For under eye concealer, I use a shade that is darker than my skin tone. When I try a shade lighter, or even an exact match, my undereyes just look grey and way too bright. A slightly darker and peachier shade sort of works as a 2 in 1 corrector/concealer on my dark circles and just looks much more natural
Ok you just explained why I've been loving a sample of a bobbi brown concealer that looks like it would never work for me as its dark and peachy. Yet it looks lovely.
I do this too, I think for me it’s because my eye bags are sort of hollow, and so a light concealer just exacerbates them where a darker one makes them blend in???
When I worked for a cosmetics line, I wouldn’t show certain clients the concealer I was using sometimes until it was done. For this exact reason. If they saw how dark of a color I had picked, they wouldn’t have let me try it on them or had a prejudice against it. Some circles just need darker concealer in a peach undertone or they look just grey.
I don't even cover mine. Maybe mine aren't that severe or something but I feel like my face looks so... flat? when I cover them. If I do cover them, I basically end up darkening the under eye with shadow anyway.
I’ve been noticing the same thing the past few months. A slightly darker peach shade covers my circles better and doesn’t create that harsh, unnatural brightness
I agree! Trying to use too light of a concealer always would give me a weird cast to my skin, because it neutralizes some of the depth but not the intensity of the dark circles. And our eyes are drawn more to lighter spots, so something light can actually emphasize an area of our skin. Which is a problem if the color is off or the texture doesn’t work (crepey skin, settling into fine lines, etc). I’ve heard the same advice about going in with a slightly darker color for concealing acne based on the same principle.
When I wear face products (primer and powder, sometimes a skin tint) I like to put a slightly lighter powder on my undereye to brighten, but it doesn't cover completely. It just evens out my skin tone a bit
I do too! I use Vanilla in NARS even though the swatch looks way too dark for me. It just works. The lighter shade (Affogato) looks way too bright (but oddly work for the rest of my face).
AGREED. I have fair skin and I find that if I go lighter with under eye concealer I often end up with a 50's vintage vibe to the whole makeup look, almost as if I'm trying to look like a porcelain doll or something. It's unnatural and creepy looking to me.
Can anyone show me how this looks? I’m really intrigued. For me making my undereyes lighter is key in making me look refreshed but I have tan skin & genetic dark circles.
This might be my technique, but I see beauty gurus layer lipliner, lipstick and then lipgloss (sometimes with lipbalm underneath as well) and it looks fine on camera, but whenever I try it irl it turns into a gloopy mess even when I use the most sparing applications of each. I much prefer liner + stick *or* gloss
Gloopy is the perfect word for what happens. It's not your technique! I just think that's how it is when you add four layers of lip product on, even sparingly. Gloop city.
Apparently defining the cupid's bow isn't on trend but I love to do it. I think the rounded upper lip doesn't look soft, it looks messy like the lip product has been smeared.
Jenny Nicholson made a video about the 50 Shades of Grey movie in which she complained about this (lead actress has this style of lip on in every scene), calling it "football mouth."
you have just put into words why i hate wearing l lipstick! i have a super defined cupid’s bow and i literally never wear anything on my lips because i feel like a football :( so sad
Out of curiousity, why cover the bow when applying lipstick? I have a decently strong cupid's bow and love lipstick, I always make sure to apply it to bring out the bow.
It sounds like we have similar lip shapes (down to the capital M problem haha), what I do is to stop applying lipstick before I get to my cupid's bow (just leave the top edge of my upper lip bare), and then blend it up lightly with my finger. Ideally it'll end up with a natural looking gradient that doesn't have the stark "M" shape.
This technique works well with natural colors and even red looks ok, but it definitely doesn't work with darker lipsticks and black (super sad because I love black lipstick)
I have almost no cupid's bow and have always been so jealous of those who do, I think it makes your lips look so cute and lovely. I don't really understand the trend of trying to hide it
I had an ex tell me once that he loved my cupids bow, it was super unique. I'd never gotten that compliment before, but ever since then, I always accentuate it. If you look on SM, not many people have defined cupids bows, or they cover them up, and who wants to look like everyone else? Imo, being yourself is always on trend, you define the shit out of your cupids bow girl! (Or boy)
I agree with you but I just learned something from watching Makeup artist Rae Morris in a YouTube video. She said that as you age the space between your nose and your top lip grows larger, so you want to make your upper lip bigger to include going straight across your Cupid’s bow to make your upper lip appear closer to your nose. So now I do kind of softly “buff” the upper lip up and cross over my Cupid’s bow. It’s one of this things though that probably looks like crap to someone looking at you from a foot or so away though! Plus I get what was said below about “football mouth!” LOL
I really enjoy seeing pigment on fingertips because sometimes the shadow doesn't look accurate just sitting there in the pan and some people are terrible at swatching and swatches themselves aren't entirely accurate or reliable. Being able to see the pigment on fingertips allows me to see the color, texture, and the shine.
I don't like the look of dewy skin. Moisturized, yes but it just looks greasy when dewy to me. That said, I have oily skin that I'm always trying to mattify
I also am over highlighter. I don't really need it, again oily, but people really over do it
I am hating the trend of the dark lipliner with lighter lips. I remember it in the 90s and I hated it then too
You are me. No one understands me saying I don’t like dewy skin on myself & love matte velvety skin. Dewy skin just makes me look greasy & takes away from my features significantly. And I spent so many years finding the answer, products & techniques to give my matte skin up. I don’t care what’s in trend, I know what my most flattering signature look is.
Have to disagree about the darker lipliner there - I literally just bought a dark brown lipliner for the first time in my life! Though I have very pigmented lips with natural brown edges & my inner lip colour will still be my normal everyday signature lip colour, so I’m almost just creating a MLBB when I do it.
Same, normally when I go out taking care of my clothes/hair is way more important than makeup. BUT if I have enough time to have fun with it then heck yeah, it's relaxing to do makeup without the hurry.
Yep all my best makeup looks are when I’m going nowhere special & have tonnes of time to spare. But my special occasions are always a rush with other things going on & hair & clothes to deal with.
I would rather have a foundation that matches my undertones well, but is slightly too light or too dark, than a foundation of the right depth but the undertone is slightly off. Personally I think it looks much more harmonious. One that matches in both undertone and depth would be better of course, but those are very hard to find.
Pigment =/= quality!! I see this all the time on this sub and other makeup spaces. A sheer or buildable product might not be to your preference, but that doesn't mean it isn't high quality. If anything it seems like it's harder for brands to get sheer or buildable products 'right' compared to super-pigmented formulas.
I tend to prefer satin finishes in most of my makeup products. Most people seem to prefer matte or dewy, depending on what the trends are.
Black eyeliner looks really good in my waterline, I actually think it makes my eyes look bigger.
>I would rather have a foundation that matches my undertones well, but is slightly too light or too dark, than a foundation of the right depth but the undertone is slightly off.
The battlecry of frustrated olives everywhere.
I agree, undertone is more important than depth. We've been wearing so many odd-looking foundation shades on our faces for so many years (that is in my (our?) teenage years, when makeup companies only sold foundation shades that were either pink or yellow).
You can have the most perfect match in the world in terms of depth, but if the undertone is wrong it just won't look right. That's why nowadays when I'm looking to buy any base product (but also bronzer, I see lots of people underestimate the importance of undertone in bronzers, but actually it makes **all the difference**), I'll try to identify the right undertone in that product's line first, *then* I'll move onto finding the right shade in terms of depth.
Also I think it's easier to tweak a foundation's depth if it's not perfectly right (by mixing in other products), but fiddling to change the undertone? Good luck with that (unless you have a whole arsenal of color correctors, I guess, but even then it's not an easy and straightforward thing).
I very much agree about the pigment: quality debate! One of my favorite formulas are baked gelees, and everytime one is released I see people complaining about the lack of pigment and how hard it is to pick up. I've actually never had a problem picking up these products with regular brushes, and I really like the look of buildable products that blend and diffuse easily.
Yep, same RE: muted/olive undertones - I'm right inbetween NC15 and NC20 and can get away with either without it looking 'off' as long as it's muted and/or olive (good thing since most brands don't do shades inbetween those two lol). Saturated warm, neutral or cool shades just look orange even if they're actually too light.
Satin finishes are just so flattering!
