The effort it takes for me to look like a normal person - A Photo Essay

[missmiah]

Before I begin, I wish to point out two things.

One, I do not wear makeup everyday. Or every other day. Frankly, I only bother with it when I want to look "pretty" or when I'm about to meet up with strangers or people I don't know very well. Part of that whole putting your best foot (or face, in this case) forward thing, I think.

Two, while I am by no means hideous (other than in my own mind when I'm staring at pictures of me taken sans makeup in 100 plus degree weather while I'm climbing through the tiny corridors of a submarine and looking like I'm about to seriously fall dead from a heart attack... and yes, that is a rather specific example), I do have Rosacea - which has become worse as I've aged - and large freckles and yellow patches under my eyes, etc. All those things that add up to randomly blotchy, not terribly healthy looking skin tone.

I've learned to live with my blotchy face most of the time (Seriously, who has time to put on makeup before going to Wal-Mart?) but every once in awhile it would be nice to look... nicer.

I used to just slap on some Cover Girl liquid foundation, blush and all that, and call it fine. However, if you're like me, enough foundation for coverage usually looks cakey and, since I have dry skin, it would also start to look flaky as the day went on. Especially around my nose.

So, someone suggested I try mineral makeup, which I had been interested in trying, but really didn't think I could afford.

To be totally truthful, getting started with a whole set of "necessities" is not a cheap investment. But, this stuff lasts awhile. A little jar of mineral makeup will last ages (unless you dump it out all over like a goober - not that I know from person experience or anything).

So, I started out rather tentatively with the Bare Escentuals area at my local Sephora (this was before the BE store moved into the mall). Now, I have accumulated the - still, rather small - collection of BE junk below.





Above is the makeup itself. The thin basket at the bottom is foundations and all over face color things. In between that basket and the upper ones there are (starting at the left) foundation primers, a redness therapy sitting atop a blemish therapy, various blushes and finally my spifftastic travel brush of SPF 30 foundation (that I never actually remember to take with me anywhere when I travel). Above that are three baskets filled with (starting from the left) non-eyeshadow eye things (including some non-BE things that I can not bring myself to part with because I am a pack rat) including eyeliners, eyebrow stuff and mascara; eyeshadows and finally things that go on the lips.

Below are the brushes I use the most. I have a few others, including another travel foundation brush, but I didn't use them in this photo essay and also, I forgot about them when I was taking pictures so... no extra brushes for you to see. Also, there are the three concessions I have made to taking care of my skin on a (semi) day to day basis. Two cleansers - I don't know why I have two of them, I forgot what they do, and I can't remember which one is more important so I just use them both when I cleanse my face after taking off my makeup (which, honestly, I only remember to do about three quarters of the time). Also, some moisturizer. Apparently it is important to moisturize the face. Who knew?



I am a little hesitant to show this next picture because it is seriously not cute. It is me, fresh from the shower, after having just given myself a mudpack then used both of those earlier cleansers. That is a totally clean, really unhappy and perhaps slightly irritated face right there. I'm only showing you this so that you can see how red and blotchy my face is under bright light and up close. I know I look like I'm overheating or something, but that is seriously just my bare skin on a bad day.



Wasn't that lovely?

So, the first thing I did to get the face in shape is slap on some Foundation Primer. Half the time I forget I even OWN Foundation Primer, so it's not a necessity of life or anything, but it does help the foundation cover and last a bit longer. Not that the foundation disappears fast without it, I've had all day coverage without it, just fine.

Then, I used my brand new Redness Remedy. When BE sent me an e-mail letting me know they'd come up with something to help with Rosacea and redness, I jumped on that thing. Seriously, dragged the husband to the mall the very next paycheck. Don't get me wrong, the regular BE foundation has been doing a lovely job with coverage but I could still see the faint discoloration under the foundation and it bothered me. Redness Remedy comes with its own special brush, and if there is one quibble I have with it, it is that I can't seem to buy it without the brush yet. I don't think I'll be running out anytime soon, but it would still be nice to have a refilling option that does not involve buying the whole set again.

The light is not the best, and the picture is sort of small because I did not want to post seventeen giant 4.5x6" jpgs of my face and makeup all over LJ, but I'm hoping you can see the difference between the above photo and the one below on the right. That is just the redness cover up. If it wasn't for the yellow tint that the powder has to cancel the red, I could possibly just stop at that step on days when I was particularly lazy. Alas, I do not like looking very faintly jaundiced, so I move on.



Next is foundation time!

