I started to know about makeup when I was 17 (about 5 years ago). My very first makeup is mascara that I got from my best friend, Jeffica, for my 17th birthday. And that was the beginning of my journey in makeup world. Lol.
Since I got my first mascara, I began to collect another type of makeup like eye shadow, eyelashes curler, blush on, etc. Thanks to my mom, she was very supportive of me to learn to use makeup, so she help me to pick my another first makeup that time and of course paid them for me :p But because my mom don't know how to use makeup (she only wears lipstick, powder, and eyebrows pencil wherever she goes, oh, maybe a little bit pencil eyeliner in which she draws it on her lids with random motion and make them look messy), I had to learn using makeup on my own. So I did some research on the internet and then I did so many experiment with my own makeup on my face. Lolol. But for me it was really fun, such a great experiment I think.
So after 5 years I learned to use makeup, I still can't say that I am pro because there are still so many things in makeup world that I need to learn and maybe I'll never called my self a pro unless I take makeup artist degree (really want to, maybe I'll do it someday). But even I'm not a makeup pro, I still want to share some of my experiment with you guys. Maybe they can help you on your journey in makeup world or if they're not, at least - hopefully - can entertain you all. Happy reading (∩_∩)
1. Great Skin = Flawless Makeup
Okay, so of course someone with nice healthy skin will make makeup application easier and make you one step forward to get that flawless makeup that every woman dreams of. But so bad, only a few women are blessed with nice skin and so sad I'm not the one of them (Ｔ^Ｔ) But for those who just like me don't be discouraged, because that's what makeup for - to hide a little imperfection and enhanced our natural beauty. But, there are still things that we can do to make our skin in their best condition. Remember to always wash you face before you're going to bed so your pores don't clog with dirt and makeup residue. If it is unnecessary, don't wash your face too often. Two times a day is enough even if you have oily skin because it can strip your natural oil on your face and irritate your skin. Even super oily skin can get dry. Don't believe me? You should because I have a super oily skin and I had some experience with my skin got dry and peeled of due to too much washing and using hot water to wash my face (never use hot water to use your face, it's better to use normal to warm water). Use skin care products to your face depend on your skin condition. Use face mask 2-3 times a week and never forget to use sun protection before you leave the house so your skin won't experience premature aging.
(Actually there are still a lot things that I can say about skin care routine, but it will be too long if I explain them in here and actually this is a post about makeup, so maybe I'll talk more about skin care in another post).
2. Makeup Base/Primer
So you already do all of your skin care routine, the next step after using skin care products and before putting any makeup is using makeup base/primer. Actually if you want to skip this step, it's okay. I, myself, just began to use makeup primer about 8 months ago. But let me tell you, if you don't have a perfect skin, then this will become your best friend. It can smooth out your skin, make foundation or BB cream sit on your skin evenly. It also covers pores, fine lines, and other uneven areas on the skin. I have tried 2 kinds of makeup primer, Baby Choux Base from Etude House and No Sebum Mineral Primer from Innisfree. Between these two, my favorite is the one from Innisfree. If you want to know about it more, you can read my review about this product
here.
3. Foundation/BB cream
Actually I can't really tell you about foundation since I never use it. I only have tried BB cream and finally I found the one that I really love so I never have any thought to replace my current BB cream with another BB cream or foundation. My current BB cream is Aqua Petit Jelly BB Cream from Holika Holika. I have tried another BB cream from other brand like Etude House, but Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly BB Cream is the best. It's really natural like your second skin, gives medium coverage, easily to blend onto my skin, has a great oil control, doesn't break out my skin, and gives ... hmmm I don't know how to explain it, but it gives you matte look but not really matte? I can't say that it is semi matte too, but in other words it gives a natural glow to your skin (even those who have a super oily skin like mine will look good with this BB cream too) so your skin look pretty and healthy. I usually use BB cream after using makeup primer. But sometimes when I got a little bit lazy, I directly use BB cream after my skin care. About foundation/BB cream, the one thing that you need to take a note is the color. More close it to your natural skin tone is better. Never use foundation/BB cream that much lighter or darker than your natural skin tone except you want to look like a clown or using a mask. If you don't have many option, it's better to use the one that darker from your skin tone than the one that lighter. I found the best way to apply foundation/BB cream is with sponge. I've tried to apply it with brush, but the result is not as I expected. The best sponge I've used is
Beauty Blender. It's pricey, but really worth it
(∩_∩)
4. Concealer
Always pick concealer that is one level lighter than your skin tone. For me, I only use concealer for my dark circle. Most of my spot/pimples are already covered with my BB cream so I don't need to use any concealer anymore. My favorite concealer for my dark circle is Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle Cream. I love it so much because beside it covers my dark circle really well, it gives that glow effect to my skin too, so my eyes look more awake and bright. I found it's easier to apply concealer with sponge too.
5. Powder
I use powder to fix my makeup so it will last longer. My current powder is
A'Pieu Oil Control Film Powder SPF 15 which has a translucent color. I've done a review about it before, so if you want to know about it more you can click
here. From my experience, the best way to apply powder is with powder brush. Etude House has a nice powder brush with affordable price which I've reviewed
here. Beside it will give you more evenly look, it also lessen the amount of the powder that you need to use so you can save some more money to buy another makeup product. Lolol. One thing that you have to remember, if you have oily acne prone skin, loose powder is your best friend. Never use compact powder because it can clog your pores and make your acne even worse.
