I haven't always been into makeup. I'm sure I played with my mom's lipsticks and eyeshadows as a young child. But my first official dabble into makeup was when I was 13. My mom was getting ready for a dinner with our close family friends. As I watched her apply mascara, I asked if she could do it for me too. My mom is quite big on letting us learn for ourselves (#IndependentLadies !) so she just handed me the wand. Now, you shouldn't be sharing your makeup with others, especially mascara, BUT she is my mother--and that's that, haha. I promptly stuck in my eye and spent a good ten minutes tearing up and swearing off of makeup forever.
Fast forward four years later and I was facing my senior prom. My family was struggling to pay the bills so I couldn't ask my mom to let me go to prom, let alone get my hair and makeup done professionally. However, my sister convinced me that it would be a good experience (oh how wrong she was) and my mom agreed so I ended up purchasing my ticket--way too late to find an open spot in any close-by salons. Since the darn tickets were non-refundable, I decided to go all in and learn to do my own hair and makeup. I watched countless Youtube tutorials from panacea81 and bubzbeauty (just a few I can remember). Surprisingly, I had much better luck doing my hair than I did with my makeup. Once I perfected my hairstyle (inspired by Beige from this video), I decided to tackle my makeup. I settled for a sparkly purple eye to match my dress and didn't bother doing any foundation. Oh my gosh, that was such a mess haha. I would include a photo but I'm saving it for prom season...which is in a few weeks here in the States. I'm sure it's not as bad as I think but we are our own worst critics. But here's a photo from a celebration dinner around the time I was infatuated with sparkly shadow ALL over my eyes. Back then I would go out with just eyeshadow--no lips, blush, foundation, nada. Definitely was an eyeshadow girl. For this photo, I added a bit of eyeliner to my usual shimmery eye look and called it a day. This look would take me 3 minutes max. Ah, those were the days...
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| Did all of this eye makeup with a discontinued Estee Lauder Palette (rediscovery) |
Graduation snuck up on me but by then, I was much better with my eye makeup. Learning from my prom mistake, I kept everything simple and neutral. Thank goodness I did because graduating in the infamous Southern California summer heat would've melted even the toughest foundation and mascara with my relative inexperience. Surprisingly, I had no concealer on but I probably did have a powder foundation from Neutrogena (because that's what my mom used) on my face. Powder foundations were my first introduction to foundations and while I strayed from it in recent times, I'm curious to give it a try again. Luckily, no tears on my part so eye makeup stayed intact, haha.
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| Ignore my annoying brother's fist..this is the best photo of me facing the front. Gah. Brothers ruin everything T_T |
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| All about that nude lip and flushed cheeks |
Looking back at these photos now, I can totally see where I tried to erase my blemishes, especially on my nose and chin. I lied earlier. There's actually one photo that escaped the shoddy photoshop and it's the one where I have my headphones in. That was a particularly rough day, hence the ultra nude lip and strong wing. Totally distracted me as I rushed to finish up an essay, haha.
This period was also the height of my Kpop fandom days so I was all about mimicking my favorite group's look: 2NE1. Strong liner, shimmery inner corners and a nude lip. I tried my first bb cream, Skin79 Super Plus Hot Pink Beblesh Balm (buy). Still not sure what "beblesh" is supposed to mean but hey, it worked. It couldn't do anything to lessen the volcanoes on my face but it did cover the redness and angry, healing hyperpigmentation spots to a point that I felt comfortable in. I also used it as concealer and eye primer. Those were the days when all my makeup fit into a small pouch...
Miraculously, my skin cleared itself up beginning my sophomore year. I gained the confidence to wear makeup outside of my dorm. I scaled back the eyes and went for a bright lip. Red was actually my signature color back then. I layered two products to achieve my signature color: e.l.f. Studio Matte Lip Color in Rich Red (buy) as a base and L'Oreal Infallible Never Fail Lip Gloss in Rebel Red (buy) on top. It was super messy when I ate but the red color gave me so much confidence to strut my st00f. If I wanted a bit of variety, I went with a bright berry pink in the form of Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Lovesick (buy). At this point, I stuck to longwear formulas only so I scorned actual lip glosses and lipsticks. How the times have changed...
I started using full-on liquid foundations. Not that I needed it but I convinced myself that I needed it because all the popular Youtubers were using it. It was hard finding an exact color match for my skin but I did my best in the ghastly lighting of a local drugstore. Most days, I just haphazardly slapped it on because it was the thing to do. It wasn't until I was waiting for the elevator and happened to glance into a mirror that I realized, to my utter shock and horror, that my foundation was a couple shades too dark, making me look orange. With not enough time to go back and wipe it all off, I went about my day thinking about my oompaloompa self. Every glance from a stranger was interpreted as a judgement for the foundation mismatch. As soon as I got back to my dorm, I took everything off and went barefaced for a couple days as penance.
