How did You Learn About Make-up?

[cno64]

How did you learn about make-up?
Did a savvy friend or relative "tutor" you, did you figure it out for yourself, or did you study magazines?
Or all of the above?

It was mostly the last two, for me.
Both my mother and my sister wore make-up, but they didn't take it that seriously.
It wasn't until I was 16 and got contact lenses that I started taking very much interest in makeup. Until then, I felt like most of my face was hidden by glasses, so I didn't bother.

 

[~LadyLocks~]

I've always worn MU since middle school (shh...don't tell my mom LOL) but it wasn't until I was with my ex about 6 years ago that I got more into it. I wasn't one to wear much MU so I kept it pretty simple. I actually hated the way I looked with tons of MU on. His mom is a MA and owns a few MU stores here in the Bay Area so I worked with her a bit here and there through out our relationship (3 1/2 years). Even then I wasn't that big of a MU freak until recently. I believe it was in April when I was at a friends house. We were board so she pulled out her MU case and started playing with her MU. She had mostly MAC and at that point I have never touched MAC in my life. I noticed all the beautiful color e/s she had and that's when I started getting more curious about MAC. Not much longer after that I made my first purchase of some MAC e/s and ever since then I've been hooked. Now, buying MAC is something I do on a regular basis lol. I even think I have a bigger collection then the friend that introduced me to MAC

.

 

[ebonyannette]

I basically had to teach myself. My mom used to buy me lipgloss from time to time but that was it. I used to buy my own lil "Jane" and Caboobles eyeshadow but it never really looked right on me too chalky so I stuck to Maybelline Mascara and lipgloss for the longest.

I found MAC when I was about 18 or 19 (so long ago now!) I started out with the clear lipglass and it grew from there. I still didnt really teach myself how to put on eyeshadow until recently. I would just wear one color on the lid and that was it, ha ha!

and then I would use Studio Tech and my Studio Fix powder but only on special occasions cause I didnt want it to mess up my skin. But it has all been pretty much self taugh, I owe alot to Specktra because I would still be plain jane without it!

 

[duch3ss25]

i raided my mom's mu when i was still in grade school and played with it. by the time i was in high school, i was using drug-store cosmetics. my love-affair with MAC started only 3-4 years ago. my friend introduced me earlier but i never seemed to care too much about my mu then. but when i got introduced to the pigments, i got obsessed w/ MAC instantly! now, i not only collect the pigments & msf's but have also moved on to everything else, lol!

but i have to say that i basically learned how to apply by copying the looks on magazines and those on tv. more importantly, with specktra's gazillion pics and ideas, i definitely learned more about mu than i would from a book or a friend.

 

[MiCHiE]

ummm.....by coming here, LOL. I had a co-worker take me to the MAC counter and put some colors on me, but I could barely duplicate the look by myself. So, I had started out with about 3 colors and she made a list of about 6 more neutrals. By then, a girl at the MAC counter helped me with Blacktrack and I found this site in August and things really took off....

 

[Femme]

My mom

I kept stealing hers and trying it until I bought my own.

 

[moonrevel]

When I was little, my mother would always take me with her for makeup shopping (she wore Ultima II, hehe) and would sit me on the makeover chair while she was picking out her products. Invariably, she would have her back turned to me at some point and another saleswoman would come over and help me play with the testers, and even at my tender age, I was hooked. It wasn't until middle school when I had to have makeup for a dance recital that I really learned what the different products were for when my mother dropped me off at the Clinique counter to get what I needed. After that, I just started learning as much as I could at other counters and online.

 

[Indigowaters]

I learned about makeup through my Aunt. She's the coolest Aunt anyone could have. She actually bought me a set of brushes last year and I'm just now using them. Though she didn't show me how to apply it, she got me interested in it. This year I became a total MAC addict. Before I would go and get a lipgloss here and there and I had one quad (Diana eyes), but now I buy (or have lists) on ebay, maccosmetics.com, Specktra and at the counter.

 

[cno64]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indigowaters I learned about makeup through my Aunt. She's the coolest Aunt anyone could have. She actually bought me a set of brushes last year and I'm just now using them. Though she didn't show me how to apply it, she got me interested in it. This year I became a total MAC addict. Before I would go and get a lipgloss here and there and I had one quad (Diana eyes), but now I buy (or have lists) on ebay, maccosmetics.com, Specktra and at the counter.

How funny! Your aunt sounds super!

 

[cno64]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebonyannette I basically had to teach myself. My mom used to buy me lipgloss from time to time but that was it. I used to buy my own lil "Jane" and Caboobles eyeshadow but it never really looked right on me too chalky so I stuck to Maybelline Mascara and lipgloss for the longest. until recently. I would just wear one color on the lid and that was it, ha ha!

I feel your pain!

