I love Sonja, I love Sonja’s Makeup 101 series, and I love that I’ve learned a TON from her about how to properly apply cosmetics. But, as I suspected, all of my new knowledge and my basket of Sephora-purchased goodies have not made me a daily makeup wearer.
I am, however, a sporadic and lazy makeup wearer. And I truly adore the products that I use when I do wear makeup. They’re easy to apply, practical, and don’t make me worry that when I inevitably rub my eyes or take a swig of water, I’ll look ruined. Here’s a quick run-down of my faves.
As I’ve mentioned before, my lips are resistant to any balms that are wax or oil based. Only petroleum- and/or petrolatum-based ones work. This Kiehl’s stuff is a dynamite combo of petrolatum-based, tinted, and SPF 15. I buy the darker hue, but both are gorgeous.
Benefit Boi-ing, $18I was loyal to my Aveda cover-up for years. Then I tried this stuff and I’ve never looked back. Applied with a brush or a fingertip, it can make any zit look invisible. Believe me, as someone prone to blackheads, whiteheads, and cystic acne, I know. If this thicker paste doesn’t work for you, I’m also a fan of Benefit Erase Paste, which has bonus drying/healing properties. On MY skin, anyway.
Benefit Lemon Aid, $20Eyeshadow stymies me. I keep trying to figure out how to apply the stuff, and just end up looking bizarre. But this stuff, I can do. Basically, you smear this pale yellow paste on your eyelids and, BAM. You immediately look as if you’ve gotten 11 hours of sleep. It can be used as an eye makeup primer, but I use on its own.
Tarte lip stain, $24I eat and drink pretty much constantly, so lip color does me little good. When I first got wind of lip stains, which are designed to last despite long wear and food/drink consumption, I bought a Cover Girl version in three colors. Then I wore the brightest one to a BBQ, ate lunch, caught sight of my reflection, and realized I looked like I’d applied a huge ring of lip liner and skipped the rest. Not to mention the fact that that crap dried my lips out within 20 minutes of application.
This stuff, on the other hand, is truly amazing. On me, it’s still a bit drying, so I let it set for 10 minutes and then apply my Kiehl’s on top. But it lasts for hours, endures food and drink, and fades to a rosy, natural, even color. I bought three shades and use them in constant rotation.
This is the only actual eyeshadow that works for me. Know why? Cuz I can apply it by rubbing it on with my pinky finger and it looks fine. Plus, the creaseless promise? Holds true.
My ridiculously sensitive skin has no intention of ever dealing with liquid foundation. But I get shiny in about 3 seconds, and when I say, “shiny,” I mean “blinding.” So I’ve road-tested a few pressed powder compacts, and this one is my favorite. Instead of one solid color, you get some variety within the compact which makes it look relatively natural when applied. And it mattifies like a dream. I have a couple of different shades for different times of year.
Are you a daily makeup wearer? A sporadic makeup wearer? What do you put on when you don’t want to invest loads of time in getting made up? Any of these products favorites of yours, too?
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Thanks for sharing, Sal. I usually don't wear make up but I sure could use some good cover up suggestions. Everything here looks good enough to eat!
I rarely wear make-up but I like your list of suggestions. I've thought of lip stains before so that is good to know about the Cover Girl one. Also the idea of that Lemon Aid is intriguing. I'll have to remember these the next time I wander into a Sephora with money to burn, like once a year or less.
I love makeup. I can spend hours in Sephora! But I have very sensitive skin, so I do a lot of window shopping! What works for me: Tarte Smooth Operator tinted moisturizer with SPF20 and Blinc Mascara. This is the only mascara I have ever worn that does not melt onto my chubby cheeks. Well worth the $25 a tube!
Thanks for sharing! I've been wondering about Benefit products. Now it looks like I should definitely give them a try.
I am a MAC girl thanks to my best friend who's in school to be an aesthetician. Daily, I use my pressed powder foundation. Sometimes I do eye makeup (MAC or ELF) and most of the time I put on mascara (Sephora).
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As a daily wearer who is a bit set in a rut, this was a very interesting read!
I am definitely going to check out the lip stain, anything I put on my lips disappears really fast.
I've tried those cover girl stains and had similar issues. Not pretty.
I love basically anything made by bare essentials. I'm allergic to almost all foundation but their powder foundation works wonders!
I love Benefits Boing! I too use it and will never turn back.
Green (ish) eyes means I stick to highlighting and purple (I know!!!) for eyeshadow. It makes the green pop.
I've tried a lip stain but it only seems to want to stick to my upper lip. Looks odd.
I'd really like to head back over to the benefit counter. I really enjoyed most of their products.
