I feel pretty--NOT! THE COSMETICS THREAD

nothing is too basic

I would start with some cheapies if I were you so you can figure out which sort of shade you like without spending a lot. Milani has some really nice ones. They're swirly - I think they're called "baked blush"es or something like that and they're probably < $5 a pop.

Don't necessarily be scared by something that looks really bright in the package either. A lot of times they're sheer and buildable once on the brush.

you are so smart that seems right! i will do that! if you happen to see a brown lady walking around and think "that shade of blush looks awesome on her!" please describe it for me itt!

xp i think my tendency would be to go overbright to be honest. i am tacky. but good to know.

I'm careless with make-up; if I wear blush AT ALL, I just dab on whatever lip color I have around that's not too sticky.

milani! i am so excited!

I am not a Bobby Brown stan (I hate their powder, for example) but god damn do I love this Bobby Brown blush that I bought. I think the key is finding the right color and for that you probably need to talk to a makeup counter person.

I find that more expensive blush has more pigment in it and so a little goes a lot further. I have a similar color blush in some Mabelline line and I have to put on tons to even be able to see it. The BB blush I just kind of touch on my face and THERE IT IS.

That last bit is an XP. I'm kind of ridiculous when it comes to my willingness to spend $ on makeup, so take my advice with salt.

Christine, I never put mascara on my bottom lashes because you're right - it just goes everywhere! What's weird is that when my mascara does smudge, it only smudges on my left eye and always in the same place.

I just dab on whatever lip color I have around that's not too sticky.

― WE DO NOT HAVE "SECRET" "MEETINGS." I DO NOT HAVE A SECOND (Laurel), Tuesday, October 25, 2011 11:10 PM (45 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

okay this blows my mind but OKAY! i can do this!

x-post - I used to do that. I wore a tiny bit of bright red Jane brand lipstick as blush for years. I remember my college roommates being like are you putting lipstick ON YOUR CHEEKS!?

i have a bobbi brown foundation that i mix with moisturizer to make a tinted moisturizer and i love that, so i am willing to believe her blush is good. maybe i can work up to that once i know a thing or two about a thing or two.

thanks, guys! y'all always look pretty; i am being rightly guided i am sure.

The Milani blushes are really pigmented for a drugstore brand and cheap enough so that you could play with the colors without spending loads. I agree totally about other cheap brands not showing up but theirs are great. Luminous is almost an exact dupe for MAC orgasm.

i opened my nars orgasm yesterday to some crumbling/cracking! oh noes! but i guess it's lasted like 3.5 years so that's ok? really? that long? sheesh... i probably should have replaced it by now? but i just use a light hand w/ blush bc i am pale.

i tried a chanel blush that i really liked a while ago but i've been hesitant to buy any more blush til i really needed to.

i tried voluminous million lashes but it felt flaky too me. i think i may buy some of the anastasia stuff i got in birchbox a few months ago. somehow lost that, too... i think it's in the house somewhere? anyway, it was not as...voluminous...as i'd like, but it doesn't get too smudgy or flaky.

Christine, I never put mascara on my bottom lashes because you're right - it just goes everywhere!

I only put it on the bottom if I'm going out or doing a dramatic eye but the waterproof voluminous doesn't smudge on the bottom lashes for me.

If I run out of the BB blush before I die, I am totally checking out Milani.

I've been intrigued by this Clinique Black Honey gradient whatever whatever but that is actually more than I want to spend. I do like how Black Honey lipstick looks on me, though - http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml;jsessionid=PROXQX2CJXSX4CV0KRTRPIQ?id=P295105&shouldPaginate=true&categoryId=1254.

I really liked the Anastasia mascara but not quite enough to spend $20 + on it. Also, I don't think it was waterproof. My eyes water a lot when it's cold and windy out so waterproof is a must esp in winter.

Oooh that black honey blush is so cool looking. Ombre make-up!

oh another question i had: there is powder blush and cream blush, right? are those all the blushes? is one better? did i make cream blush up?

No, no you did not. It's a thing. There are also gel blushes and stains. Imo powder is probably easiest though others will stan for creams which can give a more dewey appearance. Personally I find it hard to get them to apply evenly. I can't do the stains either because they seem to set before I've had time to blend properly. I'd start with powder if I were you. I think.

thank you! you guys are the best.

There are also brushes to consider but maybe you should get an idea about color before we address that.

Yes, I am slightly embarrassed that I know so much about this stuff. :/

no, you should teach a class!

