I feel less inept now re: the liquid liner, thanks!
I call that color my “hussy red” lipstick. Definitely a “going out at night” color! I sort of was going for a geisha look, since I’m really pale. But I agree, it is aging and not the best color for me! I’ve been looking for an almost nude or pinkish color for more everyday wear, the L’Oreal Infallible in Mulberry I got is nice, but sort of a little too brownish. So thanks for the recommendations!
I’ve used eyeshadow as liner, too. I have some fine lines under my eyes though and it makes me nervous, I’m afraid the shadow will creep into them and make me look raccoon eyed! I have a creme shadow that I use sometimes in black, and a basic brown too. I didn’t think to moisten the brush, good tip!
I don’t wear makeup often so it’s always nervewracking when I do–am I going to do it right on the first try, or will I have to wash my face and redo it all?! Heehee. Also, I’ve looked back and pics from when I was in middle school and was first allowed to wear makeup and I die laughing. I wore so much eyeshadow!
Rasa, another suggestion is to get a nice pencil (like I said, Rimmel has cheap, good pencils-- Covergirl has a CG Smoothers liner that is pretty easy to apply, too)- then dot tiny dots along the lashes, eventually connecting them with more little dots. The result will be a little bumpy, so take a dark shadow and a teeny brush, and brush the dark shadow directly over the liner. Not only will this make everything more even but it will also make the liner stay from here to eternity ;).
Shimmer and glitter liners make my eyes burn like they are on fire sometimes, so I generally avoid them. If I want glitter liner, I do regular liner, then slap glitter over it. Voila! Glitter liner.
How do you set the area under your eyes, like where your concealer is?
Also, what do you store your powder in, or do you just dip it into the jar it comes in (I’m ordering the Coast Scents as we speak). And how often do you clean your brushes?
Do you know of any cleansers that remove makeup well, or do you just stick with the towelettes? I use the towelettes (and then wash my face), but the towelettes I like are a bit more pricey than just using a cleanser.
What kind of Rimmel? I’m a contact lens wearer myself.
Also, does anyone have a recommendation for a mascara that won’t weight down your eyelashes? I know I won’t get much sympathy, but I have looooong eyelashes - I often am told I do a “great job” with my mascara, when it’s simply just my plain eyelashes curled. That said, I would like to wear mascara on occasion, but anytime I do, it looks for for perhaps 1-2 hours, but then it literally weighs my eyelashes down until they’re stick-straight (as they usually are sans curling).
Diosa, you’re really so helpful. I’m so appreciative!
Diosa, thanks for all this. I’ve just started wearing makeup myself (I’ve hit That Age), and it never would have occurred to me that there would be YouTube videos on all this. I’ve spent hours watching, and it’s been very helpful.
Now, my question - I wear glasses. They make my eyes visibly smaller. (There is literally about a half inch jump inwards on the sides of my face from around my glasses to inside them. Does that make sense?) Is there anything I can do? (I can’t wear contacts.)
In my experience, black eyeliner is definitely easier to get at the drugstore (I love my Rimmel black pencil, too!). However, if you’re looking for color pencils (greens, purples, etc.) it can be harder to find a good drugstore one. I’ve found that if I go to department store brands, they’ll be much softer. Drugstore color eye pencils seem to be a bit too hard and waxy.
And as to plummy-red or raisin shades: I can guarantee they’ll make some sort of comeback in the next decade or so, since fashion and colors always cycle around. What looks old now will be fresh and young again (like how Emma, Abigail and Isabelle are now little girl names instead of old grandma names). I do think they can be flattering on some people and not aging, but not many (like you said, Diosa, they make you look sallower. Others may end up looking… tired).
I’d say the most important rule is to know the rules so you know how to break them! Like she said, have fun and feel good wearing what you wear.
I can’t answer the rest, but I ordered a jar of this myself, the 1oz size.
I wouldn’t use it directly out of the jar, it’s big and it would get everywhere - it’s a really floaty powder. When I placed my order, I also got one of these jars. It works well since you can cover the sifter when you’re not using it, since this stuff has a tendency to just fly everywhere. About half the 1oz jar of silica powder I got fits in here - you don’t want to fill it up all the way, or it poofs out all over the place.
