10 Minute Natural Makeup (Light to Medium Skintone)
Alrighty, so a quickie review and also some swatches on makeup I've tried lately. I've never been much of a lipstick girl. I'll wear it for pictures so I don't look washed out, but I am 100% a tinted balm kinda gal (bonus points: balm is usually flavored!). So a lot of my lipsticks had been darker, for the stage or for photoshoots. I don't know about you, but I'd feel weird wearing red or dark plum to the supermarket, so I decided to *finally* find some neutrals that work with my skin-tone. I'd only previously ever tried two-- Celebutard by Kat Von D, and a MAC one (Cafe something?)... and they both made me look sickly. So! I decided I was going to get a couple MLBB shades... not Major League Baseball-- in beauty-land, that apparently means "My Lips But Better." (Don't feel bad, I had to Google it, too.)
Lipstick Search Criteria: color, ease of application, and moisture. I haaaate lipsticks that dry my lips out. After much swatch-stalking, I picked three: NARS Tzigane, NARS Christina, and Lipstick Queen Oxymoron Matte Gloss in Honest Politician.
Lipstick Queen Oxymoron Matte Gloss in Honest Politician: The ultimate MLBB-- a neutral rose. No fuss. Comes with a lip brush, but goes on fine with just your fingers. You cannot fuck this up. Has the consistency of a tinted balm. Bonus! You can use it as a cheek color, much like the Convertible Color I'm gonna get to in a minute. And you know what sold me on this? This review. Jane Austen beauty, indeed.
Honest Politician
NARS Lipsticks in Tzigane & Christina: Tzigane is a sheer nude. It's like that perfect little finishing touch that just makes you look polished. You wouldn't go "huh, she's wearing lipstick," you'd think "huh, she looks very nicely pulled together today." The rosy color of my lips still comes through, but this is PERFECT if you want to do bolder eyes because it won't make you look clownish. Christina is a berry with golden shimmer. (For some reason, the lip swatch below looks a little muted; check out the full face pic for a more color-true swatch.) IT'S LIKE THEY KNOW ME, YOU GUYS. Pros: moisturizing, totally gorgous, both can go day-to-night. Cons: $25 each. Yeowch.
Tzigane
Christina
The Rest of the Look: I used a lightweight foundation, a brown-black mascara, plus Stila Convertible Color in Gerbera and the Stila In The Light Palette.
In The Light is a palette of neturals with a mix of mattes & shimmers. There are also two darker shades for a smoky eye look. This palette is A+ bang for your buck, and there is not a single shade that's a stinker. The consistency is LIKE BUTTAH. Plus! Free full size brown eyeliner (though, for the look I used the same Stila eyeliner formulation, but swapped it out for Purple Tang). The eyeliner is a twist up cream pencil, perfect for people like me with dry lids and who hate freaking sharpening pencils.
Gerbera is a Convertible Color shade-- it's basically cream blush that you can apply with your fingers! They say that you can use it on your lips, too... I found that unpleasantly drying, plus the shade washed me out on my lips. But on my cheeks, it is the perfect sheer peachy coral. Just enough to make me look awake. I think I want this in a few more colors.
What I did: First I laid down foundation. I use a makeup sponge, then blended. Next, Urban Decay Primer on my lids, because it is the best beauty product ever ever ever. I do my eyes a little differently than a lot of other ladies, but it works for me: first I laid down my crease color, a copper (top row, four from left). Then I colored in the brow with the matte eggshell (top left), which made blending the crease a billion times easier. Then I colored in the lid, a metallic champagne (bottom left), from the inside corners of my eyes to about 3/4 of the way across. After that, a tiny bit of highlighter-- Stila's Kitten, a pinky metallic shade (top row, second from left) right below the arch of my eyebrow. I lined my eyes-- the top, a thin line, and then about 1/3 of my lower waterline. Finished with black-brown mascara- one coat on my top lashes and the outer 1/3 of my bottom lashes.
