I actually don’t personally use any primer or fillers or anything, so I can’t give a specific rec. I’m sure someone will be by shortly with some good stuff for you.
As far as stuff around your eyes- have you checked out the line of products at Lush? A little pricey, but their eye cream is very nice, works well for me, and is natural. All good things!
Also, if you can get some Retin-A from your doctor (an acne treatment, technically), it has been proven to reduce wrinkling and such when used as a preventative thing. So, I put that around my eyes every night! A big tube of it that lasts me several months only costs like $17 (I don’t have insurance, so that’s the price. When I did have insurance, it was whatever my copay was, obviously!).
Make sure you get the generic Retin-A, and in the lowest concentration, too - it can be super drying.
ETA: Snickers, have you tried Purpose or Cetaphil facial washes? Purpose is supposed to be “as gentle as water”. Washing is something you’ll have to take up if you start Retin-A.
Yeah, this is what I have and I don’t notice any ill effects, except when I go tanning (yes, I realize it’s stupid to use a wrinkle cream and go tanning. Hush!), but the explicitly say to not go in the sun much if you use it. Even then, it’s just a tiny bit if flaking.
Has anyone tried the Paula’s Choice skin lightener/AHA cream? I’ve got some (admittedly minor) spotting right around the lips which I suspect might be a side effect of medical hormone usage. The per-ounce cost is cheaper than the version from Alpha Hydrox, and reviews seem good.
I’ve always wondered, why are you supposed to put a line of darker eyeshadow in the crease of your eye? It doesn’t seem to have any purpose and I’d think it’d look odd when you can see the whole lid. And I don’t see how to do the “winged” eyeshadow without it looking strange and obvious: http://www.wildaboutmakeup.com/apply-eye-shadow.html
I was once told by a Sephora person – “you should never leave without a sample!” She must have given me three different samples of products, including a lotion, perfume and a body wash. So my advice is to go nuts and get whatever you can.
I also picked up some Bare Minerals powder and I love it. It’s so light but takes away the shine. And it keeps me from touching my face as much.
If you just want straight AHA, Hydrox seems like the most inexpensive thing I’ve found at 10% AHA. But I can’t say I’ve tried anything with hydroquinone per se. If you do try this out, let us know how it goes. I’ve been thinking about adding 10% AHA into my current regimen over my benzoyl peroxide gel at night. (ETA: I have acne that’s 90% cleared, but I’d like to get it to 100%)
Hey, you’re only getting support from me here. I’ve been on Retin-A and still tanned (for my vitiligo…sort of). It’s like getting whipped cream on your nonfat latte, or your double-double without cheese - it’s not ridiculous, and the little things add up!
I suppose it matters what your eye shape actually is. For me, I like it because it adds a little depth to my eye. Folks with very deep set eyes don’t really put shadow in the crease, whereas a lot of folks with no natural eye fold will do very very heavy ‘crease’ contouring to mimic the crease that they want.
I think that’s the generally accepted rule because most folks have average set eyes, meaning they don’t look wonky with a little depth added in the crease. If your eyes are particularly deep set, there’s no reason you need to follow that rule of thumb. Another thing some folks mess up on his doing the crease contour allllll the way across- I don’t do this because it makes me look like Uncle Fester :)-- I just contour my outer V (so the outer third or so of my crease, then I make another line from that down to my lash line, so it looks like a V). This makes my eyes look much bigger and open. If you naturally have big eyes, you might want to do the whole crease. It just depends on your face!
As far as natural winged liner, the trick I do is that I extend the liner just a tiny tiny tiny bit beyond my eye (a TINY bit), then I just smudge it up with my finger- one big swoop up. Then, the liner is still winged, but it’s in a more faded, blended, natural way.
Legit question because I honestly don’t know much about it: I thought sun exposer worsens vitiligo- that’s why Michael Jackson always wore long sleeves and carried umbrellas. Or is it just that the turned skin is that much more likely to get skin cancer or burn?
Initally, he wore gloves and such to hide it, but that wasn’t to protect his skin or anything. MJ did the most drastic thing you can do when you have vitiligo, which is skin bleaching, where they basically render you albino, and you definitely have to be concerned about burning/cancer in that case. The objective is for you to look uniform, but it just makes most people look wildly different and even more noticeable (IMO).
