I Spy an Ad I Like...So Is It the Real Deal?

This morning I really needed some inspiration to get my engine on Sunday going. I've needed extra sleep to let my muscles heal after mani/pedis all week and thus slept too long for my brain to wake back up after my muscles relaxed! While browsing some makeup blogs, I saw an ad for 5-step flawless makeup from CoverGirl. Out of curiosity as much as amusement, I clicked to find out at least what 5-steps need to be taken....or so they claim.

Mascara, lipcolor, foundation, eyeshadow, and eyeliner is apparently all it takes to have a very pieced together look from CG, which I do actually agree with; I just need to inform you that 5 is no magic number. Most people, including men, can get by wearing lip balm and only lip balm on their lips since the biggest no-no in lips is distracting the person looking at you with cracked, dry-looking, and flaky skin--period. THIS drives me nuts!

Other than the lipcolor, the 4-step program is a very good base, but could be reduced one more step to ensure you are not wasting valuable minutes in the morning for a basic beauty routine. Eyeshadow is a beauty basic but, in terms of a beginner or super-simple program, not necessary. Your eyelids have a natural gradient that should work just fine in your favor, and one of the other steps solves the biggest eye "problem" of most women (and men), foundation will help with under-eye circles or darkness. Some people don't think foundation is a good option for this, and indeed, I am writing this under the assumption that you can choose to wear foundation OR concealer to even out skin tone or hide imperfections. To my basic-beauty knowledge, these two are interchangeable and can easily replace one another. Certainly, concealer can hide under-eye darkness and brighten your whole eye area without using eyeshadow to low-light or contour.

So, as we are down to 3 steps, I have another bone to pick with the 5-step lineup--is eyeliner absolutely necessary? Mascara, foundation/concealer, and eyeliner; that is indeed a decent, and super-simple regimen for the morning, so why bother with anything different? Well, I will have to separate the 3-step makeup process into two categories: normal skin and oily skin. For normal skin, go ahead and do mascara, foundation/concealer, and eyeliner.  But for oily skin, I have to at least suggest using mascara, foundation/concealer, and powder.

For the oily-skinned among us, there is nothing more personally distracting than when you feel like you need to wash your face even though you just did or you shouldn't have to yet. To get through a whole day feeling like your makeup isn't failing you, powder is a good matte start to the day and blotting or reapplying a touch of powder is the maintenance. For some, the foundation/concealer step is a powder, and of course, if this works for you, feel free to add on eyeliner or anything you like. However, a lot of the best coverage concealers are not powder formulas and should be set in place with a dusting of powder.

All in all, I'm not saying I disagree with CoverGirl's choice of 5-step makeup, I just think it needed an elaboration on how normal folk who don't want to buy 5 new products may need to think about what their skin and features need in order to be fool-proof and fabulous in about 5 minutes...because, ya know, we need the other 20 minutes in the morning for our hair...right?

Cleaning Up A Cluttered Look

In Cosmeticsland, a whole lot of people preach that "less is more" when most are actually putting more and more onto their faces and bodies hoping that "more will LOOK LIKE less." However, it next-to-never looks like less, and indeed, makes people look rather scary. I bring up this topic first in the whole of this blog because I started my makeup ritual many years ago with BareMinerals and never considered any other on-the-face products; I started wearing this makeup in college, loved it in Los Angeles weather (oily skin and all), but now, out of college and in the mid-west, I needed more fluid options.

It's snowing outside right now, and that makes me happy that I have found a few good liquid and cream foundations, a cream concealer, and most importantly, a finishing powder that  doesn't suck the moisture from my poor pores and doesn't cake up when oil sprouts at the end of my day. But this, alas, is not a strict product review...

To clean up your look and reboot your makeup application habits, choose ONE of TWO options: YOUR LIPS or YOUR EYES. Yes, your cheeks are important, but sometimes, when you have so much makeup to use or your just getting started and excited to look different, you just end up putting on too much unnecessary color--so which did you pick?!