Once I gathered enough courage, and realized I didn't need all that coverage, I bought a concealer and used that in the areas I needed, namely my nose and chin. That proved to be a much better option for me until I realized that the concealer oxidized over time, gah. If you're like me, the drugstore has always been a place of frustration when it came to color matching. Back I went and got a lighter shade to mix the two together. Eventually, I got tired of mixing the two shades every day It wasn't an exact science; some days I mixed a bit too much of one or the other and it made the spots stick out more, against my better judgement. I went back to the bb cream and that worked out much better. Lesson #1: Don't fix what ain't broke, yo!
Abruptly, my skin did a complete 180°. I had already started my blog but I rarely showed my face. Part of it was due to my shyness. But as the year progressed, my skin went back to it's freshman freakout era. I went back to editing my photos to remove the pimples and my confidence took a dip. When the holidays came around, I got more panicky and desperate. I tried several different brands of face wash, scrubs, toners, etc. but everything was making it worse. Eventually, I only washed, toned and moisturized my face. Little did I know, the toner I was using then wasn't agreeing with my skin. Lesson #2: Check your ingredients! If you're skin is angry, red, and bumpy it's not a purging process; that's inflamed skin. I don't have many photos of that time because I didn't feel pretty. It may be vain of me to say so but one can only empathize when one has gone through it.
As the new year rolled around and I went back to school, I stumbled upon Paula's Choice. I was desperate and so I forked my money over and went back to the basics with the CLEAR Regular Strength Kit (review). I've repurchased the Exfoliant numerous times (another one is on it's way to me!), currently using the Cleanser (not the same bottle), and have just finished up the Treatment (and cracked open a new one, hehe). Seriously, I have never experienced better skin with any other combination of products. I know that everyone's skin is different but if you are at a loss, I'd say give Paula's Choice a try before going through with Accutane and the like. The full-sized kit is currently on sale for $47usd instead of $55usd and there's free shipping to the US and Canada with orders over $50usd. But if you'd rather try a trial size, you can gets yours for $13usd instead of $17usd. If you'd like to support me, please use my referral link here to order. I thank you in advance!
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| Photo from my Tarte Amazonian Colored Clay Liquid Foundation (review) |
Since then, my skin has never been better. I was even getting comments on how nice my skin was! That was such a big difference to how it used to be. There were still hormonal flare ups around that time of the month but I did get such huge and painful pimples that would stick around for weeks. With my strict regimen, any potential volcanoes were banished in 3-4 days.
Two years later, my skin is still doing great. Lately, I've been neglecting it immensely and my skin is reverting back to its pre-PC days. Life has just dealt me several harsh blows one after the other and my skin was the last thing on my mind. Now that life has calmed down with a few minor hiccups these days, I'm starting to touch my makeup and skin care again. I know that sounds so evasive and mysterious but I'm not ready to talk about it yet, so bear with me. As of this writing, I haven't decided whether or not I want to post a barefaced photo but I'll decide in the morning. :D
So from that 13-year old who swore off makeup in frustration to the 22-year old who has enough makeup to fill 4 large plastic bins, I've come a long way. Nothing is off limits these days, except for concealer nude lips and grey eyeshadow. But maybe one day, I'll find a way to make those work for me. Shall I say, challenge accepted? *winks*
It's also funny how I started off with bold colors and smokey eyes. Most people I know usually start off neutral and with lighter makeup. So it's ironic that now, my makeup is much more muted and natural. I mean, I still love doing my full-on makeup but I rarely ever go out with it now. I should probably break out those bright lipsticks and colorful eyeshadow over the weekend and experiment!
XOXO,
So from that 13-year old who swore off makeup in frustration to the 22-year old who has enough makeup to fill 4 large plastic bins, I've come a long way. Nothing is off limits these days, except for concealer nude lips and grey eyeshadow. But maybe one day, I'll find a way to make those work for me. Shall I say, challenge accepted? *winks*
It's also funny how I started off with bold colors and smokey eyes. Most people I know usually start off neutral and with lighter makeup. So it's ironic that now, my makeup is much more muted and natural. I mean, I still love doing my full-on makeup but I rarely ever go out with it now. I should probably break out those bright lipsticks and colorful eyeshadow over the weekend and experiment!
So what's your story? I'd love to hear it!
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