Love this post, Sal. I was just thinking this morning that I need to find a new concealor! Heading to Sephora at lunch.
I am intrigued by your lip stain, and I like the name too. So it really doesn't dry out your lips? That's worth a try. Thanks, Sal!
I fall into the 'lazy' category, but I must have on lipstick and Kiehl's lip balm at all times. I don't like the look of heavy or matte lipstick as it wears off, so I use sheer formulations exclusively. They don't last, but I just reapply all the time, as if they were lip balms, without the aid of a mirror, mind you.
I've tried the Lemon Aid, but I'm a devotee of L'oreal's Decrease. It really works, and I just throw on some brown shimmer eyeshadow and mascara and I'm out the door. For special occasions I dust on some mineral face powder, and that's the extent of my makeup routine. 5-minute face, indeed.
Your makeup collection looks like mine. I've given up on lipstains, though, and now wear a smudged coat of longwear lipstick (usually Revlon Colourstay in Fabulous Fig; sometimes MAC Diva, which on me is very red). I've never seen the Tarte lipstain in any store I've been to, and I've tried a TON of others and been disappointed by them all.
Have you tried an antishine? I used to wear powder as my makeup (applied with a kabuki brush), but now just put on a few dabs of Smashbox Antishine as my "foundation". It doesn't have that powder look, and keeps me from glowing.
Other than that, I use LemonAid on my undereye circles, followed by a dab of Smashbox Photo Op, which seems to be a magic combination for my very black eye rings; some DiorShow tinted brow gel as I don't like pencilled-in brows but mine are kind of lacking in the tail area; and Blinc Kiss Me tubing mascara, the only mascara that doesn't bleed all over my eyes or flake into my contacts. (I tried the Clinique tubing mascara, but it has some kind of extra pigment in it, and does smudge. Kiss Me is no longer stocked locally, so I made a scarily expensive Sephora order and stocked up on three at once. Stupid shipping charges.)
Every now and then if I'm feeling very makeuppy I use either some DuWop smoky eye palette (I think the colourway is Plum) or MAC gel eyeliner, black, applied very close to the lashline and smudged.
I love looks that are very made-up (like the kind of stuff Zoetica does all the time) but I don't seem to have the right kind of face for it, or something. Even when I was a teenager, with a lot of makeup on, I just looked old instead of funky, and now that I am oldish, of course, it's much much worse.
Compass Rose, I have to thank you for the lemonaid/smashbox combo, its about the best thing that I have tried so far for my dark circles, and Ive tried a few things! thanks so much!
I actually got both from ebay but it was well worth it
I'm glad to see a whole lot of Benefit love here, cause they are great. I use their Playstick as a concealer, cause it can double as a proper foundation when the whim arises.
Do you pencil your eyebrows? I find that's the one thing I can't do without – even before powder or mascara.
I'm going to do a post of my own like this one, but we share a LOT of the same favorites–all three of the Benefit products and the Tarte lip stain.
i wear makeup a lot. but i don't cake it on….i have sensitive skin, lotsa broken caps and dark skin around eyes, mascara smears in 2.2 seconds, anything on eyelids creases in 3.3 secs….
Revlon ColorStay Makeup with SoftFlex has great coverage, stays put, doesn't irritate…i use this as eyeshadow primer followed by Revlon ColorStay powder(covers all darkness, no creasing). no actual eye primers do the trick for me. this is fine alone (that well-rested thing) and as a base for shadows. great as foundation as well.
NYX concealer in a jar. fabulous coverage, lasts, super cheap. and i've tried 'em ALL, concealer-wise. comparable to Dermablend, for 1/6 the $$$.
Monistat Anti-Chafing gel: cheaper, better face primer.
Tubing mascaras. the only type of mascaras that work for me (i was finally able to wear mascara at age 45!). Clinique Lash Power is great for me, nice dark brown color available too. Blinc Kiss Me is a cult fave, but $5 more and i'm happy with lash power so i've never tried it. Clinique High Impact Mascara comes off with warm water but is NOT a tubing mascara.
Lipstick Queen! these are a little hard to find. they cost the same as dept store lippies. really wonderful, flattering colors. the Saints are sheer, but i wear the Sinners which are matte and long lasting. they don't dry my super prone to chapping lips and stay on (my color-repelling lips). i';ve been wearing Pink Sinner almost exclusively the last few months…they even last nicely when i throw some Carmex on top. i can't say enough for the colors in this line, i've given up shopping anything else. even my makeup-averse hubby likes these ones.
Thanks for this, Sal! I'm bookmarking this post for future (repeated) reference.
I also have the Tarte lipstain. That along with my Stila long wear lipcolor are my current faves.
On my eyes, I wear the MAC paint pot in soft ochre (similiar in function to the lemonaid).
