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Sunday 1 May 2011

My Makeup Timeline.

I was talking with Lily from Beauty's Bad Habit about makeup crimes on Twitter recently, and she said I should write a make-up timeline (You can see hers here.) Read on for the shame - it's pretty long, so grab a  cuppa.

School and college:

Oh dear. Well, let's just say I had a goth phase. I certainly still lean towards the (and I hate this phrase with a passion) 'rock chick' side of things but I'm too fickle to commit to a 'look' these days.

I am *that* old that I was at school before digital cameras/phone cameras, so I don't have many pictures, but the first makeup I can remember doing on myself looked like this:


Seriously, just like that - Cleopatra liner! I guess I thought it was winged liner. Eeeew. I also remember putting a grey-green shadow ALL THE WAY from lid to brow with over-filled purple lipstick.

I also remember a picture of me and my two best friends, who all did our eye make-up like this, except horribly with (probably) blunt khol pencil:


GOD. Bear in mind we were all probably just wearing jeans and hoodies, too. Day to day makeup was just a LOT of black liner, mascara and nail polish - that's it! When I did wear eyeshadow, my dad used to stop me before I left the house to blend the edges in! I sometimes wore foundation, but no blush or lipstick/gloss. And I am afraid to say I did not wash my makeup off, either!



Around this time, I also remember buying this Stargazer shadow from a goth shop. Fuck knows what it looked liked on - these shadows are chalky as.... er, chalk, and you bet your butt I didn't know anything about eyeshadow bases!


This is my prom photo - my aunt who did a make-up course (she introduced me to Konad a looong time ago!) did my foundation, blush and lippy, which to this day I am thankful for, and I did my eye make-up. Not too bad - this was probably the most presentable I looked from the ages 13-18!

Uni:

Start of uni was little better. This is a pretty prime example:

Sooo... less eyeliner than my teenage years and that's it?! This was at a formal event, people! What the hell? Also: NO EYEBROWS. I wore black liner and/or Collection 2000 glitter liner in Emerald and Bourjois Little Round Pot eyeshadow in Beige Rose every single day for about two years (I only recently threw that motherfucker out!) and my going out look was... er, this?



Right... bad eyeliner again. Nice. At some point during uni my hair went from blonde to this:

I much prefer my hair red but... you gaiz.... this is my makeup for my 21st birthday. I cannot tell you how embarrassed I am when I look at the photos from that night. I was dressed as a fucking mermaid, I should have made more bloody effort with my makeup! As you can see, it hadn't clicked yet that my eyebrows should match my hair somewhat...


Ahhh, that's better! While I didn't discover blush as such, I did discover this:


Benefit 10! I used to wear this religiously, and I still dig it out fairly often in the summer. I didn't own "much" make-up at uni, but I did have some Barry M shadows, a fair amount of Benefit (this was before I knew that a high price doesn't necessarily mean it's good!), a red lippy or two, Chanel/Dior mascara, and of course that bloody Bourjois shadow! Everything fit with room to spare in this:




Canada:

When I was living in Canada for a year was when I really got interested in makeup. I broke my arm and spent 6 weeks watching YouTube videos because when you break your arm in January in B.C, there is NOTHING else to do if you can't snowboard. I didn't really wear makeup much that year, because I was very outdoorsy, but here's a look from when I went out one night in Vancouver with my friend Sara.


A bit draggy, no? I hate my hair this colour - and how much bronzer do I need to wear? Clearly had a lot to learn, still!

1 year ago:

About a year ago, I started blogging. This was my first 'creative' look, just before I started blogging.

I'd just bought a 120 palette, I think, and I decided to copy this My Eyeshadow Is Odd tutorial. Can you tell I didn't own any makeup brushes at this point? I did this with q-tips and sponge applicators.

This is my first 'normal' look I posted on my blog:


Not the worst make-up in the world, especially as I wasn't using primers/bases. I think I had a couple of brushes at this point, but probably no blending brushes. As you can see, I wasn't really sure what my crease was, I guess! I always used to do 'half and half' eyeshadow when I used two colours! At this point, I still didn't wear blush regularly, and I only plucked a tiny portion of my outer brows.


At this point I had was using primer, but my brows were still... not the best. But now:






My brows are a lot better, even though they're probably a bit short in the last photo. But I know what my crease is, how to blend much better, the benefits of blush and lip colour and EYEBROW PENCIL.

I also own a bit too much makeup now:



And I even do it on some other people! I still have a looong way to go to get to where I'd like to be, but lets face it, there's a lot of improvement here. I'd love to see 'timelines' if you have the photos so I'm tagging you all!

24 comments:

  1. I absolutely love your hair where you have it red and straight!! Gorgeous! And I love the photo from canada, the colour of your hair was stunning! haha this makes me want to dig up some oldies :D

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  2. I can't believe you've been into makeup that much for only a year! You hve mad skills, girl!

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  3. What an interesting post! Also, in that photo from Canada, your eyeliner looks great.

    I remember when I first started with makeup. I didn't know about eye primer. I would put shadow on in the morning and if ever I touched my eyelids, it would come off like grease, or something. EWWWW.

    Aside from the insane creasing, I don't think I wore anything disastrous, though (I would just do an all-over lid color sometimes, liner and foundation back then).

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  4. You are a makeup queen. And so gorgeous. I am glad you started blogging.

