Help a sister out: lipstick tips, etc?

Dec 29, 2016

Jessica D.

I'm a big fat makeup dud

Everything I've learned I've figured out for myself

(except for my bff showing me how to use blush and powder when I was 20 -_-)

so I could use any pointers y'all wanna share!

I've got my mascara down pat lol but that's it.

I love lipstick, but it seems I can never wear it right, however you wanna take that lol. I pick the wrong shades, or it smears, or doesn't last long, or cracks, or SOMETHING goes wrong. Any tips?

I figure this could help out more than just me, so feel free to leave other makeup tips you've discovered yourself! Foundation tips, eye shadow blending, good moisturizers for different types of skin... Anything to help out the ladies like me who didn't have a big sister to learn from or a mamma that doesn't do makeup and we're trying to figure it out and catch up!

Dec 29, 2016

Aleena P.

It doesn't sound like you are the big issue here. maybe your expectations? but regular lipsticks, even more expensive ones ,smear or bleed and don't last more than a few hours, especially if you eat or drink or talk a lot. I used to dislike lipsticks (though I've always been a fan of lipcolor) for those reasons. a lipliner underneath and blotting after application can help, but it's not magic and all those same problems are to be expected. the trick to wearing lipstick well? lots of touchups.
a liquid lipstick is often (depending heavily on the formula) a good alternative that won't smear or fade quickly but they are also bound to be drying.
as far as picking a good color, that's a lot of trial and error but someone at a makeup counter may be able to give you direction. what you like is a lot of personal preference, I've been told many times I look good in pink lipsticks I absolutely hate on myself and vice versa with some purples. if you can't try it on before you buy, try it on your fingertips to get a feel for the color (your fingertips tend to be red/pink like your lips). my favorite piece of advice on lipstick comes from Bobbi brown, she says to choose a lipstick that looks good when you have no other makeup on.
as far as general makeup advice, and going from the list you made, read some books and focus on skincare. it's hard to make makeup look bad on really good skin and vice versa. it is impossible to exaggerate how important skin care is. when it comes to any product, less is always more. even when going full glam with heavy eyeshadow, sculpted cheeks, glitter, bold lips, the whole shabam, this rule still applies. using the least amount of product to get the job done always gets the job done more beautifully. I like watching YouTube myself, but be careful with most of those "gurus", man do the most popular girls (and guys) unteach you some things. over time it will become easy to spot who knows their stuff and who just wants you to buy more stuff. I like Lisa eldridge and Jordan liberty for application inspiration and Stephanie Nicole and a few others for product reviews. always work with products that compliment your skin type, both with skincare and with makeup. if you have dry skin powders and oil absorbing or mattifying products will generally not compliment you and will emphasise texture and dullness in the skin. if you are oily using products with too much slip to them or too much moisture is going to give you a mess at some point no matter how well you set things. if your skincare is not right for your skin type you will only be exacerbating any problems you're dealing with.
when it comes to eyeshadow blending, use small motions and be very light handed. you want to diffuse things, not smear them. natural hair brushes work best for powder products in general and synthetics are better for creams, though synthetics have been getting better lately to accommodate the growing vegan community. the softer the brush the better it's going to be for blending, generally. but you want one with a little stiffness to it to place shadows and build colors. the more stiff and dense the brush the easier it is to build color and the lighter and fluffier it is the easier it is to blend things out without pushing them in. always say your eye primer so that your shadows don't "stick" where you don't want them to and get muddy. this is just some general info from the top of my head, but let me refer back to my previous advice on reading books for some really good info. a lot of makeup books are, in my humble opinion, just for fun and they kind of just gloss over the basic info while providing some inspiration for looks. but for learning techniques or even a bit about skincare I like rae morris, Bobbi brown, Robert jones, the milady books were SUPER helpful, betty Edwards has a book on color theory that I'm only halfway through but it's very helpful so far, and I'm sure there are plenty others in leaving out.

Dec 29, 2016

Jessica D.

Aleena, oh my gosh! Lol and thank you! I would read about them, I just have no idea where to start! Plus I really just like to hear what works for people and what doesn't, I rely a lot on personal experience rather than facts in idek what book to read lol. But so much helpful info, thank you!

