4 Lessons From 4 Years of Makeup
Yes! Another makeup post! You know what I realised recently? For someone who’s kind of a makeup fanatic, and already has a list of items she wants to buy when her current stash is used up, I hardly ever talk about it! I walked into a Sephora for the first time 4 years ago, and bought a Make Up Forever HD Foundation (in shade 170, caramel). It was the first time a foundation seamlessly matched my skin, and it was a ginormous step I was taking from my drugstore products. Ginormous for my wallet, of course. Because in these four years, I have spent enough on makeup for four generations. Sometimes I bought something because the packaging was pretty. Sometimes I bought something because there was a sale. Other times I bought something because the salesperson told me to. On very rare occasions, I would buy something because I truly needed it. There’s just something about bright lights at beauty counters, the salespeople so effortlessly applying something on to your face that makes you look like a new person, the amazement that comes from looking at yourself in the mirror with said product, the marvel when the salesperson describes its healing properties, the excitement when they give you a new product with its packaging intact, and the thrill when you hand over your card at the counter and your payment goes through. Can you tell how much fun I have buying a new makeup item?
And in the 400 times I’ve gone to various beauty counters (Of course I didn’t stop at Sephora! I may have hit the beauty game late, but I made up for it with my thoroughness) these past 4 years, these are what I’ve learned.
1. Practice Makes Perfect. Ish. Sort of.
What taught me the most about makeup, more than sitting in any beauty counter chair and any beauty tutorials, is me doing my own makeup. Don’t get me wrong, I will sit in a beauty counter chair the first chance I get in hopes of mimicking what the artist is doing, and I religiously watch beauty tutorials – this is how I get my knowledge about products and application. But most of the learning, is from the trial and error I do on myself. You know, where exactly do you contour, what type of wing suits my eye best. The bulk of figuring out what works for my face and me, and what doesn’t work comes from my own handiwork. And the more you do it, the more you will start to nail it. Sort of.
2. A Red Lipstick is a Must
I don’t particularly see myself as very feminine, and the same can be said about my clothes and my style of dressing. You know how you can wear a dress but still not look very feminine? I’m sure you would have seen people like that around. That would be me. So a red lipstick was something I saw as feminine. What a fool I was! Everyone should have a tube of red lipstick! – Big meeting? Red lipstick. Didn’t get enough sleep? Red lipstick. Average Tuesday? Red lipstick. And on that note, did you know not all red lipsticks are made equally? I’m not talking about light reds and dark reds. I’m talking about fire truck reds. Apparently lipsticks have undertones too, not just foundations! I was mind blown. Red lipstick is a powerhouse.
3. Sales Assistants May Not Know Best
Do you know how many times I’ve been told a bronzer product is not for me? Or to be precise, my skin tone? This beautiful brown toned product with golden specks and shimmer is not something I should be putting on my face? Why? It looks similar to my skin tone, anything that has gold flecks in it will clearly make me glow so why I am being deprived of this product? You know what I was told? That it was for fairer people, to imitate a tan. Not for darker skinned people. What even? I do have a bronzer product now, which I use as a highlight and I absolutely love the effect it has on my face when paired with a contour product! My skin looks so glow-y and healthy! So if you think something could work on you, go ahead and get it!
4. Water is to the Skin as Coffee is to the Soul
As someone with dry skin, moisturisers and face oils are like my BFFs. But you know what is the true elixir? Water. It’s so annoying simple, and it’s always so blatantly obvious on my skin every time I don’t drink enough water. Sure there are moisturisers, serums and primers that hydrate you but none of them quite give that natural glow a healthy and hydrated skin gives. I live in Singapore, so, sure, occasionally, weather dries me further but overall, it’s effect is pretty consistent on my skin. And this means when my skin looks dull or drier than usual, I can’t exactly say things like it has been a harsh winter. I can only look at the mirror and say “You brought this upon yourself!”, roll my eyes and proceed to guzzle a litre of water.
You know, as much as I love makeup, sometimes I just don’t get it. Like, what exactly is a bronzer? What is the difference between a matte bronzer and a contour product? Can you use a shimmery bronzer as a highlight? I know you’re not supposed to use a shimmery bronzer to contour so where exactly does it go? If something is described as having a peachy golden undertone, would it still work with my yellow undertones? Isn’t peach pink? The opposite of my undertones? How would that work for me? Maybe someday you will find updates to these questions on this website. But if you do already know about it, help a sister out and leave it in the comments! Or just leave a general comment about what you have learned from doing your makeup in general! Meanwhile, I will be browsing through the various beauty websites. Til Thursday!
Subscribe to my monthly newsletter, "Thendral's Telegraph" here!*
