Hi, babies!
So I was asked by a Twitter follower earlier today what I think are some great tips, tricks, and products to recommend to someone who is new to makeup get started. It’s kind of hard for me, admittedly, because when I first really started getting into makeup I dove in head first–somthing I wouldn’t recommend. I got overwhelmed, bought products because they were pretty colors or had cool packaging, and when it came time to actually use said products, I didn’t know what I was doing and into a drawer they went. So here I want to give you a couple of ideas for someone who wants to get into makeup a little more. I’m going to try to keep things pretty cost efficient, but I recommend products to people because of how they work, not how much they cost. I’ve had some products work really well and didn’t cost much, and I’ve had products I paid a lot for disappoint me. So no matter what, these are the products that I think work the best and will help you start to build a makeup collection. Thanks to @_VitaminBee for the inspiration and I hope I helped.
Primer. When I first got into makeup I avoided primers because I thought they were just another superfluous product pushed at you to get you to spend more money. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and I’m sure my oily skin is still mad at me to this day for making that mistake. Primers are basically a barrier between your face and the product. That’s a good thing because your makeup won’t sink into pores, fine lines, and wrinkles throughout the day. If you’ve ever felt that your makeup disappeared in the middle of the day, this might be why. After moisturizing, simply apply your primer with your fingers and then wait a moment for the product to set before applying your other makeup. I love Smashbox’s primers, but they can be a little pricey. Go to Ulta and get a sample size just to try it out; a little bit goes an extremely long way.
Foundation. I’m definitely a high end girl but I don’t have a problem with a great drugstore foundation. I recommend L’Oreal True Match because it comes in an array of shades for all skintones and undertones as well. If you’ve seen any recent pictures of me, I’m probably wearing this foundation. I find it versatile for all skin types. I know people who do apply foundation with their fingers, but I don’t necessarily advise that, especially for beginners. I suggest either a dampened beauty sponge, like the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge, or a brush with a dense head, like Real Techniques Expert Face Brush.
Brows. Anybody who knows me knows that brows are kind of my thing. I don’t feel complete without them! I really feel like a good brow frames your face and pulls your whole makeup look together. I also get a lot of questions about how I do my eyebrows, and that’s a whole other post that I’ll do really soon. I find brow pencils to be the easiest product to start out with because, for the most part, you don’t need to do much or have the lightest hand. If you simply use light, short strokes in the direction of your hair growth it’s actually pretty hard to look like Groucho Marx. I love Maybelline Define A Brow because it’s inexpensive and definitely gets the job done for a beginner. You don’t need a brush for this product, but the comb that comes with it is pretty useless. Use a spoolie (the tool that looks like a mascara wand) to brush out any harsh lines and blend the product into your brow hairs. Morphe Brushes has a ton of them for under five dollars. That’s available online.
Eye Shadow. There are tons of inexpensive eye shadows to choose from, but by far, my favorites are by NYX (my favorite drugstore brand) and Makeup Geek. I strongly advise sticking to neutral, matte colors. Neutral just means your browns, blacks, taupes, golds, etc. Matte shades are just flat shades. They’re not shiny or sparkly. It’s easier to play with them and not look crazy. I’ll do a post later about the neutral shades I recommend. I like NYX and Makeup Geek because, even though they’re inexpensive, they are pigmented well and blend nicely. They can also be depotted and put into palettes so you can have all of your makeup at your fingertips. Of course, I’m not saying you can’t play with color as a beginner. However, I feel like a lot of people get caught up in bright and fun colors without being able to put it together in a way that doesn’t look harsh. It’s much. much easier (and less devastating in retrospect) to start out with more versatile neutral colors. There are lots of eyeshadow brushes, but to keep it relatively simple I suggest a flat shader brush for your lids (like Morphe BK15 Large Chisel Fluff brush), a fluffy brush for blending product into your crease (like Morphe B80 Pointed Crease brush), and a smudger brush to soften out eyeshadows and liners you use for your bottom lashline (I suggest Morphe M408 Chisel Shader brush).
Mascara. I don’t make it a habit to spend a lot on these, since you’ve got to throw them away so frequently. I suggest Rimmel Sexy Curves.
Eye Liner. There are so many types of liner out there, and they all give you different looks and serve different purposes. I like to stick to pencils and gels. I love the Urban Decay 24/7 pencil liners because, much like the name states, they last all day. Working at Ulta I would do a demonstration for clients where I did a swatch of the product on my hands, and after a few minutes I’d rub as hard as I could and it wasn’t going anywhere. It’s pricey for a liner but it definitely delivers. As for gel liner, I suggest the Wet N’ Wild liners. Gel liners are great because you can achieve the intensity of a liquid liner with more control.
