why you ask? (or maybe you didn't). because i promise you all i had on was eyeliner and clear mascara. other than the possibility that paper source beverly hills has the most flattering light ever, the only thing i can figure is: that clarisonic mia is worth every penny i paid for it.
since mom was in town i took friday off of work and decided if my brain was gonna be off, so was my make up. hurray for naked day! usually i reserve sundays as the day of rest for my skin and only venture out of my apt to walk to tj's. friday i decided it was just me, mom and some sales people so why not go it naked a few days early. here's the result in case you missed it, no filter :)
friday morning face literally went like this:
1. cover face in facial cleanser & scrub with mia
2. eye cream, face serum, day cream
3. eyeshadow base (neutral color)
4. eye liner
5. clear mascara
6. clear sugar lip
here's how my morning usually goes:
1. shower / wash face (no mia)
2. eye cream, face serum, day cream
3. face primer
4. eye shadow base
5. tinted moisturizer
6. eye shadow (4 colors)
7. setting powder
8. mascara
9. blush
10. eyeliner
11. bronzer
12. clear sugar lip
so on a normal day i take 12 steps and the reaction "you don't really wear much make-up" and on naked day with half the steps the goddess kiki (and a few others) declared "you're make-up looks great!" color me confused (ha, b/c there's not color).
so i've made the decision to stop with the face paint. honestly, it's such a pain. it gets on you clothes, someone elses clothes when you hug/snuggle, on the office phone, cell phone and by the end of the day it's pretty much gone, no matter how good the primer. so, once this last little bit of tinted moisturizer is gone, i'm done. freedom!!!
my fav beauty blog is into the gloss. it's mainly just about beauty: cleaners, moisturizers, treatments, etc. there's very little about actual make up and when there is, it's all "less is more." nearly every week there's a series called "top shelf" where the editor interviews models, designers, actors, basically anyone "in the business" to find out their routine and favorite products. so, rounding the turn into 32 (agh!), it's all about making my actual skin look good.
that's the battle plan, now meet the troops:
clarisonic mia - seriously, spend the money, it's amazing!
cetaphil daily facial cleanser - i've been using this since high school and it's awesome. i was surprised how many people had it in their "top shelf"
bioderma crealine - sounds really technical but it's not. i use this to take my make-up off every night. btw: read an article the other day where a woman went a month w/o taking her make-up off before bed and it aged her skin like 10 years. not irreparable damage, but definitely enough to scare you into not passing out full faced.
no 7 protect & correct intense kit - i started using this line after reading in the daily mail uk that it actually works. science proved it and everything. it's available at ulta ($3.50 off, woot!) and tho the kit comes with the pump serum, i find the tube version to be easier to get all the product out.
no 7 protect & correct eye cream - right now i'm using a cream sample i got from birchbox ($95?!) but it doesn't work as well as this cream. i'll go back to it when i'm all out. i have smile lines and it totally smooths them out a bit.
multi-protect primer - i read about this on into the gloss and started using it when i ran out of my lm brand. it works really well to keep the make-up lasting longer but by itself it's amazing. it absorbs fast and balances out the skin tone so you don't really need the foundation, just a spot concealer here and there.
lm eye basics - i got this in an eye kit with the eye liner below. it's great as a base for eyeshadow but i also wear the wheat color it by itself and it brightens my eyes. i still have allergies so my eye lids get irritated and red, this stuff is my savior!
lm tightline cake eye liner - i mean, it has "cake" in the name, what's not to love. i have super thick, long, dark lashes on the top and bottom (poor me, right?**). i've found that lining my lower inner rim looks better than under the lashes. this eye liner is activated with water, goes on smooth and doesn't budge. none of that bleeding down my face to make dark circles. i go back and forth between lining just the top with this and bobbi brown cream liner, but this is hands down my fav.
clear mascara - i'll put on some brown or black if i'm going for drinks or somewhere special, but this is my everyday. it makes the lashes shiny so it looks like i'm wearing colored. it also hold the curl from the lash curler.
sugar lip - while i also try and remember to use their lip scrub once a week, i use this every day as i'm going to work and keep it in my purse when i'm out.
other lip - i know the word ointment kind of make you gag, but this is worth getting used to. i keep a jar on my desk and tubes stashed all over my apt and car. it's prob in every make-up persons kit and even drew barrymore raves about it. it's got a lot of uses but in the winter or a dry office, it's the new best friend.
i feel like that sounds like a lot but, i'd honestly rather spend the over time taking care of my skin rather than trying to cover it up. i'll still fall back on my lm tinted moisturizer when i need to, but i'm hoping the whole "less is more" thing works out.
** so here's my side story about my bitchin' lashes. when i was in 8th grade and did theatre my long lashes were not in proportion to my size, they looked super big. i actually had a judge in a theatre competition tell me to wear less mascara. i told him i wasn't wearing any, i'm not sure he believed me.
