For the past couple of months I've been wearing makeup nearly every day. Putting it on in the morning makes me feel just a little bit more in control, which is a nice way to start the day. It feels especially good when I manage to get my eyeliner perfectly symmetrical. And I've been having fun playing with colors and working out bold or subtle looks.
I've also learned a lot in my last couple of months of experimentation. Through signing up for Birchbox, reading various blogs, and just buying things that look interesting I've tried a bunch of different stuff. Here are some of my key lessons:
BB Cream is amazing. What is BB Cream? Yeah, for a long time I didn't know either. It was just this thing that everyone was talking about everywhere. One of those mysteries that everyone seemed to be in on except for me. It turns out that it's a magical combination of moisturizer, sunscreen, and foundation. So instead of looking for a moisturizer and foundation that work well together, or trying to remember to put on sunscreen *before* foundation (or at all, let's be honest), you just put this on and you're done. It has less coverage than actual foundations, but I like that it looks a bit more natural.
All mascaras are not created equal. For the longest time I thought mascara was just mascara and would just buy the cheapest one. But then I started wearing it more often, because I liked the look. And then I started losing eyelashes and no amount of makeup remover would get it off so I'd wake up every morning with raccoon eyes. Then I upgraded to something just a little more expensive and those problems vanished. It was like magic.
Eyeshadow Primer is your friend. What? Why do you need primer for your eyeshadow? I'll tell you why. It keeps it there longer. And okay, I don't actually use real primer. I get that color tattoo cream shadow from Maybelleine in neutral or white and put it on under my color of choice. And then it stays on all day long. I can go to work for eight hours, head to the gym and work up a sweat, then rinse off in the shower, and my eyeshadow will still be perfect. No runs or weird color uneveness. Also the white base makes the colors I use pop just a little more.
Exfoliate! Okay, this one's less about makeup and more about proper skin care, something I never really paid attention to until I started caking my face with makeup every day. But I got a sample from Birchbox so I started using it. Within a few days the blackheads on my nose, the ones that have been living there stubbornly since I was in high school and that I barely even saw anymore, just straight up disappeared. It was incredible. So, yeah, exfoliate. Take care of your face.
Showing posts with label makeup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label makeup. Show all posts
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Embracing the Feminine
A funny thing happened when Kevin insisted I wear makeup for the wedding. I discovered that I liked it.
Back in middle and high school, I had to glob makeup on my face every time I performed in a dance recital or musical. It was always heavy and felt caked on. It always made me break out. The experience led me to reject makeup altogether, and for years I almost never wore any. Unless a friend decided she wanted to make me over for a party, in which case I often felt awkward unless I managed to forget I was wearing makeup. But then I inevitably smudged my eyeliner or mascara or whatever, and looked awful by the end of the night.
Once Kevin asked me to wear makeup for the wedding, I knew I'd have to get in practice. I needed to remember how to apply it and learn how to get through a day without messing it up. I bought some stuff at the drug store and started playing.
It was surprising how quickly things started coming back to me. The realization that I needed to buy some extra brushes to get my eyeshadow just right. Mourning for the eyebrow brush I threw away so many years ago. Not to mention that it was satisfying. When I got my eyes looking just right, I was proud of myself.
In addition to this, I'd been looking for a specific shade of lipstick I loved in high school. It was being re-released in a limited run, and tracking it down was really difficult. In the process of trying to find it, I ended up visiting a lot of beauty sites and began to see tips on applying eye liner, keeping lipstick from smearing, finding brands that actually last all day. It all looked so fun and, more importantly, accessible. See part of my disinterest in makeup can be traced to my mom's disinterest in makeup. Without her to teach me the finer points I had a hard time learning. Though if I'd really wanted to I probably could have.
I also started seeing articles about women wearing too much makeup. Hand in hand with articles styling their hair in the wrong way or wearing the wrong shorts or just generally not being appealing in the right way. And I thought fuck that. I've never much cared about fashion or anything, opting for ease and comfort over style. But if men were going to tell me not to wear makeup, then I was damn well going to start wearing makeup.
