How to find makeup staples to *actually* invest in (& red flags to avoid) 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do a video on how to find your blush shade!! I'm finding myself overwhelmed with all of the fun colors out there. Great video- such a breath of fresh air 💕

As a pale cool toned person, it’s easier to find a blush colour to work as an effortless bronzer sometimes! I really love the Jouer blush duos, I have the shade Adore.

Thank you for the reminder that in particular lip products do not have to be expensive to be fantastic. I keep trying over and over to find a dupe for my favorite red lipstick which happens to be from Colourpop, and I keep looking for the “luxury experience” but tbh in color and formula nothing is coming close. For me eyeshadow is another category like this too. I prefer eyeshadows that are really light in tone and pigmentation, and there’s soooo many cheap options that tick all my boxes from Asian beauty brands. Western eyeshadow is very often too warm toned, too deep, and too highly pigmented for what I’m after, even if the formulas are objectively good.

Video idea! Which products have you tried to dupe but always go back to the original? This makes me think of hourglass ambient lighting powders and buxom full on lip polish.

So interesting! Thank you for your detailed thoughts. My staple makeup investments are: 1. A top notch eyelid primer 2. A quality face setting spray 3. An excellent concealer good for eyes and face 4. A good fluffy eye blending brush to use everywhere on my face (Honorable mention: a long wear, natural looking brow pen that doubles as a natural eyeliner) About me: almost 50, oily skin and lids, enjoy multitasking items). Thanks again!

This was awesome. Timeless, practical, on point helpful tips for a fool proofing a go to collection! Keep this type of content coming... loving it! I'm realizing I need to stop buying so many different items and allow myself to invest in some higer end better performing products, which in the end will cost less and give me better reliable quality that I will actually use instead of not being satisfied and not using items. Thank you!💜

i was thinking about this just now! and i have a much more fun and colorful approach to makeup, fun maybe isn't the right word just certainly not natural because I would suggest investing in graphic liners or quality colorful eyeshadow palettes if you are into that sort of thing, but i would never want to be without a good skin tint either! edit: the first product is concealer which makes sense! but I actually haven't bought one in so long and I don't find that i need one for under my eyes, just a reminder to find your own makeup style and products because i've recently wanted to buy a concealer and then remembered that i've been fine without for months!

Using the term invest to refer to a perishable product like makeup is wild (and I'm saying this as somebody with a large collection)

I am dying to know what affordable lip product you're wearing! Also, would love that blush video

I really enjoy your videos recently. They are so helpful. It is refreshing not to have yet another person talk about all the new releases. Most of us probably have enough makeup to last us a while, and I get tired of always going after the next new thing. So thank you for putting out different content that has more substance

Please please do a video on how to find your blush shade!!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

My must have staples are, in order of priority: a good cool toned grey taupe brow pencil (Mac in Thunder is The One), a wispy mascara (Glossier in brown), tinted brow gel (Glossier in grey), and a pale pink tinted lip balm (it varies but my fave is NARS Fast Lane). My honorable mention is a brown eyeliner to use as a smudgey liner/shadow but I’m not locked in to my all time fave just yet. Victoria Beckham has my favorite formula but not the perfect color. The Makeup forever artist pencil in Endless Cacao is the ideal color but the formula isn’t stellar. Pat McGrath liner in Shade is neither the right color nor formula. The search continues. I’m also searching high and low for my perfect blush, so a video on that would be awesome!

I would love to see a video helping to choose the right blush. This was a very helpful video. I'm 57 and only recently started wearing makeup again. I'm finding it hard to understand color. I hear warm and cool. Grey undertones? To my eye, all the shades are just a large spectrum. I can't tell warm from cool, in most shades. 💖

Actually K-Beauty has a lot of lotion/emulsion type of products and Korean makeup artists have been using them for years and they swear by them because these lotions have the perfect fat/water balance and they are perfect primers. I think the reason you love these milky toners is because they are kind of a lotion too.

