No Foundation Redux #4: This Has Been Good For Me

Several months ago, I wrote about feeling more and more disgruntled with my personal appearance, even if I knew logically that I look totally fine. I decided to revamp the No Foundation challenge and get some perspective on my skin.

And you know what? It's worked. I am not wearing makeup to class this semester, and it hasn't bothered me yet. I am regularly choosing to wear just a couple of products on my face while going sans base, especially if it's raining or I don't know how late it will be when I wash my face. The sense of panic at the sight of a pimple or a few new clogged pores isn't nearly as strong. (Actually, I'd say my skin's occasional blips cause a bit of exasperation for me now, nothing more. I'm tethered in reality here: my skin is good and I should be thankful for it.)

No Foundation Redux isn't the only thing that's helped, of course. My political and philosophical interests have been revitalized in the past year (for obvious reasons, if you've been watching the US Presidential Election), and it's encouraged me to look at the bigger picture. Yes, we tend to judge women more harshly than men. Yes, we are obsessed with physical beauty. Yes, we buy in to Photoshopped imagery and videos shot with skin-smoothing filters, despite having evidence that even beautiful people who spend millions on their looks also have pores and wrinkles. Yes, we need to remember that we are just as talented, intelligent, educated, and skilled as ever whether we're rocking makeup or not.

I still have my moments, of course; a particularly huge and angry pimple in the middle of my forehead will make me feel a little disgruntled when I get dressed for work, for instance. And I'm not giving up on foundation entirely. I still enjoy wearing it, especially if I'm going out on the town or am attending a formal event. But I'm better able to push my insecurities aside and see my face for what it really is: perfectly normal. I skipped foundation today because I just didn't feel like wearing it, and I still think I look pretty good. Success!

Have I mentioned that I found leftover mirror tiles in the basement? Cause I did. I found leftover mirror tiles.

Here are today's products. I decided to mix the new Glossier Generation G shades, Zip and Leo, to get a rustier, fall leaf red shade. (I lied about replacing my other Gen Gs, by the way--I decided to order the updated Crush and Jam tubes today. The new formula and packaging are just much nicer.) I ignored the couple of tiny red spots I have on my face and just dabbed a bit of Kat Von D Lock-It Concealer on my undereyes. My trusty Shiseido curlers and the Milk Ubame mascara I'm enjoying so much worked out my lashes, and I filled in my brows with the Milk Gel Brow pencil.

There's also some blush in this look, which I've skipped on previous no foundation days. Kevyn Aucoin Tansoleil is a lovely peach that works so well with reds and nudes, but I probably didn't put enough on. Oops.

No Foundation Redux #3: Obligatory Red Lip

USA-based beauty bloggers and fashion magazines seem to have a constant hard-on for "French girls." It's not totally without cause, since Paris has earned a reputation as the fashion capital of the world, and I'm told it's a very beautiful, romantic city. But the constant OMG FRENCH WOMAN!!! articles, ranging from "How to Wear Skinny Jeans Like a French Girl" to "Ask a French Girl About Friendship," strike me as bizarre. Unless I'm missing something, these are just articles about exceptionally pretty women who do things in a cool, stylish way...which isn't native to France. I've definitely seen a skinny jeans-leather jacket combo on the streets of Pittsburgh, and I don't think anybody feels comfortable fighting with their friends.

I say this somewhat bitchy stuff because one of the makeup looks that's very Vogue popular is a minimal base with sloppy hair and bright red lipstick. I often scoff at this look because, like many Americans who blog and watch YouTube, I'm quite attached to a red lip with a carefully perfected face. See my Christmas card/engagement photo outtakes, for instance (which feature the same lipstick I used above):

Why am I marrying this idiot?

Yet for all of my holier-than-thou attitude and stuffy sneers, I have to admit that I can actually kind of get behind this look. When I was in graduate school, I was forever enamored with the chic middle-aged barista who wore only three products (mascara, blush, red lipstick) on a daily basis. Furthermore, I like the idea of just using what you have instead of fundamentally altering your face. To quote Violette, apparently a mononymous French makeup artist:

What we want is to be ourselves—not a better version of ourselves. We feel like it’s better to be used to something than to try to change it. So we think: What style can I have with this face, and with this hair? That mentality is 100 percent French.

I dunno if it's 100% French, given my time trolling around makeup forums of all sorts, but for better or worse, it's the beauty attitude that is almost always attributed to France. And, hey, I kind of like it.

I decided to use my personal favorite red lip combo, MAC Scarlet Ibis lipstick and Basic Red pencil, for this photo, and because it's so bright, I figured I needed heavy eyebrows to balance it out. The Milk Makeup brow pencil is my darkest, most pigmented pencil, which makes drawing those puppies on a breeze. Then I can set them with the Anastasia Clear Brow Gel.

