Hali Carr: "Don't Call Me Miss" - Ellements Magazine

Infinite striving to be the best

is man's duty; it is its own reward.

Everything else is God's hands.

- Mahatma Gandhi

This shoot was originally scheduled as a fashion shoot, but when plans fell through a mere 12 hours prior to call time, we decided to switch directions and create a beauty series instead.

The photographer had the idea to gather some bow ties and base a makeup look around each one. Thankfully, I have an extremely well dressed, exceptionally dapper best friend who had a plethora of formal neck wear to choose from.

Pressure was on for me to produce 3 very different looks, with not much time to plan.

I'm a lover of neutral tones. Color is...well, was...not my "thing".

Styling this shoot really forced me out of my comfort zone with a vengeance.

And I'm so glad it did.

I did all the makeup - eyes, lips, contour - using matte eyeshadows from the

elf Studio 144 Ultimate Eyeshadow Palette in Bright.

Just a $15 palette I grabbed in a panic off the shelf at Target a few hours before the shoot.

The first look was based around the black/silver bow tie.

We went for a robotic look with a strong, blacked-out brow, a silver-to-black ombre lip,

and a deep burgundy contour under the cheekbones.

The second look was my personal favorite. The rounded, drastically contoured eye with a clean under eye line to form the "tail" was directly inspired by the shape and color of the paisleys on the bow tie.

A nude lip and electric orange facial contour completed the look.

The third bow tie reminded me of one worn by the colorful Mad Hatter portrayed by Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland from 2010. I blended a few pinks for the eye lid and under eye color and pressed the same shadows

into her top lashes. I lined her lower water line with a black shadow and

created a second ombre lip with colors similar to the ones in the tie.

I'm so proud of how this turned out.

I've been using more color ever since this shoot.

Not a lot...but more :)

I was so excited when we were told that our beauty series got accepted in

Ellements Magazine's March 2013 Beauty Issue - Book 2.

The magazine released for order yesterday on www.ellementsmagazine.com and I can't wait for my copies to arrive!

Print & digital copies are available for purchase on their website.

I'm so blessed to have been a part of this shoot and so excited to share it with everyone!