Let me start this by saying that I’m not here to tell people how to do or not do their makeup. I think makeup is something so personal, that reflects our own personal preferences and our personal taste and it’s not anyone’s business to criticize or to tell others what to do. There’s no wrong way in doing makeup. I enjoy colorful or Instagram-like looks on others, I love to see them, but I know it’s not something that I like for myself or that I include in my makeup routine. It’s gonna be a long read, so you’re warned beforehand.

As someone who has been watching makeup tutorials since the very beginning, even before 2010, I’ve seen trends come and go and I’ve seen beauty gurus come and go. I am not a makeup artist and I have no special training and the only person who lets me do her makeup is my mom on special occasions. I’ve read some makeup books and watched thousands of tutorials, but I don’t think I am in the position of giving makeup tips. I just want to share a few tricks I’ve learned on my own, just by trying different things and seeing what I like or what I don’t. For me, I repeat, not for other people. If you know about these tips or if you’ve seen them somewhere else, it means just that they are quite common. I didn’t steal anyone’s ideas, cause if someone influences my ideas I always give credit where credit is due.

So now that I got this long disclaimer out of the way, I’ll share some of MY makeup tips, following the basic steps for a makeup tutorial, or at least what seems to be common nowadays in the makeup world.

1. I don’t think that face primers are an absolute necessity. I tried some in the past and I know that the face looks smoother and the pores look finer or whatever, but honestly, I don’t have major skin issues and for me, it’s an unnecessary step in my routine. If I have a good foundation and I set it with some powder, there’s no need for me to use a primer.
2. I do think that eye primer is a must. No matter how good an eyeshadow is, it just looks better and it lasts longer with an eye primer underneath. It doesn’t need to be something fancy or expensive, basic drugstore primers do the job. I tried using other tricks, like applying foundation or concealer or just a light-colored eyeshadow as a base, but it’s not the same for me.
3. Dewy foundations are not only for those with normal or dry skin. I have combination to oily skin and I just simply don’t like having an all-matte finish. I think that a dewy foundation makes me look more alive, fresh and healthy. What I do, is using a foundation with a dewy finish or just a normal foundation on my cheeks and forehead and I apply a matte foundation where I usually get oily, which is between the eyebrows, on and around the nose and on the chin. Yes, this means I always use two foundations, but it’s how I achieve the look I like best.
4. Not all foundations should be applied with the same tools. Many people love makeup sponges like the Beauty Blender and swear by it, but I find that it all depends on the texture of the foundations. Thicker foundations apply nice with a sponge, but for a liquid formula, like my current and all-time favorite so far, L’Oreal True Match, I use a large stippling brush. I like that airbrushed finish it gives to my skin. When I use a sponge, I find that it sheers out the foundation too much and  I also tend to use more product. Granted, I haven’t tried the famous Beauty Blender sponge, but I don’t feel the need to, because I like how my foundation looks like applied using a brush.
5. Concealer should be used in small amounts. I don’t like using a concealer to brighten up the face like some beauty gurus do. I apply my concealer just to cover any discoloration in the undereye area and that’s it. Applying concealer in other areas of the faces just looks kind of fake to me. Please take no offense if you do that. If that’s the look you want, go for it. I enjoy a more natural look.
6. Powder should be applied in key areas. Having an oily to combination skin means that sometimes my skin gets a little dry in some cases, for example during winter. If I powder my entire face, I think it dries out the skin too much, so I apply the powder only in my oily areas. I also don’t do the baking thing, I don’t like it.
7. Contour is not a must. I don’t know why everyone started the crazy Kardashian trend of contouring heavily, even people that don’t need it honestly. I just use a bronzing powder to emphasize my cheekbones and I don’t apply it right underneath in a straight line to look chiseled. I like to apply my bronzer following the natural contour of my cheekbones to obtain that sunkissed look all the time. Sometimes I don’t even apply a blush.
8. Highlighter can also be subtle. Asides from eyeshadows, highlighters are my favorite makeup products, especially since so many good products have appeared on the market over the last years. But I don’t think a highlighter needs to be blinding to look beautiful. Like I said, I like a more natural makeup so for me, a subtle highlight that I can wear toned down or built up as I wish is perfect. I use highlight only on my cheeks and on the eyes sometimes. I’m sorry but that dot on the nose and the highlight over the top lip is not a look that I like whatsoever. It looks funny to me, but hey, we all have our preferences.