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  5. Love this! Very interesting to read! Loved you as a blonde, but you definitely rock the red hair! Isn't it interesting how our makeup skills and usage change over time?!

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  6. This was awesome! I loved seeing you through the years. Im amazed at your makeup skills and I can't believe you have only been blogging a year and have gotten this far! I want to see more of your work on other people too!

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  7. Haha, I love that your Dad used to blend in your eyeshadow! My Dad did exactly the same thing with blush (and still does sometimes haha). I think your hair colour really suits you in the pic where you say you hate it!

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  8. @Dazzlelight: Thankyou! I used to straighten it all the time, can't be bothered now!

    @Musing On Beauty: Thankyou! All props to the Internet for being a great teacher :)

    @VijiiS: When I first bought UDPP in the shop and took it home and used it I was like WHAT THE FUCK. HOW IS THIS THAT AWESOME?!

    @Makeup Zombie: Me too!

    @The Peach: I know, I find it very odd I used to be so minimal!

    @Jessi: I'll do another post soon :)

    @BBH: God bless Dads! I hated it because I couldn't buy the red colour I wanted in my tiny drugstore, and that was the nearest I could get.

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  9. We have a similar make-up history. I like that! x

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  10. I love this post! I love your red hair, it's fantastic!
    I honestly didn't start wearing make up until last year. Before that it was eyeliner only! I love the internet and blogs for opening my eyes! Also, I never saw the point in eyeshadow, until I used UDPP, I can't understand why doesn't everyone use it, it makes such a difference :)

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  11. This is great, makes me remember my 'too much eyeliner and nothing else' phase as a teenager, and the Bourjois blusher I wore for years haha. It didn't even show up! Btw your eyebrows are fab now!

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  12. This was hilarious and brought back so many of my own memories too. I only found out what a crease is in 2009 myself! I used to do half-and-half eyeshadow all the time, and nothing higher than my lid . No highlight colour under my brows. I have only just started wearing blush more often than not, I was scared of it for ages!

    Definitely going to do my own version of this post, though it probably won't have many pictures of actual make-up on me, I'll have to take pictures of products instead.

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  13. OMG! I love your paint rendering of your first eye makeup look! It made me laugh and made me remember my first attempts as well! I think I may have to do a look based on this little paint picture....lol!!! Also, I'm old too, I have a bunch of old skool pictures of myself before the age of digital cameras. I'd love to see some pictures from your goth phase!

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  14. How I love this post! You did learn a lot, even if it never was that horrible :)
    By the way, I really like how you do your brows now!

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  15. I still do half and half looks sometimes and my blending skills leave a LOT to be desired! I hope I can get as far as you someday! :D

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  16. This is so amusing and interesting! I think you're cute with blonde hair but the red is more "pow" haha. I'll have to try working on one of these.

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  17. Loved reading your timeline!
    My make-up has never really progressed from age 12. Hunners or black eyeliner and goth flicks...

    In fact, I reckon I'm re-gressing: I bought black Stargazer lipstick only last week!!

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  18. @Ruthy: I was reading your just the other day and I thought that a bit too!

    @GemX: I KNOW! I see people with creasy shadow and I want to rush out and buy it for them.

    @Sepia Raven: Lol, the things we do as kids. And you use up ALL of your crappy product, even though it's crap!

    @Julianne: Do it anyway and let me know,I'd love to read it!

    @Vulcan Butterfly: I was drawing it and was like, ah, it's not really that neat, and then remembered what my actual look looked like and left it! I used that look to pull this boy I liked at the time as well! D:

    @MlleK: I guess I just can;t believe how different I treat my face now!

    @Ki: I still do half-and-half, it's just back then it was like... a blunt line between the colours, like I'd just slammed a pressed shadow duo directly onto my lid and thought 'Oh, that'll do!'

    @Cydonian: OMG DO IT!

    @Madame G: LOL, I think I had that lippy as well. I was looking at all the Stargazer in New Look the other day and it reminded me of... how awful my makeup used to look! I might pick a couple up for nostalgia's sake!

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  19. Very interesting! I love this kind of posts, so interesting to see how people's skills have improved!
    I didn't start wearing make up until 1 year ago too when I started blogging :D x

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  20. I love the new template :D

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  21. @Jonna: It's amazing how it can change! I went from barely wearing anything and in just a year I wear founadtion, blush, lips, brows, liner, mascara, powder, various eyeshadows, etc etc, daily!

    @Ki: Aw thanks! Mah boyfriend made it!

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  22. So Im not into make up. Its doesn't excess kohl, mascara and lippy. The most I've pushed is eye shadow which my mum forced one me. :P But WOW your timeline is so inspiring.! You shaved your eyebrows????
    You got red hair! That is on my to-do list! It was a long post but I actually sat through all of it and didn't get bored. I almost didn't comment when I saw the large amounts your already have! *Sheepish grin*
    But here I am, kudos to make-up-ery. You dont make it sound so bad- like-don't-hide-your-beauty-with-make-up-its bad!! :D
    WOAAAAH on your make up stash!!!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Kiwi! :D Makeup is fun - it washes off and that's the best thing about it! It doesn't have to hide anything if you don't want it to :)

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  23. P.S LOVE the orange eye look! Im so trying it out!!! <3

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Thanks for reading! Got a question? Catch me on Instagram @staybeautifulmakeup or on Twitter @robynheartsslap