And finally, the snowflake that caused the avalanche. Being one of the only women at work. Seeing twenty interns hired with nary a woman in sight. I got fed up with being one of the guys and decided to deliberately other myself. Because it turns out I do have a pretty strong contrary streak. I'm surprised I wasn't a more rebellious teenager (though I didn't really have anything to rebel against, so).
I went out and bought eyeshadows in fun shades. Blues and purples and pinks. I picked up some bright lipsticks to play with. I signed up for birchbox, because getting samples in the mail every month seemed like the ideal way to experiment. And in the very first box I found a hair product that I definitely have to start buying and using. It's amazing.
Incorporating makeup into my morning routine was surprisingly easy. I never do anything that takes more than five minutes, so it's not a big time suck. And it's so fun and satisfying that I find myself wanting to do things. I probably shouldn't have tried eyeliner for the first time on a work day, but it all worked out okay in the end.
Through all of this, the words of a guy I almost dated have started echoing in my head again. When I asked him about his tattoos, he replied "You only get one life, you might as well decorate it." It was these words that pushed me into getting my first tattoo and that are defining my experiments with making my face up every day. It's one more way to play with color, decorate myself, and define the way I look. It really is an art form, one that I'm getting better at and having a lot of fun with in the meantime.
Back in middle and high school, I had to glob makeup on my face every time I performed in a dance recital or musical. It was always heavy and felt caked on. It always made me break out. The experience led me to reject makeup altogether, and for years I almost never wore any. Unless a friend decided she wanted to make me over for a party, in which case I often felt awkward unless I managed to forget I was wearing makeup. But then I inevitably smudged my eyeliner or mascara or whatever, and looked awful by the end of the night.
Once Kevin asked me to wear makeup for the wedding, I knew I'd have to get in practice. I needed to remember how to apply it and learn how to get through a day without messing it up. I bought some stuff at the drug store and started playing.
It was surprising how quickly things started coming back to me. The realization that I needed to buy some extra brushes to get my eyeshadow just right. Mourning for the eyebrow brush I threw away so many years ago. Not to mention that it was satisfying. When I got my eyes looking just right, I was proud of myself.
In addition to this, I'd been looking for a specific shade of lipstick I loved in high school. It was being re-released in a limited run, and tracking it down was really difficult. In the process of trying to find it, I ended up visiting a lot of beauty sites and began to see tips on applying eye liner, keeping lipstick from smearing, finding brands that actually last all day. It all looked so fun and, more importantly, accessible. See part of my disinterest in makeup can be traced to my mom's disinterest in makeup. Without her to teach me the finer points I had a hard time learning. Though if I'd really wanted to I probably could have.
I also started seeing articles about women wearing too much makeup. Hand in hand with articles styling their hair in the wrong way or wearing the wrong shorts or just generally not being appealing in the right way. And I thought fuck that. I've never much cared about fashion or anything, opting for ease and comfort over style. But if men were going to tell me not to wear makeup, then I was damn well going to start wearing makeup.
And finally, the snowflake that caused the avalanche. Being one of the only women at work. Seeing twenty interns hired with nary a woman in sight. I got fed up with being one of the guys and decided to deliberately other myself. Because it turns out I do have a pretty strong contrary streak. I'm surprised I wasn't a more rebellious teenager (though I didn't really have anything to rebel against, so).
I went out and bought eyeshadows in fun shades. Blues and purples and pinks. I picked up some bright lipsticks to play with. I signed up for birchbox, because getting samples in the mail every month seemed like the ideal way to experiment. And in the very first box I found a hair product that I definitely have to start buying and using. It's amazing.
Incorporating makeup into my morning routine was surprisingly easy. I never do anything that takes more than five minutes, so it's not a big time suck. And it's so fun and satisfying that I find myself wanting to do things. I probably shouldn't have tried eyeliner for the first time on a work day, but it all worked out okay in the end.
