May 8, 2021

What’s Your Makeup Look of Choice?

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Smoky eyes, nude and natural, bold lips, what’s your makeup look of choice? Lately less is more due to the pandemic and mask mandates. It’s a little hard to be creative with your makeup when you’re wearing a mask but remember when we could wear makeup? 🙂

Do you have a preferred look or style you like to do and do often? Maybe you love a certain eye look like a cut crease or a smoky eye or maybe you like a more natural eye paired with a bolder lip!

I prefer a doll look. Glass skin, flushed cheeks (typically achieved with good cheek stain), and long lashes. Getting a doll look is probably one of the easiest makeup techniques in the world. There’s absolutely nothing to it. I use a gripping primer because it gives me that glass-like finish, a little tinted moisturizer on my face, concealer under my eyes, for my cheeks it’s either The Body Shop Lip & Cheek Stain or Little Bits Liquid Bloom of Roses, curl my lashes, layer Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes with It Cosmetics Superhero Mascara, and done!

What’s your makeup look of choice?

Would love to hear about your routine!

44 Comments

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About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Anna

    Doll! I like a good doll like too! I’m obsessed with cheek tints!

  • Francis

    I’m horrible because I’m really minimal with the pandemic. I used to love a bold lip 🙁

    • Isabella Muse

      Aw it’s ok! Lots of people really didn’t feel like making up during the past year and a half!

    • Michelle

      That’s me too! I miss wearing my lipsticks out and about.

    • Isabella Muse

      Mint Melt Cooling Face Primer! Sticky, sets smooth, moisturizing, and leaves just a touch of dewiness!

    • Isabella Muse

      I have! Wince! It has alcohol though! But the formula is actually quite nice. I’ll review soon!

  • Jess

    Winged liner, brows, dewy skin and either a wine lip or whatever gloss I’m feeling. Maybe a lil highlighter, as well.

  • Jen R

    Doll cheeks (blush on the apples only), fun highlighter (purple/blue/duochrome) as a blush topper, and colorful eyeshadow (lots of greens, blues, purples) but usually just one shade allover the lid, with slightly winged metallic gray eyeliner. Lips are usually just tinted gloss, but occasionally I go for a bright blue-pink or magenta.

    I don’t do complicated eye looks often because of my hooded and watery eyes, but I almost always wear bright colors on my eyes! Or on the rare occasions I wear a neutral eyeshadow, I top it with a teal or cobalt blue liner. 🙂

    • Isabella Muse

      absolutely on doll cheeks! Your eye looks sound very fun!!!!!!!!

  • Susan

    I like light and natural. I want my blush to look like I just got a bit of sun, not clownish unblended circles or rectangles or what I call “Nike swooshes.” Have pretty much given up foundation and use a good tinted primer instead, maybe a bit of blurring powder. I’ve fallen back in love with a “one and done” eyeshadow look, which I think emphasizes one’s eyes more than one’s eye **makeup**. This is just for me; everyone should do what they love!

    • Isabella Muse

      Nike swooshes omg lol! I go bare on my lids and just do plenty of long lashes lately ;-D Light and natural works best with all the masking!

      • Susan

        Worse than just “Nike swooshes” of unblended blush is the Neapolitan Ice Cream look — unblended stripes of bright white highlighter, bright pink blush, and obvious brown contouring! =8~O

  • Jane

    Like an ideal version of me. Rosy pink lips (Revlon Smoky Rose, Bobbi Brown Telluride, Revlon Pink Pearl when I’m paler), porcelain skin (NARS concealer in Affogato – starts out too pale but warms up to perfect or Revlon Candid foundation), blush and maybe some lashes. All I can use is tubing so I just stick with Clinique Lash Power. I like ashy taupe liners, but they’re hard to come by. This is my default look and it’s easy and flattering to me.

  • Kimmwc03

    I’m pretty much minimalist lately. But I do prefer dewy skin and a nice blush daily. I stick with eyeshadow sticks when I want a little color on my lids.

    • Isabella Muse

      I am too. The older I get the more I like being natural. I mean, I spent so much of my life taking care of my skin why am I not showing it off?

  • N

    Since the pandemic started I have only been wearing mascara, a little brow pencil where needed, and under eye concealer and only do this for work. Makeup makes a mess on masks and the N95 I have to wear at work as a nurse. I’ve focused on skincare and my skin has actually improved. I have very sensitive skin and I didn’t realize how much of the sensitivity and problems were caused by makeup until I stopped wearing it and my skin calmed down. Full makeup might be a very occasional thing in the future for me. I’ve become a tinted sunscreen and go girl. I still have my makeup in my acrylic holder and it looks pretty, especially the new Clinique Cheek Pop blushes I haven’t touched, in there so I haven’t gotten rid of it.

    • Isabella Muse

      It’s so weird how we suddenly realized we don’t need a ton of makeup isn’t it!?

