by Jude Chao

Lavender FOTD Take Two; Makeup (and Skincare) as Hobby and Art

For those who don’t share my passion, it must sound really weird to hear makeup called a hobby or an art. Over the last six months or so, however, those are exactly what the act of applying makeup has become for me.

Makeup as art

I can’t draw or paint or decorate a house to save my life. I never formally developed those skills when I was younger. I believe I could get better at any of those things if I really applied myself to studying and practicing the techniques, but at this point, what I can already produce just isn’t good enough–doesn’t show enough potential–to motivate me to get better at it.

The thing is, I need an outlet to create something that’s aesthetically pleasing and makes me happy both to see and to share.

Turns out that learning how to decorate my face to suit my moods and tastes is the perfect outlet for me. I’m loving trying out new colors, textures, and shapes on my face. At the moment I’m practicing a soft but moody lavender look; I think I’m improving and am pretty happy with today’s attempt, though I still need to work on being braver with blush. (Though the Tony Moly Crystal Blusher I used is a wee bit chalky, so perhaps I couldn’t use a heavier hand with that product anyway.)

Lavender FOTD with Korean makeup products
Front view; please excuse the dismembered Baymax in the background.

Purples, lavenders, and lilacs are some of my favorite colors, and I like clothes in those colors look on me, so it made sense to try them out on my face as well.

Products Used

  • Skin: Missha M Signature Real Complete BB Cream No. 21 Light Pink Beige
  • Cheeks: Tony Moly Crystal Blusher shade 04, Benefit Watt’s Up! highlighter stick
  • Brows: Maybelline Color Tattoo cream eyeshadow, Tough as Taupe
  • Lids: Too Cool for School (eye) Shadow on Flatiron, Lavender; Lioele Color Eye Shadow, shade 25 Brown Violet (watch out for the intense glitter fallout on this one)–in person, I like to call this combo Disco Ball Purple Eyes
  • Liner: Etude House Play 101 Pencil, shade 1 (creamy black)
  • Lashes: Heroine Make Volume & Curl, Jet Black; Heroine Make Long & Curl, Jet Black
  • Lips:  L’Oreal Colour Riche Balm, Plush Plum
FOTD feat Too Cool for School, Lioele, Tony Moly
Natural light on an overcast day.

Like any other art, I had to get comfortable with the basics and the “rules” before I was able to branch out and try something different or potentially “rule”-breaking. For years and years and years, I alternated between the super simple and natural No Makeup Makeup look and a very smoky black eye, because very smoky black eyeliner was the only way I knew of to do my eyes. But after a lot of study of the Makeup Addiction subreddit, I started using other colors, experimenting with trying more than one shadow color at a time on my eyes, moving beyond black liner, and blending. Blending. Blending is very important. And brushes. Brushes are key!

Skin care as hobby

If you’re already familiar with my elaborate morning and evening skin care rituals and my focus on ingredient-aware skin care, then you probably already have an idea of why I consider skin care a hobby. It’s about much more than just washing my face and putting on some moisturizer twice a day. For me, skin care is about evaluating my skin condition on a day-to-day basis and choosing which products I use based on that; researching ingredients, keeping up with the trends, the industry, and skin care science as a whole; and trying out promising products and keeping track of my inventory and results in a pretty organized and methodical way. I love learning about every aspect of it and feel like I learn something new every day, and the best thing about skin care is that I can then turn around and apply my new knowledge in a practical (and fun!) way.

Do you consider makeup and skin care hobbies? Or are they just things you have to do every day?

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2 thoughts on “Lavender FOTD Take Two; Makeup (and Skincare) as Hobby and Art”

  1. First of all, let me say that you look absolutely lovely in the pictures above. You have far more skill in the art form called makeup than you give yourself credit for. And your skin, of course, is fantastic!

    As a man, skin care and makeup (and I will neither confirm not deny using any products typically thought of as being “makeup”) are not something that I “have to do” but are rather things that I choose to do. And I choose to do them because I like doing it, I find it interesting, and because, of course, I like the results. I’ve had a regular SC routine for more than 30 years and my latest obsession has been Asian – and specifically Korean – skin care. This is more challenging and time consuming than anything of this sort that I have done before, but the results have been more than gratifying, and well worth the time, effort (and expense). I’m sure you agree.

    I wouldn’t say it’s a hobby either. It’s way more than that, really something of a personal passion. And, having come this far with it, and taking some pride in looking way younger than my years (63), I’m not likely to stop anytime soon.

    Thank you for your blog. It is ALWAYS an interesting read.

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  2. The comparison to art is apt. That’s how I’ve always thought of it, a way to creatively express myself. (I can’t help it if my creativity wants to express itself in taupe eyeshadow most days. 0_o) But I like experimenting with makeup and although sometimes that means regrettable looks, that also means a great sense of satisfaction when you can get purple eyeshadow, for instance, to work.

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