One day you decide that you'd like to play with makeup and go to the most reliable source of information out there: the internet. But, turns out that there's so much information that you don't even know where to start. Here's wheres this post comes in handy. I created an easy guide that you can download on your phone, and know exactly what you need to start playing with makeup.
*This post contains affiliate links, which means I might make a small comission out of your purchase.
These are the basics, the only things you need to start, even tho you can adapt and adjust to buy simply what you need and go from there. I'm going to share a few examples of good products you can buy that are on the cheaper side, just so it's easier. Let's start:
Your face is your blank canvas, thats your start point. It's absolutely natural to have some texture, acne, little bumps, redness and else on your skin, ABSOLUTELY NORMAL, and while makeup does a great job making the color on your skin even, it doesn't really do anything to cover textures, so theres that very important thing to know before hand.
First step of your beauty routine should always include a moisturizer and a solar protection. Moisturizer is a "must" because let's face it: no one drinks enough water, has all of the sleep hours or get regular exercising. Its very much needed. Depending on your skin type, you can choose different type of moisturizers but I tell you: EVERY SKIN TYPE NEEDS MOISTURIZER ON THE DAILY BASIS as well as SPF, because the damage that can come from the UV rays is pretty bad. So keep in mind that even tho these are no "makeup! products, they are in fact more important than the rest of the products.
This Hydro Boost cream from Neutrogena is great, it has a gel consistency which makes it great for many skin types and has hyaluronic acid in it which is great for the skin and to retain the moisture.
The point of using a foundation in your face is to even out the color: if you have redness, hyperpigmentation or little scars around your face, a good foundation will make all of the color look even. Foundations can come in a variety of presentations such as cream, powder, mousse and liquid. I would suggest starting with liquid or cream and then seeing if it works for you.
Also, the foundations usually have a finish in them, lets start with the basics: matte, semi matte, satin or glowy.
- A matte foundation is one where light doesnt reflect on your skin, meaning that it doesn't look shiny or greasy. This type of foundation is good for people with oily skin to start.
- A semi matte foundation is one where has a matte finish but let the skin breathe, so you might find that is not as heavy and you can see your natural oils shining through a little.
- A satin finish is where the foundation can have tiny little particles of shine, that will make you look more radiant.
- And a glowy foundation is a all in shineeeee, which is usually beautiful on people with dry skin.
My choices of foundation to start are definitely some drugstore ones. Elf has great foundation at great prices and my favourite is the Flawless Finish Foundation, which has a semi matte finish and looks very good on the skin. Maybelline's Fit Me Dewy & Smooth is great for people with dry or combination skin.
Concealer can help you with two main things: covering any extra redness or pigmentation that the foundation couldn't cover or brightening some areas of the face.
If you want to use concealer to cover some little spaces around your face, it's best if you choose a color that its your exact shade, while if you're using a concealer for brightening, then you must use a shade or two lighter than yuor skin tone.
For example, under eye concealer should be lighter than your skin tone, because it makes the area looks bright which will give you a more awake look. The places on your face where the light will naturally bounce, can be brightened with a lighter concealer. But, on the other hand, if you're looking to cover a pimple, then you should use a concealer that is your skin shade or your foundation shade.
Lighweight concealers are great to start because you can slowly built the product to get the coverage that you want. My top picks are de Rimmel Wake me Up Concealer, which is a liquid concealer and has a nice light to medium coverage, and works really nice in the under eye area. For more of a creamy concealer, the Bare Minerals Bare Pro Concealer is a nice one to try.
There are two types of powder: pressed powder and loose powder. Usually, pressed powder has more coverage than a loose powder. So, if you need to set your face and add an extra layer of coverage, you can use a pressed powder, however, I'm more of a fan of loose powder, even tho it can get a little messy.
Here's the thing, I think that for starting out, you can really take advantage of a loose powder for two things: usually loose powders are really fine, which makes them perfect to set your under eyes area after you applied your concealer, but also they can work nicely in setting your face after applying your foundation.
Setting your liquid foundation with powder means that you apply small touches of powder around your face to avoid the foundation from moving around or wearing off. Not every single foundation needs to be set, specially matte foundations. I honestly don't set matte foundations, but it's up to everybody. You will need a powder brush to set your face with foundation and a smaller brush to set your undereye area.