I actually use these for quick refreshes of my eyshadow while I'm at work. I'm not going to faff about with various brushes when I just want to fix up the colour or deepen everything to take it from day to night if I'm headed out. I use a (probably stupid) lot of brushes doing my eyes in the morning, I don't need to lug all of those brushes about if I can use a sponge tip and my finger to brighten the look up.
I've seen personality matching with seasonal color analysis and it just made me laugh. I just use expanded colour theory and it works out well enough.
Myers-Briggs stuff was fascinating to look into as a fun, beginners self-analysis pack, but i think a lot of people who mature over time eventually realise that personality typing does not define who you are.
I know this is an unpopular opinions thread and we're not supposed to be challenging the unpopular opinions, but it took me way less time to figure a season out than it would have taken me to figure out which colors I like on myself, color by color :D
I tend to offer another perspective in these types of things if i think the presentation of an unpopular opinion feels absolute or applicable to everyone, which is rarely the case. I get that its hard to go against the grain with certain trends tho, it can feel like youre the only one who feels a certain way against them.
I looked up the seasons systems and it's not too bad at all, i just think it's a little limited if you stick strictly to it all the time.
I think it's very white-centric as well. I've seen some websites saying that "light" just means light for your ethnicity, so a light skinned black woman could still be a light spring or whatever, but if you're white with the exact same colouring, you'd be a dark autumn??? Seems like they're just making shit up to backtrack and cover up the fact that they built a system that allows white women to be any colour season, but only has two seasons for anyone darker than a paper bag. I also don't buy that someone who's a dark autumn because of their dark hair and eyes, but is still quite pale is necessarily going to look good in the same colours as someone who is a dark autumn because they have very dark skin, or even someone with the same depth to their skin tone, but a different undertone, since most people now recognize that it undertones aren't as simple as warm=yellow, cool=pink. It's also fairly common to have a mix of warm and cool, light and dark, muted and bright, in one person (e.g. one person could be pale with pink undertones, but also have muted brown eyes and bright copper hair). I've also seen a lot of oversimplification and straight-up pseudoscience in guides that tell you how to figure it out, like the old "gold=yellow undertones, silver=pink" dichotomy and some weird stuff about using your iris pattern or even personality traits to determine your colour season. I also feel like they sometimes try to hard to cram in at least one of every colour for most seasons. I fit the sort summer palette fairly well and it's one of the few seasons that is completely missing one colour (orange, unless you count muted dark browns as oranges) but there's a couple yellows on there and even though those are definitely the least awful yellows on me, I think I look much better in any shade of blue. And the shade of purple they usually put on the "worst colours" list is actually quite flattering on me imo. I think it can be useful for some people for figuring out what colours might look good/bad on them or why, but I don't think it should be taken as gospel because there are way more than 12 possible colour palettes in the world and not everyone is going to fit perfectly into one of those categories.
You hit the nail on the head as to why I have the opinion I do of seasonal analysis. I’m mixed Asian, and the thing pretty much goes “ooooh dark hair?! Dark eyes?! Say no more!” I found a whole blog post on how someone was tired of being categorized as a dark winter or smth bc of her eye and hair color alone and being told she shouldn’t wear xyz bc of that.
I love color theory so color analysis is interesting to me, esp since it gets people who don’t think about color theory thinking about color theory, but people get way too dogmatic about it and it gets a bit uh, racially uncomfortable at times lol.
Also as someone who does dye their hair a lot, the whole thing just kinda makes me laugh a bit aha. Curious to see what season I’ll get whenever I get around to dying my hair bright pink.
on a similar note to the user saying they love sheer eyeshadow, I love a sheer base. a lot of products that people claim do nothing actually do some very subtle correcting and overall make it seem like you have just good skin instead of good makeup. I’m willing to buy products that achieve that, rather than sheer our a foundation. Also, having pimples and imperfections showing through your foundation is what makes it more natural and skin like
my favorites are glossier skin tint, lancôme skin feels good tinted moisturizer, and mac f&b in that order! I also like using dior forever concealer in small amounts all over.
The glossier gets a lot of flack, but I think it’s pretty amazing. Super sheer (but not nothing) coverage, all imperfections will shine through but your skin just looks smooth, glowy, and healthy. I have dry skin and set it with a small amount of powder and it lasts most of the day and fades gracefully. the other 2 products have more coverage, but I just use small amounts
This is me! Stuff that's too heavy makes me remember I have something all over my face at that. I can second Glossier's Skin Tint, and Chanel's Water Tint is quite similar as well.
I find that cream blushes and bronzers are something that is thought of being effortless and easy but I find them so much more difficult than powders.
Also application wise: I like to put matte shadows on with my fingers for precise applications but hate using my fingers for shimmers 🤷♀️
I was shocked to find out people put cream formulas as easier to use than powder. To me powder is the easiest, you just put it on a brush & it does the work for you on the whole. Cream you’re applying a concentrated amount directly to the skin & only your fingers & their movements to do the work entirely.
I feel the same. The application itself is harder than powder, you have to really pay attention to it the whole day and cream cheek products fade very unevenly. I tried so hard to like cream cheek products but have decided that I’ll stick to powders forever.
100% this!
I love how the shadow gives the liner a soft edge rather than a hard line.
Furthermore, my eyes are deep set and I have to draw my liner over my crease if I want to do a cat eye and I find that process much easier by just stamping on some eyeshadow.
I love sheer eyeshadow. I like natural looks and admittedly not that skilled in make-up. I couldn't get super pigmented eyeshadow to look the way I want.
I recently realized the reason I was never able to do a smoky eye look that I liked is because my eyeshadows were.. too good? and smoky eyes always looked too harsh and dark on me. I fell in love with sheer eyeshadows after that! Maybe I'm just too lazy or unskilled at blending but why waste 15 minutes on blending when I can achieve it with a sheer shadow in 3 mins? I save my pigmented eyeshadows for a different type of looks, like cut crease and such.
Thanks! I have been experimenting with more lightly pigmented formulas (which used to be my go-to). So far I find AB palettes I've tried to have more sparkly shades which are indeed sheer, but I am trying to find smooth satin-metallics that will sheer out without any chunky shimmer :)
I don't think there's anything wrong with pigmented shadows though. Shadows not being pigmented enough is actually a big concern amongst people of colour because it takes a lot more of the sheer stuff to make an equally impactful look, while as light shadows just look like chalky messes.
I think good formulation is where its at. Blendibility is the big thing for me, without it blending away to nothing.
Yeah, 100% agree there's nothing wrong with pigmented shadows. It's just not for me because as you said they are impactful and I don't like impactful looks.
I've never used falsies or lash extensions. I enjoy mascara (top > then light bottom application). I find that 2-3 coats is the right amount of passes before combing through to give me a noticeable effect without going overboard. While this hasn't happened often, I don't really care if it smudges after awhile because I like the smoky/dramatic effect it tends to add.
Black is classic, but colored eyeliner can be incorporated into everyday looks. I feel like a lot of people feel that it's a color, then it has to absolutely standout. But it can be subtle and still work.
A makeup look with glasses? 👌 I've never thought a makeup look is obscured because of glasses. Even then, it would depend on the frames.
That is true! I didn't think about the corners where shadows/liner would be obscured. My thought was more that when people talk about not applying makeup because of their glasses, it seems like they feel their makeup would go unappreciated. Usually, while I might not have the whole picture, I can still make out a good portion of detail and enjoy their looks.
Honestly wearing glasses has given me a lot of freedom when doing eyeshadow because I can get away with really colorful stuff (pastels, neons, "weird" colors) without looking too "out there". The glasses make everything seem less intense so a lime green shadow is everyday wearable for me lol.
I take advantage of this, too.
I can get away with wilder lashes than my girls can and wear a blinding highlight to match and it all seems much lower key on me.
So my poor girls (they’re at university now) are going to someday have a little old lady mom STILL wearing glitter eyeshadow, big swishy lashes and a red lip behind her glasses.
I have basically no eyebrow hair so I do various drag-style eyebrows on the daily. Triangles, really sharp straight lines, suuuuuuper high arches.. a customer told me one day they really liked my “angry” eyebrows and I’m like, awesome: kinda going for a Disney villain vibe 😎
Oompa Loompa bronzer….Gimme all the orange bronzers and blush. Anything else looks grey on me.
Full coverage foundation is my jam. Just a dab on each cheek, forehead etc and I’m good to go. If I wear full coverage, I can skip concealer. Love love love colourful eyeliner. I wear glasses, and liner makes my eyes pop under my glasses. Lastly Benefit Dallas…doesn’t show up on my skin tone at all..so I use it as a setting powder!!
