I feel pretty--NOT! THE COSMETICS THREAD

still in love with my estee lauder doublewear, foundation wise.

i've been wearing makeup for the first time in weeks and it's like having a whole new face!

Haha yes! Man sometimes I feel so much "prettier" when I've only put foundation/concealer on, just evening out my redness or w/e feels like putting on a new face even though the lines are all the same as the old one.

I pretty much never wore makeup in Mexico because of heat/in-and-out-of water thing, but now that I am back in civilization, I find that the ritual of putting on makeup (my standard version is foundation/undereye concealer/blush/mascara/groom brows, what's yours?) is a soothing transitional activity between sleepytimes and "out in the world" times.

Also orbit OTM!

a good/pleasing foundation is one of life's small...hmm not pleasures...satisfactions? idk.

nyx primer reviewed by coma-girl upthread is actually pretty good. I have been using it instead of primer, even though it's technically 'base' not primer...it stays for the whole day and works great

how does anyone feel about eyeshadow pencils? I have been experimenting with them and I don't really get the appeal? I don't think I like creamy eyeshadow much anyway, my eyelids are such greasepits that nothing like that stays put, even with primer working overtime. I'm wondering if I should try a layer of powdered shadow over top to maybe set it? idk

I don't think I know how to use an eyeshadow pencil unless it's for high-drama eye creases like for stage makeup or super mod eyes. I have been really into dark brown pencils for lining my lower waterline though--I've been putting liner on the upper lid for ages but never the lower, and it makes a big diff to how much my eyes like have a place in my face.

http://rosaleengallagher.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/twiggy-1.jpg

yeah lower eyeliner is good -- I like it for going-out. And as a person who wears glasses it feels like at least that way SOME of my eye-makeup efforts will be noticeable

nothing worse than doing my makeup and then realizing you can't see any of it b/c glasses

VG I find pencils hard to work with, whether as a liner or a shadow, except maybe as a bottom liner, which I find easier for some reason.

IO I have you found a liner that actual stays put on your waterline? Do tell!!!

I've worn make up once since late October. I do have an elaborate, layered moisturizing routine these days, though.

I have not worn eyeliner in forever; in honor of this thread I am going to put some on RIGHT NOW!

xpost hi carl!!! How are you and jeff and ivy doing???

Lol no it does not stay put, it migrates to my inner eye and I have to wipe it out after a few hours. But I'm using very soft $2 pencils from the low-cost beauty supply store so I'm probably getting what I pay for.

We're doing well! Ivy is a bottomless pit these days because she's growing so fast.

Girl after my own heart!

i wish some cosmetics came with a suggested serving size - like obv it varies from person to person, but it could show a range, like "10-15 servings per bottle". when i got BB cream it seemed like such a tiny bottle, and i realized i had no idea how much of it to use

no kidding! the first time i tried to use that stuff i wound up looking like i was wearing like stage paste makeup, like Baby Jane.

same!

yeah it's kinda hard to get off too, just water/hands isn't gonna do it.

nothing beats the time my friend won a raffle for free makeovers at this day spa in a newly tony section of town. for her bachelorette party, about 6 of us went there to have our lol chakras read and also get makeovers. it was a sunday morning. i got my chakra read, all i remember is something about the color orange, and then it was time to see what was going on in the makeup room. my friend's chair whirled around and it was…it was like someone had put a TON of joke makeup on her, like she looked about 15 years older and kind of crazy. the rest of us also realized that this was going to be our fate as well. she had not seen her face yet. so when she saw our reaction, i could tell she was trying to hide it for the sake of the makeup artists.

ffwd -- we all have heavy makeup on a sunday morning and guess what! it's time for brunch! so we had to go down the street and eat brunch without first stopping at the bathroom to scrub our faces. it was among the most cartoonishly embarrassing experiences i had had in a long time. after a while i just started to pretend it wasn't there and would note people's facial expressions when they saw me.

and no, there are no pictures. we are civilized people.

Good timing - I just bought bb cream for the first time (loreal) and I think it has great potential if I can just figure out application. The colour I got is too dark, but I really like that texture-wise it's basically invisible on the skin, but I used SO MUCH putting it on fir the first time because the consistency is so much like primer it doesn't really spread.

yeah me too! I cbf trying to find a pale enough shade though.

yeah I had trouble with the clinique bb cream -- I ended up putting a tiny dot on say, one cheek, spreading that, then a tiny dot on the next, and then forehead, then chin etc, becuase it would set before I could get it all over my face. SUCKED

i mixed it with moisturizer and it turned out ok

that's a good idea!

Ahhh yes I should try that! I got the second lightest colour and it still looked like I had fake tan on.

So I bought the Dior lip glow stuff Justine mentioned and good god it's the best lipstick I've ever used only it's not really lipstick it's . . . magic. It doesn't really look like you're wearing anything but it turns the most natural perfect pink and I love it. So much so that I've already bought a second tube and the first one isn't even done. It nearly is though and I think this is the first lipstick I ever use up.

