When I was down in Melbourne visiting Tine last year, we spent most of the cool afternoons at home, chatting about various topics from blogging to makeup and we got to reminiscing about the good ol’ days. Thing is, I’ve known Tine quite a while from early blogging and beauty days so we had a lot to reminisce about.
And one of the things we talked about was that “Makeup Lightbulb Moment”. You know that moment when you put on a makeup item and suddenly it was HALLELUJAH! Angels sing, you are amazed at how much better your skin and you look and you go “So this is what makeup can do! I look like me but better!” 😀
You know that moment? 😀
Well I had my lightbulb moment a little late in the day. I’d been wearing just powder or powder foundation for a while with a touch of blush. I was a very simple low maintenance gal… well back then anyway 😉 But one day, I came across an item I’d never thought to use and that lightbulb came on. So, THIS is what makeup can do!
What was it? Ah… take a guess… It’s something I obsess about till today 😉 In fact, it was such an interesting discussion that Tine and I have done a little collaborative post to tell you what our makeup lightbulb moments were.
Did you guess that mine was concealer? You would have gotten it absolutely right! 😀
I don’t have that original concealer anymore but I had never thought to wear concealer. I had worse skin back then than I do now and I was regularly working very long, late hours and getting very little sleep. It’s no wonder I had bad skin to be honest but I had never thought to wear concealer.
One day, I received a swap package and in it was a sample of Benefit Boi-ing concealer. I wasn’t sure what to do with it and on reflection, it was actually a whole shade too dark for me but I tried it anyway with some help from the internet and the first thing I did was to tap some of it on my under eye area and look in the mirror
HALLELUJAH!
That was the sound of angels singing as I stared at the dark panda eye circles that had all but disappeared from view! I actually looked fresher and in a working environment, more bright-eyed and bushy tailed. I did not necessarily feel better but I LOOKED better and that was when I realised just how useful makeup could be to help me look better and put my best face forward in a professional environment.
I have never looked back since and have always been on the lookout for the next best concealer. I don’t have that pan of Boi-ing anymore. It was the wrong shade and by the time I actually planned to get one, I realised I didn’t quite like the texture. It just felt too thick and I didn’t notice it at the time, but it settled into lines and looked cakey if I wasn’t careful.
Being wary of my budget, I went on to use up copious tubes of the very affordable and very effective L’Oreal Touche Magique pen until it was discontinued and later moved on to Make Up For Ever Full Cover, which works well for covering up blemishes and discolourations but is too thick for the under eye area. I have since found the one concealer I don’t think I can do without, but I am always swayed to try others to see if they match up to my ideals.
Concealer was the one thing that changed my outlook on the makeup I used and how it could help me put a better face forward and I have my swappee to thank for this lightbulb moment 😀 If you want to know what concealers I’ve tried, they can be found here.
So, you know mine now check out what Tine’s makeup lightbulb moment was. I’m curious what she picked! 😀
What is your makeup lightbulb moment? What makeup item did you try or use that made you change the way you feel about wearing makeup?
I can’t rave enough about wearing concealer and in fact, if I’m having a good skin day, I am quite willing to skip base makeup and just wear a touch of concealer to keep me looking fresh. What’s yours? Do share!
Paris B
Good morning! I was guessing either blush or a red lipstick for you!!’:P
My lightbulb moment would be a simple black eyeliner pencil from Marks and Spencer Per Una range. It even came with a sponge smudger at the end. Once I tried it, I knew I would never leave the house without it. From then on my obsession for eyeliners continue to expand. 🙂
Hey Ting! I know! I thought most people might guess blush or lipstick too haha! 😀 Eyeliner! The first day I wore it I must have poked myself in the eye LOL I was so bad at it I’m glad I now only tightline coz I still never got the hang of using liner! But it truly transforms the eye doesn’t it?
Haha hurrah for concealers and the makeup lightbulb moment! To tell you the truth, I’m still finding one that will suit my undereye area to a T. I have some sort of dark discolouration below my eyes (I guess you can call them dark circles but I have them even though I’ve had ample sleep) that a lot of concealers can’t hide. The ones that can will make the area look really cakey. I’ll need to try yours out.
