I used to use MAC Pigments ALL the time in looks (before I was really reviewing), like Chartreuse. I also used MAC Graphblack Technakohol on my waterlines all the time along with MAC Plushlash mascara!
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Blue eyeshadow. I have pale blue eyes. Oh dear! I also used to use the black waterline a lot thicker than I do now (I still use it, but keep it quite sheer).
Although early oughts me would be horrified at how much orange I wear now.
I used to buy MAC eyeshadows based on your reviews! Lately MAC is a bit boring and much of the make up you review is not easily accessible in Europe… unfortunately 🙁
Wish you reviewed more products that I can buy here too! Although I still read most reviews 🙂
NYX Milk! Now I feel like everything should be pigmented or I’m going home, ha.
Cover Girl eyeshadows, which were my HG in high school, MAC Pigments and MAC eyeshadows. UD has become my preferred shadow brand, based on the number of their palettes that I own.
I used a lot of UD products several years ago, but rarely use the brand anymore. The UD the Naked3 palette was my first big palette and I used it every day. I still have it, but haven’t touched it in years, especially since my two favorite matte shades are used up. (I should probably trash it, but I just can’t part with it.) Also, I used UD 24/7 eye pencils every day a few years ago, but I’ve found eyeliners that work so much better on me now. And UD Primer Potion was an old must-have until I discovered NYX Proof It Waterproof Eyeshadow Primer, which works just as well and costs so much less.
Again I don’t have specific products per se bc I use what I always have worn but I have added brands. I’d say I used to be obsessed with blue eyeshadow. More so teal-blue eyeshadow. It was my go to for when I wanted color. I have a ton of it still sitting in a drawer but I haven’t reached for it for so long.
Then I’d say waterproof mascara. I thought I needed it and always loold for the waterproof version whenever I bought mascara. Now I find rarely have an issue of mascara running or smearing and non waterproof hold up well on my lashes. Also I have found waterproof formulas to be so drying and a pain to remove so I don’t bother!
For awhile I only wore orangey brown or brown in the crease. Now I have experimented with lots of different colors. Everything from ashy browns to mauves to greens and even I’ve been obsessed with satiny or shimmery colors in the crease 🙂
MAC Paint tube in Chiaroscuro – loved this and am sorry it was discontinued
UDPP in Eden – not really sure why I haven’t been reaching for it lately; I still really like it
Lancome Hypnose waterproof mascara – I find the Maybelline waterproof Volum Express in the yellow tube is just as good at holding a curl and far less expensive
Revlon eyeliner, black in the red pencil, put over a flame (when we all had lighters 😉 ) and put on my waterline! I wouldn’t walk out the door w/o that and now I can’t imagine doing it, lol
I really just tattled on my age (57)
I remember those (but it was Maybelline, not Revlon), LOL! What made it even worse was having girls piled up at the bathroom mirror at school, several lighting their eyeliner, while other we’re spraying AquaNet, LOL! I’m really surprised there were never any reports of fires being started in school bathrooms…
LOL!
Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes — They used to be the only palettes I had and I loved them, and now I haven’t bought a new one in years (Moondust might have been the last one?) and I can’t recall the last time I used one. I don’t think I ever chose one as my “Palette of the Month” for last year, either. I just find that other brands are providing color schemes and layouts that I like so much better.
Any loose e/s, but especially BM. It’s nice, but very mess-conducive.
MAC paint was my jam for a long time. I used one color at a time, with black or blue eyeliner. When I was in college in the late 80’s I was obsessed with collecting Revlon Custom Eyes shadows. There was a little plastic palette where you could pop in 3 at a time. The color I used the most was a gritty grungy sparkly black.
You will have to pry UD palettes out of my cold dead hands (most of mine are older, newest I have is Heavy Metal) — but I had to part ways with the UD 24/7 liners. I absolutely lived for them, but then the formula changed and my contacts hate the new formula so I can’t wear them without major discomfort. Unfortunately, I honestly haven’t found a good replacement for the fun colors so now I pretty much just end up wearing basic chocolate browns, deep plummy purple, and black. If anyone has suggestions for contact approved eyeliners in fun colors without glitter that work in the waterline I’m all ears!
CoverGirl and Maybelline quads (moved on to BareMinerals Eye Colors); BareMinerals Eye Colors (in the days before primer, they lasted on my oily lids the longest if I layered them over the brand’s Original Foundation and Mineral Veil); Wet n Wild eyeliner pencils (I moved on to better brands). E.l.f. Essential Custom Eyes Refill Pan Eyeshadows.
I’ve got a *literal* graveyard drawer full of them. UD Naked Smoky, L’Oréal Infallible e/s’s, and a TON of Nyx e/s in singles, trios and quints all seem to see zero usage lately. I also tend to neglect many of my other UD palettes with the exception of Beached and Vice 3. Pretty sad state of affairs.