Dec 30, 2016

Jenni L.

Great advice from Aleena. If you are experiencing cracking and dryness, you might want to add some more hydration to your lips. Especially in this season, cold weather and heaters take a toll and suck moisture from our skin and lips. I use Bite Agave lip mask. It's actually something you can wear in the daytime as well- they have a couple of tinted masks. I like Champagne- it's a light pearly pink that is very subtle. I would first figure out your undertone- warm, cool, neutral. From there, you can narrow down your selections. Then consider your preferences. I love a red lip on other people but it's not a look I like on myself. If you looked in my makeup bag, you would see that I have a lipstick "type" and I think a lot of people are like me (owning several very similar colors). I'm a nude lip girl all the way and I know from trial and error what works for me. Have fun with it! Swatch away at your local Ulta, Sephora, department store. You can tell a lot from how a lipstick looks on your hand (if it goes with your skin tone, the depth of color- because it can look deceiving in the tube). Check out the UD Vice lipsticks. They have every color imaginable and different formulas- cream, comfort matte, sheer, metallic. I'm sure they would have something that you like and that would flatter you. Also, Temptalia is a great resource for swatches and she gives thorough reviews on formulas. Happy shopping!

Dec 31, 2016

Lillee J.

Hello :)!
Lipstick is trial and error, but if you consider your undertones it might be a bit easier! For example, I have neutral undertones that strike a bit warmer. From personal experience I have noticed orange looks best on me, SO I stick with colors that lean warm, with brown notes (brown can be cool, but often times brands make it warm toned), and sometimes colors that lean gold, for easy on the go hues! If you look at your veins you should be able to tell if you're warm or cool tones-- cool tones burn, warm tones don't, neutrals are sorta' in the middle ;). My favorite lipstick is Urban Decay's Vice collection as Jenni stated above (Uptight). IF your liquid lipsticks are cracking, straight out it's just not a thick formula, and not worthy enough! I have found Anastasia's thick soufflé like formula to be the nicest feel for me, BUT many dislike it since it's more of a cream then a liquid (still dries matte), but c'est la vie, haha.

Liquid's will last hours
Creme's/cream's will look the most pretty on camera, and will be the most pigmented
Sheens/Frosts will be easy to touch-up, but won't last long
Gloss, obviously is gloss. Try out Buxom's line, or the Sephora Collection! Both are super smooth glosses that hold up well for me.


As far as moisturizers go I like to use plain coconut oil! It's amazing as a priming base, a makeup remover, and even a lipgloss as I have found. Just have to' experiment ;)!

Just to throw this in, try placing tiny pieces of tape on the sides of your eyes as you apply eye makeup! It will make your lines crisp, and it will allow you to apply as much as you desire without freaking out it's like a panda effect. (Morphe's M433 brush with side to side blending motions is my go-to)

Dec 31, 2016

Aleena P.

