my slow girl makeup routine
how to mimic laminated v. microbladed brows, when to wear a classic red lip & where to apply faux freckles
I am a very slow person.
When I wake up, I like to spend an hour in bed before physically getting up. I like to rub my feet cricket-style, bask in the safe feeling of ambient sunlight, make a cup of hot water and bring it back to bed. The only thing that motivates me to get out of bed is Maggi’s impatient tippy-taps, asking to be adored and nuzzled.
The “5 minute morning” concept has never worked for me. You know how makeup brands always market their products as so quick and easy and perfect for being on the go? Well if I’m not on a time crunch, I prefer to spend an hour getting ready. My routine is not particularly complicated—I just move slow.
After washing and moisturizing my face with products from a local esthetician I’ve been using for years, I pull up some mellow songs on Spotify. Lately it’s been a rotation of Lana Del Rey, Cocteau Twins, Weyes Blood, and I’m Just a Freak Yeahhh by Jocelyn (hehe).
I start with the Merit Foundation Stick in Bisque, painting thick lines under my eyes where I have a goggle tan. Before Merit was carried at Sephora, I ordered the stick in Camel because the ecomm was East Asian and had a similar skin tone as me but it was just way too yellow. The Bisque shade is perfect though. I blend it out with a brush (that I haven’t washed in months).
Then I dab some Tower28 Contour Cream in Hammer (like the museum) along my jaw, cheekbones, and smear a little bit under my eyes. I know a lot of people intentionally try to hide dark eye circles but I actually really like how it looks. An espresso-flushed face.
Ok my favorite step comes next: brows. If I could only do makeup on one part of my face, my eyebrows are the easy obvious choice. There are two ways I do my brows with makeup to mimic a laminated look or a microbladed look. Let me explain with some photos: