If I’m new, what are some good basics that I should get into first?

It is important to note that everybody is a little different, and their preferences for the type of makeup or kinds of products are not the same across the board. You should use this only as a guideline, but not as something that is universal to every person.

Eyes

• Primer | Prep + Prime Eye is MAC’s base for eyeshadow, and while it isn’t a bad product, many love Urban Decay’s Primer Potion more. Nonetheless, MAC offers several other products that can be used as primers/bases that are excellent. Paints in shades such as Bare Canvas and Untitled; paint pots in Bare Study and Painterly; and Shadesticks in Beige-ing and Fresh Cement are all great for getting a neutral base. You can always try other shades and hues for intensifying similar colored eyeshadows (e.g., Lucky Jade shadestick with any green eyeshadow over it will bring out the shadow color even more).
• Shadow | MAC offers a diverse range of colors and textures in their eyeshadow department. It is hard to narrow it down to even ten must-have colors.  As a result, I would rather give you three top notch choices in each color family.
  • Blacks >> Black Tied, Carbon
  • Blues >> Deep Truth, Freshwater, Moon’s Reflection
  • Browns >> Amber Lights, Bronze, Woodwinked
  • Golds >> Goldmine, Gorgeous Gold, Juiced
  • Grays/Silvers >> Knight Divine, Print, Silver Ring
  • Greens >> Humid, Juxt, Velvet Moss
  • Neutrals/highlighters >> Dazzlelight, Ricepaper, Vex
  • Oranges >> Mythology, Orange, Rule
  • Pinks >> Da Bling, Passionate, Pen ‘N’ Pink
  • Purples >> Parfait Amour, Satellite Dreams, Stars N’ Rockets
  • Teals >> Aquadisiac, Shimmermoss, Surreal
  • Whites >> Chill, Crystal Avalanche, Gesso
• Pigments | Melon, Naked, Tan, and Vanilla are all really versatile pigment colors that work well as more neutral bases.  I also love working with Fuchsia, Golden Olive, Teal, and Violet pigments as well.
• Eye Liners | MAC makes a whole host of different kinds of eye liners, but my favorite versions are technakohl liners and fluidlines.  Blacktrack fluidline is a long-lasting black gel liner that yields good results for the majority of users.  Graphblack technakohl is the black liner of the technakohl family, and I find it is the one I reach for most.