What's In My Makeup Bag?

Let me commence this post by greeting everyone a happy Friday! *insert falling confetti right here* Finally we reached the most awaited day of the work week! Let's celebrate the coming of the freakin' weekend, shall we?! But wait, let's hold our horses for a little! It's still Friday and work ain't done yet. Bummer! So before we head out to a posh restaurant for a fancy dinner date or tugs! tugs! tugs! our way to the party scene or take a sip of that yummy frozen margarita or or or belt it out at the karaoke bar until our vocal chords give up on us, may I ask you, did you bring your tools with you? Right, the tools! Women's tools! If you're ehem, a woman who's living in this day and age, you get my point. If you're a woman in this day and age and you've been living under a rock.. Girl friend, it's about time to get out of that rock! 

So did you? If you belong to the former group as mentioned above, I bet you did. Okay let's group ourselves together and share what we have with one another! If you belong to the latter, read on ka na lang muna. Hehehe!

No, i'm not being mean. I've been there too, you know. I'm a self-confessed late bloomer. People had dubbed me as the manang, plain jane, simple, Maria Clara, and all other terms that definitively arrogate the necessity to doll myself up. My younger sister once told me that I should put make up on to disguise the fact that i'm not naturally pretty let alone presentable which do not do me justice as an HR professional/businesswoman who interacts with people day in and day out. Although I seemed nonchalant at that time, every word that she uttered was a dagger actively stabbing my heart. I was trying with all my might to hold back my tears. Lo and behold, she even finished her case with "kaya hindi ka nagkakaboyfriend eh!" Oh burn!!! What a blow!!! My already low self-esteem plummeted so deep in the ground that I'm still digging until now. In my defense, I shouted back to let her know that I needed no makeup to do me anything because I am a smart, successful and confident woman who can take on the world. Besides, I didn't want a boyfriend in my life anyway! But deep inside, I sincerely felt otherwise.

Right then and there, I took it upon myself to hoard purchase makeup to find out what my sister actually meant. I headed straight to the drugstore to pick-up what I wanted and not what I needed. Take note, I didn't do my research beforehand. And that, my friends, was faulty. I was overconfident and told myself that I'm 24, I should know what to get. I may be in that age but my IQ on beauty was that of a 10 year old. As a result, my first trip to makeup wonderland happened to be one of those lesson learned moments in my life. I ended up paying a lot for products that didn't match my skin tone, proved to be unnecessary, and of subpar quality. I must have thrown most of them away before long. Silver lining was at least I got to help the sales lady increase her sales for that month. Fast forward to today, I can confidently tell the world that my 26 year old self has the beauty IQ fit for a 26 year old. Much thanks to the beauty gurus on Youtube and a makeup school, I am on equal footing with anyone who knows a little more about makeup. I've learned how to apply "nice", "sabi ng hubby ko ang pretty ko raw!" and "Ayyy ang ganda! I love you na!" make up on others, too. I won't claim to be an expert. I'm not obsessed, either. A makeup junkie? Yes, definitely! I just love how my mood turns 180 when I have my makeup on. Just a little dab makes wonders, I swear! I carry my makeup bag anywhere I go now and I make sure that I am all glammed up when I attend an event. Ano, tugs! tugs! tugs! tayo? Game, makeupan kita! 

So do you want to know what's inside my daily makeup bag? Disclaimer: this is not product review. I'll just be listing down the products that I carry with me on a daily basis. :)

Tandadadadada! My purple bag is from Beabi

Eyes

Let's start with the makeup for my peepers: Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette, In2it 3-toned eyebrow powder, The Face Shop's Eyebrow Design Pencil, Maybelline Colossal Volume Express Mascara, Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner and Brush, Black Kohl Eye Pencil, Nichido Spot Concealer (which acts a double purpose for I also use it as a primer) and Nichido Eye Pencil in Dark Brown.

Face and Cheeks

Depending on my skin situation, I make use of powder or BB cream interchangeably for a natural look. This time, I use my Maybelline Clear Smooth Shine Free Face Powder in Honey and for blush, I have my Maybelline Blushstudio Cheek Color in I'm Pop.

Lips

For lips, I'm more into neutrals as they look better on me. I choose not to be too adventurous on normal, uneventful days so here's what I got today: Maybelline Colorsensational Lipcolor in Tinted Taupe and Revlon Superlustrous Lipstick in Mauvey and Carmex Lipbalm (My holy grail!).

Swatches of my lipsticks: on the left is Maybelline Colorsensational Lipcolor in Tinted Taupe and on the right is Revlon Superlustrous Lipstick in Mauvey

Go to brushes

From left to right, I carry (all synthetic) a contour/blush brush, fluffy blending brush, eye shader brush, flat angle brush, tapered crease brush, and a dual-ended eyebrow powder applicator brush with spoolie. The ones with pink hair and gold handles are from Forever 21 while the rest are from Marionnaud.

So there you have it, guys. Those are the contents of my makeup bag today. Diba, dapat sponsoran ako ng Maybelline? Loyal customer ako eh! As much as I would like to carry my entire stash of make up everywhere I go, I still try to be selective on which ones to bring on a daily basis bearing in mind the following: function, necessity and size & weight. I also put a lot of thought on the purpose for bringing my makeup and only picking the ones that are versatile in a sense that it helps transform my look from day to night and it matches any outfit that I wear. It helps to self-check as well; will I just be staying in the office the whole day? Will I be taking part in an event? Will I be going out at night? What's the weather like? What will I be wearing? We have to make sure to consider all these factors because makeup can make or break our look. It's important to discern what is appropriate or inappropriate and more importantly, when enough is enough. Ayaw mo naman matanong kung foundation day ba ngayon, diba? As for makeup application, it's necessary to be on point. Again, self-check. Having less is more, especially when attending casual events. This also applies when you're a beginner in makeup so keep it simple and clean. And of course, more than anything, eventhough makeup can do wonders to any face, be reminded that it's just secondary and is more of an accessory. It enhances and corrects what needs to be enhanced and corrected, true, but what matters is we must not forget to always be ourselves and let our real personality shine, with or without makeup. Shine bright like a diamond ang peg natin, sis!

They say that no matter how beautiful life is, it's still unfair. It's harsh. It's a sad reality but that's just half of the battle. A multitude of challenges will be thrown at us and how we deal with it defines how strong we are. Im not trying to preach as if i'm a perfect person and as if I were someone who's overcome a lot. I won't do that because I'm not like that, seriously. This is something that I am still gaining perspective on to be honest because I have yet to walk through the darker alleys. I'm just like any other normal person who suffers from the usual problems and stress. I continuously survive, or at least I think I do, because I am predisposed to it, just like you. Whew, thank God. The rest of the battle is within ourselves and how we deal with things. When my sister told me those nasty words, I definitely hated her guts and I wanted her to disappear from the face of the earth. The battle in that situation wasn't the words that she threw at me and neither was the argument between us. In fact, she was standing on firmer ground when everything she told me was true. The battle was for me not to fight back and just learn to accept that it was true. I could have been destructive, ungrateful and just let all the stress lull me to sleep but guess what, I chose to do something about it. I bought makeup. Okay ang babaw! But no matter how shallow it could be, what's important is I chose to rise above it by turning a weakness into a strength. Who knew that tucked in the recesses of my being lies a knack for beauty? Thank God, once again!

In retrospect, I owe it to my sister for her honesty. What if our encounter didn't happen, would I be the person I am today? Would I have gotten the chance to prove something? Would I discover a talent that's waiting to be realized? I highly doubt it.

Haaaay pardon my emo self.. Friday kasi eh! Ano, party party na???

Stay Happy,

Khaye :)