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Hey everyone!
So I wasn't gonna do this vlog for a while until we had covered more of the basics of cosplay
But it's one of the most requested things that I got
I mean like "Sirene, can you please talk about how to do your makeup for cosplay 'cause I have no idea how to do it"
I was like, "Ok"
I'm gonna put a disclaimer, right now, um I am not a makeup guru in any way
What you're gonna notice right away with this video is that I don't use expensive makeup
Personally, if I have $40, I'd rather spend it on a new wig than makeup
And I found that a lot of the cheap stuff actually works just as well as  more expensive stuff
So you'll see super super cheap brushes
And super super cheap generic chinese makeup that's probably gonna give me cancer
Anyway, onto why you need to wear makeup for cosplay
Because an argument I hear a lot right away is:
"But my character looks they're not wearing makeup so I shouldn't wear makeup, right?"
Uhhh.... no, that's not how it works
You'll see me without makeup in a second and, brace yourselves
Because something that cameras like to do are pick out all of our flaws and make us look really really bad
So this is why if you get a picture back from a convention and you look totally horrible in it
You're like, "No way, I looked in the mirror and I looked fine"
It's the camera's fault
But that's what makeup's for because we can do stuff to correct that
Another thing that I hear a lot is from guys who cosplay
They're like [in deep voice] "I don't need to wear makeup, I'm a man"
And then they look really awful in their pictures and they don't understand why
So, if you are a guy, it is important that you wear makeup too
I'm not saying do the blush and the mascara and the lipstick and all that jazz
I'm talking about a nice even foundation so that your skin looks good on camera
And when it comes to foundation, you can pretty much follow what girls do
At least make sure you're using coverup and some sort of foundation
When it comes to makeup, you really wanna find a system that works for you and your skin
Because surprise, everyone's skin is completely different
So again, um, this tutorial is just what I do for my cosplay makeup
It may not work for you at all
But hopefully you can learn a thing or two from this and use it to develop your own makeup routine
So I'm just gonna launch right into it
Um, I'm kinda nervous about being on camera without makeup, but don't judge me too much. Enjoy!
So right off the bat, you can see why you need makeup
That is why, when you're not wearing makeup, you always tend to look much worse than you do in real life whenever you're caught on camera
Before I get started with any of my makeup though, I like to do a few other things first
I strongly recommend putting your wig cap on now
I'm actually going out later today and I need my hair to look relatively nice
So I'm just gonna be pulling it up and getting it out of my face
Now I look like a bird
At this point, if I'm gonna be wearing contacts, which I usually do, this is also when I put them on
Because then I don't mess up any of my eye makeup while I'm fidgeting with them
Also if you're wearing fake eyelashes this is a good time to put them on
For this tutorial I'm going to be wearing I Fairy circle lenses
They are super crystal blue, if I'm remembering correctly
Alright, lenses are in. I'm 20% more kawaii
Alright so now onto the actual makeup part
Before I do anything else, I like to start with a coat of prime so that everything has a nice even base to start with
I'm using Covergirl and Ole 'simply ageless'
I usually use my fingers
And a lot of people say that you shouldn't use your fingers for makeup application
But that's actually ok to do as long as you make sure your fingers are clean and wipe them off between different products
Um, so I've got my primer on, I'm just smearing it around my skin, making sure it all goes in evenly
Next I like to do primer on my eyes before I do my eye makeup
And for this I'm using ELF
This stick was around like 2 bucks
So it has two ends, one is a highlighter and one is a concealer
And I actually found that the highlighter works better as a primer for your eyelids
I put a dot under each eye
And the sun just came out, so the lighting changed
And then I do a dot on each eyelid
And what this does for your eyelids is it creates a nice surface that the eyeshadow and all of your other eye makeup can stick to
Next I am using a product called BB cream
There are hundreds of different brands you can try
And don't think that you have to order an Asian brand
There's actually a lot of English companies that are starting to come out with their own's, like Garnier and Clinique
I've recently started using Skin79 Super Plus BB Cream
I ordered it from Amazon
It's like $5.99, with shipping it's $12.99 total, and I love this stuff
Usually if I'm using regular liquid foundation like this stuff, from Covergirl, which is what I used previously
My face would get that really, like, greasy look to it throughout the day as that makeup wore off
But with this stuff, all day, no issues
Make sure when you're applying foundation that you bring it down your neck
You don't want that like very definite line between your face and your neck
One thing I like about this stuff is that it doesn't feel super heavy on my skin
Um, I found a lot of liquid foundations including that one by Covergirl feel really, really heavy and I feel like I'm wearing a mask when I have it on
But this stuff, it's just super light, and it works so well
I definitely recommend finding a bb cream that works for you, this may not work for you
Um, I recommend trying it if you have really oily skin like I do
I love this stuff, buy some [laughs]
For this tutorial, I'm just doing a very, very basic neutral color palette
I'm not doing anything super outrageous because what your eye makeup looks like can really depend on your character
For example, if you're cosplaying Asami from Legend of Korra, she has the really lovely purple eyeshadow going on
But if you're cosplaying Korra, she's not wearing eyeshadow
What I'm using is this color palette from Clinique
Um, it has four different colors
Lucky Penny, Night Plum, Clementine, and Pink Chocolate
I'm just gonna be using the Lucky Penny shade
This is a really nice base color, I think
It just adds a little bit of definition to your eyes without being super obnoxious
Then to help define the crease a little bit
I am taking the Night Plum shade, which is the dark purple, right there
And I'm just putting it on the very tip  of the brush and applying it to the crease
It's just kinda giving it a little shadowy effect
And this will just help add extra dimension to your eyes on camera
Finally, um, I'm gonna be highlighting this upper brow bone area
And I'm using a generic Revlon eyeshadow
It's number 003 Pink Innocence and you can just get it at Target, CVS, Walmart
This just helps to highlight, add definition, all that fun stuff
One of the cool things about my face [scoffs], um, is that I have kind of dark circles up here
And my nose is very big so it likes to create shadow there
And like to use a neutral eyeshadow like a very fair skin-colored one
And just apply that there to kinda even things out
For that, I like to use Sally Girl eyeshadow
And you can get this at Sally's Beauty Supply, it is 99 cents per little thing
Taking that really lightly and putting it on the inner corners
So now, base eyeshadow is done
Now onto the fun part of eyeliner
There's a lot of different ways you can do your eyeliner
Um, I know some people like gel liner, some people like just using a charcoal stick
I personally like the look of liquid eyeliner when it comes to cosplay
'Cause you can do a really, really defined shape
And for that...