I would LOVE to. Sometimes I wish I'd become a make-up artist or something because it would probably be a hell of a lot more fun/creative than my boring-ass office job now. Oh well.

oof i need new brushes.

hah, e i seriously wanted to attend school to be a theatrical makeup/wig person after i finished undergrad. sometimes i wonder why i listened to my parents and didn't do it, because if i had i'd be getting union wages now and probably have a lot more $, pension and benefits!

or i'd be totally broke. but you know, not that far from where i am now!

lol, right? I know a girl here who freelances and a couple years ago she threw a make-up party thing and brought her apprentice and I wanted me be like, "Me! Train me!". She brought in her enormous train case of supplies and was like - "Go ahead, play." It was great.

I think theatrical stuff would be especially fun though.

and i was just realizing that it would have been like 1/3 the cost of grad school. sigh.

Oh God don't even get me started on that.

i love style is the 99%

i have a cream blush from mac, but i find it really hard to apply evenly - it always looks a bit clownish. i was at nordstrom rack picking up a bunch of tights and they had a some cheapo brand of blush - it's like 4 colors and you sweep a blush brush round it. i really like it, quite peachy which i think suits me better than the pink-toned mac one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OCes9Eubxs

Lipstick as blush!

I watched a tutorial where cream or stain blush was used to set powder blush. It was pretty! I have been experimenting with browns in the mix to sculp my face. Laugh all you want, but on Rupaul's Drag Race there are a lot of half made up shots and I figured out contouring from there 0_0

The access to makeup at this job has changed my life. I am so better at cream eyeliner + brush than I ever was with a pencil. And I find Bourjois' mascara to be extremely resilient and pretty thick too.

And I no longer leave my house without filling in eyebrows!

I fill in my eyebrows sometimes but just v v v lightly. The inner curve always looks funny. Do I need some kind of blending tool fancypants item or should I be able to achieve the same effect with my finger?

Something like this is the business for blending eyebrow powder/pencil:

http://www.runningwithheels.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/deluxe-spoolie-brush.jpg

It also combs your brows and, in conjunction with whatever you're using to fill them in, keeps them in place.

Re: blush, I really like gel blush in the summer when I tend to be bare faced except for moisturizer (since it's so shitting humid in Chicago) and powder blush just gets all slimy when my face sweats. In the winter, I'm all about powder so I can kind of put it all over (strategically) and not look so wintry pale.

I put on eyeshadow/eyeliner yesterday and today. I like the effect, but do not like that I end up late to work.

Lipstick is so much more time-efficient than eye makeup! I don't ever do both unless it is for fancy evening out--too much for the office imo.

Yeah, agreed. I don't really wear colored lipsticks anymore though because my lips are sort of big and I think it looks strange. I tend to stick with nudes or balm and focus on the eyes.

Jenny, I will look into this intriguing contraption, thanks.

ENBB, what good nude lipsticks are there that don't look like you've put foundation on your lips? (which I used to do aged about 16-18). My lips are also big and I have a square face - anything dark makes my under-eye bags look terrible and my face look more square.

I am posting at work! I never do this! I am fed up today.

i like this rebellious streak in you, ljub!

Woo! 5pm and I went online for like, 7 minutes! Then I processed my expense claim :-(

ljub, i think you should find a lipstick that is just a shade darker than your real lip colour, or even the same colour! i know that seems weird, but i have lipstick/stain that is almost my lip colour and it just makes me look slightly more put together without looking like whoa lipstick.

Interesting! I will try this out on Saturday - will march into a makeup emporium and see if they can match the colour. Btw, having now met you in person I must tell you that you have the most amazing eyes. (Not attributable to cosmetics).

I do the same thing w/ lip color.

aw thanks! as i tentatively enter the online-dating world, that is a good thing for me to hear! :)

funny too because now that my skin is clearing up so much and properly moisturized, i'm starting to care more about eye make-up - but i'm pale and pink-toned, so any heavier eye make still makes my eyes look bruised. so i may just stick with the top-lid eyeliner in dif colours and a lighter shadow on the rest of the lid and play up my lip colour instead.

These last few weeks, I've been playing with ever so faint contouring- used to just throw a sweep of beige eyeshadow on, but now I blend four different browns together for a similarly subtle but IMO very flattering look. I just can't work in colour eyeshadows - I blame the hair colour!

Makeup <3 I wish I didn't sleep in every day, so I'd have time to do it up right. This is, again, a RuPaul's Drag Race influence. Half of the episode is them sitting around, doing complicated makeup. Hah.

i don't know how to do gel blush. doesn't it clog ur pores

I guess it might, but clean n clear has my back. Have you tried? Gel rubs and blends nicely.