We have always loved makeup, we've just never been committed to it.We've never worn foundation or base or primer – we dabbled with powder in our early teens, but really, we just liked the gifts with purchase we'd get from Clinique. We've never been the type of person who looks vastly different with our without; we have one very dear friend who's been in our lives for maybe 15 years. We still do not recognize her without several layers of foundation, blue sparkly eyeshadow, and quite possibly an entire tube of mascara. We just can't commit to that type of time in the morning – we have a hard enough time brushing our teeth and washing our face.
There have been occasions, though. When we were 8, we spent an hour in the library bathroom applying layer after layer after layer of pink (yes, pink) mascara. We looked absolutely ridiculous, possibly insane, and our mother quickly escorted us out. When we were early, angsty teens – maybe 14 or 15 – we were absolutely in love with L'oreal's Rum Raisin lipstick. We would follow these steps: foundation on lips (nowhere else, mind you), lipliner (Wet and Wild 666 – we still love this), fill in lips with lipliner, powder, lipstick applied with brush, blot, powder, lipstick applied with brush, blot, very light powder. It did the trick for staying power, that's for sure. Of course, we looked like we were wearing black lipstick – and we looked damn near ridiculous – but we did our best.
Fast forward, many moons. Now we dabble in lipstick and mascara when going out out (MAC Red and Fiberwig, easy peasy), or Kiehl's lip balm when we don't. We recently fell in love with nude lips – it just seems so easy! And it doesn't require the constant attention that bright red lips can require. Er, so we thought. We spent a good amount of time at the MAC counter this weekend, trying to find the right shade that was nude, not matte, not shiny, not corpse-like, and didn't require multiple steps. The girl at the counter had the most beautiful nude lips ever – but they required an insane amount of steps. Well, three. But for us, that's just too many. We ended up with a brown/pink color called Cherish, and it's ok – but we're thinking for it to look the way we want to, we may need to reexamine this commitment issue we've got. The girl at the counter kept saying liner and gloss – we may cave and try it out.
What we want to know: do normal people devote more time to makeup? We would like to know how much time our readers spend putting on their face, and what steps are involved – post face washing and moisturizing, what do you do?
MAC lipstick (is our favorite), $14
-LB
for everyday, eyeliner (mechanical pencil form) and occasionally bronzer. that’s it. I’m quite low maintenance as well
I consider myself to be “medium maintenance.” By that, it takes me somewhere between 5-10 minutes to do the whole mineral foundation, concealer, blush, eyeliner, mascara, lipgloss thing. If I’m going out, it may take a few minutes longer than it does for work… I care more!
I’ve used more makeup in my 50s than I ever did before. Used to be just mascara and concealer, now it’s foundation, concealer, powder, blush, mascara, lipstick. It still only takes 5 minutes or so. I use eye shadow and liner if we’re going to a big party, otherwise I never bother. I use Paula’s Choice because my skin is easily irritated and it doesn’t contain fragrance.
Low maintenance everyday = Clinique City Stick solid foundation thingy, followed by Almost Lipstick on lips (and a little on cheeks if I look too dead). This takes only a minute or two and I have been known to do it in the morning sitting in my car outside work.
Going out (aka hardly ever) = Clinique superbalanced foundation, Benetint on lips, a little bit of concealer, brown eyeliner, curl lashes + brown mascara, Clinique blush stick thingy on cheeks and awesome sparkly gloss (also Clinique, called something like Fireberry). I am officially a Clinique fan – Sephora staff here seems to skew either too busy/bitchy or too pushy for me which makes getting any help at all a total pain. The Clinique ladies are more of my speed.
Mascara. That is all. I always have a tube of Burt’s Bees chapstick on me, too. If I’m feeling ambitious or want to procrastinate doing work (I’m a grad student), I’ll try some eyeliner and/or eyeshadow. Sometimes I use concealer if my face is especially freaking out. I rarely leave the house, however, without mascara.
Every day I wear tinted moisturizer with SPF 30, lip gloss, mascara and either liner (usually black liquid, but I’ve been into my purple pencil lately) or shadow. Shadow takes longer because I like to wet a small brush to get concentrated color along the lashes then a bigger brush to blend. Sometimes I even add a little shimmer in the inner corners.
I have 10-15 minutes every morning for makeup because I barely do anything with my hair.
I don’t know where I fall on the maintenance spectrum–I wear Bare Minerals concealer & veil, a dab of blush, & maybe eyeliner if I have time.
But what I DO know is that I have found a very nice nude–maybe the perfect nude–for my sallowy, olivey, pale face. Laura Mercier Lip Colour Sheer in Bare Lips or Nude Lips–or mix them together. It’s kind of grown up, but what the fuck. I’ll be 29 in a month.
http://www.lauramercier.com/products/colour/lips/lip_colour/lip_colour_sheer/
i made up a 5 minute rule when i moved to russia and had to wear makeup or get escorted away by the police. i’ve stuck with it. i usually either pick lips or eyes — eyeliner and mascara with kiehls lipgloss, or lipliner with proper lipstick. maybe some powder if i feel like avoiding shiny skin (i use the yellow stuff by benefit).