My Last Decade Make Up Essentials

In the last 2 weeks it seems that I’m having “make up” fever. Kalo lagi iseng, browsing-nya ttg make up melulu. Feel lucky that some of my co-workers are really into it. Apalagi yang muda-muda dan bergaya, hebring deh mereka pokoknya. As a forever newbie, I believe I need them more this time. They share their vision, knowledge, and even skill... (we will have a make-over class with the most prominent make up expert in our building as our instructor). Tapi kudu tahan-tahan aja dihina-dina ama instrukturnya yang berselera tinggi (katanya sih harga dan mutu itu nggak boong! Worth invested, gitu)

So here are my daily (or not) make up essentials. Dipakenya sekali-kali doang, kalo lagi insyaf. Jadi kok rasanya saya kurang mensyukuri nikmat ya… Udah dikasih rezeki lebih biar bisa beli, dikasih sehat biar bisa beraktifitas, dikasih suami untuk dibahagiain, dikasih waktu luang untuk belajar…tapi kok ngga dimanfaatin.

Nah, mulai sekarang deh, dikit-dikit dioptimalkan barang-barang berikut ini:

Cleansing series : Aloe Vera Cream Cleanser from Skinfood $$, erha ACS-BP $, erha 1 Facial Wash (Normal to Dry Skin) $, Make up Remover from Maybelline $. Ini cleanser series top abis deh. Cocok banget buat saya. Apalagi cream cleanser Skinfood, enak banget buat bersihin make up di wajah dan nggak bikin kering. Tp ada satu ganjelan, cream cleanser Skin Food lumayan mahal, sekitar 200ribuan untuk 130 ml saja. Hiks. Coba-coba pake cleanser lain dari Viva, waduuuh..panas banget di kulit muka. Belum sempat nyoba Nivea atau brand lain yang kira-kira cocok dan harganya lebih masuk akal. ACS-BP dari erha juga andalan saya untuk scrub muka setiap pulang kantor (kan mukanya abis nampung debu jalanan selama perjalanan pulang naik kereta). Saya juga cocok pakai make up remover Maybelline karena ringan dan lembut. Saya pernah coba Revlon, tp terlalu berminyak dan bikin mata perih kalo kapasnya ngga sengaja masuk mata.

Night Cream : erha Evalen $ + erha 6 $

Moisturizer : Lettuce Cucumber Emulsion from Skinfood $$. Saya masih taraf coba-coba pake moisturizer ini karena tergoda bahan dasarnya yang konon membuat kulit adem tanpa berminyak. Saya lumayan suka karena ringan dan wangi, meskipun kurang melembabkan karena berbahan dasar air. Biasanya saya males pake pelembab karena bikin lengket dan berminyak, tapi emulsion ini bikin daya disiplin pakai moisturizer walaupun di rumah. Harganya sekitar 130ribuan untuk 135 ml.

Sunscreen : erha Sun Block Perfect Shield UVA+UVB Gel $. Alhamdulillah dapet sunscreen yang cocok di kulit. Lumayan mantep untuk penggunaan sehari-hari dan asal saya rajin bersihin muka setiap malam, ngga bakal ada masalah dengan jerawat atau komedo. Nah, masalahnya saya suka males. Kurang joss untuk penggunaan di udara terbuka dalam waktu yang lama, spt utk berenang, olahraga > 1 jam. Tetep perlu sunblock yang lebih kuat.

BB Cream : Aloe Vera #2 from Skinfood $$. Saya mulai ikutan demam BB Cream di Des tahun 2011, trus mampir di SkinFood Store di PvJ Bandung. BB Cream berfungsi sebagai pelembab, foundation, dan concealer. Wiih, lengkap yah. Dengan mengucapkan bismillah, saya memutuskan mencoba varian Aloe Vera ini karena diformulasikan untuk kulit sensitif dan mengandung SPF 20. Shade #2 dipilih karena merupakan pilihan yang lebih gelap (cuman ada #1 ama #2) dan sekilas ada nuansa pink-nya. Harga sekitar 130ribuan untuk 50ml yang bisa awet sampe 1 tahun jika dipakai sedang-sedang saja 1x sehari. So far, saya cocok pakai BB Cream ini karena masuk ke golongan light shg cocok utk penggunaan sehari-hari (asal dibersihin pake cream cleanser biar ngga komedo-an). Nih, ada review dari penggemar BB Cream SkinFood http://joveetalee-art.blogspot.com/2012/08/skinfood-aloe-sun-bb-cream-spf20-pa.html