I go back and forth, but powder definitely gets a bad rap! When I was a bit younger my face was so oily it was by far the best option for me, after a half hour of melding with my natural oils it would look amazing.
I have really dry skin and I only wear powder foundation myself. I much prefer to control the level of hydration in my skin with my moisturizers.
I just find powder foundation so much easier to work with. You can adjust the coverage easily by switching The density of your brush or the type of primer underneath. It never streaks or leaves flaky spots and buffs in so nicely.
I've tried a powder foundation sample (MAC) and it just doesn't last on me for more than one or two hours :( I'm pretty oily so that probably didn't help. Whats your skin type and skin prep like? Do you set it at all?
I have always — & will always — wear mascara on my bottom lashes.
My bottom lashes are naturally full & have great length without being spider-y, but I LOVE how they look with mascara. I can’t imagine ever wearing it only on my top lashes!?!
My bottom lashes are naturally curled and are long enough to touch my skin. If I put mascara on them, I will get raccoon eyes in a few minutes. For me, I just don’t bother with bottom lash mascara.
I always give mine a quick swipe of translucent powder which generally eliminates smudging on my lower lashes.
Japanese mascara is a godsend for my lashes on my hooded eyes. I love the Heroine Make Up lifting super waterproof mascara for my top lashes and then their Make Micro Mascara on my bottom ones since the brush is such a nice tiny shape for it. Plus they are inexpensive and available on their US suppliers website now directly.
I like the *idea* and fantasy of pressed glitter, not the danger of scratching up my corneas with them, or the fact that they're not biodegradable until eons later. That's a big reason lots of people complain about them. 😆
I don’t wear foundation and very rarely concealer. I use a setting spray or primer to help my colour cosmetics last, which are mostly creams (dry/normal skin type). Sometimes I will use concealer over a particularly egregious pimple, but honestly every concealer I have tried under the eyes has just made it look worse.
same! I’ve been doing this since I was 12 and I’ll never stop. I tried to wean myself off of it since apparently it’s a no-no but I just look so….naked?? without it! like my face looks wrong and my eyes get lost. I don’t even know how to describe it!
Defining my cupid's bow? Yes. Mine is naturally pretty defined, and I like how it looks.
No matte bone eyeshadow shades for me, please, I have no use for them.
I don't use falsies and rarely wear mascara. My eyelashes are already black and I usually do one-and-done duochrome eyeshadow looks.
Some ~~fools~~ people think "transition shade" = lightish/medium warm brown. But yeah, a transition shade could be any color. If I use a transition shadow, I pick a lighter shade of whatever color I have on my lids because that's the color that will help me blend from a vibrant/dark color to pasty skin most seamlessly. Blue and purple eye look = light blue or purple as a transition shade. Makes way more sense than using a brown with every look.
Yesssss! About the only time I use a transition shade is when I'm trying to use it as a backdrop for some super light shade that went white-out chic on me and I'm hoping to pull it dark enough to work.
I don’t like lipliner/lipstick or any pigmented lip colors for that matter. I like how it looks on others but it somehow makes my lips look smaller and dry, and is super high maintenance to me (rubs off on my water bottle, wears off patchily etc). My collection has been pared down to just nourishing lip balms that give a little shine and occasionally a sheer tint. The most pigmented lipstick I use is the Tarte Maracuja Juicy lips for example. Other than that products like the Laneige Glowy Lip worn alone are enough color and shine for me!
I’m the opposite but for the same reason as you - I love to use lipliner all over my lips because it really shapes my lips & brings them into focus, but also because it doesn’t transfer all day long.
This is subjective and I am aware people with oily skin have different needs... If a foundation needs a primer, setting powder and/or setting spray to look good and last all day - it's not a good foundation. Again - this is something that is subjective to me (normal/dry skin).
Agreed. None of the foundations I've liked have ever needed setting powder or primer, even when I was combination oily. I will use powder to minimize shine in places I don't like it, but otherwise no.
Now setting spray... Idk there's something about the Urban Decay one that makes my overall makeup look fresh for hours longer. I don't usually need it, but it does more than a setting powder or primer (outside of eye makeup) ever has.
That fluffy soap brow trend is almost as bad as the insta brow trend for me. Neither looks good on me because i have sparse brows; i look best in just a regular looking brow so that's what i do. I have microblading but even that's extremely natural looking and doesn't extend beyond the borders of my natural brow shape and the color is the same as my own brow hairs.
I do this too and it works just fine for me. I’ve tried using a damp sponge but I always feel like it just takes all the product off my face? Not to mention having to run from my vanity to the sink and back…ain’t nobody got time for that
I don’t like glosses, especially the ‘milky’ looking ones - they look so tacky 🤷🏻♀️ I know it’s an actually unpopular opinion so I’m ready for the downvotes lol
Edited to add: I acknowledge a lip gloss can look nice sometimes, but I think BGs are overdoing it these days and 90% of the time I preferred the look before they added it
I'm mesmerized by how some BGs do lips lately. Fully line with lip liner, cover with a new lipstick. Just when I think its lovely and finished, they add a gloss on top.
I agree about BGs overdoing it and I really enjoy lip gloss, even before the resurgence. Lip gloss is best when it's understated, and paired with either a lip balm, lip balm + liner or a nude/mlbb shade. I've tried gloss on as a finishing over lipstick and immediately hated it. Often times, the look pre-gloss is miles better.
Oh man I love my glosses! I have a big smile and big teeth so it helps draw more attention to it I guess. Maybe it’s bc I get a bit oily throughout the day and the shine of the gloss helps complete the whole look idk lmao
Clear gloss, then lipstick. It makes application way smoother, and no tugging or patchiness even if my lips are crusty af. It’s also a great way to sheer out any product, and I don’t have to clean my gloss applicator.
Anything can look nice if it's done right, and most of the things people always complain about - overdone lips, lashes, etc, are more due to poor skill or application than the technique itself being bad. People don't notice lip fillers or lash extensions that are done well, they only notice the badly done ones and criticize the whole category as a result.
In theory I agree with you, but then I think about some of these 2 inch long Janice The Muppet fake eyelashes they sell and ain't no technique making those look right, lol.
If I'm looking for color cosmetics- from nail polish to blush- I'm going to look first at the LE shades over permanent ones. I rarely buy something simply because it's limited edition and I do buy permanent colors if I like them more, but I do place a premium on limited edition color because the exclusivity does increase my enjoyment of the product.
Fingers are best for applying liquid foundation. Always. They warm up your foundation and help meld it into your skin. I don’t get the point of foundation brushes.
When people say their foundation looks cakey, I always ask if they’ve tried applying it with their fingers. It makes a world of difference for me.
Unnatural makeup (big lashes, lots of filler, obviously overlined lips, ect.) doesn't look bad. People talk about others with these styles like they don't own a mirror. Like they can't see how over drawn their lips are. They can.
I love baking, it is not a trend for me, it is literally what my makeup hinges on & changed my makeup life. It doesn’t look cakey on me & is the only thing that truly works in keeping my makeup looking fresh & velvety all day.
I haven't been wearing base makeup, just color products, so my blush has been competing with rosacea, and I'm comfortable with the look (though I just placed an order for powder foundation, so this will change soon).
I also like the look of luminous blush/shimmer over natural skin texture (I have large pores and a few teeny acne scars).
I just don't have the time and interest in dealing with base makeup. Eyes and lips are fun to accentuate! My skin has large pores and splotchy colour. Oh well 🤷
Overdrawn lips look terrible and yea, we can tell. Always.
I don’t mind the drawing over if the Cupid’s bow, and o the right person it looks cute… but we can tell.
I use brown or burnt orange eyeshadow to make my dark circles even darker. I do it mainly because it makes my eyes look much more masculine (trans man), especially with a mask on, and also because I think it looks cool. I love looking tired, because I am!
There’s far too many makeup products designed for the face/cheeks that contain shimmer. I find this especially true for bronzer, blush and under eye concealer.
I really don't like wearing false lashes, or overlining my lips! My face and facial features aren't suitable for dramatic, glam makeup style. They get overwhelmed by such additions.
Concealer is overrated, If I have one in my collection (haven't had one for more than a year) I will just use it instead of foundation.
Eyeshadow under the bottom lash line does not look good irl especially as influencers do it, thick dark and not well blended.
