Who first introduced you to makeup? Share!
My best friend in high school! She was pretty into makeup (though, ironically, I became WAY more into makeup than her once I was allowed to wear it, which was in college), and it was really interesting to watch her apply it as my mother didn’t wear any except for very special occasions.
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Probably my mom unintentionally… I got my first makeup palette from her when I was a wee little tyke (like, before primary school). It was shaped like a fish, smelled strongly of powdery 90s cosmetics, and had the most god awful bright shades.
My mom! She has an Avon lady and a Mary Kay lady that come to the house. They used to give me free samples and mom would play dress-up with me on Saturday afternoons. I wasn’t allowed to wear it daily until high school though.
It’s probably my mom, although she has never really been into make-up. She generally wears eyeliner and lipstick and that’s about it.
It’s also possible that my grandmother introduced me to high-end make-up, since while she also wears very minimalistic make-up, she’s a bit of a francophile and adores Lancôme.
My elder cousin, during her wedding got a makeover at MAC and bought a lot of MAC goodies along with it! That was the first time I actually saw how lovely MAC makeup was this was about 2 years ago!
So my makeup fascination isn’t very old 🙂
My mom. I’m also probably most into makeup/beauty compared to anyone I know.
For the most part, Leesha, since she was the YouTube channel that got me into makeup a few years ago.
Nobody really! The women in my family are almost all computer scientists my mother included. I discovered it by myself and I was also watching a make up show by Lise Watier that thought me a lot!
My sister…she introduced me to high end makeup and beauty blogs.Then I met Temptalia :)…the name is so apt.Both of them were crucial reasons fr my addiction.
Hmm. I guess my grandma! She always wore makeup until she physically couldn’t, and I always loved her red lipstick. She wore red lipstick at almost 80 years old and she still looked classy.
My mom is not a makeup person at all, so it’s either my grandma or me rebelling against my mom, haha.
Christine, you have mentioned several times that you weren’t “allowed” to wear make-up until college. What do you mean by that – did you parents actually have rules for “no make-up whatsoever” until 18?
Yes, that was a rule!
Strangely enough,TV advertisements introduced me to makeup. I would see these glamorous people advertising makeup products and I would want to be as glamorous as them. Here began my addiction to all things beautiful.
My mum took me to a Benefit Counter one day, sat me down and asked the assistant what products I could get that weren’t too dramatic. Of course the assistant’s makeup had been applied with a trowel, but she sold me (my mum) Thrrrob blush, High Beam highlighter, a suckish eyeliner – since discontinued – in a sort of Prussian blue shade, and Bad Gal lash.
My Mother always used to wear Make up with pretty Lipstick and Nail polish etc. and she gave me some of her things she didn’t use anymore when I was in 4th grade or so to use when I played dress up with my friends so thats how it all started lol I wasn’t allowed to go out with make up til I was like 14 and started off with light colours that she bought for me. My friends were never as much into make up as i was/am especially not since I started my own beauty blog and started buying brands like Chanel and Guerlain, but I still really love it because you can express yourself in so many different ways by using make up.
I remember my mom’s best friend’s teenage daughter doing my makeup and letting me play when I was about 4. She had pink olay moisturizer and great lash mascara, I was into it. Also hot pink frosted lipstick and blue eyeshadow…
But really it was my mom in the last days of 8th grade who bought me a few taupey pink and lavender eyeshadows, subtle blush, and powder (I already had lipglosses she thought worked). I got into high end brand stuff when on a high school orchestra trip with lots of time in a mall with a sephora and counters! We all tried on prom dresses and played with crazy makeup looks. I’m sure the director was less than thrilled but it was so much fun. It took having the internet and ability to do lots of research for me to get into collecting and caring about limited editions as much as just having one of each type of product.
My mom introduced me to makeup and bought me Clinique.
YouTube lol. Almost no one in my family wears makeup and my friends didn’t start wearing it until I did. I wish I would have started a few years sooner. I feel like I missed out on all the good stuff!
My grandma! She sent me some products and then I figured out the basics on my own. Then my best friend got me into some more interesting/colorful stuff.
My mom introduced me to makeup when I was in 8th grade. All of the items she gave me were from Avon, and my friend’s mom me a huge set of makeup from the Color Institute for Christmas that year.
My mother was the first person who I ever watched put on makeup but I learned very little until high school when I met a neighbor. I was fascinated with the lipsticks he would wear. He’d walk me through it when he put makeup on me and those were my first lessons. The first lipstick I bought was because of him.
