I hardly ever wear makeup. I find it uncomfortable, distracting, expensive, and time-consuming. Occasionally wearing the Burt's Bees lip gloss I got several months ago is still kind of a big deal to me. However, I'll be finishing grad school relatively soon and I want to look employable. I don't work in a particularly fashion-conscious field, but most of the women I've worked with seem to wear some sort of makeup (some of the men probably do too, but not at work...). What would you say is the least amount of makeup a person employed in a field similar to academic librarianship could get away with?
I like to put on a full face but it doesn't look like I have a full face on. I wear Bare Minerals, and it's a powder foundation, a darker powder meant to highlight and enrich the color of your skin, and a top layer that gets rid of glare. It just makes my face look more even and toned. I also have dark circles under my eyes, so I dab on this amazing stuff called Erase Paste by benefit.
For your eyes, what I like to do is wear mascara, a bit of liner, and then I use a light blush for my eyeshadow.
If you don't want to wear face makeup, you definitely don't have to, especially if you've got good skin. But you definitely need to wear some form of eye makeup to make your eyes pop and make you look awake and alert.
Oh, and it takes me like five minutes to put it all on, and Bare Minerals lasts a long time. Like, six months or more.
I rarely wear eye makeup. Usually like 5 times a year. About once every 2 weeks I will wear foundation if my skin is more red than usual or if TOM has caused a small breakout but thats it.
However, these past few weeks I have decided I wanted to start wearing natural looking eye makeup. For me this includes a brown eyeliner, since black is very harsh and to BAM for a nice day look for a red head. I than use a neutral eye shadow. Light browns or a faint lilac color. Almost everyone suggests wearing mascara, but I only do on special occasions. I feel pretty without makeup, so I never want to hide behind it. I do know that makeup is still (unfortunately) seen as some what of a necessity that women must wear in order to look "put together". Natural looking is key. Light eyeliner, light eyeshadow, and a tad of mascara if you want and that should be fine.
I would say a good natural looking concealer (I love the Bare Minerals Bisque) and eyeliner. Brown is good for blue eyes, navy for brown eyes, and plum for green eyes. Mascara gives you a lot of mileage, too, but I'm not a daily wearer - just never got in the habit.
If you decide to try foundation, I second Bare Minerals. It's great stuff, and you can go as sheer or as full coverage as you want.
If the lip gloss seems like a little too much to you, how about a tinted lip balm? Burt's Bees makes several nice shades, and so does Badger Balm.
I feel like I need some kind of foundation (and sometimes a concealer), eye brow pencil, mascara, one good eyeshadow to smudge in or a base to brighten (Too Faced makes one I LOVE), lip gloss, and some kind of perfume to look presentable and pulled together. The perfume is just for me, I doubt people standing next to me can smell it but *I* like it.
Carmindy from What Not To Wear has good advice on a five minute face. She has a book but you can probably google for the same info.
I like to watch Pixiewoo on youtube for ideas but they use five hundred thousand products for every little thing and I am WAY too lazy for that.
I wear Cover Girl lip stain, which you put on dry lips, then once it dries I put Burt's Bees mint flavored lipgloss over it. The other thing I wear consistantly {at least twice a week, LOL] is Cover's Girl Advanced Radiance Pressed powder, which I love! This is light 'barely there feeling' but actually covers well and is about $7 a compact, which lasts me between 4-6 months.
Last edited by patchworkpenguin; 02-12-2012 at 08:54 PM.
I wear Skin 79 BB cream (which is a tinted moisturizer that hides a lot of flaws and has SPF!), light mascara..I think it's Cover Girl naturals? In a green tube.
I also vouch for lipstain too!
Those 3 are my go-to when I need to rush around and have no time. They feel light, but look natural too.
I think I'll try to get in the habit of wearing lip-stuff more regularly and work on getting the hang of eyeliner/mascara/eyeshadow, then branch out into face makeup if I can get comfortable with it.
I'm another one in the mascara camp. I NEVER wear any kind of foundation - drives me crazy. Drove me crazy in highschool, drove me crazy in college. Quit trying by about 25.
I wear makeup <1/wk. Mascara and a neutral blush that I also brush over my lid/brow area. Not too pink, something that is really matched with my skin tone just a bit warmer.
I have a lot of skin allergies so makeup makes me insanely itchy and irritates my skin. Mostly I just wear mascara/eyeliner (those are by far the least irritating for me) with occasionally some cover-up for pimples and/or chapstick.
I've found that if I do my hair well and just wear mascara that's pretty much enough and DH isn't complaining.
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I am a former Bare Minerals user. I now use Smoky Mountain Minerals and have been using it for about 6 years now. It does not contain bismuth oxycholoride like Bare Minerals so, there is no itching, redness, irritation or shine It is also about 1/3 the price of Bare Minerals and they always offer discounts and the shipping is FREE
It goes on very natural looking, not "made-up" or overdone. They make a multi-tasking concealer to conceal imperfections and under eye issues that works great. Their Soft Pink blush is the perfect shade of blush, I LOVE it!
A little mascara and some neutral eyeshadow and some lip gloss and you'll be all set!
If your skin is good, you can get away without wearing much makeup at all. Some face powder if you get shiny, bronzer if you want some glow, mascara, and tinted lip gloss are all you really need. It's a good idea to buy basics and figure out a day and evening look for your makeup. You can go to any good makeup counter at the mall and get a lady there help you with colors and application. It's customary to buy at least one thing from them for their effort, so look for a deal that will get you a 'gift with purchase' to stretch your makeup dollars.
Minimum amount of makeup?
. Mascara makes the biggest difference, though!
