First Time Makeup Help

[Weekend Cleo]

So Gaia, I'm twenty two, and I think I've worn makeup like five times in my whole life. Lately I've been kind of wanting to get into light makeup. The only problem is makeup aisles are incredibly confusing. I don't know what half of that crap is, or what to do with it, or what brands are better.

What I'm looking for is
a. Skincare. I want something to moisturize my skin, but the type I'm using now doesn't seem to do a good job at all. What should I be using for basic skin maintenance over the years?

b. Basic makeup. I'm very pale with a French skintone. It can look green, like when I wear a blond wig, so I want to avoid anything with yellow or green tones in it.

Should I have...what is it called? The skin toned base layer?

What kind of eyeliner should I get? Liquid?

My eyelashes....aren't that great. They're sort of sparse, and I don't want to do fake lashes. Is there an ideal type of mascara that won't look gross and scaly? What about the "eye brighteners" type? My eyes are brown. Does that type even do anything?

c. I want to have makeup similar to Joan's on Madmen. I know that's a little silly, but it seems pretty versatile. What kind of things should I get for that?

Thanks for reading this. I really have no idea what I'm doing. sweatdrop

[Toxilicks]

I've only recently gotten into makeup, and I understand that it can be super daunting. 3nodding

For skincare, this is kind of trial and error, since there are a lot of products out there that promise instantaneous revitalized skin, anti-aging, and a lot of other stuff. It's important to look at the ingredients and to do some research on products to see which ones are best suited to your needs.

It also would be a good idea to pick up on terminology. I had no idea what eye primer was, or what the hell it did, but now that I know, I can understand how it's can be helpful since it aids in adhering eyeshadow on your eyelids. There are many items out there to buy and experiment with, but keep in mind that not everything is 100% necessary.

Look into brand reviews and do research if there's something out there that interests you, since different brands have different formulas, which could make a serious difference in product choices.

Now, since you're a newbie, I recommend pencil eyeliner since it's cheap, and will help you to get you over your nerves. You're going to probably blink a lot doing it yourself, and the nerves on your eyelid are sensitive. But the more you do it, the less you'll blink. I made the mistake of going straight to liquid, and if I blink, it's a big mess on my face. You should move onto gel eyeliners after pencil.

That's all I can really say at the moment, but it's important to look out for many things with cosmetics and remember to experiment and have fun! You can try different looks and practice if you want to improve your skills.

I have a feeling I'm gonna get flack from any of their fans here, but here's a tip: avoid Lime Crime. Just don't.

[Bonersome]

1. For skin care, I recommend Clinique. It's hypoallergenic and I just happen to use it myself. I don't know what skintype you are, but I have dry skin. If I just splash water I don't get acne (Soap, even facial soap is too harsh for me), but if I don't properly moisturise I can break out. I religously use clinique moisterizers myself. Every other type has never really worked for me.




2. Foundation I believe is what you're trying to find. Now since you don't have a picture, I'll just recommend a very pale moisturizer. I would suggest searching pinterest for "pale skin foundations" for more.

This is Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in Light Porcelain.

3. Contouring.
It's not easy at first... but blend. Blend like crazy. These should help.


4. Eyeliner. I perfer liquid myself. I swear by the heavens for this one:

Legit, it's so easy to apply, it can come off very easy (similiar to like... laytex) and it won't wear off easily either. it's heavenly.
Here is how to do a basic cat eye.
Also, the index card trick for straight lines. (This helps with everything)

To be perfectly honest, Don't bother with pencil. If you put it on your waterline, it will just smudge off and make you look like a raccoon. it's a pain in the a** to apply it to your lid perfect. Don't even go through the trouble.

5. Mascara:
I personally am still looking for the perfect one myself. Maybe this will help you:
Top Ten Drugstore Mascaras

Also,
Here is just a really nifty guide to make up in general

Mad Man make up Tutorial
Same thing, just not in english and idk looks a little better IMO

For eyeshadow, just use youtube. It'll give you some good ideas.

Also, invest in Some brushes. Even if you use like 3, you'd be so surprised how the right brush can really help.

[Weekend Cleo]

Thank you guys for being so helpful. ^^

[Nurse Kipsie]

Bonersome

3. Contouring.
It's not easy at first... but blend. Blend like crazy. These should help.

I may actually buy that today. How much is it?

[Bonersome]

Nurse Kipsie

Bonersome

3. Contouring.
It's not easy at first... but blend. Blend like crazy. These should help.

I may actually buy that today. How much is it?

12.00

[The Huntress of Artemis]

Jeevas Crow

Heh, most people have no idea what they're doing. But here's what I think for A & B:

A. Skincare
Basic drugstore moisturizers like Lubriderm work just fine if you're on a low budget,
but a skin routine I'd recommend (if you can spare the cash) is Clinique's 3 Step
System, which includes a facial wash (don't rely on it to take off your makeup though),
a toner (smells sort of like rubbing alcohol and may sting at first if you have sensitive
skin), and a fantastic lotion (no SPF). It's cheaper to buy them as a set rather than as
individual products, but if you just want to moisturize, I would just buy the lotion. I
believe there are three different versions of the set, with each catered towards a
different skin type.

