Thursday, September 15, 2011

Make Up Pet Peeves

Do you have anything that drives you crazy about makeup, beauty, or the way other people talk about it?

1. The term "holy grail" or HG. Drives me nuts. Maybe it's just because I was raised Catholic, but it offends me. It's just foundation (or lipstick, etc.), it's not that important. What's wrong with "favorite?".

2. Light lipgloss over darker lipstick. Excuse me while I shudder in disgust. It looks outdated and gross. I had a sales associate at MAC try that trick and it was so ugly I couldn't look at myself. I actually think gloss over lipstick looks really--okay I think most lipglosses, especially super shiny ones--look dated. There are plenty of super pigmented glosses if that's the look you want, and lots of lipsticks with enough emollients to give a dewy shine. And if you want to add gloss to an existing lipstick, try the lipgloss first and the lipstick over it, so pretty.

3. Everyone is "super pale.". Does this come from the idea that every caucasian has a tan, or wants one? So of you don't have a tan, you are automatically the palest person you know. There seems to be some paleness competition on certain message boards and the comments on certain blogs. "I'm NW5!" "I'm NW0!" "I have no pigmentation to my skin and am an alarming web of veins!" which leads to my pet peeve of people describing their skin tone using MAC foundation names, but that's for a different time. Now, I am on the fair side of things for sure; I burn easily and I often wear the lightest or second lightest foundation in a brand. And there are lots of people fairer than I am--Christina Hendricks and my beloved Cameron Mitchell (who's from Texas of all places). I am far from mandating that anyone get a tan (wait for number 4), but the paleness battle some people seem to get into makes me want a person who has albinism to shut them all up.

4. Bronzer. I don't get bronzer, and I hate it when brands/makeup artists/YouTube gurus insist it can be used as contour. No it can't. contour should usually be cool toned, since shadows are cool toned. And all those bronzers that aren't bronzers but highlighters/blushes/face powders should just be labeled as such. I guess bronzers are for people who tan their bodies, but not their faces. I get the purpose for pros on photoshoots who need to add a tanned look to someone who doesn't have one. But honestly, does every cosmetics line need five or six of them?

5. Over-highlighted brow bones. Anyone remember Britney Spears' video for "Oops I Did It Again" from more than a decade ago? All I remember is her white frosty eyeshadow all the way to her brows. It was hideous then and that hasn't changed. The under brow highlight is over used. For instance, if the lid is dark for a smoky eye, the brow ridge is automatically highlighted; it might look better if a muted taupe was used to blend out the shadow. Makeup artist Carmindy who has been in a rut for six seasons of What Not To Wear insists every woman needs highlight under the brow and the inner corner. I'm not a fan of the teary eyed look, either, which is always the result of shimmer placed around the tear duct, but I vehemently disagree with the reasoning that everyone needs anything, especially brow highlight. It can be useful for showing off the arch of the eyebrow or for people with heavy lids, but a lot of people would benefit from highlighting the lid rather than the brow bone.

End of rant. I promise to come back with some things I love (one word--blush) soon.