Love this video but then I always do from you! When you were talking about blush I was thinking, oh boy, the journey of denial I have had about blush is alarming? I have very cool tone skin with a very pink undertone. I also have rosacea which means when I have a flare, my entire face will be a very bright pink to almost red pink. A flare will for sure happen when I am hot, when I am in the sun, when I am in the cold, when I am embarrassed, when I am nervous, when I am sad and even for no reason at all. The time it took me to realize I cannot conceal it with foundation is another conversation but the amount of time I tried to conceal this situation with the opposite color to a pink to red pink rosacea flush with blush makes me cringe looking back at it all? 😬 I tried nude blushes, I tried peach blushes, I tried them all while staying away from pink to pink red entirely. So what happens? An intense pink to red pink flare happens and I literally look like a person with a pink to red pink face with the placements of the wrong blush color choice of the day also exaggerated along with the flush. 😬 So finally I was like, Terri, you cannot avoid this so lean into this situation. I immediately upped my rosacea skincare routine while also avoiding all of the problematic to rosacea skincare products. I became vigilant with sunscreen for my face (which also isn’t always nice to rosacea.) I used enough foundation to even out my skin tone but it is my least used product now out of them all. I found the right tone of pink and even red blush. I found the bronzer with the best pink undertone. I had to spend some money along the way but my point is I wasn’t wasting money on colors that were not working for me. And I stuck to those products. So now when I have a flare my makeup does this weird matching job that blends a whole lot better with the color of my face. Now these are my staples and I appreciate the fact that someone is smart enough out there to recognize that different people require different things for different reasons. I might look basically the same every day but that is okay. It is comforting to have staples that work for me. Loved this video Amanda! And I would also love a video discussing pigmentation in makeup because I am still on a struggle bus with that? Thank you so much! 💕

Yes to the blush vid! Awesome content! Thank you

Great video. I’d love a video on what blush color to wear!

I love this video even to share when people ask for recommendations. I think there’s SO many products/colors/formulas/price points it’s hard to recommend to people unless they share certain preferences or styles. ❤

I bought my Kevin Aucion eyelash curler in the 90s when he just started his beauty line and was only selling his makeup through the Victoria Secret catalog. It's the only one that even fits my eye. I'm on the hunt for the perfect bronzer with a satin finish dospite my large pores.. Mattes just make me look like I have dirt on face. KVD tattoo liner is my go to liquid liner. And I need to stop shopping around for mascara, and just go back and buy Pat McGrath Dark Star mascara. I love it sooooo much.

I really appreciate your longer strategy videos, so many insights ❤

Very useful video and i enjoyed it! ❤

I absolutely love your hair color!

For my Asian eyes, the Surratt lash curler worked great on curling my lashes in the corners, whereas the shiseido curler worked better in the lashes in the centers

So good!

I’m loving these videos you’re making about curating makeup staples. There are so many trends that barely last a season before we’re moving on to the next it thing. Also I’ve stopped buying dupes (omg the amount of money I spent searching, not to mention the waste it creates, is awful). Most of the time I end up buying the original thing I wanted anyway 🫠

This is such a great video, esp the thought behind this. 👏👏 💜

Please do a video on different eye looks to achieve with your palette/shadow staples to get more use out of them 🙏🏼

I enjoyed this video!! Thank you 😊

My staple is the ND Biba Palette; I almost never do all-neutral eye looks, but I use it as a base every time I wear eye makeup. My go-to blush is Nude Venus by Pat McGrath.

Yes please to a perfect blush shade video!! This was a great video, I’d also appreciate a more in-depth video on how to select a perfect bronzer shade.

Exceptionally helpful video. Thank you! I agree with everything you said. ❤

I don't mind spending some money on a nice lipstick. I've noticed drugstore lip products rehash the same colors over and over, with a high frequency towards looking cool or having a mauve tone on my skin. I have "spring" coloring and would like more variety bright orange or cinnamon. I agree heartily with buying makeup brushes. The right brush for your needs can give you a whole new lease on a product that you thought you couldn't use correctly 😅 my old Nars Amour blush gives a beautiful glowy look instead of extreme sunburn now.

this video made me think about my own staples. brow gel, a glowy not glittery cream highlighter, and a lip tint. crazy that i haven’t found my ideal HG cream highlight and lip tint until recently, after 10+ years of experimenting with makeup! edit: this made me remember just how long i put up with RMS living luminizer because i couldn’t find a good alternative for the longest time. so many little things annoyed me about it, including the smell and how quickly it would go off. i think it would be fun if you made a video about products that used to be your go to, but that in retrospect, you realize you didn’t like all that much.

Loving your chats about timeless makeup ❤ My staples are my perfect blush shade Clinique Cheek Pop in Ginger Pop, Merit Great Skin, Lisa Eldridge Elevated Glow and Lisa Eldridge Luxuriously Lucent Lipstick in Je Ne Sais Quois. I have other favorites but these ones have a special place in my heart and suit me so well! By the way your hair looks spectacular!

Hourglass smoke is a staple for me too. It's so pretty!

Great tips! Thank you

I love this. I discovered my perfect concealer. It’s Chanel- the le correcteur, expensive as heck but I’ve never ever found another concealer that matches my skin so well and works so well on my dry skin so I will absolutely invest in it each time I run out. 🎉

This was a great video 😊

I would love the video about how to find the perfect shade of blush!

Love this video. Please make an "Essentials" video for oily skin types. Also can you talk about when and what to look for to tell when your makeup should be tossed out. I have had makeup for a year or longer and do not know when to toss products.

