I had some suggestions for a post the other day but I ended up busy and didn't get around to posting. The ideas that got my attention the most were the "how much is too much" and "how to not look too 80's"
I dance right on the line of too much makeup sometimes. Obviously I wear a lot of eye makeup. My personal guidelines are to judge the event I'm going to, the time of day and what I want to do with the rest of my face.
- Event- If it's a formal event I'll usually wear more makeup.
- Time of day- If it's daylight I'll either wear just a little eye makeup (just liner) or I'll do an all over color that's neutral or bright and sunny. In the evenings I'm more likely to do an all over shadow and use darker colors.
- The rest of my face- If I want to do a bright red lip then I'll use very little eye makeup. Maybe a neutral shadow and mascara.
These three things are what go through my head with every event. I'll break down some of my thought processes here.
Christmas Parade- I was recently in the Parkersburg Christmas Parade with my dance studio. So the event was a performance, essentially. It was during the day and I didn't want to wear lipstick (wanted to keep chap stick on because of the cold). So, I decided to go with an all over shadow of a bright color. I decided against matching our shirts and went with a christmas-y bright green. It was over the top for just going out during the day, but since it was a performance it didn't look ridiculous.
My sororities semi-formal- This was an evening event and a formal one. I wanted to do bright red lips to go with the vintage hollywood feel of my outfit. For my eyes I just put on some translucent power to soak up any oils then heavily applied mascara. Then I lined my lips and went through the process of applying the red lipstick (I'll do a post about that sometime, although I admit I'm not great at it yet). A bright red lip and basic eyes can also be worn easily during a daytime event. Red lips almost always work.
Thanksgiving dinner- I visited my family on Thanksgiving. It was an all day affair and by no means formal. I decided to go with a neutral look all over. I chose browns and coppers for my eyes and a coppery lipstick. This translated perfectly for my daytime meal and my slightly more formal meal in the evening.
After all this I would like to say one more thing. Being able to pull off some of the looks I do has to do with confidence. I can wear neon orange eye shadow because it's me. I'm confident I can wear it and look good, and so I do. If you're insecure in how you look then other people will pick up on it. Obviously not every look is for everyone so just being confident won't instantly make you look fantastic, but it certainly helps a lot.
One of the other suggestions I had was about buying makeup products as Christmas gifts. Personally, I would LOVE makeup as a gift but I love makeup. I would strongly consider who the gift is for first of all. Are they likely to take it the wrong way? Then I would consider their personal style. If the makeup you choose doesn't fit in with their style then it may come off as weird. I would avoid anti-aging/wrinkle products unless they are specifically asked for. No matter how well meaning that may come off as "you look old, here's something to help". The only makeup I've given as a gift is lip gloss. That's usually a pretty good bet. I was given
lip gloss I hadn't heard of before by a friend several years ago and it ended up being my favorite lip product ever. It helps my lips heal and be soft but it's also very pretty and tastes good so it's just a fun gift. It'd be hard to find it insulting.
