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colourpots
Continuing in my quest to be completely nosy about other people's styles, I thought I might talk about makeup! In the hope that other people might do the same thing! Because I am not quite clueless, but still very much a novice, and I love hearing about tricks that other people have.
History time: as a child my makeup experiences were almost exclusively stage makeup for dance concerts and skating competitions, ie. the dark heavy stuff that is required to make you look reasonably normal underneath stage lights. My mother uses nothing but lipstick, and that maybe three times a year. So I never really touched the stuff until I turned 15, when my grandparents gave me a small sampler kit and I went a bit crazy one summer with experimenting. Since then I have picked up a few things from friends and tutorials and people who attack me before choir concerts, but most of what I know comes from just playing around on my own.
These days, I tend to use makeup when a) I'm having a bad morning and I feel as though I'll need a little bit of sparkle to get through the day, or b) I'm going out and I have some time on my hands. On a daily basis I will use a moisturising lip balm, mascara and loose powder. Maybe eyeshadow. Maybe concealer.
Anyway, I thought I'd show you the basics of my makeup collection. This is by no means everything I own, but I could probably lose everything not shown here in a freak accident and still exist quite happily.
FACE
A - This is my daily moisturiser, Olay complete SPF 15+ (going without sunscreen in Australia would be a very, very silly idea) for oily skin. I'm including it because it goes underneath everything else.
B - I dislike liquid foundation, it tends to make me break out and it just looks too made up. But I do have oily skin, so I like to use just enough powder to create a more matte effect. I use CoverGirl Pressed Mineral Foundation in Ivory, largely because it's not too expensive. I am sure there are better ones out there. But my skin is quite easy to pick shades for: you just go straight to the VERY VERY PALE end of the range and grab anything that says '01' on it.
C - Large brush for powder. I picked this one up at the chemist.
D - If I'm going to a very formal event, or cosplaying, then I will use liquid makeup. This is CoverGirl Clean Makeup (also in Ivory) which I like because it's quite light and goes on well with fingertips, and obviously it matches the powder exactly.
E - This is Australis concealer in (surprise!) Light. I use my concealer as an eyeshadow primer as well, so the lipstick format of this is perfect.
EYES
F - I have caved and started buying Max Factor eye essentials, after many unsatisfactory experiences with cheaper brands. This is Masterpiece waterproof mascara in black.
G - Max Factor Masterpiece Glide & Define liquid eyeliner in black. I have only recently gained the courage to use liquid liner, and I'm still more comfortable with pencil, but it's FANTASTIC for stage makeup; I used it on my sister at her latest skating comp.
H - I really need more eyeshadow brushes. I have...one. It is old. I do not have a blending brush.
I - I picked up this palette of browns for $2 or something at a discount store. It's perfect for everyday use because I just use a tiny bit of a pale brown, swiped across my upper lid, and it's enough for a bit of definition.
J - This is my favourite makeup purchase of all time <33 Body Shop Shimmer Cubes in (apparently) honeycomb, dark chocolate, marshmallow and choc chip. Er. How...delicious. Anyway, I have had these little pots of gold and brown eyeshadow for something like seven years and they are still fantastic for...everything. They are the only shades I use for evening wear. LOVE.
K - Again, mostly for stage makeup or if I'm feeling extremely daring: Maybelline Expert Eyes pencil in brownish-black. I don't like eyeliner much (too strong!) and when I do use it, it is ONLY on the upper lid. I smudge eyeshadow underneath my lower one if I want anything at all. This pencil is also very good for darkening eyebrows, if you need that, but I really really don't.
L - Body Shop Eye Definer in Blue Smoke. I have a fondness for this one, it's a dark grey liner that goes really well under pale eyeshadows and looks good with blue eyes like mine.
LIPS
M - Rimmel lipliner in Red Dynamite. Left over from dance concerts, still very good if I'm using lipstick in any shade of red at all. I am a firm believer in lipliner: it creates a boundary to colour between, and I tend to use lightly it over my whole lip so that it's less obvious when the lipstick rubs off.
