How To: Liquid Lipsticks

I know liquid lipsticks get a bad name and one of the reasons why is the instructions for applying them doesn't get the best results. What do I mean? Well aside from the fact that several don't even come with instructions, they take slightly more effort than your typical lipstick, gloss or stain. I like to think of them as cream stains.

The problem with a liquid lipstick is you want to whack them on like any lipstick or gloss. You just can't and make it look nice and wear comfortably. If you apply them from the tube without some care, you either get a thick gloppy mess or wait - a thick gloppy dry cracked mess. Basically, it's a hot mess.

In this post, I'm going to show you how I apply liquid lipsticks with the best results.

Start off with well exfoliated, moisturized lips but have no residual moisturizer on the lips. Then take your tube of choice and take out the wand (here is Revlon's Colorstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in 010 Premium Pink). Don't touch your lips with this yet, it has way way way too much product on it!

Think of when you are wearing a lip stain. You don't glop the stain on! Same concept here.

Apply a couple dabs on the lips and mush the product into your lips with your finger (you can pat it in but sweeping it produces the best looks for me). Give it a moment to dry and then top with your favorite balm or gloss. Easy peasy and not thick, goopy or plasticy.

For me, this lasts through coffee in the morning and straight till lunch, but disintegrates the moment I eat anything with any added or natural oils.

Of course, I prefer more natural looks, but you can do light layers to built up the color's opacity. I prefer this to lipsticks as this definitely lasts longer, doesn't transfer (my husband will actually kiss me in the mornings without the fear of "lip stuff") and allows you to apply balm on top for moisture.

Tutorial: How To Terrify Spouse or Boyfriend

Step 1: Buy refreshing face mask at your local store
Step 2: Apply refreshing face mask
Step 3: Relax, casually request spouse or boyfriend arrive at your location, "hey honey, could you grab me a drink?"
Step 4: Be amused.

 eek how puffy do my eyes look? Thank you allergies.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

5 Minute Face: Foundation/Face

During my very first giveaway I was asked to do a post on a 5 Minute Face. What seems like a pretty easy request turned into me trying to figure out exactly how I wanted to approach it. Obviously, what works for me as a 5 Minute Face might not work for you. We probably have different skin tones, eye colors and pigmentation of our lips. What makes me look "more awake" might make you look like you're not wearing anything or on the other end of the spectrum, a hooker. So, I want to first make a disclaimer that what might work for me might not work for you. And of course, how you currently apply your makeup is probably fine. You obviously don't need to apply your makeup like I do.

Now that that's out of the way, I decided to break the 5 Minute Face into a series of posts regarding the different steps or products that you use: Foundation/Face, Blush/Cheeks, Eyeshadows/Eyes and Lip Products/Lips.

I'm doing Foundation/Face first not because it needs to be the first step in applying makeup though it is what I tend to do first in the mornings. I apply foundation first because I generally am not doing a detailed or dark eye look so I'm not likely to get a lot of fall out under my eyes. If you do get a lot of fall out or tend to use glittery or dark eyeshadows, you might want to apply your eye shadows first.

 

This is the brush that I use to apply my makeup in the mornings (this includes foundation and blush). What brush is this you ask? Beats me! I received this angled synthetic brush as an extra in a swap a while ago. I have used it everyday since and it's pretty much the same as the day I received it. Of course, there's been a bit of shedding, but it's retained the shape and has been super useful for me. Of course, this brush is "supposed" to be a "sculpt & blush" brush, but I use it for practically everything, including concealer.

What I like about this brush is that you can manipulate the bristles to do pretty much anything you want. For instance:

Use your finger to bend the bristles tightly together so you get a very opaque application - similar to what you'd get with a concealer brush. This also allows you to apply your foundation in nooks and crannies that you otherwise wouldn't be able to get to.

 

Gather the brush tightly in your hands to mirror the kind of application you'd get with a flat-top brush or a skunk brush depending on the tightness of the bristles and your application style. Remember, the tighter the bristles are packed together, the heavier the application will be.

These are 3 items that I use everyday when I'm applying my makeup. First and foremost moisturizer, currently I'm using a Murad moisturizer but I generally rotate. Foundation, currently using Exuviance but really till I finish it to crack open another (click here to read about my foundation shades) and lastly Avene eau thermale mist. I use this generously after I apply foundation to give me some more moisture since my skin is super dry in the winter. I sometimes also spritz a little onto my brush to wet it a bit.

I actually have to thank Pixiwoo for giving me this great idea with my moisturizer. Prior to appying it directly to my brush, I used to apply it with my hands. Then I had to wash my hands. Then I had to wet my foundation brush with water which sometimes over soaked it. Anyway, this is brilliant and I'll never go back.

I squirt out a generous amount of moisturizer onto my brush and apply it in a sweeping motion on my face. Sometimes I am so dry that I have to apply moisturizer twice!

 

Then I squirt out a little dot of foundation and start applying it to my face. I start off with a few layers and the same sort of sweeping motion as I apply my moisturizer and I always built up the product on my face in very sheer layers. Too much, and my face will look super cakey.