My mom totally. She wore a full face everyday, Revlon and Fashion Fair. She was (retired) a 1st grade teacher who dressed-up for class, sporting St. John Knit. My dad was really “into” my mom and I being girly-girls. He purchased our undergarments, toiletries and accessories. I will never forget, he once asked me, ” where is your powder and lipstick.” I miss him 🙂
I guess my mom and my aunt. I remember when I was little and I used to play with the things on my aunt’s dressing table and my mom saying that I didn’t need mascara, because my lashes were already black and long. Sometimes they gave me a lipstick (usually lipstick samples) or some eyeshadow. I remember my mom used green eyeliner on her green eyes and I remember the color of the lipstick she liked most when I was younger.
I started really wearing make up when I was 15 or 16. My mom used to sell make up from some kind of Mary Kay/Avon brand and she had a big sample pallette, so I got that pallette for myself, wearing also some cheap black eyeliner and clear mascara. She also took me few times to a free make up session at a store near our home.
I think my mom. Other than raiding her makeup stash, I think she bought me one of those really cheap pallets that they come out at Christmas time at places like Walmart. To me, it was amazing!
My aunt! first seeing her use the The Body Shop Lip & Cheek Tint, I was hooked! 🙂
My mum, my grandma, and my great-grandma! None of them leave the house without makeup on, even just to run to the store. They all used to sell Avon as well, so I’ve been around makeup my whole life. ;P
My mom, by way of dabbing blush on my cheeks if I was good when I was little. I was a rascal, so while she did her makeup, that would occur to appease me. Other than Halloween time, when she’d go further and let me into her, what I thought to be amazing, stash of humble jewels, it was more of a curiosity furthered into a fever when I met “well-off” girls who came from a lifestyle where they had been doing everything with every brand since they were children. A whole world opened up to me. I didn’t jump into high end or anything, I just leaped into what I found in drugstores to mix with what I already had, and eye experience began… I came home that summer and was living at the cosmetic counters. 😀
My older sister. I started wearing black eyeliner on my waterline because she was 🙂
i was 23 and suddenly had acne so i was just looking for a way to downplay the pimples. luckily the acne went away and now i just wear tinted moisturizer to even out my skin tone
Carmindy from What Not to Wear! During a break from college, my mom gave me a book written by Carmindy, and it only had 5 steps (with TONs of close up pics!)- I could handle that! Up until then, I had never worn foundation, I didn’t get it at all. I only had a simple, and unskilled purple eyeliner, everything else… I didn’t know where to start. Carmindy’s tricks worked really well for a complete noobie! Suddenly I went from a weird, geeky math nerd to someone who need to to figure out how to hide from all these guys hitting on me! I looked better in photos too, so I finally started capturing memories. Boy, do I wish I lived in the age of youtube tutorials! Everything used to be a complete mystery!
I wish I had had someone to introduce me to make-up. My mom pretty much only wore mascara and lip gloss and none of my friends were really into it. And I’m old, so this was pre-internet. I’d see articles in fashion magazines and buy stuff at the drugstore but I didn’t really know what to buy. It was really frustrating because the quality was really bad and I don’t even know where you could even buy make-up brushes.
It wasn’t until the internet and youtube so I could read reviews and watch tutorials that I really started to get into doing more with make-up.
My mom I guess but more so my grandmothers and the Avon ladies always calling at their doors!
I wore a couple little things when I was younger… once in a while mascara (usually clear), lip gloss, tinted moisturizer. What really got me into makeup was when I was in a pageant. The Mary Kay lady really got me into it – I had really the best makeup “look” in the pageant, she really loved working with me.
My mother, I guess – she always wore the same , pretty pink Dior lipstick every day, and made sure to wipe the little smudge of my cheek every morning when she kissed me goodbye before school. She didn’t wear any other makeup, so you can understand how lipstick is my first and greatest love in all makeup items! 😀
I introduced myself to makeup. I don’t remember 100% how I got into it though. My sister and I always joke about how our mom was supposed to teach us, but never did. I now teach my sister a thing or two about makeup but she isn’t into it nearly as much as I am.
Probably my grandmother! She was super into makeup and fashion (no one else in my fam was), and there are many pics of toddler-age me whacking my faceparts with makeup and brushes. It only got worse from there :3
I dunno, I kinda got myself into it! I just always liked it, for as long as I can remember.
My sister who was seven years older and looking at magazines!
I would seek out makeup wherever I went, lol. I remember asking my aunts and grandmothers if I could just look at their products. I probably started this at age 3-4. Then I advanced to doing makeovers by age 6-7ish. Funny kid 🙂
My first inspiration was really Carnival….and at 12 I was allowed to buy my first ever piece ( black pencil Pineaud, still remember it) because I was in fancy dress. My mum didn’t like young girls wearing makeup; now that I am a grown up woman she tells me off if sees my barefaced.!!!Also I was always in awe of my neighbor.. who used to work in a Beauty/Perfume shop.She had the most amazing grey eyes and was always immaculate from top to toe.