Face Powder : erha Translucent $. Sebenernya saya beli bedak tabur ini untuk syarat aja supaya saya punya bedak. Kurang bagus karena nempel sama sekali di kulit saya, tapi yah sudah lah…yang penting bisa buat final touch, ngga menimbulkan jerawat dan ngga bikin kayak topeng di muka. Kalo ada produk lain yang bisa cocok di muka saya sih, mungkin saya bakal pindah ke lain hati.

Eye Concealer : Bio Detox Organic from Bourjois $$. Ternyata concealer ini ngga cocok buat saya yang kulit kelopak matanya tergolong normal, akibatnya jadi mudah kering dan tidak bisa menyatu di kulit. Produk ini cocoknya buat yang kelopak matanya berminyak. Saya salah beli nih. Biasanya pakai Healthy Mix Correcting Concealer dari Bourjois juga, tp saat itu stok-nya habis. Harga Bio Detox atau Healthy Mix concealer sekitar 150ribuan.

Eye Shadow : #5 Rose Vintage + #12 Gris Lilac + #5 Mordore Chic (all from Bourjois $$)  and #465 Moonshine Meadows from Max Factor $. Produknya lumayan bagus (taunya dari online review sih), tapi entah mengapa… eye shadow trio saya jadi mengeras dan sulit diaplikasikan. Kata mbak-mbak di counter Bourjois sih, itu karena pallete-nya berada di udara lembab atau terkena air. Jadinya setiap mau make, kudu dikerok dulu supaya dapet lapisan yang bisa nempel di kelopak mata dengan baik. Ujungnya boros ya, jeuuung! Trus, saya kan makenya pakai gagang aplikator pendek dari Bourjois, jadi rada susah tuh untuk blending warna. Berhubung teknik menggunakan eye shadow belum saya kuasai, ya hasilnya begitu-begitu aja. Tapi kapan pinternya kalo nggak nyoba. Iya nggak? Apalagi harganya lumayan nohok juga, sekitar 150ribuan per set. Sayang kalo nggak dipake.

Blush : from Caring Colors $. Blush on ini light banget warnanya, tp lumayan bisa memberikan kesegaran tersamar di wajah saya (halahh…). Dulu beli ini karena harganya murah dan warnanya natural. Tapi ya gitu deh, nggak ada efek shimmering-nya dan paling sejam doang bertahan di pipi.

Lipstick : C11, B23 and B43 all from Maybelline $. Saya kurang konsentrasi pada lipstick nih, padahal it will make a big difference once kita dapet yang cocok dengan kulit bibir, tone wajah, baju, dan suasana. I’m still in process in finding my true-lipstick-mate.

Lip Gloss : SpiceBerry from Smashbox (oleh-oleh dari Dike) and #13 from Body Shop. Dipakenya kalo inget aja, padahal lip gloss itu penting banget untuk kasih sheer dan volume pada bibir kita. Dasar saya pemalesan sih!

Eyebrow pencil : Black from Viva 20ribuan. Juara banget. Murah, warnanya mantep. Sayangnya udah murah begitu, masih juga ada yang malsuin. BT juga kalo dapet yang palsu, gampang patah dan susah diserut.

Eyeliner : Black Eyeliner Pencil from Oriflame. Hmm, gimana yah? Berhubung saya newbie, jadi beli yang pensil. Waktu itu sempet dibeliin My Darling liquid eyeliner (bagus dan murmer sekitar 15ribuan) sama kakak ipar, tp selalu gagal make-nya so saya jd males deh. Ntar mau nyoba eye liner yang direkomendasiin Dike, yaitu Maybelline Eye Liner Pencil. Murah, meriah dan hasilnya wah, gitu katanya.

Mascara : Volume Express Turbo Boost from Maybelline $. Direkomendasiin temen2 yang rajin pake mascara ke kantor. Lumayan nambah volume tp ngga menggumpal dan cukup terasa ringan di pelupuk mata saya. Harga bersahabat. Mungkin teknik mengaplikasikannya aja yang perlu saya asah supaya optimal.

