The first part of this whole Makeup is Easy concept is giving yourself the gift of good skin. This is actually way, way easier than Neutrogena, et al., would have you believe. Two main things for good skin - lots of water, and washing of face. I used to be supercrappy about washing my face because for some reason I decided that face washing had to be a wholly separate project from showering. I don't know how this happened. So now, every morning I wash my face in the shower with some combination of three things - Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel, Fruits + Passion Radiance Vitaminized Cleansing Mousse, and Arbonne Foaming Sea Salt Scrub.
Here's the thing...those are more or less random products. They're not specially engineered for my skin or Ph balanced so they're strong enough for a woman, they're just stuff either recommended to me or in the case of the F+P stuff, given to me. The Badescu stuff is a good solid starting cleanser; it costs something like $26 for a big ass bottle and mine has lasted me over a year. It's a gentle gel cleanser that doesn't have aggressive scent and gets your face squeaky-clean. The Fruits Mousse is light and airy but cleans hard and makes your skin all glowy (I assume this is the work of the vitamins). The Sea Salt Scrub is great for summer; I don't know about you, but I feel my grodiest in summer because you sweat and the sweat accumulates but you're out at the pool so you don't want to hose down and then by the end of the day you're just grossed out by your own self and you need something that gives you the emotional support of feeling like it's sloughing off the grossness. The Arbonne scrub is a gentle exfoliant but gives you a nice tingley feeling as it works, so you feel 100% more human. The important part is washing your face, at least once, every day. This is not to say those aren't great products, but the main point is the washing. Clean all the gunk out of there.
You always hear that you ABSOLUTELY MUST TAKE ALL YOUR MAKEUP OFF BEFORE BED and this is true but honestly I suck at this. When I come home from a night out and it's 2am or whatever, turning on the water and cleaning with soap and then towelling off is like, WAY too much work for me (yes, I know this is sad). So you know what I got? Ponds old-school cold cream. That shit gets off the most ornery mascara and makes your face supersoft. All you have to do is slather your face with it, then wipe it off with a towel. It's really easy, doesn't involve modulating water temperature so you don't traumatize your drunk face and does a great job cleaning so you don't get giant creepy zits to go with your hangover.
I also use a toner when I remember, but generally I am bad at this. If you can remember toner, that is a good thing. Moisturize and apply sunscreen. This does not mean you have to throw on the Bullfrog every day. Almost every tinted moisturizer and foundation has an SPF now and if a brand doesn't, that brand does not love you and you should dump its sorry ass. Sunscreen keeps your scary Boca Resident tannery-face risk down and keeps your face from burning and prompting co-workers to ask you concerned questions about "what happened." SPF literally costs you no more than whatever foundation you already buy, so do yourself a favor and get yourself some.
If you can get yourself in for a facial once in a while to clean way beyond what you can get to on your own, go for it. Communicate with your facialist - if you notice skin problems in the mirror, mention them to her. If something feels too aggressive or not aggressive enough, let the facialist know. These people deal with skin all day, every day, and they can answer questions for you and generally make your life better. I had these weird little doo-dads under my eyes for...man, the better part of a year and I went in to see a facialist before the wedding. I actually forgot about them, so I didn't mention them, but all of a sudden the facialist was all "I'm going to fix your milia," which are teensy little attempts at your skin trying to eject something it doesn't like. She lanced those bad boys out of there and now my skin is wicked happy. Also, if you have a chronic skin situation, even if it's just some persistent redness, it's probably worth your time to go see a dermatologist. So many low-grade skin issues are relatively easy to fix, but they'll drive you nuts if you just let them linger.
NOW YOU HAVE A GLORIOUS FACE!
Today's Makeup Is Easy took a grand total of ten minutes and frankly looks way better than my phone's camera is up to showing. I moisturized, then covered up a couple feisty red spots with a little concealer. I generally try to avoid concealer because I find it always looks clumpy and gross and attention-grabbing by midday, but sometimes my OCD wins and I have to throw something on there or I'll obsess about it all day. I used Prescriptives mineral foundation, then brushed Body Shop Nature's Minerals powder over the top. I have also found that I can do perfectly fine with the powder alone. If you have clean, happy skin, you do not need goop.
All the color today came from The She Space which rules and has everything. I used "Without Wonder" blush, which is an orangey pink. For my eyes, I applied "Lucifer's Chariot" (fierce purpley-pink with blue iridescence) to the lid and just over the curve of the orbital bone. I will note that I have found pulling the stronger color into the little hollow over your tear duct helsp make the color more pronounced without mashing it all the way up to your eyebrow a la Mimi from the Drew Carey Show. After that, I switched brushes and applied "Broken Rules" (soft pale sandy gold) over the whole shebang. That pulled some of the Lucifer's Chariot into the lid and evened out the color. I finished it off with my absolute favorite, totally-awesome-you-must-get-some-immediately Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes mascara, which despite having a completely stupid name and a brush that looks like a teensy little hedgehog will let you get every single tiny lash and cover it with an awesomeness infusion unlike any you have ever seen. I applied MAC Dazzleglass in "Get Rich Quick" in the parking lot at work and called it a day.
Total time: 10 minutes
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