CONTENTSTHE FACE — Primer THE LIPS — Preparation THE EYES — Primer
BRANDS
i don't know where you're starting out from, so probably some of this will be stuff you already know, so you can just ignore/skim over that stuff. a couple of brands are gonna feature again and again, so to quickly list them— nyx: budget, but surprisingly high quality; essence: ultra budget, shit to excellent quality; urban decay: mid-range, excellent quality; wet n wild: ultra budget, when they're good they're GREAT but be wary; l'oreal: budget, vairable quality; hourglass: luxury, incomparable quality; inglot: mid-range, good quality; anastasia beverly hills: luxury, excellent quality; nars: luxury, high quality everything; there are a bunch of other brands which are great, but these are the ones i've turned to, again and again, for multiple products. PLACES TO SHOP
when it comes to online shopping, my go-tos are cultbeauty.co.uk, beautybay.com, and cloud10beauty.com are great for getting brands you can't get in shops, or getting better deals on the ones you can. make an account early, and sign up for emails. they spam a little, but cloud10 in particular does great deals, especially around this time of year for black friday! normal shopping preferences are house of fraser (just no gift cards), BTs, and harvey nicks for luxury brands, and boots and penneys for everything else. THINGS TO CONSIDER
try to find youtubers who have similar traits to yourself— face shape, lip shape, skin tone, skin type (dry/combo/oily etc.), eye shape, whatever. for the hooded eye thing, i would recommend tati westbrook and stephanie lange. you might also want to take a quick look at some of the guys doing YT beauty (manny mua, james charles, jefree starr) as they tend to have some amab-bone-structure-specific concerns and are used to working around them. THINGS TO AVOID
youtubers get paid the big bucks to shill a lot of brands. the most obvious of these is morphe— don't touch it with a goddamned barge pole. bh cosmetics is another, also zoeva and a few other "private label" brands. also, they tend to all support each other's collaborations, and those are often lower quality (even if from an otherwise reputable brand) so be very wary of them. AVOID HOLIDAY GIFT SETS, especially for brushes. they are greatly reduced in quality. (does not apply to non-holiday sets.) okay, moving on actual makeup itself. you've got three main areas to consider: face, eyes, and lips. different brands excel in different areas, so the whole "get a makeover from x" thing will sort of obligate you to buy a bunch of stuff from one brand, and that's not always helpful. also, different things work for different people with different concerns, so the things i love/recommend might not work for you, and it doesn't automatically mean you are using them wrong! TOOLS
tools make all the difference. ALL the difference. sure, davinci could probably paint the mona lisa with a toothbrush and a wet napkin, but most people aren't davinci. most of us end up unintentional picasso without the proper tools. there are a couple of brands here which are winners— my personal faves are nyx, real techniques (both available via boots, though the nyx are NEVER IN STOCK) and sigma (available from cloud10). alas, the others i like are either stupidly expensive or hard to get hold of here. there are tons of available, budget offerings, but i wouldn't personally sign off on most. the cheaper ones shed on your skin and/or are hard enough that they will drag and hurt. best avoided! foundation application: i swear by beauty blender sponges, the original and the best. other sponges are genuinely not the same quality. you can get them from amazon, or cloud 10 beauty. if you can get the beauty blender solid cleanser, buy it— nothing else in the world will clean your beauty tools as effectively as this. i don't know what it's made from, and i'm afraid to ask, but it is 10x better than anything else i've ever used. best used by putting a small amount of foundation onto the back of your hand and then dabbing a damp (not wet, not dry) beauty blender into it and then bouncing it over your skin. higher numbers of lighter bounces are better than lower numbers of harder bounces. it's annoying, but good application takes time, and this approach will give you a more airbrushed and flawless look than brushes or your fingers. concealer brush: duo-fibre brushes are best for this. a lot of concealer brushes are small, flat brushes, but i've never been able to get a good result with them. the one i love best is from this set. haven't used that site before, but trust pilot seems to sign off on it, and that set also gives you a good brush for dusting off excess powder foundation and applying light blush, so it's worth considering. contour/highlighter brush: there are lots of brushes designed to do the contour for you, but most of them are shite. imo, what you want here is a thin tapered brush with long hairs and a real light hand. building up when you haven't used a lot is easy, taking it off again when you have put on too much is a pain in the hoop. my preference is something like this. you can use the same brush for highlight (unless you prefer a fan brush), so it does double duty and saves a few quid. blusher brush: for blush you either want a nice light duo fibre one of a medium side as in the set i linked to before, or a fat tapered one like this. i have this one myself, and consider it pretty good. lid brush: for packing colour onto the lid, this is your basic application brush. blending brush: you want something soft and fluffy for this. i like this one, and its slightly fluffier older brother. crease application: something domed (pointed) to get right into the crease and outer v is important, as is something with short, firm bristles. i like this. eyeliner brush: rather than mess about with liquid or pencil liner, a good brush and some dark shadow can work wonders. you want something very thin, straight, and wide like this. line blender: to blend out your eyeliner, and apply shadow to the lower lid, you'll wand something that's longer and fatter and a little bit soft, like this. brow brushes: you will need a "spoolie" to tame the hairs, and an angled brush to apply the product. please note that these are only recommendations and one person's opinion! i have good experience of these brands and most of these products, though.