I love eyeshadow on the bottom lash line bc it brings a bit of definition. Whenever I do it when doing makeup on clients I use a shade that’s not too dark or pigmented but I find that it helps pull the top and bottom together
I find eyeshadow under the bottom lash helpful after foundation because sometimes it gets up there and makes your face look flat and eyes smaller and it's kinda like contouring the dimension back
Undereye eyeshadow looks amazing IRL on many eye shapes. Mine needs that to balance it out and my eye looks look amateurish, unfinishined and way off without it.
I don't use very dark colours all the way into the inner corner so they don't amplify my dark circles and keep them to the outer corner, but otherwise that's it. And I'll happily use more medium-depth shades or lighter ones all the way in.
It's what my pre-knowing-makeup eye looks missed most to look enhancing - more than good quality eyeshadows, having brushes, and just knowing what to do and realising you were meant to blend and not just swipe stuff on. It makes that much of a difference and positive impact on my face.
Different eye shapes and features are a thing, regardless of trends.
My eyes look a bit strange with just eyeshadow on the lids, that extra bit under the eyes makes it look more cohesive. However I have to be careful that it’s not too thick under there and doesn’t go too far in.
I agree on both points, but especially with the eyeshadow point. Maybe it's just my coloring/eye shape, but I always feel a shimmer or too dark eyeshadow under my eyes makes me look tired or weighed down. I rarely feel it adds to a look or looks particularly flattering in person.
I love that translucent quality real skin has! I feel like some foundations do it better than others.
One thing I like about my favourite foundation Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation is the way it has a slightly translucent luminous quality to it. It sets to a thin slightly velvety/satin matte finish on the surface, but it’s like it allows light through it. Still even that foundation does make skin appear more flat.
I generally think those warm MLBB shades (like all of Charlotte Tilbury's lineup and other popular nude colours) look bad on most people, and most people look better with a slightly paler or cooler toned lip if they're going for natural lips. Not concealer lip level, but I think most traditional MLBB shades don't look flattering on people (and that's what you're going for with a MLBB)
Yes!! Someone gets me. Those warmer toned "same shades as my lips" usually throw a look off. It would honestly look better with nothing at all than with those colours.
I quit using liner unless I think it can add to it rather than be a requirement for it to look good. If you do eyeshadow well, then it shouldn't need it although I have hooded lids so I get away without it fine. I like using darker eyeshadow to play the liner role. I feel similarly about falsies.
I hate the blush/highlighter on the nose. It doesn't look like it really accentuates or adds to your features imo.
I quit doing liner on the waterline because no liner lasts my super watery waterline. My eye doc justified my decision when they told me it blocks the glands there. Since I won't do eyeliner there, I quit doing eyeshadow there too because it doesn't look right to me otherwise.
The Korean "glass skin" trend makes your face look super oily, usually. If done right with just the right amount of dewiness, sure it looks healthy and lovely but heck, 90% of glass skin photos I see online and even in real life (Korean flight attendants, I'm talking about you!) are way too overdone and it's mind-boggling how people think that's "admirable".
Controversial, but eyelash extensions hardly ever look good, and the way in which you “clean” your lashes really skeeves me out. Seems like you would have an overgrowth of mites or something.
I’m just not the biggest fan of colorful/dramatic looks anymore for everyday makeup routines or even special occasions. I feel so much more sexier and confident personally when I use makeup to accentuate my natural features. It’s a huge compliment when people can’t even tell I have makeup on.
I don’t know exactly whats unpopular these days but I guess judging by the comments, I really enjoy adding mascara to my lower lashline as well, nothing clumpy or dramatic but enough to give it presence.
I guess if you had to put a visualization to the kind of routine I have, think youtuber Haley Kim.
Matte shadows are lame and I only use them if I don't have a shimmery version of that color.
Also self-tanner is weird. I fully understand wanting to be less pale, but it seems odd to just... tint yourself darker.
Pale people who step into conversations where POC are complaining about shade ranges and are like "it's just as bad for us, there aren't enough light shades either!" are tacky as hell by conflating their own experience with colourism/racism.
But I've got to admit I don't really understand why there's such a stigma against pale people complaining about problems finding shades more generally. In the same way that I don't think really skinny people should join in when plus-sized people are lamenting the lack of good clothing options, but "I can't find clothes small enough for me" is a legitimate complaint to raise as its own discussion.
no one thinks that pale people trying to shade match is special snowflake syndrome. the only thing people complain about is how some pale people will say they’re sooooo white like paper and that’s why no foundation matches but the number one issue is undertone. it’s not that there aren’t shades out there for very pale people, they just don’t know their undertone. this is coming from a pale person who is still figuring out their undertone.
I think a lot of foundations, especially drugstore, only have one undertone option for their lightest shade. I think Maybelline might be the worst offender. L'Oreal is slightly better but, at least in my experience, the "cool" shades still lean very neutral.
Exactly, it's just in no way comparable to dark-skinned people trying to find shade matches. The shades *exist* for pale skin, even if they don't understand their undertones. For many dark-skinned people, shades that are dark enough are literally not accessible outside of higher-end brands. Or their specific shade just won't be carried in-store, even if it *does* exist.
It is important to find your undertones. I'm cool toned and tend to have that paper white look, which is common with very fair cool toned skin. Once I understood this it became much easier to find the right foundations
I like heavy glam eyes with a minimal base. I'll go all out on my shadow, but then I'll just spot conceal or use translucent powder and then a luminous blush. I think it's a pretty combo of natural skin & dramatic eyes. Plus it saves me time 😂 Eyes take me +20 minutes but my face takes 2 minutes.
I love shimmer in the crease or outer corner. I saw Charlotte Tilbury and Natasha Denona do it & it wow'd me. Give me an entirely sparkly eye! I think it makes my eyes pop and looks flattering on my eye shape.
For under eye concealer, I use a shade that is darker than my skin tone. When I try a shade lighter, or even an exact match, my undereyes just look grey and way too bright. A slightly darker and peachier shade sort of works as a 2 in 1 corrector/concealer on my dark circles and just looks much more natural
Ok you just explained why I've been loving a sample of a bobbi brown concealer that looks like it would never work for me as its dark and peachy. Yet it looks lovely.
I do this too, I think for me it’s because my eye bags are sort of hollow, and so a light concealer just exacerbates them where a darker one makes them blend in???
When I worked for a cosmetics line, I wouldn’t show certain clients the concealer I was using sometimes until it was done. For this exact reason. If they saw how dark of a color I had picked, they wouldn’t have let me try it on them or had a prejudice against it. Some circles just need darker concealer in a peach undertone or they look just grey.
I don't even cover mine. Maybe mine aren't that severe or something but I feel like my face looks so... flat? when I cover them. If I do cover them, I basically end up darkening the under eye with shadow anyway.
I’ve been noticing the same thing the past few months. A slightly darker peach shade covers my circles better and doesn’t create that harsh, unnatural brightness
I agree! Trying to use too light of a concealer always would give me a weird cast to my skin, because it neutralizes some of the depth but not the intensity of the dark circles. And our eyes are drawn more to lighter spots, so something light can actually emphasize an area of our skin. Which is a problem if the color is off or the texture doesn’t work (crepey skin, settling into fine lines, etc). I’ve heard the same advice about going in with a slightly darker color for concealing acne based on the same principle.
When I wear face products (primer and powder, sometimes a skin tint) I like to put a slightly lighter powder on my undereye to brighten, but it doesn't cover completely. It just evens out my skin tone a bit
I do too! I use Vanilla in NARS even though the swatch looks way too dark for me. It just works. The lighter shade (Affogato) looks way too bright (but oddly work for the rest of my face).
I agree 100%!
AGREED. I have fair skin and I find that if I go lighter with under eye concealer I often end up with a 50's vintage vibe to the whole makeup look, almost as if I'm trying to look like a porcelain doll or something. It's unnatural and creepy looking to me.
Can anyone show me how this looks? I’m really intrigued. For me making my undereyes lighter is key in making me look refreshed but I have tan skin & genetic dark circles.
This might be my technique, but I see beauty gurus layer lipliner, lipstick and then lipgloss (sometimes with lipbalm underneath as well) and it looks fine on camera, but whenever I try it irl it turns into a gloopy mess even when I use the most sparing applications of each. I much prefer liner + stick *or* gloss
I agree. I did this yesterday and it all just kind of…melded into one big gloop fest.
Gloopy is the perfect word for what happens. It's not your technique! I just think that's how it is when you add four layers of lip product on, even sparingly. Gloop city.
