Makeup: Essentials, Brands & Looks.
When used correctly, makeup helps highlight your best features and makes you feel your best.
So use it to empower yourself, don't treat it as something only required to hide flaws and insecurities.
Have fun with it!
In this post, I'd like to share my list of makeup essentials, my favorite makeup brands for certain products and some of my favorite looks.
Makeup Essentials
Here's my list of essentials that every woman should have in her makeup kit, regardless of age.
1. Makeup brushes - the right brushes help you achieve the best application of makeup. Invest in some good brushes, its completely worth it.
My pick: MAC or Nars
2. Tinted Moisturizer - helps even out the skin tone and provides the canvas for the rest of your makeup.
My pick: Laura Mercier
3. Concealer - conceals blemishes, discolorations and other dark spots. Helps even out skin tone.
My pick: Cle de Peau
4. Under eye brightener - removes the dark under eye circles and evens out the skin tone.
My pick: YSL Touche Eclat
5. Eyebrow pencil - helps fill out any gaps in your brows.
My pick: Anastasia Brow Wiz
6. Tweezers - remove stray hairs on the face and shape your brows.
My pick: Tweezerman
7. Eyelash Curler - use to curl the eyelashes.
My pick: Shu Uemura
My Favorite Makeup Brands
Here's my list of brands that I love for certain products.
Laura Mercier - Awesome brand for base makeup like primer, tinted moisturizer, foundation, concealer, and under eye brightener.
NARS - This brand has highly pigmented makeup so is especially good for olive to dark skin tones. Their blushes are amazing.
MAC - Similar to NARS (highly pigmented) but cheaper in price. I love their lip glosses, eye shadows and water proof liquid eyeliner.
YSL - Absolutely love their lipsticks especially the Volupte Sheer Candy lipsticks. These lipsticks give the hydration of a lip balm with the shine and color payoff of a gloss.
Chanel - Very nice eye shadows especially the Illusion D'Ombre collection and Chanel Ombre D’eau Fluid Iridescent. These shadows glide across the lids with the greatest of ease. Can be easily layered for higher impact.
Tom Ford - small selection of lipsticks (only 12 shades) but fantastic colors. The formula is extremely creamy and is made of an exotic blend of chamomilla flower, soja seed extract and Brazilian murumuru butter. I love the packaging too!
Christian Dior - Their 5 color eyeshadow palettes are amazing. The shadows are pigmented, smooth and come in great color combinations. Especially when you are travelling, you get 5 different colors that work well individually or can be used to achieve a cohesive look.
My Favorite Makeup Looks
Here are my three favorite looks achieved with makeup.
1. Natural: The natural makeup look is a look where you have applied makeup but it doesn't look like you are wearing it as it blends well with your complexion and the colors are all very soft and subtle.
2. Smoky Eye: Love this look for the evening. The focus is on the eyes so the rest of the face is fairly neutral. A smoky eye can be achieved with many different colors, not just black and grey.
3. Bold Lip: Bold lips can be worn during the day or night but its critical to wear lip liner to keep the color intact and to pick the right shade for your complexion. I would keep the rest of my face pretty neutral to keep the focus on the lips.