How was your makeup routine evolved?
When I first started wearing makeup, I only wore eye makeup. Then I gradually started to wear blush and lipstick (but I owned one blush and maybe a few lipsticks), which moved into gloss and foundation. I became really dependent on foundation for a couple of years, so I eased back on it. Eventually, I started to use and wear things like face primer, face serums, liquid lipstick, and so on!
Like you, for me it began primarily with my eye makeup, and for me, nail polish, too. But by 15 1/2, I also had to start wearing foundation due to terrible acne and oily skin, with that came using my one blush and some lipstick. By 17, I began experimenting with using more than one e/s. In my late teens-20’s, punk was in full swing, and now I began doing funky eye looks with black, fuschia and yellow e/s’s! 27 enter motherhood, toned it down slightly. 90’s come, less is more, except my red-brown & deep brown seriously smoky eye! 2001, single again, trying to get back to me. 2009, Crohn’s nearly killed me, but I rallied and got my metamorphosis rolling again! And now it’s rolling on steroids, and I’m wearing it ALL, LoL!
It’s funny to think how fast my makeup routine has changed. About a year and a half ago when I first got into makeup, I was all about the eyeliner and lipstick. I think I only had 2 lipstick colours (Laneige Blonde Coral and UD Turn On) so I rotated between the 2. My base was really simple, just a EL BB cream used sparingly in problematic spots. Now my everyday routine involves applying moisturizer on my dry patches before I start, then putting on bb cream all over, concealer, curling my eyelashes, mascara, brows, tightlining and a lipstick (I have WAYYYYY too many now for someone that rarely ventures beyond nudes and peachy brown-pinks).
Oh, man! The memories.
I had started wearing makeup somewhere in my teenage years, during the late 90s. At the time, I had only worn a lip look, and I had gone full Chola: red lips with a black liner; not blended. **Cringes!!** ? If it wasn’t for the gracious honesty of one of my school teachers, who told me that my black and red lip combo didn’t suit me, I would have continued to rock that lip look for many years. What had I been thinking?!?!
I had spent a few years wearing makeup here and there, but my looks were always quite tame. Lip gloss was the extent of my everyday-makeup look; I hadn’t even owned a foundation. Back then, my “extreme” makeup look (which I wore only when I had gone clubbing) had been wearing one shade of eyeshadow, a little blush, and excessive, clear lip gloss. Ya! I was so naïve. LOL. It wasn’t until I had been about 26-years-old that I truly started getting curious about makeup product and proper application techniques; spawned by Iman’s book, “The Beauty of Color”, and YouTube’s slideshow makeup tutorials. And the rest is history.
Now I’m extensively versed in the dos and don’ts of makeup. I know what works for my face [shape] and skin type; I know that the quality of makeup does matter; and I also know that blending is KING! I can now do anything from a simple, ‘no makeup’ look, to a vampy, glam bombshell image. It’s great!! All these years of trial and error has paid off. I’ve sure come a long way from my red and black lip look. **Cringes again!!** ?
The first makeup I ever wore were things my slightly older sister gave me in high school. She was super into makeup in the way a high school girl unsure of herself was so they were mostly things other girls in the school wore or things sales assistants recommended. She wanted me to wear makeup and at that point in my life I wasn’t bothered so I didn’t use them much. I do remember she got me BareMinerals stuff, which wasn’t that great an idea as I’m not a fan of powder foundation (I have dry skin) and all the other things like the eyeshadow trio and blush were loose powder which for a girl more interested in building robots were time-prohibitive.
