Happy lunar new year! Well, it's actually day 4 into the holidays, but it's technically supposed to last 15 days. Anyway, the past week has literally been me contemplating why I wore high waisted jeans to a feast while I meet relatives I've probably met once in my life. For some reason, we're doing a lot of extended family greetings this year. While it's nice to get unlimited food and snacks every time we pop into another relative's home, it's quite a shocker when I find out I'm aunt to my 40 year old 'nephew' and I will actually have a 'grand niece' in a couple months. I know, I'm still wrapping my head around this as well.
As the days that require me slapping makeup on my face equal days of socialising and gluttony, I've mostly been opting for an easy and quick makeup look that uses the most simple products. The general aim of the look was to look natural and not like I was trying to hard, mostly to avoid drawing attention to myself so I'll be able to sit in the corner and munch on cookies in peace.
Oh right, before we get into the meat of the post - WARNING HUGE FACE PHOTO COMING UP. I've still to get my shit together and get the batteries needed for my camera remote. I'm also lacking the airy-ness background that I once had, so we'll see how well this current setup goes down. But in the meantime, I've warned you about the ridiculous close up of my face that's just so slightly out of focus. Okay, maybe more than slightly.
The sun has been blazing the past week and I've opted for a base that not only is quick to use, light on the skin, has SPF, looks natural and is also light enough to match my skintone now. The innisfree Water Glow Cushion Foundation ticks all the boxes. There's also a natural glow to this base and doesn't even require powdering to set the base. But I still dot the NARS Copacabana Illuminator on the tops of my cheekbones to create an even more luminous look.
I've collected a fair amount of gluttony-induced spots on my chin that aren't able to be covered by the cushion foundation. So I go in straight with the Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer before blending it out with my fingers using small patting motions. As I've been quite lazy to pick up another concealer these days, I also use the tiniest amount of this concealer under my eyes. I blend this in, again, using my fingers and small pressing motions. It's not the most brightening concealer, but it covers up the shadows and won't budge all day. I use a brightening powder - either the Bobbi Brown Brightening Finishing Powder or the Bourjois Java Rice Powder - to set the areas I've used concealer, but leave most of my face bare. I've been using just the tiniest bit of Tarte Exposed to add some colour to my complexion while doing some slight sculpting. Just to take away a bit of my hamster cheeks.
Brows are probably the most important part of my makeup routine. I've gone back to using the Anastasia Brow Wiz the last couple weeks and I've forgotten how much I love this skinny pencil. It disposes a lot more colour than my previous Etude House Drawing Brow Pencil, but it's easy to manipulate as the nib is ridiculously skinny. I especially like using this when I'm filling in the front of my right brow - we all know that one eyebrow that refuses to cooperate. I use the L'Oreal Brow Artist Plumper to set my brows and keep the hairs in place.
The eye makeup is kept simple with a thin line of brown eyeliner and lashings of mascara to open up 'the windows of the soul'. MAC Stubborn Brown has been my weapon of choice of lately, mostly because it's the one that I threw into my makeup bag. It's a really good basic brown eyeliner that's been a staple in my makeup bag for years. As for mascara, I've been using my sample size of the YSL Babydoll Mascara and I'm hating myself for it. It's such a flippin' good mascara???? I hate that I've fallen in love with this one as I know that I'm never going to be able to bring myself to spend that much money on a mascara. I should just vow to never try samples of high end mascaras again.
Last but not least, most days have been just a slick of lip balm. But if I know that I'm meeting a relative I've literally never met before, I still throw on MAC Faux to perk up my complexion just a bit more. It lasts quite well through a meal, and even if it wears off unevenly, it's still close enough to my natural lip colour so I don't need to keep checking my lipstick in every reflection I come across.
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