I always apply foundation first before going back and concealing (which I usually do with my foundation - why not? It's a perfect match!). Why? Well, if you conceal first and then apply even more foundation on top, you might end up with cakiness right around your spots and who wants more attention there? Not me! The least amount of product will produce the most natural results. 

As I showed you manipulating the brush, I can *stipple the foundation on, apply it in a sweeping motion or use it to spot conceal just by shaping it with my fingers.

 

need coverage around your nose? No problem!

 

And of course we all get blemishes. I generally stipple the foundation on top using a patting motion with my brush. I gather the bristles tightly together to apply the most product so I get the most coverage. And pat the product on.

To get even more coverage, I sometimes spot conceal with my finger using the same sort of patting motion as the brush. After I'm done applying foundation, I give myself a very generous spirtz of the Avene mitz. I was not blessed with good skin and I use this technique to make it seem like my skin was perfect prior to the makeup. Here's a picture of my skin after foundation/concealing.

 

So there you go. Any questions? I hope this was helpful. Just for reference, most of these pictures were taking in the bathroom where the mirror assisted me in taking pictures applying the makeup. I think the lighting is quite yellow-ish in there and of course it isn't natural light! The last picture was taken in our kitchen with more artificial light, but I don't think it's quite as yellow as the bathroom.

*A side note about stippling. Many makeup artists, gurus and bloggers alike will tell you that they stipple their foundation. Curiously enough, the true origins of stippling have nothing to do with flawlessly blending a color into your skin. Slightly similar to pointillism. Personally, I'm not looking to make my face look like a Van Gogh when I apply makeup. Maybe it's just me! Also a note that I usually don't consider wiki a decent reference source (and my librarian husband may be mad at me for citing them but they explain it pretty well so there you go).

How To: Blending Part I

So, one of the requests I got during my giveaway was a post on blending. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to play on a friend and thus a makeup model, so you get a cartoon eye on a piece of tissue.

Many many many people, bloggers, makeup artists and sales associates alike will tell you that tools (AKA brushes) are the key to any makeup look. I only marginally agree with them. I do not think you need a full set of brushes to make a good eye look. I think sometimes they help, but they are not always the key! Which is why you are going to look at me strange when I show you the next pic which only amounts to a very small percentage of my brush collection (what? They are pretty!).

So, there are a lot of brushes in there. Brushes for face, eyes lips, cheeks and almost everything in between. If you bring everything down to basics, you need a total of 2 brushes to create a blended eye look.

Yes, there are 3 in this pic but you need 1 from column A and 1 from column B. The major difference between these brushes in the density of bristles. The brushes on the left are quite a bit more tightly packed which means they will deposit more color. The brush on the right is fluffy and will deposit less color. To blend colors you need a brush to pack on color (A) and a brush to blend (B). If you have a smaller eye or want to fill in a small space, the smaller of the two brushes on the left would probably be best (and I'd recommend the smaller ones to a beginner too).

For reference: beigey colored bristled brush is the Sephora Professional round crease eyeshadow brush, the next one over is the ELF eyeshadow C brush and the fluffy one is the Mark blending brush (fitly named).

 

So now that you have your brushes, I present to you Sassy Sally, our cartoon eye chick.

She says hello!
Now, I've drawn in a dotted line which is about where you blend your shadow. This isn't to say you should only blend shadow on the crease or on the lid or what-have-you, it's only so you can kind of see the steps involved.

So we are going to take the Sephora crease brush (not just for the crease!) and grab some shadow (in this case Giorgio Armani #44).

Taking the brush we are going to apply the shadow on the "lid" of Sassy Sally. Yes, it is supposed to be messy. No it doesn't matter. You'll be fixing it later.

Now, after you have applied your color, you now blend it. I tend to take the big fluffy brush and swipe it across my lid back and forth quite lightly like windshield wipers.

I usually do it right around the part that the color stops. And don't worry. You can't really mess this up. If you erase too much shadow, you can just reapply with the tightly-packed brush. If you are not combining two colors and are worried about it being streaky, apply some of your normal face powder on the brush to soften the line without adding color.

Now, there are some instances that you want to add color.

Here we have some Chantecaille eyeshadow  (color unknown). Load up the fluffy brush (notice how this would generally be close to at least my skin tone. Unfortunately, Sassy Sally is even more of a sheet than I am (hahah).

Use the same sweeping motion with the fluffy brush.

 

See how the line is starting to erase (even though of course you can see it since it's dotted)?

Some winged liner and some mascara and Sassy Sally is ready to go out! She loves her soft blended look!

Now I know that's pretty much the basics. You can use various blocks of color and blend them the same way. Here's a small very quickly done diagram.

The idea is apply color in any shape you want, and around it (ie. squiggly lines) blend. As I said, you can blend it with just the brush, some loose powder or even another eyeshadow (though try to stick within the same color families or neutrals so it doesn't get muddy).

I hope this post was useful and I apologize again that I couldn't demo on a real person, but Sassy Sally is always willing to help. Achoo!

Also, you know how I disagree about tools? I painted the following with a Crayola paintbrush. The one that comes free in the water color palette. You know, the one that is like $3 that they sell to preschoolers? That one.

 

Comments? Questions? Tell me!