N - There are only about three shades of lipstick that I use, when I use it at all. My absolute favourite is Australis in Pressed Velvet (Australis is my go-to brand for colours!) but this was the first one I grabbed out of my kit for the photo; it's a cheapo dark red which is good if I want very very strong lips. It's poor-quality and getting a bit dry so I will only apply it with a lipstick brush. I have a couple of those brushes which came with sampler sets, and they are amaaaaazing if, like me, you are terrible at keeping a good shape when using lipstick on its own.
OTHER
O - I love this little kit from Australis, all bright jewel shades that are fun to blend. I've been doing weird peacock-eyes by blending the dark green over pale blue.
P - I suppose I should talk about blush. Blah. I have Australis blush in Sand Dune, but I ONLY use it for costume or stage makeup, because I am pretty colourless as it is and even over liquid foundation, blush makes me look flushed. Sometimes I will use a tiny tiny bit along my cheekbones. Sometimes.
Q - I have had this little pot of Miki purple glitter dust for...I don't know. Over a decade. But it's dust, and the pot is watertight, so nothing's really happened to it. It's perfect for swiping over eyes as a finishing touch that catches the light like nobody's business, or just putting anywhere you want SPARKLE.
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Today I'm wearing black eyeliner over white and silver blended eyeshadow, my normal mascara and powder, and two of the lip colours in the Australis set: a dusky pink blended over a sharp fuchsia.
~
Talk to meeeee, makeup users of my flist. What essential do you think I'm missing? What are your favourite brands? One day I will be able to afford colours from MAC and Elizabeth Arden. ONE DAY.
History time: as a child my makeup experiences were almost exclusively stage makeup for dance concerts and skating competitions, ie. the dark heavy stuff that is required to make you look reasonably normal underneath stage lights. My mother uses nothing but lipstick, and that maybe three times a year. So I never really touched the stuff until I turned 15, when my grandparents gave me a small sampler kit and I went a bit crazy one summer with experimenting. Since then I have picked up a few things from friends and tutorials and people who attack me before choir concerts, but most of what I know comes from just playing around on my own.
These days, I tend to use makeup when a) I'm having a bad morning and I feel as though I'll need a little bit of sparkle to get through the day, or b) I'm going out and I have some time on my hands. On a daily basis I will use a moisturising lip balm, mascara and loose powder. Maybe eyeshadow. Maybe concealer.
Anyway, I thought I'd show you the basics of my makeup collection. This is by no means everything I own, but I could probably lose everything not shown here in a freak accident and still exist quite happily.
FACE
A - This is my daily moisturiser, Olay complete SPF 15+ (going without sunscreen in Australia would be a very, very silly idea) for oily skin. I'm including it because it goes underneath everything else.
B - I dislike liquid foundation, it tends to make me break out and it just looks too made up. But I do have oily skin, so I like to use just enough powder to create a more matte effect. I use CoverGirl Pressed Mineral Foundation in Ivory, largely because it's not too expensive. I am sure there are better ones out there. But my skin is quite easy to pick shades for: you just go straight to the VERY VERY PALE end of the range and grab anything that says '01' on it.
C - Large brush for powder. I picked this one up at the chemist.
D - If I'm going to a very formal event, or cosplaying, then I will use liquid makeup. This is CoverGirl Clean Makeup (also in Ivory) which I like because it's quite light and goes on well with fingertips, and obviously it matches the powder exactly.
E - This is Australis concealer in (surprise!) Light. I use my concealer as an eyeshadow primer as well, so the lipstick format of this is perfect.
EYES
F - I have caved and started buying Max Factor eye essentials, after many unsatisfactory experiences with cheaper brands. This is Masterpiece waterproof mascara in black.
