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Make-Up For The Recession

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During the Great Depression sales of make-up rose whilst sales of pretty much everything else dropped, a phenomenon known as the lipstick effect. When the current recession began, several magazines and newspapers predicted a repeat of this trend, using it as an excuse to recommend a few tubes.

One major difference between this recession and the Great Depression is that clothing is a lot cheaper now. I wonder how many people are actually buying make-up instead of clothes these days – I’d imagine that quite a lot just buy fewer items of clothing now that lipstick and clothes are pretty close in price. I find that I come across enough nice charity shop clothes whilst volunteering to keep myself warm and entertained, so the only items of clothing I’ve bought new instead of from charity/vintage shops for months and months have been hosiery and socks. Most recently I got a couple of pairs of tights from M&S and three pairs of socks from Sock Dreams as I needed long socks that fit my big feet for work (way overdue for a review).

I bought hardly any make-up over the last academic year as I was self-financing my MA*, but over Christmas, I had a temporary full-time job**, and I went a little crazy. I didn’t buy any lipstick. But I bought three GOSH brushes, and two eyeliners and an liquid eyeshadow from Bourjois in the Superdrug 3-for-2 sale, the Sleek Graphite palette (basically, a must have for anyone in the UK who likes to dress/do their make-up on the dark side, especially as it’s £4.87), and I placed THREE orders to Aromaleigh. Yes, really, THREE. Within 35 days. I am going to review them properly in their own post, but the short version: amazing.

Right now, I would much rather spend £18 on 24 eyeshadow samples plus shipping than on one or two items of clothing. I love the possibilities that make-up brings. I adore the glittery powders and soft brushes. I find hours of entertainment out of making my eyelashes lilac and my eyebrows pink, sprinkling my cheeks with gold, staining my lips with Benetint, and doing all kinds of wonderful things on my eyelids. I like that when I do my make-up in the morning I’ll be re-enchanted every time I pass a mirror and check out my work. I like it when I finally master a trick I’ve been trying to get right for ages or discover a new technique. Even if I have to wear dull clothes that day for some reason I can always have sparkly eyeshadow!

I stayed in all day today but made up for it by doing this in the morning. I have finally learnt how to take make-up photos in which my eye make-up actually shows up. Three things I’ve discovered I need, in case you’re interested:

  1. A camera with “super macro”
  2. To be standing facing a window when the sun is up
  3. To raise my eyebrows, yes, I look like someone’s just stood on my foot, but if I didn’t do it you wouldn’t be able to see anything above the crease.
Eyeliner: Bourjois Contour Clubbing Waterproof in blue remix 45
Eyeshadow: Aromaleigh tangled tinsel (Holiday Blast collection, discontinued) on upper lids, morphing moon (Les Papillons collection) in crease, not so silent night (Holiday Blast collection, discontinued) on outer corner of crease and lower lids
Mascara: Rimmel 100% Waterproof Mascara in Black Black over Natural Collection (Boots) clear mascara – I usually put this on under mascara and somehow it’s less clumpy.
Foundation and concealer by Lily Lolo

I seem to have phases of preferring either make-up, clothes, or accessories, right now I’m going through yet another make-up renaissance, and have forbidden myself from obtaining any more make-up until I use some of it up, but I don’t know how long I will hold out as I really really really want to try the Aromaleigh Rocks! and Bête Noire ranges, and I absolutely have to get a full-size of aqua nightmare because it is my favourite eyeshadow in the whole world.

Have you contributed to the lipstick/eyeshadow effect? Or have your shopping habits remained the same since the recession began?

*Why this blog has been quiet from 2008-2009 **Why this blog has been quiet since I finished my MA

Three Good ‘Beauty Tips’ – and one that doesn’t work

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1. This lip scrub will make your lips look like you’ve been kissing someone for at least an hour. Leave out the cinnamon and they’ll just be smooth, but don’t go overboard with the salt or you’ll make it too harsh. Also, olive oil tastes a whole lot better than Vaseline, but is runnier so harder to work with.

2. Base coat under dark nail varnish is a must, otherwise your nails will suffer. If you have no base coat, use one of those bland pastel shades that was a gift from someone who doesn’t know you very well. All the real base coats I’ve tried have gone gloopy by the time I’ve gone through half the bottle. Granted, all the real base coats I’ve tried were from Rimmel, a fairly cheap brand who don’t deign to put ball bearings in their bottles to help the mixture properly mix when you shake the bottle. I am currently using a bright sub-Barbie pink as my base coat, it is from Del Sol, a brand who don’t put two of the bad-for-you chemicals nail varnish often contains into their product (toluene and formaldehyde), so I figured that although I hate the shade it would make good base coat. It shows through slightly sometimes which makes quite a cool effect, I think.

3. I have recently discovered that olive oil makes a great make-up remover. Is there no end to the wonders of olive oil? From the OCM (oil cleansing method, get thyself to Google now) to salad dressing, it is great.

And the one that’s never worked for me…

Lining the inner rim of your eyes with white eyeliner to make them look bigger/brighter. Firstly, it looks too obvious, and strange. Secondly, you can’t really blend it to make it more subtle, the inner rim of your eye does not have that much space. Thirdly, it actually makes your eyes look kind of dirty by comparison. Fourthly, it’s always gone weird and dribbled into my eye and aggravated my eyes so much I’ve had to take my contact lenses out, bathe my eye(s) and rinse the lenses. As long as I use a separate pencil for inner rim and don’t use the same one I use on my eyelids (which you should do anyway), I’ve never had this problem with black eyeliner from the same brands. What does work is blue eyeliner on the inner rim. Again, I have to use that pencil only on the inner rim but it makes my eyes look brighter and whiter, plus it’s a pretty unusual look.