When I went to like the “world’s specialist” in dermatology some 15 years ago, he discouraged skin bleaching, and instead suggested UVB light treatment. For years I did narrow band UVB light therapy, taking pills and fake baking at the dermo’s office a few days a week. My face went from 90% vitiligo to 5% (what I really cared about) and my legs from 40% to 10% (what I kind of card about). Now, as maintenance, I fake-bake (in a tanning salon, with a light sunscreen, with the blessing of my dermo) roughly 2-3 times a month. If I’m at the beach or outside a lot in shorts (which is rare), I’ll specifically put a mega spf 70+ suncreen on my vitiligo spots (and spf 30 everywhere else), only because it’s not regimented - if I’m fake baking, it’s an exact dosage I’m doing and no more, whereas if I’m outside, there’s a lot of sun for an extended period of time.
There’s a new treatment, I forget what it’s called, somewhat safer than UVB therapy. It’s 100% out of pocket even under my parents’ “Cadillac” plan, and there’s not much chance my feet/hands would see a difference. (Vitiligo is largely seen as a quality-of-life issue, so not “medically necessary”. I see both POV). Plus, with repigmentation, there’s always a chance you’ll repigment a darker than your original shade, which has happened somewhat to me on my hands
You should- if you want to, of course- start an “Ask the Person Who Has Vitiligo” thread. I’m sure lots of folks have questions, since I read a lot of misconceptions and confusion, particularly because of famous cases like MJ.
How do I go about using eye-shadow on my deep-set eyes? Very little of my eyelid is visible when I’m looking at you (or in the mirror) straight on. Also, my browbone is maybe half an inch above my lashes, so there’s not a ton of room there for color anyway. (Plus, I don’t wear much eyeshadow, and favor a natural look). Can you link to anyone who’ll coach me through getting the most out of my deep-set eyes?
Search around YouTube and you’ll find oodles of videos about how to work with deep set eyes. You can figure out which artists have looks you like and go from there!
My tip for you would be to do the inner two thirds of your eye lid and even crease a lighter, highlight color, then do your outer v in a darker color (but don’t carry the color all the way across your crease). She does a good enough job explaining how to find your outer v here.
And the darker color doesn’t necessarily have to be dark (black, brown, etc), just a little darker than your highlight color. Another trick is to put a little subtle glitter right in the middle of your eyelid, but don’t let that go into the crease itself.
Also, try glitter liner! Just adding a little pop on your lash line should help open things up (sort of like putting a mirror on your wall to make the whole room look a little bigger). You don’t have to do OMGSILVER glitter or anything, but there are subtle glitter liners on the market.
Hmm, I may. The hackles really came out with the last “ask the” thread I did (some of it merited, most of it not) but that could have been because it had to do with money. I’ll think on it.
You should do an “ask the makeup expert” thread! Seriously, you’ve told us about how you’ve got a MAC pro card thingy, which puts you on par with most of 'em. Most 'dopers don’t know their left from their right on makeup - you could explain how foundation isn’t just a “mask”, stuff about what’s comedogenic, wrinkles, why even those with oily skin need a moisturizer, etc. I know that youtube is the place for showing how to apply stuff, but you’ve given a *lot *of people confidence to go into stores and ask for samples, tips on where to start, and the confidence not to be intimidated by so-called experts (who have even tried to intimidate you in the past).
I have deep set eyes that are also small and it took me years of wearing bad eyemakeup to figure out what actually works for them.
I’m going to assume you’ll have 3 colors of eyeshadow (L M and D, light medium dark). Here’s what I do:
Under the brow bone, apply L and blend downwards
In the crease area, lightly apply M and blend onto the lid a bit
D will go in the outer V. Always start very lightly and then add. If you have too much it looks really bad (better to build up instead of plopping a bunch on and having to remove it and start over).