G - Max Factor Masterpiece Glide & Define liquid eyeliner in black. I have only recently gained the courage to use liquid liner, and I'm still more comfortable with pencil, but it's FANTASTIC for stage makeup; I used it on my sister at her latest skating comp.
H - I really need more eyeshadow brushes. I have...one. It is old. I do not have a blending brush.
I - I picked up this palette of browns for $2 or something at a discount store. It's perfect for everyday use because I just use a tiny bit of a pale brown, swiped across my upper lid, and it's enough for a bit of definition.
J - This is my favourite makeup purchase of all time <33 Body Shop Shimmer Cubes in (apparently) honeycomb, dark chocolate, marshmallow and choc chip. Er. How...delicious. Anyway, I have had these little pots of gold and brown eyeshadow for something like seven years and they are still fantastic for...everything. They are the only shades I use for evening wear. LOVE.
K - Again, mostly for stage makeup or if I'm feeling extremely daring: Maybelline Expert Eyes pencil in brownish-black. I don't like eyeliner much (too strong!) and when I do use it, it is ONLY on the upper lid. I smudge eyeshadow underneath my lower one if I want anything at all. This pencil is also very good for darkening eyebrows, if you need that, but I really really don't.
L - Body Shop Eye Definer in Blue Smoke. I have a fondness for this one, it's a dark grey liner that goes really well under pale eyeshadows and looks good with blue eyes like mine.
LIPS
M - Rimmel lipliner in Red Dynamite. Left over from dance concerts, still very good if I'm using lipstick in any shade of red at all. I am a firm believer in lipliner: it creates a boundary to colour between, and I tend to use lightly it over my whole lip so that it's less obvious when the lipstick rubs off.
N - There are only about three shades of lipstick that I use, when I use it at all. My absolute favourite is Australis in Pressed Velvet (Australis is my go-to brand for colours!) but this was the first one I grabbed out of my kit for the photo; it's a cheapo dark red which is good if I want very very strong lips. It's poor-quality and getting a bit dry so I will only apply it with a lipstick brush. I have a couple of those brushes which came with sampler sets, and they are amaaaaazing if, like me, you are terrible at keeping a good shape when using lipstick on its own.
OTHER
O - I love this little kit from Australis, all bright jewel shades that are fun to blend. I've been doing weird peacock-eyes by blending the dark green over pale blue.
P - I suppose I should talk about blush. Blah. I have Australis blush in Sand Dune, but I ONLY use it for costume or stage makeup, because I am pretty colourless as it is and even over liquid foundation, blush makes me look flushed. Sometimes I will use a tiny tiny bit along my cheekbones. Sometimes.
Q - I have had this little pot of Miki purple glitter dust for...I don't know. Over a decade. But it's dust, and the pot is watertight, so nothing's really happened to it. It's perfect for swiping over eyes as a finishing touch that catches the light like nobody's business, or just putting anywhere you want SPARKLE.
~
Today I'm wearing black eyeliner over white and silver blended eyeshadow, my normal mascara and powder, and two of the lip colours in the Australis set: a dusky pink blended over a sharp fuchsia.
~
Talk to meeeee, makeup users of my flist. What essential do you think I'm missing? What are your favourite brands? One day I will be able to afford colours from MAC and Elizabeth Arden. ONE DAY.
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I FIND MAKEUP TERRIFYING. I EVEN FIND THIS POST TERRIFYING. :|
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also i have tried for years and basically have never been able to wear eye makeup without my eyes watering it all off within the first hour, I AM PROBABLY DOING IT WRONG, but basically this sucks. maybe i am just using the wrong kind, BUT AGAIN. TERRIFYING.
