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Have you ever realized that you were doing your makeup wrong?
Have you ever realized that you were doing your makeup wrong? Like you kept making the same mistake for awhile, because you never realized it was wrong until much later?
When I first started using MAC pigments (which is what made me fall in love with makeup), I used them dry and slapped them on the lid – I didn’t know you had to kind of transform to REALLY make them pop.
Thanks to Jenny for today’s question!
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This question brought a smile to my face. I remember back in 08′, I was heavily getting into youtube makeup tutorials and learning about brushes. I went to MAC and spent a lot of time swatching and playing around with the different eye shadows and paint pots. At that time, MAC had a variety of colors in the paint pots and they really stood out to me over the shadows so I ended up buying all the ones that were loud and colorful. I was eager to try them out so the first color I dove right into was Delft. I wore it from lid to crease and at the time I was using the 249 brush to apply it with. It dried down fast and nothing was quite blended. I went out to the movies with my husband and let me tell you, I had so many people staring at me. When I got home, I realized it didn’t look that great and was more than happy to wash it off and try again. Thank goodness I learned with time and a lot of practice how to use my paint pots which I absolutely love. It took me a long time to learn but now I’m doing makeup for other people and starting my own business.
I love your story because I always thought Delft was the most beautiful blue ever! But I was too afraid to buy it to wear myself and now they no longer make it.
I don’t know, I think we talked about similar mistakes in “beauty blunders”–I definitely used the wrong foundation formula…and color for a long time when I was younger. Also, tightlining is something huge–though I’m sure a lot of people might disagree. For me personally though, it changed how my eyeliner looked. There used to always be that weird little gap of skin showing through, but now my eyes just look like they naturally have dark, full lashes.
I’ve used the “wrong” colors (especiallyy when I was young), and my techniques have improved over the years, in addition to learning new ones, but I don’t think I ever did my makeup wrong. I remember when I first started wearing makeup, there wasn’t the vast variety of foundation shades & tones, and it seemed every brand was pushing “Warm” or “Cool”, but a “Neutral” option didn’t seem to exist. There were these little computerized questionnaires that some brands put out, and they all put me as warm, so I thought that’s what I was for a very long time. Needless to say, I wore the wrong foundation for years. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I figured out I had to mix foundation colors. Also, because I’m fairly light, I thought I had to wear light eyeshadow colors, which look horrible with my very dark eyes.
@xamyx Yup, I got stuck in the warm category as well and while warm colours can be nice on me, a lot of them make me look sickly and wan. I’m definitely neutral. I just found this out.. LoL
Yes definiteley ! I sometimes overdo it especially when I use very bright blushes such as Frankly Scarlet or even bright lipsticks + no foundation or tinted creams, people stare but I don’t mind, everyone goes wrong so it’s not that important in fact.
Hi Christine, With your answer I was wondering, how are you supposed to use the MAC pigments? I really want to try one but am unsure…
@katemcallaster I prefer to use them wet – like with MAC’s Mixing Medium!
@Christine (Temptalia) is mixing medium a pro MAC product?
@The78MsJ It is! I used to use 1 part glycerin + 3 parts water, shaken up, as a DIY version for years, though. Worked like a charm!
MAC’s Mixing Medium is definitely worth it if you can grab it – it’s not too pricey and one bottle will last you a lifetime. I know that it has more preservatives than if you did the DIY. My rule for DIY is make the SMALLEST batch you can (I did 1/4 tsp glycerin + 3/4 tsp water).
@Christine (Temptalia) @The78MsJ okay, now I understand! This would be a similar product to the one by OCC, correct?
@wwendalynne @The78MsJ Yes, I think OCC has a similar product! 🙂 I want to say MUFE has one, too. I’m not sure if they’re 100% exactly the same but I know the concepts are!
Oh geez, yes! When I was 18 and first started to wear makeup, I used to put my foundation on over my super dry skin, and then tried to apply moisturizer OVER that! It just made a huge mess! For some reason I thought you couldn’t put foundation on over moisturizer. Of course I hadn’t even heard of primer back then, either. But luckily I’ve got it all sorted out now!
It took me a while to learn how high up I can bring my eyeshadows without looking way too overdone, so I guess that would count as doing my makeup wrong? Otherwise I have certainly improved with time, but nothing was too horrendously wrong (or so I hope)!
…I didn’t know you had to kind of transform to REALLY make them pop.
I don’t understand. I never used pigments, because I thought, that I would do a real mess with it.
Would you please tell me, how you use pigments correctly? Thank you.
@Sanne13 If you use them wet, you really minimize the mess and get more intense color payoff 🙂
what do you mean by ‘transform’ de pigment? i use them dry sometimes and it works pretty well
@maquillage When I first started using them, they were kind of messy and didn’t wear very well, and when I used them with mixing medium, it was like angels sang!
