I feel pretty--NOT! THE COSMETICS THREAD

I tweezed my own eyebrows tonight!
I did not like it but more importantly I did not fuck it up yay. Not very styley but at least neater & a bit more shaped. Also bought a maybelline eyebrow gel spooly brush hoonja doonja, works p good!

Oh AND i think I have finally mastered my eyeshadow technique

Going to a semiformal do next week, hence the sudden beautifying

oh and can I add that my local ulta sucks baaaaaalllllls

my only advice for plucking is: do it after a hot shower (it hurts way less), go slow, and do it frequently so you don't have to do a painful marathon plucking session.

thx!!

i found a really good tutorial video for hooded eye smoky eyeshadow makeup. it's kind of commonsense but I found it v helpful for technique
plus I like she does the tutorial on a real girl rather than a model, and interacts with her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4J_RrbsxRc

ugh LE makes it all look so effortless :/ but i have def picked up a few good tricks from her.

That was great.

Wow, if I'd been a teenager in the age of YouTube my make-up would've been so much better! Maybe. I guess it was the 90s though so my liquid-lined nude top lid was de rigueur.

I need that lady to come over and do my makeup for me because that looked amazing but I can't could never replicate it.

i think i have hooded eyes, idk. i cant see my eyeshadow when i open my eyes

I have the Anastasia brow pencil but I very rarely use it but I think I lucked out with my brows in that I don't really have to do much to them.

I've also been adhering to a pretty strict skincare regimen since Jan and I don't think my skin has looked this good since I was in college tbh. I'm so happy!

Things I've been loving recently:

This W&W is $5 and it's amazing. I don't wear foundation but I've been using this + concealer and I really really like it. http://thelittlewolf.net/2015/02/18/new-wet-n-wild-cover-all-primer-base-de-teint/

This is the best blush I've ever used and the cool pink color is AMAZING. http://www.makeupforever.com/us/en-us/make-up/face/blush/hd-blush

The Covergirl lip lava lipglosses are really bright and/or sparkly but a lot of fun.

i got a lava lipgloss & they're kind of fun!

i got a nars rikugien satin lip pencil sample from sephora and aaagh i am so into it, so soft and lovely natural pink with a slight pearl sheen

the velvet matte pencil not so much, color is good but so drying

sephora points are keeping me well stocked in high end mascara and fancy lipstics: just got the kat von d mascara (v nice), the makeupforever one a while ago (really hurt my eyes), and through an admin fuckup i got TWO birthday gifts!! the nars lip pencil duo (SO nice) and a sort of nude-red MUFE mini lipstick. but my real favourite is the mini buxom lipstick in dolly - it's the prettiest nude pink.

xp those are the ones i got! yeah i like the satin one more, it's a more wearable color, but i use the matte one as a stain - just sort of dab a litle on and smudge it in with a fingertip. also, as much as i love the look of matte over satin or gloss or shimmer, i've realised that matte just doesn't look that good on me, bc i really deeply lined lips from too much sun as a kid.

i've been having tons of fun buying a shitload of mostly drugstore makeup for my mum - makeup is like 4x the price in NZ.

"i got a nars rikugien satin lip pencil sample from sephora and aaagh i am so into it, so soft and lovely natural pink with a slight pearl sheen"

I LOVE this one. The color is the perfect MLBB shade for me. I'm wearing it now! I also somehow got both birthday gifts and I like the MUFE mini lipstick too but not as much. The red Nars is ok but not really my thing.

can u'all recc a blog or some frequently updated site, pinterest, instagram, whatever, that talks about makeup, hair, etc? cheapy/diy focus is appreciated especially if they are not dummies (eg talking about "TOXINS")

reading sites like this is like my favorite way to unwind lately

xovain OCCASIONALLY has decent articles, the comments section is usually better. but i've yet to find what you're looking for. there's been some good stuff on millihelen but they only have one or two posts a day, and it's the comment section that's usually the most informative.

I've been reading The Beauty Brains, which is really interesting - http://thebeautybrains.com/

just1n3 et al., for drugstore finds I can HIGHLY recommend the Wet n Wild "Fergie" (lol) eye primer! I like it more than the Urban Decay and Kat von D offerings.

ca that blog is awesome!!

inspired by enbb I am trying a cream blush for the first time

had to go the cheap route & got nyx cream blush but wooow it is v v good
highly recommend

also nyx eyebrow gel is the fking business. kinda hard to remove but fills perfectly & stays put

basically i am an nyx shill atm lol

inspired by that beautybrains site I have been doing a test w/makeup setting spray
one half elf the other half a free sample of the urban decay setting spray
switch it up day to day in case i touch one half more than the other
they both seem p much the same as far as foundation wearing off
the ud side has had more mascara fallout
elf ftw!!

that said i am a dumb ud follower despite better evidence
like they will probably come out w a color called 'bath salts od' and i'll be like 'damn got 2 get that' :/

also the sephora lip stain is my <3 <3 fave http://www.sephora.com/cream-lip-stain-P281411

i love ud! their electric eyeshadow pallette is my most prize possession in my makeup case :)

I've been using the NYX setting spray lately and it's pretty good! I think almost as good as UD tbh.

