Makeup routine, product reviews, and plum smokey eyes

I haven’t done a makeup tutorial in YEARS. Now, I’ve been trying to film one, but I am now so used to sitting still and posing that I’ve lost my knack for talking to the camera. So instead, I’ll do photographic tutorials. This one is my daily makeup routine plus a little extra, and should only take you about 15 minutes, if that! There will also be product reviews for a few of the items I use, in case any of you are looking for good affordable makeup.  I hope you all enjoy!

Start out with a clean, moisturized face. Moisturizer is especially important before foundation if you are dry-skinned like me (although my nose does tend to be oilier), and even if you don’t moisturize the rest of your face, at least slap a little on your undereye area to keep your concealer from caking up.

 As always, start out by applying your foundation, concealer, and blush. For blush, I generally start near the hairline on my cheekbone and work it towards the apple of my cheek. This helps lift your face and gives you a more natural flush than plopping it right on the apples of your cheeks.

I just bought new products for entirety of these first few makeup steps, and I have to say so far I’m impressed. I’ve been hunting for a foundation that does not require powder as my old foundation did, because I hate the caked look that powder gives my face, plus I’ve got dry skin so during the winter, the less drying ingredients I add to my skin, the better! Revlon Colorstay Foundation came highly reviewed around the internet, so I decided to give it a try! Per the most thorough review I found, I decided to go with the combination/oily edition even though I have dry skin, as she said the normal/dry tends to stick to dry patches.

I love it. It goes on smoothly, the color was SO easy to match (previously, the makeup I was using came either in a shade too light, or a shade too dark and I didn’t want to buy two foundations to get one color.), it stays all day, and it sets to a skin-like texture that does not feel moist or like it’ll rub off if you touch it.

The concealer is Maybelline Dream Lumi Concealer. I am allergic to almost every concealer I have tried, so I was a bit afraid to buy this one, but so far so good! I’m not used to using concealers, so I feel like it took me a little while to get used to how much to apply and how thick it felt at first, but once you get the hang of it it’s quite nice! It does its job, and although I feel it’s a bit heavy for me, that could be because I’m not used to using concealer.

And the blush! Oh, I love the blush. It’s Maybelline Dream Bouncy and of all the cream blushes I have ever tried, this one is the best! It’s not sticky, it’s not too moist, it doesn’t get all dry and grainy like some I’ve tried have, and it also sets to a nice skin-like texture that stays all day. I’m in love.

By the way, if you’re afraid to get bright blushes, just remember that most colors blend down quite a lot and bright blushes actually look quite natural when applied. Unless, that is, you apply too much.

Enough with the reviews! Back to the tutorial. Haha!

With eyes, I like to start with the darkest color and work my way to the lightest. So first, begin by applying a plum-colored eyeshadow from the lash-line of your eye to the crease. I use e.l.f baked eyeshadow in burnt plum. Don’t worry about getting it too clean; we’ll tidy that up later. Secondly, apply a golden shadow on the inner half of your lid, into the crease, and under your eyes. I used Maybelline Expert Wear in Copper Craze. Then, with a nice fluffy shadow brush, blend those two colors together until you no longer have harsh lines.

With a shimmery shadow that is a shade or two lighter than your skin, highlight the top of your browbone and the inner corner of your eye. I used Maybelline Expert Wear in Champagne Fizz.

Eyeliner time! I am not at all neat with this type of eyeliner, so don’t worry about getting perfect lines. As thickly as you like it, line your upper and lower lash lines with a dark brown liner to about where the inside of your iris stops, and wing your upper eyeliner out just a bit to create a cat-eye-like effect (but this doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s just to add a little depth. I use Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eyeliner in Sable.

Then, of course, add mascara. It’s actually up to you and your skin tone on the liner and mascara color; since it’s fall and since I have hazel eyes, I’ve been using brown liners and shadows lately, and I think they really enhance the color of my eyes. If you want something a little more defined, however, feel free to use black! My favorite mascara right now is L’Oreal Voluminous Mascara (in black brown). It has the best brush I’ve ever used, and thickens+lengthens lashes better than any other mascara I’ve tried. Then again, I do tend to stick with one mascara for a length of time, so I’ve really only explored Maybelline and L’Oreal, with maybe one or two Covergirl attempts.

Last but not least, add a little something to your lips! I tend to leave my lips bare, a fact I’m trying to change this fall, so for this look I added Maybelline Color Whisper in Pin Up Peach. It’s a shade I bought back when I had blonde hair for a minute, and I still love it. You can also try nude lips with this makeup, but as I have very pink coloring naturally, nude lips look terrible on me.

And there you have it! This makeup only goes one or two steps beyond my usual everyday makeup (nix the highlighter and the copper shadow, and lighten the plum to a barely-there status, and that’s what I do every day) and is very quick, easy, and fun for when you want a little more drama!

I am hoping to do more tutorials like this; as you can see if you followed any of the links, I don’t generally buy super-expensive makeup because… well… I just can’t afford it. So anything I use is basically drugstore-level, but I’ll probably start collecting up samples to test which brands work the best so that you know if you ever get lost in the makeup section!

I hope you all have a beautiful Tuesday!

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