Saccharine Babe

So I just privately answered an ask about this, but I feel like it’s worth sharing.

You cannot “make” a man want you. You cannot “make” a man more generous. He either cares about you and values you or he doesn’t. And even if you could “make him” why bother? There are plenty of men out their would treat you well without you having to overhaul their entire personality.

This applies to both Sugaring and Vanilla dating. Generosity is about more than money after all. Is he generous with his time, his attention, his affection? If not, move on. Dumping him will either knock his priorities straight or get you out of an unhealthy dynamic, and both are good things.

Okay so this is going to be involved because I LOVE makeup.

So my main makeup essentials would be:

Foundation

Concealer

Setting Powder

Blush

Contour Shade

Highlighter

Brow Pencil and Mascara

Gel Liner

Neutal Eyeshadow palette

Waterproof Mascara

Red Lipstick

Nude/My lips but better Lipstick

Lip balm

Quality Brushes

Foundation/Concealer: So my current favorite foundation in the NARS luminous all day liquid. I love it. I pair it with the NARS pressed translucent powder. Gives me a lovely dewy look that really does last all day and doesn’t look like foundation. I use Makeup Forever full coverage concealer for my under eye circles and smaller blemishes. I like it because it doesn’t crease under my eyes. For big zits, which I rarely get but sometimes occur when I’m dumb and sleep in my makeup, I use the original Bare Minerals foundation on dense brush, then blend it out. I think it just looks better than liquid concealer on larger blemishes. Other suggestions: Bare Minerals Bare Skin (doesn’t come in my shade but I’ve heard great things), Makeup Forever HD, Makeup Forever Matte Velvet (if you prefer a matte foundation), MAC Pro longwear Concealer.

Highlight/Contour/Blush: For this I use a Sleek Makeup trio. I bought my in London so I think you can only find it online in the US. It has a shimmery blush and highlight, and a matte bronzer/contour shade. I have that and a NARS trio and the shades are basically identical, except the NARS bronzer is shimmery, so you can’t contour with it. Save your money and buy the Sleek one. I don’t contour much because I think it makes my face look weird and disproportionate? But I think the color I have may just be too warm for me, but I’m very fair so it would likely work for most people. The key is a MATTE shade for contouring. I honestly wouldn’t waste money on a 6 piece contouring/highlighting palette, because realistically you’ll only use like 2-3 of the shades. Honestly, matte powder foundation in a shade 2-3 darker than your skin with the same undertone is probably your best bet, then just find a nice highlight. I like NARS, Sleek, and Becca highlighters. I don’t wear much blush, and only own NARS orgasm and the Sleek Dupe, and never wear them. I also don’t wear bronzer, but again I am VERY FAIR. So I think blush and bronzer just don’t suit me, but they do look nice on most people. NARS blushes and bronzer are regarded as the best, but play around with it before committing to a $20 blush.

Eye Makeup: Okay so despite owning all of the Naked Palettes, I must say I do think they’re over hyped and don’t have enough matte shade for me to recommend to a beginner. I’d recommend the Lorac Pro, which has some lovely neutrals in both mattes and shimmers, so that’s a great place for you to start. Honestly, just watch a lot of YouTube videos on how to do different eye makeup looks and then mess around with it. Once you learn a few basic techniques, you can pretty much do any look you want. For eyeliner, I’ve mostly been using eyeshadow on a wet eyeshadow brush recently and I’ve been really liking it. I do cat eyes always, and it’s a practice make perfect thing but mess around with different types of brushes and products to find what works for you. One tip is to start on the eye you’re WORSE at. Then it’s easier to match the wing on your good eye. Beyond wet eye shadow I like Tarte’s gel eyeliner a lot. Mine opened up in my makeup case and dried out, which I’m fairly bummed about. And Urban Decay’s pencil liners are great for tight lining, but their gel eyeliner is awful don’t waste you money. And TBH I haven’t really liked any high end mascaras I’ve tried. Or at least not enough to justify the price. Drug store mascaras are the bomb. I always use waterproof and Maybelline is my favorite brand for mascara, but I’ve heard good things about Covergirl as well.

Brows: Tweezerman tweezers are the only tweezers. I use MAC brow pencil because Fling is the only shade I’ve found that works for very light blonde hair, but the pencil is great in terms of quality as well. Then I use Benefit Gimme Brow to keep my brows in place. My brows are shaped nicely and are thick naturally, so I don’t do much beside tweeze the stray hairs and fill them in slightly to make them more prominent, but you may need to do more depending on your brows’ state. There are plenty of Youtube Videos on how to do eyebrows.

Lips: I don’t wear a ton of lipstick, but I like MAC Brave as a nude/my lips but better shade and NARS Cruella as a red, and honestly, as far as basics go thats all you need. For more dramatic colors, I have a bunch of Lime Crime Velvetines, but that company is very problematique, so I’ll let you do your own research into the topic. I’ll let you decide for yourself if lip liner is something you want to use, I do sometimes and I don’t really care much about it. I don’t wear lip gloss since it makes my mouth look weird in my opinion, so I can’t really recommend any. Also Elizabeth Arden 8 hour lip treatment (the one in the metal tin) is amazing and will make your lips the softest.

Brushes: I love my Sigma and Tarte brushes. I have the Sigma basics set which is $200 I think? But totally worth it. I also love the flat top Kabuki for foundation. I have the Tarte big fluffy foundation brush and the double ended concealer one and both are lovely. Brushes are for sure worth the investment.