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Polar opposite of the comment above me, btw
Re: Polar opposite of the comment above me, btw
Max Factor is the greatest. Their
10002000 (lol) Calorie mascara? AMAZING. I don't buy into the waterproof myth. Nothing is truly "waterpoof," and nine times out of ten, just looks heavy. 2000 CALORIE IS LIGHT AND YOUR LASHES LOOK DIVINE.Re: Polar opposite of the comment above me, btw
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I also have super pale skin and hate liquid foundation! I use Physician's Formula in "Translucent Light." Before I found that shade, I used "Translucent" which was a near match but still not quite there. And I like Clinique lip gloss (Fire Berry, Bamboo Pink, Tenderheart) although I have one Seriously Red lipstick from . . . Studio Gear? It is intense. If I ever want to feel like Ava Gardner, that is what I wear.
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This is just what I have on me while I'm at work. Oh, the more that I have! (By the way, that is an EXCELLENT moisturizer you are using! It is one of the three I use. Yes, 3!)
That is from left to right: Revlon brown eye kit, counter lip balm, Lush Let Them Eat Cake lip balm, a highlight/blush combo that was a sample from Urban Decay, a custom Ben Nye foundation mixture and sponge, a l'oreal long lasting lip color kit that I surprisingly like, and two drug store lip glosses that I have no idea who they are but they fill their job right because I DO NOT care my expensive lip colors around with me.
I have combination skin. Meaning it is both very oily and very dry. Highlight the very. I use three moisturizers under my make up, and if I don't wear make up, I have to still use them anyway. I use the olay you use, the magic in a bottle itself: Cetaphil, and MAC Fix+ spray, and very specifically in that order. It's done WONDERS for my skin since I started, and I love it. Over everything goes Model in a Bottle, which is a sealer for your make up. I swear by the stuff. It helps my makeup survive me walking about Boston's snow and high winds.
I use a pretty thick foundation when I do wear foundation (a mixture of a variety of Ben Nye colors to go with my very yellow yet also rosy complexion). Otherwise, I only wear powder and some sort of eye and lip color. I...I have too huge a collection to even think I could cover what I have without looking at it. I also have six zillion brushes, eye kits, lip kits, sample kits, and all those things. I swear a lot by Urban Decay, MAC, and a few theatrical brands, but I also HAVE to use silicon fillers and fixers to get things to stay on my face because can be too oily or too dry.
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(my entire regimen)
Also, the word you're looking for is fuchsia.
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I approve of anything involving coconut.
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Re: my eyes, I second the recommendation above of Stila's eye shadow, which comes in compacts of four and you can find for cheaper on Ebay. I typically use a pale shimmer on my lid and then a darker shade in the crease toward the outer corner. If I'm feeling super fancy, I'll add a little more light shadow above my eyelashes. I use liquid liner in black or dark brown; I've actually sort of found that cheap liquid liner tends to work better than the expensive stuff, but I'm not always 100% amazing with it, and I've been using it for years. (I, um, don't know how to use a pencil. I've just never bothered.) It can be tricky! I usually just apply it on my upper lid. If I'm feeling adventurous, I'll blend it a little with dark shadow, but usually I don't have time. I have four eyeshadow brushes, but I'll usually only use one unless I'm really putting effort in for a special occasion. And I use Maybelline great lash (http://www.maybelline.com/product/eye/mascara/great-lash-washable-mascara.htm), which is an American brand that a lot of makeup artists use because it's about equal to the very expensive brands and isn't too expensive. It's not waterproof, but I never have issues with it running, and I hate waterproof mascara. I also use one of the softer black shades, because with my coloring, the darkest blacks look too dramatic.
And then re: lip stuff, I use Maybelline superstay (http://www.maybelline.com/Product/Lip/LipColor/superstay-lipcolor.htm) if I want to actually have color on all day, and otherwise I typically tend to use burts bees pomegranate chapstick or tinted chapstick.
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Hmm. At any given time, I tend to have exactly one face I can do, exactly one way of applying makeup and no more. They're always very... boring. This makes me saaaaddd. I really want to be able to do dramatic things with eye makeup, but apparently you need a) an ability to wear eyeliner properly (I can only wear it above the lash) and b) an ability to muck around with colours and effects without looking like a panda, and I am not that person.
