Clown eyes
Jul. 24th, 2019 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breakinglight11I have been wearing eye makeup more often lately. Not really sure why. Probably watching too many drag queens and enjoying the process of painting. I'm not sure if it makes me look better or more beautiful in any way-- which, if you know me, you know I am always interested in looking. I am fortunate that I do feel beautiful a good chunk of the time, and I very rarely ever feel ugly. But I think that is small in comparison to the amount of time I spend staring in the mirror absolutely unable to decide if I look beautiful or not.
Isn't that weird? You'd think that when you're wondering if you meet an extreme like "beautiful"-- not "nice" or "presentable" or anything of that nature --it'd be pretty clear whether you hit it or not. But it's often not to me. "I can't tell if I look AMAZING or merely fine!"
Check this unflattering industrial lighting
Honestly I think I like the process of doing the makeup more than I like actually wearing it. I probably actually do look prettiest without it. But I do like the process, and I have gotten less terrible at it recently with some practice. I have brown eyes with a bit of green in them depending on the light, so they often do seem to "pop" when there is a color on them. I also have been blessed with long thick eyelashes. So it probably never really looks bad, at least if I do it right.
Like most people, I probably look best when I stick to neutral or skin-adjacent colors-- browns, pinks, grays. But I've been experimenting with bright colors too. The only clothes colors I don't think look good on me are pastel pinks, purples, and yellows; I wear pretty much everything else. With makeup, however, I gravitate to warmer colors mostly. This may be the bias of the Modern Renaissance palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills being the only really nice makeup I own. It's all tones of red-yellow-orange-brown. I didn't buy it; it was in a swag bag I got from going to see a painting demonstration by the drag queen Miss Fame. But it's higher quality and more expensive than anything I'm willing to buy, with the exception of foundation. Also I strongly prefer matte to shimmer; I hate how shiny highlighter has been so en vogue lately.
I think I like how orange looks on me. I sort of like red and have been playing with it a bit, but I think it tends to play up any redness in my skin or the whites of my eyes. Outside of that, I can make a pretty lowkey look with purple, especially combined with brown. And if I use a light hand to not make it too garish, green will bring out the green in my irises.
It occurs to me I've never tried an all-yellow look, though I'd have it as a companion to something in orange, red, or brown. I wonder if that could look nice, or just jaundiced on my pale white girl skin. And I never wear blue. Blue just always, always looks like way too much to me. And I think I internalized this one time when I was a kid my mother commented that blue eyeshadow was tacky. I never remember her wearing more than very minimal makeup-- she was appearance conscious and quite pretty, except she had fairly serious acne scarring, and I think she felt sort of compelled to downplay that with makeup. But seeing as she was young in the seventies and eighties, I can guess where her perception of blue eyeshadow came from. So, since it's beyond my skill to keep it from looking clownish, no blue for me.
I know a lot of people just wear makeup because they enjoy it, not because they feel like it makes them "prettier" or whatever. But I'm not a hundred percent sure I don't look a little silly, seeing as my skill level is low. I also have very little space between my eyebrows and my eyes-- charitably comparable to Cara Delevigne's, though you could say I'm quite literally "low brow." ;-) Maybe it looks crowded and overdone. But it's fun to play around with. Still, and I bet I'd be content if I had another person to do eyeshadow on in the morning instead of myself. Get to do it, wouldn't need to wear it. Heh.
Isn't that weird? You'd think that when you're wondering if you meet an extreme like "beautiful"-- not "nice" or "presentable" or anything of that nature --it'd be pretty clear whether you hit it or not. But it's often not to me. "I can't tell if I look AMAZING or merely fine!"
Check this unflattering industrial lighting
Honestly I think I like the process of doing the makeup more than I like actually wearing it. I probably actually do look prettiest without it. But I do like the process, and I have gotten less terrible at it recently with some practice. I have brown eyes with a bit of green in them depending on the light, so they often do seem to "pop" when there is a color on them. I also have been blessed with long thick eyelashes. So it probably never really looks bad, at least if I do it right.
Like most people, I probably look best when I stick to neutral or skin-adjacent colors-- browns, pinks, grays. But I've been experimenting with bright colors too. The only clothes colors I don't think look good on me are pastel pinks, purples, and yellows; I wear pretty much everything else. With makeup, however, I gravitate to warmer colors mostly. This may be the bias of the Modern Renaissance palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills being the only really nice makeup I own. It's all tones of red-yellow-orange-brown. I didn't buy it; it was in a swag bag I got from going to see a painting demonstration by the drag queen Miss Fame. But it's higher quality and more expensive than anything I'm willing to buy, with the exception of foundation. Also I strongly prefer matte to shimmer; I hate how shiny highlighter has been so en vogue lately.
I think I like how orange looks on me. I sort of like red and have been playing with it a bit, but I think it tends to play up any redness in my skin or the whites of my eyes. Outside of that, I can make a pretty lowkey look with purple, especially combined with brown. And if I use a light hand to not make it too garish, green will bring out the green in my irises.
It occurs to me I've never tried an all-yellow look, though I'd have it as a companion to something in orange, red, or brown. I wonder if that could look nice, or just jaundiced on my pale white girl skin. And I never wear blue. Blue just always, always looks like way too much to me. And I think I internalized this one time when I was a kid my mother commented that blue eyeshadow was tacky. I never remember her wearing more than very minimal makeup-- she was appearance conscious and quite pretty, except she had fairly serious acne scarring, and I think she felt sort of compelled to downplay that with makeup. But seeing as she was young in the seventies and eighties, I can guess where her perception of blue eyeshadow came from. So, since it's beyond my skill to keep it from looking clownish, no blue for me.
I know a lot of people just wear makeup because they enjoy it, not because they feel like it makes them "prettier" or whatever. But I'm not a hundred percent sure I don't look a little silly, seeing as my skill level is low. I also have very little space between my eyebrows and my eyes-- charitably comparable to Cara Delevigne's, though you could say I'm quite literally "low brow." ;-) Maybe it looks crowded and overdone. But it's fun to play around with. Still, and I bet I'd be content if I had another person to do eyeshadow on in the morning instead of myself. Get to do it, wouldn't need to wear it. Heh.
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