PS: Have to do this more often, man. 😉
I have serious dark circles too since I was a kid? Ha! Normal concealer (beige shades) just won’t do the job. I have to use orange shade concealer (kryolan paint stick- 508) to mix with beige shade (kryolan paint stick FS 45) in order to be able to cover up my dark rings! A little of it works the magic, so maybe you could try it too!
p/s: I will apply these only when I have important functions or event to attend as I prefer minimalist day-to-day type of makeup~
Yes! I swear I heard angel music LOL! Eh you know, I picked up the By Terry one you told me you liked. I have been told that sometimes these “dark circles” are also caused by thin skin around the eyes or loss of collagen which is why we can’t really “treat” it, but concealer will help. I find the Nars helps me a lot but maybe a salmon coloured one may help you better? Have you tried this Nars concealer? I swear, angels sang again the day I tried it 😛 p/s Yes we must! 😀
My fave concealer right now is the MAC ProLongwear. I love that stuff. I can use it all over my face, even under eyes and A little powder and I’m good to go! In fact I need to pick up a new one~
Ooh that good eh? Is it better than the Nars one?
This got me thinking! Mine would be liquid foundation. I was using powder foundation but it never wow me. You can still see veins on my cheeks and I don’t like that. So when I tried liquid foundation for the first time, I never look back. 😀
Isn’t it great to be forced to think of something like this? 😀 I think most of the time we know that pivotal moment, but we just don’t think a lot about it. You’re right about liquid foundation being better for me too. I used to hate liquid foundation coz I found it too heavy and oily but with the recent lighter formulations, I haven’t been wearing powder foundation in a long long time! 😀
I can’t think of a lightbulb moment, to be honest. It might be the first time I got my brows professionally shaped. Then I realised the power of good clean brows.
I remember that too! Suddenly I didn’t know how I ever got along without shaping my brows haha
My lightbulb moment is foundation. And it’s mineral powder foundation that makes my skin go wow! 😀 And now, I don’t wear foundation that much anymore Like you, I like using concealer. That NARS concealer it is my HG now for me. A little goes a long way and it covers up my super dark eyes circle so easily. 🙂
Yay love the Nars concealer! So awesome! I still wear foundation but I now gravitate towards lighter textures. Good on you for not needing foundation anymore 🙂
yup! bravo to the ol concealer! i was like you when i was younger, had bad skin then, and was using only light foundation & setting powder. plus busy with work etc made me not want to add an extra step to my beauty routine. found the joy of using the concealer 2,3 years ago and now never turning back. in fact now my skin is a bit better than before, sometimes i just apply concealer to where ever needed & top it up with a setting powder to the whole face, there i go, done. good ol concealer. never thought it would be a stapple in my stash.
p/s: when i went back to malaysia recently, bought the za concealer shown in ur picture above. have u tried it? i am yet to use it coz still trying to finish my maybelline dream matte & sephora stick concealers.
Woohoo! Yay for concealer! I can’t go without anymore 😀 I actually quite like that ZA concealer. It’s not as good as say, the Nars one but it is pretty decent for something so affordable. I believe it’s not as thick as the Maybelline or a stick concealer so don’t get your hope up too high!
My lightbulb moment would definitely have to be liquid highlighter. It REALLY makes a difference on my complexion. I love Benefit’s Girl Meets Pearl and Watt’s Up specifically.
Gosh highlighter! I still haven’t perfected that one but yay for making a difference to the complexion! Isn’t it great to discover how a subtle change that makeup can bring to our skin just make us look better? 😀
Mine would be bronzer and concealer! I always thought asians are not suitable for bronzer due to our rather round face but when I put it on it works in making my face look slimmer. Also, bronzer gives my face more dimension! 😀
As for concealer, I bought a Kat Von D concealer from US and it was the wrong shade. It’s a bit too dark to cover up blemishes and redness etc so I used it under my eyes to cover up dark circles and voila! I also noticed that if I used a light concealer shade to cover up my dark circles, it doesn’t look very natural. So, I’m quite happy I’ve found a way to use that wrong concealer shade and it cover up my dark circles so well it looks quite natural hahaha
Bronzer! One item I still haven’t gotten the hang of but good on ya for getting it to work for you! 😀 I love the subtle effects that good makeup and techniques can bring to our faces and how they can help us look better. Makeup doesn’t have to be garish as some people believe – it can just make us look better 🙂
When I think back, long time ago … my ‘very’ first product was a lipstick I got from my mum. Clinique, it came with a gift packaging she got, had that ugly green packaging, haha. A deep burgundy brownish shade. I was 15 or so. I wasn’t wearing any makeup at this time, not even mascara. When I put on this lipstick I fell in love with it, made feel special and vintage haha. But my serious makeup thing started when I was 22, I was at a mac counter and the MUA applied foundation, blush and mascara – I was wowed by how healthy, relaxed and flawless I was looking. I never was scared of vampy, red shades but I was scared of foundation and blush, lol. She was such a good MUA, so sad she moved, always recommended stuff I liked.
