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What makeup technique still eludes you?
False eyelashes!!
— Christine
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False eyelashes
How to match eye shadows (picking out a harmonious crease and outer v color w/lid color)
How to match blush with eye look, or blush with lipstick, or eye look with lipstick
I’ve never quite understood how and why colors work together, and how undertones are supposed to (or not) match up and blend together 🙁
Try matching the tones of your lips and blush. For instance, if you are wearing a peachy pink blush try to go with that tone lip color. As far as matching it to your eye, what might be helpful is to study cool vs. warm colors and just try to stay in color families. For instance, if I was doing a gray or blue eye look I would probably go with a pink blush and lip but if I was doing a brown eye look I might go for a peach or coral lip and blush. It really depends on your coloring.
I’ve never thought of it in terms of tones but rather colors. Hmmmm. Time to break out the color wheel. This is very helpful, thank you!
Hi AngieGCarp – I tried this today and was very pleased with the look! It’s going to be great going back through my stash with this in mind to create some looks of my own. I’ve always had to rely on a face chart or template from a makeover and it’s kind of discouraging to have this nicely curated stash, but then not feel like you can really use it because you are limited to only using the products if they were on a face chart. I have the next week off for the holidays so I’ll be playing around with this new formula! Thanks again!
Lining the eyes with anything but a liquid liner, especially now with hooded eyelids. I’m better at tightlining using a Chanel waterproof eyeliner or using a push brush to place pigment at the base of my lashes.
Contouring. I’m getting better (no extreme contouring for me–just the NYX palette), but some days my cheekbones look a little lopsided!
A few years ago, I got talked into trying (buying!) false lashes. To this day they greet me in their unopened little Sephora holder. They wink at me from within their clear plastic housing, mocking my cowardice. And fear of glue.
*le sigh*
The struggle is real, my friends.
Hee-hee… I have several pairs of eyelashes that have remained unopened and stored in a drawer. I have two pairs that I’ll occasionally practice with, hoping to figure out how to apply them correctly. I usually get one lash on perfectly… then, on the other eye, it looks like a drunken caterpillar has passed out on my lid… :-/
LOL!
That’s one of the scenarios I fear, Cat; that I’ll wind up with a poor, droopy, little caterpillar barely hanging on…,or worse, I’ll go to take them off and my own sparse crop of lashes will get destroyed! Those suckers scare me just a little!
Removing them is actually the easiest part of the entire process. I just get a Q-Tip, soak the tip with a waterproof eye makeup remover (I use Sephora’s when I’m playing around), and run the tip of the Q-Tip back and forth on the band until it just plops off. All of my transparent, natural lashes remain attached to my lids. =)
I would probably run with the droopy caterpillar look if I wore it with a hat like the Mad Hatter’s and carried a hookah. LOL!
snort laugh.. sounds all too familiar
Haha love your comment and humor nancy! Happy holidays!
Thanks Nora! Humor saves my questionable sanity!
Since I have oily lids (one hooded) and a wet waterline, it’s a big challenge trying to keep shadow/eye liner/mascara in place without fading, smudging, melting, sliding. So that’s taken up all my energy, no time to try fancy winged eyeliner or false lashes. And imagine the big mess if those things start melting off my lids! The only good thing about having oily lids is that all that natural oil (and some retinol) keeps them looking young
Nyx has a new eye primer that is waterproof. I have been using it for about 2 months now and it is the answer to my eyeshadow prayers! You must try it!
Thanks for the tip!! I’m always on the prowl for industrial strength eye primer, waterproof sounds great, will check it out!
Great eyebrows.
OMG! Yes 🙁 I’ve been in pursuit of the perfect eyebrows since forever. I gave up and have been getting them threaded. Mine are thick and black, so if I take the wrong one out, it looks like I’m missing a few. If I try to fill it in with Too Faced Bulletproof, I look like Groucho Marx! If I have some unruly ones, instead of pulling out, I use a dry black mascara and sweep across them very lightly. It doesn’t change the color and the shape stays nice so I don’t get yelled at when I go for my next threading appt. HA! The really weird thing is that I can do eyebrows very well on others.
I absolutely HATED doing my brows and spent more time on them than I did on any other aspect of my makeup routine (up to fifteen+ minutes!), and they STILL looked ridiculous (to me)! Then, I bought the MUFE 274 brush and ABH Dipbrow. Now, I lightly outline my brows with my NYX Micro Brow Pencil and fill them in (slowly) with the Dipbrow. I’ll also use the NYX pencil to draw thin “hairs” in the places where brow hairs no longer grow. It’s made doing my brows so much easier, faster, and even enjoyable.
