A Very Vain Post: My Daily Makeup Stuff April 20, 2010

This is my makeup case. It contains the daily stuff I put on my face. haha. It’s pretty full.  (it’s not all the makeup I have …. I have alot more in other makeup pouches):P I also have a 6-step skincare regiment (which I will blog about another day). This post will just be about makeup. I spend between 15-30 minutes putting on makeup before I go to work or out to play. 😛

Preparing The Canvas – My Face

First, the face stuff. The first thing I apply after the skincare routine is sunblock. This is the most important part! As long as you’re going to be in the sun (with or without makeup), you must wear sunblock! Unless you like to have pigmentation, freckles and older skin …. which I’m sure nobody wants 😛 My favourite sunblock is Lancome’s UV Expert. SPF 50+++! It’s awesome. 😀

Next comes the concealers. I have plenty of concealers which I alternate use of or combine use of. Serious dark eye rings that’s why. I use them under my eyes, at the sides of the nose for redness and some spots on my face. It’d be good if your concealer has some sun protection factor too. I haven’t found 1 concealer that works great yet. The ones I use are usually Lancome, MAC, Shu Uemura & L’Oreal. L’Oreal’s mousse concealer actually covers pretty well, but it’s kinda dry. 😦 The rest doesn’t give as much coverage but works better as a base for the L’Oreal.

After the concealer, comes the tinted moisturizer. I used to use liquid foundation but switched to tinted moisturizer. I prefer this for daily wear because tinted moisturizer do not run like liquid foundation.  And the coverage is more sheer & natural. I have Lancome, Shu Uemura & Clinique liquid foundations, which i would use if I need more coverage but I prefer my COLLIN tinted moisturizer which I got from my spa.

Next, I set the tinted moisturizer with loose powder. I would powder my face liberally with the powder puff. Thereafter, I will dust off the excess powder with my powder brush. I have Shu Uemura in 7YR but it looked terrible on me. 😦 So I switched to Lancome’s sheer shimmery loose powder. I’ve since finished using that one and am now using MAC’s loose powder. MAC doesn’t come with the powder puff, so I’m recycling the Lancome powder puff. 😛

All about Eyes!

The most important thing for eye makeup is …. PRIMER PRIMER PRIMER! I haven’t used any other eye primers before but the one I have is Urban Decay’s Eyeshadow Primer Potion. US$18. Quite expensive for me but it’s good! Alot of reviews on this primer is good but people complain about the shape of the bottle. They said the primer gets stuck at the bottom of the bottle and it’s wastage. I just store the primer upside down so when you pull the wand out, the primer will get onto the wand on its way out. Let gravity do the work for you. 😛 Anyway,  I dab a little of this on my eyelid up to the brow bone with my ring finger. This step is done after setting the foundation/moisturizer with loose powder and before putting on your eyeshadow base colour. I swear to you that if you apply the primer before your eye makeup, they will last the whole day!

After the primer, I would apply a highlighting base colour. The Shu Uemura colour is currently my favourite highlighting base. I also like MAC’s 2009 Christmas edition of the smokey eyes palette. I mix and match alot of brands. 😛

In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter what brand of eyeshadow you use. I use cheap brands like Maybelline, NYX and L’Oreal too. The secret lies with the brushes you use for application. I usually discard sponge applicators because they just “eat” up the colours and the colours just don’t go onto the eyelids. 😦 Anyway, I have a few brushes that work really great for me, predominately MAC ones. 🙂 MAC brushes aren’t cheap. But, usually around Christmas, they have special editions. So you can get like 5 brushes for US$50. Alot of reviews online said that the special edition brushes aren’t as good as the regular brushes, but they work for me. 😀 Otherwise, my tip would be to buy 1 brush each month. You will only need a few basic brushes. So, in 6 months, you will have 6 very nice makeup brushes and you won’t feel the pinch so much if you just buy one at a time instead of buying all at the same time. 😛

Invest in good basic brushes!

From left: MAC Blusher, Momo Mineral Face Powder Brush, MAC Eyeshadow base brush, MAC Eyeshadow Colour Applicator/blend brush, MAC 224SE blending brush, MAC Eyeliner Brush, Maybelline Gel Eyeliner Brush.

After the eyeshadows, I line my eyes with either powder eyeliner or gel eyeliner, or sometimes 2 together.  :p  I love Maybelline’s Gel Liner. I have it in black, brown and limited edition Navy blue. 😀 After lining comes the eyelash curler. 😀 When I first bought the Shu Uemura eyelash curler, I thought it was awesome. But as I used it more, I noticed that it hits my inner brow bone on my right eye when I curl my lashes.  I don’t like the fact that it forms a small dent in my skin every morning. I mean my skin will bounce back up but that can’t be good! So I think I am going to ditch it soon and try Shiseido’s curler instead. 😛

Curl eyelashes before applying mascara!

For mascaras, I currently love Maybelline’s the Magnum. (here’s my review of the Magnum mascara) It creates alot of volume and length with just 1 coat! I also really like Maybelline’s classic Great Lash mascara. It’s not waterproof though, I don’t know if there’s a waterproof version. They don’t sell Great Lash in Singapore. I bought mine from the US … for $2.99. HAHAHA. Sometimes I also use Bourjois and ZA mascaras. These 2 don’t create volume but they do create length and lined effect.

Finishing touches!

I would put on a little blusher on the cheeks and also brush a little on the nose bridge (I barely have any :P), chin and forehead. Then finally, some lip colour on my lips. I usually use lip tints. I don’t like the texture of lipsticks. Lip tints look more natural to me. But I currently have a free Clinique sample full-sized long last lipstick in “BEAUTY” which colour I LOVE! 🙂 They don’t sell this colour in the stores which makes me sad because when I finish using the sample, I won’t be able to find this colour anymore. 😥

Clean your brushes!

After I’m done with my makeup, I clean my brushes with an antibacterial spray for cleaning brushes.

You may notice that I left out eyebrows stuff. That’s because my eyebrows are naturally dark and I keep them in shape. So I guess I’m blessed because I don’t have to deal with drawing my eyebrows everyday! :P:P:P

I must be very vain to spend 1 whole blogpost writing about my makeup. LOL. But I believe all women like to be pretty sometimes! 😛 And the above is the reason why I’m always late for work. LMAO. 😛