Today I thought I'd do a full face look. I've started posting the products I'm wearing in the eye tutorials that I do, but thought I'd go ahead and actually give a little more detail about how I use them, what I like about them, ect.
I start by applying Benefit's the POREfessional to most of my face. I like this because it reduces the size of your pores, aka, it fills them in which makes your skin looks smoother. For me I notice most of the different on my nose and the apples of my cheeks. As far as the primer part of this, I don't personally think it does much, but I like the look it gives me so I keep using it. =) Next I apply my foundation. I've been loving the Rimmel London Match Perfection Foundation. (I talked about this in my december favorites.) I use the color 240 Soft Beige and I apply this with the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. I pour a little onto the front of my hand and basically dot a little on my face with my finger. Then I just buff it in in a circular motion with the brush. It's exactly the same as you would apply the Bare Minerals Foundation if you're familiar with that, just a liquid foundation and different brush.
Next I apply my concealer. I haven't found any one magical concealer that works for me, so I've been combining two, which really works out great and stays on all day long even when my face gets super greasy. I first use the L'Oreal True Match Crayon Concealer in Fair/Light. I just apply this with my fingers. Nothing special. It's a very creamy concealer and I love this one especially because it's got the perfect yellow base for my skin. Yellow bases are so hard to find in drugstore products, so I was really excited to find this one. To set it and blend it in a little bit more (since it's a little too yellow over a non-yellow based foundation), I use the Bare Minerals Foundation in Fairly Medium and apply this with the Sigma E60 brush. I find this part really makes it stay in place. For my under eye concealer I use YSL Touche Eclat in 2 Luminous Ivory applied and blend with my fingers. Lately I've been setting everything with the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light using a Sigma F30 brush. I'm still testing this out, so I can't say it's better than any other powder. It's just an essentially step to set everything in place.
Next I simply apply a blush. I've been using Sigma's Creme de Couture Blush in Strawberry Ambrosia applied with Real Techniques duo-fiber face brush lately. I keep this part simple and just apply the blush to the apples and tops of my cheeks - no bronzer, no highlighter, no contouring. Just trying to feel and look like myself here. =)
Then I go and attempt to do my eyebrows. This is definitely a sore spot in my everyday look. When I was younger I did exactly what you're not supposed to do and tweezed my eyebrows myself, doing WAY too much, and they have never been the same. So I really do "attempt" here. I don't like when people draw on their eyebrows or trim the hair. I just think it looks so un-natural (personal preference) so I try to do as little as possible. Right now I'm just filling them in with Maybelline's Define-a-brow in Light Blonde and then brushing them out with Benefit's Gimme Brow in Light/Medium. Nothing spectacular, just a little something that hopefully evens them out a little.
Then I do my eye makeup. As much as I love playing around with shadows, I actually don't use any on most days. If I do, I'll do something like this, and all I did was use the Gold Pink eyeshadow from the Make Up For Ever Midnight Glow palette applied all over my lid with a Sigma E70 brush. One shade, and not something that's really noticeable. It just gives a little sparkle. Then I just curl my lashes using a Sephora eyelash curler and apply mascara. Here I used L'Oreal Telescopic Carbon Black Mascara. You can read more about that mascara here.
Lastly is lips, and like all the other things, I keep this super simple. I usually use Maybelline's Baby Lips in Peach Kiss. Here I used Revlon's Snow Pink Lipgloss. Both are very natural and don't have much of a color to them, just a slight tint. And that's it. The foundation and concealer steps are obviously my longest and involve the most, but other than that, I keep it very simple every day.
