Making It Up As I Go Along

The title is a pun.

This here post is about fall make-up trends, because I can't bring myself to cover fall fashion yet. I'll do it soon, I'm just not ready to come to terms with the fact that it's basically fall. I mean, it's the last day of August. I start school in 8 days. FUQ.

This post has also come into existence because since I'm unwilling to cover fall fashion yet, I've been coming up with things as I think of them. I've scheduled my posts for the last three or four days, and yesterday I just couldn't think of anything. So this morning, I went to my trusty friend, harpersbazaar.com, and saw that they had 5 new articles up on their homepage. One of them was about fall make-up trends for every age. How perfect is that?? People of all ages read this blog, so why not give everyone something to work with? Well, except the guys. Sorry bout that. 

I'm actually really excited about this fall's make-up trends, because they're all very simple and classic, and stuff that can be appropriate for someone my age. I spend very little time on make-up, 3 minutes tops, so these are perfect.

(Just tellin' ya now, this post is gonna be 97% business...I don't really find make-up that funny. Unless you put it on people when they're sleeping, but that's more mean than funny. See? It just isn't funny.)

All pictures courtesy of Harper's Bazaar.

L’Oréal Paris's Extra-Intense Liquid Pencil Eyeliner in Carbon Black. $8.95.

I have always been a fan of black eyeliner, especially in the cat-eye shape. It's what I call an Xbox pancake. Harper's Bazaar suggests that women in their 20's and 30's experiment with liquid liners for a refined cat eye, while women in their 40's and above should use a smudge-free pencil and only line upper lashes to keep your face from looking older (harsh lines, such as the ones created by lining lower lashes, add years to your face, according to HB). They also mention mascara, which I know is another big trend for fall. 

The eyeliner that I've used since March and am very happy with is a French brand, so I don't know if you can get it in the States, but it's Bourjois Paris' Effet Smoky Pencil in Intense Black. It works wonderfully, it doesn't make my eyes feel dry like some do (mostly shadows, but still), and it was only 10 euros when I bought it, which is around $14. 

Pure Color Sensuous Rouge LipColor in Cheating Heart from Estée Lauder. $28.

I have been obsessed with red lipstick for a while now. I bought a pink-ish lipstick in France, because my mom thought it would be cool to have French make-up, but I still have my sights set on a matte red lipstick. It may seem a bit too old for me, but I think classic looks like this one are timeless, and relatively ageless. Somewhat. We'll see how it goes. HB suggests that women in their 20's, 30's and 40's wear bright, sheer glosses, such as Nars Larger Than Life Lip Gloss in Norma ($26) and women over 40 to line their lips with a nude liner to keep the color from bleeding and wear a silky lipstick for a younger and fresher look. Clearly, Harper's Bazaar is suggesting that younger people wear glosses rather than intense lipsticks, so I may stick to that so that I stay within my age group. I'll see. 

If I were to get myself a matte red lipstick, I'd get either MAC's Matte Lipstick in Russian Red ($14.50) or the more expensive Lancôme Matte Lipstick in Red Haute ($22), as worn by Michelle Phan in this video.

Dolce & Gabbana's Perfect Finish Creamy Foundation. $55. Available at Saks in September.

HB said that "porcelain skin" is a must for fall (doesn't really work if you're black, or really just anything but white, so bear with me here.), so you need a rill good foundation. For women in their 20's and 30's, they suggest Smashbox Studio Skin 15 Hour Wear ($42) to prevent shine, and for women 40 and over, they said to look for foundations with "light-reflecting pigments to conceal dry, dulling skin," like the one from Dolce & Gabbana, pictured above. 

I use Almay's TLC Truly Lasting Color Pressed Powder in Light ($10.99), and it works fine. You just have to make sure your skin isn't dry when you put it on, or else it makes the dry skin stand out and it's icky.

Lancôme’s Mini Le Vernis in Bang Bang Red. $15.

Red nail polish--how much more classiq can you get? Not much more. This one's pretty simple: red nail polish looks good on everyone. You just have to find the right shade. HB claims that Lancôme's red nail polish, pictured above, suits all skin tones and is easily applied. For people in their 20's (and under, of course), they think that OPI Nail Lacquer in Red Shatter ($8.50) is fun to experiment with. For women of all ages, HB advises that you keep your red-nailed hands soft and delicious by moisturizing them, and your nails short. Long, red nails is a bit too Cruella Deville for my taste.

I don't usually wear nail polish, so I can't suggest anything, but I'm sure anything you can get at a drugstore is fine (Essie, OPI, Sally Hensen).

Sephora Collection Moonshadow Baked Palette in In the Nude. $28.

Neutral eye shadows flatter all skin tones and eye shapes (I'm just telling you what HB said, I know none of this off the top of my head), but the magazine also warns that texture and finish matters depending on your age. Spring chickens (what Bazaar says is women in their 20's and 30's) can wear shimmery powder shadows like the one in the above picture, and they claim they'll go nicely with the striking blue eyeliners that were also seen on the runways. If you're 40 and over, don't wear sparkly shadows because they accentuate puffiness and "crepiness." Stick to cream and matte shadows. 

Like I said before, I don't wear shadows much because they make my eyes feel dry, but I do have Stila's Color Wheel Eye Shadow Palette (was $38, is now on sale for $20 but currently out of stock), which was given to me as a gift from Edith for my bat mitzvah. This one is really great because it's inexpensive for how many different colors it has, it comes with two brushes and a small booklet of how to create 12 looks using the 12 different color families on the wheel. 

This post doesn't even cover anywhere close to all of this fall's make-up trends, just the most simple and classic ones. Check out this other post I did back in April for more of the fun ones, like electric blue liner and shadow. 

I'll work up the courage to cover fall fashion when I've got a lot of time on my hands, but I've got about 300 pages to read about evolution, so I'm gonna peace.