It wasn’t until I moved to Canada in my early 20’s that I started getting into makeup myself. I started mostly drugstore, getting recommendations from friends that didn’t work for my skin type once again. So I sat down and did some research like the giant nerd I am always does, and basically got into skincare first. Once I understood my skin better, than I started buying makeup with some YouTube/internet research to help. I still favor light coverage for foundations (serum foundations in particular). I’ve grown to be okay with mascara, which I hated before but now I see the use in. I’m working on getting better with liner but the health stuff makes my hands not so precise a lot so that’s on hold for now. After trying out a lot of eyeshadow shades, I find I tend to stick to more neutrals and mattes, with some coppery bronze and burgundy types thrown in. When it comes to blush, I discovered I look great with a lot of shades as a result of the combination of great skin, pale skin, and a round face with rosy cheeks and dimples. As I cover up the brightness of my cheeks, adding some blush back in makes me look more like myself, whatever the shade (I originally stuck to more neutral pinks, but now I favor more coral or plummy shades depending on the look and season). I’m still not a huge fan of bronzer, but that’s mainly because I’m so pale even the lightest shade looks unnatural on me. Contour and highlight are the newest things in my repertoire, and I tend to prefer more natural versions of that as well, with the occasional mildly amped up highlight. Lip-wise, I used to be a strictly “my lips but better” girl and now am an “anything goes as long as it works with the look and the occasion” lady. I now LOVE lipliners as well, and have found some lip glosses I actually like which is a first for me.
I think overall I’ve grown more comfortable doing what I like as opposed to what other people like, and I also am pickier in terms of brands and items, but at the same time more open to trying new types of products. I’ve gone from the girl too shy to ask about products so I ordered them online or only at drugstores combined with other purchases to someone who will march up to a counter and ask for advice or to test out products with just my usual tinge of anxiety disorder. I hadn’t thought about it much until now but I think the whole process has made me more confident and assertive as a person, and at the same time has is some ways assisted in my social justice education as well. That’s pretty cool. Wow.
Initially I only used foundation, one eyeshadow, liquid liner (applied badly!) mascara and lipgloss. No blush, lipstick, brow products, concealer, powder, brushes etc. I also used the lightest foundation I could find but it was far too dark so I looked very orange…but I still wore it! Oh dear, I’m pretty embarrassed about that!
Then I discovered online tutorials and the world of bright eyeshadow! I got into brands such as Ben Nye (I still use and adore my Grande Lumière palette) and Kryolan. I ditched the old foundation and got myself a custom one from Prescriptives (I miss that brand since it’s no longer in the UK). I also discovered concealer for my horrendous under eye circles!
After that I slowly discovered blush. Very slowly! I owned one mauve-toned blush and that was it for a few years! Not sure why because I couldn’t imagine not wearing blush now.
Eventually I got into lipstick and quickly ditched most of my lipglosses. I’ve remained a lipstick girl ever since.
Late in the game I expanded my brush collection (which consisted of one fluffy eyeshadow brush and one small shader eyeshadow brush [both Lancôme]), with MAC brushes. I started using MAC makeup too.
And finally after swearing by MAC for years I started to use high-end makeup about 5 years ago.
Now I use a whole mishmash of brands, drugstore, theatre and high-end. Whatever works! I suppose I needed to go through that awkward ‘not-sure-what-I’m-doing-and-it’s-obvious’ phase so that I could learn from my mistakes…right?! If nothing else I’m sure it gave someone a laugh! 😛
Prescriptives was phenomenal~ I remember this amazing serum they had way back in my early thirties.. this well before anyone else had serum products. Foundation: I was colour matched and had my custom foundation recipe on file and could have it mixed whenever I needed a new bottle. I was a die hard Prescriptives fan for years.
Oh WENDY, yes! That Prescriptives serum was wonderful and at $40, it was super pricey for back then. My daddy was alive back then so I took advantage. Used to use that stuff on my neck and arm area after tanning. (yes, we tanned out in the sun in the 80s!) Prescriptives was also the first company to make a set of makeup brushes. i remember they had a little stand and looked very test-tube like. They were owned by Clinique/Este Lauder. Are they fully out of business?