When I powder under my eyes, I just take my big fluffy brush I use on the rest of my face, but move my hand from the handle, up to the very bottom of the bristles. Then, I hold the bristles in, gently squeezing. This stops everything from flying in my eye, but allows for proper application.
Personally, I just keep stuff in the jar it comes in, but be prepared to knock it over a few times. badbadrubberpiggy is a great one- that’s the type of jar all loose Mac stuff comes in. If it were me, I’d prob get some pretty, ornate ceramic or glass jar from an antique store or Ross (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, whatever you’ve got)-- I love old looking makeup stuff. That way your powder can be out and look pretty. Then, you can store the bulk of the powder in a cabinet somewhere, but have some out for easy access. I mean something like this or this.
I’m super, duper lazy, so I always just use the wipes :). I hate having to find puffs or a towel or ruining a towel with all my makeup, so wipes are good for me. That said, Clinique has wonderful, gentle makeup removers. In fact, that’s what I used religiously before converting to wipes. I’d imagine, though, that Clinique remover is probably much more expensive than drugstore brand wipes. Maybe someone else will come along with a good suggestion for a gentle drug store remover? Then again, I do like Target’s remover wipes, so if they sell a bottle of liquid remover, I’m sure it’s good, too!
As to mascara that isn’t too heavy, I’m actually not a huge fan of the ever-popular Great Lash, BUT it is a very light formula and might work for you. People swear by this stuff. Personally, it doesn’t make my lash BLAM! enough for me, but if you do a more natural look anyway and you want a light formula, that might be good for you. This stuff here.
Isn’t YouTube great? I’ve learned so many wonderful makeup techniques thanks to the Youtube gurus!
Anywho, you’d basically do stuff to just make your eyes look bigger- light colors on the inner corners, mascara focused on the outside, etc. Oh, and make sure your brows are on point, as they frame your frames! I linked to this tutorial for makeup for glasses earlier, but here is a another good one (more natural than the first).
Diosa, I watched both videos, and I have to say that they don’t have very strong lenses. Their eyes weren’t distorted at all, larger or smaller. I will do the light colors on the inner corners and mascara focused on the outside and see how that looks.
What does brows “on point” mean?
I spent about half an hour last night experimenting with the “outer v.” Kind of an odd way to spend my time, but I think I figured it out. Can I use that kind of look, or a smoky eye look behind minimizing glasses?
Diosa, you’re a saint, you know that? I think I have a mental block against Great Lash, just because my mom uses it, but it *is *the most popular mascara out there :p. And I’ll get the jar bigbadrubberpiggy linked to, but long term will look for a nice jar.
I’m hoping the thread’s not dead just yet! Diosa, my nail polish never stays. I use OPI Nail Envy as a base, followed by 1-2 coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps in clear. If I use Seche Vite top coat, they chip way sooner, but without the top coat, the manicure still won’t last a week (I’m hard on my hands, but I do use gloves and such for cleaning/dishes). Should I be using a sticky base coat, like Orly Bonder? Or a different topcoat? Or no topcoat? Help!
If your glasses make your eyes smaller, you need to do things like I mentioned in the first reply- lighter shadows on the inner 2/3rds of your eye, followed by liner that is thicker on the outer edge than the inner, and more mascara on the outer corner than the inner. That should open your eyes right up.
“On point” just means perfect- well groomed, shaped properly, taken care of!
You can always try a smokey eye if you’re into that! I will say, though, that unless it is a lighter smokey eye, it’s going to make your eyes look smaller. So, just be aware of that. You can always do maybe a grayish smokey eye or a colorful one- that way it’s brighter than black. Just be sure to focus on the outer v for the darker color, so you’re not closing off your eye.