Fantastic video. Mine include 1. Fantastic medium coverage foundation. Koh Gen Do, Prada or Armani fit that. 2. Liquid liner that withstands my oily watery eyes. Revlon liquid liner is the best I’ve found and I’ve tried all the liners. 3. Natural looking blush. One of my favorites is Dior Cherry but red blush in general is my jam. 4. Good brushes. Most are natural but the bk liner brush is incredible and I have multiples.

The brand LYS is one of those brands which is affordable but also has great products that never disappoint. I also agree that buying the original and not the dupe while some products u can get away with but i have the i need a nude pallete on my birthday Wishlist since i want the original and i love the natasha denona formula so much! I also love my rms blush and more of cinnamon or mauve shades of blush

Great tips.

Unfortunately, I have given up concealer however. I’m in my early 20s but I deal with fine lines (that have gotten better through skincare) and concealer tends to crease so badly on me even with powder. If anyone else is dealing with this, I lightly press whatever little foundation is left on my sponge under my eyes after doing the rest of my face and ONLY put powder on that. Of course creasing is bound to happen regardless, but I get a lot less settling by doing it this way. The powder I use is the Fit-Me loose setting powder! I also have genetic dark circles (that concealer never seemed to cover fully) but still find I get the same amount of coverage as concealer!

Please do a video on how to find your undertone? I have been struggling to find mine for years and would appreciate your advice, especially when it is makeup/beauty related.

Fantastic Video. Id love a video on how to find the right blush shade. I feel like I still havent found my blush staple.

Yes yes yes I have been weary of Cakey long wearing full coverage concealers forever. It’s always been a red flag and I love your concealer recommendations!

Generally, the spring mechanisms of lash curlers are really easy to remove (sometimes you need some little pointy pliers for it). I already did that to several lash curlers in the past and to my current one years ago and it's still going strong.

It’s funny, the shiseido curler has way too small an opening for me, I struggle to get my lashes in. The Kevyn aucoin is much better.

Im interested in the blush shade for your skin tone video. Im combo skin with redness on my cheeks and just want to find a shade that doesnt amplify the redness, but makes me look healthy.

Great video!!! Please do the same video for drugstore affordable products🙏🏻❤️

If you are trying to dupe a product though that you loved but the brand discontinued it NEVER give up the search, LOL!

The Ilia Base Face Milk is definitely good! It’s just a shame that it isn’t fungal-acne safe 😭

Would love a blush video. I look terrible in mauve colour blush. Im neutral light skin tone. I like the Dior Cherry.

Amanda, if you like the toner you always use, it's very likely that you like the rice toner from Thank you farmer by k-beuty 🥰

❤ ❤ video!! I know this is for high end / luxury but if you can do the same concept for drugstore, that w/b great!!! PS what is your lipstick??

hi! what mascara are you using/what would you recommend?

💜💜💜

Can you please do a video suggesting bridal makeup and bridal makeup kit

Please help me find my perfect blush.

I think everyone would learn what they want to emphasize on their face, then spend the money to find and stick with the staple. Some people really want to have their lips be perfect, then spend the money on lip pencil and lipstick. Probably a lot of people find bronzer important. I personally want my eyes and blush to stand out (cause I look dull without makeup) and I just love when eyes and blush color match. That’s where I’m spending my money on. I realize I don’t even need mascara and bronzer for the look I prefer (I use lighter concealer in the center of the face and don’t use foundation so it’s already bronzed in that sense. So I guess it balances out the money everyone needs to spend on makeup But also for the dryness of eyeshadow,I find inverting the order of applying eyeshadow works really well.

Have you ever tried the c curl lash curler?

❤❤❤

Hi! I live in Switzerland, and BK beauty doesn’t exist here, any recommandations on a good small angled eye shadow brush? Thanks 🙏

I had no idea Kosas concealer had caffeine in it. No wonder I love it so much!

💛

Love 🩵

please where is your shirt from? love the color ♥️

Why I feel that Kosas concealer is a bit dry and not easy to blend.

Kosas revealer concealer looks very dry under my eyes and the tones are a bit off..

🩺

I really like your videos but personally my purchases of high end products are the exception rather than the rule. That is not just for budgetary reasons but because there are so many great indie and drug store products around as well as reviewers who have recommended such great products. I am really impressed by a lot of the lesser expensive products that have been recommended to me. I hope that you do not become strictly a high end channel. Thank you for the information that you research and provide from your experience as well. Your videos are well thought out and very helpful. Thank you so much!

No way, I swear by spring eyelash curlers. They give me great curl using the squeeze and releasing through the lash. I have straight, short Korean lashes. The Tarte one is my HG, but the ELF and Dior ones work really well.

Who can afford your staples in today's economy? Why don't you recommend more AFFORDABLE makeup.

Love this video! Also, would you be willing to tell us about the earrings you're wearing? I'm positively beWITCHED 😂🪄

Caffeine does nothing for me but glycerin 🤌