!!!

yah i like to keep it in my handbag - can be applied without a mirror, which is awesome.

i still like my cheapie lipstains, and have discovered that with the stain-balms you gotta apply one layer, dust with a smidge of translucent face powder and then reapply so they last as long as regular stains.

and i recently figured out that i was doing the bb cream kinda wrong - it looked too dark on me bc i didn't realise you gotta wait for it to do its magical colour-matching thing on your skin.

yesterday my students asked me if i ever wear makeup! lol!

something i really did just google - "how to wear powder when you are old"

i have combo-ish skin, but pretty dry. i always wear moisturizer, and when i wear makeup, i do moisturizer, bb cream and liquid foundation. i iss powder and all the cool things it does to the face! but i feel like i can't wear it anymore bc of dryness/the way it settles on wrinkles (caveat: i have no beef with my wrinkles, i just don't feel the need to accentuate them and make them look like stripes). halp

*miss

I would love to help but I am in the exact same boat. For my entire life I just wore powder - no foundation or anything else. And now powder does not cut it. My forays into foundation are documented here, but I'm still not completely satisfied with what I've got.

me too! i used compact powder for like 10 years and it made my face look perfect! i miss that. i've gotten great at liquid foundation over the last 6 or so years though - it's just not the same. i want that super matte look. /90s

idk if this is helpful but since I've been using the Peter Thomas Adler CC cream, which kind of almost works like foundation in a way as well, I just put a bit of 'hd powder' aka silica over top.

It's not super powdery -- if you buff it in with a good short powder brush, it just kind of sets it without making you look dried out

it might be worth a try, if you can find something that will give you coverage that you like.
I use the Make Up Forever HD powder, it's kinda spendy but I think there are other versions of it around

I've had a few makeup epiphanies:

1. If I haven't managed to draw a straight line with liquid black eyeliner by now, I never will, not least of which because I practicing is not a priority and I can't think of anywhere I'd be comfortable sporting that look and even if I could, once I weigh in the hassle of taking it off, it's just not going to happen. I enjoyed throwing away all the various and sundry styles of black liquid eyeliner I have purchased over the years.

2. I have never in my life managed to finish a tube of mascara so there is no need to put much money or effort into finding one that's perfect so long as I find one that isn't more trouble than it's worth.

3. What I'm really looking for in a foundation is something that makes my skin look like I wish it did when I was 20. Having recognized my folly I can manage my expectations accordingly.

4. I apparently could not give two shits about parabens and the cosmetics database poisonous product ratings now that I am not pregnant or trying to become pregnant. That's going to save me some money. (It's not that I no longer care about my health and safety now that I've achieved my highest purpose of being a ~vessel for new life~. It's just that I was always pretty skeptical to begin with and was mostly just hedging my bets and now I have no bets to hedge.)

Of course the $2.50 sale tube of Wet and Wild mascara I bought to replace the like, year-old barely used expensive tube of mascara I threw out is labeled as paraben-free. It's probably got brown recluse venom in it instead or something.

I tried Maybelline Great Lash but I had to switch it out bc it was making my eyes itch
Have gone back to Boots. I dunno that I love it.

Need a good hypoallergenic mascara that has some oomph

re 4. I only really think about it in terms of lotions that sink into my skin and things I put on my mouth that I might ingest and even then not too strictly. I was given the lotion I'm using now and I'm pretty sure it has all kinds of crap in it but I'm not gonna throw it out or anything.

I'm still all about the L'Oreal Voluminous. It's just the best drugstore brand by far imo.

hmm. i will try it

Yeah, now that you mention it, I'm still pretty vigilant about lotion and other skincare. And I've transferred my previous makeup vigilance to baby stuff (not that she requires much in the way of products at this point, but bets = hedged).

http://www.brightestbulbinthebox.com/

^ good beauty blog

I read that one fairly regularly. It's great.

she has amazing eyes! That she can sweep four shades of eyeshadow onto. I wish I could do that...

bought myself an Urban Decay palette of bright colors

my first try, not blender great but not too bad!

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/sharonjoy666/Mobile%20Uploads/5806ABB1-ECF7-4093-81E6-AA388186094A_zpswnxlnce0.jpg

tomorrow: pink & red

Wow cool!

I love the green! Now that is depth. Gorgeous.

I used the Electric Palette for the first time today. Did you look at any tutorials online? I did my eyes based on one I saw.

yeah I used this one: http://www.keikolynn.com/2014/04/makeup-monday-urban-decay-electric.html

I would have had no idea where to start otherwise

excellent job vg! i like bold eyeshadow -- I feel like it challenges the person who looks at your face more than it challenges the person wearing it. Like, "deal with my mermaid eyes, onlooker"

i like using one single color -- i bought some bright orange from a brand called makeup forever? it's supposed to be waterproof, and it's a nice bright highly pigmented orange, not shimmery just orange. it makes me look kinda alien bc my eyes are green. orange and purple are my colors of choice.

Clown School Day 2

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/sharonjoy666/Mobile%20Uploads/C5AD960D-2160-4BB3-9D5A-F090D5070A51_zps5ecwyuld.jpg

pink & orange