Level up your makeup game
By Jaylee Soh
Fully utilise your makeup by learning how to freely substitute products and making it multi-functional with JAYLEE SOH.
Makeup products that are flexible in its functions and uses. Photo by Jaylee Soh.
Imagine this: you’re running late for an event and you find that you've run out of blusher, and it feels like the end of the world when you’re unable to get that perfect, natural flush out of the bottle. You think about the photos that will be taken tonight and cringe. They’re going to be taken with flash, and you’re going to look like a ghost without just the right touch of warmth to your face!
There are few makeup mishaps more annoying than running out of your go-to product on days that you absolutely need it. Not everyone has all the makeup in the world, and replacing your products can get costly at times.
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While you’re mourning the loss of your favourite lipstick or mascara, KITSCH has a quick fix for you! Here’s how you can replace unusable products with the others inside your arsenal.
Lipstick
Did you know that the tube of lipstick you have in your handbag can be used as a blusher or eyeshadow?
Pang Wen Sze, 46, a professional freelance makeup artist who is very experienced in bridal makeup uses this trick often. She highly recommends others to try it too as she believes it is very convenient and saves storage space in her makeup pouch, especially when she brings makeup out for touch-ups or for her clients.
She explains how to perform this foolproof trick: “First, apply on the cheek or eye area, wherever you want the colour to go. Next, gently spread it by using a beauty blender or with clean fingers.”
Ms Pang also gives one tip: “Preferably, the lipstick should not be too dry or too oily.”
Goay Si Qi, 20, a Ngee Ann Polytechnic graduate, swears by this trick as well. She praises the trick claiming: “I think that substituting blush for lipstick really makes it last so much longer.”
She’s not the only one. Beauty Bay, a popular online women’s beauty retailer, claims that using matte lipstick on your eyelids help hold the colour in place, preventing the makeup from fading, while making it waterproof.
Eyeshadow
If you’re not a big fan of experimenting, you probably only use a few shades in your eyeshadow palettes, as the others might seem unflattering to you. You might have abandoned eyeshadow palettes after those shades were empty, while some shades remained untouched.
Before you toss these colours out, here’s how you can use them in your everyday routine!
Ms Goay uses eyeshadows all over her face by substituting products she does not own with her trusty eyeshadow palette. In particular, she often uses dark eyeshadow shades as contour.
“Use a flat eyeshadow brush, contour brush or any brush you are comfortable with and tint it with the colour most similar to the contour shade you should be using,” she says. “Loosen the powder on the brush, a little, by spreading it on clean hands. Apply the eyeshadow from the inner corners of your eye all the way down to where you want to contour.”
Additionally, Livia Chiow, 19, a Ngee Ann Polytechnic student currently pursuing a Diploma in Arts Business Management, uses her eyeshadow as a brow enhancer when she is out of brow products. “It works, [you] just need to blend it,” she advises.
Highlighter
Add some sparkle and shine to your makeup routine with highlighter! It’s not just for your cheekbones anymore, because you can use it like this too!
Egene Phang, a 17-year-old Nanyang Junior College student employs her highlighter as an eyeshadow and a tool to diffuse darkness under her eyes. “I apply it on my eyelids or put a tiny amount onto the inner corners of my eye if I don’t want to be so extra,” she says.
She also added that on days where her dark undereye circles appear more prominent, she would apply the highlighter after foundation and concealer to further hide the darkness.
Further highlighting the value and usage of a highlighter, Egene adds: “These are hidden hacks which can really come in handy when you need to glam yourself up. I mean if they can be used in that way, then you should get your money’s worth and fully utilise your makeup products! I feel that highlighters are quite foolproof, you can apply it almost anywhere and still look good.”
I tried a natural makeup look using the tips given: lipstick as eyeshadow and blush, highlighter as concealer to diffuse dark undereye circles, and dark brown eyeshadow as contour. Photo by
Jaylee Soh.
Preferring to keep her makeup collection to the minimum and finding free substitution of makeup innovative and cost-effective, Egene shares: “If you know how to use it properly, one makeup product may have multiple uses to give you maximum satisfaction, so why not [try] right?”