You know, I probably do my eyebrows too heavy these days. It's hitting me now.

Anyway! I used the Milk Ubame mascara and some Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Crayon to darken up the lashes. I was a good girl and I didn't do much base--I left a bit of post-acne pigmentation uncovered, for instance--and just swiped some of the Kat Von D Concealer Creme in L3 on my undereyes. I almost patted some on my nose, too, since it tends to be darker and more red than the rest of my face, but I resisted, mostly because that concealer isn't the right shade for me. Finally, I felt a little naked without something on my cheeks, so I tapped a dollop of MAC Strobe Cream across my cheekbones.

Easy, hot weather friendly, and surprisingly brightening. As an added bonus, skipping most base makeup makes it very easy to switch out your lip color. You don't have to worry about scrubbing off the foundation or powder around your mouth!

No Foundation Redux #2: It's Freaking Hot

So it's summer, and I'm getting more and more resistant to wearing makeup. There are times when this is totally fine, like when my partner and I decide to run around in the woods or take long, sweaty walks through the park. But sometimes I miss wearing makeup, slash, I want to look a bit more presentable than usual without feeling like my face is melting off. Hence, makeup without foundation!

Actually, this look features zero base products. I didn't want to wear concealer and my skin was behaving decently (the flush you see here is because I'd taken a half hour walk about 10 minutes prior to photography). I'm wearing a layer of sunscreen all over, that's it. And, I mean...I don't totally hate it. But looking at it in photographs, a bit of concealer or powder on my undereyes and nose would have improved the whole thing.

Beautiful background we've got here, right? Right!

I decided I would actually try a little with the eye makeup to feel less "undone," and the little eyeliner flick really did boost my mood! Priming with Too Faced Shadow Insurance made my liner and mascara damn near sweatproof, though I did smudge a tiny bit at the very end of the day. No shame, though; I'd been out in the heat and humidity for a few hours at that point. Brow pencil is non-negotiable.

I also patted on some Glossier Haloscope in Quartz and Generation G lipstick in Like. I'm torn on Haloscope in this heat: on the one hand, it looks loooooovely. On the other hand, it never completely dries down, so if I scratch my face or accidentally bump it, it just adds to the sticky feeling. Like could've been replaced by a tinted balm, but eh, this was still an eye-centric sort of day.

I calculated how much my look would've cost me last time, so! This one would be about $117, assuming the Milk mascara was a full-size product instead of the sample seen here, and assuming I didn't pay for this Marc Jacobs liner (which, of course, I didn't). Staying around $100 for a look? Not bad!

No Foundation Redux #1: Test Phase

As mentioned in my recent post that explained how I have been hating on my face a lot, I think a No Foundation challenge do-over is in order. This is especially timely for me because I managed to jack up my skin's moisture barrier something fierce, so my skin has been quite sensitive, red, and splotchy. What better time to forgo foundation and avoid testing too much new stuff?

I decided to start with just a few products to get a feel for how a no foundation look will read on me right now. I quickly realized that just spot concealing and putting on eyebrow pencil already makes me look and feel a dozen times better, probably because the parts of my face that frustrate me the most are "fixed." I think I'll feel even better with blush, to be honest, but I just used highlighter today because the lower parts of my cheeks is still extremely sensitive.

Here's what I used on my face today. Now, I know the three base products are very suspicious, but let me explain: I only used the D&G powder foundation on my nose, because my nose and my eyelids get oily while the rest of me is Sahara dry, and this powder provides sheer coverage without caking. I mixed a few drops of the Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint with the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer because NARS Chantilly is my "true" shade match...but without foundation, my face is two to three shades darker than my neck and chest. So I needed something to sheer out and darken the concealer. I applied the mixture to part of my chin, under my eyes, and on a blemish near my eyebrows. Honestly, it wasn't entirely successful; take a look at the FOTD picture and you'll see that my chin looks unnaturally smooth compared to the rest of my face. I think this is the concealer's coverage and the tint's blurring properties working together.

In other words, if you have a recommendation for an under-$20, relatively fair and neutral, very skin like, kind to dry skin concealer I can use for no foundation days, leave it in the comments! (I'm thinking MAC Select Cover, but I don't recall it having a very neutral shade range, and Maybelline Fit Me was too dark.)

The other stuff is the basics. I went for the Hard Candy Cherry Blossom lipstick because I figured it would brighten up my blush-less face without highlighting my surface redness. The Colorpop brow pencil is a cheap, quick, and easy addition to this look. And I'm currently testing out the Tarte mascara and the Makeup Revolution highlighter.

