Beauty Gone Wrong

8:45:00 PM

Heyllow everybody :D!

How's da weekend? Mine feels exceptionally long since we practically began our "weekend" since Thursday *LOL*. It is now also the Qing Ming season, which means we had to go visit my great grand parents' graves in Lawang-which always becomes very crowded during Qing Ming and the 1-1.5 hour drive became almost double the time due to the crazy jam >.<. We just got back from Batu two days ago and immediately having to endure another long road trip is making my back screaming in agony >.< so tiredddd!

Okay okay, i'm done rambling. Anyway. I've been tagged by the famous beauty blogger *ahem* *wink wink* Sekar Arum to share about beauty mistakes that i've done.

What do you mean i'm not doing it right??? (picture taken from this page)

Well, obviously i did plenty! I am in no way professional when it comes to makeup (i'm just a normal girl who loves makeup! I'm not an expert, an MUA or whatever!), heck i don't even know how to blend my eyeshadow properly *LOL*. But there were some starking, glaringly obvious mistakes that even i (a total makeup amateur) realized overtime and try to correct them. I'm sure my "crime" list is a foot long, but at the top of my head these are what i can think of :

1. Applying way too much/too white under eye concealer

Well, i know in Eva Longoria's case she was probably just using translucent powder (to set her under eye concealer) that would give horribly white cast when you're being photographed by many flashing cameras at once (read more about it here) but it illustrates my point perfectly (btw, it's not that i do not want to use my own pictures to show you my worst mistakes, but i have no idea where i can find those pictures and i honestly have no desire to go through thousands of pictures on my draft to do so, this blog post would probably never happen!).

I have very bad dark circle (although people tell me i exaggerate, well it's probably doesn't look that bad in real life, but i saw some old pictures before i started using under eye concealer where i looked totally haggard, lifeless and zombie like, all just because of the absence of an under eye concealer!) due to my insomnia, so naturally i really really want to conceal it. But too much of a good thing is never a good idea, i tend to go crazy with the concealer that it becomes very thick and cakey. I also tend to set them with TRANSLUCENT powder so i ended up with a very similar look as Ms. Longoria up there when photographed with flash.

Again, it's also not THAT bad in real life, i'm sure my BFFs would tell me (or at least my ever so ready with criticisms sis/sis in laws would point it out), but it's pretty horrible with flash photography. I also wouldn't realize it if not the ever so stalker-ish ex trainer who inspect our BBM's profile pictures with eagle eyes and she pointed it out to #Undecided *LOL*. She told #Undecided to tell me because she's my BFF and she should spare me the embarrassment *LOLOLOL*. I personally don't think it's THAT horrible that i should be ashamed of myself, but i am thankful enough to be told this so now i go easy on my under eye concealer, blend them diligently and set them with not-too-white loose/compact powder).

2. Using mismatched foundation and concealer

Do you see a round white patch on my chin in that picture? Yeppp, this is a fairly recent mistake *LOL*. Not only i make a lot of application mistakes, i also make a lot of BUYING mistakes-like not paying attention to shades (in this case i was wearing Acnes compact powder that is two to three shades too dark for my complexion because stupid me thought they only come in one shade!) and often ended up with colors that are way too dark for my pale complexion.

This alone is actually not that big of a deal, i enjoy looking slightly tanned (only slightly because i'd wear it with a very light foundation/BB Cream to lighten the end result a bit, as well as adding bright finishing powder all over my face so the end result would be one shade darker than my real color instead of three. My neck's naturally darker than my face, so wearing a shade darker than my facial skin is actually quite a good thing), it makes me feel a bit sexy *LOL* and i feel like i can pull of pale lips/dramatic eyes with more tanned skin, but a problem arise when i wear the same shade of concealer that i use when i am using my normal/right colored foundations >.< (mostly due to the fact that i don't own any other shade of concealer coz i rarely use them as it is, being mostly acne free).

I thought it wouldn't be an issue since i was wearing a compact powder (with pretty good coverage) on top so the light concealer would be concealed, right? WRONG! Again, not so noticable in real life but blatantly glaring in photographs, ugh!

3. Over plucked eyebrows

ME in 2012 *LOL*. We were clearly a bit too fond of flash photography back then too *LOL*

Does this count? Because it's a grooming problem, but i think i can slip it in lah, okay? So i was a late 90's-early 2000's teen and the "right" eyebrow shape back then was very over plucked and arched. I have naturally very thick eye brows and they're also a bit unruly. The first eyebrow makeover i had was from a beautician at a beauty clinic that i used to go to when i was a teen, and then i just maintain the shape she gave me by plucking stray hairs ever since.

I wasn't too fond of taking pictures of myself when we hadn't started this blog because i feel that i am extremely unphotogenic and most of my pictures taken only took a toll on my self esteem (this was long before selfie trends with mirror cameras okay!), i also wear my fringe on the front so most of the time my eyebrows would be concealed anyway. But since i start doing more beauty blogging, i naturally take more and more selfies, and that's when i realized how bad my eyebrows look (sometimes i would get a bit too enthusiastic when plucking because i don't want to have to pluck them again too soon, i'm lazy you see... But! This resulted in almost bald spots sometimes *LOLOLOL*), they make me look angry hahahaha.

