I’m going to a concert soon, so I’ve been spending idle time at home messing with makeup. I haven’t exactly discovered new skills. My job has no makeup requirement, which means most of my makeup is from my student days—some even from high school—and this year I finally updated a few things. So here is a small record.
My skin is combo-dry: my forehead gets very oily, while my nose, cheeks, and chin get so dry that foundation clings and flakes. My makeup standard is “good enough at social distance.” I don’t wear sunscreen, and I don’t care much about detail or concealer. This isn’t a product recommendation, just a personal log. No actual human photos here.
Before getting into it: for expensive primers, foundation, even lipstick, you can search shopping apps for samples or trial sizes. If you’re not sure, buy a sample first. A 5 ml foundation sample usually covers about four applications—sometimes I can’t even finish it. When I do makeup very rarely, I don’t think a full size is always necessary; for some categories, decants are enough. I only wear makeup when seeing friends or family, at most four times a month. I bought a full-size primer because I liked it so much, and I’m still working through the many samples that came with it. Looking back, there has been a fair amount of waste in my makeup life.
Primer / base
I used a light version of Dabao for years, and there was still at least half a tube left. I used to think primer wasn’t very different from skincare. Then this year I switched to Timage primer (01 hydrating), and the first few uses felt miraculous. Which also proves Dabao wasn’t really doing the job. I bought a sample first, liked it, then got the full 40 g tube plus 40 g of samples; after more than half a year, the tube has barely been scratched.
Around the same time, because of a store discount, I bought ZA’s purple isolate. The Timage primer has no color; the purple isolate seems to balance my skin tone better. In short, my face looks a shade brighter after it, and I ask less of my cushion foundation. I can also use it alone after toner—I use the IPSA lotion—and head out. I bought it recently, so I won’t say more yet.
Foundation / cushion
Until this year I used a Nars white cushion. It was almost used up, so I decided to switch to liquid foundation and bought a lot of samples. I ended up with Lancôme Teint Idole in PO-01. It’s my first liquid foundation. I tried samples several times, but after using the full bottle for half a year I realize I didn’t understand my skin well back then. It has great coverage and long wear, and I like the finish, but it isn’t very friendly to dry skin. If my primer isn’t right, it clings badly.
Later I got a Mao Geping White Feather Wing Caviar Cushion. It’s more moisturizing. Coverage is definitely less than the Lancôme, but sufficient for me, and I like it a lot. I bought the refill, which has the same amount as the full package, and then a compact case for it.
Setting
Why jump to setting before color makeup? Because I think it’s essential. I used loose powder before; this year I switched to setting spray and suddenly found it slightly reduces the clinging. Then again, of course—there are already quite a few layers on my face.
A setting method that works for me (from Xiaohongshu account @冲鸭馒酱wendy; her video is searchable as “底妆秘诀”): after toner/skincare/primer/isolate, spray once; apply foundation; spray once; finish all color makeup; spray once more. In short, three sprays. For me it slightly reduces clinging, and the final effect has more of a glow. If I need to tamp it down, I can press on a little powder, but I like this finish. It’s called the sandwich setting method, and there should be plenty of posts about it. My setting spray is the white Pramy bottle. I have no comparison, so I can’t say whether it’s good.
Now my favorite part—color makeup
Lipstick
I randomly bought a lip mud in a physical store. Nothing much to say; I have no words for this extremely drying category. But since I’m already writing, I want to recommend a lipstick I bought almost six or seven years ago: MAC Ruby Woo. I saw it in a vlog by Lai Meiyun, who was a popular female idol that year, and was stunned. I immediately took the recommendation.
I only wear it thin. A thick layer is a proper blue-toned red I still can’t pull off. Thinly applied, it’s very—youthful. Yes, exactly the youthful bitten-lip color her camera didn’t lie about. Go watch her vlog—actually, I just rewatched it and suddenly realized the color wasn’t as clear as in my memory. I think wearing this lipstick for so long has made my brain re-saturate that old vlog.
Worn alone on dry lips, it is purely drying, the absolute king of dryness, but the matte finish is beautiful. The correct way is to apply lip balm first and then the lipstick, as Lai Meiyun did, but that changes the color payoff. So I usually put on lip balm, do my whole face, wait until my lips are in better shape, then wipe it off and apply the lipstick.
Eyeshadow
I once talked about this with people and found that everyone had the 3CE nine-pan eyeshadow. I do too—mine is Overtake, a very pink palette I’ve used for four or five years. I think it’s pretty, but the colors are limited to pink, so this year I especially wanted a new palette.
I was torn between purple eyeshadow (because I’m going to a concert with a purple support color) and brown-toned eyeshadow. My friend Missing recommended Lunasol EX04. It looked really beautiful, but after browsing shopping apps for a while, it seemed too expensive. Another palette I liked at first sight was Suqqu 03, a gold-brown quad. I ended up buying that one because one day while scrolling I saw the Suqqu eyeshadow price had dropped—by about 70 or 80 yuan compared with the first time I looked—so I bought it immediately.
Both are Japanese four-pan palettes. I still don’t know how to combine the nine-pan palette. After using a four-pan for a while, I think it’s so nice to have shadows that need zero thinking and can just go straight on the eyes. And the effect—ah, I love it.
Highlighter / blush / other
This category probably entered my routine last year. Before that, once I had the basics above, I never thought about highlighter, contour, or blush. There were too many steps, it cost too much, and who notices such details? It’s not painting! At social distance you can’t see anything—well, that last part was purely the wishful thinking of someone with -7.00 myopia.
Why do I say that? Because the first time I used blush, I really thought I looked cute. Wow. You really can see it. Wow. It really is different. Wow. Wow. I admired myself in the mall all day? The first time I put a sparkly highlighter balm near my brows was the same: oh my god, so sparkly, oh my god.
Here’s what I understood: I don’t need makeup to make me extremely gorgeous. I can’t become better looking than my own personal model, and I can’t achieve a technical breakthrough overnight. I just like this color, this glitter, this shiny thing being on my face. I don’t care whether I use it correctly, whether it matches, whether it’s good. I just want this color to appear on this head.
What I bought here is the Girlcult face palette, 02 Peach Blossom Face, an all-in-one with highlighter, blush, contour, and glow balm. I mainly wanted to get everything at once. I have nothing to compare it to, so I don’t know how it is; buying singles is also fun. I also bought a Judydoll single highlighter and the Nayou DH02 blush cream. These categories are small and cheap, so I think you can just buy whatever.
Lashes / liner / brows
No new products in this category. My mascara was a gift. I still can’t apply false lashes properly. My eyeliner looks terrible. I bought three different eyeliners, and this year I officially announce my retirement from the eyeliner pen market; I’ve replaced it with the darkest shade in an eyeshadow palette. The one thing worth mentioning is that I finally learned the little technique for curling lashes. It turns out you don’t just clamp once and move on—you hold it there and clamp, clamp, clamp. That’s what actually counts as curling your lashes. Anything more precise is beyond me. What do you mean, put the mirror at chin level? With -7.00 vision, if I don’t put my face right up to the mirror, I can’t see anything, thank you.
My brow tool changed from a brow pencil to brow powder. It works well; I’m never going back to pencil. As Phoebe Waller-Bridge says, never forget to do your brows.
By now you can probably tell this post is not from a makeup expert. Most of my makeup has only suffered surface wounds. Since you’re already here, a post like this without pictures would be a bit unsatisfying, so I gathered all the products mentioned above for a photo:
And that’s it.