Not a wrong way to do things. But I recently started to do my eye makeup first and it really did speed up doing my makeup process because I was try to be careful when doing the eyes to avoid fall out.
So it face primer and lip balm first, then the eye makeup then concealer then foundation and so on.
I’m not so sure I agree that using pigments dry is “wrong”. Although they certainly can display a totally different look when foiled, I mostly use mine dry. I don’t always have the time or inclination to foil them.
@Machostage okay, I haven’t a clue what ‘foiling’ means so if you could fill me in, I would be ever so grateful. Are we talking about a gradual gradation from lash line to brow bone? Please share! Thanks 🙂
@wwendalynne Foiling is when you use a pigment wet to give it an opaque, nearly metallic finish (well, if unless it’s a satin or a matte; then you’re not going to get a metallic finish out of it!).
I dont really think there is a “wrong” way to do makeup. There are diferrent ways, but not really wrong ways. Makeup is self expression. Most people probably think wearing electric blue eyeshadow lid to brow is ‘wrong’, but if it works for the wearer, who cares?
When i was putting BB cream under my foundation lol
That is a legitimate option that they recommend, though I’ve never tried it.
As a teenager, I used to put eyeliner on just my bottom lid. I already have dark, deep-set, heavy-lidded eyes, and it made me look like I was in my forties. Was tragic.
Oh man…why do we have to take these kind of trips down memory lane?! Lol. I’d probably say I was doing foundation all wrong when I first started out…and I can’t even remember what I was doing for eyeshadow, but whatever it was, I’m sure it was horrible! haha. I’m still trying to get makeup brushes, blending, and application down (no way am I doing it right for all kinds of formulations/techniques/what have you). Hmm…what else? That might just be it.
@annedreshfield you too, huh?
@wwendalynne Yes…sigh…lol.
Well, Christine, that leaves me to ask you exactly how you work with MAC pigments? I’m curious as all get out now 🙂 ‘Cause I usually use them in the corner of my eyes, but I also use them to change the colour/texture of other eyeshadows. Will you share you secrets??In response to the question, think of it in reverse: What haven’t I got wrong? I would say at some point I’ve got EVERYTHING wrong and it’s only now I feel more confident having years of practice and now having a little more time to spend some creative energy in the makeup arena. I’ve learned so many lessons and helpful hints from the internet and especially Temptalia.com. Christine, you are an absolutely an inspiration! You really are!!!
Here’s things I’ve just learned in the last couple of years. #1: BLUSH: you don’t smoosh it all over your cheek with a brush. Yeah, I had been doing just that for years. Then I purchased an amazing MAC brush with duo bristles and figured out with the help of the groovy brush how to do a subtle gradation on the cheek leaving more product on the inside of the ‘circle’ and less on the outside. What a difference! You can wear more blush colour without it looking unnatural and it duplicates a natural flush more accurately. #2: EYEBROWS: search search search for the perfect pencil or eyeshadow shade to match your eyebrows and particularly with pencil, apply in short strokes mimicking your own eyebrow hairs. When your product actually matches, it looks so much more natural and I need help with my eyebrows, believe me!. Turns out my eyebrows are dark grey/taupe (Illamasqua Gaze) #3: HIGHLIGHT: I never do my eyes without a highlight at the brow and one in the corner of my eye. It’s a game changer and brightens your whole look. I used to skip highlighter and just concentrate on makeup on my eyelid and wearing eyeliner. My approach has completely changed and I rarely wear eyeliner.
I would say never be afraid to make mistakes and learn. There’s always something new to incorporate into your beauty routine. Leaving everything the status quo guarantees you will get stuck in a beauty rut and look like something out of the decade you spent in high school! LoL :0) That could be retro cool too…unintendingly so *grin*
@wwendalynne I usually use them wet or with mixing medium so they adhere better + yield better color payoff 🙂
Thank you so much!
@Christine (Temptalia) Thanks Christine, I caught your message below.. I should try reading first 🙂
Haha! Mac Pigments are also what made me fall in love with makeup! 🙂 Many, many years ago!
I definitely started off doing my nails wrong! I had no conception of base coat or top coat, or how to manipulate the brush to get the lacquer to go where you want it to go… My nails were always a wreck through high school and into college! I finally started paying more attention to it and now my nails look *mostly* alright, although I’m still not as good at painting them as I wish I were! Other than that, I wouldn’t say that I did things *wrong*, just different from how I do them now. But I think that’s because I got into makeup very gradually, and only started incorporating new elements once I’d read about how to do it in a magazine or been shown by someone more used to it. Oh! But I only started doing my eyebrows in the last year or two, I’d consider that a “mistake”. I plucked them, but didn’t use brow gel or fill in the sparse parts. It makes such a difference, I can’t believe I hadn’t gotten into that habit before now!
Well, to jump on the bandwagon, I would also say I didn’t use pigments right at first and just applied them dry and there was SO MUCH FALLOUT.