When I first started wearing makeup, I had the most awful time with eyeshadow!
My main trouble was the fact that I had no bloomin' idea what colors were right for my green eyes.
My mother, whose eyes are aqua, wore blue-green, and my sister(blue eyes) wore pale blue, and neither of these shades looked right on me.
Finally, on the advice of a magazine article, I tried mauve/plums, and BINGO!
To this day, I stick mostly with neutrals like taupes, plums, mauves, and grays, and I am constantly complimented on how my eyes look.
I've even had women tell me that they try to make their eyes look like mine, which is as sincere a compliment as I can think of.
Fortunately, there is a bit of the artist in me, and I think that helps a lot with my make-up.

 

[d_flawless]

praticing things on myself. i would stick with the way i applied it for a bit, then try something new only to stick with that for a minute, etc.
looking at other people's FOTDs helps a little bit, but for me only if they're very specific about placement.
none of my family members really wear maKe up, and the next closest relative in age to me is like almost 30 and doesn't even bother with it, so i really did have to teach myself.

 

[cno64]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d_flawless praticing things on myself. i would stick with the way i applied it for a bit, then try something new only to stick with that for a minute, etc. i really did have to teach myself.

In some respects, I think that this is really the best way. It's difficult, sure, but you learn what works best for YOU, and you get lots of practice.
And of course, if something turns out really wretched, as it did for me from time to time during my early makeup-wearing days, you can always just wipe it off.

 

[Calhoune]

When I was at my youngest I would just use lipgloss whenever I could, I would go through my moms MU and always pay the lipgloss the most attention. Mostly because I didn't know what the other stuff was for, and also because I have always loved lipgloss! It's sparkly

When I was eleven I got my first makeup! A lipgloss pot and two eyeshadows (pale pale pink, and some strange purple) from Clinique. And that was all I would use, until about 7th grade where I switched schools and made some new friends. There was this one girl, she didn't wear alot of make up, but she was really good at putting it on and I loved it!
I would rummage through her MU and wanted her to teach me everything there was to know, she was the one who followed me to the store when I was going to buy MU for the first time

(An Isadora-quad!)

To make a long story short, my collection is now twice the size of hers lol
How I learned?... Mmm, I didn't really wear that much at first, so there wasn't much I could do wrong.
I can just mention that since I discovered Specktra and it's gorgeous members, my technique has improved dramtically!

 

[cno64]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyarorain When I was at my youngest I would just use lipgloss whenever I could

Ah, yes; where would any of us be without lip gloss?
In fact, my first makeup item was Bonne Bell Dr. Pepper Lipsmacker.
I collected dozens of Lipsmackers in various flavors, before I switched, for reasons I don't remember now, to the roll-on tube variety of lipgloss.
After that, I think it was blush. I used that Coty's "Nature's Blush" that was colorless in the tube, but once applied to skin was supposed to become your "perfect color."
I own ten MAC blushes now, and the Coty stuff seems incredibly primitive to me.
And does anyone else remember that Aziza eyeshadow that reflected a different color wherever the light hit it, thus [supposedly] giving you "perfectly placed highlights."
Talk about primitive ...

 

[Cosmopolitics]

I think I started playing around with makeup at the end of grade school. Mostly cheapie Wet n' Wild and Love My Lips lipsticks up until around the eighth grade or so, when I started wearing eyeliner (the one thing I WILL NOT go out of the house without). I recieved a couple of those Markwins makeup sets they have out around Christmastime around that time too, and while I liked playing around with them when I was bored, I didn't have enough time to put them on everyday and it would turn into dust on my face about an hour later, anyway. I could never achieve the looks I wanted, didn't know how, and at that time, didn't have any patience, either.

I think I started becoming really interested in makeup after I bought a Kevyn Aucoin makeup book from the library right before I graduated high school. I was fascinated by the way that he did makeup. I learned then that makeup was a form of art. As a young artist that became discouraged by art classes in high school, the art of makeup became appealing to me. There were no set-in-stone "rules" the way high school art was. Art was appealing again.

I think I'll wrap up my essay now.

 

[kimmy]

it was all trial and error for me. my sister doesn't wear makeup, neither does my mom and none of my friends do (well, a few friends wear mascara and maybe lipgloss from time to time but that's about it)

 

[Bernadette]

I would say it was trial and error for me too. I also looked at a ton of amagazines, Allure is still my fav. Kevyn Aucoin on Oprah changed everything though! I never realized how amazing makeup could be. I went out and bought his books and they taught me SO much. I still just keep trying to get better and better

 

[iamlelilien]

My nana gets a lot of free makeup samples from stores she shops at, and when I was about 12, she started giving me eyeshadow she didn't want.

I thought I looked just AWESOME wearing white eyeshadow all over my lids with no eyeliner or mascara.:eek2:

 

[NFTP]

I used to just experiment with makeup. Im always learning. My mom didnt really teach me anything about wearing makeup.

 

[user79]

No one in my family regularly wears make-up, it was all self-taught and I'm still learning! Trial by error, pretty much, and getting inspiration from pictures.