The makeup shopping trip with my friend the cosmetologist happened. I am now more prepared for my trip to DC, and also have a better idea of what I'm doing with it.
These got added to my tiny collection of no-name makeups that I basically never use, in part because I had no idea how to actually use them properly. Makeup was just kind of a thing that was annoying, I didn't like, didn't know how to use, and made it so I wasn't allowed to itch my face.
I still mostly hold those views, but thanks to my friend, I now better understand how to use makeup. She kindly taught me the very basics of how to use it, and then was good enough to summarize those basics and text them to me. I'll note those basics here for future reference and also so any interested parties who happen to want to learn as well. Or y'know, anyone who thinks the way I phrase things is funny.
You start with foundation, if your skin needs it. That goes over most of your face to even out your color. Then you focus on your eyes. These are where the brushes come in. You use a palette of colors for the eye shadow, currently. It's in fashion to use a lighter color on the inner third (near your nose) of your eyelid, and a darker color on the outer 2/3s. You then blend the two colors together to have a spectrum. I favor blue, in case the picture of the hair from last week didn't make that blatantly obvious.
After you've done the eye shadow, you break out the eyeliner pencil. Apparently a common mistake is to insist on making straight lines on the skin above your eyelashes. The better course is to use short, smudgy strokes, which is a more striking look. I didn't entirely understand why this works, but fashion and beauty really aren't my forte.
Then it's mascara time. The mascara I have in the picture is blue, but most are black or brown. Putting on mascara is kind of weird, but essentially you put the brush close to your eyeball and blink your eyelashes through the brush. This can be really challenging because eyeballs aren't supposed to have stuff right next to them. Fortunately, I've had practice with that, because I sometimes wear contacts.
Once that's done, your eyes are done. Then you do the blush, which you apply with a cotton ball or a special brush I don't have. You blend the colors if you have a palette, or use a single color if you have one you really like. It goes from the point of your cheekbones back toward your ears. It's basically just to make it look like you have more color in your cheeks.
Finally, you do your lips. I was told by a different person that you always start with a layer of lip balm before you apply color. No idea if that's true, but I'm usually wearing lip balm, so it works just fine. Atop that, you apply the lipstick or lip gloss. To avoid leaving lipstick marks everywhere, you can take a tissue and blot your work when you're done, then reapply a bit more, and repeat until you're happy. And apparently, if you really need that stuff to stay, you can put some of the powder from your blush makeup on top of it. She said that makes it feel weird, but it makes the stuff stay approximately forever.
Beyond the makeup shopping, the last celebration of my birthday happened this weekend. My parents and grandmother went to a fancy-ish restaurant, where we ate very good food, chatted, and had presents. It was a pretty good time.
The only other majorly notable event was that my spouse and I voted yesterday. I expect I won't be terribly pleased with the results of the election, but since I did vote, I have full right to complain when things don't go as I'd like. The way I see it, if you don't vote, you don't get to complain.
 |
| Two makeup brushes (that should last forever with proper care), eyeliner, blue mascara, lip gloss, a blush palette, and an eye shadow palette. |
I still mostly hold those views, but thanks to my friend, I now better understand how to use makeup. She kindly taught me the very basics of how to use it, and then was good enough to summarize those basics and text them to me. I'll note those basics here for future reference and also so any interested parties who happen to want to learn as well. Or y'know, anyone who thinks the way I phrase things is funny.
You start with foundation, if your skin needs it. That goes over most of your face to even out your color. Then you focus on your eyes. These are where the brushes come in. You use a palette of colors for the eye shadow, currently. It's in fashion to use a lighter color on the inner third (near your nose) of your eyelid, and a darker color on the outer 2/3s. You then blend the two colors together to have a spectrum. I favor blue, in case the picture of the hair from last week didn't make that blatantly obvious.
After you've done the eye shadow, you break out the eyeliner pencil. Apparently a common mistake is to insist on making straight lines on the skin above your eyelashes. The better course is to use short, smudgy strokes, which is a more striking look. I didn't entirely understand why this works, but fashion and beauty really aren't my forte.
Then it's mascara time. The mascara I have in the picture is blue, but most are black or brown. Putting on mascara is kind of weird, but essentially you put the brush close to your eyeball and blink your eyelashes through the brush. This can be really challenging because eyeballs aren't supposed to have stuff right next to them. Fortunately, I've had practice with that, because I sometimes wear contacts.
Once that's done, your eyes are done. Then you do the blush, which you apply with a cotton ball or a special brush I don't have. You blend the colors if you have a palette, or use a single color if you have one you really like. It goes from the point of your cheekbones back toward your ears. It's basically just to make it look like you have more color in your cheeks.
Finally, you do your lips. I was told by a different person that you always start with a layer of lip balm before you apply color. No idea if that's true, but I'm usually wearing lip balm, so it works just fine. Atop that, you apply the lipstick or lip gloss. To avoid leaving lipstick marks everywhere, you can take a tissue and blot your work when you're done, then reapply a bit more, and repeat until you're happy. And apparently, if you really need that stuff to stay, you can put some of the powder from your blush makeup on top of it. She said that makes it feel weird, but it makes the stuff stay approximately forever.
Beyond the makeup shopping, the last celebration of my birthday happened this weekend. My parents and grandmother went to a fancy-ish restaurant, where we ate very good food, chatted, and had presents. It was a pretty good time.
The only other majorly notable event was that my spouse and I voted yesterday. I expect I won't be terribly pleased with the results of the election, but since I did vote, I have full right to complain when things don't go as I'd like. The way I see it, if you don't vote, you don't get to complain.
No comments:
Post a Comment