Eye Primer And Base. Speaking of eye shadow, you’ll need an eye primer to keep your eye makeup looking perfect all day. Primers help keep your eye makeup from creasing. A base is a primer with color to it to intensify the color of your eyeshadows. These are great for women of color in particular, as it mutes the color of your lids so that the eye shadow colors go on more intense and vibrant. For a primer, I recommend Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original, and for a base for more intense shades, I think NYX Eyeshadow Base in Skintone is great. Another great thing about these is you can totally use your fingers to apply them. If you want, you can use a brush, but make sure it’s synthetic (like Real Techniques Shading Brush).
Concealer. Concealer can get complicated, but I’m going to keep it pretty simple for you. I like to make sure my foundation is full coverage so that it covers enough that I don’t need to then add much concealer to my face. However, the under eye area tends to benefit a lot from being brightened. I recommend a concealer that is only about a shade, maybe two lighter than your skintone. L.A. Girl Pro Conceal is one of the best concealers I’ve ever used. It contains a million shades, and it’s only three dollars! You can find them mostly at beauty supply stores, but you can also find them online. Remember: blending your concealer can make or break your look. I don’t recommend using your fingers, as this may warm up the product too much and cause it to slip and slide all over your face. Apply it in a triangular shape underneath your eyes, and using your Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge, work quickly and blend upwards and outwards. I blend everything in with the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, and set with a gold based powder (or whatever your face powder is works just fine). You just want to set your concealer so it doesn’t move throughout the day, or crease. Another thing I do to prevent creasing is load up my undereye area with eye cream before applying the concealer.
Bronzer/Contour. Contouring and highlighting for some people seems daunting, and for others seems like it’ll have them looking like a kindergarten finger painting project. At its simplest, contouring simply brings back the natural contours of your face that you lose by putting on foundation. If you’ve ever felt that your face looked a little flat or dead after foundation, that’s probably why. I don’t do all of the crazy face painting you probably see on Instagram. I suggest Benefit Hoola Bronzer or Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer for lighter skintones, MAC Blush in Blunt as a contour for medium to deep skintones, and Cover Girl Queen Collection Bronzer in Ebony Bronze for deep skintones or a more intense contour if you have a medium skintone. This should just warm up your face (which has been a godsend for me this winter) and sculpt out your cheekbones. If you make a fishy face that hollowed out part of your cheeks will tell you exactly where to put your bronzer. I also dust some on my forehead. I recommend using a Morphe B78 Angle Contour/Blush brush.
Highlighter. I am obsessed with highlighters. They add a nice, healthy glow that I adore. This should go onto the high points of your cheekbones–that’s where light naturally hits your face. You can also dust some on the tip of your nose, your forehead, and chin if you want. There are a lot of different highlighters, and you can even use eyeshadows to achieve this. I use whatever’s around, really–eye shadow, pigments, blushes–just look for something that’s not sparkly, or even shimmery. It should be a golden, champagne, or pinkish tone and it should be iridescent. I suggest Makeup Geek Afterglow Pigment and a Morphe M141 Small Chisel brush.
Powder. I recently fell in love with Black Radiance Soft Focus Finishing Powder and I can’t stop gushing about it. It comes in three colors and it feels so amazingly soft. I don’t suggest using powder everywhere, just where you experience some shine. I like to use a gigantic, big, slightly dense brush like the Morphe B124 Italian Badger Kabuki.
Blush and Lipstick. I love blush and lipstick. Especially since being told a brown girl could wear neither well, I make it a point to wear them both, and often. (Speaking of which, I can make a post of my favorite brown girl friendly blush and lip products if you want. That just might be too much here though.) NYX is definitely my favorite brand for inexpensive blushes and lipsticks. I can’t really tell you what color of either to wear, because I think you can wear them all and play around and use your discretion. But their Soft Matte Lip Creams are fantastic and I definitely suggest you try them out. As for blush, my favorite brush is the Revlon Blush Brush. Simply apply to the apples of your cheeks–that’s the fleshy part that plumps up when you smile.
I know this is a lot. You definitely don’t have to go out and buy everything all at once. I think it’s a great idea to go with what you feel the most comfortable with, play around until you feel you’ve mastered that, and move on to the next. Also, you may not wear all of these items at a time, as what you need makeup for at that moment may not call for a full face. I personally love a full face and lots of makeup, and I know that’s not everybody’s comfort zone, so don’t feel like you have to do all of these things at once if you don’t want to. Let me know what you think of these tips. Do you all like posts like this? If so, I’ll definitely keep making posts, as I love to educate people about makeup and encourage people to let loose and step out of the box a little sometimes. Please feel free to leave your own suggestions, tips, or product recommendations in the comments section.
cakefacebritt 