the extremely boring makeup products i use every day without fail

I have become the beige lady I once despised and I am loving it.

If you’d asked me in 2018, I’d have said my “signature look” was a bold lip. Everything else came second – usually I’d wear no more than mascara on my eyes because who cares, I had my glasses on anyway. If I was doing eye makeup, it probably involved colourful eyeliner and glitter.

But that was seven (scream) years ago, and now I am boring. Even when I “go out”, I am boring. Pre-pandemic me would scream if she knew that now, my favourite product categories are skin (forever questing for the perfect glowy base) and blush. I still go for the occasional bold lip or iridescent eye, but if you see me on the street on a normal day, I will be wearing at least one but most likely all of these boring products.

Kiko Milano Super Colour Waterproof Eyeliner in 08 Bronze

I can’t pinpoint exactly when I started using this every time I did my makeup – it just wormed its way in, and now I don’t feel complete without a bit of winged liner. It’s like I’m 14 again! Except this time around, I’m aiming for super thin, brown flicks, instead of giant black triangles that occupy half my lid. I bought this on our gals’ holiday in Lanzarote last year and while it is simply a slightly metallic brown liquid eyeliner, it is very longwearing. Yesterday, for example, I did my makeup at 7.30am and the eyeliner was still perfect when I got home from work at 7.30pm. What more could you want? And Kiko is opening a store on Henry Street, which means I won’t have to go to Lanzarote again to repurchase it (we are going to Tenerife this year anyways). 

About-face Matte Fluid Eye Paint in Capulets

This is barely a colour. Some people would say it was an eyeshadow base rather than an eyeshadow itself. But here I am slapping it on regardless. This is another long-wearing product, from a brand I don’t really hear people talking about over here but is probably one of the most intriguing celebrity brands around (About-face was founded by the singer Halsey). The Matte Fluid Eye Paints come in all sorts of amazing colours – I have another one in a really unique greenish-grey, and I really want this muted lavender shade – but of course my favourite is this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it brown. Paint it on, blend it out, add the brown eyeliner, off I go.

Vieve Eye Wand in Hazelnut

I’ve written about this before, but it remains a constant in my makeup bag. It’s a neutral brown. It’s matte. I can scribble it on with ease. I use it so often but it seems to be never-ending, so I would say for €26-€29 (it’s cheaper on Cult Beauty for some reason), it’s a good investment. So many other brands do a version of this eyeshadow stick, but this is the one I have, and I treasure it.

Lisa Eldridge Sculpt and Shade Lip Pencil in 2C

I hate to call a Lisa Eldridge product boring, but the shade is pretty much the same mauve-pink colour of my lips, so I think my use of it qualifies as dull. I LOVE IT. Like, amazingly, the most flattering lip colour on me is just a more unified version of my own. I haven’t stopped using it since I got it. The old me who used to wear a bold lip colour every day is disgusted. I pair it with the Lisa Eldridge lipstick in Painterly, this wildly expensive Chanel lipstick in Burnished Rosewood that I bought during a March fugue state, Glossier Ultralip in Pony… It just became an instant staple. Lisa Eldridge discontinued a few of her shades recently – including Velvet Morning, the best orange red ever and I actually can’t even talk about it Lisa how could you – but I hope this sticks around.

Here is everything in extremely boring action! I’ve got the About-face shadow on with the eye and lip liners, and elsewhere on the face I have the Lisa Eldridge skin tint, the Rimmel Multitasker glow booster, Fwee Pudding Pot blush in Hurt, and the Haus Labs lip gloss in Guava. I guess this is my makeup uniform of sorts. The children (me) yearn for the mines (school pinafores).

Thanks for reading Vanity Project! I hope reading about boring products was not actually boring, and that you all had a very nice summer. I’m not really ready for the season to change. I felt cold today for the first time in months and I didn’t like it. Anyway. See you next time!