Friday Favorites, makeup edition

Happy Friday, friends!  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals, and her friends Erika and Narci, for this blog post.

I thought I'd do a different kind of post this week, one where I talk about one of my very favorite things- makeup.  Disclaimer, if you don't like to talk about makeup, you may want to move on now.

 I've had a few compliments on mine lately, and I thought I'd share what I do and what products I like to use.  Also, who doesn't love to talk about makeup every once in a while?  I know I do.  My dream job was one I had as a young married wife, and I worked at Merle Norman.  It was the most fun job I've had to date, and I loved playing in all the makeup and doing makeovers.  I was given the young girls who would come in, and I did makeovers on them for dances.  I've also loved makeup since I was very young.  My mom and sisters can attest to this.

I'll jump in and start with the fact that I don't like to spend a lot of money on makeup.  That being said, one thing I don't skimp on is foundation.  I have a mild case of rosacea and need something to cover up all the redness.  I used to use Clinique for this.  They have a foundation that comes in a green bottle and it was a very light coverage, but it took the redness away.  Then my niece began to sell LimeLife makeup, and she came to Memphis for my nephew's wedding and brought me the foundation and powder.  And I've used it almost exclusively ever since.  The foundation is high in color pigmentation, which just means that a very small amount goes a very long way.  It's also wax based, and that just means that the coverage is excellent and smooth, and I love that I can melt it down when I get low, and use every last drop.  Because it covers so well, the powder I use from them is translucent, and trust me, I don't miss having a powder that has color.  Their powder kind of sets the foundation, and I use very little.  (In one year, I'm still on the same powder.)

It comes in these little magnetic cases that snap closed easily, and the makeup sits in a tin that you can pop out and melt down on the stove top or a flat iron, if you have one.

To apply these, I use a beauty blender for the foundation and a kabuki brush for the powder.

That beauty blender is from the brand called Elf that you can buy at any drug store, and it cost about $2.  Some people spend major money on these, but I don't understand why.  They're all basically the same.  The kabuki brush for the powder is the short and squatty one you see.  I also use a good brush from Glo Minerals that someone gave me for blush, and I'm not sure where my eyeshadow brushes came from, but I'll come back to those in a few minutes.

Before I start with foundation, I start with this little jar of magic, because, hello mid-forties.

It's called Age Rewind, and it's by Maybelline.  I apply this all over the area under my eyes, and when I blend it in with that beauty blender, I use it as a base on my eyelids as well.  I go a little up my forehead with it to the area between my eyebrows, to the underside of my eyes, my eyelids and on my nose.  Then I do foundation, blush, and finally the powder to set it all.

I've used this brand of blush forever.  I always have two shades, one for fall and winter, and one for spring and summer.  When I suck in my cheeks and see that indentation, that's where I apply this.  I also do a little on my forehead, the top of my nose and the center of my chin.

After I do all that I use my kabuki brush again to blend it all, then I wipe part of it off with my hands.  I don't want it to look cakey.  (About that, when applying foundation, make sure you also apply it under your jawline and to the underside of your chin and back a little, towards your throat.  Blending is key, nobody likes to see a line of makeup.  Also, when picking a color, it's good to ere on the lighter side than one that may be too dark.  In LimeLife makeup, my foundation is called Olive 1.  In any other foundation, I'm a natural or neutral kind of girl and pick a shade close to the skin on top of my hand.  If in doubt, go lighter.  And my goodness, if you see a friend with a line in her makeup, tell her.  Someone I love had a very bad line recently, and I regret not telling her.

After all this, I start with eyeshadow, which is one of my favorite parts.

My first favorite kind is the black one by L'Oreal.  I use a little of all the colors, but my go to is always dark brown and a beige color.  I recently bought this other pallet by Maybelline, and I like it too, but it's kinda sparkly and I don't want to look that way every single day.  I start with a small eyeshadow brush, and I apply a dark brown to the lower half of my eyelid.  I kind of do this in rounded way, like a crescent moon with the arch part slightly mimicking the shape of my eyebrows.  I never get it too close to my inner eye, because if you go into that part, it looks like you have a black eye.  To the inner eye and top half of my eyelid, I use a beige color, and I blend it all slightly.  I like to see definition and if I'm going to the trouble of applying shadow to my eyes, then I want it to be noticeable.  I just make sure it's not too dark, and when I get out to my car in the daylight, I make sure it's not harsh.

After my eyes, I do my brows.  This is new to me, because I've never done them until just recently.  I make sure they're always plucked and neat, for one thing, and I make sure I never have any between my brows, because nobody likes to see a unibrow.  I bought some new brow makeup this week, from Ulta, and it's the Essence brand, which is super cheap.  One is a pencil with a brush on one end.  I make quick little upward movements where I don't have brows, filling in the gaps, and it makes it look like little hairs.  I brush them all to blend them as soon as I'm finished, and I use a brow gel to set them.  In two days, two people commented on my eyes, so I think it makes a difference.  Also, if you haven't already followed her on Instagram, go find Cassie Sugarplum.  She has a great little tab on eyebrows.  After that, I do eyeliner, and I also bought an eyeliner pen this week, and I love it.  It's so much smoother than a pencil, and there is no sharpening involved.  I always use dark brown for all of this, even my eyebrows, because I like for them to appear darker.

My last thing is mascara, and I always use black.  I heard someone say always go the darkest black you can buy, and I've stuck with that since I was younger.

In my humble opinion, can you beat this old fashioned pink and green tube?  Just go to the drug store and you'll find it.  It's very trusted and it never changes, so why mess up a good thing?

My final thing to do is to use my fingertips to rub off a little of all that I've applied.  I don't want to look overdone, and I don't think I ever look that way, or at least if I do, nobody has said anything.  Believe it or not, even though this all seems like a lot, it doesn't take my any longer than about seven minutes to do.  My eyes take the longest, and sometimes I have to just start over.  I put on lipstick before I leave, and I have several favorite kinds.  The one I'm currently using is LimeLife, a good fall color called Macaroon.  I also have a bright pink color called Cake Pop.  I love Revlon, too, and love just about every color I've ever tried.  Coffee is a good one for me, and I love their red color for December.  My newest favorite is the NYC brand, though.  I line all of my lips with a brownish pink color, then I apply a lighter nude shade on top.

Well, that was fun to write.  I hope you got something useful out of it all.  Before I turned 40, I didn't bother with makeup too much, but something about turning this age and my skin changing, and that all changed.  I change it all up in the summer and go a lot lighter with it all, but even when I'm going somewhere in the summer, I do this routine.  When my skin has color on it, I'm able to go lighter with all of this, and for some reason, the sun clears up a lot of the rosacea I have.  I'm not sure why, but it's true.  I also just kind of decided one day that I really like feeling put together, and makeup helps me feel that way.  I don't spend a lot of money, and everything I have lasts for a long time.  Makeup is one of my favorite things, and I have so much fun playing in it.

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.

Updated to add this P.S.: Here is what it all looked like on my face yesterday after I applied it all and left home.