Aww that’s such a lovely story Claire! 😀 Lipstick can totally transform a look. I started out with bright shades too coz I figured, why wear lipstick if it can’t be seen? 😛 Sorry to hear your fave MUA left. I hate it when that happens too coz sometimes it’s like losing a friend!
I would like to say it was the concealer for me but I have yet to get hold of THE one that covers my dark circles without caking. Which reminds me, I need to check out the NARS concealer that so many are raving about!
I think my lightbulb moment would be the eyeshadow primer, UD Primer Potion in particular. Back then, I used to stay away from eyeshadows because I tend to have oily lids and it would crease up on me. Thus, causing me not to experiment around with eyeshadow and only sticked to blush and lipstick. But, when I first tried out the eyeshadow primer, my first reaction was “Where have you been all this while????!!!!”. =P And from that point onward is when my eyeshadow pallete collection started to accumulate and the rest is history! 😉
Yes yes, check out the Nars. I have actually stopped looking at more concealers since I got it. Seriously! 😀 Ooh eyeshadow primer, such an excellent lightbulb moment coz this means you can now wear eyeshadow without it disappearing! Haha… not good for your wallet, but excellent for your eyes 😉
Mine is eyeliner, just do a little drawing and eyes are awake and alive. Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner is best. Though sometimes I use Pupa pencil eyeliner if in hurry
Oh yes, eyeliner does make a difference to the face! I like how everyone is picking very subtle things that we may never notice until ping! the lightbulb comes on 😀
Hmmmm I can’t think of mine, too…but I would have to pick either under eye concealer or a lipstick. Hehe!
Aww I’m sure there was at least one item that made you go “Hot damn! Where have you been all my life?!” 😀
It would be the brown eyeliner from “too cool for school”. I picked it up last week and been using everyday to work since then.
The brown eyeliner can be used as eye-shadow as well.
Brown eyeliner is a good one. It’s less dramatic than black and can flatter some people’s eyes better too! Oh and multitasking is even better haha
It would have to be MAC’s Studio fix concealer!
Hmm… one I haven’t thought to try! Guess it must be pretty life changing.
Sun screen and powder. Seriously. I used to do the whole she-bang: sun screen, primer, foundation, powder. Took too long and got too uncomfortable too quickly. I stopped using make up for a while and on a off hand comment to a friend about her make up routine I found out she just used sun screen and powder. Game changer right there! If I really wanted to look decent I’ll use concealer but other wise if I have nothing special on those two work fine!
Nice and minimalist! 🙂 I haven’t used just powder in ages! I have sunscreen on daily though so I guess I’m 50% there? 😉
Haha, you know at work my bosses always say that we need to continue to strive and excel in what we do, hence we need to collaborate and together, we can achieve the lightbulb or Aha moment? Your catchy blog title was really my Eureka moment. Well, for me, it will definitely be BB cream and compact powder. I have always been terrified of makeup simply because as a kid, I was never good in art. Short of being colour blind, but I am really one of those who is not artistically inclined.
After trying the Dior BB cream deluxe sample, I was amazed that after living with my terrible skin for eons, I can actually end looking a shade or two better 🙂 That was my precious moment. I went on to try the powder and the finishing was quite marvelous. Yeah, the scars and keloid are still there, but at least it helped to even out my skin tone.
I would have guessed yours was the foundation…haha, that came quite close to concealer, but only made it better 🙂
Haha how cute that you could relate work to this blog post! 😀 Actually Jennifer, I always looked warily at makeup before because I never really had anyone guide me in the weird and mysterious ways of makeup and had to go at it alone! For some reason, it was considered just too frivolous to pay attention to. But that lightbulb moment is quite something isn’t it? It just opens up your world and reminds you that it’s ok to wear a little makeup and you don’t have to look like a painted doll 🙂
It is the eyeliner…. It helps me to look fresher and awake.
That’s a good one! If it was for eyes, it would be tightlining for me. Opened up my world LOL
Makeup brushes! Am in love with Real Techniques now, especially the expert face brush. Never thought makeup brushes can make such a big difference to foundation application.
Good choice Ping! 😀 Real Technique brushes are pretty good and so affordable too! Oh and that Expert Face Brush definitely takes the prize for foundation application.
Loved this post, Paris! I’m quite obsessed with a perfect base but I have to say that my lightbulb moment has been discovering how much I love a *strong* lip color. I do have quite good skin so I can easily skip foundation and concealer but I just love how a good lipstick makes me look!
Glad you enjoyed it S! 😀 You are right, you do look fabulous in a strong lip! Never let anyone tell you otherwise 🙂