FACE
PRIMERdon't skip this. really, don't. BUT, you don't need a fancy one. catrice (available in boots and penneys) do a good one, and so do nyx ("pore filler", i think— they have a ton of different ones). you can also opt for a tinted primer (green or lavender are most popular) if you have specific skin concerns like redness or sallowness, but generally speaking, a plain one does the most.
FOUNDATIONa fancy foundation is nice, but cheaper ones can be good. shade match is important— you're cool (pink) toned, which is a benefit in this market as most paler shades sold in the irish market are either cool or neutral. (there are pale warm people, but nobody gives a fuck about us except in asia.) you can use liquid, or powder, or both. i prefer liquid, as it gives better coverage. coverage can be super light (sheer) or super heavy (full), and in a variety of shine level finishes (dewey/satin/matte— like paint, basically). brand recommendations— at the budget end, l'oreal "true match" and nyx "stay matte". at the luxury end, nars "sheer glow". i personally did not like estee lauder "double wear", because i felt like i was going to suffocate to death, but it sure does cover up everything remotely resembling a human flaw in your skin. your shade is best tested on the back of your hand or inside your wrist (compare both to your face in strong daylight to see which is a better match) if you can't put it on your face. be SURE to let it sit for at least an hour before you buy, because your skin might react badly with it and turn it fucking orange even if it's a nice colour when you put it on and nobody else looks tangoed when they wear it...! (not that i'm speaking from personal experience or anything.)
CONCEALERif you have good skin with few spots, you can skip this. if not, this is where it can all go horribly wrong. if you watch the youtubers, they will basically build a new face shape with multiple shades of concealer applied here, there, and everywhere. unless you have two hours to get ready, a very steady hand, and a lot of tools, this is not a good idea— and this technique actually came from drag, so it tends to look a little bit like drag makeup irl (versus looking amazing and fresh on insta after a ton of filters). most people will just need one good solid concealer in a shade the same as —or very slightly lighter than— their foundation colour. i've heard people swear by catrice, but catrice stuff turns bright orange when it comes into contact with my skin (i lied; i do have personal experience), so i can't personally recommend it. try it and see if it works for you! if it does, you've saved yourself a fortune. if it doesn't, consider nars "radiant creamy concealer". you will need to sell a kidney to buy it. fortunately, this concealer is good enough that it will cover up the jaundiced look you'll have afterwards. put a little onto the back of your hand, then dab lightly onto your face with your duo fibre brush— again, repetitive, light motions are key. the harder you press or faster you try to go, the more likely you are to make mistakes. blot using lighter motions with the beauty blender, then take some power on the brush again, and put some on. put a LOT on, just do it with light motions. let it sit (or "bake" if you wanna sound like the hip kids with their hip lingo) for a while before brushing off with your bigger duo fibre brush.
POWDERpowder is important! you can use powder and skip liquid if you have good skin or don't want a heavy look, but you can't really use liquid and skip powder. my favourite isn't available in this stupid country, but what i think is best is one that's translucent (doesn't have a colour). it interferes with foundation less then, and you can wear it alone for shine control, too. you do not need to spend big here to get something good— boots have a great range here, and most things are fine. loose powder can seem a bit scary at first, but tap a little into the cap and apply either with your beauty blender (better done if you use a cheaper power because a beauty blender just eats product) or your larger duo fibre brush. pat the powder lightly onto the skin all over the face.
