Practice Practice Practice

ByCordelia

Practice Practice Practice

Any time I feel like my skills with makeup suck, I just go back and look at where I was in 2008. I started blogging in May 2008 and in July 2008 I started using more than 2 eyeshadow colors at a time. I didn’t know that I had hooded eyes back then, so any time I tried to recreate someone else’s color placement, it just looked wrong and my crease color disappeared. I couldn’t figure out why my looks never turned out right and it was so frustrating.

Practice Practice Practice

Practice Practice Practice

Now I have a better understanding of color placement and blending, as well as having better blending brushes (thank you Wayne Goss!), and I feel it makes a world of difference with my looks.

Practice Practice Practice

I also think my brows look better too, especially since I discovered the Nyx Eyebrow Gel (hello Make Up For Ever Aqua Brows dupe!).

Don’t ever get discouraged with your makeup. Practice! Watch tutorials! And never forget if you hate it, it’s just makeup, so you can remove it and start all over.

It’s really encouraging to me to see my skill progression – both with eyeshadow placement and blending, as well as my photography skills. And I’m still learning, every day! I’m always trying to improve.

If you’re looking for books about makeup, here are the ones I own. When it comes to makeup books they’re the only books that I will buy in hardback and not kindle, because I enjoy flipping through to see the pictures and I just don’t find it that easy to flip through on my kindle.

Most of the time I feel like the books say the same things over and over, such as drink lots of water, you are what you eat, eat plenty of veggies and fruit. I feel like that’s a lot of just filler text to hit word count. But some of the books have gorgeous looks.

I think I’ve learned more by watching videos on Youtube. Here are some of my favorite Youtuber for tutorials:

Of course, you can always check out my Youtube tutorials if you want, too.

What are some of your favorite makeup books? Who are your favorite Youtubers for tutorials? Do you ever look to see how far you’ve come with your makeup skills?

Cordelia Frost is the creative force behind Phyrra, a treasure trove for cruelty-free indie and goth makeup enthusiasts. She's the author of the game-changing 'Hooded Eyes Makeup Manual' a must-read for hooded eyes makeup.

Cordelia's world is a kaleidoscope of alternative beauty, gothic fashion, and life-enhancing tips, making every visit to Phyrra a journey into a more colorful and inspired self.

19 Comments

  1. I agree with you, it takes practice and any time I feel discouraged, I look back and I see that while I may not be the best, I am improving at least! I also agree that since it washes off, why not give something a try, there’s always tomorrow if it looks that bad!

    1. I wish that some MAC Mua had taken pity on me years ago and pointed me at a makeup book so that I could have started practicing sooner!

  2. Sometimes I scroll back into the archives of my blog and cringe– sooo tempted to delete some old tutorials and posts but we all start from somewhere!

  3. I actually like some of those early looks, but then I have always been a sucker for shine and sparkle on the eyes!

  4. Making Faces is one of my fav books, also I think that the Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual is an essential starter for any MUA/makeup addict starting out :). Great post, I sure do not want to go back and look at my makeup looks from 6 months ago, let alone 2008…eep!

    1. There are days when I want to delete everything from before 2012. But, I figure it might help people to see that yes you can be awful (which I was) and you can improve.

      1. Yeaaa, See there are days when I see an old photo and my brows look too big, or too dark and I just want to bury my head in a hole 😛 PS. So glad to see someone else is a crazy night owl like me!

  5. I am going to look at these and find the looks for me. Thanks for sharing your great tips. There is quite a list of them. I love you tube so I can see it. You look like what you are doing is great. Your work looks like an expert!!

  6. Your 2008 looks seem pretty good to me! Better than I usually manage, anyway… I have really bad astigmatism so for me it’s basically just “make the blobs of color sort of match the other blobs of color” so I really admire anyone who can do their own face really well. I mean, I went to esthetics school and I was trained by two professional makeup artists, and I still can’t work with my own face.

    I’ve read a lot of really cool makeup books though (some that you mentioned above, and there’s one I have that I can’t for the life of me remember the title of) that taught me a lot. “Eye Candy” gave me inspiration when I was just starting out, because I was basically self-taught until I went to school, and I love lending it out so my friends can be inspired too.

    1. Aw thank you so much! I’d love to know of any books not mentioned above that you like. I still feel like I struggle to apply blush perfectly but I keep practicing!

  7. This was fun to see, Phyrra! Though your 2008 skills are actually pretty nice looking to me! I too have hooded eyes and if I fall in love with a look on someone with gorgeous protruding eyes with TONS of eyelid “real estate” (my mom coined that one), I try to mentally modify it down to what it would look like on my small hooded eyes and go from there. I still hope to have Cher lids in my next life, but in this one, you’re so right that practice and trial and error make all the difference in the world! I thought I’d NEVER be able to grasp the art of false lashes, but once I put my mind to it and practiced, I got it down in no time. I also ADORE Making Faces. That book was my gateway drug into the wild world of makeup! I remember reading about things I’d never heard of before (back in 1999, that included liquid luminzer!) and studying the pictures time and time again. Kevyn Aucoin was an amazing person and talent.

    1. I’m finally comfortable with demi lashes, but still really dislike dealing with full lashes because I feel I fail no matter how much I practice. So glad you enjoy seeing the progression! I hope my video tutorials are helpful to you 🙂

  8. Thank you so much for this post! I have been inspired watching you grow more and more not only in your makeup applications but the amount of readers you have now. It’s always awesome when people say that you are their favorite! Now I was wondering if you have a link you would suggest to finding out what type of eyes I may have that would be wonderful

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