Blabbing About Makeup

First let me say that I admire all you ladies who take pictures of your eye makeup looks, because I tried to take one the other day and LOL. First off I am not yet comfortable with that level of macro and second of all, it turns out my makeup is just not all that interesting on camera.

A day or so after I tried that, I read Kerry's post about solving her wedding makeup dilemma. I too would be very wary about putting myself in the hands of an unknown makeup artist for an occasion where I would a) want to look my best; b) feel comfortable and confident; and c) be photographed a lot. And therein lies the problem, because there is a great, yawning ocean of difference between what looks good to the eye and what looks good in a picture.

Back in my Fancy Job days I had a professional head shot taken, and I was excited that hair and makeup would be part of the deal. The pictures turned out all right, but when I got home after the photo session I was horrified by the way my face looked in the ordinary lighting of my bathroom mirror: tire treads of blush, cakey powder, white circles under my eyes and lips that looked like giant slabs of liver. The best part? I had gone out in public like that. Thank goodness it was at night.

I've gone through no-makeup periods, where I got by without anything other than mascara and some lipstick. I essentially gave up on foundation until I discovered mineral makeup, and I've stuck with that ever since. I'm also back to doing full eye makeup most days - to be completely honest, it makes me look more awake. I have to be careful, though, because I'm not overly skilled at application. I've found the most important thing is to change things up every now and then - to switch out the products I'm using as I...uh, age, and to keep the colors, finishes and application of the products from looking dated.

Last year I realized that a lot of my makeup was indeed dated and didn't really work well together. Luckily, I read enough nail polish and beauty blogs that it was hard to avoid learning about new products, and so it came to pass that I purchased the Urban Decay Naked palette at some point last fall. It was an almost shocking amount for me to spend on eye makeup after years of chucking Revlon quads and singles in my basket at Walgreens, but it's been 150% worth it and I would absolutely buy it again. (Except that now it's $4 more than it was when I bought it, and it comes with an applicator brush instead of two UD 24/7 eyeliners. I find this annoying because UD eyeliners are the best, and I can get a brush any old place.)

I took some quick snapshots of my stuff, they're pretty terrible but you'll get the idea.

The Naked palette is perfect for you if you ever resisted a palette because there were shadows in it you could never imagine wearing. For instance, I got the UD Preen palette on sale, and I love it - particularly Mildew (the kind of camo green) and Flash (the purple) - but check out that blue.

I've worn it before and it's super fun, but...I'm never going to wear it to work or whatever, it's just too Cherie Currie. But I can wear all the colors in the Naked palette. If I'm going somewhere overnight I pack the palette and a mascara and I'm all set for eyes.

Reading makeup and beauty blogs also introduced me to eyeshadow primer. I use UD's - a sample size came with the Naked palette and I've since bought the full size.

I can really tell the difference when I forget to put this on - my eyeshadow doesn't fall off in clumps or anything but it does fade and lose its "pop" much more quickly. The primer helps it to stay looking freshly applied longer.

Lastly, I mentioned that I love love love looooove UD's 24/7 eyeliners. They are seriously the best.

My favorite is 1999. I have the travel size and I know I'll eventually buy the big-girl size, too. I'm also a big fan of the Whiskey liner that came with the Naked palette. My main issue with eyeliner was that it would end up halfway down my face by mid-morning. Because I do not enjoy looking hungover at work, I ended up wiping it away several times a day, which of course is a huge pain; plus it wipes away all the concealer and anything else I took the trouble to apply. But UD's eyeliners stay put all day and they go on super easy. No scraping or pulling.

I tell you all this because UD's friends and family sale is coming up, so if you think you might want to try anything you should sign up for their email newsletter and get the sale code. (I am just passing this along because I truly love the products...and because I love sales.)

Do you have a favorite UD product?