CONTOURcontour is another area where it can all go to shit. the thing with coutour is: less is more. sure, you can trowel that shit on and look like a goddess in a photo, but in real life you're going to look like a stripey, skunk-faced weirdo. what's important here is that you pick a cool colour (you know the "no pomegranate" video? that's me when it comes to bronzer being used as contour. NO BRONZER! NO BRONZER! NONE! ABSOLUTELY NO BRONZER!!!) that's not a whole lot darker than your actual skin. you'll be surprised how little it takes to bring your cheekbones to life, downplay your brow, and soften your jaw. (which is what you're going for, generally speaking.) i'm not even going to try to tell you how to apply it— that's gonna depend on your specific face shape, but the basic idea is to get in under the cheekbones, and to slim down the forehead. (jaw contour is also a thing, but that's advanced skill shit.) find a video of someone with the same basic face shape as you (just google "contour square face", or "contour oval face" or whatever, and there will be tons), then find another two, and see what seems to be common among them. you can get both liquid or powder, but i always advise powder. liquid is 10x harder to blend and just requires more perfection to look good. caveat: never try to put liquid on over powder, and always put your face powder down before you put on your powder contour. you're not going to want anything too dark, too warm, or too sparkly. product-wise, i would recommend nyx "professional high definition blush" in the shade taupe (and only taupe, available from boots) for a budget option, pixi by petra (via cloud 10) for a mid-range option, and kevyn aucoin "sculpting powder" (also cloud10) if you wanna go for broke (literally).
BLUSHblush is the area where you can skimp financially the most! you DO NOT need an expensive option here. my recommendation for this is always nyx (the same one as the contour above, just a different shade), but sleek (also in boots) do a couple of nice options, too. there are multiple ways to apply your blush (nike-swoosh shape for definition, on the apples of the cheek for a feminine glow, high on the cheekbone for a youthful flush) depending on what look you want to go for that day. i tend to go for a combo between youthful flush and swoosh using a lighter (flush) and darker (swoosh) shade, but that's complex to begin with. dab on lightly with your fat brush, and build up slowly. again, you DEFINITELY want to have applied your powder foundation before this, otherwise it will not blend out, and you will look like bozo the clown.
HIGHLIGHTERthe most fun part of face makeup. there are two approaches to highlighter: subtle (my pref) and GO FUCKIN' HAM (all of youtube). if you want to go ham, there are a billion options available to you. cheaper brands have a plethora of products, but the problem with these is that they have less finely milled power, which means they sit on the pores a little bit and make them more obvious, so be careful of this. sleek, elf, and nyx (all in boots) have an option for you here. as you're cool-toned, pinky ones will look more natural than yellowy ones, but white is a nice safe option. lavender or bluey shades are very popular, but very obvious on the skin. if you want subtle, my recommendation is to suck it up, sell your other kidney, and consult hourglass. they are untouchable in the field of highlighter: they look unbelievably natural and subtle, but really bring out the cheekbones and add dimension to the face without resorting to the beauty gurus' concealer-based racing stripes. you can get it in harvey nicks in dundrum, but also order it here. "dim light" is the most popular shade, but i'm personally also fond of "diffused light". you can use your (cleaned!) contour brush to dust this along the tops of your cheekbones to the point where your pores become more obvious (one to two finger-widths from your nose), your cupid's bow on your lip, and the tip of your nose. a little goes a long way here!
BLENDINGonce you have applied all of the above, take your biggest duo fibre blush and LIGHTLY blend them into one another. do not undo all your hard work by scrubbing at your skin, just swoop the brush around your skin in large, light circles. there should be no obvious hard lines or demarcations between the various things you've applied, it should just enhance your natural beauty.
SETTING SPRAYif you did all of the above, you might as well finish it off with setting spray. urban decay "all-nighter" is the most popular, but it's expensive. nyx does a perfectly good version for about a third of the price. (you want to wait until you've got your eye makeup done before you do it, but since it's a face thing, i'm including it here.) shake, hold it about 20cm from your face, tilt your face upwards, spray, and let it fall. you should probably use 1-3 sprays depending.