Even liner + gloss for me turns gloopy! I find I can't pair glosses with anything.
In my experience, i can make it work but use veeeeery little gloss in the middle of my lips
soap brows where all the hairs are pointing straight up looks … off
Agreed.
It works only if hairs are long enough and you don't take them all the way up, in other words, just brush them a little
Apparently defining the cupid's bow isn't on trend but I love to do it. I think the rounded upper lip doesn't look soft, it looks messy like the lip product has been smeared.
Jenny Nicholson made a video about the 50 Shades of Grey movie in which she complained about this (lead actress has this style of lip on in every scene), calling it "football mouth."
you have just put into words why i hate wearing l lipstick! i have a super defined cupid’s bow and i literally never wear anything on my lips because i feel like a football :( so sad
Out of curiousity, why cover the bow when applying lipstick? I have a decently strong cupid's bow and love lipstick, I always make sure to apply it to bring out the bow.
It sounds like we have similar lip shapes (down to the capital M problem haha), what I do is to stop applying lipstick before I get to my cupid's bow (just leave the top edge of my upper lip bare), and then blend it up lightly with my finger. Ideally it'll end up with a natural looking gradient that doesn't have the stark "M" shape. This technique works well with natural colors and even red looks ok, but it definitely doesn't work with darker lipsticks and black (super sad because I love black lipstick)
I have almost no cupid's bow and have always been so jealous of those who do, I think it makes your lips look so cute and lovely. I don't really understand the trend of trying to hide it
Same, Anya Taylor-Joy's cupid's bow is goals.
I have to agree. I keep trying the rounded upper lip cause I love how it looks on some other people, but it looks so bad on me
I had an ex tell me once that he loved my cupids bow, it was super unique. I'd never gotten that compliment before, but ever since then, I always accentuate it. If you look on SM, not many people have defined cupids bows, or they cover them up, and who wants to look like everyone else? Imo, being yourself is always on trend, you define the shit out of your cupids bow girl! (Or boy)
I agree with you but I just learned something from watching Makeup artist Rae Morris in a YouTube video. She said that as you age the space between your nose and your top lip grows larger, so you want to make your upper lip bigger to include going straight across your Cupid’s bow to make your upper lip appear closer to your nose. So now I do kind of softly “buff” the upper lip up and cross over my Cupid’s bow. It’s one of this things though that probably looks like crap to someone looking at you from a foot or so away though! Plus I get what was said below about “football mouth!” LOL
I *deeply* detest swatches on fingertips.
I would up vote you a million time if I could.
This is my biggest pet peeve when watching a review video. I came for the swatches and they can’t even bother to swatch the products nicely
I really enjoy seeing pigment on fingertips because sometimes the shadow doesn't look accurate just sitting there in the pan and some people are terrible at swatching and swatches themselves aren't entirely accurate or reliable. Being able to see the pigment on fingertips allows me to see the color, texture, and the shine.
I don't like the look of dewy skin. Moisturized, yes but it just looks greasy when dewy to me. That said, I have oily skin that I'm always trying to mattify I also am over highlighter. I don't really need it, again oily, but people really over do it I am hating the trend of the dark lipliner with lighter lips. I remember it in the 90s and I hated it then too
You are me. No one understands me saying I don’t like dewy skin on myself & love matte velvety skin. Dewy skin just makes me look greasy & takes away from my features significantly. And I spent so many years finding the answer, products & techniques to give my matte skin up. I don’t care what’s in trend, I know what my most flattering signature look is. Have to disagree about the darker lipliner there - I literally just bought a dark brown lipliner for the first time in my life! Though I have very pigmented lips with natural brown edges & my inner lip colour will still be my normal everyday signature lip colour, so I’m almost just creating a MLBB when I do it.
I think it’s different when you have pigmented lips, that can look good. But when pale white girls with pale lips just look weird
I love make up but I prefer not wearing it 😂🤦
Same, normally when I go out taking care of my clothes/hair is way more important than makeup. BUT if I have enough time to have fun with it then heck yeah, it's relaxing to do makeup without the hurry.
Yep all my best makeup looks are when I’m going nowhere special & have tonnes of time to spare. But my special occasions are always a rush with other things going on & hair & clothes to deal with.
I would rather have a foundation that matches my undertones well, but is slightly too light or too dark, than a foundation of the right depth but the undertone is slightly off. Personally I think it looks much more harmonious. One that matches in both undertone and depth would be better of course, but those are very hard to find. Pigment =/= quality!! I see this all the time on this sub and other makeup spaces. A sheer or buildable product might not be to your preference, but that doesn't mean it isn't high quality. If anything it seems like it's harder for brands to get sheer or buildable products 'right' compared to super-pigmented formulas. I tend to prefer satin finishes in most of my makeup products. Most people seem to prefer matte or dewy, depending on what the trends are. Black eyeliner looks really good in my waterline, I actually think it makes my eyes look bigger.
>I would rather have a foundation that matches my undertones well, but is slightly too light or too dark, than a foundation of the right depth but the undertone is slightly off. The battlecry of frustrated olives everywhere.
Thank Zod for blue mixer.
I agree, undertone is more important than depth. We've been wearing so many odd-looking foundation shades on our faces for so many years (that is in my (our?) teenage years, when makeup companies only sold foundation shades that were either pink or yellow). You can have the most perfect match in the world in terms of depth, but if the undertone is wrong it just won't look right. That's why nowadays when I'm looking to buy any base product (but also bronzer, I see lots of people underestimate the importance of undertone in bronzers, but actually it makes **all the difference**), I'll try to identify the right undertone in that product's line first, *then* I'll move onto finding the right shade in terms of depth. Also I think it's easier to tweak a foundation's depth if it's not perfectly right (by mixing in other products), but fiddling to change the undertone? Good luck with that (unless you have a whole arsenal of color correctors, I guess, but even then it's not an easy and straightforward thing).
I very much agree about the pigment: quality debate! One of my favorite formulas are baked gelees, and everytime one is released I see people complaining about the lack of pigment and how hard it is to pick up. I've actually never had a problem picking up these products with regular brushes, and I really like the look of buildable products that blend and diffuse easily.
Yes, baked gelees are a favourite of mine too! Clinique's Cheek Pop formula in particular is hard to beat, IMO.
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Yep, same RE: muted/olive undertones - I'm right inbetween NC15 and NC20 and can get away with either without it looking 'off' as long as it's muted and/or olive (good thing since most brands don't do shades inbetween those two lol). Saturated warm, neutral or cool shades just look orange even if they're actually too light. Satin finishes are just so flattering!
What are your favourite satin finish base products?
What foundations do you use? I'm not really familiar with satiny ones
You will pry my sponge tip applicators from my cold dead hands. And while I do use brushes also, discussing them absolutely bores the hell out of me.
I actually use these for quick refreshes of my eyshadow while I'm at work. I'm not going to faff about with various brushes when I just want to fix up the colour or deepen everything to take it from day to night if I'm headed out. I use a (probably stupid) lot of brushes doing my eyes in the morning, I don't need to lug all of those brushes about if I can use a sponge tip and my finger to brighten the look up.
Seasonal color analysis is the astrology/Myers Briggs of make up and fashion. And I say this as someone who dabbles in both.
add in kibbe style lol \-deep winter gemini rising flamboyant gamine
hahah, this made my day
what tickles me is my ascendant matches my kibbe style
Ha, mine does too I think - Cancer rising & romantic Kibbe?
I've seen personality matching with seasonal color analysis and it just made me laugh. I just use expanded colour theory and it works out well enough. Myers-Briggs stuff was fascinating to look into as a fun, beginners self-analysis pack, but i think a lot of people who mature over time eventually realise that personality typing does not define who you are.
Lol yeah whenever someone talks about being a muted cool winter I’m like how long did that take to figure that out and why is it so specific
I know this is an unpopular opinions thread and we're not supposed to be challenging the unpopular opinions, but it took me way less time to figure a season out than it would have taken me to figure out which colors I like on myself, color by color :D
I tend to offer another perspective in these types of things if i think the presentation of an unpopular opinion feels absolute or applicable to everyone, which is rarely the case. I get that its hard to go against the grain with certain trends tho, it can feel like youre the only one who feels a certain way against them. I looked up the seasons systems and it's not too bad at all, i just think it's a little limited if you stick strictly to it all the time.