Also, can you link the NYX cream blush VG? I'm out of the MUFE and even though it's the greatest I need to save some $ for a big tattoo I am getting at the end of the month. I like NYX a lot in general.

I do, too. There's a lot of bang for your buck in there.

this is what i got;
http://www.nyxcosmetics.com/p-146-stick-blush.aspx

there's also rouge cream mineral blush in pots that is meant to be good

After several days of switching up which half of my face I am using the UD and the elf setting spray, I have concluded: 1. they are p much the same. 2. I touch the laft half of my face a lot more!

ulta had the ud ammo pallette half price recently and I was DAMN i better get THAT
sin is the best color, i have used it up 3x

i think i may have found a good oil-control powder to wear with foundation. i had been using MUFE hd finishing powder over my cc cream foundation, but it only works for 3 or 4 hrs, still shiny by lunchtime. i dont *mind* blotting but i would rather not have to

so i got this yesterday from ulta: palladio rice powder - comes in 3 tints, translucent, natural & warm beige & only costs $4.99 (!)

today is my first day using it, it's v light & the packaging is not suuuper practical...it seems to be working so far, a bit early to tell

i don't have an oil problem (i get the opposite - dryness/flakiness), but i use the rimmel stay matte translucent powder to take the shine off sunscreen (the elta md doesn't get shiny but i'm using the neutrogena stuff right now, and good god it is SHINY), and i know it gets a lot of beauty blog love for being really good. and cheap.

i also just bought the real techniques powder brush which is the best! so fluffy and big.

i just started using the real techniques eye/brow brush set, so good,!i may invest in their powder brush at some point

I got the two core sets ages ago, then tree expert face brush, and now the powder brush AND sponge. Got my eye on a couple others too. I don't even need them, I just like them *shrugs*.

They're super cheap on Amazon as "add on" items, too.

I'm taking a ton of drugstore makeup to nz for my mum, bc a maybelline mascara is over twenty bucks there.

It occurred to me recently that I never got into makeup till I moved to the US bc none of my friends were really into it... Because it was WAY too expensive! Like, to buy a bunch of drugstore basics fur a starter kit would probably cost $200!

otm, I'm experiencing the same thing

https://38.media.tumblr.com/767d31b88acbf570bb91de75488bd395/tumblr_nhvwrkUHKF1rsxqqio1_540.gif

Fp'd you for that

Apparently there's a thing called "the Goss method" where you apply loose powder first, then foundation. I was reading about it online while researching powders & oil control

I tried it today & two things I have noticed:
1 - it seems to conceal my redness better, and the foundation goes on more evenly somehow, there's v little show-through
2 - sets up flawlessly, like i feel like a makeup counter girl!

basically all i did was
- wash face (cerave facewash)
- moisturize (cervave lotion)
- primer (bare minerals primer)
- powder (palladio rice powder)
- foundation (peter thomas roth cc cream)
...then makeup as normal

i waited 10 to 15 min between each step so that everything set nicely (plus my face freaks out if i layer on too many things all at once) so timewise idk if i'd do this every day, but it seems like a good "going-out face" method

anyone else do this, or hear of it?

I heard of it on one of the blogs I read occasionally:
http://www.brightestbulbinthebox.com/2014/07/testing-goss-method-for-foundation.html

i need to buy some bb cream bc i need extra sunscreen on my beak bc it is always getting more sun than the rest of my face bc it sticks out
please tell me which one is best/most cost efficient
thank you in advance

NOT a BB cream but I love loreal silky sheer face lotion 50 spf for wearing under foundation...way better sun protection than any bb cream is offering

facial sunscreen seems to be a massive can of worms (chemical vs physical filters, ingredients to avoid, etc). I browse a beauty message board and this is always a hot topic and I end up more confused than ever and just smearing drugstore sunblock on my face.

I can point you to that thread though if you want, they are quite knowledgeable

xps i tried it with pressed powder, so i don't think it had the right effect. got some coty loose powder in my drugstore.com cart though!

my skin is really spotty right now, way more than usual so yesterday i decided to go full-on face, which i never do (primer, foundation, concealer, powder). i was in a clothing store, where the lighting always makes me look fucking awful, and i actually looked pretty good! not tired and washed out and unevenly toned.

(just1n3 you didn't include an email in your email to me re The Staircase but I want to respond! Also I'm drunk and on my phone and can't fine the correct thread to respond to you xoxo)

I need zinc oxide based physical sunscreen and I have a good basic one that is 46 SPF but my nose needs more. I'd like for it to be the same basic color as the rest of my face.

carl, it's my first name at chance press dot com ;)