Challenge!: $20 Makeup Look

The other day, one of my favorite vloggers, DivaMakeupQueen, posted a video on the $20 Makeup Challenge Tag. At the end, she tagged everyone who viewed the video. Now, I'm not a vlogger, and even if I were, I doubt she'd ever know if I'd welched on the dare, but I'm too honest for my own good. So, without further ado, I give you:

The $20 Makeup Challenge!!!

(BTDubs, this is a heckuvalot harder than it sounds.)

The Rules: Pretend you have a $20 bill. Using only products and tools that you could purchase with that bill, put together a full face of makeup from start to finish. I will warn you, the end result is not the best. I mean, I could have lived with it for the day, if I'd needed to, but it's not my best look.
Okay, first, let's just get this picture over with...

GAH!!!! SHE'S A WITCH! BURN HER!!
This is after getting soaked in a flash storm, so please bear with me.

So...yeah...it looked a lot better in person. Let's start with products used and the grand total:

E.L.F. Mineral Foundation in Warm applied with included Mini Kubuki Brush: $5

E.L.F. Essentials Eyeshadow Primer as primer and concealer (better than nothing): $1

Profusion Spotlight Eyeshadow and Lipgloss Palette, applied with included applicator: $4

E.L.F. Studio Blush in Pink Passion, applied with Mini Kubuki Brush: $3

Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Mascara: $6

Total: $19

If I'd had a $1 black eyeliner, that would have helped tremendously. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Now, let's talk about what went right with this look. Right off the bat, I'd say the color was great. You can see from the photo just how pretty and bright that blush is, and how soft, shiny, and pigmented that lipgloss is (which was applied with my finger, by the way). The shadows went on smoothly and blended well, even with a dinky little sponge-tipped applicator, and the foundation covered well and looks nice and glowy. Plus, believe it or not, the mini kubuki brush didn't suck. It's not my first choice, but it didn't create any problems. I truly believe that having a good, inexpensive palette that took care of more than one area of the face helped salvage this challenge.

Alrighty, now for the wrong. If nothing else, I needed a moisturizer in the worst way. Going one better, I really needed a primer. I was born with expression lines in my forehead, and you'd be hard pressed to catch me on a day when I didn't have on some form of a primer (today, it's part of my beauty balm). I also hate the lack of eyeliner. I tried using an eyeshadow, but without a decent brush to apply it, it really didn't work.

Other thoughts: A real concealer would have been helpful in brightening up the undereye area. My brows are actually in decent shape, so I'm okay with leaving them as is.

Wheel Of Morality, turn, turn, turn! Tell us the lesson that we should learn!: High quality color doesn't have to come with a high price tag, and there's no substitute for a good moisturizer and primer. If you're going to invest in something, invest in those.

So, who do I tag? ALL OF YOU!!! Leave your responses in the comments!

Building Kits and Looking for Glitz

The indie film company that Thomas founded is filming in a few weeks. There's no crazy hair or makeup involved, and pretty much all of the actors and extras are taking care of their own. Still, I like to keep a kit on-set for touch-ups. Plus, there's always the possibility that someone will show up wearing either no makeup or way too much--I like to prepare for all contingencies. Now, I'm not a makeup artist (and if one would like to volunteer, that would be unbelievably cool and I'd love you forever and be your best friend), but I've been at this long enough to handle the basics to ensure folks show up on camera.

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm breaking out the high-end products. Good God, no! Along with figuring out that extra blush and bronzer are necessary to avoid being washed out by the lighting equipment, I've also learned that anything you bring on-set has the distinct possibility of being broken. You're in a crazed atmosphere, with people constantly bustling by, extension cords as far as the eye can see, and a lot of hurry, hurry, hurry. It's also not a big-budget studio setting, so I might be doing makeup off of a folding table, picnic bench, or, most likely, out of my car. I'm careful, and I keep a neat kit, but accidents happen. I know that if I brought my $25 NARS Orgasm (sorry, Mom) blush, and it was knocked off a table and broken into a million pieces, I'd be devastated. However, if the same thing happened to a $3 copycat...eh, I'd get a new one. Not a big deal.

With that in mind, I hit the drugstore around the corner to pick up a few staples. I have greasepaint out the ears, but my "normal person" makeup was severely lacking. I needed translucent powder, a couple of blushes, and a matte black eyeshadow (every kit should have a matte white, matte brown, and matte black shadow. Period. I've heard this from a few different places, and it's completely true. You'd be shocked how much you can do with just those three products). Rimmel makes a great translucent powder, so that was pretty much a no-brainer. Wet 'n' Wild had a pretty rose blush, along with a peachy pink that looked so much like my NARS it wasn't even funny (I'll have more on those another day), and a matte black eyeshadow that vlogger DivaMakeupQueen raved about recently. But it was while picking up the eyeshadow that I noticed this beauty:



Wet 'n' Wild Color Icon Single in Trashed



This made me think so much of Urban Decay Stardust in Void that I had to give it a shot. For two bucks, even if it was terrible, I wouldn't really be out anything.

Photo Credit: Urban Decay

It's not terrible. Not even close. It's also not even close to Stardust, but it's still a darn good eyeshadow. Trashed goes past "highly pigmented" into "scarily pigmented". Yesterday, I added just a dab to my outer corners, but it blended all the way through my crease, along my lash line, and added a little color to my lid. It didn't sparkle, though, which was a little disappointing. Today, I decided to go whole-hog and do a black lid, just to see how much glitter I could get, and it wasn't much.

I do want to point out that I did not use a shadow brush to apply this. I was terrified of how much fallout there might be from thickly packing on such a densely pigmented soft shadow. Instead, I used my blending brush to pick up enough for a thin layer, and applied two "coats" to each lid. There was almost no fallout from using that method, and I ended up with deep black lids with a lovely satin finish. There's just not very much glitter. Also, the packaging, while attractive, is insanely difficult to open. Like, "keep a butter knife handy" hard to open.

Lid: Trashed, Highlight: Stila Kitten, Liner: Urban Decay Zero,
Inner Corner: Urban Decay Sin, Lashes: Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes,
Brows: E.L.F. Brow Kit (Med) and Treat and Tame (Deep),
Skin: E.L.F. Mineral Foundation Warm/Benefit Porefection/Benefit Bo-ing

Wow. That looks like a ton of makeup, but it really only took a few minutes. I keep a small stash of seasonally appropriate makeup on my counter, so I don't really have to think too much in the mornings. I'm not good at thinking in the mornings...

Anyway, overall, I'm really happy with my purchase. Sure, I was looking for more glitter, but for two bucks, I really can't complain too much. This one's not going in the film makeup kit. It's going on my counter.

Final Verdict: 8 out of 10. It's beautiful, it's pigmented, it's cheap as all get-out. It's just not glittery, and a pain in the rear to try to open.