Now, this next tip may be more because my eyes are small and deep set, but anyway: if I want to have more definition, I’ll actually use the dark shade just a titch above the outer V. This’ll take a bit of practice. But basically, my outer V is completely hidden when my eyes are open. I’ll often lightly use D on the outer V* and then open my eyes; I then carefully use D juuuuuuuuust a bit above. I’m talking maybe a couple millimeters, here. The key is that you want to see a hint of the color and shading when your eye is open but not so much that it looks either like skeleton eyesockets or like a clown.
I also like doing a slightly more winged shape on this instead of round (like the link posted above shows)
THE KEY NOW, after you have that done, is to use L on the eyelid itself. This opens your eye and makes it look less deep-set than it is. If you can get a shimmery white shade, it looks amazing if you use just a bit of that on the very center of the eyelid. It’s kind of like using a lighter shade of lipstick on the center of your lips.
Using “V” over and over makes me think I’m applying makeup to my cooter!
This one in Baked or Midnight cowboy would be a nice, subtle shimmer. Or this one in Opal would work well on just about any look. Be careful though, my friend tried the Sephora brand glitter liner and it burned the eff out of her eyes (I tried it and was fine, though).
As far as the eyeshadow shading I was talking about, you can basically do anything you want (I always do that same thing as my “going out” smokey look with black on the outer v then silver, yellow, or blue on the inner part. For every day, though, I’d maybe suggest from these Sephora shadows:
Universal Beige (8) on the inner 2/3, then Suede (15) on the V
Exciting Safari (49) on the inner 2/3, then Hawaiian Beach (52) on the V
Cafe Latte (58) on the inner 2/3, then Nutty Brownie (16) on the V
Again, I’m just going off of generic white girl skintone there. For instance, those colors basically wouldn’t even show up on me :). If you let me know your coloring, Snickers, I could maybe make some suggestions!
Aww, that’s sweet! I’m hardly a makeup expert, though- it’s just a hobby. I’ve never taken classes or anything fancy like that. Most makeup I do is on me, though every so often I help out photographer friends (makeup for photoshoots) or high school kids with their prom makeup I figure I may as well use all this crap I buy for good once in a while.
I’m glad to help people embrace makeup that were before maybe a bit scared of it- makeup can be such a fun thing. I really just love playing with it! Sometimes people ask me why I have so much makeup (drawers and drawers) and I say because it is a fun hobby. Certainly you don’t need as much as I have to have fun with it, but it’s just an easy, fun thing to play with!
Coloring? Corpse white. I appreciate the blonde hair from my German and Swedish ancestors, but oy - tanning is impossible. I just don’t even try anymore.
So, generic NorthernerPale. I’m the “Fairly Light” in the BareEscentuals line, Porcelain or Ivory everywhere else. Someone once told me I could be a “bridge” and go either warm or cool, but I’m preferring the cooler pinky and grayish tones lately.
You do makeup on other people! Most people can only recommend what works for them, but you have a wide range of knowledge. And your “makeup is fun, not scary” attitude is really important, something a lot of dopers could learn an awful lot from.
Really, I think you should start a thread. You’re being too modest. Of course, starting an “Ask The” thread is often a big undertaking, so don’t do it unless you have time (you said you’re a teacher - maybe when school’s out?)
So primer. I’ve been using Smashbox for about a week now, and I have noticed that my make up stays on better, and does not settle into the lines. Today was the ultimate primer test; it’s hot, which is the key to making my skin oily, and my make up a fine, cracking mess. I got home just now, immediately examined my face, and it’s fine. Yes, there is some shine, but I don’t suspect that will go away until I am very old, but it wasn’t the oily shine with the make up creasing everywhere, which I’ve come to know and hate. On this lovely warm day, after walking around and being outside for hours, my skin looks… dare I say… pretty?
So why am I here if I’ve used it and it works? I’m trying to find how to maximize the awesomeness. How much to put on? A little bit goes a long way? It’s so fine and sheer, that when I apply and spread it, I can’t tell how far it went. I don’t know if I’m using too much, or not enough. I put more on problem areas (laugh lines, under eyes) just to be safe, but it hard to tell how much I have on, or if it’s evenly applied. Suggestions or comments? Also, the internets told me I should let it dry on my face before applying foundation, so that’s what I’ve been doing. Good idea?
I figure I may as well use all this crap I buy for good once in a while.