coats of Global Goddess Exotic Eyes mascara in Blackest Black, and another run-through with the comb

Lips: Sephora Perfection Lip Primer pencil (clear); MAC lipstick in Modesty (cremesheen), topped with a combination of MAC lipglasses in Enchantress and Soft & Slow

One thing I discovered was that UD Zero just doesn't cut it for me anymore - after several months of using MAC Kohl Power in Feline, I expect a true rich black from my eyeliner, and Urban Decay seems so waxy and grayish in comparison. :-( Thankfully, I have several backups of Feline.

Also, I discovered that I'm still not all that good at taking pictures of myself. And the angles and lighting still stink. Sorry. :-/

It was actually kind of fun to follow makeup instructions (for once!) and to figure out how best to modify them for myself (like, ix-nay on the bronzer, and I tried the suggested lip combo but it was WAY too pink, so I had to fix that too...), rather than making it up as I go along.

That said, I've acquired some goodies that I know you'll want to drool over, so I'll be sharing them, as well as some new looks (of my own design), over the next little while... I've got a whole backlog of posts that I need to get around to finalizing, because I am a lazy bum. (Sorry.) Oooh, and while we're on the topic of Urban Decay (because we are, sort of), I am über-excited for the Spring 2009 collections - a champagne version of Primer Potion based on Sin eyeshadow, and four new 24/7 eye pencils, including a true bright green (Graffiti), which I have been searching for desperately. (Underground will also be mine.)

Anyway... thanks for reading, and I hope you're having a great holiday season!