Sadly, I do think they are done, Donya… or at least I have not seen a Prescriptives in Canada for years. I actually remember those test-tubes!!! I used that serum whenever I was on a business flight and would get off the plane with my skin feeling like total crap. I would put a few drops of the serum on and instant relief from the icky dry recycled air. 😀
They seem to be available at House of Frasers ?: http://m.houseoffraser.co.uk/PRESCRIPTIVES_BLP2/PRESCRIPTIVES_BLP2,default,pg.html&cid=PRESCRIPTIVES_BLP2
Hmm… Would it be considered excessive to fly from Canada to the UK to pick up my custom blend foundation? You lucky ducks across the big pond 😉
? yes…it might be a bit excessive! On the other hand, Beauty.com can ship internationally, they’ve partnered up with MyUS to forward parcels, which is a minus point. They do have Prescriptives though…
When I look back on how my routine evolved I realise how much I was influenced by beauty bloggers’ opinions, and what they taught me. I now have my own style/routine and see them as my no.1 source on beauty (reviews, trends), but don’t let their (or anyone’s) opinion (on what you’re supposed to do) get in the way anymore 🙂
For me it started with the eyes: eyeshadow in bold colours and so on. Later I added foundation to my routine and a shift took place from liking eyeshadow to liking lipstick. I hardly wear eyeshadow nowadays but do like lipstick a lot! I also discovered blush, highlighter, bronzer and concealer. I use foundation less and less, instead I use some concealer most of the time. I prefer the blush/highlighter combo for everyday so I hardly use bronzer. I tried several primers but they just don’t have a spot in my routine, I feel they don’t do much for me at all.
i used to not know how to do anything so i used to wear liquid foundation and the crappiest mascara and eyeliner and some eyeshadow…. then i learned how to do my brows and contour my face and i started doing a better foundation routine.. now i don’t wear nearly as much makeup as i used to but i still wear primer, a good foundation and bronzer, and a good mascara with neutral brown/tan eyeshadow colors.
I really did not wear makeup until I was in my 20’s and then the whole 80’s explosion on the fashion and music scene had my makeup and hair go from a flick of mascara staid nice girl to fairly radical a la Siouxie practically overnight. It was fun while it lasted and certainly my most experimental stage overall. I then went back to really simple makeup looks for professional reasons and lack of time and focus. Makeup just wasn’t important. Well, the pendulum swung back on makeup in my mid to late 40’s (thanks in part to Team Temptalia). Now at 52, I am wearing a lot more makeup overall (more products and a lot more careful application), but usually gear towards fairly natural looks. I also still go many days entirely without. Certainly, the advent of the internet and vloggers has definitely helped improve and hone my game face. Prior to that, yeah, blending skills, what blending skills?
Throughout, skincare has remained very important. I did a lot of print work for a Toronto designer in my 20’s and their chief MUA commented on my great skin and scolded me endlessly about the importance of proper skincare. I do not listen to too many people truth be told; have a very thick and hard head, but this was a strong woman with equally strong opinions and somehow she got through and it stuck. I’m thankful for that.
I started with eyeshadow and mascara in the beginning of high school (13/14), and started using eyeliner around 19. I found my HG lipstick (Revlon Super Lustrous 745 Raspberry Bite) at 20, and wore it every single day until I ran out of my last tube and learned it had been discontinued this summer. I still haven’t found a lipcolor I love as much! I am 24 now, and just now beginning to use basic skincare (makeup remover, cleanser, moisturizer, night cream) – I bought my first foundation (Naked Skin in 2) a couple weeks ago, but have been too intimidated to attempt using it! Since discovering Temptalia and reddit MUA over the summer (when I was searching for a dupe for the for my favorite discontinued lip color), I’ve become VIB Rouge over the course of a few months! I’ve always loved mascaras and eyeshadows, but it’s been really exciting to start filling out my collection, and trying new things. I recently got my first CC cream, primers, liquid illuminator, highlighter, contour kit, highlighter, and brow product. I’m really interested in liquid lipsticks, and really looking forward to trying those soon!
I was all about brown or plum eye shadows only. I still love a neutral base, only now it’s brighter and with a pop of colour in the crease along with a coloured eye liner.
I’ve also gotten over my fear of bold lip colours and now own more lipsticks than I can use in a lifetime, with purple being my colour of choice. I reach for purple more often than MLBB shades.
Now that I have a job that prohibits makeup, my routine has technically evolved (or devolved) to none at all most days, so now I’ll go all out just to go to the grocery store, because I miss it ?
What kind of job is allowed to prohibit makeup?