9. You can skip the lip liner. That’s another product that I don’t use. I don’t have the necessary skills to master the subtle lip contour and not end up having that horrific 90s dark lip contour. That’s why I avoid liquid lipstick. I like my creamy bullet lipsticks and my classic glosses and I don’t think this will ever change.
10. You can also skip fake eyelashes. If you really have tiny eyelashes, I get you, no judgment here. But for me, they’re unnecessary. If there’s something about my eyes it’s having been blessed with long eyelashes, so if I want a dramatic effect, I just apply 2-3 coats of mascara and it looks like I have some falsies on. Plus, I have hooded eyes and if I would add some fake lashes, the eyeshadow wouldn’t even be visible anymore.
11. There are no rules for eyeshadows. I am the type of person that goes for the classic, natural eye makeup looks on occasions where I want to look my best, say for a job interview, for a wedding or for some other special occasion when I want to look classy and elegant, but in everyday life I wear what I like and how I like. I wear shimmers in the crease, I wear warm tones even if I know cool-toned eyeshadows look better on me and I combine colors basically just how I feel like it. I’m not adventurous when it comes to blush, highlighters or lipsticks, but I like to play with eyeshadows and experimenting all kinds of color combinations. If someone doesn’t like it, they’re free to look away.
12. Don’t buy makeup just because it’s trendy. I try to be smart about my purchases. For example, I love how the Modern Renaissance palette looks like and how others use it but I know for sure I wouldn’t reach much for it, so it’s useless to buy it just because everyone was raving about it. I also didn’t buy any dupes for it, not because I’m cheap – which I am a little bit – but because I know those palettes would also be unused so there is no point in that. Yes, if someday by some miracle this blog would become big enough to receive PR, I’d gladly test out new products, but since all makeup I own is paid out of my own pocket, I can’t afford to just throw money away out the window.
13. It’s ok to want makeup for its packaging. Look, I may be in the minority here, but I think it’s ok to want something just because it looks pretty. We love makeup, we all are collectors in some way whether we like it or not, so just like other people collect other things, we are allowed to collect makeup. If something makes you happy just by looking at it, it’s ok to have it. Like I said in my September beauty launches, I want that Smashbox and Vlada highlighter in the rose flower packaging so bad and the only thing that’s stopping me it’s the price. I don’t even care about the colors or the formula, I would be happy just to have it in my collection and to look at it.
14. It’s ok to keep makeup with sentimental value. I’ve watched so many declutter videos on YouTube that I have come to the conclusion that I simply don’t like them. I prefer seeing makeup collections or videos with products that the respective person already has decided to declutter and explanations on why the products are removed from their collection. The comments to those videos are often not at all helpful. There are always people who think a person hasn’t decluttered enough or has kept bad products or has gotten rid of good products and so on. And the people who do declutters often feel the peer pressure to get rid of things because they don’t use them enough. But sometimes makeup can have sentimental value. I’ve seen women sad to get rid of an old palette that they received as a gift from their husbands, or from their mother or from someone dear to them. I could never do that, nor do I want to. I have a gold engagement ring received from my husband which has a design that I don’t like that much, so now I don’t wear it much because I have my wedding band, but it doesn’t mean that I will sell it or give it to someone else. The comparison may seem a little extreme, but I say the same thing from my previous point. If it makes you happy looking at it, if it brings back good memories, just keep the damn thing, even if you don’t use it. I’m not saying we should all become hoarders and keep every single unused palette or lipstick for silly reasons like oh, I bought this on the 4th of July and two weeks later I got engaged. But if a makeup item really means something to you, keep it. I have an old Margaret Astor lipstick which is so dried down by now and I would never put that thing on my lips, but I bought it in Vienna when I traveled for the first time out of the country and I fell in love with that city so I could never get rid of it.

So this is my little list with tips on makeup which also turned into a little rant at the end. What I tried to say with this is – do your makeup like you want, have the products that you want and be smart about your choices. Don’t let anybody tell you what you should buy or not buy and take makeup tips with a grain of salt. To be honest, sometimes I saw makeup looks made by established professionals in the field that I simply didn’t like even though I respect their vision. Don’t be afraid to experiment, to try new things and to pick and choose what you like and suits you best.