But let me talk about makeup anyway! Because I started paying attention to it again this year.
Foundation - I paid a silly amount of money for a clinque liquid foundation. It makes my skin go heywire for a week afterwards, but it's GORGEOUS and it suits my skin tone (previously all I'd tried was my mother's, and she's four shades darker than I), and I'm inordinately smug about being able to apply it without streaking or blending issues.
I also *have* some powder foundation and a concealer, but I have no idea how to use them.
Lipsticks - have you tried Avon lipsticks? I got one, a freebie, in a promotion of some kind. Simply Pretty ColourBliss Jewel Red. It was lovely, but I over-extended it and it snapped, and, sadly, it's been discontinued. I bought a pinkish one in the last catalogue, remains to be seen how that looks. I have real trouble finding the right colour for me - pale ones don't work/seem pointless, but most dark shades make me look like a theatrical vampire. I have a really bright pink which *shouldn't* look any good but, for some reason, really does once I've done the rest of my face up.
Eyeliner - I can't wear pencil, and I can't wear any eyeliner the way you're supposed to, but I've recently discovered that, armed with liquid eyeliner pens, I *can* do eyeliner the way we used to for school plays - over the lash. Because it's a pen, I can (usually. If I'm having a good day) get a really thin line, so it doesn't look like THEATRICAL MAKEUP OF DOOM.
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THIS IS ALL VERY INTERESTING!
I own some makeup that I bought in Berlin when I shaved my head (ask me for my visa photograph sometime-- it came out of a passport photo machine, yet is one of the most stunning pictures of me to exist, in the way where 'stunning' must be followed by 'alien') because I thought it looked too weird not to have any on. And I did that for a few days before deciding it was too dramatic and giving up. But I think that's all here in CA.
Recently I got some stuff in DC too, but after about two days of mascara I got too freaked out and had to stop. I felt like Raggedy Ann.
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If I am being amazingly lazy, I either wear a clear make-up primer called the present from a company called philosophy or a little bit of shea butter facial moisturizer from a company called L'Occitane, and then put on a bit of waterproof mascara (I cry it off otherwise since my eyes tend to be dry).
If I want to put a bit more effort into things, I wear a powder-based foundation from a company called Bare Minerals that goes on over the primer. I have a base color that's a few shades down from the pale end of the color spectrum that covers any facial mishaps, which gets topped off with an opalescent powder that sets things and gives your face a bit of a glow.
For eyes, I do a Clinique paste eyeshadow in a pearly beige to start, and top it off with eyeshadows in shades of brown or my favorite shade, which is called "martini" and is a bronzey olive green that is much prettier than it sounds. Eye liner makes me look like a raccoon, so I generally don't bother with it, or with things like blush and eyebrow pencils.
Lipstick generally doesn't look all that nice on me, so I stick with glosses--my favorite right now is also from Bare Minerals and is a golden red called "sangria"-- and chapstick.
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Nowadays, I always, always start with concealer, because I have dark circles under my eyes that I haaate, so I will actually still put concealer on if I'm running out for a quick errand and not bothering with any other makeup. I've discovered foundation, too, and I have kind of oily skin so I use a powder. I also tend to use Cover Girl in a Very, Very Light shade for both of those. No blush, usually, because I have yet to find a shade and way of applying it that I think looks really good on me.
I still like dramatic eyeshadow for special occasions or going out, but I've been doing a lot more with neutrals or pastels for work/daytime. I have a couple of palettes from L'Oreal, some HIP, and just recently some Urban Decay, which is my current makeup crush but too expensive to buy much of, so I mix and match with those. For the most part I just use the little brushes that come with the eyeshadow, but I've started buying more brushes. Sometimes I'll use mascara for day, but eyeliner is uaually only for night/going out, for a couple of reasons including a) not wanting to spend that much time getting ready for work and b) I'm still not that good at it, so I tend to favor a smudgy, smokey-eye look because I can cover up mistakes better.