Same, eye make-up came first and alone for me too 🙂 Then years later foundation. And eventually even DARED to go as far as to use blush and lipstick 😉
When I first started wearing makeup, I only focused on learning eyeshadow and liner techniques since I was pretty clueless about foundation and concealer. Once I got more comfortable with eye makeup, I started experimenting with foundation and then eventually learned the wonders of concealer. Then it all went down hill from there LOL! I got addicted to blush which turned into me learning how to highlight and contour from watching a million tutorials. From there, I learned the value of primers, powders and setting sprays which I started incorporating into my routine. Now, I’m a full face junkie since I’ve gotten the hang of things lol
I started wearing makeup full time back in the late fifties and so it was Max Factor pancake makeup, a red lip, and simple black liner (thin line with a bit of a flick) and black mascara. I really didn’t need the pancake because my skin was clear, but the very matte look was in at the time and pancake was an excellent way to achieve it. Over the years, I’ve embraced and adapted many of the new looks, techniques, and products and so my routine has constantly evolved to suit what is considered fresh and modern and–more importantly–what suits my features at any given age. When I wear a full makeup nowadays, I embrace satin or luminous formulations: a sheer to medium coverage foundation, a highlighter for my cheekbones, sometimes a blusher (my cheeks can get quite pink at times due to rosacea so no blusher is needed), and a light dusting of Météorites. In general, I no longer bother with bronzers, contouring products, or concealers although I will sometimes use a bit of a light bronzer during the peak of summer. For lips, I no longer wear light or pale shades as they wash me out. As my hair has become more and more silver around my face, I find that some vibrant or juicy color on my lips brings life to my look. When it comes to eyes, anything goes! I adore eye makeup! Always have; always will 🙂
I was the complete opposite! I wore foundation, blush, lipstick and did my brows, but usually skipped all eye makeup. Thanks to my oily lids, shadows, liners, and mascaras would just melt and smudge into raccoon eyes, and I couldn’t find an eye primer that worked, and believe me, I tried many. Then they came out with a couple of brand new primers that did it for me. It was a total game changer. I started wearing eye makeup, and my eye shadow collection exploded. I call it “making up” for lost time 😉
Back in high school, I only used mascara, brow pencil, and lipgloss. I didn’t care too much for my appearance, sometimes I put in eyeshadow but I just used only one color. I didn’t give a care in the world then. lol
But I started wearing makeup when I started college and work. I used foundation, eyeshadow, and eyeliner a little more. I recently got myself into wearing lipstick, blush, and bronzer. I’m toning my collection down to the ones I could *actually* use more.
well, at first i didn’t do eye work… like eyeshadow, brows and all those stuff… i only applied powder, liner, lipstick, mascara and blush… now i actually do eyeshadow, even tho it’s just a little. i put moisturizer before bb cream or foundation… i even entered to the world of countouring and highlighting… things have changed for me, and that’s okay -8- … i have fun when i do it so it nice.
I used to buy makeup for my kit (I’m a pro makeup artist and instructor) and use any brand as long as it had high pigment payoff and blender well. Never questioned the toxicity of the ingredients! Now, I guess my makeup had evolved to only using ethical, vegan and natural brands. Cheap makeup is like fast food for the skin, my celebrity clients absolutely love the way my kit has evolved and appreciate me more for it!!
For me, my makeup addiction started with foundation, concealer, and powder due to my acne. My parents wouldn’t let me wear more until I was older so I had a really flat look for years cause it was the 80’s. In my mid-teens, I got two blushes, a few shadow singles, lip products aplenty, eye liner, and mascara. That’s when I realized how much better it all looked together.
I didn’t get a bronzer until my mid 20’s and I rarely use it. I didn’t start highlighting until my mid 20’s but that was partly because I was much oilier and I’d just use Stila Kitten if I needed some sheen somewhere. I didn’t start filling in my brows EVER until my late 20’s because I lost some fullness from my thyroid problem.
I started by wearing mascara only, then got into lipstick and nail polish (I only had a handful though, all in deep colors like wine or plum). Then I started buying more eyeshadows, concealers for my dark circles and a wider variety of lipsticks. Little by little I realized that a “clean” base makes a lot of difference, so I got some face powders first, then foundations, and blushes. The last thing I realized was important were brows, and I started getting some brow products in the past 3-4 years.