Hm, I usually have big trashy acrylics, but I actually don’t at the moment. I think the trick for me is to get a gel top coat-- you brush it on then cure the top coat under a UV light. This stays much longer. The quality of nail polish really makes a difference too- even without doing gel top coat, here are the times I generally get out of my polish:
[ul]
[li]Sally 2 days[/li][li]OPI- 5 days[/li][li]Chanel 10-12 days[/li][/ul]
That’s with no base coat and whatever cheap top coat I’ve got around. The Chanel polish is ungodly expensive and I only have one bottle, but it’s awesome.
Stupid question to add to the queue: I have a foundation that normally looks great and is usually the exact color I need for my skin. Yesterday, I’m in the car @ 9am or so, applying it and it looks slightly darker than the rest of my skin, but looks perfectly normal the rest of the day, especially indoors where I spend most of my day. Should I be on the hunt for another shade lighter, or hope to catch that mythical “five more minutes of sun” that’ll eliminate the need for a new tube of foundation? At least I seem to be in need of a new tube soon.
FTR, I have combination skin that changes its needs depending upon temperature and humidity: when it’s hot and humid, I’m a greasy oil slick, but when it’s dryer, I need the extra moisture without oil or heaviness. I also tend to break out on the lower part of my face and need to cover up red marks and breakouts most of the time when I use foundation, and mineral powder foundation tends to cake and dry out my skin really easily. Currently using Too Faced’s “Magic Wand Illuminating Foundation” in Paris Light Medium– anything similar on the market, or should I just look for a lighter shade in that formulation?
If it were me, I’d just grab a cheap bottle of a drugstore brand (but a good one) that was lighter, then mix the two together. I’d imagine your mix would be mostly the “good” stuff and just a titch of the “cheap,” so you shouldn’t end up with any crazy skin issues.
I haven’t personally used that Too Faced foundation (nor do I know anyone who has). I keep saying this (I know!), but have you tried the HD Foundation from Makeup Forever, along with some silica powder? Grab some samples from Sephora (along with a few other brands just to try!) and see if it’s a good middle ground for you. The HD Foundation really is moisturizing without being wet, matte without being cakey. Love it.
I have to join in late to say that I love this thread. It was one of those things that made me go outside the conventional peach-lavender-purple recommendations and try an eye makeup in aqua, petrol blue, antique gold and aubergine, and I was surprised to find that I didn’t hate the way it made my eyes look.
Yes, I’m terminally bored with smoky eyes. I also spend workdays wearing black and white, using discreet makeup that won’t run in steam and grease fumes, and preaching the gospel that less is more, so am dying to use colour on my free days and evenings out. However, I’m a bit tentative about my instincts in the fashion department, as it took me a teacher telling me not to put beets and red peppers on the same plate to realise that it wasn’t such a hot idea to combine my favourite purple corduroy jeans and my favourite tomato red shirt. So it’s possible that my aqua-gold-aubergine combination made me look like a clueless clown without me realising it. And I’d like to avoid the photoshoot, pride flag kind of look.
So, can you enlighten me on how makeup experts think when they combine colours for an eye makeup, especially when working with more than the basic one light, one medium, one dark of the same colour family? I mean, you see a lot of “to make A’s eyes pop (ouch!), we used a medium shade of X on the browbone, and a shade of Y in the crease, and lined the eye with a dark Z pencil”, but less on how and why the colours are chosen. Do they start from some kind of grand unified theory of how colours affect each other, or is it based on trial and error, or is it up to personal taste or the clothes the model is wearing, or is it the effect you want to achieve?
For you personally, I suppose my questions would be: Would you describe yourself as a person with a natural instinct for colour combinations? And how would you approach someone in their mid-thirties, with somewhat deep-set olive green eyes, light brown hair and an eccentric sense of fashion, who knows to downplay the lips and what to put on browbones, creases and outer v’s, but wants to play with more colours than a dab in the middle of the upper lid?
And another one, just in case the former one wasn’t too tricky: how to line the lower lid in order to make the eye look bigger and more open, using a bit of colour, when I rather wouldn’t touch the waterline? I’ve been hankering for a shimmery, waterproof pencil in very light apple green, where could I put it without looking like a fashion victim?
