Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Beauty is Art...My Thoughts on Make Up

...this is not a lot, believe me!
Eversince I was little, I was really fascinated with all the beauty products I see on my mother's dresser that I try all of them when she's not around. Growing up, I experimented on my own and learned to love beauty and make-up all the more! I initially thought that imported beauty products would give the best quality and stuck to that idea for the longest time. Maybe because it looked sooo good for my foreign counterparts and they never seemed to have the slightest skin problems...or so I thought! Until I almost dreaded wearing make-up under the sun because of a stinging/itchy sensation, not to mention the not too natural finish it leaves on my face. So I stopped.
But my love for beauty and make-up never ceased. I still found myself buying face cream, facial scrub, tinted moisturizer, lipstick, lip gloss, etc, from time to time. I even became an apprentice for the make-up department of my school's theater org wherein I'd have to use my own make-up collection most of the time. I continued doing make-up for other people until I ran out of stuff and really stopped there. One thing led to another in my life and I really had to take vanity to the backseat. It was good timing that I met my uber supportive husband and got this new decent paying job, learned about mineral make-up, beauty blogs, forums and online stores. From there I learned a lot of things and continued to do my own solo research on some of them.
I learned that because the veins in my hands appear green, I have yellow undertone. And that if it were blue, I have pink undertone. Or an olive undertone if it were both blue and green. From this undertone information, one could get the perfect match of foundation or concealer. Now I understood why foundation from L'oreal or Maybelline doesn't seem natural enough because most don't match my undertone even though they might be the right shade.
I learned that water or mixing medium would make any eyeshadow pigment more vibrant. And a girl can make her own mixing medium by mixing 1 part glycerin with 3 parts water. However, it's an eyeshadow sealant that would make it stay for longer hours on your eyes or turn plain eyeshadow into eyeliner.
I learned that the best make-up primers are silicone based and that their purpose is to prevent oil from surfacing and mask the face like plastic so that make-up just sits on it. It also prevents eyeshadows from creasing.
I learned that make-up artists use highlighting and contouring to bring out the best in the faces of most models.
I learned that talc is a carcinogen and that a lot of cosmetic ingredients are actually toxic to the skin. And it's shocking that most of them can also be found in baby products!
I learned that there are several methods in applying make-up, especially eyeshadow. And that some of them don't apply on almond/Asian eyes.
I learned that one beauty enthusiast cannot have too many colors of eyeshadow, too many variants of lipstick and lip gloss, too many kinds of blusher and bronzer, too many types of concealer, foundation, and finishing powder, etc, but keep on coming back to one holy grail (HG) product for each of these areas.
I learned that there are a lot to putting on make-up than one's fingers and the sponge and brushes that came with each products. And that there more tools for every detail of the face than there are utensils for each person on a royal banquet.
I learned that make-up and cosmetology is an art, the face and body is the canvass, and the make-up collection is the pallette.
Well, with everything I learned, I got to appreciate looking good all the more. I understood that people just don't go out there making people beautiful on the outside with a whim, but with a flaming passion and strenuous learning process. I understood that if I have enough of it, I could already start my own career. But then again I'm just focusing on myself at the moment and enjoying every minute of it. The world's beauty would have to wait...

Love lots,


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