Beauty Tips for Ministers

Product Reviews: Liquid Eyeliner and Stick Make-Up

August 23, 2007 on 11:22 am | In Eyes, Make-Up And Skin Care, Product & Catalog Reviews | 15 Comments

Suppose you don’t want to wear a whole face of make-up, but would like to even out red or blotchy spots before you head out the door. This is my own preference, as I tend to look way too pale with a whole face of any kind of make-up, especially Bare Escentuals (darn it, too, because I really like that stuff). I wear full make-up on Sundays and when my skin looks particularly dull and awful, but otherwise I try to keep it minimal.

I was therefore very pleased to find Mac Studio Stick SPF 15, a great product that I apply in four swipes across my face:
1. to even out red next to my nose
2. center of chin
3. between the eyebrows where it can get blotchy

I blend it out with a medium-sized make-up brush and I’m good to go.

This product comes in a whole slew of shades, so you’re bound to find one that matches you perfectly. And it stays on, making it worth the price in my book.
(Please remember, ladies and gents, that SPF 15 in your make-up hardly offers any protection from UVA/UVB rays, and wear an actual SPF product every day, typically as a moisturizer or however you work it.)

Second, we have Maybelline’s Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner…

…a great buy for less than $6. Liquid eyeliner is a dramatic look and not for everyone, but I rely on it for days I’ll be gone for many hours and won’t have time to reapply, blend and mess with regular pencil eyeliner.
I own liquid eyeliner in black, brown and blue, using brown on typical days (black can be too harsh, and you don’t want to wind up looking like Amy Winehouse). Blue is definitely not for beginners, as it can make you look like an 8th grader who just got her first amateur make-over for the Homecoming Dance (“ohmigod, Ginny, this blue eyeliner will make you look so totally hot and it will totally match your dress!!”).

The Maybelline waterproof liner has been a blessing these past humid summer Sundays when I would spend all day going from church service to church service, clapping, praying, singing my heart out, and sweating. I constantly feared a Tammy Faye Bakker (of blessed memory) situation, but this Maybelline stuff doesn’t budge no matter how damp I get. They apparently make an even MORE waterproof liquid eyeliner but unless you’re in Esther Williams’ line of work, I don’t think you need it.

And speaking of Miss Esther Williams (also of blessed memory), wouldn’t you just LOVE to know how the heck they kept her looking so gorgeous, take after take, underwater? How come she never looks all pruney and bedraggled? She just swims toward the camera with shiny red lipstick and a big beautiful smile. What a Hollywood goddess. Honestly. Now I want to go watch “Neptune’s Daughter.”

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1. Ok… but how do you put it on without looking like a shaky mess. I have tried and it is HARD. What am I doing wrong? This from a woman who just learned LAST YEAR that you are supposed to wear BEIGE bras under white (I was raised by my dad) shirts! God, what a fashion idiot I am.

   Comment by jacqueline — August 23, 2007 #

2. This is a good point. I like the look of liquid pens like this one, and if you’re good at it, it’s fantastic! But I’m pretty awful at applying this, and then, since it’s waterproof, it’s very hard to correct.

   I am better with an eyeliner brush and powder, though – I find it much easier to apply. Mac makes a great “liquid powder” called “Fluidline” that’s also waterproof, but it takes a few minutes before it sets, and I find that easier to correct if I make a mistake. It costs more at $15 (PB will laugh, since I always seem to find the more expensive way of doing things, much to my demise) but lasts a good, time, probably longer than the felt tip liner since you can wash your own brush more frequently.

   But, for you artists with a steady hand, this felt brush looks lovely! I’m jealous.

   Comment by KRS — August 23, 2007 #

3. Oh, I forgot to paste the link for fluidline…

   http://www.maccosmetics.com/templates/products/sp.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY15101&PRODUCT_ID=PROD7715

   Comment by KRS — August 23, 2007 #

4. I just got some of the bare escsentuals (Sp?) makeup and I’ve found if I start with my nose and “buff” out in a sort of spiral, I get the right amount of coverage and avoid the mask look. I have oily skin and it was great for the summer.

   Also, they peddle the “warmth” for good reason. It does help make the makeup look more natural.