My sister and I got into my mom’s makeup and high heels pretty early on. Three of her four sisters were licensed hairdressers/cosmetologists so it’s something we were always around.
I just always gravitated towards it from a young age. Then I found the YouTube beauty community and the obsession took over.
My mom was the one who physically put makeup in my hands (or at least within reach), but she has no real love it. My love of makeup probably started with Kevyn Aucoin. Pretty sure Making Faces is directly responsible for me having a job in the Beauty industry today.
As for the obsession… no idea where that came from, but it came on strong!
My mum never wore makeup, not even lipstick, maybe lipbalm at the most. In Australia, there’s a thing called the Royal Easter Show and when I was 14, I got one with mascara and eyeliner, even though nobody taught me how to wear it, i loved it straight away and I started buying more.
My mom, who helped me choose my first Maybelline eyeshadow palette when I was 12. Now she comes to me for makeup advice!
I don’t think anyone really introduced me to it but I recall playing with my mom’s makeup. She had this beautiful Shiseido black & red lip brush and remember that Revlon lipstick called Orange Flip?? 🙂 She also had some of that exquisite Joy perfume! I also loved watching Wonder Woman and I think she did some commercials for makeup or skincare, Oul of Olay? Could be wrong…my mom is 83 and her skin is unbelievable! She looks maybe 60 if that!
It was my mother. I use to be in awe watching her do her makeup. I loved the way she looked. She is still amazing looking in her mid 70s.
My mom and my grandma and when I was little I used to stolen their makeup :D.
Christine, are you still friends with her? Does she say that “Temptalia the Enterprise” is due in part to her? Do you think you would’ve gotten into makeup eventually?
We fell out of touch a few years prior to me starting the blog or even falling love with makeup. I don’t know if I would credit her for falling in love with makeup (because I didn’t fall in love with makeup until I started college, which was the result of MAC pigments, and we had already drifted apart prior to that), only that she introduced me to it. 🙂
Nobody in real life. I’ve always been interested in makeup (since I was a very young child) but nobody in my family/culture wears makeup. I honestly think it was Bollywood movies which made me love it – especially Rekha with her lovely dark lips!
Pretty much introduced myself. In the fourth grade (when JFK was a senator, I believe), biked to a nearby village Woolworth’s + bought somebody’s Hawaiian Pink. It had a faux tip on top with the color, in plastic. My mum wore not much, primarily Revlon. My MGM wore Germaine Monteil. I don’t recall my PGM, who was from Nova Scotia, even wearing l/s @ Xmas. I had been in kiddie theatre, so maybe that was what turned me on. First real makeup, actually to wear, was in hs, + the lippie/foundation was Arden…candlelight pink, i think…wore to formal dances. Also the first iteration of Revlon’s Blush-On in pink. Cheek color to that point had been pretty much pot rouge. Blush-On was so revolutionary for the time, that all the ensuing powder blushes were informally called blush-on. Kinda the way we say Kleenex for all tissues. No m/u by day in the mid sixties for most of us, although i desperately needed concealer, even then. Even in fourth grade, actually…should have looked for that instead! This stuff must make a lasting imprint, bec. I remember the shade names over fifty years later. The inception of an addiction.
My mom got me an eyeshadow palette from claires (my favourite shade was the blue) I wasn’t allowed to wear it in public. She also always had tinted chapsticks around the house that I would wear and then eventually she gave me a few. She didnt want me to wear mascara and I got in a lot of trouble on the last day of grade 5 when I put it on in the school bathroom. I started wearing concealer at the end of grade 7 (generic “Life” brand from shoppers drug mart with salicylic acid in it when I started breaking out), and then I bought foundation (rimmel lasting finish 24/25HR in the completely wrong colour) which i didnt even put all over my face so it was patchy and then I’d put on bronzer (also Rimmel) but it would only stick where the foundation was so i was probably orange and patchy thank god my friend accidentally smashed that bronzer a few days after I got it (even tho i wasn’t happy at the time) I wore brown mascara as well. My parents still aren’t the biggest fans of my makeup obsession (Im 15 now) but Im a little better at applying it now and I never go too crazy for going to school.
that is EXACTLY what happened to me! down to the t jajaja
that is exactly what happened to me! literally the same story xD
I’ve always had some kind of makeup, but my friend Rita really put my on to it and now it’s an obsession.
I would like to say my first memories of makeup would be of my grandmother’s. She had the powder balls (like Guerlain’s) although I never knew the brand she had. She had the most enchanting collection of beauty things.