Your biggest makeup application fail — go!

[PinkEvergreen]

We’re all at different stages of our beauty journeys, but I’m pretty sure we’ve all had a moment when our vision of makeup greatness and the actual outcome didn’t quite line up 😁

My most memorable fail happened when I was about 19. I had applied very dark purple Maybelline matte eyeshadow all over my very pale eyelids. (“Transition shade? Blending? What’s that?” asks my 19-year-old self. This was the 90s, before YouTube even existed.) Bottom line: I was convinced I had totally nailed my look. 

Feeling like a boss as I hustled to my morning psych class, my chill was suddenly disrupted by a security guard who stopped me and asked, “Excuse me, is everything okay, miss? Can I be of assistance?” I gave him a puzzled look and replied, “Uhh, yah? I’m fine...?” He gave me a long, significant look, and leaned in closer. Then he pointed at my eyes and asked, “Ohh, is that makeup?” Again, totally confused, I replied, “Umm, yes?” He replied, “Oh, okay. I thought you had two black eyes. I wanted to make sure you weren’t in any danger.”

As much as I appreciated his attempt to ensure my safety, my heart felt like...

  Credit: Claudio Greco on YouTubeI can laugh about it now but the memory came back to me for years at random moments and caused me to cringe internally soooo hard 😂

Over to you guys! I can only tag 10 people in this post, so feel free to tag others so we can have more giggles together 😊

@makeitup305 @gingerleigh @NotCrocker @ChristineR07 @MissPuff @RGbrown @vivix @blackkitty2014 @NatureGirlSD @JenniferOhJenny

[RNGesusPls]

lol I might know which estate you're speaking of. Also, whenever there's a horse race in Del Mar, you'll see the same glammed up people...but with fancy hats!

[PinkEvergreen]

@makeitup305 Gotta love those surprises! But I think I’d rather arrive slaying like you did than be underdressed 😊

I tend to think of Rupaul in those situations, and I try to exude the confidence I wish I was feeling lol. I also think of this classic Emmett Honeycutt line from QAF:

“I'd rather my flame burn bright, than be some puny little pilot light.”

[makeitup305]

It's a trend with me @PinkEvergreen I tend to overdress so now it doesn't faze me too much. I did make me stick out which is not my favorite when meeting new people.

[SportyGirly125]

@PinkEvergreen Mine was definitely how I did my brows.  I either made them way too dark or way too thin.

[gingerleigh]

This was mine, too. Someone actually offered for me to come over and they would fix them for me. They were probably overtweezed, but I don't have any photos to check into of the exact era. I do remember quite firmly believing, at the time, that the only mistake one could make with brows was to pluck them from the top.

I'll never know what the person would have done to fix them, since I never took him up on the offer.

[PinkEvergreen]

@gingerleigh I blame Drew Barrymore for the 90s/00s eyebrow fails lol 😄 I know she was definitely the inspiration for me overplucking mine into oblivion. 

Fortunately, I’m genetically predisposed to having Brooke Shields eyebrows that cannot be killed off no matter what I do to them, so my eyebrows did manage to survive that era. 

[gingerleigh]

Omg, blaming Drew just feels right. Darn you, Drew! You owe me a Flower Beauty eyebrow pencil, lol. 😉

@PinkEvergreen

Glad your brows survived. Mine mostly did, too.

[greeneyedgirl107]

@PinkEvergreen When I was 14 there was a school dance.  I wanted to show how grown-up I was, so I applied foundation like there was no tomorrow.  I didn't realize how gritty it would look on skin that was rough and peeling from over-zealous use of Retin-A.  I had to wash it all off, which looked marginally better - except that I wound up with orange stains all over the neck of the white turtleneck I was wearing with my  new Gap jumper.  The upside: that jumper is now back in style!

[PinkEvergreen]

@greeneyedgirl107 White turtleneck! GAP jumpsuit! You were living the dream 😁

Did you ever use CoverGirl 3-in-1 makeup? I could have opened up a bakery with all the cake on my face with that one 😂

 

[greeneyedgirl107]

@PinkEvergreen No - I never tried that one!  I thought I had "made it" b/c I was using samples from Estee Lauder!

[PinkEvergreen]

@greeneyedgirl107 Haha love it 😁 

[GG84]

Lol @PinkEvergreen I have a very similar story. My friend and I won tickets to see The Offspring in the height of their "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" days. We considered them to be a *Rock* band so we wanted to look the part (we had no idea what "the part" actually looked like) in both our minds, this meant black clothes and heavy dark make up. We did eachothers make up and both quite literally looked like a smokey eye tutorial of what NOT to do 😵

We show up at the concert, everyone is in jeans and t-shirts. And the two of us who tried so hard to fit in looked so awkwardly out of place 😃

[PinkEvergreen]

@GG84 Haha! I’m sure if I fished through my old photos, I could find a bushel of “how not to” tutorial potential in there 😂

Oh, I can definitely picture the contrast between you guys and their usual slacker audience 😂

[Samtian]

Haha that is funny! I wore red eye shadow the other day and a lady at the gas station I visit often was worried about me because I looked like I was sick or something...my eyes were all red. It was funny...but not funny at the same time. I still fail horribly at applying dark lipstick colors. Always patchy...always. And they are my favorite colors!!

[Ispend2much6]

@Samtian  That patchiness isn't your fault.  It really does seem like the darker ones have more/different pigments than lighter shades that just don't play well.  

[PinkEvergreen]

@Samtian Been there! Red eyeshadow applied too close to my eye makes any redness I have pop 100%. The result is people asking me, “Are you tired? Have you been crying?” What a fabulous confidence-booster! 😜

Now when I wear red eyeshadows, I make sure to wear them only on my upper lid or crease, separated from my eye with non-red shades. That way I can enjoy beautiful red shadows without looking like I just smoked a bowl with the loadies on the grassy knoll 😂

[JenniferOhJenny]

@PinkEvergreen Yeah, I made the mistake of putting my MJ red eyeliner on my lower lash line rather than my upper lash line and I legit looked like I was bleeding from my eyes. Luckily I was able to go over it with brown and it ended up looking ok :).

[PinkEvergreen]

@JenniferOhJenny Omg hahaha 😂 Love it!

Plus you just made a whole bunch of people feel much better about only having experienced black raccoon eyes 😁

[Samtian]

@PinkEvergreenhaha your description is great! That's a good tip about where to wear red shades, I usually avoid them, thanks!