I tried to keep this concise, but I’m old and have done a lot of evolving.
I started with clear lip gloss and flavored balms when I was in third grade. I was allowed to add light pink and peach lipglosses, lipstick and cream blush by fifth grade. Then in eighth grade my best friend got me into brown eyeliner (Covergirl) on the lower lashes only, and that evolved into other colors (had to go for Wet n Wild for the purples and blues). All the younger girls wore liner on their lower lashes only; I don’t remember why this was a thing. By my freshman year of highschool, it was foundation (that wasn’t a great color match and oxidize, but what did I know…), face powder (remember Corn Silk?), powder blush, neutral eyeshadows, colored lipgloss or lipstick, eyeliner and mascara (all drug-store, of course). During my last couple years of high school I added brighter eyeshadow shades and black eyeliner on both lids, and uncoventional lipstick shades, lavender blushes, etc. This continued through college. After college, I got more into neutral makeup again because I was working in insurance, and then in offices, and it was the 90s. Earth tones and more natural looks were in. I also had my share of reddish brown eye shadows, brown lipstick, and lavender taupes.
In the early 2000s, I started getting into BareMinerals to find stuff that wouldn’t oxidize and would hold up to my oily skin. I was also having massive allergy problems, and could only wear BareMinerals, Almay and Physician’s Formula eye products for about a decade. My first face primer was their Prime Time. I believe it was one of the first ones out. So that was how I got into mineral makeup and loose pigments. I had a friend who sold Mary Kay, so I used their skincare, but not as regularly as I should have. I occasioanally bought makeup from them. I didn’t have a lot of money, as I had a husband with a brain tumor and two kids with special needs. I couldn’t work outside the home and care for them, so I really didn’t buy much makeup for about two decades. Just the basics, and I kept the cheeks and eyes pretty neutral. I was exhausted and broke and usually didn’t get too creative, much as I wanted to. I needed easy and fast.
In my late 30s. I’d finally got some decent doctors and an allergy specialist. I had more money, and more into skin care, coloring my hair, and keeping my nails in acrylics. I start updating my makeup and expanding the brands in my collection. I’d sort-of kept up with the newer stuff coming into shops like Sephora, and the increasing online commerce, though I wasn’t buying much. Eyeshadow primer was a lifechanger!
My skin started changing every few days when I hit my mid-40s, so I’ve been getting even more into skin care, eye creams, firming creams, etc. I had to expand to a foundation wardrobe instead of just my BareMinerals Original. Will I have a huge acne breakout, have an oil slick, or will my cheeks be dried out? I never know any more. I’ve added contouring, occasional bronzer, darker and brighter blushes, vampier lipsticks — things I never felt I pulled off well before. I went back to work last year, and really overhauled and updated my makeup and skin care collection. I spent a few thousand bucks, but I regret none of it.
Me too about the Cover Girl brown eyeliner only on the bottom lash line. I don’t know why that was a thing, but that’s the way it was done back then.
In the last 15 years I’ve been more open to incorporating more blush into my looks, and have had to develop a pretty detailed brow routine due to a lot of brow loss. Other than that, I’ve always been about wearing ALL THE THINGS/switching up ALL THE THINGS
My makeup routine has evolved over the years due to so many wonderful products being developed such as primers, illuminating powders/creams, finishing powders, liquid eye shadow (My fave GA tint!!),
etc and etc : )
I started out wearing foundations, those horrible cream eye shadows and lipsticks. I then moved into using blushes, eye brow pencils and mascara. Now I use face primers, foundation, setting powder, blush, far better quality eye shadows (and lots more colours/neutrals), eye brow pencils, mascaras and still lots and lots of lipsticks. One of the other acquisitions along the way has been better quality and more varied brushes.
oh man, so many more steps! i definitely care a lot more for my skin than i used to. and i’m branching out past nude lipsticks! currently loving my unicorn blood by jeffree star which is WAY outside of my comfort zone!
Hey thanks for using my question, Christine!