For me, this involves three different brushes and three different jars of powdery stuff. First I start with the foundation - usually Fair or Fairly Light depending on if I've had any sun exposure recently. For these pictures I used Fairly Light, but I'm pretty sure I should have used Fair because the rest of me has returned to that fish belly white shade I know and love.

First, I use the smaller of the two full-headed brushes to begin applying whichever foundation I apparently randomly pulled out of the basket. If you've never used mineral makeup before, you put a bit of the powder in the lid of your jar, swirl a brush in it, tap off the extra and then buff your face with it.

Foundation goes everywhere. All over the face. Forehead, chin, cheeks. You name it, I slap foundation on it. Except the eyes. I don't like foundation there, but I have something else I use instead of foundation, and I'll get to that later.

Then, because I have problem areas that need some extra help for coverage, I move to the taller of the two full-headed brushes. Do not ask me why these two brushes that look almost the exact same do two different things, but they do. I thought it was just a scheme to make me spend extra cash, but I'm deadly serious, they work differently. The bigger one seems to concentrate the powder better, or something, because it gives denser coverage for my problem areas (my cheeks and forehead).

Finally, if I've got a blemish or some random spottage, I use the third brush. The little one isn't a buffing brush (think floor waxing, where the brush buffs in circles) like the other two are, it's a flat, harder bristled brush. You can pat on foundation for maximum coverage and blend it in with that thing.

After foundation comes Warmth. I will never, ever, ever run out of Warmth in my lifetime. The little jar you get if you buy a starter foundation set is enough to last you until you die, I'm serious. I tap the tiniest amount of powder possible into the lid of the jar and swirl the first brush (smallest of the two full-headed brushes) which will now be called The For Almost Everything Brush into it, tap the extra off and dust it very lightly along my cheek bones and the apples of my cheeks. LIGHTLY. Sometimes I put a bit along my hairline on my forehead and a little under my jaw. Again, LIGHTLY.

Then comes Mineral Veil. That's pretty translucent and I believe it is mostly just to help set the foundation in place, and I use the For Almost Everything Brush to apply it.

Keep in mind, I am not a BE expert. I have watched one informational DVD on how to apply this stuff, and that was over a year ago, so now, at this point, I'm just making crap up as I go along - much like when I cook.

Anyway, you may or may not be able to see a difference between the pre-foundation after redness pic and the post-foundation pic. If anything, I think the post-foundation face is flatter (in a skin tone sense, not in a chubby sense) and has less variant. But that is okay, because...



The next step is adding all over face color back in!

My husband does not understand why I spend so much time trying to take the redness out of my face, only to turn around and add some in.

He's a boy.

I tend to use just two brushes here - the For Almost Everything Brush and the harder flat bristled brush.

I start with Bisque - this technically used to be an eyeshadow shade, but so many ladies (And men, maybe? Who am I to judge if someone wants to cover up their funky spots?) wrote in to BE to say they were using this color as a concealer that BE pretty much went "You know, that works for us." So now they have five shades of Bisque that are marketed as concealer. That's your BE funfact for the day - I learned it from my instructional DVD, happy to share.

I use Bisque if I've got a stubborn spot that regular foundation isn't covering AND around my eyes. Remember when I said I don't like putting foundation around my eyes because I'm paranoid and/or wacky? This is what I use. I use the flat bristled brush to cover the yellowy skin directly under my eyes (the area usually hidden by my glasses) and then I also sweep some across my eyelids to act as a sort of foundation for my eyeshadow. The whole eyelid, right up to the brow line.

Then I switch to the For Almost Everything brush and get a small, small, very tiny amount of Glee. Glee is an All-Over Face Color, but that is not actually where they suggest it goes because... well, it's that jar in the middle of the three jars in that one hand (I want to call it my right, but it's my left, but it's on the right and now I'm confused), would you want that color all over your face? BE says that if happiness were a color, it would be Glee. BE pays people to write catchy slogans for their products. I am doing this for free. Glee, to me, is a nice little pop of healthy-looking pink for the apples of your cheeks.

Next comes blush! For some reason I'm drawn more toward the peachy spectrum for blushes than the pinks or browns. For this experiment, I'm using a brand new to me color called Vintage Peach (a poppy peach color). Again, the For Almost Everything Brush - can you see why I named it that?

The last all over color thing I use is Pure Radiance. BE says Radiances are used to give you a healthy, youthful sheen. Pure Radiance has a soft peach luster, but there are other options. I use the For Almost Everything Brush and swish this across my T-Zone. Then I usually stare at the mirror for a few seconds trying to see if that actually did anything, shrug, then swish it all over my face once or twice and move on.



Do I look slightly more like a living breathing person in the picture above? The difference is subtle, I admit, but I think there is one.

Eye time!

Have I mentioned that I am pretty much legally blind with my glasses off? That means putting on eye makeup involves me with a magnifying mirror just off the tip of my nose and the hand with the brush in it sort of angling over to the side so it can get in without blocking my line of sight. It's a complex and amusing sight to see, I have been told.

Anywho, four brushes, mascara, some eyebrow goop, three eyeshadows, a powdered eye liner and some eyebrow color all featured in one of the pictures below.

I start with the brush on the bottom - the contour shadow brush according to the words written on the side of it. Slightly rounded end, fluffy but flatish. I use it to apply the base coat of shadow, Vanilla Sugar (a medium golden vanilla matte) in this case, all over the lid all the way up to the brow line. Then, I use the same brush to put the second shadow, In the Buff (light golden peach shimmer), across the lower lid and up the outer side a bit to the brow line. Does that make any sense? Am I the only person who does that?

Then I take the second from the bottom brush, with the slightly slanty and a little fluffy head - the eye defining brush - and apply the third color across the lower lid up to the crease. Bare Skin (medium pink taupe shimmer).

I freely admit that I may be getting the brushes confused on the second and third steps (or the second brush could be used for both the second and third step). I don't remember and I'm too lazy to look for the DVD and what I do seems to be working fine for me right now. If you actually know what I should be doing, let me know because I've got this brush and I'm sort of feeling like I'm not using it to its full potential.

Next is eyeliner. Technically the fourth brush from the bottom is for eyeliner. It's got a very, very tiny head with a little tuft of brush so you can draw very thin lines if you want to use your liner wet (which I don't). It's an all right brush, however, I prefer the one below it for my liner.

I had to buy that one separately because I needed something to apply brow color with, and that's the brush that came with the brow kit that I could not find to purchase. So, I had to buy all the parts separately. This brush is the soft focus liner brush, and I love it for both my brows and my liner.

Back to liner, I've got a couple of different liner shades but I tend to stick to a brown shade, Fashionista (dark chocolate raisin). I like to smudge it a bit on the lower lash line, and the soft focus liner brush is really good for that. If I wanted a more defined, sharp line, I could add a little water to some of the powder to make a paste before applying it.

Which reminds me, you can also add water to the eyeshadows to "foil" them, but I don't do that either. Mostly, I'm very lazy and prefer to go very simple with my makeup.

Slap on some mascara, simple enough. I do have a Buxom mascara which has a nifty brush that you can elongate to change from length to volume for your lashes, or something. I just like making the brush shrink and expand.

Then comes my brows. I am naturally a dark brunette (apparently, according to my roots) so I have dark eyebrows. Which tends to look slightly off with the red hair. So I smooth over my brows with Finishing Gel, which not only helps keep the Crazy Grandpa eyebrows under control, it gives my brow color something to cling to. I have Auburn Brow Color, which I lightly apply with the soft focus liner brush, to give my brows a bit of a reddish undertone. It's a very subtle difference unless I get too heavy handed, but it helps.



Is it just me, or does my face look longer without my glasses to break the shape up?

Also, look how I'm pretending I can actually see anything in the picture below. I was probably checking to see if the flash had gone off yet. I only included it because I had some extra white space to fill next to the picture of my lipgloss.

Lipgloss! OMG, I seriously love BE/Buxom Lipglosses. I think they smell like cupcakes! And they don't taste hideous. rewil thinks they smell like plasticy puke or something, and she Is Not A Fan of the smell. So, there you go, to each his own.



I'm not terribly fond of lip liners, mainly because I seriously do not get their point, but I do own two because they came with some gloss and lipstick I wanted.

I tend to apply lipstick first, because most BE/Buxom glosses are sheer and I think it's nice to have a base coat to build off of. I tend to stick with Nude as a base color, but I also have Bronze if I'm feeling dressy/festive. I would eventually like to add a third, redder base color.

I have lots of lipglosses, ranging from nudes to sandy colors to pinks to berry reds to one horrifically purplish color called Violetta. Also, I have one that's clear with little bits of iridescent micro-glitter for when I want to be extra shiny sparkly.

So, there you go.

Below is me after spending an average of thirty minutes or more applying makeup to my face.



I can see a difference between the first photo of me all the way at the top of this monstrously long post and these. Can you?

Comments

[missmiah.livejournal.com]

I totally forgot that Buxom does that plumping thing. Or "plumping", since I never really notice a difference. I do like the slightly tingly feeling though.