Makeup has always been a tricky subject with myself. Growing up I was always seen as the natural one, who would wear minimal makeup and feel comfortable doing so. Fortunately, I have been blessed with clear skin and know that I am incredibly lucky to have skin like this. With this in mind, in my teenage years I wanted to show off my clear complexion as it was something I was seriously proud of.
As the years have gone on, transcending into my 20's, I have become to gradually fall in love with makeup more. Where as before I would see it as a way of covering up and hiding away from what you want people to see, I have learnt from drag queens, online beauty guru's and the professionals that this does not have to be the case. Instead you can accentuate the features you want people to see the most, a perspective I never considered growing up, and now I see makeup as an art form I genuinely respect and admire.
Thanks to YouTube, I have learnt a lot over the past two years I would approximately say. If it weren't for those addictive makeup tutorials, I would honestly have no idea what I was doing. Also, living with a group of girls in university accommodation definitely has it's benefits! This being said, I have a definite makeup look I always turn back to, for those times when I'm not feeling confident enough to try something new, but still want to look sickening. So here it is, my number one night out makeup look!
This makeup look is one of the first ones I learnt to perfect when having to do makeup for cheer-leading competitions. Eye-shadow was always something I was quite frankly, terrified to go anywhere near. Even with having an artistic background, the idea of all of those colours and having to blend them etc. was a concept completely alien to me to be doing on my face. However, how it often comes down to with makeup, you just have to bite the bullet and experiment. Figure out a way that is best for you and roll with it. There's no right way, so why not go a little crazy?!
I personally love this makeup look because of the neutral colours, it is almost guaranteed to go with any outfit you're wearing, which is something I always naturally try and coordinate. To accomplish this look, I use an array of products, so I thought I would talk you through the products I use and details of how etc.
To begin with, I cover my entire face with this Rimmel London Match Perfection foundation in the shade 303 True Nude. This foundation is a recently new purchase of mine, as before I was using a cheaper foundation which dried my skin out significantly throughout an evening, so I decided to spend a bit more money on a hydrating foundation to make sure that my skin is still being looked after even when being covered in makeup!
This foundation does exactly what it says on the tin, it's hydrating, soft on the skin and completely comfortable on the face. I personally don't enjoy the feeling of my face being caked in makeup, as it is something that I have very rarely had to contend with in the past - the only time being when performing on stage and competitions. This foundation however is so lightweight, yet still gives you that coverage that you would want for a night out. I simply apply this by covering my face evenly and blending it with a damp beauty blender.
Next up is concealer. Usually the only things that I wanting to cover up with concealer are the bags under my eyes and some red blemishes on my cheeks. With this in mind, I don't tend to spend a lot of money on concealer as it isn't a vital part of my makeup routine.
This is why I use the Collection Cover Up Stick in shade 14 Honey Beige. When using face products, I do tend to have a preference towards of stick products over liquid or powder, just because I feel like I have more of a control of how much I'm applying and where. This concealer is perfect for that reason, and is also really creamy and again, soft on the skin. I can apply it as heavily or lightly as I want, and I again use my damp beauty blender to blend it out into my foundation.
I then move onto doing my eyes. My eye makeup is the part that usually takes me the longest, as my eyes are a part of my face I want the most attention drawn to considering they're one of my most favourite things about myself #selflove. The eye pallet I use for this particular smokey eye look is one I actually picked up as part of a set back in Halloween. Despite it not being a high-end brand, it still does the job and the shadows are a really good quality which last me a whole night.
The colour I begin with as a base across my entire lid is the top right grey, which is slightly lighter than the bottom left grey. I keep this application quite light, as I then go in with the darker grey in the bottom right corner on the outer corners of my eyes. I then just blend the two together to make a smooth transition of grey. To finish off the eyes I then simply blend in a bit of the off white colour in the top left corner to the inner corners of my eyes, which also add a touch of highlight to my eyes to really make them pop.
This next step is something which could be left out, as the eye-shadow is quite dramatic as it already is. However, for me the winged eyeliner look is almost like a comfort blanket. Nothing makes me feel more sassy than when my eyeliner is looking sharp and on point, so it is a step which no matter what look I'm going for, 9 times out of 10 I will be using it.
The eyeliner I use is an almost holy grail product for myself, as it is one I have been coming back to since I was about 15, when I first started wearing eyeliner. It is the Rimmel London Waterproof Exaggerate Eye Liner in 003 Glossy Black. Because I have been using this product for a solid 6 years of my life, the brush and consistency of the liner is something I have now become so used to, that for me to use anything else would just feel weird to me. I have tried other liquid eyeliners, such as ones from Benefit, but they just don't compare to the sharp, precise wing I can get with this one.
Again, my mascara is another holy grail product and one I very rarely stray away from. I'm quite lucky when it comes to eyelashes as they're naturally curly, so this means that all I need from a mascara is one that makes them a bit fuller as they're already quite long.
The Rimmel London ScandalEyes Xtreme Volume and Length Mascara is one which gives me exactly what I need from a mascara, and does what it says on the label perfectly for me. As far as mascara's go, I used to often find that they would perform one job better than the other, so more lengthening than thickening or visa versa. With this one on the hand, I feel like it gives me that perfect balance of making my eyelashes look exaggerated, without making them look clumpy or messy. Perfection.
There is a definite trend with my makeup I have come to realise! Rimmel London is a brand which I trust, and for someone who doesn't mind not spending ridiculous amounts of money on makeup, Rimmel is the perfect brand to go for when you're on a budget.
My next step with my makeup are my eyebrows. Eyebrows have always been a struggle with myself, as they're thick and can become quite intolerable. Thankfully the trend with eyebrows is the bushier the better, which works easily in my favor! This means I don't have to do very much with my eyebrows, other than define the shape of them. To do this, I take my Professional Eyebrow Pencil in the shade 001 Dark Brown, and run it along the edges and outlines of my brows.
To then define my eyebrows further, I take some highlight underneath the brow bone, to really make the shape of my brows stand out and add
some structure to my face. I continue with my highlight along my cheek bones and then add some contour underneath the bone. For this I use my NYX Wonder Stick in the shade WS02 Medium/Tan, which has a cream highlight on one end and a cream contour on the other.
This is a super handy product to have because you can apply it with ease. The consistency is what dreams are made of, and they blend together beautifully to make a smooth transition from highlight to contour. To blend the two shades together, I use a damp beauty blender and blend them in together and also into my foundation base.
The penultimate step to this look is finally the lipstick. The Rimmel London Lasting Finish Kate Lipstick in the shade 30 Rossetto is one of my all time favourite lipstick shades. Is this perfectly deep, rich purple colour and compliments my skin tone beautifully. With me having an olive skin colour and brown eyes/hair, deep purple toned lipsticks are ones which suit me naturally the best. With the rest of the makeup being quite dark and smokey, this colour finishes off the look without drawing all of the attention away from the eyes, which for me are the most important part.
And that concludes the makeup look! I hope you found this interesting, as it is something I have never really spoken about much before. If you would like more posts like this then please do let me know, but until then, I will see you until my next post.
Lot's of love,
Amy xoxo