Teens – I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup until 15, and then it was only eyeliner, mascara and clear gloss (Vaseline). My friend and I would sneak her sister’s drugstore eye shadow quads at school and use every color all the way up to our eyebrows, then come home and wash it off before our parents came home.
20’s – discovered Ultima II at JC Penney and brown everything. That led to MAC and I might as well have signed over my paychecks. I went for makeovers every last Saturday of the month and would buy everything they used on me.
30’s – shelved everything; a so – so relationship turned into a bad marriage turned into even more horrible divorce and I hardly left the house except to go to work. I wore no makeup and gained a lot of weight. I had drawers and drawers full of makeup that I didn’t even remember having until my late 30’s.
late 30’s to present (mid 40’s) – recovered from horrible marriage and divorce, lost weight, found a wonderful man that scared me stupid for many years until I learned to trust (myself) again, and started trying to use makeup. But my techniques were dated. I discovered youtube makeup tutorials and I fell down a rabbit hole trying to watch everything and catch up only to realize I looked like a clown with most of the colors/placement/techniques because I wasn’t the same age as the youtuber and needed to update my collection, brushes, techniques, placement, etc. I found a few makeup blogs and started following them, with Temptalia being the only blog I follow now (because it’s so comprehensive!). I spent a summer organizing all my makeup palettes and storage and giving away/donating and cataloging looks and have since found an MUA that I like and trust and work with on the regular. I am back to wearing a full face again and love it. Unlike when I was younger, I wear primers and bases and things to moisturize and extend wear time, and I spend more time applying and blending. I also have invested in quality brushes and skin care products. It used to be that I just used Noxema or whatever on my face for cleansing and the focus was makeup but now I spend just as much on skin care products as I do makeup and brushes! And I don’t just slap on makeup and go like I did/would/could when I was in my 20’s – I plan my getting ready time to allow plenty of time to put on makeup. I like coordinated, polished looks and rarely leave the house without a full face. It’s not that I feel naked or ugly without a full face, I just love applying it and seeing the end result, and let’s face it, as you get older, you need to take greater care with everything.
🙂
Started out at 11-12 with black pencil eyeliner on my waterline and clear gloss or those Bonne Bell flavored lip balms. Ventured further to blue eyeshadow (all the way up to my unruly eyebrows), but only for “special occasions.” Got into high school and plucked my brows clean, plus black wooden eyeliner brown eyeshadow and terribly dark lipstick and I thought I was the bees knees. Kept that look for all of high school (ditched the lipstick) and moved on to college where I needed to up my game a bit. Started using moisturizer and pencil eyeliner on my top lids too. Plus a generic blush and coloured lipgloss. Fast forward to my early twenties when I discovered concealer and my life changed. I still don’t wear foundation regularly but concealer and eyeliner are my holy grail. Only started wearing mascara and eyeshadow a couple years ago. I know all the dos and don’t and I own all the products but I generally keep a very basic face.
I started out with wearing only concealer for my spots and lipbalm. Then, when I wanted to get into make-up, I started wearing eye-shadow, with no primer, just shadow… and lipgloss. Then I ventured into lipsticks. It was only then I started to wear foundation and powder and blush. For some years, I wore a full face up make-up everywhere, but now I am more easy on it… I mean, if my face is okay, and I’m not going to work, I might just wear concealer. For a long time, I did not wear any eyeliner, because I was afraid my shaky hands won’t be able to learn how to do it, and it took some time for me to learn to put eye-makeup under my lash-line, too. Later, I learnt contour and highlight.
Now, I am pretty knowledgeable about makeup, but I am learning about newer and newer,m unique products day by day (lip tints, lipquid lipsticks, peel off stains etc).
The more I use it the more refined my looks get and the more cohesive every part of it becomes. Initially I started off with glosses and built up my confidence enough to try bolder finishes. From there I kept trying new kinds of products of all sorts at the drugstore level until I figured out what worked for me and what I could live without. If it wasn’t for Sephora’s wide range of foundations I never would have found shades that truly complimented me. Until a year ago mac was the only brand that made colors with my general skin tone in mind. Everything I came across was either too deep or way to ashy on me. Grey, purple, and bright red undertones are not the norm for every w.o.c. and its nice to see more companies acknowledging it.