Through all of this, the words of a guy I almost dated have started echoing in my head again. When I asked him about his tattoos, he replied "You only get one life, you might as well decorate it." It was these words that pushed me into getting my first tattoo and that are defining my experiments with making my face up every day. It's one more way to play with color, decorate myself, and define the way I look. It really is an art form, one that I'm getting better at and having a lot of fun with in the meantime.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Lipstick
If you know me, you know I don't wear makeup. I had a whole blog post about my inability to even buy makeup a couple of years ago. I actively resisted it in high school, and now it seems like way too much of a hassle to wake up early and paint my face every day. Especially because I like my face the way it is.
But back when I was twelve, I fell in love with a lipstick. I was officially too young for lipstick, I think. I wasn't supposed to be wearing it to school or anything. I did, however, get to wear makeup once a year during my dance recitals. And I chose to wear this lipstick as often as they would let me.
The lipstick in question was Revlon's Sandstorm. I first discovered it in a magazine ad. The kind where they give you a sample just big enough for a single wear. I put it on immediately and bought a tube as soon as I could. I had it for years. Every time I wore it, I got tons of compliments. If I put on this lipstick and nothing else, people still reacted as though I had made up my entire face. It was basically this effect:
Even though the lipstick wasn't red, I had found my "red lipstick".
By the time I finished my first tube, the color had been discontinued. I guess that sort of thing happens a lot. At that point I didn't have the energy to devote to finding another perfect lipstick, so I let it go. I tried my hardest not to look back, and eventually I almost forgot about those few blissful years when the simple application of lip color could change my entire day.
So why bring it up now? Well thanks to the magic of the internet, I just found out that Revlon has decided to re-release this exact shade of lipstick next year. It's like they know that I'm getting married soon, and they're firmly on the side of me having perfect makeup at my wedding.
I didn't even realize it was still possible for me to get this excited over makeup. Nor did I think the day would ever come that I would happily fork over $15 for a tube of lipstick. But here we are. I guess I don't completely fail at this woman thing after all.
But back when I was twelve, I fell in love with a lipstick. I was officially too young for lipstick, I think. I wasn't supposed to be wearing it to school or anything. I did, however, get to wear makeup once a year during my dance recitals. And I chose to wear this lipstick as often as they would let me.
The lipstick in question was Revlon's Sandstorm. I first discovered it in a magazine ad. The kind where they give you a sample just big enough for a single wear. I put it on immediately and bought a tube as soon as I could. I had it for years. Every time I wore it, I got tons of compliments. If I put on this lipstick and nothing else, people still reacted as though I had made up my entire face. It was basically this effect:
Even though the lipstick wasn't red, I had found my "red lipstick".
By the time I finished my first tube, the color had been discontinued. I guess that sort of thing happens a lot. At that point I didn't have the energy to devote to finding another perfect lipstick, so I let it go. I tried my hardest not to look back, and eventually I almost forgot about those few blissful years when the simple application of lip color could change my entire day.
So why bring it up now? Well thanks to the magic of the internet, I just found out that Revlon has decided to re-release this exact shade of lipstick next year. It's like they know that I'm getting married soon, and they're firmly on the side of me having perfect makeup at my wedding.
I didn't even realize it was still possible for me to get this excited over makeup. Nor did I think the day would ever come that I would happily fork over $15 for a tube of lipstick. But here we are. I guess I don't completely fail at this woman thing after all.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Sometimes I Fail Being a Woman
A friend of mine is getting married in a few weeks. This has posed an interesting challenge for me that most people probably don't face when it comes to weddings. See, I don't wear make-up. I don't own it. I don't really know how to put it on. I can do stage makeup really well, thanks to years of performing, but that's a bit much for people seeing you from closer than 20 feet.
One of the other bridesmaids can do most of my makeup for me, I just need to bring foundation. Which means I need to buy foundation. Which is far more complicated than I ever thought possible. Which is probably why I don't wear makeup.
I was at Target today grabbing a few things when I remembered that I needed foundation. I ventured down the beauty aisle to pick some up. Thankfully I watch enough TV to know what the basic brands are, so that part wasn't overwhelming. Everything else was.
