Agreed with Dung Beetle on the Jane concealer: it would be a great product at a much higher price, but for the pittance it costs? Wonderful!
My only other “must have” is a Maybelline auburn brow pencil - the only reasonably-priced pencil I can find that looks right with my coloring (light auburn hair, but white-blond eyebrows. I darken the brows, and then add a little powder - no drawn-on weird eyebrows for me!)
For years, I’ve used L’Oreal foundations and powders, because I can find products that are “consumptive” enough, I’m not allergic to, and I can afford. Recently, though, I found some tinted moisturizer on sale at the drugstore, and thought I’d try it. Works great, no heavy icky feeling, blends right into my skin tone, no itchies or breakouts, and it has SPF 18. What is this miracle product?
Wet ‘n’ Wild. I shit you not, the stuff is awesome. And while I was sampling the sale products, I nabbed a couple of tinted lip balms of the same brand. They aren’t too shabby either.
Go here. Get one ounce for under $5, whereas with MUFE you’re paying $30 for .35 of an ounce. Literally the exact same thing. Trust me, I’m a big ol makeup whore, but I use the straight stuff from Coastal Scents because it’s the same thing and a fraction of the price.
And to the tinted moisturizer note: I hope everyone realizes you can make your own tinted moisturizer for the summer months rather easily. All you need to do is take some moisturizer and put a small dollop of foundation in there. Voila. Tinted moisturizer with stuff you probably already have on hand.
So does Coastal Scents ($7.95) I see the bad reviews on there, but- fwiw- I use this brush and it’s fine. I wash my brushes regularly and haven’t noticed irregularities with it.
The only two things that I have to have are Maybelline Purestay Powder Foundation, and Aquaphor Healing Ointment for my lips at night before I go to bed. Everything else is pretty interchangeable for me, but I must have those two things.
I’m partial to L’oreal’s True Match liquid foundation. I swear it’s the closest I can get without mixing shades, which I’m just not up for. Barely notice it’s there, too. Definitely not comedogenic. Before that goes on, I slap on Aveeno Positively Radiant spf 15. That stuff is the shit; zinc oxide turns a brown girl ghostly and Positively Radiant doesn’t have any.
I stopped using mascara entirely because I could never find one that wouldn’t flatten out my lashes in hours. So I just curl and re-curl as needed; mine are so thick and long they hit my glasses as is, so I’m pretty fortunate there.
Thin, super smudged layer of Covergirl basic pencil eyeliner. Nothing fancy here.
Lip tints/sticks? God, never. I have a little vitiligo around the corners of my mouth so I can’t draw attention to it. I’ve got fairly pink lips to begin with.
Concealer around the corners of my nose and eyes is super necessary, I think I use a Neutrogena one that I’m totally not married to.
Blush is something I should and do want to add in. I’ve tried over the years but never found anything really satisfactory. Maybe a squeeze/cream one would work better?
Anyone got a good blush recommendation for a brown girl? I’m probably a shade or two darker than irishgirl and Diosa.
I’ve just about given up on make up. I just don’t know how to do it anymore. I think I’m too old for eyeshadow and eye liner. Mascara is OK but my lashes have become stumpier and thinner as I’ve aged. Blush makes me look like a clown and I never know how to do the SPF/makeup thing.
I don’t wear foundation, actually. It never looks right. I have concealer that is applied where needed. And for that, the $3 Maybeline that I’ve been using since high school works wonders!
I also fake tan, but not in a crazy orange John Kerry way.
Oh, for cheap eyeshadows: NYX for highly pigmented, or Shany or Profound if you want a palette. And you get it cheap on Amazon. SO worth it and 1000000x better than almost any drugstore brand.
Texture wise, if you’re not too keen on powder, there are all kinds of options. Personally, I go for powder, so my experience isn’t too deep there, but. . . this stuff by Smashbox is really neat. I have it as well as several friends with different skin tones, all ranging from far lighter than me to a bit darker- it looks good on all of us. How it manages that, I have no clue.
I’ve done that numerous times in the past, and it’s never quite satisfactory: The moisturizer dilutes the foundation too much, and I don’t seem to get any coverage. This W&W product is a little less sheer, but still looks un-made-up.
As for the eyeshadow recommendation - which a definitely appreciate, CitizenPained - I don’t go very wild with those: With really, really fair skin, and being my age, I typically stick with very muted colors - browns, plum/purple, etc. Anything too dark or too brightly colored just looks silly on me!
My skin tone is probably similar to yours, and I like using peach/coral shades rather than pink. Or if I do use pink I make sure it’s closer to brown. I’ve only ever used powder, but I’ve heard creme blush blends better.
No lie, a friend gave me her Nars Orgasm two weeks ago - she’s waaaay to pale for it according to her. I didn’t think it would work for me and was about to toss it. Huzzah! Brush recommendation?
I don’t have anything against powders at all, I guess I just thought there would be more variety sans powder? Makes no sense, plus I’m bitchin’ oily so powder makes more sense.
This is the only make-up I regularly wear, I love it. My lashes are wispy and pale at the tips, this gives me gorgeous lashes that last all day without any smudging or flaking.
Hey, Diosa, I’m looking at that Coastal Scents website, contemplating the gel liner. Have you tried that? I’ve never used a gel liner (didn’t know they existed in fact) but I’m never completely happy with pencil liners.
If your friend is too pale for Nars Orgasm, she could do what I do and use Milani’s powder blush in Luminous, which is a color dupe for Orgasm but much less pigmented. It’s also a fraction of the price.
I found the name of the other blush I mentioned earlier - it’s Maybelline’s Dream Mousse Blush. It comes in a little jar, and has a fairly light and creamy texture.
With all due respect to your friend :D, I think she may have been applying it poorly if she thought she was too white for it. What’s interesting about Orgasm is that it really does build up well- for me, being dark, I do have to layer it on a little bit to show up. . . but I’ve also put it on my ghostly friends, just very lightly. Whatever though: FREE BLUSH.
As far as brushwise, I either use something fluffy and slightly angled like this or something just fluffy like this. Honestly, I probably use the second one more than the first, but the first is good if you want to do some contouring. The trick with blush is to always start super, super light: swirl your brush in the pot, then tap it off so there isn’t much product there. You can always build up :).
It just so happens that I love, love, love gel liner. Now, I haven’t tried their brand, but I have heard many, many good things about it. Here’s a review. Personally, I prefer gel liners because you have more control than a pencil, the application is more consistent than a pencil, and I think they look more polished than a pencil.
I use a brush like this one for my gel liners, but I also do like my liner to be a little thicker (not OMG THICK! but you know what I mean) and a little more cat eye like. Don’t let that freak you out, though: you definitely can control how much liner goes on to the angle brush and make a pretty thin line. Some people prefer brushes like this for liner, but I don’t really like it. Personally, I think my liner gets all wobbly and ridiculous with a brush like that, no matter how much I practice.
Also, **HazelNutCoffee **, it looks like Coastal Scents is doing a 20% off the whole store Memorial Day weekend sale!
