Makeup Substitutes: Part I

Well, I was playing with my makeup tonight, and it occured to me how often I substitute some cosmetic products with just the things I have on-hand. I thought this would make a good article, seeing as how I really haven’t written any in a long while anyway. Plus, for those of you that are like me and don’t always come home at night and wake up in the morning with only a few things in your makeup bag, this knowledge can be super beneficial to you. AND you don’t have to spend extra money on new products that you don’t actually need.

MAC Lip Erase

Substitute with: Liquid Foundation

This one occurred to me tonight after a trip to the MAC store with Stela after work yesterday. MAC is selling a product called Dsquared² Lip Erase which neutralizes the natural color of your lips to create a blank canvas for your lipstick. Stela really liked this product after trying it because she has dark colored lips which can really dim the color of her lipstick or lipgloss. Alas, it was sold out at the store, so she didn’t get the opportunity to purchase it.

Tonight I decided to try and use a VERY small amount of my liquid foundation (more like liquid money, for what I paid for it), and rubbed it on my lips. Then I applied my new MAC lipstick in Plink! (Lustre) and I have to say I was surprised with the results. Normally when I wear this lipstick, it seems to just add a light pink shimmer to my lips, but after using my foundation underneath it, I found that the pink color really popped. My lips were actually the color of the lipstick, not some weird hybrid of pink and tan. I’ll post before/after pictures sometime this week.

Foundation Primer

Substitute with: Monistat Vaginal Chafing Cream

This seems to be a crowd favorite, and has been covered a few times on myCosmeticBag. My sister gave us an expert opinion as a chemist, and using Monistat Chafing Cream instead of Primers, like Smashbox Photo Finish is known to produce even better results. To find out more about this, please read our previous article.

Mascara

Substitute with: Black Eye Shadow (Wet)

This isn’t really a great alternative to make your lashes fuller, if you are using that kind of mascara. But if you suffer from having light colored lashes and prefer to darken them with mascara, a great substitute is using black eye shadow. First curl your lashes with an eyelash curler. Then wet your brush ( either the 205 Mascara Fan Brush if you own it, or a small flat brush like the 231 Small Shader Brush ) and then dip it into black eyeshadow. Then apply to your lashes; root to tip.  I do this when my mascara has dried out or if it just isnt dark enough.

I’ll post Part II early next week – didn’t want this post to get too long, and it will give me something to write about later.