False lashes and wings that match.
I’m a false lashes fail too!
I am the FALSE EYELASH GODDESS- extensions, strips, individuals, demis, double & triple strips- No problem!
HOWEVER, I can not get my flicks on fleek!
I can get one eye looking good & the other eye looking pretty good but, eh, they don’t quite match or something’s not quite right. And I’m left looking in the mirror thinking, “What even happened here? Oh piffle, It’s getting late, I’ll just smudge the whole thing & do a smoky eye AGAIN.”
I’ve tried gel, liquid, pencils, stencils, you name it, & I can’t do it
I finally just had the darned things tattooed on.
Yes, permanent makeup. No, I don’t look like Cleopatra, they’re a delicate feline flick in soft charcoal gray. If I want to make the flicks more dramatic I just trace over them in a deeper color. LOVE THEM!
SAME! I try so hard and have tried many times but I just can’t get it. :'(
Try clear tape. I’m a master at it now but before I got the hag of it I used clear tape and it was amazing! It gives you a razor sharp and clean edge. I still use it for certain looks that I want to be sharp and precise. Hopefully this helps!?
False lashes and spot concealing!
The perfect cat eyeliner! And yes, falsies, especially strips. I do okay with individual lashes.
Same here! Hihihi. I tried it once for a New Year’s eve party… It’s not for me I guess. Fortunately I’ve got super thick and long lashes.
Eyeliner. I have semi-hooded eyes and I’ve never achieved a flattering eyeliner on me.
I struggle with them as well. I guess I should really attempt to put some on more often, to get practice!
Contouring comes to mind right away. I have no idea whether what I’m doing is the best way for my face, although it does not look too bad and I’m settling for it for now.
Liquid eyeliner and false lashes. However I also haven’t really tried to master either technique. Since I am in my late 30s, neither is really necessary. Women my age in my work situation don’t wear dramatic cat eyeliner and I have never seen anyone my age in real life with false lashes. I honestly skip eyeliner half the time and when I wear it, I use a smudged pencil or I draw a subtle line with gel. I also favor brown over black for daily use, my favorite gel liner is MAC dipdown.
I don’t even attempt false eyelashes! Winged eyeliner will never be a way of life for me ?. I’ve managed to do a nice wing on one eye, but the other ends up looking like I used a paint ball gun!!
Contouring!
I have yet to figure what color I could use (fair skin with pink undertone…) for a light contour (I love to have a fresh face but strong eye and/or lips). Plus, I wouldn’t know where to start! Contouring seems really specific to each individual, you can’t just imitate what your friend does!
I definitely feel your pain in finding a good contour color for fair skin w/ pink undertones! I have found that the Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder in Medium and the lightest shade in the Kat Von D Shade + Light contour kit are perfection 🙂
Thank you for your help! When I saw the swatchs of the Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder in Medium for the first time I thought this would certainly be way to deep for me. I could get my hand on it on a uk web-shop!
You’re very welcome! I think the Kevyn Aucoin is actually very subtle (definitely moreso than the Kat Von D), but you can also build it up. So I think it would be good if you’re looking for a light contour. Good luck 🙂
If you are super fair I would try a blush to contour, or any cheek product with a mix of pink, brown, and gray undertones. My favorite is NARS Douceur but I think it was DC’d. Something like Tarte Exposed, theBalm Balm Desert, or even MAC Pink Cult if you can find it at a discount store.
I wish I had access to Tarte blushes! I bought Rapture from UD -seemed a bit similar- but that’s not it. I’m not super, super fair but my pink undertone seems to turn a lot of colors muddy hehe. Thank you for your advice, I’ll be looking into it for sure! 🙂
The Makeup Forever eyeshadow tip is a good one, too. M540 Gray Beige or M548 Pink Gray. I’ve used both.
Yes, great suggestion! I often find they are too dark or to warm toned.
If you can go to Sephora and try out the MUEF eyeshadow in M-540 on your skin. There is nothing orange about it at all. Althe the Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye palette the top middle shade as well. That what id perfection onall fair skin undertones.
Thank you so much for your advice :). I wish I had access to Kat Von D products where I leave! I note the reference of the MUFE eyeshadow as I can every now and then find a shop when I travel (I love their eyeshadow!).
You can also take a look at MAC Brit Wit. It’s also a cream product, so blending is also easier. Lancome recently launched contour sticks, but I haven’t seen them in-person, and I don’t know how widespread the distribution is yet, but I believe they offer 6-7 shades.