What a fun question!
I never wore makeup at all as a teen or young adult… My skin got so dry and patchy during pregnancy at 25 and my cousin is an aesthetician so I got some product recommendations and partly to fix my problem and partly to encourage her new business, I bought a couple products.
They were life-changing!!
From there, with skin that actually could take makeup without being all cakey and unnatural-looking, I experimented. I also happened to have time since I was on mat leave, and a desire to blog. I subscribed to a bunch of beauty boxes and got to try a variety of products I didn’t even know existed (from high lighters to primers to lip pencils, etc)
That was 4 years ago and the change is mostly the skills I’ve learnt over time that I implement. About 2 years ago I started to do something with my eye brows which were still a mess… and although it was an improvement over bushy eyebrows, my filling in was WAY too dark!! lol. It’s one thing I can look back on and laugh – like a lot of people do about their teen year makeup DONT’s. 🙂
I started with eyeshadow fascination. Like I was always fascinated by all of these eyeshadow colors and palettes and would buy them but didn’t know how to use them (still don’t). I usually wore just mascara and blush and sometimes lipstick. And actually, that hasn’t changed. The only difference is that concealer has become my best friend and I love a winged eye :-). Oh and I’m a lipstick fiend.
It’s been a long, but not necessarily linear evolution!
It started by raiding my mom’s huge stash of makeup (we have the same skin, eye and hair color). I learned early on that purple pencils make green eyes pop, that I loved “your lips but better” lipsticks and that your focus should be either your eyes or your lips, not both.
Things that EVOLVED (Thankfully! Lol):
– WRONG COLOR FOUNDATION – I’ll never, ever, ever wear a very matte (pan-cake!) paler than my skin foundation at night with red lipstick and black eye makeup just because it’s ‘in’ (a la Robert Palmer “Addicted to love”). This look is still iconic, but no wrong color foundation ever again!
– DRAB, MUDDY, TAUPY BLUSHES – My blushes didn’t add the pinch my cheecks or healthy glow that they’re supposed to; they were just there. Brighter, lighter blushes, especially Peach tones ones are my friends!
GOTH OR DEAD LIPS – Note to my 16 and 19 year old self: Too dark, matte, burgundy lips, braces: NO! Too light, matte, nude lips: NO! Again, the right nude or red is the way to go. And recently, I discovered that that a SOME COLOR TO YOUR LIPS is an easy and quick way to elevate a blush and mascara look to the next level.
GOLD/SHIMMER BOMB FACE – I never went overboard as my beastie, but boy did I shine in the 90’s! Lol Now thanks to highlighting, I pick and choose what to emphasize.
MY BEST EVOLUTION TIP? Never stop learning/reading/looking up tips about makeup techniques and products. Do it to make yourself prettier and also because it’s fun. We get older, things change, so we have to keep up! 🙂
After being into makeup for the last 2 and half years, I am happy to report that I have found a set routine. The products may change, but the way I apply them are the same. It took a long time to get to this point. Now I just wish I could do a full face in under 2 hours!
i started off with simple foundation & eyes & very little blush. eventually i started getting bolder so my makeup got heavy & dark. I eased up & went back to the ‘less is more’ feeling. im still on the search for a good matte foundation that will last me all day yet still cover my hyper pigmentation. I love loreal infallible but the tone is too pink…
Used to only be eyeshadow, a tinted moisturizer, lash tint, and a sheer blush.
Now, I use a lot more products (not every day, mind you), but definitely an actual foundation, mascara instead of tint, and more pigmented blushes/contour colors. Lipstick is a newer thing, I only did glosses and balms for a long time.
But most importantly, I don’t match my makeup to my outfits as much. Which took a great eye-look into matchy-matchy territory.
I grew up in the 80’s, so I started balls out! I was contouring, highlighting and strobing like a boss! Cover Girl and others had these cheek and eye palettes that had highlight, contour, etc. Don’t even get me started about concealer…loved it more than my shoulder pads!m
I learned lots from the lovely make up beauty videos on YouTub especially that that less is more and that I don’t need to wear a ton of make up!