Now that school's out, I made it my summer goal (it was originally my 2019 goal, but it didn't work out) to blog regularly. This is an old post I made in February but never got the time to edit and publish it. And some of the products I mentioned in here I already used them up, so I will provide an updated makeup routine in the next couple of months with new products!

So my daily makeup routine is heavily inspired by K-Beauty, with most of the products from Korean brands. I will let you know the benefits of each product and where you can purchase them as well! (Along with a few tips for those who are new to makeup.)

Before we begin, I want to let you know my skin type. I have very dry skin, sometimes combination (usually only in the summer), so my tips will cater towards people with dry skin. However, I will try my best to include suggestions for those with oily skin as well.

++ Disclaimer: I am not a professional makeup artist, but I have been practicing putting on makeup since freshman year of high school (so almost six years now?). Practice is really the key!!! (& loads of YouTube videos LOL.)

Let's get started!

••━━━━━ •• ☆ •• ━━━━━••

(I will ignore my skincare routine because I would rather do a separate post. But in summary, the most important part is to moisturize, especially in the winter time!! Since I have very dry skin, I tend to use lotion that is more on the thick/oily side.)

Step #1: Apply chapstick!! My lips tend to get dry very easily, so I apply a generous amount.

(lip balm: @innisfree canola honey)

Step #2: Shake foundation and squirt one pump onto the back of your hand. Then use the tips of your fingers to tap "spots" on your face. Make sure you cover evenly.

(foundation: @giorgio armani luminous silk foundation in shade #4)

Tip: When using a beauty blender or sponge, spray mist so that it is a little damp! I find this extremely useful in preventing my skin from flaking out. Also, this foundation is GREAT for dry skin. I've only started using foundation last year, but this is the best out of all the ones I bought which tend to make my skin look too cakey or dry. I received many compliments when I wear this because it has such a natural finish! (I actually convinced some of my coworkers to purchase this. giorgio armani pls sponsor me.) This product is a bit expensive, but I purchased the small size and have been using it for three months daily and there's still a lot of product left. It's definitely worth it!

Step #3: Conceal! I use the liquid conceal and apply it to blemishes, dark spots and under eyes. Use the same method with the beauty blender and mist. It will make your face look dewy! If a liquid concealer is not enough, I use the pot concealer for tiny spots such as pimples or under my nose.

(concealers: @thesaem –– the holy grail of concealers. They work SO well and last all day. I first bought them when I was in Korea and fell in love with them, so I stocked up from Yesstyle.)

Step #4: Eyebrows. I use two products: 1) @innisfree Auto Eyebrow Pencil in shade #7; 2) @benefit Precisely My Eyebrow shade #4. I use the Innisfree pencil to generally shape my eyebrows because it's not very pigmented & I also use the spooly to brush out my eyebrow hairs, so that they are all facing the same direction. The Benefit pencil is for finer details and allows me to create sharp ends at the edge of my eyebrows and I like drawing fake little hairs at the front to give it a little length.

Step #5: Contour. This is still quite a new concept for me because I typically don't contour often, but I recently started shading my nose slightly to give it a little dimension.

(contour powder: @toocoolforschool art class by rodin)

Tip: Use the sides of a brush to contour in order to get a more natural blend. I usually just shade the sides of nose, under my nose and below my lip. I also do my hairline and jaw if I have time but nothing too drastic.

Step #6: Eyeshadow –– my favorite part! I have tons of eyeshadows and various palettes but I LOVE @tarte Tartelette in Bloom. The colors are super pretty and these apply so well!

How to Apply: I use "flower child" or "sweetheart" as my base color. Apply widely. Then I use "funny girl" for under my eyes to brighten it up a little. Lastly, I use the shade "rebel" and apply it to the outer crease of my eyes to give off a subtle smoky effect. You can use darker colors for more depth. Make sure to blend well!

Step #7: Curl eyelashes and apply mascara! I highly recommend this product: @kissmeheroine Volume & Curl Mascara. This is the holy grail of mascaras!!! It doesn't clump or fall under my eyes + it lasts the whole day. A lot of people think I wear falsies, but it's actually thanks to this product. I bought mine from Yesstyle!

Tip: Apply mascara before eyeliner (if you are using one). If you apply eyeliner first, the eyelash curler might smudge it away. Plus, it is much easier for me to tightline my eyes after my eyelashes have been curled. But if you are applying eyeliner afterwards, make sure the mascara has dried!

Step #8: Lip product. While waiting for the mascara to dry, I move onto the lips. I have a huge range of lip products, but the ones I use consistently are the @katvond's Everlasting Liquid Lipstick. I liked it so much that I got it in three shades. These are such great #MLBB colors, which suit people who tend to wear darker clothes or have darker hair. The three shades I own are Lolita, Double Dare and Lolita II. I use Double Dare the most but lately I've been switching to Lolita II. Caution: these products are a bit sticky, so I would refrain from applying too much at once.

How to Apply: spread a light layer onto your lips, mostly at the inner corners. Use the tip of your finger to smudge the edges and to give your entire lips some color. Once that's dry, apply a second layer ONLY on the inner part of your lips. This will produce a slight gradient effect. If you want a more noticeable difference, just wait for the product to dry and apply another layer on top of the previous one.

Step #9: Eyeliner. I only wing out a small line, so it looks very natural. I love using brown eyeliners, so that the overall look is softer.

(eyeliner: @holikaholika wonder drawing auto 24)

(Optional) Step #10: To add some extra pizzazz, you can apply blush (@tonymoly crystal blusher in shade #pleasure peach) or take your highlighter and dab some on the tip of your nose, the top of your eyebrows, the top of your lip, on your cheekbones or anywhere you want to emphasize. I use @missha's italprism in shade #lace shirring for subtle shine.

+ finishing touches:

For dry skin: spray mist onto your face! I use the @innisfree aloe vera face mist but the @evian works well, too! Only spritz a little, so that your makeup doesn't run.

For oily skin: set powder! Some great ones are @muji's translucent powder & @unt's perfectly matte powder. If you have super oily skin, a tip would be to bring blotting sheets with you.

••━━━━━ •• ☆ •• ━━━━━••

It seems like quite a lot of steps, but this takes me about 20 minutes in the morning. Once you establish a routine, you will get faster. I hope this helped everyone from beauty fans to beginners alike! If you want to know any additional information or if you have questions, please let me know.

Thanks for reading!!