Must-haves that also fit in your college-budget!!
The weather is cooling down, fashion is changing from summer styles, and makeup is changing as well.
Here are my essentials for the next three months (starting with the basics and getting more into it further down depending on how far you wanna go with your face that day)!
1. BROWS
So for me, as a female of Asian descent, I lack body hair in general, which includes my brows. To counter this, all I do is get a brow pencil and fill those suckers in. There are MANY expensive brow products nowadays, thanks to brows becoming popular the past two years, but as long as you get a pencil with a spoolie on the end, you don’t even have to buy a brush!
Suggestion for college wallet: e.l.f. Instant Lift Brow Pencil or Colourpop Brow Pencil
Honestly, regardless of how you do your brows (some people are blessed with lovely luscious brows already), once you’re done with them, you could just head out the door, ready for the day. But if you wanna get a lil more jazzed up, keep reading (I love playing with makeup).
2. CONCEALER
Fall is here now, and my dark circles are just here year-round, so this is my newest discovery that I personally love. And I have heard of many amazing expensive products, but Almay Smart Shade Concealer is my FAVORITE because I am terrible at matching shades or finding the perfect concealer to make me look alive.
If you get swatched by a professional though, and they have a recommendation for you, splurging on concealer is definitely reasonable since you are putting this on your skin, so it may be worth getting something that matches completely and works wonders!
So after brows and concealer, you could definitely walk out of your house too, there’s really no standard that you have to match up to, but I need to use up the massive amounts of makeup that I have purchased so I move on.
3. LINER
This is an optional and easy way to look sharp. Put on eyeliner and you can almost trick everyone the you have your life together! (Everyone but yourself.)
The type of liner you use depends on your skill level. If you are not-hand-shaky, then you can give liquid eyeliner a try. You can achieve the sharpest wing possible with liquid. If you are struggling a little, try gel liner, it is easier, but the wing is less sharp. If you are figuring out the shape of your eye (there are many types, even though tutorials usually have one type), give pencil a try! Achieving a sharp wing is very unlikely. If you just don’t care about having a wing, just wanna make that eyelash line pop out more, try using a powder and lining your lids with it!! It is probably the easiest application, but requires a tiny brush and powder.
There are thousands of choices in drugstores and beauty aisles everywhere, so choose what type of liner you are aiming for and then look at price. Leaving some fun colors with Colourpop here though. Try a dark brown, plum, navy, or forest green if you’re feeling something besides just black.
4. SHADOWS
This is a higher level of effort, and obviously you would put this on before eyeliner, but yes, fall time is fun time.
For a bit of shine, try some copper on those lids.
If you’re feeling more neutral, go for a more burnt brick tone, terracotta shade, or a simple tan with some mocha.
For more drama, check out the shades of plum. Plum has been in since I started noticing trends, but it is not going away.
Use some gold-tones (and gold-tones are essentially year-round) as your lighter shades. For my friends who are experimenting with shadow, find a color that you can just smear all over your lids and kinda blend away and work from there. I like to start out with a sparkly champagne and then add some tan on the outer corners. For extra oompf, I’d put some mocha around the edges of my eyes. Always start out small, blend, and add more if necessary. Messing up with eye shadow and starting over is no fun.
I just really LOVE Colourpop and their eyeshadows, they have a lot of variety, and give you lots of product for the price.
5. LIP STUFF
If you’re looking for something besides lip balm, I got you. As I said, I love Colourpop and their lip colors and formulas are AMAZING.
Besides a vampy red/plum color on the lips, it’s a great time to try out a dusty rose (also great for year-round so never outta style). Also since I’m talking about Colourpop, I have been dying to get one of their metallic liquid lipsticks, they look amazing.
Colourpop has liquid lipsticks, twisty lip sticks, and multiple types of finish (matte, sheer, satin, gloss, metallic, etc.). I’d say if you’re just trying out lip formulas, their lip sticks are easier to use, but if you mess up, it’s a little harder to correct right away. The liquid lip stuff is harder to do but easier to clean if you slip a tiny bit and catch it right away.
What’s also great about Colourpop besides affordability and variety, is that they usually swatch on 3 arms if they have swatch samples so you can estimate how the shade will look on you!
6. FACE STUFF
Easy. Highlight/contour/blush. Blush is self explanatory, right? Just put it on your apples of your cheeks and swipe towards your hairline.
Highlight: you can use eyeshadow sometimes! Multi-functional life. Pop on your cheek bones, nose bridge or tip of nose, and cupid’s bow. Modify to the shape of your skull/face. Makeup is essentially just enhancing your features and having fun with it, yo.
Contour: so many products devoted to contour now thanks to the rising trend. Contour sticks are the cheapest. Just draw on and then blend in with fingers. I prefer a powder so I can build it up, but it also requires a brush, which you could buy from e.l.f. cosmetics (does the job) or just stick with a stick.
I really love Colourpop especially because they have free shipping at $30 (yay)! Also everything is a great quality so 10/10 recommend.
*****Not sponsored by Colourpop or Target or anyone (I wish) just personal opinions****