LIPS
PREPARATIONlip scrubs are not necessary unless you're using liquid lipsticks. i do not recommend liquid lipsticks, because they are super drying, and can flake off and gather in the corners of your mouth and be generally exhausting. lip balm, however, will stop your lips from drying out and looking gross or feeling terrible. i recommend the vaseline aloe tins you can get in primark for like €2— i've used everything from €50 to every other budget option out there, and nothing is as good as this. (it smells pretty good, too.)
LIPLINERit's a pain in the hoop, but it helps. i strongly recommend lipliner, both as a base for your lipstick and to give a clearer border to your mouth. my preference is always for a twist up one since it doesn't need paring (an annoyance) and has no wooden bits to stick into your mouth and leave it bleeding (another thing that's definitely not ever happened to me when i was in a rush to put makeup up on!). my one and only rec in the world is this one from nyx: it's cheap, readily available, and can be gotten in a million colours. buy it, and get used to the slightly weird and totally ticklish feeling of drawing around your own mouth. if you want to make your main lip product last longer, you can fill in your lips with the liner and blot before applying lipstick, but be aware this will be a little more drying than if you don't do this. do not listen to what kylie jenner or anyone else tells you: if you try to overline your lips, you will end up looking like a nutcase. just don't. draw along the natural line and only dare venture outside that to neaten up or straighten the line if it wobbles, as biology is prone to do.
LIPSTICKyou've got three main options here: gloss, lipstick, and liquid lip. the latter is longest-wearing, but can create all manner of problems, so i think it's best avoided. gloss is great and fun to play with, but is sticky and annoying, and doesn't last very long. lips are another area where you don't need to spend money to look good. again, i turn to nyx here: this is great, and the cream version is an almost-liquid lip that won't make you hate being alive the way most others will. i can't find a link, but i also really rate the basic essence lipsticks in their shiny formulation— but not their matte ones, since they're a bit drying. the shinier the product, the cheaper you can go. a cheap gloss lipstick is fine; a cheap matte lipstick is going to be a pain, literally.
EYES
PRIMERyeah: primer again. the industry standard is usually urban decay "primer potion", but nyx do a much cheaper alternative which is pretty good. dot on a small amount with your finger and cover the whole lid. this will make your shadow blend better, and will also make your colours punchier and last longer.
SHADOWi could write for ten weeks on this, but ultimately a lot of it comes down to personal preference. in my personal opinion, eye shadow is something you gotta get spendy with. cheaper options will not get the job done. my best recommendation here is urban decay though anything from anastasia beverly hills won't see you wrong, either. when it comes to shadow, i avoid my usual beloveds of nyx and essence, as their shadows simply pale in comparison to the pricier offerings: they don't blend as well, they have very little pigment, and they don't last as long. when it comes to the urban decay ones, i would strongly suggest picking up one of the "naked palettes"— "naked 1" if you can get it, though 2 and 3 are also good, as are fire and cherry and smoky. do NOT get the large square naked basics palette; it's shit (the three smaller ones are pretty great, however), and a lot of their holiday palettes are also a bit hit and miss. for fun colours outside of the naked range, consider their singles (though they're expensive) or whatever kat von d palette (available from debenhams) is out at any given time. i've covered the brushes you need in the tools section, but as for application... you're going to need to watch a bunch of tutorial specific to the looks you like and the eye shape you have. first up: familiarise yourself with the different "parts" of the eye:
before watching the tutorials, otherwise the different bits they're referring to is going to be a constant confusion. a few tips which are universal, though— — blending, blending, blending. do it. then keep going. then a little more! hold the brush towards the back of the handle, and use light, circular motions. (that's a thing with makeup in general.) — transition shades! you can't just plough blue into orange and expect it to look good. you'll want to start with a wash of a skin-like colour over the lid and into the crease, then add your lid colour, darken at the outer v, and add a lighter colour at the brow bone to lift it. — blending, blending, blending. i'm really not kidding with this. — use multiple brushes. use ALL your brushes! — glittery shades are for the the lid only, and are best kept to small amounts.