Winged eyeliner. I think the problem is, I haven’t figured out the most flattering wing for my eye shape.
Winged eyeliner – I can’t get it to look nice; it always just looks strange. Also contouring – most of the time, it looks like I’ve got dirt on my face! As for false lashes – I don’t like the way they look at all (they always look SO false!) so I haven’t even tried them since I was in my 20’s.
I would say dramatic eye looks in general (although I’m certainly no Kevyn Aucoin with respect to ANY makeup technique).
Without a doubt false eyelashes! No matter how many tutorials I watch I still can’t get the hang of them.
FALSE EYELASHES
Fall eyelashes and cut crease e/s! Failed every time 🙂
With semi-hooded eyes, definitely false lashes and winged liner. I’ve done both, but I really have to futz with my right eye to get the winged liner in the right spot so rarely do I bother. False lashes: I find I do better with halfsies, but I feel overdone and ridiculous with them tbh.
Winged eyeliner. With my downturned, round hooded eyes, it’s just not meant to happen.
Also nail polish. The mess I make seems beyond what’s possible.
Cut crease. My hooded lids just refuse to cooperate and let me be great lol. It’s been a long time since I’ve tried it though so I may have better results the next time around but I don’t know. Girls make it look so easy on YouTube but I always end up struggling lol
Liquid liner
biggest problem…winged eyeliner, i think i just haven’t got the eye shape for it. my eyes are really round and slightly hooded. Smoky eyes is my signature look
second biggest…false eyelashes… but since using Bimatoprost( aka Latisse) prblem solved…now everyone askes me if i have extensions on…thank u ophtalmologist hubby
third…eyebrows, i stopped bothering and just use a bit of brow tinted gel, if i even do that…
Winged Liner…I swear I only do it 5 times a year.
Tight lining. Not so much that I can’t do it, but every product I’ve tried melts or powders off. lol
I’ve tried nearly every product “faved” for tight lining on this site and the very best so far is INGLOT Kohl Pencil 01 ($12). With one or two swipes it easily covers my upper water line and it lasts as long as I do. Hourglass Mechanical Gel Liner and Marc Jacobs Blacquer are expensive and are ok. Topshop Kohl (w/silver liner on 2nd end) is cheap and nearly as good as INGLOT although I can no longer find it on the Topshop website.
False lashes and a good liquid winged liner that doesn’t take an hour!
Eyeliner / I’m horrible at it! Can’t tight line either
Also , not quite sure how to use bronzer
Winged liner. I have deep set and slightly hooded eyes so it never seems to look right.
False lashes, I’m too chicken to try them so I just… don’t. Haha. And I imagine they’d get in the way of my glasses.
Contouring is another one. I can do it, but I just don’t understand why people like it so much, especially with the level of dramaticism that’s common on Instagram MUA’s. Like… why? It looks good on photos but so cakey once you actually go outside! No thanks.
Yes! False lashes; I love them, but they don’t love me back.
Me too! False eyelashes!
Since I have downturned, somewhat hooded eyes, and don’t see that well or have the greatest motor control, eyeliner has gone by the wayside, especially the popular winged look that looks so great on YouTube makeup tutorials and celebrities. Cake liners, felt tips, gels, you name it, they’re all equally bad on me.
I used to sometimes use a dark powder eyeshadow pressed on with a flat liner, but that’s not working well now due to fallout as it wears. I’ve tried this dry and wet. Dry is actually better. Wet fools you into thinking it looks neater and darker, but when it dries, the powder falls down.
Cat eyes, false lashes and contouring…I finally nailed the eyeshadow placement for my type of hooded eyes!!
False eyelashes for me too. I do a terrible job, they end up all over the place.
I used false lashes a lot when I was younger, did eyeliner (lashes and liner get easier the more you practice), but never did (and probably never will do) contouring. I HAVE cheekbones and never really liked using anything dark to make shadows on my face. It’s ok for B&W photos but I don’t think anything can convince me to do contouring IRL.
Cut crease
Just learned false eyelashes at Sephora last week and since then I have put them on twice by myself!!!
Some days all of them 🙂 True.
None really, that I know of, but I’m better at some things and not as good with others. Contouring is probably one I’m very far from mastering. Then I don’t contour a lot.