A whole lot of MAC shadows – not because they’re bad or I don’t like them but because e/s is my real weakness, so I keep buying more of them and, almost of necessity, I tend to leave “old faves” at the back of the drawer. Ones that come to mind are Satin Taupe, Illulsionary/Burning Ambition and a bunch of the original (and very excellent) Pro Longwear shadows. Also, the original Too Faced Natural Eye palette.
My first ever palettes were Kat Von D’s Poetica and Saint. I wore those like crazy and now I barely touch them. As I got more into makeup, I found that I like other formulas better but I do revisit those two palettes every once in a blue moon since they’re still good.
Colorful eyeliner; I just prefer black… I used to wear them in the late-80s/ early-90s quite frequently, and although I’ve played with them a bit since then, I find I just don’t care for them.
Single/Duo eyeshadows; I simply can’t be bothered to pull individual shades on a regular basis. If I do buy them, I typically depot them into a palette, but even then, those pallettes rarely get used, since they’re not organized with cohesion.
Loose eyeshadow & pigments; like the singles, I don’t really bother fishing them out of a drawer, and I can’t put them in a palette… That said, I do still have many of them, and love the ability to foil them, so I will pull one out on occasion.
Cream shadows could also fall into this category, but I’ve been actively making an effort to use them, in lieu of eyeshadow primer, which is another product I’ve stopped using…
A specific product that comes to mind is Lancome Bi-Facil Double Action Eye Makeup Remover; I’ve used this off & on for decades, but always found after a few days in a row, the outer corners of my eyes would get dry/irritated. While it is a very effective product, I reserve it for days I go full-glam. That said, I very recently found a replacement in Wet n Wild Makeup Remover, which is brand new, just as effective without the irritation, and a fraction of the price. It’s also amazing for removing liquid lipstick.
I think they were called Maybelline Colour Tattoo’s. I used them alone and as primer but somewhere along the line I switched to the HE MAC Paintpots and just never went back. I use to heavily line my eyes with a Kohl pencil and when I think back on it I shudder because I have tiny eyes to begin with and lining with the dark black Kohl just made them look tinier. My third would be using a bright white shimmer shadow on my brow bone. I still use an occasional shimmer on my brow bone but I look for shades that are not quite so stark. No matter how my e/s look turned out, adding a bright white shimmer just over powered the look. I don’t remember noticing that at the time though.
I used to wear fake eyelashes on the weekends for maybe 3 years in a row in my twenties. I wear them maybe once a year now. I threw out all but MAC Lashes (No. 2? No. 4?).
Hmm – I used to use Revlon’s and Rimmel’s eyeshadow quads – until I started reading this blog and realised that there were so many better brands out there that we hadn’t had in Aus land. These quads were pretty awful, I must say.
As for colours – I wear a lot more neutrals, gold/bronze and olive shades now.
Ditto on the drugstore brand duos, trios, and quads! LOL, ugly!
Hi Christine,
I wanted to get your input about the Mac eyeliner that you mentioned you used on your water line. For me, I only use eyeliner on my water line, not anywhere else and am always searching for the one that lasts the longest.
I’m using a NARS black eyeliner now but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the color payoff and longevity of Mac’s Graphblack Technakohol liner, specifically for the water line and hear any other recommendations.
Thanks!
Review here: https://www.temptalia.com/product/mac-cosmetics-technakohl-liner/graphblack/
I’ve been having really good luck with Essence Long-Lasting mechanical eye pencil on the waterline. I’ve tried so many over the years, DS to HE, and this is the best I’ve tried (not perfect, but far better than the others), and I’ve stopped looking for “better”. Obviously everyone is different, but for $3, it’s worth a try!
Mac Paint Pots , in particular Painterly, used to be my go-to before anything else! Also UD Sin was a go-to for me.
Eyeliner.
I see a lot of responses and as I think about it, when I started more heavily into makeup (and I don’t mean heavy wear, but purchasing and deep interest) it was rather late, a decade ago and I’m in my 50’s now, so before than I didn’t much use eye products. So, I’m having a hard time thinking about what don’t I use any longer. Perhaps, more of a change in eye application technique, such as only using one or two colors, also buying duo, trio and quad palettes (dislike someone assembling the colors I should wear). Now, I own very, very few small eyeshadow palettes (a couple of Dior’s) and like many larger palettes and singles, so as to make my own combinations.
I used to use my urban decay palettes nakeds…used them everyday was good for work. I have the naked cherry its ok…but I have branched out to brighter and more indie brands..
In high school I used only Clinique eyeshadow. I used to also be obsessed with Tarte cream eyeshadow pots and sticks, but I don’t think I’ve seen them come out with these in awhile.
I used to use more eye pencils – most often black, but also blue, green, red, under the eye, in the waterline, as a eyeliner…. Now I only use beige/white pencil in my waterline. Even Marc Jacobs didn’t change my mind about eye pencils.