Makeup Discussion #1

Hi again! Long time, no post. D:

I wanted to talk about makeup today, as a spinoff from this post where I used a nude lipstick to set off the outfit.

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I've been into nude lipstick for a couple of years now. I got my first one, Honey Love, from MAC on a visit to France, and was given this advice: if you are going with a nude lip, make your eye makeup heavier so that you don't look washed-out. The nude colour draws attention away from your lips (as opposed to a dark wine colour, which stands out a lot more), so you need to emphasise another part of your face. 

It was good advice - I was doing 40's-style makeup at the time, which is a very pared-down look due to rationing of cosmetics at the time. Nowadays, that's my "really can't be bothered today" look, and the best thing I ever learnt to do was tightlining. It really does finish off a look, and then you can just add mascara and be ready in 5 minutes.

I picked up a lot more nude shades when I lived in Germany, but I can't get the same brands over here in France. I was a big fan of Essence, Catrice and P2 Cosmetics - they were cheap and cheerful (lipstick would cost about €3, nail polishes for €2, and so on) and I really liked going to DrogerieMarkt or Rossmann (something like CVS in America) and testing out all the colours, comparing brands and finding products that work. 

I still swear by the Catrice highlighter pen, the P2 gel kajal eyeliner and Essence eyeshadows. Catrice and P2 also make excellent eyeshadow: I got two absolutely perfect brown shadows from Catrice, and the primer/shadow combo from P2 works like a charm. If I use that, I don't need a cream primer underneath, and nothing smudges or smears itself on my eyelids (others with greasy eyelids know exactly what I'm talking about). I've tried a few cream primers, but I always come back to MAC's Prep and Prime. It's one of the few products for which I won't bother looking for a cheap duplicate, because the more expensive one just works so well.

There is a major difference that I've noticed between France and Germany: German women wear a LOT of makeup. Foundation, contour, brow pencil, lipstick and lip gloss (often frosted pink, since Germany seems to be perpetually stuck in the 90's), blush, bronzer - the works. 

French women, on the other hand, seem to wear a lot less of it, but when they do, they use high-end stuff. The look that I've seen most often here is the "lipstick + mascara = done" formula - it doesn't seem to be fashionable to look like you made an effort to look good. Rather, it should look like you rolled out of bed well-dressed and fresh-faced. I can probably count on one hand the number of people I've seen wearing a full face of makeup, and they stand out a lot more here than in Germany or the UK. 

To be fair, most of these women work at Sephora or Nocibé, so it's their job to showcase the products. Marionnaud salespeople, interestingly, seem to favour the "basic" look, but they sell slightly more high-end cosmetics than the other two stores (lots of Guerlain and Chanel, for example).

I'm going to be honest here: I really prefer the look of heavy makeup. I like the way that you can sculpt your face into a different one by just highlighting one part of it and shading another. I like heavy eyeliner and appreciate a perfectly-drawn cat-eye (I rarely achieve it myself, but those who consistently do are awe-inspiring). Heavy contouring and highlighting seems to be an "American" look (though it's also popular in the UK, particularly in the north), probably because the Kardashian sisters have been all over it these past years. Regardless of what you think of them as celebrities or people, Kim's face is sculpted to perfection. It's crazy.