Next, I blended some Gerbera on the apples of my cheeks, plus a touch of highlighter on the upper part of my cheekbones (Benefit's Girl Meets Pearl is super natural-looking). Add lipstick and bam. Done. In under 10 minutes.
Here are some full face swatches with each lipstick. I apologize for the super-emo quality of the Honest Politician swatch-- it was LITERALLY the only shot I took where you could see both eye and lip.
Honest Politician
Tzigane
Christina
Arm swatches!
Voila! Natural prettiness, super fast.
Lipstick Search Criteria: color, ease of application, and moisture. I haaaate lipsticks that dry my lips out. After much swatch-stalking, I picked three: NARS Tzigane, NARS Christina, and Lipstick Queen Oxymoron Matte Gloss in Honest Politician.
Lipstick Queen Oxymoron Matte Gloss in Honest Politician: The ultimate MLBB-- a neutral rose. No fuss. Comes with a lip brush, but goes on fine with just your fingers. You cannot fuck this up. Has the consistency of a tinted balm. Bonus! You can use it as a cheek color, much like the Convertible Color I'm gonna get to in a minute. And you know what sold me on this? This review. Jane Austen beauty, indeed.
Honest Politician
NARS Lipsticks in Tzigane & Christina: Tzigane is a sheer nude. It's like that perfect little finishing touch that just makes you look polished. You wouldn't go "huh, she's wearing lipstick," you'd think "huh, she looks very nicely pulled together today." The rosy color of my lips still comes through, but this is PERFECT if you want to do bolder eyes because it won't make you look clownish. Christina is a berry with golden shimmer. (For some reason, the lip swatch below looks a little muted; check out the full face pic for a more color-true swatch.) IT'S LIKE THEY KNOW ME, YOU GUYS. Pros: moisturizing, totally gorgous, both can go day-to-night. Cons: $25 each. Yeowch.
Tzigane
Christina
The Rest of the Look: I used a lightweight foundation, a brown-black mascara, plus Stila Convertible Color in Gerbera and the Stila In The Light Palette.
In The Light is a palette of neturals with a mix of mattes & shimmers. There are also two darker shades for a smoky eye look. This palette is A+ bang for your buck, and there is not a single shade that's a stinker. The consistency is LIKE BUTTAH. Plus! Free full size brown eyeliner (though, for the look I used the same Stila eyeliner formulation, but swapped it out for Purple Tang). The eyeliner is a twist up cream pencil, perfect for people like me with dry lids and who hate freaking sharpening pencils.
Gerbera is a Convertible Color shade-- it's basically cream blush that you can apply with your fingers! They say that you can use it on your lips, too... I found that unpleasantly drying, plus the shade washed me out on my lips. But on my cheeks, it is the perfect sheer peachy coral. Just enough to make me look awake. I think I want this in a few more colors.
What I did: First I laid down foundation. I use a makeup sponge, then blended. Next, Urban Decay Primer on my lids, because it is the best beauty product ever ever ever. I do my eyes a little differently than a lot of other ladies, but it works for me: first I laid down my crease color, a copper (top row, four from left). Then I colored in the brow with the matte eggshell (top left), which made blending the crease a billion times easier. Then I colored in the lid, a metallic champagne (bottom left), from the inside corners of my eyes to about 3/4 of the way across. After that, a tiny bit of highlighter-- Stila's Kitten, a pinky metallic shade (top row, second from left) right below the arch of my eyebrow. I lined my eyes-- the top, a thin line, and then about 1/3 of my lower waterline. Finished with black-brown mascara- one coat on my top lashes and the outer 1/3 of my bottom lashes.
Next, I blended some Gerbera on the apples of my cheeks, plus a touch of highlighter on the upper part of my cheekbones (Benefit's Girl Meets Pearl is super natural-looking). Add lipstick and bam. Done. In under 10 minutes.
Here are some full face swatches with each lipstick. I apologize for the super-emo quality of the Honest Politician swatch-- it was LITERALLY the only shot I took where you could see both eye and lip.
Honest Politician
Tzigane
Christina
Arm swatches!
Voila! Natural prettiness, super fast.