January Jones Reveals Her Alter Ego...

Check out January Jones at the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York last night.

The Mad Men actress stepped neatly away from the 50s princess look that we are so used to her working, and rocked up to the MET Ball [one of the social events of the year in New York] looking incredible in YSL and a brave [in the celebrity world] take on a smoky eye.

Recreate The Look

For the glowing finish, prep with Gleam Cream for a perfect, even base. Blessed with beautiful porcelain skin, I would guess that January would match well with Cream Foundation in 120 with the pink-ish undertones in her skin. Buffed on top of the Gleam Cream with the Highlighter Brush [a wonderful, domed brush that is a great size for application of foundation; not too large to feel out of control and not too small to take ages to apply!]

A dot of Cream Blusher in 'Rude' on the cheeks adds a lovely peachy flush.

A tip I learnt from Alex Box in regards to using strong, matt eye colours with a radiant base is to prep below the eyes by adding a generous dusting of Loose Powder beneath the eyes. This will pick up any pigment that may drop from your brush and instead of ruining your perfect base, can be easily dusted off with a large Powder Brush. As our Loose Powder's are so finely milled, they won't settle into lines and can take off just that excess shine without creating a strong matt finish.

You could, of course, apply the base after the eye, but looking at this picture, the make-up artist is unlikely to have done this budging by the wonderful fading technique of the eye shadow in to the hairline and temples; this has been expertly blended and worked in to the existing base, in my opinion.

The focus of this look is the eyes. Dramatic dark blues and a smoky grey look very similar to our Powder Eye Shadow in 'Intense' and 'Gimp'.


Using a large Eye Shadow Brush, dust the deep blue 'Intense' all over the lids, right the way up to the eye brows and blend in to the eye brow hairline using Blending Brush I. As the colour deepens towards the outer corner, add 'Gimp' and using Blending Brush II, blend this out in to the hairline. Quick, easy and yet extremely eye catching. I love how January has disregarded the 'no blue eye shadow with blue eyes' beauty "rule" [we aren't big fans of beauty rules at Illamasqua...]. Some captivating False Eye Lashes - no.19's would look great - stop her eye's getting 'lost' within the smoky depths of the eye shadow.

The nude gloss [try Sheer Lipgloss in 'Provoke'] brings all the elements of the look together.