*This post contains affiliate links, which means I might make a small comission out of your purchase.
These are the basics, the only things you need to start, even tho you can adapt and adjust to buy simply what you need and go from there. I'm going to share a few examples of good products you can buy that are on the cheaper side, just so it's easier. Let's start:
STEP 1: THE FACE
Your face is your blank canvas, thats your start point. It's absolutely natural to have some texture, acne, little bumps, redness and else on your skin, ABSOLUTELY NORMAL, and while makeup does a great job making the color on your skin even, it doesn't really do anything to cover textures, so theres that very important thing to know before hand.
1. M O I S T U R I Z E R
First step of your beauty routine should always include a moisturizer and a solar protection. Moisturizer is a "must" because let's face it: no one drinks enough water, has all of the sleep hours or get regular exercising. Its very much needed. Depending on your skin type, you can choose different type of moisturizers but I tell you: EVERY SKIN TYPE NEEDS MOISTURIZER ON THE DAILY BASIS as well as SPF, because the damage that can come from the UV rays is pretty bad. So keep in mind that even tho these are no "makeup! products, they are in fact more important than the rest of the products.
This Hydro Boost cream from Neutrogena is great, it has a gel consistency which makes it great for many skin types and has hyaluronic acid in it which is great for the skin and to retain the moisture.
2. F O U N D A T I O N
The point of using a foundation in your face is to even out the color: if you have redness, hyperpigmentation or little scars around your face, a good foundation will make all of the color look even. Foundations can come in a variety of presentations such as cream, powder, mousse and liquid. I would suggest starting with liquid or cream and then seeing if it works for you.
Also, the foundations usually have a finish in them, lets start with the basics: matte, semi matte, satin or glowy.
- A matte foundation is one where light doesnt reflect on your skin, meaning that it doesn't look shiny or greasy. This type of foundation is good for people with oily skin to start.
- A semi matte foundation is one where has a matte finish but let the skin breathe, so you might find that is not as heavy and you can see your natural oils shining through a little.
- A satin finish is where the foundation can have tiny little particles of shine, that will make you look more radiant.
- And a glowy foundation is a all in shineeeee, which is usually beautiful on people with dry skin.
My choices of foundation to start are definitely some drugstore ones. Elf has great foundation at great prices and my favourite is the Flawless Finish Foundation, which has a semi matte finish and looks very good on the skin. Maybelline's Fit Me Dewy & Smooth is great for people with dry or combination skin.
3. C O N C E A L E R
Concealer can help you with two main things: covering any extra redness or pigmentation that the foundation couldn't cover or brightening some areas of the face.
If you want to use concealer to cover some little spaces around your face, it's best if you choose a color that its your exact shade, while if you're using a concealer for brightening, then you must use a shade or two lighter than yuor skin tone.
For example, under eye concealer should be lighter than your skin tone, because it makes the area looks bright which will give you a more awake look. The places on your face where the light will naturally bounce, can be brightened with a lighter concealer. But, on the other hand, if you're looking to cover a pimple, then you should use a concealer that is your skin shade or your foundation shade.
Lighweight concealers are great to start because you can slowly built the product to get the coverage that you want. My top picks are de Rimmel Wake me Up Concealer, which is a liquid concealer and has a nice light to medium coverage, and works really nice in the under eye area. For more of a creamy concealer, the Bare Minerals Bare Pro Concealer is a nice one to try.
4. P O W D E R
There are two types of powder: pressed powder and loose powder. Usually, pressed powder has more coverage than a loose powder. So, if you need to set your face and add an extra layer of coverage, you can use a pressed powder, however, I'm more of a fan of loose powder, even tho it can get a little messy.
Here's the thing, I think that for starting out, you can really take advantage of a loose powder for two things: usually loose powders are really fine, which makes them perfect to set your under eyes area after you applied your concealer, but also they can work nicely in setting your face after applying your foundation.
Setting your liquid foundation with powder means that you apply small touches of powder around your face to avoid the foundation from moving around or wearing off. Not every single foundation needs to be set, specially matte foundations. I honestly don't set matte foundations, but it's up to everybody. You will need a powder brush to set your face with foundation and a smaller brush to set your undereye area.