I am not necessarily a huge Korean style eyebrow fan (but i certainly am their puppy liner convert!), i have a natural arch on my brows and i am not willing to change them if i have to like.. shave or whatever, so i prefer to follow my natural eyebrow shape, but i realized a thicker, more natural eyebrow was something i desperately needed so i decided not to pluck my eyebrow from several months before going to Browhaus in Jakarta for the very first time (read about that experience here) to get a professional shape my brows, i fell in love with the much more natural, thick but neat result, and vow to visit Browhaus everytime i'm in Jakarta (and maintain with plucking the strays-which are a lot less now that the eyebrow line's thicker, yay!). I do wish Browhaus would open a branch here in Surabaya/a similar brow salon would appear!

4. Frosty makeup galore!

Picture taken from this page

I did worse than those girls because even though i never wore that much eyeshadow in my worst days, i took it up a notch and pair a frosty block of eyeshadow with frosty pale lipstick! I looked like the Jersey Shore girls threw up all over my face, minus the tan!

I always love shimmery, glittery eye shadow (although not the biggest fan of glittery base makeup/blush on) as well as metallic looks, but i probably confuse the two so i ended up wearing frosty eyeshadows instead *LOL*. Don't get me wrong, i actually still love frosty makeups, but i know how to use them in moderation pair them with deeper colors to balance them out. I.e, i would pair frosty eyeshadow (remember, applying in blocks like those girls are always a NO NO) with dark lip color and neutral cheeks or wearing dramatic, dark eye makeup with pale, frosty lip color. I am not a fan of frosty lip color though (maybe my subconsciousness is disgusted by the way i abused them in the past), i would always tone done the frost with a bit of a gloss (it really works!)

5. Way too much blush on

OMG. More than one sin all rolled into one. And how round was my face zzz. And again, flash photography sucks coz it makes every makeup mistake 10x worse than they really are!

As a self-confessed blush on person (if i am only allowed to wear one make up item on top of my base then i'd go with blush on!), i've always been heavy handed with my blush on! Being naturally pale also doesn't help because without blush on, people often ask me if i'm sick -___-. I am still very liberal when it comes to blush on, you'd probably never see me without blushing, rosy cheeks but i admit that i totally overdid it in the past. The picture above was applied with very bad lighting and i was actually shocked when i arrived at the venue and realized how red my cheeks were *LOL*. It also didn't help that it was the first time i was wearing a brighter, more pigmented blush on from a Western brand when i was way too used to Korean blush on that are quite weak in pigmentation and need to be built on quite a bit, i just pretty much used the same amount and strokes that i normally did, big mistake hahaha!

There are a lot of different ways to apply blush on and where to apply them, it's all depending on the look you're trying to achieve/your makeup style and your facial shape. I personally always apply them on the apple of my cheeks (i am one of those crazy girls who grin like a lunatic when applying blush on, which my hunny often comment on!) because i like the youthful, kawaii effect they give me. So probably in the Western makeup rules, i'm doing it wrong still (and still using way too much), but i don't really care-of course i will never apply SO much in purpose ever again!

And that's it! My top 5 biggest beauty crime ever *LOL*!

When i read Arum's list, i saw a couple of sins that i still do sometimes *LOL*, like setting foundation with two way cake, but i believe every skin is different and so is the way they react with different techniques. I have a very oily face and i always use a very light BB Cream/Foundie (coz i don't have a lot to cover anyway), loose powder doesn't stand a chance of lasting a whole day while TWC does-i usually pair them together when i'm going to be in an air conditoned environment all day long so i won't sweat, and i also don't experience any melting problems so far (unless i piled on the TWC, which i know i shouldn't do) so imma keep doing it *LOL*.

Also with the heavy eyes and lips pair, i actually believe that when done right (meaning, not too crazy) wearing dramatic eye makeup and strong lip color together can make you instantly look glamorous and sultry-of course you need to see where you're going (Arum's post is about daily makeup mistakes, and i agree that this pair's definitely not for everyday makeup unless you're a Kardashian!) when using this makeup, i sometimes do this type of makeup to a very formal party (like a wedding in a very glamorous venue). So i personally don't think that makeup rules are set in stone, but we all know that there are some fine lines that we cannot cross without making ourselves looking like a clown/crazy person (which i did *LOL*), but don't worry! We all make mistakes, i am still doing it (without realizing it) haha, what's important is when we realize that we're making those mistakes, we try to grow from it!

I hope you enjoy this post and maybe have a good laugh looking at my old pictures. Thank you to Arum for tagging me, if you have a similar blog post or want to do one after reading this do let me know coz i'd love to read it! We all feel better when we realize that we're not the only one doing those mistakes, right?

TTYL,