I have to disagree that thicker formulas in liquid lipsticks always perform better. my lonely planet or Ofra perform really well and have thicker formulas but my beauty bar baby and Kat von d are also very good formulas and they are pretty watery thin. my Anastasia are somewhere is the middle along with most of the brands I own and I would definitely not consider it with the cream or mousse type formulas, but that's just me. the abh are really just average compared to the rest of my collection, I get too much transfer and too little wear time from them for my taste. though I will say this new formula is 100x more comfortable than the orginal, which was the same consistency but a crackly mess, and I would buy again if they came out with another color I like so I don't think they are horrible. my main point is that there are a lot of other factors affecting the wear of a liquid lipstick and it really is impossible to tell the quality from the consistency alone.
And I always feel a need to give a warning about coconut oil. it's comodogenic and bad for dry skin because it dissipates quickly and doesn't sink in to moisturize skin well past the surface. it also clogs pores no matter your skin type, which contrary to popular beliefs oils do not have to do. many oils will actually help your acne. coconut oil has little to no nutrients that can be absorbed topically so it's not delivering anything beneficial either, which many oils can do. it is also a common skin allergen. if you feel you must join the hype, go ahead and spot test it first but I say be safe rather than sorry and get a good oil or even a decent one that is going to be beneficial rather than doing the bare minimum instead of coconut. depending on the skin type I like grapeseed (oily), hemp (oily), argan (combo), rosehip (dry), jojoba (combo to dry), tamanu (dry), castor (very oily only, will cut down sebum production and dry out other skins), and sunflower (combo).
just one more thing, if you do use tape around your eyes the adhesive can be irritating and pulling on the skin to remove the tape is never good for it. some people swear by using it for the look it gives though so just make sure you stick the tape to your hand and rip it off a few times to get rid of some of the stickiness. I do like they way that line comes out looking but I do my eyeshadow before my face products so I usually just clean up afterwards if I want that affect.
when blending eyeshadow, I did forget to mention it helped me tremendously when I started holding the brush at the tail end rather than gripping it on the ferrule like a pencil. think of it like a paint brush, if you've ever taken an art class I'm sure you've been told to hold a paint brush loosely and at the end and it's the same concept. there are two main types of motion with two specific purposes. the windshield wiper motion is good for just diffusing color and getting rid of a visible start or stop point on the "edges". Like When doing your rendition or initial color in the crease. When you are trying to blend two shadow colors together, like your crease and lid color or two lid colors for example, you want to use small circular motions. When blending two areas together you’ll want to make incredibly small tiny circles. that will blend the line between the two colors and then start gradually doing slightly larger circles until the colors transition into one another. there is a such thing as too much blending and that is when things get muddy so stop often to check your work. And I just want to bring up one more point because I've seen it repeatedly. If you notice you get very watery eyes after doing makeup, check the ingredients and the packaging on you liner or shadow. Most eyeliners are not waterline safe, especially not gels or liquids, and that could be an issue. And many ingredients (such as carmine) from eyeshadow are common irritants as well. But after checking those, a common (but often ignored) problem I've noticed is using brushes that are just too scratchy for sensitive skin. They may feel soft on your hand, but your eye can't handle as much and if the skin around your eye is extra sensitive then it will often react to them. Not everyone needs better brushes, but again I've seen this issue quite a bit lately so I thought it would be good to mention as a just in case for someone out there.

ok I think I'm really done this time. lol

Dec 31, 2016

Anna D.

For lipstick use your favourite lip balm before you start your makeup (mines Vaseline) and wear your favourite lip balm overnight so that your lips don't crack. I would also get a lipliner so that you lipstick won't move as easily. I also know that the brand No 7 chooses lip colours to match your complexion. So I put lip balm on before my makeup then when I do my lips I use lipliner and then use my lipstick (my favourite is the Body Shop liquid lipstick range) and then use a translucent powder on top so that it goes matte and stays on for ages. I would also start by using Natural Collection lipstick because they are cheap and also have a really nice formula so you can find the right shade first.

I use a beauty blender for my foundation and if you use a darker foundation along your cheekbone it helps with contour.

For eyeshadow blending I use similar colours and just use an eyeshadow blending brush. I recommend the Real Techniques eye brushes.

I have oily and sensitive skin so my day moustiriser is the Simple light moustiriser which has SPF 15 & my night moustiriser is an Aveeno one because it is thicker.

Hope this helps and let me know if you want any more tips:) ♡♡

Dec 31, 2016

Lillee J.

Aleena-- Coconut Oil, extra virgin that is, IS NOT a pore clogging device. In fact, it has been the only thing that works for my sensitive skin without clogging my pores. When it comes to liquid lipstick formulas, this is a opinionated thing-- people like, and prefer certain textures.

Jan 1, 2017

Anna D.

@Lillee T Do you have a liquid coconut oil (literally oil) or the more solid one? ♡

Jan 2, 2017

Christa F.

I tend to prefer using a lip liner all over the lips. I use the makeup forever aqua lip liner in 3c. They are very creamy and don't smudge. you can even put lip balm on top and it won't budge.

Jan 3, 2017

Jessica D.

Thank you everyone! Also intrigued by the oils thing, bc I googled "argan oil clogs pores" and it said that any oil will...

Jan 3, 2017

Aleena P.

That is absolutely not true. whatsoever. after a quick Google search with the same terms the only instance I found of that was on a sephora user forum. try looking up info on comodogenic ratings and tests in regards to carrier oils and you should get some good info to start with.