Pixiwoo made me do it

13 February 2010

For a little while now I’ve been following the makeup tutorials from Pixiwoo on Youtube, also available at www.pixiwoo.com. Professional makeup artists Samantha Chapman and her sister Nicola share techniques and show how to achieve various looks. I’d love to have a makeover, have someone do my makeup and so I tend to fall into a kind of zen state watching these videos.

I’ve always liked makeup. Mum used to be an Avon representative, so makeup was available fairly cheaply and I would read articles on how to apply it. Even from pretty young I’ve been fairly good with makeup, though there is photographic evidence that I used to get a bit carried away with the eyebrow pencil.

Watching the Pixiwoo videos has opened up a world of new techniques and products and in my zen state I have been swayed into thinking that maybe it would be worthwhile investing in some new products – something with a good brand name, something that costs more than £3.

The first was something I didn’t know existed until I watched the videos: a foundation brush. I’d always applied foundation with my fingers, so this is new to me. I’ve bought a MAC 190 brush and while putting the foundation on with it seems fairly easy, I have yet to master standing back from the mirror so I don’t keep wacking it with the brush handle.

So that was the first foray into something new and today I headed to the makeup counters at Fenwicks in Tunbridge Wells to get a couple more bits. Concealer is something of a staple that I don’t really have and so I asked for advice at the Bobbi Brown counter. I thought I’d just be sold X, Y or Z, but I was invited to take a seat and the makeup artist tried out various shades and two different types of concealer, telling me how to apply it and make it stay put. Then there was no hard sell, I simply chose the one I wanted and that was that. Oh, apart from feeling 100 years old, because the girl doing my makeup recognised me from school and turned out to be about 6 years younger than me. I’m not sure I’m happy being old enough to have someone 6 years younger than me and still looking like an adult. But I digress.

The kit holds a pot of concealer, with loose powder in the section below. There’s a mirror in the lid and a little powder puff is included for touching up, but I think a brush would be better, as the girl used when demonstrating it on me.

I also wanted to get a bronzer and the Bobbi Brown girl recommended that I ask for that at the MAC counter as they’d have better colours for me. Using bronzer is a new concept I’ve picked up from Pixiwoo. They use it in particular below the cheekbone, magically adding the definition that I’m definitely missing. Somehow it works subtly without being all Boy George about it. So the MAC girl found me a nice non-shimmery mineral powder and showed me how to apply it. Sold.

Man, this buying new stuff is fun and the makeup counters aren’t anything like as intimidating as they seem when you’re scurrying past them en route somewhere else. In fact I’ve got quite a taste for it now. I feel like I want to tour them all and get makeovers and be all glamorous. This from the person who works at home and so doesn’t bother getting dressed up for the office with makeup and jewelry during the week. Hell, it took me days to even get around to putting on the nail varnish I’d been wanting to wear.

What are you like – do you like getting dolled up, or is it a chore you avoid? Are you a brand snob, or does any old product suffice?

Posted in: being me

Comments

10 Responses to “Pixiwoo made me do it”

kirsty
13th February 2010 @ 10:54 pm

You’ve had ME watching those tutorials for days now!! They are so good! Makes me realise how very little I know about applying makeup. I wear makeup about ten times a year, but I lurrrrve it and want to buy it all the time. I am particularly addicted to Christian Dior compacts (especially the little sets of five eyeshadows)and my favourite item ever is YSL Touche Eclat concealer. I use it to conceal half my face sometimes. The brush is so soft.

[Reply]
bethany actually
14th February 2010 @ 6:47 am

I like getting dolled up, but I’m just barely know how to do it. I mean, I can apply the drugstore makeup I buy (not the cheapest, but definitely not brand-snobby either) and not look like a clown, but just the bare minimum. I just visited Sephora for the first time when Lauren was visiting me and that was quite fun and not-at-all intimidating so I might go back there someday. I just need to find some friends who like playing with makeup, as for some reason I seem to have a bunch of friends who are the all-natural type.

Perhaps when I come to visit you someday, we can go hang out at the makeup counters. I’m sure Annalie would love a makeover as well.

[Reply]
lauren
14th February 2010 @ 9:02 am

i like getting dolled up, but inevitably end up using the same stuff for ages and ages, then go to a make-up counter and change things up again. i wasn’t a brand snob until i first went to a bobbi brown counter, and realised just how good make-up can be when you spend a little money on it (btw, their moisturiser is uhmazing!). i’m with Kirsty on the YSL concealer too, its fantastic.
so, when do we see a picture of you with said make-up applied? ;)

[Reply]
doow
14th February 2010 @ 1:55 pm

@ Lauren – I think I should make sure I know how to do it first, before I start parading about with brown stripes down my face ;-) We must go and get makeovers!

[Reply]
Beth
15th February 2010 @ 12:23 pm

I rarely get dolled up, although I wear foundation, powder and lipstick to work. The other day, though, I wore eyeliner as well and nine-year-old son gazed adoringly at me and told me I looked pretty…so maybe I’ll return to wearing eyeliner from here on out. ;^) Oh, and drugstore products for me, although I do fantasize about being taught proper makeup techniques and wearing higher-quality makeup. I just don’t like the thought of sitting in a department store and being “on display” as someone else does my makeup! :-/

[Reply]
Thursday
15th February 2010 @ 5:26 pm

In my office-working days, I wouldn’t have been seen dead without foundation, powder (Clinique) and a stroke or two of mascara. I was also religious about cleaning my face every evening too. These days I hardly bother although I do have the MAC ‘sheer mystery powder’ and ‘face and body foundation’. I keep meaning to buy a MAC foundation brush and was after one of the sets of five but apparently (according to their website), they don’t do them any more. Whether they have them at a counter, I don’t know as I’m miles and miles from the nearest one. My fave lipstick is Bobbi Brown ‘slopes’ which I’ve worn for a couple of years and I too love the YSL touche eclat. I’ve all but given up with eyeshadow given that my eyelids have disappeared, something only surgery would correct (which I would seriously do).

[Reply]
Carolyn J.
15th February 2010 @ 7:00 pm

I’m with Beth, I hate being on display. My response to your post was too long to write in a comment, so I’m writing it on my own blog.

http://deodand.typepad.com/crappy_customer_service/2010/02/in-which-i-talk-about-makeup-because-no-one-in-my-real-life-will-talk-about-it-with-me.html

[Reply]
sarahgrace
28th February 2010 @ 7:04 am

I’m with you, I love putting on make-up and have a bit of a collection of it. I like getting dolled up as often as possible, but also appreciate the days when I let my face have a rest. I’m pretty much a Clinique girl when it comes to moisturizer, cleanser, foundation and mascara, but will try all different kinds of brands with eyeshadows and lipsticks…etc.
Fun topic, Sarah! :-)

[Reply]
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