Brushes : Masami Shouko and Guardian drug-store blush brush. Nyoba yang murah dulu ah, sambil mikir dan ngerasanin diri sendiri “Am I really into it?”. Hasilnya yaaah, lumayan aja lah. Saya bakal kena kritik abis-abisan dari sang instruktur hehehe. Menurut sang instruktur tsb, rahasia make up ada pada kuas. “Beli deh kuas yang bagus, nggak papa mahal. Bisa awet dan bbrp malah bisa multi purpose. Nggak rugi deh!”. Harga kuas yang dia maksud ternyata selangit!

50rb-100rb $

100rb-200rb $$

200rb-300rb $$$

Nah, itulah daftar aset (atau kewajiban?) saya. Wiih, banyak juga kan? (kuantitas, my friend… belom ke kualitas heuheu…karena koleksi saya soooo last decade alias jadul!). Semoga semangat baru ini nggak cepet luntur, ditelan kesibukan dan kemalasan.

Does my face need make up? What happens to inner beauty?

Sometimes boredom could be a good trigger to think about something (hopefully) more energizing and productive. So when I am feeling a bit low, I decide to give myself a second thought about what might be important in my daily routine other than being grumpy at the office about my kryptonite and catching up the commuter line to/from work.

And I find one of them. The make up. I never realized that just thinking about me, in prettier and better look, has lifted my mood most of the time as high as 1000%.

Back then when I was a teenager, I always thought it was not cool to wear make up; it was like a scary mask that cover up the truth. Kinda distrusted the most important part of yourself. Nay. Not me. When I was in my 20s, I never thought that I needed to wear it. Light-colored lipstick did fine for me to go around the campus; of course, totally unnoticed by every cool guys there. When I was in my 30s, my eyes couldn’t be fooled anymore: women do look better when they are wearing suitable and decent make up, no matter what lies inside (we’re not talking about kindness and compassion and good heart, as well as intelligence). But with the baby coming out, back to school matters, and more works at the office, I barely had time to learn and practice it properly.

Then, my 40s will come pretty soon, just in couple of years. And when I looked at the mirror, I couldn’t help raising my eye brows, asking “What have (not) I done to my face?”. I surely do put some items on my face but I still have no idea about make up. I bought some make up then threw them away untouched.

Now I finally consider it important… and urgent. Not because I don’t believe in inner beauty anymore, or because I was intimidated by glamour (a.k.a. threatening) beauty around me, or because I have lost my self-confidence in going natural (the term ‘natural’ has changed, by the way. It now means wearing make up but succesfully “look stunning without too much effort”). Definitely not because I'm going into the 40s tick-box.

The reasons are so simple, at least for me. It’s been 6 months since the first time I walked and started running on treadmill; it was 2 months ago that I developed fondness of running outdoor. And despite the challenges to take off my butt from the bed early in the morning, it was all fun. No pressure. Targets are made to be broken occassionally when things went so wrong after I started. So why not try on something new, something definitely as fun, something that make you see and feel better about life?

Wearing or not wearing make up could be a way to respect and live your own values. Mine are not clearly defined, but I’m a big fans of equality and acceptance, and I believe in hard work (smart work is already included). So when I popped out from ‘make-over box’, I want to feel the same comfort and confidence as while I’m not wearing make up at all. I am not in the effortlessly beautiful crowds. Just like any other things in my life that I have to do or give up something to get something, beauty surely costs me many things. But I’m ready to get more serious in that field (although I won’t make the make up essentials as my staples).

Lastly, I already have some basic items that I rarely use. It would be such a waste if I don't use it. Anything under our control that has already cost you but not generating any benefit is considered liabilities. So, let's turn my limited collections into assets!

The point is, I want to have more fun. There are a lot of other things in life considered uncontrollable, messy and pathetic. I could deal with some, but some were not that easy or they are beyond my power. So even if people don't see me the same way, just let me feel  beautiful and gorgeous!

I wouldn’t ask for more.

Except Naked pallete from Urban Decay, Orgasm Blush from Nars, Mary Loumanizer from theBalm, Sigma brush set, and maybe couple of lipsticks and lip gloss. LOL.