6. Eyebrow Fillers
Thank God I am blessed with naturally nice thick eyebrows so I don't need to use eyebrow fillers to much (except when I accidentally pluck my eyebrows too much (>_<) Ugh..) But if you don't have thick eyebrows, no need to worry too much because there are so many ways today to get perfect nice eyebrows. You can use an eyebrow pencil, eyebrow gel, eyebrow mascara, eyebrow cream, or even get an eyebrow tattoo to get that perfect eyebrows. Just remember if you want to pick eyebrow fillers, whatever its type, the color must be one level lighter than your hair. Never use darker color or they'll look fake.
7. Eye Primer
Eye primer actually has the same basic purpose with makeup base/primer. The difference is eye primer makes the eye shadow color more pop out. It also makes eye makeup staying longer before it crease. This will help you a lot especially if you have an oily eyelids which make eye makeup hard to hold out.
8. Eye Shadow
If you are a beginner, it's better if you buy an eye shadow palette that has many colors. It doesn't need to be expensive, the cheap one is nice too because the purpose of this is to find the best eye shadow color to compliment your look. My first palette eye shadow had 12 colors and it only costed me $5 (IDR 50.000). I had many fun experiment with it and after doing many experiment I found out that I look the prettiest with light brown or golden eye shadow. Even so I still do some experiment because it's really fun for me. I also love to use peach eye shadow.
In store usually you'll find 3 types of eye shadow, cream, powder, and stick eye shadow. If you have oily eyelids, stick to the powder eye shadow. There are also matte and shimmer eye shadow. I usually combining them, shimmer and matte so my eyes look sparkle, but not too much. Always remember that shimmer eye shadow will accentuate fine lines. So for you who already have fine lines, it's better not to use shimmer eye shadow too much and stick with the matte one.
9. Eyeliner
There are 3 types of eyeliner that you'll usually find in the store which are pencil eyeliner, liquid eyeliner, and gel eyeliner. If you are beginner, pencil eyeliner will be more tolerable because it's the easiest one to use. My personal favorite is gel eyeliner because you can manipulate it in many ways. You can create soft natural to dramatic look with gel eyeliner and among them three, gel eyeliner has the best wear-resistant and pencil eyeliner is the one that has the worst wear-resistant.
10. Mascara
I always apply mascara after using eyelashes curler because I feel it's easier to apply mascara after they were curled and it made my eyes more pop too. Now I never apply mascara from the root of my eyelashes because in 2 hours my under eye will always full of black stain from my mascara. I always apply my mascara as close as possible to my eye lashes root, but never on the root. My favorite mascara brand is from L'oreal because it has a nice staying power and doesn't make my lashes really hard (I once tried mascara from Maybelline and it made my lashes really hard like they could broke). It has a great durable time too. I have this mascara from L'oreal that I bought 8 months ago and it still in a good condition. Not dried yet. Usually my mascara from other brands will be dried within 3 months.
11. Blush On
Oh, I always love blush on. They make my pale face looks healthier and with the right blush on, it will make you look like you flushed naturally. There are 3 types of blush on too, which are powder blush on (for normal - oily skin), gel blush on ( all skin type), and cream blush on (normal - dry skin). There are shimmer and matte blush on too. For blush on, I prefer the matte one because it will look natural on your cheek. My favorite matte blush on is
Revlon Matte Powder Blush in Rose Rapture.
12. Lippies
There are so many kind of lips product today in the market. There are lipstick, lipgloss, liptint, lip mousse, lip balm, lip stain, etc. There are so many colors that you can choose too and this will make you confused sometimes. But for those with less budget like me, of course you can't buy all of them right? So, what we can do about it? Actually we don't need all of those colors. You can only have 3 colors of lippies and you can get more colors from them. What I mean is you can mix those color that you have to get new color. For example, recently I really want cherry pink color, but I don't have any. So I just mix my pink lipstick with my red lipstick and I get that cherry pink color that I want. You can mix soft orange and pink too to get coral lips color, etc etc. It means experiment, experiment, experiment. My current favorite lippies is
Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Honey Douce. It is also really good for beginner too because it's easy to applied and you don't really need to be careful when you applied it like if you applied matte lipstick
╭(^▽^)╯
If you have trouble with getting the colors on your lips because your lips are pigmented or dark, you can try to use lips concealer or a little bit foundation or BB cream on your lips. If you have dry lips, always use lip balm before put lipstick, liptint, or another lippies. To make your lips always in good condition, remember to exfoliate your lips 2 times a week (you can use sugar or soft toothbrush) and remember to use lip balm after that.
So, that's all for now. Remember, the key to success in makeup world is practice, practice, and practice. If you fail in your first experiment, don't be too disappointed. No one can do perfect makeup on their first try. You also need to remember that less is better than too much and never use makeup to change you, but to enhanced your feature so your natural beauty more show. Never think makeup will make you happy because it won't happen. Happiness comes from within and so does beauty. No matter how's your makeup look, if you confident and happy with your self, you'll look fabulous (#^o^#)
Thanks for reading. Please don't hesitate to leave comments bellow. It could be your makeup experience, questions, or anything..
See you guys in my next post..
