Fun with makeup

I really enjoy makeup.  I don’t wear a lot of it anymore, but I love experimenting with it on a night out and I’ve got enough MAC eyeshadow to sink a ship.  I used to be a huge fan of wearing bright, crazy colours (during my younger days I was known to wear red MAC pigment on my eyes) – and I still am a fan of those colours, but now that I’m working in an office that has essentially zero walk-in traffic, I don’t have the energy to make myself up just for the Purolator guy.  Working with my father has meant that my appearance has become incredibly low-key.  Case in point: right now I’m wearing tights with paint all over them and I haven’t washed my hair in three days.  But, by counteracting that with some mascara and blush, it all evens out, right?

At any rate, while I like makeup (and I still buy a lot of it, even if I don’t wear it that often), I’m no makeup artist, and I often have a hard time doing anything that requires a steady hand (or being able to draw a straight line).  Putting on eyeliner has become easier over the years, but still takes me forever and a handful of Q-tips to clean up the mess I inevitably make all over my eyelids.  I’ve checked out some of the “How To” videos on Youtube, but some of them show women applying pounds of makeup that results in a racoon-esque look that I’m just not into.  Enter MAC tutorials.  Dallas pointed me to these in a recent blog post and I just spent the morning watching all of them.  While the smokey eye dude goes way too fast for me and the model ends up looking kind of like she was punched in the eyes, there are helpful tips to take from all of the videos.

Maybe if you take the blindfold off it’d be easier?

In particular, the Perfect Red Lip tutorial – who knew you are supposed to apply foundation to your lips first?  I know I had a hell of a time applying Dallas’ new red MAC lipstick in the bathroom of the Hotel de la Montagne after a few drinks and some encouragement during our Mad Men party (by the end of the night ever woman at the party was wearing Dallas’ lipstick), though that could have been partly due to the gin.  At any rate, these videos are helpful and if they make me look less like a preschooler has drawn on my face, then they’re worth something.