Lips are usually just gloss during the day (I tend to think of lipstick as too heavy for day wear, and I also don't see much point in putting it on in the morning when it's just going to end up all over a coffee cup), and lipstick for going out. Most of what I have is L'Oreal, in mostly either pinks or dark reds, and if I feel REALLY fancy I have some of that stuff where you put the clear coating on so it doesn't wear off, in bright, bright red.
I'm also trying to rebuild/revamp my collection a little, since a lot of what I have is either kind of old, or was given to me for birthdays/Christmas and not necessarily what I'd pick for myself, so whenever I have enough money to be indulgent I'll try to pick up at least one new thing, whether it's a brush or a new shade of eyeshadow or lipstick. And sometimes I just wander into Sephora and look longingly at stuff I can't afford yet.
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I'm a little horrified at how much of the weight of my suitcase is take up by cosmetics.
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I tend to wear lipstick, eyeshadow (I'm pretty bad at applying eyeshadow) and mascara, with occasional liner and blush ... though without foundation, blush just makes me look blotchy. Though mmmost days I'll do light eyes and tinted lipgloss.
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I don't tend to wear lipstick, since it kind of makes me look like a sad clown hooker. Instead, if I feel I need a little more pop, I use a pink liquid tint from Benefit which you just dot on your lips and rub in, and then maybe some Burt's Bees lip balm over it. You can use the tint as a blush as well, but atm I just prefer the look of the powder.
My eyes are quite big, which means I can get away with playing around with eyeliner - but like Jez, I tend to cheat and do the smoky, smudgy thing rather than develop boring things like neatness and precision. For that, I use a bog standard black kohl pencil - the retractable sort, so I never have to sharpen it. It's at home on my shelf right now, so I can't swear to it, but I'm pretty sure it's Estee Lauder. A mom brand, I know, but haters to the left; that shit lasts FOREVER. Lashes are a Maybelline dark brown - not spectacular, but it does the job. It's almost used up, though, so I shall be weighing my mascara options in the near future.
(Eye colour, not so much; aside from being really unused to wearing it and thus feeling like a twit when I do, good eyeshadows and pigments are goddamn expensive. And since I tend to do my splurging in the concealer/etc department, I can't really justify shelling out for stuff from MAC or Urban Decay. Even though I really want to, look at all the colours, so pretty, ahhh. ;__;)
I have also recently discovered the joys of EYEBROWS - or rather, filling them in slightly and perfecting the shape with powder. Makes such a huge difference, my god. I'm still a novice in that whole area; at the moment, I'm using a little Brow Zings set from Benefit (tinted wax, powder, two wee angled brushes, and itty-bitty travel tweezers), but have no idea how favourably it compares to whatever else is out there.
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It really depends how I feel - mostly for work I just dab on a bit of concealer, and lip salve if they feel dry. I do use moisturiser, though, since my skin is combination and feels tight and occasionally sore if I don't. I'm also on antibiotics at the moment to kick my acne in the FACE, so who knows if that'll make a difference. Anyhow, I use Lush's Vanishing Cream.
Like you, I have some more heavy-duty stuff that used to be just for shows and choir concerts, but I've now expanded that for going out to parties or for when I want to feel a bit dolled-up. Gosh skin primer is my most recent discovery, since it makes any foundation I use feel so much smoother, and also seems to make it come off more easily. My skin doesn't get clogged/irritated nearly so much anymore. Over that, mineral foundation powder in the sallow/pale end of the spectrum, a bit of natural-looking blush, black mascara. If I want more, it tends to be black or dark brown eyeliner on the top lid, and various shades of eyeshadow, mostly shades of brown although I have new dark blue and bronze ones that are currently making me very happy indeed. That generally tends to be it, although I have lipstick on standby whenever my lips aren't too dry. I mostly go for red/brown shades.
I am too lazy to check all the various brands I've collected! >_>
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