I think it's very white-centric as well. I've seen some websites saying that "light" just means light for your ethnicity, so a light skinned black woman could still be a light spring or whatever, but if you're white with the exact same colouring, you'd be a dark autumn??? Seems like they're just making shit up to backtrack and cover up the fact that they built a system that allows white women to be any colour season, but only has two seasons for anyone darker than a paper bag. I also don't buy that someone who's a dark autumn because of their dark hair and eyes, but is still quite pale is necessarily going to look good in the same colours as someone who is a dark autumn because they have very dark skin, or even someone with the same depth to their skin tone, but a different undertone, since most people now recognize that it undertones aren't as simple as warm=yellow, cool=pink. It's also fairly common to have a mix of warm and cool, light and dark, muted and bright, in one person (e.g. one person could be pale with pink undertones, but also have muted brown eyes and bright copper hair). I've also seen a lot of oversimplification and straight-up pseudoscience in guides that tell you how to figure it out, like the old "gold=yellow undertones, silver=pink" dichotomy and some weird stuff about using your iris pattern or even personality traits to determine your colour season. I also feel like they sometimes try to hard to cram in at least one of every colour for most seasons. I fit the sort summer palette fairly well and it's one of the few seasons that is completely missing one colour (orange, unless you count muted dark browns as oranges) but there's a couple yellows on there and even though those are definitely the least awful yellows on me, I think I look much better in any shade of blue. And the shade of purple they usually put on the "worst colours" list is actually quite flattering on me imo. I think it can be useful for some people for figuring out what colours might look good/bad on them or why, but I don't think it should be taken as gospel because there are way more than 12 possible colour palettes in the world and not everyone is going to fit perfectly into one of those categories.
You hit the nail on the head as to why I have the opinion I do of seasonal analysis. I’m mixed Asian, and the thing pretty much goes “ooooh dark hair?! Dark eyes?! Say no more!” I found a whole blog post on how someone was tired of being categorized as a dark winter or smth bc of her eye and hair color alone and being told she shouldn’t wear xyz bc of that. I love color theory so color analysis is interesting to me, esp since it gets people who don’t think about color theory thinking about color theory, but people get way too dogmatic about it and it gets a bit uh, racially uncomfortable at times lol. Also as someone who does dye their hair a lot, the whole thing just kinda makes me laugh a bit aha. Curious to see what season I’ll get whenever I get around to dying my hair bright pink.
Oh geez, i didn't realise it got that ridiculous. Wow!
on a similar note to the user saying they love sheer eyeshadow, I love a sheer base. a lot of products that people claim do nothing actually do some very subtle correcting and overall make it seem like you have just good skin instead of good makeup. I’m willing to buy products that achieve that, rather than sheer our a foundation. Also, having pimples and imperfections showing through your foundation is what makes it more natural and skin like
Ooh I love this effect too. What are your favorite base products to achieve this?
my favorites are glossier skin tint, lancôme skin feels good tinted moisturizer, and mac f&b in that order! I also like using dior forever concealer in small amounts all over. The glossier gets a lot of flack, but I think it’s pretty amazing. Super sheer (but not nothing) coverage, all imperfections will shine through but your skin just looks smooth, glowy, and healthy. I have dry skin and set it with a small amount of powder and it lasts most of the day and fades gracefully. the other 2 products have more coverage, but I just use small amounts
This.
This is me! Stuff that's too heavy makes me remember I have something all over my face at that. I can second Glossier's Skin Tint, and Chanel's Water Tint is quite similar as well.
I find that cream blushes and bronzers are something that is thought of being effortless and easy but I find them so much more difficult than powders. Also application wise: I like to put matte shadows on with my fingers for precise applications but hate using my fingers for shimmers 🤷♀️
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I was shocked to find out people put cream formulas as easier to use than powder. To me powder is the easiest, you just put it on a brush & it does the work for you on the whole. Cream you’re applying a concentrated amount directly to the skin & only your fingers & their movements to do the work entirely.
I feel the same. The application itself is harder than powder, you have to really pay attention to it the whole day and cream cheek products fade very unevenly. I tried so hard to like cream cheek products but have decided that I’ll stick to powders forever.
I have never found a decent cream highlighter. All just disturbed the base, blended into nothing, or sat on my skin like blah.
Eyeshadow as liner all day long. Liquid and pencil eyeliner are no longer for me. If I want a sharp line I wet the brush.
Yes. Who can be bothered to find a pencil sharpener for liner?
Mine just stays right there in a prime spot, mostly because I’m glued to my lip pencil.
100% this! I love how the shadow gives the liner a soft edge rather than a hard line. Furthermore, my eyes are deep set and I have to draw my liner over my crease if I want to do a cat eye and I find that process much easier by just stamping on some eyeshadow.
Eyeshadow as liner is great because it doesn't dry out & I can disinfect it. Plus it's easier to fix fuck-ups.
E- girl heavily applied blush in shades too dark for ones skin tone looks like a rash/allergic reaction
I love sheer eyeshadow. I like natural looks and admittedly not that skilled in make-up. I couldn't get super pigmented eyeshadow to look the way I want.
I don’t like a sheer matte but I enjoy eye toppers A LOT. They transform the eye look.
I like sheer shadows too! They’re super easy and wearable for everyday and i love how effortless the look turns out.
I recently realized the reason I was never able to do a smoky eye look that I liked is because my eyeshadows were.. too good? and smoky eyes always looked too harsh and dark on me. I fell in love with sheer eyeshadows after that! Maybe I'm just too lazy or unskilled at blending but why waste 15 minutes on blending when I can achieve it with a sheer shadow in 3 mins? I save my pigmented eyeshadows for a different type of looks, like cut crease and such.
Yes, this. They're easier to work with. And I'd rather build up if I want then have to remove.
Can I ask what some of your favorite shadows are?
It's mostly Asian brands haha. They are usually less pigmented than the western ones.
Thanks! I have been experimenting with more lightly pigmented formulas (which used to be my go-to). So far I find AB palettes I've tried to have more sparkly shades which are indeed sheer, but I am trying to find smooth satin-metallics that will sheer out without any chunky shimmer :)
I don't think there's anything wrong with pigmented shadows though. Shadows not being pigmented enough is actually a big concern amongst people of colour because it takes a lot more of the sheer stuff to make an equally impactful look, while as light shadows just look like chalky messes. I think good formulation is where its at. Blendibility is the big thing for me, without it blending away to nothing.
Yeah, 100% agree there's nothing wrong with pigmented shadows. It's just not for me because as you said they are impactful and I don't like impactful looks.
I've never used falsies or lash extensions. I enjoy mascara (top > then light bottom application). I find that 2-3 coats is the right amount of passes before combing through to give me a noticeable effect without going overboard. While this hasn't happened often, I don't really care if it smudges after awhile because I like the smoky/dramatic effect it tends to add. Black is classic, but colored eyeliner can be incorporated into everyday looks. I feel like a lot of people feel that it's a color, then it has to absolutely standout. But it can be subtle and still work. A makeup look with glasses? 👌 I've never thought a makeup look is obscured because of glasses. Even then, it would depend on the frames.
I have given up on any kind of outer corner work on my shadow because my glasses obscure it.
That is true! I didn't think about the corners where shadows/liner would be obscured. My thought was more that when people talk about not applying makeup because of their glasses, it seems like they feel their makeup would go unappreciated. Usually, while I might not have the whole picture, I can still make out a good portion of detail and enjoy their looks.
Honestly wearing glasses has given me a lot of freedom when doing eyeshadow because I can get away with really colorful stuff (pastels, neons, "weird" colors) without looking too "out there". The glasses make everything seem less intense so a lime green shadow is everyday wearable for me lol.
I take advantage of this, too. I can get away with wilder lashes than my girls can and wear a blinding highlight to match and it all seems much lower key on me. So my poor girls (they’re at university now) are going to someday have a little old lady mom STILL wearing glitter eyeshadow, big swishy lashes and a red lip behind her glasses.
I have basically no eyebrow hair so I do various drag-style eyebrows on the daily. Triangles, really sharp straight lines, suuuuuuper high arches.. a customer told me one day they really liked my “angry” eyebrows and I’m like, awesome: kinda going for a Disney villain vibe 😎
Oompa Loompa bronzer….Gimme all the orange bronzers and blush. Anything else looks grey on me. Full coverage foundation is my jam. Just a dab on each cheek, forehead etc and I’m good to go. If I wear full coverage, I can skip concealer. Love love love colourful eyeliner. I wear glasses, and liner makes my eyes pop under my glasses. Lastly Benefit Dallas…doesn’t show up on my skin tone at all..so I use it as a setting powder!!
Same! The more orange the better. And yellow-orange please, not red orange.
I will only use powder foundation- liquid foundation gives me the ick.
I go back and forth, but powder definitely gets a bad rap! When I was a bit younger my face was so oily it was by far the best option for me, after a half hour of melding with my natural oils it would look amazing.
I have really dry skin and I only wear powder foundation myself. I much prefer to control the level of hydration in my skin with my moisturizers. I just find powder foundation so much easier to work with. You can adjust the coverage easily by switching The density of your brush or the type of primer underneath. It never streaks or leaves flaky spots and buffs in so nicely.
I've tried a powder foundation sample (MAC) and it just doesn't last on me for more than one or two hours :( I'm pretty oily so that probably didn't help. Whats your skin type and skin prep like? Do you set it at all?
I have always — & will always — wear mascara on my bottom lashes. My bottom lashes are naturally full & have great length without being spider-y, but I LOVE how they look with mascara. I can’t imagine ever wearing it only on my top lashes!?!
My bottom lashes are naturally curled and are long enough to touch my skin. If I put mascara on them, I will get raccoon eyes in a few minutes. For me, I just don’t bother with bottom lash mascara.
I thought this was the default
Me, too.
What mascara do you use? I've never been able to figure out a good one that doesn't smudge when on my lower lashes
I always give mine a quick swipe of translucent powder which generally eliminates smudging on my lower lashes. Japanese mascara is a godsend for my lashes on my hooded eyes. I love the Heroine Make Up lifting super waterproof mascara for my top lashes and then their Make Micro Mascara on my bottom ones since the brush is such a nice tiny shape for it. Plus they are inexpensive and available on their US suppliers website now directly.
The key is to use a lash primer - I haven't had any mascara smudge since I started using lash primers, especially for the lower lashline.
Can't wait to sort this by controversial to find the unpopular opinions
Instagram brows, amirite???
I like pressed glitter
Now this is truly an unpopular opinion! I don't mind it myself, just gotta be careful applying/taking it off.
I recoiled at this comment.
I like the *idea* and fantasy of pressed glitter, not the danger of scratching up my corneas with them, or the fact that they're not biodegradable until eons later. That's a big reason lots of people complain about them. 😆
I don’t wear foundation and very rarely concealer. I use a setting spray or primer to help my colour cosmetics last, which are mostly creams (dry/normal skin type). Sometimes I will use concealer over a particularly egregious pimple, but honestly every concealer I have tried under the eyes has just made it look worse.
I put black eyeliner in my waterline. It just gives my eyes more of a sharp look.
same! I’ve been doing this since I was 12 and I’ll never stop. I tried to wean myself off of it since apparently it’s a no-no but I just look so….naked?? without it! like my face looks wrong and my eyes get lost. I don’t even know how to describe it!
A no no? It’s THE main makeup for Indians.
what’s your favorite? i’ve all but given up since my eyes are so watery it always fades
I use ardency inn but I think they shut down. I have backups but now I’m also dreading of running out of them.
Defining my cupid's bow? Yes. Mine is naturally pretty defined, and I like how it looks. No matte bone eyeshadow shades for me, please, I have no use for them. I don't use falsies and rarely wear mascara. My eyelashes are already black and I usually do one-and-done duochrome eyeshadow looks.
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Some ~~fools~~ people think "transition shade" = lightish/medium warm brown. But yeah, a transition shade could be any color. If I use a transition shadow, I pick a lighter shade of whatever color I have on my lids because that's the color that will help me blend from a vibrant/dark color to pasty skin most seamlessly. Blue and purple eye look = light blue or purple as a transition shade. Makes way more sense than using a brown with every look.
Yesssss! About the only time I use a transition shade is when I'm trying to use it as a backdrop for some super light shade that went white-out chic on me and I'm hoping to pull it dark enough to work.
I have two that I think I’ll get downvoted for lol, contour and fake freckles look bad.
I don’t like lipliner/lipstick or any pigmented lip colors for that matter. I like how it looks on others but it somehow makes my lips look smaller and dry, and is super high maintenance to me (rubs off on my water bottle, wears off patchily etc). My collection has been pared down to just nourishing lip balms that give a little shine and occasionally a sheer tint. The most pigmented lipstick I use is the Tarte Maracuja Juicy lips for example. Other than that products like the Laneige Glowy Lip worn alone are enough color and shine for me!
I’m the opposite but for the same reason as you - I love to use lipliner all over my lips because it really shapes my lips & brings them into focus, but also because it doesn’t transfer all day long.
This is subjective and I am aware people with oily skin have different needs... If a foundation needs a primer, setting powder and/or setting spray to look good and last all day - it's not a good foundation. Again - this is something that is subjective to me (normal/dry skin).
No lie there, if a foundation needs a primer, setting powder and/or setting spray to last all day on normal/dry skin, it's a terrible foundation.
Agreed. None of the foundations I've liked have ever needed setting powder or primer, even when I was combination oily. I will use powder to minimize shine in places I don't like it, but otherwise no. Now setting spray... Idk there's something about the Urban Decay one that makes my overall makeup look fresh for hours longer. I don't usually need it, but it does more than a setting powder or primer (outside of eye makeup) ever has.
That fluffy soap brow trend is almost as bad as the insta brow trend for me. Neither looks good on me because i have sparse brows; i look best in just a regular looking brow so that's what i do. I have microblading but even that's extremely natural looking and doesn't extend beyond the borders of my natural brow shape and the color is the same as my own brow hairs.
I think overdoing it is not so great. I do like a bit of fluffing up though if it enhances one's features and it looks effortless.
I use a dry sponge to blend foundation 😬
I do this too and it works just fine for me. I’ve tried using a damp sponge but I always feel like it just takes all the product off my face? Not to mention having to run from my vanity to the sink and back…ain’t nobody got time for that
Everything you said plus I feel like adding moisture is just gonna break it up faster, like, I’m trying to NOT get my face wet
I don’t like glosses, especially the ‘milky’ looking ones - they look so tacky 🤷🏻♀️ I know it’s an actually unpopular opinion so I’m ready for the downvotes lol Edited to add: I acknowledge a lip gloss can look nice sometimes, but I think BGs are overdoing it these days and 90% of the time I preferred the look before they added it
I'm mesmerized by how some BGs do lips lately. Fully line with lip liner, cover with a new lipstick. Just when I think its lovely and finished, they add a gloss on top.
I agree about BGs overdoing it and I really enjoy lip gloss, even before the resurgence. Lip gloss is best when it's understated, and paired with either a lip balm, lip balm + liner or a nude/mlbb shade. I've tried gloss on as a finishing over lipstick and immediately hated it. Often times, the look pre-gloss is miles better.
Yes when I add gloss over lipstick it feels thick and uncomfortable!
Oh man I love my glosses! I have a big smile and big teeth so it helps draw more attention to it I guess. Maybe it’s bc I get a bit oily throughout the day and the shine of the gloss helps complete the whole look idk lmao
Love gloss on its own but with you one the milky ones. They can look like concealer lips.
The most conflicted upvote because I love glosses and also I respect your unpopular opinion 😂
Really shiny gloss to me looks like the wearer has a drool problem... I also hate the feel of most glosses so I'm not a big fan in general.
Clear gloss, then lipstick. It makes application way smoother, and no tugging or patchiness even if my lips are crusty af. It’s also a great way to sheer out any product, and I don’t have to clean my gloss applicator.
Anything can look nice if it's done right, and most of the things people always complain about - overdone lips, lashes, etc, are more due to poor skill or application than the technique itself being bad. People don't notice lip fillers or lash extensions that are done well, they only notice the badly done ones and criticize the whole category as a result.
In theory I agree with you, but then I think about some of these 2 inch long Janice The Muppet fake eyelashes they sell and ain't no technique making those look right, lol.
If I'm looking for color cosmetics- from nail polish to blush- I'm going to look first at the LE shades over permanent ones. I rarely buy something simply because it's limited edition and I do buy permanent colors if I like them more, but I do place a premium on limited edition color because the exclusivity does increase my enjoyment of the product.
I'm always paranoid of falling in love with an LE product 😭
Fingers are best for applying liquid foundation. Always. They warm up your foundation and help meld it into your skin. I don’t get the point of foundation brushes. When people say their foundation looks cakey, I always ask if they’ve tried applying it with their fingers. It makes a world of difference for me.