  • kjh

    My old bag look, with masks, is also simplified. 3 and done. Crease, lid, and smudge in outer vee. Liner in a color I’m wearing (the 1950s for us oldies never dies) But always a color. Colored mascara if it hasn’t dried up. Tubing on the bottom. Doll cheek (1920s) placement, but never doll cheek colors. Might do old MUFE dark purple taupe, but NEVER coral or doll pink. Sometimes draped darker blush. Since I’m an SLP, lips were always the focus, esp when working on artic or apraxia, anything speechy, rather than language. My fave masking comment, and I hear it a lot: ‘I can’t hear you with my mask on.’ I explain that they never needed to understand that they lip read.

    • Isabella Muse

      You aren’t an old bag stop! DOLL CHEEK FTWWWWWWWWWWWW! 😀 I’m so glad everyone does a doll cheek because it makes me feel better about doing my blush that way ;-D LOL how do people NOT hear though? I get this sometimes too! Open your ears! lol!

      • kjh

        No…. They are hearing impaired to the point that they need a hearing aid. Not deaf; they get by. Kind of like needing readers or bifocals, only vastly more expensive. As you lose your hearing due to age, the worst hearing is usually in the speech frequencies (range). So, you start lip reading to compensate for not being able to hear the conversation. More complicated than that, but that’s the idea. It happened to me, especially with ESL speakers.

    • Mariele Storm

      It’s not the lip reading bit… it’s the mask muffling the sound. Just like if you put a hand over your mouth and talked, or how a room with curtains and carpet is quieter than a room with wood floors and no window treatments. The fabric absorbs the softens the sound. I have a hard time hearing people and masks have made it even harder, lol.

      • Jane

        Yeah, I’m 100% pro mask and I haven’t noticed any hearing loss, but people do seem so muffled under masks sometimes. Then again, we were told not to project our voices so as not to project any viral material, too, so maybe it’s that people are speaking more quietly?

  • Mariele

    It’s been the exact same look for years: 1940s, but dewy. A bit of foundation to even out my cheeks, contour, powder eyeliner pressed into the base of the lashes just to make them look fuller, brow powder to fill in my bald spots, black mascara, red lipstick, and a dewy SPF setting spray. I never leave off the lipstick, masks be damned… I don’t feel like myself with it. Sometimes I put on a matte pink/red blush and shimmery brown eyeshadow to really amp up the ’40s look. I literally just go off of pictures of Veronica Lake and young Gene Tierney for my makeup. 🙂

  • F1wild

    Which tinted moisturizer are you loving/using these days?

    And do you use one with SPF (I have to)?
    What order do you do this? Sunscreen, primer, tinted moisturizer? I ask because I need all the moisture I can get and use a moisturizer/sunscreen, primer, then just moisturizer again with or without tint as I have never been able to find a foundation that’s not drying or melts in the AZ heat. I hate it!

    • Isabella Muse

      It’s not a traditional TM but Revlon ColorStay Light Cover Foundation is such a great formula. So lightweight with a serum texture that gives skin a natural finish! Vit C, Sunscreen, foundation…I’m trying to avoid primer nowadays as it mucks with my SPF. I def need as much moisture as I can get as well but applying too many things can upset your SPF which is such a pain :-/

  • the1337beauty

    I always go for a nude look, even if I glam up with a smokey eye I still use nude/neutral colors. My previous employer had a very traditional corporate environment and I guess I just leaned towards safe nude colors. I can never think of makeup looks to do with bright colors and since I couldn’t wear them to work I never bought bright palettes. I bought a turquoise eyeliner pencil a few months ago and felt super rebellious hahaha.

    I have a z-palette that I put together my perfect nude shadows and a blush that I could take anywhere (even though I haven’t traveled in over a year haha). For Christmas I had a custom palette made from Camera Ready Cosmetics but I find them harder to work with because of how pigmented they are.

    • Isabella Muse

      LOL you’re adorable with that turquoise eyeliner 🙂 As I get older I appreciate more natural, nude eye looks more and more! They just feel and look more flattering!

  • MDW

    Felt tip eyeliner pens with all those crosspolymers have really made eyeliner application fun.

  • Cindy

    I’ve always loved your look Muse! Those flushed cheeks are very flattering on you. Its perfect to describe as a doll look <3 My go to look was always a cat eye with a BOLD lip. But since the pandemic I've had no need to wear makeup, especially lipstick. I did it once and boy was there a mess under my mask!

    • Isabella Muse

      aw thanks Cin! ;-D Tell me about it! The mask makes makeup a pain! I still did it to feel normal but wearing it out can be challenging!

  • MarinaD

    When doing my makeup, I spend the most time on my eyes to make sure that they take the front and center stage. I’m comfortable with both neutral and colorful looks, colored liner, smoky eyes of various deeper tones of all rainbow colors (and brown of course). Since the pandemic started, I’ve gotten more adventurous with my eye looks. I find that people at work can easily identify me from the mask wearing crowd. I also transitioned away to lib balms and keep the rest of my face either makeup free.

  • OliveUnicorn

    I’ve been going really bright and bold with my eyeshadows lately , even with mask wearing , I try to put on eye makeup when I go out . I do favor duochromes or shifting shadows as they look super extra . But I miss my bold lip colors and try to wear them if I skype with a friend or just take pics at home for Instagram.

    • Isabella Muse

      Good for you! I’m so boring lately with my looks! I promised myself I’d go bolder for Summer!