Swatching Viva Glam 2 Gaga

Yes, yes, I am a proud owner of Viva Glam's Lady Gaga since purchasing one on counter. The cushy amplified creme lipstick in a nude color is finally mine. mua ha ha ha.

MAC logo + Viva Glam packaging + Lady Gaga's signature + pale creamy color

Pale does not mean one shade lighter here. It goes really really pale on the lips, almost like a concealer, so a perfect combination with this would be dark, smoky eyes. Wear this with hardly any eye makeup and expect people asking you need blood transfusion as it's a very, very pale nude color, or maybe it's because we're darker. So we really need to play up on the eyes. But with the right balance, it could go on really, really sexy like Angelina Jolie or those Victoria's Secret supermodels.

In case you're lazy, a thick line of Blacktrack winged out and lots of mascara would do the trick. Since this is so pale, I really need eye emphasis on this to look alive, but nevertheless, I think it's a pretty good buy if you want a pale lippie to give the eyes some focus.

MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2 lipstick costs Php 1,000. And remember, for every MAC Viva Glam lipstick you buy, proceeds go to the MAC AIDS Fund so those who want to spend a little extra would be glad to know that it's for a good cause. :)

Glamming With Gaga for a Cause

Lady Gaga never fails to surprise us with her wacky costumes, out-of-this world hair and makeup, and her music that's meant to be hits guaranteed. I first fell in love with her in Poker Face and loved her more when she did Alejandro. Right now she shocks us with whaddya know, a not-so-shocking look that makes us look twice and verify if that is indeed, Lady Gaga.

photo from oliviasobsession.com

Last year, when Lady Gaga became a Viva Glam celebrity spokesperson, her signature shade was a pale bluish pink in a lustre finish. As she again does Viva Glam, she does so in a pretty and classic shade of nude. As the Gaga peg last year was pink brows, smoky eyes, and pink lips to match, this one is a rather tame version, that's almost bridal, if I must say - clean hydroluminous skin, subtle taupe brown eyes lined with lashes with the dark smokiness only on the lower lashline, and if there must be black, it wedges ever-so-slightly on the outer V to tie things together. It reminds me of the papercut bride bridal peg many MAC seasons ago (refresher picture below).

picture from pacificweddings.com

Hmmm... now that I stared at Lady Gaga's picture, maybe I should have used this as Jho's peg during our trial yesterday? Just kidding Jho. I love you!

Although the nude Lady Gaga lipstick is available already at the MAC website (US and Canada Launch date was February 2011), it's still not here in the Philippines. While at it, here's how they look like (photo credits from Temptalia and you could view her post here).

Iconic red and black Viva Glam packaging, check! Lady Gaga's signature, check! Nude lipstick check!

Same goes with the lipglass.

Much of the swatches and all could be found by google-ing them, so I had to rely on searching online to see if it's a good shade for me or not. I was able to find a good swatch here, since her skin's sorta close to my color, and to most of the colors I work on in general. It looks quite yellow-brown on the tube (it's actually a light neutral beige, as the MAC website describes it). Since this is an amplified finish, it goes on creamy on the lips, which would be a choice of someone who wants coverage without the dry cracked finish that some matte lipsticks cause.

On real time, here's how the Viva Glam lipstick looks on Lady Gaga as she promotes this product. I chanced upon this video on Facebook when Don shared it, which zoinked me to write about the upcoming lippie and lipglass as well.

Alejandro Makeup Tutorial

Ever since Lady GaGa's video "Alejandro" came out a few months ago, I fell in love with it and the music. Sure it's a bit risque with a whole lot of shock value. But if it were not, then it would not be GaGa. The video has got a lot of reactions on both sides, either way, it did get a lot of attention, anyhow.

And what did I decide to do? I made a tutorial based on Lady GaGa's look. In Alejandro, Lady GaGa had sort of the dark lip and neutral eye look. The eye colors were more on white and ivory with lots of shine and shimmer instead of smoke and we have the matte red lip. Her first look with the funky spectacles and veil here had blonde brows and you could clearly see a matte red lip in a cool color. The eyes were almost neutral and swept a shimmery bone white shade. However, I thought our eyes could get lost in the shimmer if we don't have a defined crease such as she does so I decided to combine that look with this look below:

The brows are somewhat defined and there's a bit of depth on the crease. I'll make this look like an everyday version of Alejandro, something that you could wear during nights (or what the heck, days out). It's not as pale, since I don't have the Alejandro lighting but I used a cool palette rather than my usual warm. Browns are more taupe with a bit of purple in it rather than warm rich brown.

Shall we start our Alejandro look then? Then we shall.First up as usual is foundation. I'm fond of matte so I layed low on shimmer foundation. I used foundation that's close to my skin color. One thing aside from Lady GaGa's toned body is her flawless complexion so I made sure that my skin looks clean and devoid of redness or blemishes with proper coverage. We'll be using red lip color so we have to make sure the skin is clear since red lipstick could enhance redness and blemishes.

Next up is to contour cheekbones and nose to mimic Lady GaGa's sharp bone structure. I think contour gives the face not only overall warmth but it also gives dimension. I didn't want my face to look flat so here I go.

After contour, I framed the face by defining my brows. Brows wouldn't be too dark here but I wanted them to be wearable, so the rule of a whole or half-step lighter than head hair color applies here.

I used a base since I'll be using lots of frost and shimmer and I want a base for my colors to hold. I used a cream eyeshadow in a neutral color but for those with creasing problems, then I recommend leveling up with UDPP or paint pots.For the browbone highlight, I used a matte ivory color and blended this in.The lid would be a shimmery eyeshadow in an ivory color. A perfect example would be the hi-shine color of MAC in Nylon. I like using this to highlight the part near the tear ducts but I think it would be excellent for this look.

I used a taupe color or gray-brown color to contour the crease so my eyes aren't that washed out.

On the outer corner, I used a deeper color in the same cool brown family on the outer V and extend this to the lower lashline. For more impact, you could line the lower lashline with brown eyeliner and set it with that same color of powder.

So in progress, your eyes should look like something like this.

To define the eyes some more, Line the top lashline with black liner very thinly. You could opt to wing it or not. Mascara as usual. Lastly, line the waterline with white liner, just like Lady GaGa's first look. Highlight the inner corner of the eyes with the same shimmery lid color or white shimmery eyeshadow.
Although Lady GaGa looks pale here, we should not if we don't want to. So a natural-colored cheek color should be swept on the apples of the cheeks, but nothing too bold or raspberry-like. However, if you prefer pale, then blush could be skipped and highlight could be used for that lift and contrast.
Now what makes the look rarr? Red lips. The lips are very matte. Matte lips equals dry lips though so make sure to prep the lips with lip balm prior to lipstick application (I do this during skin care). Line lips with red lipliner and fill in. Next, brush a matte bright red lipstick (I used a cool colored red such as MAC Ruby Woo). Blot and reapply.

So here's my Lady GaGa look :)


It's not really scary or anything, and obviously it isn't a total copy of her Alejandro look but it's pretty much the same concept adapted for everyday wear. I prefer the lip being sculpted and shapely so I was really OC with the lipliner.

And in the spirit of Alejandro, let me share with you something... a recent cover I did of the song: