Not my best work, I know but I didn’t go anywhere. Just tried something different. I have average sized lips and an arched brow, I wanted to try something different but I think I’ll stick to my usual. My cheeks are naturally rosy looking and I have a normal nose or whatever you call it.

I’m trying to find a signature look that I can wear to wherever. I don’t quite want to look like a baddie or anything. I want to look like me but accentuated

All products and lashes are from essence

Wearing the shade .5N. It looked quite orange on the back of my hand but is stunning on the face. Paired with the Haus Labs Blush stick in the Shade Glassy Hibiscus and the a Haus labs concealer.

It had beautiful stying power and didn’t need to be set. I did put a bit of powder on and under the eyes to keep my mascara (Maybelline sky high) from running.

I tried applying with both a beauty blender and the morphe flat top foundation brush and they were equally stunning.

Please excuse me while I weep over my wallet.

Also did some Aegyosal too for this look as well!! Took me 3 Hours in total, cutting the wig + makeup but def worth it!!! The only thing i’m not 100% sure I feel is the bottom lashes. Also the eyebrows too me a bit of time, which is funny (cause you can hardly see them since i’m wearing a bang LMAO, but the goal was to do a bleached look.)

I used the following products, Dasique Shadow Palette 11 Chocolate Fudge for the aegyosal

YVA Expressions Sakura Palette

and Juvia’s Place Volume 4 + 5 Blush to achieve the ombré look with the blush.

I posted more about it on my socials on tiktok + IG @ gigglegab7 if anyone is interested in the routine? I might do a full tutorial in the future, maybe I’ll bust out this look again for halloween!!

I also used elf power grip primer + sprayed my face with the magic mist & set repeatedly between sets (I can explain more if anyone is interested)

Still very new to this. Im pretty clueless but I am having a lot of fun learning and having a go at it. Mascara is hard 😭 I havent sucessfully applied eyeliner yet either

Makeup:

Loreal true match tinted serum - .5-2 very light

Kosas concealer - 2.6C

Rimmel stay matte powder - 001 transparent

Maybelline lash sensational - black

Westman Atelier contour stick - biscuit

Mecca Max (aus brand) highlighter - champagne glow

Mac putty blush - B55 cheer up

Mac eyeshadow - A93 omega

Loreal eyebrow pencil - 302 golden brown

BareMinerals lip liner - charming pink

Revlon lipstick - 762 flushed

Kosas wet lip oil - malibu (just a little over the lipstick)

Edit: Thanks everyone for sharing your tips and beautifully kind words with me. In a time where it seems that hate is never far away, Im truly grateful to all of you for spreading love instead. Ill be back! With threaded eyebrows and (hopefully) eyeliner! 🩷

So I ended up wandering into an Ulta on my lunch break and saw this foundation, it's called Bare With Me Blurring Foundation by Nyx in Rich. I think it blends really well, is easy to apply with a brush or sponge (the first time I used a sponge, the second , a brush). The color seems to be juuuuuust right which is saying alpt because I can never find my shade for some reason. This foundation blurs my imperfections and minimizes my pores. I'm also wearing Sex Kitten Liquid Eyeliner by Tarte, NickaK 24 hour waterproof eyeliner in dark brown on my eyebrows,, Nyx retractable lip liner in Plum and Juvias Place matte lipstick in Drama Queen. And Essence lash princess false lash effect mascara.

It survived 12 hours, oily eyelids, and a workout!

Makeup was put on at 9 and the picture was taken around 3.

Makeup:
Iconic London Under Glow Blurring Primer
Maybelline under eye brighter
Hugo Vanngo foundation (3)
Westman Atelier Contour stick in Biscuit
KJH blush in Soft Tomato
Urban Decay Liquid Stick in Brown Noise
KJH Mascara
Used the urban decay liner as lip liner. Just a bit and blended out.
A faded soft tomato in the center lip
Powder out of the Patrick Ta cream foundation duo.

Been really into using haus labs lately. I started with the foundation, then got the contour stick and bronzer. It always come out SO good on my skin. I just received some of the Hy-Power liquid paint (in Scarlett’s Matte) and was so exited to use it! I love the formula and how easy it is to use. I used it on both my lips and eyes.

I have probably tried hundreds of mascaras starting at 15 to now 47. They clump and glop on me. They glue my lashes together. They flake and fall out, and they're all uncomfortable. Many times I just gave up completely, but the older I get the less lash I seem to have, so I started looking again.

Finally, finally, I've found the one. Glossier Lash Slick. It slides on like silk, and looks so natural! I don't even have to comb them, and the best part is that I can't feel it. I use brown daily, and black for a dressier look. I love it so much I'm buying 4 at a time, and storing them in case they discontinue or change the formula. 😆 The first picture is no makeup at all, and the second is Glossier Lash Slick in black with

IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream Full Coverage Color Correcting Foundation with SPF 50+ (light/medium) mixed with PerriconeMD Cold Plasma Plus+ Advanced Hydrating Complex

Anastasia Beverly Hills

MicroStroke Detailing Brow Pen with 24-Hour Wear (soft brown)

Even though you can't see it, MAKEUP BY MARIO

Soft Pop Cream Blush Stick (Pale Petal)

Milani Make it Last Fine Mist Setting Spray

I never want to be without this chanel water tint it is so fabulous. Its blown every other base product out the water, and ive used everything from full coverage to light foundations. I was fully expecting it to have dissapeared from my face after its been on for 6 hours, but it looks just as good as when first applied it this morning, its holding up way better than any of my other foundations that normally would look heavy/cakey/mask like by the end of my work day.This has ZERO cakiness or seperation. I couldnt rate it anymore highly. Im as pale as it gets (always lightest foundation shade) and it looks quite dark in the bottle but its much lighter blended out. Im that impressed have bought a backup, and 2 other chanel blushes. My only gripe is the added fragrance, i have acne prone skin but so far so good. I have some fragranced skincare with no proplem so hopefully will be fine. Would love to hear how others get on if anyone has tried it?

I commented somewhere else on Reddit (here) that I paid for a one on one makeup lesson and a lot of people had questions that I thought I would answer on the appropriate sub.

Why I payed $300 for just a lesson:

I grew up extremely poor, homeless and in foster care. My last home before I turned 18 was really religious so no makeup allowed. I didn’t worry too much because I knew I could just learn later on. I’m 24 now and I basically never went through the awkward terrible makeup phase that was okay in high school but not in adulthood lol. I spent so much money on makeup that I was like VIB or something like that at Sephora 2 years ago, I would do one on one looks there but they were not flattering for some reason and I couldn’t figure out why. I got fed up and decided to find someone to teach me after I saw this documentary on women’s comportment for trans women. After I saw this documentary I started looking for just a makeup artist and liked the first person I found near me and went to her. She did some editorial work as well as weddings and a lot of natural looks, lots of ad campaigns as well as for Huge companies. Other people did more wedding-glam.. which is pretty but I was so new I need to learn a lot before I worried about something like that.

So for starters if you are skilled at makeup in any way none of this information will be that useful because it was so so basic. There is no right or wrong way to do makeup this is just what I learned and what helped me. Half the lesson was just pointing out the obvious. The first thing she asked me was to bring any viable makeup you already owned and she would go through and sort out what works and what doesn’t. Her logic was to keep you from buying more stuff but I wanted a fresh start so I just brought the mascara I use and we spent the next 3-4 hours on a very simple look.

So for primer she had me use Coola Classic Sunscreen as a primer, I liked it. It wasn’t what I imagined but after she matched me with a foundation I realized why she wasn’t super concerned with expensive primers.

She then matched me to Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in shade #2. This part is where I felt she was worth every penny. At Sephora I was color matched as really pale and really yellow (5Y01). I was pale which is easy to work with but my undertone was so yellow she was worried I had jaundice. Rather than trying to match my yellowness she went in the opposite direction and went for a slightly neutral color to correct my shallowness. It was the first moment in my life I looked better with foundation on making me look more like a 2Y03. It still looks too dark but it’s because my face is tanner than my neck and hairline for some reason. She then promptly taught me how to use a foundation brush which is actually kinda hard to explain other than light feathery strokes. I can look for videos that show it but you really want to watch makeup artists on YouTube like Lisa Eldridge or Wayne Goss, other gurus are just too rough with their foundation.

The next thing she worked on was my eyes and brows, it was pretty on par with what everyone here suggests to do, and I have pretty nice brows so I don’t have to do much. My eyelids are uneven and hooded and so she helped me try to make them look even. At this point I am just considering surgery because one eyelid looks cute and the other looks like Steve Buscemi it’s just a mess lol.

The next thing was applying setting powder. She had me carefully press a fluffy brush into the powder then tap it on the corner of the chair to get the excess off and then carefully just place it onto the skin. There was no swiping or rubbing, it was a very delicate process that required picking up more powder as you go.

For eyeliner she had me use a very soft pencil and just dot in between the eyelashes slowly trying to connect the line. She recommends against holding the eyelid taught and dragging liner across because it distorts the line and can cause wrinkles. It was just enough that it made my eyelashes look fuller and wasn’t covered by my eyelid.

The next was lashes which I thought I understood, I used her curler and it changed my life. She had me start closer to the base of the lash and to really get uncomfortably close to my eyelid. I’ve never pinched my eyelids in my new curler so if you have that problem maybe look into a new one. The next was applying mascara. Rather in one fell swoop like every covergirl commercial you want hold it like a pencil and only use the very tip. To everyone else it looks like you are about to stick a mascara wand in your eye but it’s a great way to deposit the product on the eyelashes without missing any lashes or getting too much and ending up with spider lashes. The other thing I learned was if you get mascara on your lid or under eye area to wait till it dries and then flick it off with a q-tip rather than smear wet mascara everywhere. It seemed obvious but it wasn’t for me.

Finally after cleaning the under eye area she had me put on concealer. Her logic is Incase there is any fall out you don’t have to remove it and reapply it again. She taught me how with a brush but I’ve gotten lazy and started using my finger to do it. Her other tip that really changed my game was to use Laura Mercier Secret Brightening loose powder to set the under eye concealer and it was the only thing that’s kept my under eye from creasing.

For blush she had me place my two fingers in the hollows of my cheeks and using that as a guide for where to place blush. Her advice was to start close to the hairline and blend towards the face rather than starting inside and working outside. For my lips she had me try a coral-rose color. In the tube it looks like something a grandmother would wear and the name dusty rose almost confirmed it but it was a really flattering my lips but better color. She had me feather the edges out with my finger to give it a more natural look.

This was everything I bought/ recommended:

Products:

• FOUNDATION Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation #2
• LOOSE SETTING POWDER Laura Mercier Translucent Loose powder
• CHEEK COLOR -Bobbi Brown blush in Coral Sugar
• EYE BASIC NARS pro-prime smudge proof eyeshadow eye base
• EYE COLOR MAC brûlée and Wedge eyeshadow
• EYE PENCIL -MAC Power Point Eye Pencil in Stubborn Brown
• BROW POWDER DUO - Anastasia Brow Duo in Blonde LIPSTICK - Laura Mercier - Creme Smooth Lipstick in Spiced Rose
• it cosmetics tightline mascara

Brushes/Tools: - LAURA MERCIER brow definer - LAURA MERCIER camouflage powder brush
- LAURA MERCIER cheek colour
- LAURA MERCIER eye brow groomer - LAURA MERCIER eye colour - shiseido eyelash curler - MAKEUP FOREVER concealer 226 - MAKEUP FOREVER foundation 106 - MAKEUP FOREVER powder 128 - EYE PENCIL SHARPENER MAC eye pencil sharpener

I am hesitant to post a photo of the look because it took me 5 hours to get home from walking San Francisco’s hills and riding on bart and eating a burrito before I had a chance to take a picture and I’m not sure that’s fair to the MUA to put her work out there in that condition but I still look good and it’s my only documentation so here it is: https://imgur.com/a/Ir4oede

Edit: forgot to add mascara

The watercolor palette was easy to work with, I use the white shade daily by applying it on my inner corners of my eyes (both upper and bottom of the eye, I can post photos of that look as well if you guys are interested, I do that look for when I stream on twitch with my husband).

It dries matte and there's I can't feel it, no uncomfortable feeling

I used most colors of the pallette although mixing them together gives you a new set of colors, they are pigmented enough that if you use tiny bit of water to make it more thick consistency, you can use it as colorful eyeliner if you have a brush for it, which I don't) I applied the eyeshadow with my hands and used rose water to activate it, can use regular as well

The packaging is metal, paper and a bit of plastic You need just a little to get lots so it lasts a while, I've had it for half a year now, two months of using the white color daily.

(In the last photo, the pallette is a bit mixed with white to make them more pastel shades but you can tell the original colors)

Unfortunately I didn't take pics of it, with the white one (I apply a bit too much of it but that's how I like it) it does accumulate after a few hours on the line where your skin touches each other although it's bendable back to Its original glory in seconds, it does create a sharp line that looks intentional but not everyone wants the "cut crease" look

100% honesty required

Definitely recommend the Ordinary's Lash Curl finisher 👍 for those who don't know what it is, it's just a clear, liquid product that keeps your lashes curled without having to use mascara.

Image shows product, followed by before use and after (curled with lash curler followed by product) bottom image shows lashes 4 hours later.

I planned to also take a photo at 8 hours, they were still looking great at 7, but I have PMS and had a little cry, which it did not hold up to (so definitely water soluble). Did not sting eyes while crying, and bonus, no running mascara.

What I think would improve it:

Brushing lashes before applying the product - my lashes tend to stick together at the ends, some people like that but I prefer a fluffier look.

A smaller spoolie, the brush on this is like a normal curled mascara wand, I think it would benefit from shorter, more dense bristles to aid in lash separation.

Other factors: I have dry skin and don't sweat much, if you get oily eyelids or live in a humid environment I imagine your experience with this might be different since it can definitely come off with just water.

1. Naked Sundays Hydrating Glow Mist SPF 50 - the best of them all. Scent is not too strong, the finest mist and didn’t disturbed my makeup.

2. Vacation Super Spritz Face Mist SPF 50 - didn’t perform well over makeup, saw my foundation separating in less than couple hours of application . The scent is too strong which irritated my skin a few times. Many people like Vacation OG scent, so it may not be a big deal if you enjoy the scent.

3. Milani Make it Last Sunscreen Setting Spray SPF 30 - worked great over make up, but the scent is really bad. I used it a couple times and I don’t think I can spray it on my face anymore.

4. Kopari Sunglazed Sheer Setting Mist SPF 50 - if you like glowy makeup or you have a glowy look, this spray will do okay. I looked like a glazed donut because it added shimmery finish all over. I guess it’s in the name “sunglazed”. Be careful spraying over eyes, I Got it in my eye once and it was the worst burn ever.

5. Supergoop! (Re)Setting Refreshing Mist SPF 40 - the worst of them all. There is nothing refreshing about it, smells like rancid oil, mist is terrible and inconsistent. Sometimes it sprayed and other times just straight spritz that completely ruined make up.

Hope this dump is allowed. I’ve been gone awhile, and I genuinely missed this subreddit