There was an entire wall of vaguely skin-shade makeup. Some was in bottles, some in tubes, some in powders. Some of it might have been blush or eye shadow. Nothing actually said foundation. It did say SPF 15 or SPF 30. It said it made pores vanish. It said perfect fit or age-defying or acne-fighting. It said for oily skin or for dry skin. I'm guessing I should probably have some sense of whether my skin is particularly oily or dry. The fact that I don't makes me think I might be in the normal category. I'm not sure that category exists, though.
I quickly decided I needed help, so I paid for my purchases at Target and drove to the Ulta across the street. I also awarded myself 5 points for knowing that Ulta sold makeup (I went there once to get makeovers for a friend's 13th birthday.)
I walked in and was immediately greeted by a girl who seemed willing to help. I told her I needed foundation and she started asking me questions that didn't make sense. So I backed up to inform her that I don't wear makeup and don't know much about it, but my friend is getting married and I need some for the wedding.
She seemed okay with that and grabbed a bottle of foundation and a brush. She put some on my face and decided it was too dark for my skin. Of course it was the lightest shade that brand offered, so she switched brands and tried a new one. She painted half my face and declared it a success. Great!
Then she told me it was $40 a bottle.
$40 for something I'm going to wear once? I actually asked her this and she looked a bit ashamed of herself. I had told her this was a one-time deal. I was expecting something closer to $5.
She directed me to the other side of the store with the cheaper brands. The brands I recognized. But she warned me that it's harder to match skin tone since they don't have testers. She suggested I buy one and, if after a few days I didn't like it, to return it. I didn't bother explaining, again, that this wasn't for daily wear.
At Ulta, the cheap brand section was about three times as big as at Target. I gave up and left.
The new plan is to go to the CVS on the way to work on Monday and buy the lightest shade of the cheapest brand. If it ends up being too dark, I'll just have to go without foundation. I'm sure the photographer can remove my pores in post-production if necessary. They have that technology now, right?
One of the other bridesmaids can do most of my makeup for me, I just need to bring foundation. Which means I need to buy foundation. Which is far more complicated than I ever thought possible. Which is probably why I don't wear makeup.
I was at Target today grabbing a few things when I remembered that I needed foundation. I ventured down the beauty aisle to pick some up. Thankfully I watch enough TV to know what the basic brands are, so that part wasn't overwhelming. Everything else was.
There was an entire wall of vaguely skin-shade makeup. Some was in bottles, some in tubes, some in powders. Some of it might have been blush or eye shadow. Nothing actually said foundation. It did say SPF 15 or SPF 30. It said it made pores vanish. It said perfect fit or age-defying or acne-fighting. It said for oily skin or for dry skin. I'm guessing I should probably have some sense of whether my skin is particularly oily or dry. The fact that I don't makes me think I might be in the normal category. I'm not sure that category exists, though.
I quickly decided I needed help, so I paid for my purchases at Target and drove to the Ulta across the street. I also awarded myself 5 points for knowing that Ulta sold makeup (I went there once to get makeovers for a friend's 13th birthday.)
I walked in and was immediately greeted by a girl who seemed willing to help. I told her I needed foundation and she started asking me questions that didn't make sense. So I backed up to inform her that I don't wear makeup and don't know much about it, but my friend is getting married and I need some for the wedding.
She seemed okay with that and grabbed a bottle of foundation and a brush. She put some on my face and decided it was too dark for my skin. Of course it was the lightest shade that brand offered, so she switched brands and tried a new one. She painted half my face and declared it a success. Great!
Then she told me it was $40 a bottle.
$40 for something I'm going to wear once? I actually asked her this and she looked a bit ashamed of herself. I had told her this was a one-time deal. I was expecting something closer to $5.
She directed me to the other side of the store with the cheaper brands. The brands I recognized. But she warned me that it's harder to match skin tone since they don't have testers. She suggested I buy one and, if after a few days I didn't like it, to return it. I didn't bother explaining, again, that this wasn't for daily wear.
At Ulta, the cheap brand section was about three times as big as at Target. I gave up and left.
The new plan is to go to the CVS on the way to work on Monday and buy the lightest shade of the cheapest brand. If it ends up being too dark, I'll just have to go without foundation. I'm sure the photographer can remove my pores in post-production if necessary. They have that technology now, right?
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