Girly Advice Needed (Hosiery and Makeup)

[rsadelle]

Hosiery
My cousin's wedding reception is on Sunday. I finally bought a dress. It's black with sparkles (the glitter gets everywhere; I will probably never wear it again), fake wrap v-neck top, sleeveless, swirly skirt. It's going to be cold, so I need something on my legs. Pantyhose and tights are a pain in the butt (sometimes literally). Does anyone have any experience with thigh highs? Do they actually stay up? How high do they go? Can I get quality ones at Penney's or Gottschalks?

I also don't know what sort of colors I should be looking at. The same color as my legs? Black to go with the dress? Fluorescent pink to spice things up?

Makeup
Remember when I needed makeup advice for Rocky Horror? Well, I haven't learned a whole lot since then.

I'd like some lip gloss. Back in the day, I liked Clinique's Almost Lipstick in Bronze Lilac, which is now discontinued. It looks a lot redder in the pictures than I remember it. I'd like to buy cheap instead of expensive. Of course, then I think, "If I buy something and don't like it and buy something else, I'll have spent as much as I would have if I'd just gone to the makeup counter at Gottschalks and had them help me pick out something expensive." Any suggestions for color or brand?

I also would like to figure out what to do for eye makeup. I wore black eyeliner for my belly dance recital last week, and it's too strong for my face. But I don't know what would be good. A brown? And what about eye shadow? Does anyone know of any good pictures of really good eye makeup I could copy? (If it helps, you can see the description of my dress above, under "Hosiery.")

Other makeup questions:

• What about some kind of concealer/foundation/powder sort of thing? (I really have no basic girly knowledge.) Do I really have to? (I dislike wearing makeup.)
  
• I'm also thinking about some kind of body/face glitter, in silver. Anyone know of anything good?
  
• I'll probably buy some nail polish, too, if the removers Greenfeet sells actually work on regular polish. I saw a silver sparkle coat yesterday. (Yes, I'm the crazy kind of person who goes to the drugstore on Christmas. I was desperate for a new sponge.) I can't decide if I should do just that or some other polish with that on top. How do I figure out what color nail polish to wear?

Comments

[hederahelix.livejournal.com]

In no particular order . . .

Sparkly, glittery nail polish is the hardest stuff to get off. Yes, even harder than the dark colors. No, I don't know why, but, you know, hey, just thought I'd warn you.

As far as body/face glitter? Well, I often just find loose sparkly make up (like eye shadow or something) and mix in it with a liquid to apply evenly over whatever part I want to apply it to. The liquid part will make it stick longer. (I have very oily skin, and as a result, my problem is making much of anything last for any length of time).

If you are working with any liquid make up (foundation) get a make up sponge. It's totally worth it. So much easier to even things out.

Foundations. YMMV. The deal with foundation is that it tends to make make up set better (i.e. the stuff stays on longer, won't wear off as easily, gives you a more even surface to work with blush or eyeshadow or whatever on, etc.). But it is for me just about the least comfortable part of wearing make up (right behind mascara, which I hate).

Black is generally too dark for me for eyeliner (except for stage, costume, and/or clubs when I want something really extreme.) The general rule that I do find helpful is that going with a color that doesn't match your eyes is a good bet (i.e. I don't ever wear green eyeliner and eyeshadow because my eyes are green). You don't have to match any of your make up to your clothes either.

Dark brown and dark purple seem to be the best bets for me, but my skin doesn't have any yellow or orange undertones, so, meh, you know, everyone's different.

As to what you can get that's cheap but good, if you have time, wander over to your local bookstore and take a look at a book called Don't Go To the Cosmetics Counter Without Me by Paula Begoun. She rates different products and gives detailed descriptions of the kinds of foundations on the market.

Although she's a little too conservative (apparently, she thinks that nobody over 30 should wear sparkly eyeshadow because it draws attention to wrinkles, which I don't agree with because I don't give a rat's ass about wrinkles, I just care about what colors are fun to play with) overall, her advice about colors and textures of various products has been spot on for me so far. Hope that helps!

[rsadelle]

THANK YOU. (That's a really big thank you.) This is a huge help! I browsed through Paula Gegoun's book and website. I wrote down the cheap best things in the eyeshadow and lip gloss categories from the book, and I'll take that list to the drugstore with me.

I'm still under 30, so I guess I get to wear sparkly eyeshadow!

[valerie-quinn.livejournal.com]

Thigh highs - for the most part they really won't stick up very well. At least I've never really had much luck with making them stick. But I also have really big thighs. I'd recommend getting a garter belt. You can prob pick one up from VS.

Make-up - what time is the wedding? If it's in an area that you're familiar with or that's close to home and the wedding is later on in the day, just set up an appt for a make-over at Clinique or whatever other make-up counter you prefer on the day of the wedding.

It's hard for me to recommend colors without actually seeing you in person. In general, Prescriptives is great for foundation/concealer/powder. They'll specially blend a foundation for you to match your skin color. If you're going to wear foundation, then you should probably also get powder, since foundation by itself has a tendency to crack and peel after a couple of hours. I've also been told that Bobby Brown is great for mascara and eye make-up.

Personally, I'm a fan of Mac. However, Mac tends to be a bit theatrical in their color selection. If you're looking for a subtle look, don't go to Mac.

I don't know much about nail polish. I hardly ever get manicures or paint my nails, so I'm useless in this category.

Have fun at the wedding!

[rsadelle]

Thanks. My mom said basically the same things about thigh highs and MAC!

[(Anonymous)]

Ok, so working my way down the list...

Most of the people I know who have tried thigh-highs have said they worked for part of a night...but they also weren't wearing garter belts so who knows... As to color, black to match the dress or a few shades darker than your own skin is normal I think, though o course if you like the bright pink, go for it!

My experience with lip stick and gloss is that the more expensive stuff (generally) ends up paying for itself as it sems to have more staying power and come in more lasting packaging (though this isn't one of my areas of expertise...)

Black eyeliner like back mascara is a no-no, if you want something dark and neutral pick out dark brown, for more fun you can pick out colors.

Eye shadow colors are going to depend on the time of day of the event and on your skin coloring

[allegram.livejournal.com]

that was me and now I'm talking to you!

[rsadelle]

Hee!