5 Products for All-Day Makeup

Hello hello! I recently had a great question and decided to just turn my answer into a blog post (I promise I read all your emails and comments!). As you may recall, I'm usually out of my house around 9 in the morning and I don't get back until at least after 5, but now that I have meetings to go to sometimes I'm gone from home all day. That means that I have to put a little effort into my makeup choices to make sure that I'm not showing up to my evening meetings looking like a hot mess. Even if you don't work after class, you can still use a few of these tips for special occasions like internship interviews.

Related: Internship Interview Prep

Moisturizer 

This is a tip that my dermatologist gave me back in high school! If you don't start out your makeup routine with moisturizer then your skin might have an issue with your makeup and everything will start to fall apart from there. If you have dry skin and skip moisturizer, your foundation can dry out your skin and then it can get to be itchy and cakey. If you have oily skin and skip moisturizer, your face may actually go into oil overdrive and produce even more oil thinking that your face is dried out, so this is kinda fighting fire with fire. My derm swears by Cetaphil so that's what I've been using every day for the past like decade. I get the one with a little SPF built in because I'd like to avoid cancer thankyouverymuch.

Primer

So I used to think that since I was using moisturizer I wouldn't need primer, until I got my makeup done once and I mentioned how I don't use primer and the girl looked at me as if I said I didn't wear deodorant haha. As you can imagine, now I wear primer too. Last year I was checking out at Sephora and saw a little travel size of the Smashbox color correcting primer and decided to try it out since I've heard a lot about it and I loved it! I felt like my foundation went on so much smoother and it stayed on longer. When that ran out, I decided to just get the Smashbox photo finish primer since I don't really have a problem with redness in my skin so the color correcting wasn't necessary for me. 

On another level, I can't recommend eyelid primer enough! It makes your eyeshadow pop because it brightens your eyelid underneath and evens out the colors from veins on your eyelid. Since I started using it, my eyeshadow is so much smoother and it doesn't crease anymore. And it really helps your eyeshadow last all day without rubbing off after lunch. This plus makeup setting spray will keep your makeup looking the same at 8pm as it did at 8am.

Foundation

Nothing against "drugstore makeup," but I've found that you really do get what you pay for when going to more "professional makeup." I've been using Makeup Forever for a few years now and have noticed that it doesn't rub off as much as when I used a $10 foundation. It's definitely worth it to go in to Sephora and have them help you pick a shade because when I first tried to pick it myself apparently I didn't match my undertones and ended up with a shade that made me look sickly. One of my friends uses Kat Von D and really likes it, if you want to go with a slightly cheaper option. 

Lip Stains

When I was growing up, lip stains were only used for pageants and proms and lipsticks were more of the everyday makeup item. But thanks to Instagram, obviously lip stains are like the shit now. I personally prefer them because I hate how lipsticks will wear off and just leave a lip liner-like ring around my lips as if it's the 90's or something. One thing I have noticed is that they can sometimes dry out your lips so it'll really help if you put on lip balm before the lip stain. And if you lips are dry after you've already put on a lip stain, using a balm on it might make it have a sticky, tacky feeling so I just kiss a napkin and that usually helps. I know it sounds like too much thought, but I really think lip stains are so worth it since they last so much longer than regular lipstick. My absolute favorite is Kylie in Mary Jo K for a perfect red (if you like Mac's Ruby Woo, you'll like this). I know Kylie lip stains sound expensive but if you can get by without the lip liner then you can just get the lipstick and not the lip kit and save like $12! Another one of my favorites is Clueless by ColourPop because it's the perfect neutral color and is pretty cheap. One of my friends also wears Jeffree Star and she loves it. 

Setting Powder and Spray

To be honest with y'all, if I have no plans for after work then I skip the setting powder step just to save time. But on the days where I have a meeting at 6 and want to still look presentable, I'll use this. I love Jaclyn Hill videos but one time I tried using as much powder that she did to "bake" my face and I looked like I had really weird tan lines because it was just too white for me. So if you're a novice makeup user like myself then here's what you can do. Instead of using a beauty blender and packing that on, use a really big fluffy brush and you'll get a lot less powder. It probably doesn't work as well as baking but the setting powder really does help! I use the It Cosmetics setting powder and really like it. It's also nice to have on before you do your eyes so that if you accidentally get mascara smudged you can take that off without ruining everyone.

If I had to pick just one thing off this list and say get this it would be setting spray. One of my coworkers when I was in college introduced me to Urban Decay setting spray and this stuff is life changing! If you have the problem of your makeup coming off on your phone after a call then you'll love this. If you really need your makeup to last all day, spray this on your brushes right before you apply eyeshadow and blush and it will really stay put. Just a little tip though, wait a few seconds after spraying it before you use the wet brush so you don't get too much eyeshadow caked on. But this with a moisturized face, primer, quality foundation, and setting powder has been enough that I could workout in the evenings and still have my makeup last. 

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