Shit, I lied. I don’t live near Sephora, I live near the Mac store, which, as it turns out, does not have a $9 primer. The Sephora store is in the Mall of Frickin’ America, which frightens me. This is dorky, I was getting all excited about buying the Smashbox primer. This is what my days are like, people. Getting excited about buying curtains and primer.
Edit: This is actually starting to bother me. I had my mind set. I imagined myself driving up town, going into what was the Sephora store in my mind, but is actually the Mac store, and buying the primer. So now I’m thinking, there are other primers in the universe, it’s not a big deal. And then I started thinking, but I had that one in my mind. So now I’m considering going to the Mall of America, which I never go to, because I have a need to go into a Sephora store and buy the Smashbox. Why am I this way?
You can always go to Sephora.com to buy stuff, and with shipping is still cheaper than M.A.C.! Do you have an Ulta, that is one of my favorite cosmetic stores. Makeup is one of my hobbies and I actually just started my own youtube channel: www.youtube.com/pinknotes210
Brynda is one of my dear friends and must say I’m so proud of how she has taken my beauty tips, and she looks fantastic!
I was thinking this exact same thing. The amount of layers she uses for JUST HER LIPS is absolutely nuts. And her speed in applying it…good god. This look would take me an entire evening to perfect, and I’d be smudging and messing it up all over the place. I suck at basic eyeliner, for heaven’s sake.
Still, though, her techniques are valuable, and I’ll probably use those on my own (far less heavy) regime.
Well, a four second video of, “This is my neutal look. I wear mascara and that’s it.” would be pretty boring, non?
I don’t like that look she does there anyway, but here’s what I wore for me neutral look (which is my every day {on days that I actually wear make up} look):
That sounds like a lot (and looks like a lot) (and perhaps is a lot), but I did my makeup in 5 minutes this morning. It took me longer to type all that than it did for me to do my makeup. All said and done, this is what all of that came out to look like. (Truthfully, I should have done a better job blending the eyebrow pencil-- but my brows are in dire need of a threading, so they aren’t the easiest to work with until I fix that!) Why did I put all that on? Well, I had an extra five minutes this morning before I needed to leave to go explore around the desert all day.
So, I suppose my point is: it’s all relative. She’s a makeup artist, so that to her is an easy, fast look. That huge list I posted is a seriously insanely fast look for me (and I don’t think anybody’s going to look at my picture I posted and think, “ZOMG! PAINTED HOAR!” :p). Can I do a fully done up “look”? Hell to the yeah! (I hope it’s obvious that’s Halloween, by the way!) But that sort of thing can take a solid 2 hours.
Yeah, I watched her “how to do your brows” video and was not entirely thrilled. She had some great tips, including using those brow razors as an option to do your brow shaping instead of plucking - either to allow you to go back to a fuller brow easily, or to avoid the pain and redness of plucking. But the level of color was a tad extreme, as is the thinness, and I’m not fond of the squared-off shape of the brow ends in the middle.
Even with a 5-minute routine, there’s a fair amount of product and work involved. Here’s her plan:
Put on foundation or tinted moisturizer with a sponge, including over/under eyes. Blend it down the neck. Put a second layer on areas that need more coverage by patting.
Apply concealer under the eyes near the inner corners, blend.
Take a thin brush and apply concealer to problem spots on the face (redness/blemishes).
Apply powder in appropriate places (nose, chin, cheeks, eyelids) with a blush brush.
Add highlighter, cream and/or powder, typically under eyebrows, on inside corner of eyes, atop cheekbones.
Add blush, powder or cream, blend.
Apply eyeliner as close to upper lash line as possible, wiggling it into the roots, smudge with Q-tip. Use amount on Q-tip to add a little color under lower lash line.
Apply mascara on upper lashes only; lower lashes are more likely to smudge and you can avoid cleanup.
Lip color: tinted lipbalm is easiest, but you can use lipstick or gloss too.
The thing is, I swear the pictured model in this look has eyeshadow on. Either that or she has the most lovely, natural lids I’ve ever seen. Mine have never been without some veining (blaming the alabaster skin here) or that naturally rosy. So if you want the lovely look in the photos, that’s another step or small series of steps if you’d prefer a color under your brows other than that of your foundation and powder. Got glasses? You might want/need more emphasis on the eyeliner to make your eyes look bigger and more noticeable. Does lipstick feather on you? Time for lipliner. And so on.
Carmindy’s routine is a great, basic routine but it’s really easy to see how all of a sudden more time and a lot more products get added in.
The next section shows options for different hair and skin colors. The one after is considerations for what age range you’re in, and then she finishes off the book with looks for special occasions.
I am a Bare Escentuals fan: I am very fair and the foundation works well for me. For eyeshadow, I love http://www.sweetlibertine.com – her prices are low and the shadows are 100% minerals, no fillers, and last all day. I get a lot of compliments when I wear these! They can be applied wet or dry, layered for different looks – very versatile.
Yup, that’s the one I go to. I think the ladies there recognize me by now, because I’m always in there asking for help! (I only just learned how to do basic makeup, so I’m always going back there for tips and tricks.)
Heart of Darkness! That is comedy. I just bought it online. Was the $5 shipping worth saving myself the trouble of driving out to Rosedale? Meh. One one hand, I am dorkily excited about the primer, and driving allows me to have it now. On the other, I hate driving, and almost never go anywhere that I can’t walk or bicycle to.
One of my favorites for brightening up my tired eyes - Tarte’s Rest Assured. Pinkish-“nude” concealer pencil, and shimmery pink highlighting/brightening wand. I usually leave the pencil end and almost exclusively use the pink shimmer for a little light under my eyes after I’ve put a bit of concealer on. However, the pencil is nice and soft - though needs resharpening after a good bit of use - and so I should probably work it into my makeup usage.
No, but a "this is how you apply a natural looking foundation, choose a blush and apply it so it doesn’t look like warpaint, and do your eyes in a natural fashion, would be nice.
I have a “natural” look that involves mineral foundation, two blushes, neutral eyeshadow (usually something named “bone” or “beige” - being a pale white chick this is neutral for me), eyeliner, but subtle, and mascara, subtle. And of course lips - subtle.
Women who don’t wear make don’t generally want to go from “seldom any at all” to “WHOA! Drag Queen!” But there is a full face in between that isn’t a swipe with a mascara wand. And when women who don’t wear a lot of makeup start playing with it, they often end up with blush that looks like warpaint.
I’m sure there are tons of different MUAs that have tutorials exactly like that. But she specifically isn’t targeting that type of audience. There’s nothing wrong with that, just like there’s nothing wrong with targeting women who want to do more than mascara but not full on drag queen makeup.
Besides, in Diosa’s post, she showed an actual neutral look, and it does have a bunch of product. It’s not anywhere close to war paint. The video with tons of makeup for a “day” look, just lighten up the eyeshadows and you’d get something similar to what D showed.
Sure and there are makeup tutorials for those type of women, though Kandee is a makeup artist who likes to wear a lot of makeup, so her “natural” is a little different than the average lady on the street. She’s targeting a specific audience and doing what she likes, nothing wrong with that.
And my original point is that it’s all a matter of perspective. Sure, if you don’t wear a lot of makeup, that stuff Carmindy does on What Not To Wear is right up your alley (I swear, that woman can put BLACK eyeshadow on someone and it still comes out looking like there’s nothing there-- not my style, but I realize some folks like that look). But if you’re me or someone like me, you find Carmindy’s makeup looks absolutely yawn inducing. To me, a nice “natural” look is this. To you, that might be bordering on painted whore territory. Neither of us wrong.
Those who are in their mid 40’s and beyond: if you haven’ already, you should most definitely give Olay’s Regenerist Microsculpting a shot. It’s the night cream that beat out $700 creams. My mother and future mother-in-law both adore it, and it’s the most expensive product they use.
Wow, I came in here to say Ponds Clear Pore strips for your nose, but upon googling for a link, it appears they’ve been discontinued. Drats! That’s two products discontinued that I love in 2 days! Biore is the only other brand I know of, and it works pretty well, here.
Those who like NARS - where do I get it? I buy pretty much anything online, but I won’t buy makeup unless I’ve purchased it before and know I like it.