I’ve had to rethink a lot after my eyes got more hooded, especially as one is a lot more hooded. It means a lot of looking from a lot of angels, and also having to see what it looks like depending on how high I have my chin and a lot of other things. Maybe my answer should be winged eyeliner, I used to be quite OK with it, now I can hardly do any wing at all.
Ditto Christine. My lash game is sub-par.
The right eyeshadow application to suit my eye/eyelid shape to compliment my face.
The same as you, Christine. I can’t get false eyelashes right to save my life.
My eyebrows and applying eye liner pencil properly. It’s hard when you wear glasses and need them to see what you are doing……
Winged eyeliner! I can’t come close to getting it right.
Blush. Finding a “natural” color for my medium toned skin. Not to mention applying it without looking like I was smacked in the face or a clown.
I won’t even go near false lashes. The idea of applying glue to my eyelids freaks me out. I could do to get better at the concealer trick for around a bold lip to clean it up. I could probably also get better at a smokey eye look, mainly because I almost never do one, so I should just sit down and practice when I can.
Winged eyeliner! I can do it but I have hooded lids so they are never even! I just like to think my eyes are wonky…it couldn’t be my technique!
Winged eyeliner!
Winged eyeliner !
False Lashes! No matter what I try, I get them stuck everywhere but on my lash line! I tried them as is, cut them in thirds, and individual lashes but nothing works. I tried different glues, but they stick to my fingers and all over my face instead. Also, contouring and highlighting. I don’t want that extreme amount that a lot of people like, but, I feel like I either apply too little and you can’t tell or it looks like dirt. Oh! And winged liner. If one side is perfect, the other side is too low or high. Every. Single. Time. ?
I concur! Every time I have tried to wear false lashes, they always peel away on one end and poke my eyeball! And I have really measly eyelashes, so I would love to learn how to master it! Help! Any tips from anyone?
Smoky eye, cat eye, & cut crease.
I love the way all 3 look but can’t make them work myself, & tutorials all seem to use way too many steps and products.
When I watch tutorials of women applying different eyeshadows and creating beautiful looks that are perfectly blended that is what eludes me. I do a halfway decent job with combining the colors I want to pair up, but those tutorials make application look so effortlessly, wish I could do a better job of it.
Yep… false eyelashes! Practicing their application isn’t easy because you’re dealing with an adhesive. With every other product, you can easily remove it and start over, blend it out, or cover it up with concealer.
False lashes and that damned cat eye! I am not optimistic about ever mastering those techniques.
I need help with spot concealing hyperpigmentation. I’m yet to try false lashes and contouring.
I still have to master consistency in my contouring technique.
Fortunately I’ve mastered most things well but I’ve not been able to quite get the hang of the cut crease.
-false lashes
-tightlining
-any new face make-up craze: clown make-up, Kim Kardashian contour, strobing, baking… I am going to stay oldschool (I can even pat myself on the back to learn basic contouring :D)
-nail art
-using eyeshadows wet
-fiber mascaara, brow stuff etc.
A lot of different techniques, but the one that would be most useful is concealing. Maybe it’s my skin type, but it always just looks “off” or kinda cakey under the eye. Maybe it’s my concealer because I haven’t had a chance to experiment with enough different ones that might suit me better…
Lol I thought it was just me! False Iashes for me too and now that I’ve conquered liquid liner.
I haven’t ever tried to do false eyelashes yet. I haven’t mastered cat-eye eyeliner, but I really haven’t tried much, because my eyelids are so hooded and droopy. Tightlining is the best eyelining for me.
False eyelashes are cake! Cat eyes. . . . IMPOSSIBLE! UGH!
Cat Eye
Blending shadows
Blush placement ugghhh. My cheek routine pretty much goes like this:
1. Contour to chisel that beautiful face!
2. A touch of bronzer to look healthy and fantastic!
3. Dash some highlighter here and there to bring out the best in myself <3
4. Open the blush and stare at it, holding a brush and just
5. WHAT COLOR DO I USE
6. WHERE ON MY CHEEKS DO I PUT IT
7. THIS SHOULD NOT BE SO STRESSFUL
Lower false eyelashes…and I have a sort of ‘dewdrop’ gel to make ‘crystal drop’ look on upper lashes that always gets gooey.
FX makeup with a prosthetic or using wax, I can’t blend either of them in well at all yet…
Liquid eyeliner. I think my eye shape (slightly bulging) just wasn’t made for liquid liner.
Eyeshadow on the lower lashline. It sounds so dumb but I feel that it never looks right on me! I am not sure if it’s my technique or if it genuinely doesn’t suit me.
False eyelashes for sure