Over at The Demure Muse, Kat posed the question of makeup routines; namely, what is yours and is there anything you’d like to add?

Let me preface this by saying that I was never a makeup junkie. I didn’t start wearing makeup until high school, and even then it was mostly just mascara, so this whole wearing makeup and owning more than two colors of eye shadow is new to me.

The best way to start any makeup routine is with good skincare. I have dry, sensitive skin, so I’m very particular with what I put on my skin. In the morning, I wash my face with Clinique Redness Solutions Soothing Cleanser on a cleansing brush, exfoliate with Clinique Clarifying Lotion 1, and moisturize with Clinique Redness Solutions Daily Relief Cream and DDML. At night, I swap out those moisturizers for vitamin E oil. The only thing I’m missing is a regular eye cream; I do rotate two of them, but neither really makes a visible difference. This has been a near-miracle skincare routine for me, so I do it religiously.

After my skin is properly moisturized, I start with Clinique Redness Solutions foundation, swiping it toward my jaw and hairline with latex-free biodegradable makeup sponges. I have never liked liquid foundation, but the skincare routine plus playing around to find the best way to apply it changed my mind. As much as I loved my mineral foundation, the coverage just isn’t the same. Then it’s ELF eyelid primer in a thin layer on my eyelids while I do my hair.

Depending on how I feel for the day, my eyeliner is either Sephora Nano liner in 06 Glitter Brown (sadly, a discontinued color, but a MAC Teddy dupe) or Ulta Precision Liquid Liner in Carbon Black. I will never, ever give up my CoverGirl LashBlast waterproof (I don’t understand why the reviews suck–I LOVE this stuff). I typically wear some sort of ELF eye shadow, usually one of the cream duos in Mocha Swirl or Sugar Cookie, applied with my fingers (or, for powder shadows, Sephora or ELF brushes).

Currently, I use Almay SmartShade blush in Pink Rose 010, but I’m not in love with it. My former favorite is Sephora Blush Me! Mono in Rose Rebelle, but I’m looking for others (preferably matte).

I have highly pigmented lips, so I don’t have a tendency to wear lip color, and this, therefore, is an area that I would like to work on. I usually stick to Carmex or ELF Therapeutic Conditioning Lip Balm in Strawberry Creme. I love the idea of lip stains, but I can’t get them to work for me. I also love the idea of non-shimmery bright lipsticks. I have a Sephora Rouge Cream lipstick in The Red 04 and Valentine 09, but I don’t play around with them nearly enough. I have started using ELF Plumping Lip Glaze (although I can’t remember off the top of my head what color I have) more lately , which I’ve been very happy with (probably because it’s very sheer, haha).

Looking back at this, it seems like a lot. It really only takes maybe ten minutes to do the makeup part (my hair is an entirely different story), although I’ve never timed myself.