Best place to get a makeup tutorial/product recommendations?

[Anonymous]

About 5 years ago I stopped wearing makeup regularly and in that time I've had two children and lost 50 pounds. I'm turning 40 this year and I no longer want to be a frump.

I'd like to get a tutorial on a quick, simple, natural looking makeup look without heavy foundation. I'd like to go to an actual expert who can choose products and shades for me and can recommend the best products for my aging skin. I don't mind expensive cosmetics but I'd like to keep the routine minimal. Extra points if this person can give skincare tips too.

I know theoretically I can walk into any Sephora for this, but I'm looking for someone trusted.

[Anonymous]

Blur Mercury is great for this

[Anonymous]

Blue Mercury - sorry

[Anonymous]

Nordstrom

[Anonymous]

If you’re local, Becky at Take Care in Georgetown is wonderful and does makeup consultations. All green/clean products.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 5 years ago I stopped wearing makeup regularly and in that time I've had two children and lost 50 pounds. I'm turning 40 this year and I no longer want to be a frump.

I'd like to get a tutorial on a quick, simple, natural looking makeup look without heavy foundation. I'd like to go to an actual expert who can choose products and shades for me and can recommend the best products for my aging skin. I don't mind expensive cosmetics but I'd like to keep the routine minimal. Extra points if this person can give skincare tips too.

I know theoretically I can walk into any Sephora for this, but I'm looking for someone trusted.

curious, why did you stop wearing

[Anonymous]

I had my makeup done at a Sephora in NYC a couple weeks back before an event, and it was a great way to learn about good products and techniques for a natural but polished look (I'm in my late 40s and mostly abandoned makeup a few years back). I scheduled with a random MUA, and she was great about giving me exactly the look I wanted for the event, while showing me good products and techniques and explaining which ones I could skip if I wanted a more minimal routine on my own.

All this to say don't discount Sephora! Just explain exactly what you are after, and ask lots of questions.

[Anonymous]

I had a good experience at Sephora at Tysons but it was a few years ago so YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 5 years ago I stopped wearing makeup regularly and in that time I've had two children and lost 50 pounds. I'm turning 40 this year and I no longer want to be a frump.

I'd like to get a tutorial on a quick, simple, natural looking makeup look without heavy foundation. I'd like to go to an actual expert who can choose products and shades for me and can recommend the best products for my aging skin. I don't mind expensive cosmetics but I'd like to keep the routine minimal. Extra points if this person can give skincare tips too.

I know theoretically I can walk into any Sephora for this, but I'm looking for someone trusted.

curious, why did you stop wearing

Not OP but you might recall that many people ditched makeup 4.5 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blur Mercury is great for this

Not sure of OP’s background, but I would not recommend Blue Mercury to a woman of color.

[Anonymous]

I have found that Sephora and Blue Mercury don’t recommend the best products for me but instead the employees seem to be coached to pish certain lines. Also, BM’s choices are somewhat limited. At Nordstrom, the person only uses products from the specific brand of makeup kiosk they are assigned to.

I don’t have a rec, but I’d be looking for someone not affiliated with specific products.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 5 years ago I stopped wearing makeup regularly and in that time I've had two children and lost 50 pounds. I'm turning 40 this year and I no longer want to be a frump.

I'd like to get a tutorial on a quick, simple, natural looking makeup look without heavy foundation. I'd like to go to an actual expert who can choose products and shades for me and can recommend the best products for my aging skin. I don't mind expensive cosmetics but I'd like to keep the routine minimal. Extra points if this person can give skincare tips too.

I know theoretically I can walk into any Sephora for this, but I'm looking for someone trusted.

curious, why did you stop wearing

I stopped working in an office. I was also doing IVF and went a little overboard with avoiding anything (chemical) that was even tangentially correlated with poor egg quality/ lower success rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blur Mercury is great for this

Not sure of OP’s background, but I would not recommend Blue Mercury to a woman of color.

Blue Mercury in Fairfax was terrible for me. The lighting was terrible and I was sold very orangey foundation. I'm very pale with bluish undertones. The woman putting on my foundation rubbed my face so hard I actually had a red mark that lasted for days. I have thin, delicate skin and told her so. Awful experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 5 years ago I stopped wearing makeup regularly and in that time I've had two children and lost 50 pounds. I'm turning 40 this year and I no longer want to be a frump.

I'd like to get a tutorial on a quick, simple, natural looking makeup look without heavy foundation. I'd like to go to an actual expert who can choose products and shades for me and can recommend the best products for my aging skin. I don't mind expensive cosmetics but I'd like to keep the routine minimal. Extra points if this person can give skincare tips too.

I know theoretically I can walk into any Sephora for this, but I'm looking for someone trusted.

Same age as you OP- the best products for our “aging” skin are tretinoin and Botox. And sunscreen. I’ve also had my teeth whitened and honestly I think that was more bang for my buck than anything else. I think at this point I would go to the dermatologist first because your skin is the canvas where makeup is applied. I would also follow dermatologists and makeup artists online because 1. you are mostly going to have to figure this out on your own. Doing makeup for a 20 year old is easy but now we all have drastically different needs and you might have to play around a bit to figure out what looks best for you. There’s a reason so many women just opt out of looking their best and the reason is that it can be sort of a demanding hobby.

And 2. there are so many freaking products and recommendations out there but the standouts reappear over and over again on different forums and accounts. You won’t be able to just sashay into a store and get what works best for you.

[Anonymous]

go with a private makeup person who doesn’t “sell” products or have products from any single brand only. basically you want a makeup artist who does this fro a job so it’s in their best interest to have many different brands/products for each person’s individual needs.

I did this a couple years ago and I learned so much about what I needed to make my skin look amazing. it was so worth it. I want to say it was around $300 for 2 hours. and I got a list and recommendations of what to get.

I think I found the woman on instagram.