B. Basic makeup
In terms of tones: for foundation, you should walk yourself over to the nearest Sephora
or drugstore and talk to someone and try different things on. If you're at a beauty counter,
someone will probably help match you with a foundation (side note: sometimes, though,
the salespeople really don't know what they're talking about). I would recommend you hit up
product reviews and read about the basic properties of skin tones. Tinted primers are a thing,
and they can help even out/neutralize your skin tone.

Eyeliner/mascara: I prefer pencil and gel liner over liquid, but it's all about what you
personally like. Urban Decay's 24/7 line has some great eye pencils, Clinique has a
nice, creamy gel liner, and I've heard Wet N Wild has a good gel liner as well. I've
tried Kat Von D's tattoo liners. They're nice, but nothing to hype over. I find the tips
of the applicators to be somewhat irritating and harsh against my skin. Oh, and an
eyeliner I do not recommend: Revlon Colorstay Liquid Liner. There was barely any
product and the applicator sucked. For mascara, I've used a variety of Estée Lauder,
Clinique, and Lancôme ones - all of them were pretty good. I've heard Diorshow is really
good but I haven't tried it myself. If you're looking for drugstore, Maybelline is generally
pretty decent. I don't recall trying an "eye-brightening" mascara - sounds like a marketing
ploy to me, honestly.

Highlighter/bronzer: basically, highlighter is used to highlight your face and bronzer to
contour. You highlight areas on your face that light hits naturally and bronzer to areas
that there are naturally shadows. Look for tutorials online. Highlighters are usually 1-2 tones
lighter than your skintone and bronzers 1-2 tones darker. Highlighters can range from
specially designed illuminators (i.e. Benefit's Watt's Up) to matte white eyeshadows.
Bronzers can be just bronzers (i.e. Hard Candy's So Baked Bronzer) or matte brown
eyeshadows. Some people even use dark and light shades of foundation or powder
to highlight and contour.

Brushes: Real Techniques is really good for beginners. Once you become more
experienced, Sigma is a pretty good option. In terms of sponges, the regular
wedged ones have served me well in the past. I've heard good things about the
beautyblender though.

[tiramiiisu]

For skin its best to know what type of skin you have so you'll know which products will work the best for you.

For basic makeup you use foundation or a bb cream. I prefer bb creams because they are lighter than foundations but if you really need full coverage than go for foundation. I've also heard that Asian bb creams have a lot of pale shades so you can check those out.

For eyeliner and mascara I suggest using a liquid eyeliner pen because i think those are the easiest to use. Maybelline sells a great one. Maybelline and Cover girl have some great mascara.

For brushes I've heard that Sonia Kashuck has great affordable brushes

[Kumori Kei]

I recommend going on youtube and finding someone who has similar skin type, skin tone, eye-shape to you etc and see what they recommend or do. Also just look through other youtubers to see if anything interest you, I think that's the best place for makeup advice. You get to see the product, see it on someone, see different ways to apply it and different types of makeup

[Bomi]

It all really depends on what's your skin type! So it would really help if you provided that information!
Makeup/moisturizers/creams/ ect takes time to get the right product that suits your skin. You'll later on probably have a few products that you'll never use again. It happens so make sure you do your research before buying!

For moisturizers, you can probably find pretty decent ones at any local drugstores! (Popular ones such as cetaphil, Aveeno, Lubriderm, burts bee, garnier)
ALSO keep in mind that sun lotion/screen is very important!! Even if it's not sunny outside, they say that you should still put a little on your skin.
If you're thinking of high brand items, I usually go to sephora for stuff like that. (Products like clinique, Vichy, Estee lauder, trilogy, Kiehl's, ect)

Basic makeup, if you feel like your overall skin isn't that bad; I wouldn't use any foundation or anything just because they can clog pores and can sometimes ruin your skin after a while if you use it constantly everyday. (Also depends on the brand- some are light/heavy)

Eyelashes!! Since you're new to makeup, don't bother with fake lashes! *Took me a while for me to even start on fake lashes myself due to laziness lols* You can pretty find decent ones at any drugstores; Maybeline offers a nice variety of mascara plus their products looks so colorful and pretty! For eyeliner, you can choose to use either pencil or liquid. For liquid eyeliner I would experiment with it before going outside or anything and be super careful! But since you're new I would recommend pencil liner just because it's super easy to put on

Lastly, I would highly recommend watching youtube makeup tutorial videos cause there are SO MANY videos that can help you just as much with makeup tips and styles! It's something I always watch on my spare time for fun!
Keep in mind if you want waterproof make up as well!