#startingtobloom

Hello :)

(This is going to be a long post, I could tell....)

First, you should get a primer. This will prep your face for makeup. Depending on which one you get according to your skin type, it will have different roles such as mattifying, or hydrating. (There are even more variations such as bronzing, luminizing, color correcting).

If you have normal skin- Smashbox photofinish primer

If you have combo/oily skin- Tarte clean slate poreless perfecting primer

If you have dry skin- Laura Mercier hydrating foundation primer

Next you would need foundation. This will even out your skin tone and add a layer of flawless new skin. Foundations range from sheer coverage to full. Since you want flawless skin, I recommend a full coverage foundation. To get your skin shade, you could either ask the person working there (if you're at mac or sephora, or any department store) or you could pick about 3 shades that you would think it would be close to your color. Then either put bottle right next to your jaw line and compare them and see which one fits best. If you want to swatch a tiny bit on your jaw, that's fine too.

Great foundations with full coverage:

Revlon colorstay foundation

Makeup Forever HD foundation

Tarte amazonian clay 12 hour full coverage foundation

Laura Mercier silk creme foundation

As for concealer, is used to cover up areas that need a little bit more concentrated coverage. If you want to conceal your undereye circles, you should use a concealer 1 or 2 shades lighter than your actual skin so it will brighten your face up and make you look more "alive". To cover blemishes, acne, etc, you would need a full coverage concealer that stays on and is the same color as your skin/foundation.

For undereye concealers, a different person has asked me a question about it so here's a link to good undereye concealers:

http://artsymakeup.tumblr.com/post/32872209159/can-you-recommend-me-some-nice-undereye-concealers-i

For blemishes:

Kat Von D tattoo concealer

Josie Maran argan blend concealer

Now to set everything in place, you will need powder. This can be optional for you if you have dry skin that won't budge your makeup all day. But if you don't, there are different types of setting powder such as loose, pressed, translucent.

If you don't want any more coverage, but just to mattify and set your makeup, or you can again blend your concealer with your foundation with a powder that has color.

Translucent powder- Makeup Forever HD powder

Pressed powder- Benefit hello flawless powder

Loose powder- Bare Minerals powder

Next, bronzer. You can either contour your face to slim it down, or you could just add a bronze glow. (Or even both.)

Matte- Too Faced chocolate soleil bronzer

Shimmery (but not too shimmery) bronzer- Nars laguna bronzer

For blush, it gives a healthy, flush to your cheeks. And I think everyone looks good in blush as long as you apply a certain way to certain areas. There are different types of blushes like stains, powder, cream, liquid. If you have dry skin, get a cream/liquid, and if you have oily, get powder! Stains and liquid are really versatile for every skin type. 

Cheek stain- Benefit benetint

Liquid blush- Makeup Forever HD liquid blush

Powder blush- Nars blush

Cream blush- NYX cream blush

Lastly for highlight, it's going to make your face look glowy and emphasized certain features. You apply this to the high points of your face such as your cheekbones, center of your forehead, bridge of nose, chin, cupids bow, browbone. (And yeah, Benefit's high beam is great for that.)

Benefit highbeam

MAC soft and gentle

I hope this helped and sorry for the long post!