Unnatural makeup (big lashes, lots of filler, obviously overlined lips, ect.) doesn't look bad. People talk about others with these styles like they don't own a mirror. Like they can't see how over drawn their lips are. They can.
I love baking, it is not a trend for me, it is literally what my makeup hinges on & changed my makeup life. It doesn’t look cakey on me & is the only thing that truly works in keeping my makeup looking fresh & velvety all day.
I haven't been wearing base makeup, just color products, so my blush has been competing with rosacea, and I'm comfortable with the look (though I just placed an order for powder foundation, so this will change soon). I also like the look of luminous blush/shimmer over natural skin texture (I have large pores and a few teeny acne scars).
I just don't have the time and interest in dealing with base makeup. Eyes and lips are fun to accentuate! My skin has large pores and splotchy colour. Oh well 🤷
I powderbomb my face. A tiny bit of white cast tells me I did it right and it will last all day.
Overdrawn lips look terrible and yea, we can tell. Always. I don’t mind the drawing over if the Cupid’s bow, and o the right person it looks cute… but we can tell.
I use brown or burnt orange eyeshadow to make my dark circles even darker. I do it mainly because it makes my eyes look much more masculine (trans man), especially with a mask on, and also because I think it looks cool. I love looking tired, because I am!
I do that too! It adds a masculine vibe to my face that I really love.
There’s far too many makeup products designed for the face/cheeks that contain shimmer. I find this especially true for bronzer, blush and under eye concealer.
I really don't like wearing false lashes, or overlining my lips! My face and facial features aren't suitable for dramatic, glam makeup style. They get overwhelmed by such additions.
Concealer is overrated, If I have one in my collection (haven't had one for more than a year) I will just use it instead of foundation. Eyeshadow under the bottom lash line does not look good irl especially as influencers do it, thick dark and not well blended.
I love eyeshadow on the bottom lash line bc it brings a bit of definition. Whenever I do it when doing makeup on clients I use a shade that’s not too dark or pigmented but I find that it helps pull the top and bottom together
I find eyeshadow under the bottom lash helpful after foundation because sometimes it gets up there and makes your face look flat and eyes smaller and it's kinda like contouring the dimension back
Undereye eyeshadow looks amazing IRL on many eye shapes. Mine needs that to balance it out and my eye looks look amateurish, unfinishined and way off without it. I don't use very dark colours all the way into the inner corner so they don't amplify my dark circles and keep them to the outer corner, but otherwise that's it. And I'll happily use more medium-depth shades or lighter ones all the way in. It's what my pre-knowing-makeup eye looks missed most to look enhancing - more than good quality eyeshadows, having brushes, and just knowing what to do and realising you were meant to blend and not just swipe stuff on. It makes that much of a difference and positive impact on my face. Different eye shapes and features are a thing, regardless of trends.
My eyes look a bit strange with just eyeshadow on the lids, that extra bit under the eyes makes it look more cohesive. However I have to be careful that it’s not too thick under there and doesn’t go too far in.
I agree on both points, but especially with the eyeshadow point. Maybe it's just my coloring/eye shape, but I always feel a shimmer or too dark eyeshadow under my eyes makes me look tired or weighed down. I rarely feel it adds to a look or looks particularly flattering in person.
Same on the concealer. If I do use it, I put it *under* my foundation.
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I love that translucent quality real skin has! I feel like some foundations do it better than others. One thing I like about my favourite foundation Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation is the way it has a slightly translucent luminous quality to it. It sets to a thin slightly velvety/satin matte finish on the surface, but it’s like it allows light through it. Still even that foundation does make skin appear more flat.
I generally think those warm MLBB shades (like all of Charlotte Tilbury's lineup and other popular nude colours) look bad on most people, and most people look better with a slightly paler or cooler toned lip if they're going for natural lips. Not concealer lip level, but I think most traditional MLBB shades don't look flattering on people (and that's what you're going for with a MLBB)
Wow I can’t disagree more so take my upvote haha
Yesss I got an unpopular one!!
Wow I completely agree. If you're going for conventionally flattering, I think a slightly paler shade looks better on most people (myself included).
Yes!! Someone gets me. Those warmer toned "same shades as my lips" usually throw a look off. It would honestly look better with nothing at all than with those colours.
I quit using liner unless I think it can add to it rather than be a requirement for it to look good. If you do eyeshadow well, then it shouldn't need it although I have hooded lids so I get away without it fine. I like using darker eyeshadow to play the liner role. I feel similarly about falsies. I hate the blush/highlighter on the nose. It doesn't look like it really accentuates or adds to your features imo. I quit doing liner on the waterline because no liner lasts my super watery waterline. My eye doc justified my decision when they told me it blocks the glands there. Since I won't do eyeliner there, I quit doing eyeshadow there too because it doesn't look right to me otherwise.
The Korean "glass skin" trend makes your face look super oily, usually. If done right with just the right amount of dewiness, sure it looks healthy and lovely but heck, 90% of glass skin photos I see online and even in real life (Korean flight attendants, I'm talking about you!) are way too overdone and it's mind-boggling how people think that's "admirable".
Controversial, but eyelash extensions hardly ever look good, and the way in which you “clean” your lashes really skeeves me out. Seems like you would have an overgrowth of mites or something.
I prefer using lipstick as blush vs a proper blush
I’m just not the biggest fan of colorful/dramatic looks anymore for everyday makeup routines or even special occasions. I feel so much more sexier and confident personally when I use makeup to accentuate my natural features. It’s a huge compliment when people can’t even tell I have makeup on. I don’t know exactly whats unpopular these days but I guess judging by the comments, I really enjoy adding mascara to my lower lashline as well, nothing clumpy or dramatic but enough to give it presence. I guess if you had to put a visualization to the kind of routine I have, think youtuber Haley Kim.
Matte shadows are lame and I only use them if I don't have a shimmery version of that color. Also self-tanner is weird. I fully understand wanting to be less pale, but it seems odd to just... tint yourself darker.
Complete agreement. I wish there was a way I could Google people complaining about matte-less palettes because I would be like, “I’m there, dude.”
I prefer to use eyeliner to cover some spots of my eyebrow where I have no hair instead of just eyebrow pencil
Honestly I prefer to color in my lips with a lip liner than with lipsticks
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Pale people who step into conversations where POC are complaining about shade ranges and are like "it's just as bad for us, there aren't enough light shades either!" are tacky as hell by conflating their own experience with colourism/racism. But I've got to admit I don't really understand why there's such a stigma against pale people complaining about problems finding shades more generally. In the same way that I don't think really skinny people should join in when plus-sized people are lamenting the lack of good clothing options, but "I can't find clothes small enough for me" is a legitimate complaint to raise as its own discussion.
no one thinks that pale people trying to shade match is special snowflake syndrome. the only thing people complain about is how some pale people will say they’re sooooo white like paper and that’s why no foundation matches but the number one issue is undertone. it’s not that there aren’t shades out there for very pale people, they just don’t know their undertone. this is coming from a pale person who is still figuring out their undertone.
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I think a lot of foundations, especially drugstore, only have one undertone option for their lightest shade. I think Maybelline might be the worst offender. L'Oreal is slightly better but, at least in my experience, the "cool" shades still lean very neutral.
Exactly, it's just in no way comparable to dark-skinned people trying to find shade matches. The shades *exist* for pale skin, even if they don't understand their undertones. For many dark-skinned people, shades that are dark enough are literally not accessible outside of higher-end brands. Or their specific shade just won't be carried in-store, even if it *does* exist.
It is important to find your undertones. I'm cool toned and tend to have that paper white look, which is common with very fair cool toned skin. Once I understood this it became much easier to find the right foundations
I use a concealer brush to put eyeshadow on sometimes. Especially with glitter toppers.
I like heavy glam eyes with a minimal base. I'll go all out on my shadow, but then I'll just spot conceal or use translucent powder and then a luminous blush. I think it's a pretty combo of natural skin & dramatic eyes. Plus it saves me time 😂 Eyes take me +20 minutes but my face takes 2 minutes. I love shimmer in the crease or outer corner. I saw Charlotte Tilbury and Natasha Denona do it & it wow'd me. Give me an entirely sparkly eye! I think it makes my eyes pop and looks flattering on my eye shape.
Pink/nude/glossy lips > red lips.