There are so many other things though. Like I remember the first time I put on liquid foundation by myself after buying it. It was just a chore and I hadn’t covered my face evenly so there were areas without it (mostl by my jaw line) and areas that didn’t seem to like it as much. And I was meeting a guy I liked so I remember rushing to sort of fix it! It was a long time, too, before I realized I had to treat my t-zone different than the rest of my face, which lead to cakey foundation nightmares.
When I first learned how to do makeup from my mother and godmother, they neglected to mention eye primer or that buying brushes was not only preferable but more or less necessary. (I knew they existed, but throughout high school I naively thought brushes were a silly luxury for people with too much money.)
I also just recently learned that I blend the “wrong” way, but I actually prefer what I usually do as “normal” blending seems to be more for subtle/natural looks.
What should you do with them? Because at the moment I think they’re overrated.
use them wet
I think they blend very well with primer or cream base, and they are beautiful.
I struggled a bit when I first used a paint pot, I was applying one big layer that looked blotchy and later creased, instead of a few light layers… I’m good now! 🙂
Ahhhhhh. Thanks 🙂
In hs my mom got me a gold lipbalm that I thought for the longest time was a cream shadow xD it creased like crazy, haha
I had never heard of eyelid primer and so for 20+ years I was misusing (and hating) eyeshadow. I -discovered- UD Primer Potion and that started my affair with cosmetics.
Yay, my question!!
For a long time, I kept picking the wrong shades of concealer. I’m super yellow, but kept using cool-toned shades, lol
where do i begin?! well back in grade 9 when the whole “scene” movement was super cool! i would smudge a really sparkly blue all over my eye! no primer! then i would do heavy racoon-like eye liner! and smudge the bottom with black eyeshadow on a q tip and *shudders* concealer on my lips….so tragic!
then in grade 10 i was really into gyaru type of makeup! so i would put like a really frosty shimmery champagne eye shadow (still no primer, but i used it with a damp brush) on my lid, put really thick liquid eyeliner! and i mean thick!! and a forsty white in the inner corner! then i would over do it with a shimmery pink blush and then…the trademark concealer lips, but this time i added this sparkly white gloss on top!
thankfully by the end of it i finally saw the light!
Oh yes! I used to extend eyeshadow in the outer corner way too low, instead of sweeping it up. I did this for years, and interestingly enough it was my SO who mentioned that it’s too low in the outer corners. When I realized the difference, it was like a light went on!
I only just discovered the right way to use loose powder a few months ago due to Sali Hughes and Wayne Goss. I’d count it as one of the best makeup technique lessons I’ve ever learned – simple, but it really makes a difference. Loose powder is overlooked IMO.
God I used to just use straight up black, sparkley, covergirl eyeshadow. No primer. No blending out. Just to my crease, and done. No eyeliner on the top, but tons on the bottom, except for on my waterliner. x.x Oh the woes of being a ‘goth’ teenager. I’m still totally a goth kid at heart, but my makeup is sophisticated goth now. xD
I was using way to light foundations for the longest time. I’m glad I realized it.lol
Thank you Christine!
And thank you for your wonderful work, your tips and your kindness. I lost and saved a lot of money! 🙂
I would like to try a pigment that has a matte effect or may be satin, because I am in my forties and think it is prettier not to do sparkle or shimmer effects. My eyes are of a cool to grey brown with a darker circle (I don’t know the correct word) and have green and warm brown dots in it. Can you recommend a pigment for my wish to do a neutral effect or to play up the green or to play up the mocca-coloured parts of my eyes. I use MAC NW25 mineralized skinfinish and Makeup for neutral skintones light to light medium, Bobbi Brown warm sand, Laura Mercier blush ivory.
Tips are very welcome… Thank you and many greetings from a cool and rainy Germany.
@Sanne13 Hmm, I would not recommend pigments by MAC because they’re all rather frosty! Maybe Naked…
Oh man. I didnt know how to do my makeup until I was 18 and I am still learning something new everyday. I hate my high school senior photo for exactly this reason….for the first time ever I decided to put on some makeup because I wanted to look nice for my last school picture. I looked fine in my bathroom lighting and did the best I could. I felt great when I walked out the door but when that picture came out it was….yikes! Clown patrol.
I did 2 things wrong. One, I used to wear pastel eyeshadow quads from Covergirl. They aren’t a bad product, but I have very dark skin so it just looked ashy. Also I used to line my waterline. I have very small eyes, so this made them look even smaller. My teacher’s used to think I was asleep in class all the time! But I have been wearing makeup for 11 years and I’m still learning and evolving.
Back when I first started wearing foundation, I knew absolutely nothing about buying product based on undertones, and I was buying drugstore foundations so there was no one to actually guide me in my purchase. I used to buy products that looked like my skin color in the packaging, but would look orange-ish once applied because I was wearing a foundation that had red undertones, while my skin is clearly yellow toned! So glad my makeup skills have come a long way!