Overall, this look would cost $154, assuming I was using the full-sized mascara. A little over a third of that price is the D&G powder, and I could easily lop off another $25 or so if I found that ideal "no foundation" concealer.

A Week Without Foundation, Day 7

It's been a long, staggered road, but we're finally here: the end of the Week Without Foundation. Up til now, days off of work have been rare...and now they'll be relatively common, as I'm down to one job. I teach and that's it, barring the occasional freelance writing project. I definitely make less money and, as an adjunct at a community college, lack job security or health benefits, but I couldn't be happier.

Again, one of the bonuses of quitting my other job is that I get weekends off, plus the occasional weekday, and I can wear makeup pretty much every day without having to worry about how grocery store customers will react to my bright red lipstick. But doing this challenge has made me realize something: I simply cannot fathom going to work with full eye makeup and no foundation. It's gotta be a fully finished face or nothing at all.

I've definitely become more comfortable with my skin. Yes, I know, I have pretty good skin to begin with. But I'm still hyper-critical of myself, as most people are. I don't want my skin to look good, I want it to look perfect, and skipping concealer? That definitely doesn't help me achieve "perfect!" Yet there's something really beautiful and fun about skipping foundation on my days off. I don't have to worry so much about touch-ups. It's pretty obvious that my base is what worries me the most: I check it throughout the day to make sure it's not transferring, oxidizing, or fading. I feel strangely young, as if I'm back in high school and just starting to wear cat eyeliner, but not even thinking about foundation or blush. I'm slowly but surely starting to "look my age," but skipping foundation? It almost seems to supersede that.

What I'm wearing: Biore Perfect Milk and Shiseido Sun Protection Fluid for sun protection, Wet n' Wild Fergie eye primer, Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in Espresso, Benefit They're Real! and Clinique Bottom Lash mascaras, Shu Uemura Hard Formula brow pencil in Seal Brown, NYX lip liner in Nude Pink, and NYX gloss in Natural [D/C].

A Week Without Foundation, Day 4; now with bonus empties!

You know, I'm starting to appreciate the "wow factor" of this whole no-foundation thing. I still wish I had some concealer on my discoloration and my horrendous undereye circles, but if you're going to do a statement lip, it's kind of...fun having nothing else to distract from it. A bit unbalanced in the eyes of some, yes, but I'd take an unbalanced Revlon Black Cherry look over something outta Showgirls any day.

Skipping foundation, concealer, and powder also makes my looks more cost-effective. Besides the $5 Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick, I also used my $4 Maybelline Great Lash Lots of Lashes mascara, a very pigmented Wet n' Wild $1 brow pencil in Taupe, and the peachy Victoria's Secret gel blush I got on sale for $3. That means this look cost all of $13...and if it wasn't meant to be completely base-free, I would've used a bit of cheap-o concealer to finish it off.

Just imagine it with concealer, friends! Imagine those dark circles awaaaay!

ANYWAY. Here are some more empties, all skincare, all much-loved. I've gone through another tub of the Avon Nurtura night cream (which I always have a back-up of), the infamous Jack Black lip balm (not sure how many of these I own now), the Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream Body Treatment (which I currently can't afford a back-up of), and the L'occitane foot cream (ditto).

A Week Without Foundation, Day 1

I decided that if I was going to go without foundation, I was going to do the messiest, sloppiest, most unlike-me look I could manage: stupid amounts of black eyeliner and shadow. The carnage was far greater than I expected, and I maybe got a little carried away. What was originally just a smeary black line of kohl around my eyes quickly became a giant blob of greasy black cream products and super-thick lashes caked in product.

And I don't entirely hate it. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!

Of course, I ran through my entire skincare routine last night to get my face in top condition, which included the GLAMGLOW mask and heaps of Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream and Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream. I also worked out, then showered, right before I put on my makeup, which is why my skin has a bit of extra shine to it (it's all clean and freshly moisturized!). But I still felt a little insecure when I saw how these pictures turned out. I thought maybe I should allow myself a bit of sheer concealer for my Undereye Circles of Doom, which are particularly stark against all of that black eye makeup...but I resisted. Ladies and gents, it's the first day of the Week Without Foundation, and I'm doin' fine!

I can already tell you one benefit of being foundation-less: I don't have to worry about product smearing on the nose pads of my glasses and I'm not fussed about touching up my face. Granted, I'll probably wish I had SOMETHING to mattify my nose in a few hours, but that's life.

And yes, my hair is totally dirty and slapped on top of my head in a literal rat's nest. Not too bothered by it, to be honest.

Maybe I should rename my blog "Bad Outfit, Great Lipstick, Unredeemable Hair."