   The same is true with the bobbi brown cream foundation I use in the cooler seasons. I just focus on my nose, forehead and chin, then smooth out to the edges, and I avoid the mask. They taught me that at the counter; I would have never figured it out myself.

   Comment by madgebaby — August 23, 2007 #

5. I’m a BE girl, too. And Warmth is my best friend. I use the lightest shade they have (Damn Irish complexion) and Warmth is really the trick to make me look like I’m just that gorgeous. Also, you want to use about half of what you think you should in both the Warmth and the regular foundations.

   Comment by Andie — August 23, 2007 #

6. I’m still figuring out the BE routine. I do have the warmth stuff and I’m having a hard time applying it so that it doesn’t look too powdery/cakey when I’m done.My trick is to apply everything and then buff with a big cotton puff, but I think I’m putting too much product on my brush in the first place. I also don’t like the way the BE sort of sits on top of any raised blemishes.
   It’s also a light thing: I think the summer light is too harsh for BE. It’s a better make-up for the weaker sunlight of autumn and winter, I think.

   Comment by PeaceBang — August 23, 2007 #

7. They have that little tightly gathered brush that is really good for application–and if you put on a lot, it gets cakey really fast, so I use tiny bits. Once you get the hang of it it doesn’t take very long.

   For blemishes, I use a flat concealer brush. That seems to help it blend a bit better.

   Finally, I use the mineral veil copiously, like powder, over the warmth. That seems to make it less shiny and more natural looking.

   Comment by madgebaby — August 23, 2007 #

8. Oooo, I TOTALLY want to look like Amy Winehouse (specifically, in that photo)!! Of course, I’m the pastor’s *spouse*, and in a church full of artists and activists. They do expect a little “something” from me by now. If I showed up *without* smoky eyes, I suspect half the congregation – one at a time – would pull me aside to ask me what’s wrong.

   Which, you know, is dear of them to care so much.

   Comment by kate setzer kamphausen — August 23, 2007 #

9. I am so out of the loop. I have no idea who Amy Winehouse is, nor what she looked like. So I read Kate’s comment first and then looked at the linked photo.

   It would totally ROCK to walk into a UU church and find out the pastor’s spouse looked like that. Like a Tammy Faye for the new millennium. Leading the peeps in a totally new skool, x-treme round version of “Come, Come Whoever You Are.”

   Wanderer. Worshiper. Lover of Eye Liner.

   Comment by Louise — August 24, 2007 #

10. My trick to getting the right amount of Warmth is to flip over the container, flip it back and open it. Whatever sticks to the lid is what I use. (Yes, hardly anything sticks to the lid. That’s the secret.)

    Comment by Andie — August 24, 2007 #

11. There is a wonderful article in the NY Times Style section today on Fall makeup looks, entitled “No, I Haven’t Been Mugged. Why Do You Ask?” by Natasha Singer.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/fashion/23skin.html?_r=1&ref=style&oref=slogin

    -m

    Comment by Michael — August 24, 2007 #

12. I think that dramatic eyeliner is very cool, by the way–sometimes I soften it with a paler shadow over top.

    I’ve also found that only doing the top lids keeps me from looking like cleopatra gone goth.

    Comment by madgebaby — August 26, 2007 #

13. Esther Williams is still very much with us. She has her own line of bathing suits.

    Comment by hamletta — August 28, 2007 #

14. I am not a minister or a ministers wife, but I am married to a ministers son…..anyways, I found this site while trying to find the perfect liquid WATERPROOF eyeliner. I had to chuckle because the product that I just bought was the Mayabelline Line Works Liquid Liner and it is terrible…your comments rave about it, so what am I doing wrong. Twice in the last 2 days it has run and smeared when in contact with my eyes watering…what a hideous site. Can anyone recommend a solid, truly waterproof liquid liner? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for your input and suggestions.

    Comment by Holly — September 5, 2007 #

15. @Holly: oh no!! That’s so weird, because I’ve been wearing mine swimming and everything! Hmmm… Mac has a super industrial-strength waterproof eyeliner as I recall, and I think that Maybelline actually makes one that bills itself as “Super Serious Nothing In Nature Can Make Me Come Off” waterproof eyeliner. That is, if you ever want to trust Maybelline again…

    Comment by PeaceBang — September 7, 2007 #

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