Makeup Newb- tell me what I need

[orchideous]

As if the title didn't give it away... I am totally new to makeup. Help!

Currently I wear some drugstore brand of whipped foundation (under eyes only), Mary Kay mineral powder (all over), clear gloss, and some drugstore mascara.

My skin is even aside from slight dark circle under my eyes. I have dark well-groomed and highly defined eyebrows, medium brown hair, and light blue eyes. I'm looking for something that's still natural but I definitely want to step it up. I'm willing to add a pic if that will help.

I need to know EVERYTHING: items, colors, brushes. From what I've read I think I need to get a palette (UD Naked?) but I don't know what else I'll need or where to get started.

Thank you!

[mrs.spunky]

How dark/light is your skin?
Do you have cool or warm undertones?
Do you like or want to wear blush or bronzer?
A lot of people like the Naked Palette but it is not the only palette out there. Personally, I like the Naked 2 palette more than the original b/c I feel the colors more suit my cool undertones. A lot of people like the Too Faced and Tarte palettes, like www.sephora.com/natural-eye-neutral-eye-shadow-collection-P241303?skuId=1189224, www.sephora.com/femme-naturale-eye-palette-P242808?skuId=1180090, maybe www.sephora.com/photo-op-eye-enhancing-palette-blue-eyes-P292405?skuId=1349653 or www.sephora.com/in-the-light-palette-P291218?skuId=1346667

As far as how to apply it, there are great demonstrations on youtube. The most popular as far as I know is www.youtube.com/user/MakeupByTiffanyD

[mrst2]

I just started wearing makeup this year so I've been building my collection a lot over the last few months.

A good blush/bronzer combo is this one from Nars in the Orgasm/Laguna combo.
www.sephora.com/highlighting-bronzing-blush-duo-P104006

I'm a big fan of UD shadows- I've bought 3 of their palettes and I love their eyeshadow primer potion. There are other eyeshadow primers that work well too. I agree that TiffanyD is great. I watch a lot of her videos when I'm trying to figure something out. She even has a video on her favorite makeup brushes.

When I was looking for a blush brush I found this and after reading the replies went with the ecotools blush brush because it's cheap and well liked.

www.temptalia.com/the-hit-list-best-blush-brush

I got mine on Amazon. After that I ended up buying the ecotools bronzer brush, and powder brush. For eye brushes I just bought some from sigma since they seemed to be well liked.

[Deleted]

I use the Sigma travel brush kit everyday and love it. I do have one additional crease brush for eyeshadow that I use regularly. I highly recommend Sigma brushes.

I would suggest using the following on a daily basis: Tinted moisturizer or BB cream all over face, eyeshadow and mascara, blush, your MK mineral powder, and lipstick.

I would get one of three eyeshadow palettes to play with: a Naked Palette, TheBalm Nude Tude (my favorite), or Too Faced Naked Eye. All three (well, four since there are two Naked palettes) have great, neutral colors. I love the Nude Tude palette because I feel it has a little more color variation than the Naked palettes. The Too Faced palette is good for a newbie because it comes with little cards showing you what colors you can use together and a diagram of where to put them on the eye.

Get a shadow primer to put under your eyeshadow. I use Too Faced Shadow Insurance. Another popular one is UD Primer Potion.

My favorite mascaras are actually drugstore - Maybelline The Falsies and Maybelline Full n Soft.

I would suggest a tinted moisturizer or a BB cream rather than a foundation to use all over your face. I love Clinique's BB cream. A nice drugstore tinted moisturizer is Physician's Formula Healthy Wear, although the lightest shade is often too dark for people with very fair skin (including me). People rave about Laura Mercier's tinted moisturizer, but I've never tried it. I use my fingers to apply foundation/TM/BB, but you can also use a foundation brush.

For your cheeks, the Tarte Amazonian Clay blushes are very popular. I have it in Dollface, but I am very fair with cool undertones. NARS Orgasm is a very popular blush that is pretty universally flattering.

I highly recommend the Revlon Lip Butters for lipstick.

[orchideous]

Thank you soooo much for all of the suggestions.

I *think* I have warm undertones. I did a few goofy online quizzes and asked a friend. I have pretty light skin. In my powder I wear Ivory 1 in the winter and Ivory 2 if /when I get a tan.

I've got a few other questions:
What is BB Cream? Even after googling I'm kind of confused. Would I use it just on problem areas for coverage or all over for the moisturizer? I'm intrigued. This is the first I've ever heard of it.
Do you ladies do touch ups during the day or just put makeup on in the morning and leave it? I don't do touch ups with what I wear now.
I can't wait to get some things. Would a place like sephora Have all of these things at the store or I should order online?

[orchideous]

Holy fuck these brushes are expensive!
Maybe I'll just get the eyes kits to begin with?

[Deleted]

Yeah, brushes are expensive. That is why I use the Sigma travel kit. It's less expensive, but the brushes are just as good as the full size. The only difference is that they aren't as long. I really love them.
www.amazon.com/Sigma-Beauty-Premium-Travel-Kit/dp/B0044N70IY

BB cream provides coverage and is used all over the face. Some people use foundation on top, but most use it instead of foundation. It provides more coverage than tinted moisturizer, in my opinion. It also has skin healthy inredients. It seems that the most popular one over on the S&B board is Dr Jart. I know that you can order samples on ebay so you can try several different brands and decide what you like before buying full size.

The only thing I touch up during the day is lipstick.

Sephora probably carries everything you need. However, they don't cary MAC or TheBalm (which has the NudeTude palette). You can play around with testers and try things out if you go to Sephora in person, but I hate in person shopping and buy everything from their website.

Have fun!

[Deleted]

Also, in case you aren't familiar with it, www.makeupalley.com is an awesome website where you can read reviews of all kinds of beauty products. I check the reviews there before I buy anything without trying it first.

[mrs.spunky]

Jun 21, 2012 4:58:49 GMT -5 orchideous said:

Thank you soooo much for all of the suggestions.

I *think* I have warm undertones. I did a few goofy online quizzes and asked a friend. I have pretty light skin. In my powder I wear Ivory 1 in the winter and Ivory 2 if /when I get a tan.

I've got a few other questions:
What is BB Cream? Even after googling I'm kind of confused. Would I use it just on problem areas for coverage or all over for the moisturizer? I'm intrigued. This is the first I've ever heard of it.
Do you ladies do touch ups during the day or just put makeup on in the morning and leave it? I don't do touch ups with what I wear now.
I can't wait to get some things. Would a place like sephora Have all of these things at the store or I should order online?

BB Cream is like a tinted moisturizer/primer/sunscreen all in one product.
I don't do any touch ups.
A lot of the products are available in-store at Sephora.