It has been awhile since I've brought you a FF article and I do apologize. I have refined my schedule, plotted out articles for the future, and made amends to my poor procrastination habit! Hurray for New Year's Resolutions!
So prepare for every first and third Tuesday from here on out to be your dose of Fashion Fraction here at Lixx!
First Tuesdays are for the Focus On articles as well as all sorts of creative articles such as reports on thrifting, product reviews, and maybe even special video articles!
For the third Tuesdays, I have planned to bring you any and all DIY Projects (Do-It-Yourself), tutorials, and product recommendations. The third Tuesday are also reserved for special articles that may come up in the future.
So for the first FF article of 2015- I'm going to talk about some of my favourite but basic makeup products that I use daily! These products can be found at your basic drug store and are pretty affordable.
Foundation:
1) Hard Candy's Sheer Envy Primer - I adore Hard Candy as a brand. Aside from Urban Decay primer, I find this primer to be one of the best I've used. I apply it after I've washed my face and before I put any makeup on. I advise waiting a bit after you apply it for it can be a bit oily and needs time to soak in before you apply any makeup.
2) Maybelline's Fit Me Foundation Powder - I bounced back and forth between Maybelline and Covergirl's powder foundation but I find I have settled on the Fit Me brand of powder. Aside from it coming in a variety of fantastic shades for as many skin tones as possible, it covers really nicely. Be warned- up close in person it looks a little grainy and obvious that it's on but it does look great in photos; both from afar and up close.
3) Covergirl's Concealer Stick - I prefer liquid concealer and primarily use Maybelline's Fit Me concealer in either colour number 10 or 15 (depending on how I'm feeling). Covergirl's stick concealer works pretty nicely and blends well. I use it around my eyes and lips.
4) Covergirl's Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 Foundation Creme - This is the best foundation I've ever used. It is a primer, concealer, and foundation all in one (plus sunscreen!). Though I still use primer and concealer at times along with it (especially for cosplay makeup during the hot months), I mainly only use it with extra concealer on a daily basis. You can use it without extra primer or concealer and that's why I like it. Problem is- this is the most "expensive" of my foundation products but it's totally worth it.
Eyes:
(top to bottom, left to right)
1) Covergirl's Black Pressed Eyeshadow - I don't necessarily recommend any one specific black eyeshadow- while I currently use this one, I also really like Hard Candy's pressed black. This one has more grey tones to it instead of solid black like Hard Candy's and I find that, at first, it wouldn't set well with the creme or pencil liner I use. After some work with it though, I found it's better to pat this shadow on over brushing it. It works really nicely for a shadow/smudge look on the lower lash line.
2) Rimmel's Black Creme Liner - I love creme/gel liner. As a Visual Kei enthusiastic, I sought this stuff out hardcore. When I first got into the scene, the only company who made a creme/gel liner that was WalMart accessible was Wet N' Wild and- while it worked for the mean time-, after other brands jumped on the bandwagon and I tested them out, I found it was too heavy feeling on my eyelids (especially if you're doing a basic VK eye). Rimmel is a great brand over all- being one of the cheaper ones will still really striking quality. A lot of their makeup is geared around Mod or Punk inspired fashions so it's no wonder why it works so well.
3) Wet N' Wild's Black Pencil Liner - Super basic, super cheap, and a must have. I normally stock up on these pencils (buying like 4 or 5 at a time) considering they're only $.97. I go through these pencils rather quickly and nothing sucks more than putting your foundation on only to find you ran out of black liner. Even if they don't have "onyx/black/blackest black" or whatever name they decide to call it, "charcoal" works as a nice substitute.
4) Maybelline's One By One Mascara - The one mascara I found that doesn't clump as bad as others as well as it volumizes/lengthens my lashes. As you can see, it's been used a lot... the label has been rubbed off. Though it does still clump and need distributing, a quick brush through with an eyebrow brush works great.
Extras:
(left to right)
1 - 3 & 6-7) E.L.F. Angled Foundation Brush, Kabuki Brush, Smudge Brush, Angled Eyeliner Brush, and Curved Eyeliner Brush - E.L.F. is an amazing brand with very affordable makeup as well as brushes. It took awhile before a local WalMart started setting up the kiosks with this brand but, when they did, I jumped on these brushes as part of my Christmas gift for myself. I use the angled eyeliner brush the most but I've used the curved eyeliner brush for my creme liner before; the smudge brush for eyeshadow; the angled foundation brush for contour; and the kabuki brush to help soften my powder foundation.
4) Covergirl BB Cream - This could also belong to the foundation family of products. I use this when I don't want to use my 3 in 1, primer, and concealer. It's for those extremely lazy days. BB Cream has been seen as a "new fad" in the makeup world here in the states- even though it has been around for awhile in places like Korea. You can use it after your primer if you want a slightly higher SPF sunscreen. The difference with North American BB cream versus Korean BB cream is that the NA cream is really only a tinted moisturizer and sunblock while Korean cream can also be a primer and concealer. It's not to say that you can't get the same outcome by using it, but it wasn't /designed/ for that.
5) Covergirl Bronzer - I only recently started doing more contouring and this was the first thing I bought to help do it even better. I was originally using matte eyeshadows (which is really hard to come by without spending a pretty penny- by the way). This is really simple contouring and rather subtle. I plan to get a legitimate contour palette eventually.
And this has been my basic makeup product recommendation!
If you have any products you want me to try, feel free to email me at taka_kagaku2011@hotmail.com! I will come back for you all in the next article on March 3.
- Taka
1 - 3 & 6-7) E.L.F. Angled Foundation Brush, Kabuki Brush, Smudge Brush, Angled Eyeliner Brush, and Curved Eyeliner Brush - E.L.F. is an amazing brand with very affordable makeup as well as brushes. It took awhile before a local WalMart started setting up the kiosks with this brand but, when they did, I jumped on these brushes as part of my Christmas gift for myself. I use the angled eyeliner brush the most but I've used the curved eyeliner brush for my creme liner before; the smudge brush for eyeshadow; the angled foundation brush for contour; and the kabuki brush to help soften my powder foundation.
4) Covergirl BB Cream - This could also belong to the foundation family of products. I use this when I don't want to use my 3 in 1, primer, and concealer. It's for those extremely lazy days. BB Cream has been seen as a "new fad" in the makeup world here in the states- even though it has been around for awhile in places like Korea. You can use it after your primer if you want a slightly higher SPF sunscreen. The difference with North American BB cream versus Korean BB cream is that the NA cream is really only a tinted moisturizer and sunblock while Korean cream can also be a primer and concealer. It's not to say that you can't get the same outcome by using it, but it wasn't /designed/ for that.
5) Covergirl Bronzer - I only recently started doing more contouring and this was the first thing I bought to help do it even better. I was originally using matte eyeshadows (which is really hard to come by without spending a pretty penny- by the way). This is really simple contouring and rather subtle. I plan to get a legitimate contour palette eventually.
And this has been my basic makeup product recommendation!
If you have any products you want me to try, feel free to email me at taka_kagaku2011@hotmail.com! I will come back for you all in the next article on March 3.
- Taka