For foundation, I like Stila one step. On the weekends, I tend to just do tinted moisturizer.
Clear mascara for my brows and eyelashes and that's it most days.
For the evening, I add brown mascara and eyeliner, eyeshadow (Chanel Lotus) and Korres nude blush and I'm good to go.
I'm always curious about what other people have in their makeup bags! For everyday wear, I use tinted sunblock (Clinique makes a great one that stays on all day until you wash it off), NARS concealer, NARS blush in 'Orgasm', Cover Girl Lash Blast Length mascara, and Burt's Bees lip balm. If I need to get fancier I use lipstick and some black eyeliner.
I wear makeup most days. If I do a less makeup look, like on lazy weekend days, I wear MAC foundation and blush, Cover Girl mascara and Trader Joe's lip balm.
My normal makeup routine is a little more lengthy, but still doesn't take that long to apply.
I'm a LAZY makeup wearer. Despite having had 2 professional makeup classes under my belt (never finished the program due to financial reasons), I still never went wild on my daily makeup routine. The ONLY time I ever go wild is in formal/dressy events.
BOING! is AMAZING. I've tried all the concealers out there, including Laura Mercier, which many makeup artists rave over. By far, BOING! is the only concealer that handles my undereyes well. I prefer using my ring finger to dab it on. I wear that stuff everyday.
And good to see you have another Benefit product out there! I've been wanting to try Lemon Aid but have been hesitant. I may pick some up one of these days.
I am a bit of a makeup junkie, albeit a frugal one.
I have clear, sensitive, pale skin so I don't wear foundation – just powder and not even that a lot of the time.
My true love is eye stuff – liners, shadows, mascaras. I indulge myself at eyeslipsface.com and get bright fun shadows for $1! Haha. With the right base, they last all day
I love lipstains! But with my hair so bright right now, I mostly just use my Bonne Bell lipsmacker
I'm a lazy makeup wearer as well. The only thing I wear consistently are the CO Bigelow colored lip balms that I get from bath and bodyworks. Tried the lip tint and it was too drying for me as well. Thanks for sharing. I'll be on the lookout for the eye concealer thing.
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Tarte lip stain: YES
That stuff is magic. I also love their compact, it's mostly minerals- so it's a bit healthier than the average, and it keeps my from getting shiny.
great post, i love product reviews, thank you!
Jessi
I wear makeup every day. I start with a tinted SPF moisturizer (I use Clinique City Block) and what I add after that depends on whether it's a work day or not. For work days I do the full eyeshadow/liner/mascara/blush/lipstick thing.
For weekends I do a fat crayon in gray on my upper lash line, maybe a little blush and some lip balm. I pop on some mascara if I am feeling fancy. Either way, I always finish with a light dusting of powder.
For me, the absolute necessity is the sunscreen, 365 days a year. I won't set foot out of the house without it.
I'm a huge fan of Boing! I actually just bought it for the first time a few weeks ago, and I'm already in love. Other than concealer, I wear mascara (Almay) and blush – Tarte Cheek Stain is my current favourite. I'm going to have to check out the lip stain!
I am a total Mac fan after being a loyal Clinique user for 15 years. Now I use a mix. I absolutely use MAC Studio Tech foundation, and it is the only foundation that really works for me. And I use their cover up, which is fantastic. I have very dark undereye circles and a lot of skin tone issues and MAC deals with them.
I've been wearing Clinique's Pink Chocolate lipstick since 1993 and I have never found another color anywhere that suits me so well.
I am a big fan of eyeshadow, but I wear only neutrals usually which are more forgiving.
How cool to see what you've been using! So glad you like all the Benefit goodies so much. They really make wonderful products that are fun to use.
I use Bare Minerals foundation and love it. Also, if you have really sensitive skin, try the Evan Healy brand found at some health food stores and specialty shops. She’s all natural. Your skin will breath and feel so wonderful.
My skin gets shiny in 3 seconds too. The best mattifier I’ve ever had was actually milk of magnesia (yup, the laxative). I spread a very thin layer on my forehead every day- if it’s too thick in any areas it’ll show up in white streaks and then I have to buff it off with a paper towel. It lasts pretty much all day (especially if I finish it off with a little dusting of baby powder) and I suspect that it’s kept my forehead clear of zits. Before that I tried everything- special face washes, mattifying lotions, rice paper, etc. I’m thrilled because this stuff is cheap and it will never be discontinued like a regular beauty product.
I’ve never worn eyeshadow, either, or make up of any kind, except mascara. But the Lemon Aid looked intriguing so I bought some. It really brightens up my eyes. Lasts all day, too. Thanks for the tip!
So glad, Betsy!
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