STEP TWO - THE COLOR
Here's my favorite part of doing my makeup: adding color to my face. Your face has naturally different color, like the rosy of your cheeks, the glow you get when you are tanned or the natural grey shadows that form in your face for your bone structure. All of these colors are natural, however, when you apply your foundation over you can lose these colors. Here's where other products might come in handy.
5. B R O N Z E R
Bronzer is used to add more dimension to your face and to bring back natural shadows. Stay away from very orange or very grey bronzers and just for starting out, avoid contouring for a while. Practice first with a bronzer.
Some bronzers are matte and others are shimmery, it's totally up to you what type of formula you'd like. Honestly, I'm more of a matte bronzer gal but lately i've been playing with some shiny bronzer to use instead of a highlighter and the finish result is so pretty that I might be getting converted into shiny bronzers. I think that for starting out, you should first try with a matte bronzer with a neutral color.
Bronzers must be on the shade range of light browns and taupe. Avoid anything too orangey, too red and too grey and stick with a natural brown.
Bronzer is usually applied on the parts of your face where the sun would naturally hit, so depending on each face structure, you can apply it on the outter part of your face, your temples, your jawline, your nose and so on. Don't go too overboard with bronzer, the idea is that you start with less and go building the color slowly, because it's easy to get things very bad very fast.
Physicians Formula has a great and popular bronzer called "The Butter Bronzer" which has both, shimmery and matte versions. Its very easy to blend and looks beautiful on the skin. I think it would be a very nice product for begginers.
6. B L U S H
A little bit of blush can make you look younger and fresh, so it's always something pretty to use. You apply the blush on the apples of you cheeks, very lightly, and add extra layers if you feel like it doesn't show too much.
The point is that you look fresh and young, not like you have a rash or fever, so always try to choose blushes in the pink, mauve or neutral pink shades and stay away from barbie pinks, reds or purple for starters.
Elf cosmetics has great blushes for little money, like this powder blush under $5! but I particularly love cream blushes because they are easy to use and last a very decen amount of time. Elf Cosmetics has also cream blushes that are super natural and pretty. This post is not sponsoref by elf by the way, I just love their products so much that I recommend them here.
7. L I P S T I C K
Here's the part where you can really go overboard. Lipsticks have a many variety of finishes, colors, looks and formulas, so it's all up to you to choose what you'd like. Honestly, I'll start with a soft pink and a red lipstick or liquid lipstick, but you can literally choose any color you want.
Also, I'd like to mention that if you have a soft pink lipstick with a satin finish (not matte), you can use it as a cream blush as well. Having products with multiple uses is my favourite part of makeup, tbh.
STEP THREE - EYES
Honestly, the eyes is where you might need a little bit more of help. Enhancing your eyes is something that looks great in anybody. Eyes are such an important feature of the face that it makes so much sense to enhance them. There are a few ways you can make your eyes look better with the help of some products.
8. E Y E B R O W S - eyebrow gel
Even tho eyebrows are not technically part of the eyes, they really frame your eyes. There are many techniques to fill or design your eyebrow with pencil, pomades or eyeshadow but for begginers I would stick only to: go to the stetician to let them give my eyebrows a nice shape and then, for the everyday use a eyebrow gel to keep the little hairs in place. This Maybelline Eyebrow Gel is great, does the job and you can find it in most drugstores so it's nice.
9. E Y E L A S H E S - mascara
Eyes looks pretty with long, curved lashes, that's the tea. So having a mascara that makes your eyelashes look long or full is great. There are many mascaras on the market, maybelline has great ones, but wet n wild has many options for low prices.
10. E Y E S H A D O W
Here's for the bold who want to try and add eyeshadow to their lids. I would suggest that for starters you get a palette that has neutral colors in it: browns, beiges, oranges, maybe some pinks, and then, later on the run, try with other fun colors. My first pick would be these Elf Mad for Mattes Eyeshadow Palettes, they have a decent pigmentation and blend really easy, but Milani also has this great neutral palette that could work to create many, many looks, so it's worth checking it out.
Here are the basics, the things you will need to create a beautiful makeup look. I will post a easy guide for all of the makeup brushes you need, so stay tuned for that! Share this post if you liked to any of your friends who might need a little help or pin it so you always have this guide on hand!