EYELINERi have the least steady hand imaginable, so my approach to eyeliner is to avoid the liquid and pencil kinds which invariably mess up my makeup. for a subtler look which does not ruin everything you just did with the shadow, take your liner brush, dip it into a dark shade of the same tone as your overall look (black/navy/bottle green/dark brown), dust off the excess, and touch it gently along your lash line. TOUCH. GENTLY. don't try to drag it, and don't use too much force. touch, then lift to the next spot so there's a little bit of overlap. like dot, dot, dot. you want to start at the root of the lash and flick lightly upwards. you do not need a lot. if you are feeling very adventurous, you can lift the lid lightly with your index finger, and do this underneath the lash line. this is called tight-lining, and requires both bravery and a steady hand, but it will up your eye makeup game to the absolute next level. when you're done, you're going to want to curve your index finger and blink lightly onto it a few times, otherwise the shadow will end up on your eyeball. (sometimes this happens, you just gotta deal with it. sorry?)
MASCARAif you thought eyeliner was bad, welcome to hell...! getting your mascara onto your lashes without getting it on your face is only half the battle. then you have to keep it there! (i am not a fan of mascara.) you don't wear glasses, which is a HUGE point in your favour, but it can still be a challenge to get the right one, because there are a ton of kinds. in my experience, you're best to pick one with a thinner rather than fatter brush, because they're easier to apply. waterproof is harder to get off, but is less likely to end up all over your face, so it's a toss-up. to apply, open your eyes as wide as you can, tilt your face a little downwards, then start at the base of your lashes and sweep up and back. try not to get it on your eyelids— the first couple of times, it will help to have a q-tip dipped in eyemakeup remover on hand before you begin, because running for one while your eye is covered in mascara and you're trying not to fuck up your eyeshadow or foundation and can't really see is not a great experience. this is the only one i've used for years; i don't recommend anything else. you need to take it off with a warm, wet cloth or cotton pad— it's the heat that does the job here, not the liquid. DO NOT scrub at your eyes when removing any kind of eye makeup, otherwise you will look fifty when you're forty. remember the light, circular motions? yeah, they apply here, too.
BROWSbrows are different for everyone, but basically speaking: the thinner they are, the older and more "elegant" you look, whereas the thicker they are, the younger you'll look. in a similar vein, the straighter and darker they are, the more masculine they are; the more arched and pale, the more feminine. find your natural shape and emphasise and tidy this up (look into threading if you haven't already), then consider a nice brow product. if your brow hairs are a paler colour, you will benefit more from a pencil than a pomade. imo, a nice middle ground is brow powder. brows are really one place where you can go absolutely wrong, so i would suggest getting a pencil and playing around with drawing on different shapes (some will look ridiculous; write it off and move on with your day) before committing to threading or anything serious. severe brows can really age your face and look really unnatural, so this is another case of "less is more". there are a ton of good options here at all price ranges. benefit (via boots) is the industry standard, but i'm a big fan of nyx's brow powder, as they offer a nice range of colours. you might also want to look into brow mascara to hold the hairs in place— essence is the absolute business here, both for their clear "brow gel" and their trio of brow mascara colours. use your brow brush to create lines within your brow region, starting at the inside of your brows and angled up and outwards towards your temples. when you're happy with the overall shape, one trick i've always used is to use a darker powder, and then a lighter mascara to add texture and contrast create have something slightly more natural.
REMOVAL
makeup removal is just as important as makeup application. DO NOT SLEEP IN YOUR MAKEUP. i repeat: do NOT sleep in your makeup. it makes your skin shitey, and your bedclothes, to boot. as for face wipes, you might as well just open a bottle of vodka and wash your face with it. they're bad! very bad. use something that will nurture your skin, not strip-mine it. i'm a big fan of double-cleansing, and oil cleansers. to shift heavy makeup (which is what foundation + setting spray equals), you will want something a little hardier than your usual facewash. if it has the word "balm" in the title, you're on the right track. my personal fave seems to have been discontinued, but this is a nice option, and then afterwards you can use whatever other cleanser you like. yes, you will need to use another. that's the "double" in "double-cleanse"! however, sometimes a dedicated make-up remover is necessary, too (if you've been doing glittery eye looks particularly). the best one in town is from clinique "take the day off", but boots' own no7 option makes a decent budget substitute. put a decent amount on a cotton pad, and press gently against your eye for about thirty seconds. Let it sit a while rather than scrub; your future self will thank you. you have now reached the end of this god-awful make-up recommendations tutorial! congratulations on reading this far; go have a biscuit, then get your credit card ready. ❤️
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