I like to draw a line out here, and then I just draw a thicker line above that
So automatically, here, you can see one eye looks a lot more anime and kawaii than the other one
And this is just simple basic, gives you a bit of a dolly eye effect, and it's pretty easy to do
So there you go, it's just very basic
Then I like to add definition under my eyes as well
Um, some people use liquid eyeliner for this
I really don't like to because it tends to smudge super easily when I'm doing it
So for that, I just use a basic charcoal eyeliner
This is actually super, super cheap
I found it at a beauty supply store in Chicago
I don't even know what brand it is, it's like NK auto eyeliner or something
Um, so I recommend buying something a little better quality than this
What I do is I just start where my lashes start
And just pull this along the bottom as close to my eye as I can get
Last part of the eyes is the lashes
And again, if you're already wearing fake lashes
At this point you're just gonna be blending those into your real lashes
But I'm not wearing any right now
My everyday mascara is the generic Maybelline
I'm sure you've seen this
But for cosplay I like a super huge, like, really dramatic eyelash because that's what anime characters have
Um, and I found this super cheap mascara at the same beauty supply store that I found my eyeliner
And it's from China and it's NK again
Um, it was a buck [laughs]
I'm pretty sure it's gonna give me cancer or something and cause my eyes to fall out of my face
Um, but it works so well and I love it
And for that I just start at the base of my eyelashes and pull upwards
Um, some people like to curl their lashes using an eyelash curler
Um, I'm far too lazy for that
And I apologize the lighting kinda changed in my video
It got cloudy all of a sudden
I really hope it doesn't thunderstorm 'cause you all know how much I hate thunderstorms
So there we go, super anime kawaii eyes
Alright so now back to foundation, and guys this is where you tune back in
Even with bb cream, you can still sometimes see acne sticking out
I'm pretty sure my camera's not gonna pick it up but I know I have a few spots
So what I use for that is Covergirl Smoothie
And this is just a really basic coverstick
And there's tons of different coverup products
I recommend finding one that you really like and that works for your skin
The best part is that it works really under the eyes too
For that I just take a swipe
And just smooth it in
And that just really gets rid of any undereye circles that I have from not sleeping
And that I just have naturally as I human being
One important thing for cosplay is contouring your features
For countouring I use this bronzer by Clinique
It's number 03 Sun Blush
I take it really lightly and just barely there on the brush
To define your cheekbones you can suck in your face
And then you'll see a natural line where your cheekbones are and you'll just wanna drag the brush along that
So kinda make a fishy face
This is called the rule of 3 where you go from your temple to your cheekbone and down your neck
So you're basically making a backwards 3
And that just helps define your cheekbone
So you can see over here is very, very undefined
It's just round 'cause I have a round face
But over here it looks like I have nice cheekbones
So and again, make sure you're dragging this down your neck so there's no like defined line at your chin
Now I like to do a final coat of powder before I do my blush
For a while I was using just Covergirl loose powder
I like it, it worked pretty well
But then Courtoon introduced me to this amazing product
It's called Airspun Powder and it's the brand Coty
And they've been around for decades
It's just this very, very fine powder and you buff it on your skin
It looks like you just airbrushed your skin, so I'm gonna show you guys that
And it comes with a powder puff, which I know a lot of people like to use
I just don't for some reason 'cause I'm- I'm a freak
I just buff that into my skin
And again, start on the neck and move upwards
And it smells like old roses and old ladies
But oh, this stuff photographs so nicely 'cause there's no like sparkle to it
So it doesn't make your face shiny, it just looks amazing
There's a reason they've been around for 40 years
It's really important to wear blush
I just picked up this palette from Rimmel London
Got it at Target, I think, for four bucks or something
Um, it has three different colors, there's light pink, a kind of a  coral pink and then a bright pink
Um, for a day to day  basis I usually stick to this side of it because I don't like anything super dramatic
But for cosplay, it can be really helpful to have the bright pink cheeks
'Cause then it'll really show up on camera
If you don't know how to apply blush, what you do is you smile and then where the apples of your cheeks are, that's how you apply it, so...
And I like to do just nice circle motion and then pull it back across my face
And you can see how dramatically pink that is
And if that is too ridiculous for you, 'cause it's a little ridiculous for me even for cosplay
You can take more of your airspun powder and just apply that over it
And that'll help blend it in a little more
And if that is still too pink for you
Um, what you can do is take more of that champagne eyeshadow, put a little on your finger, and highlight the tops of your cheeks
But I found that when it comes to cosplay photography, it's always better to have a little too much on than too little
Finally, lips
You can find lipstick in pretty much every shade
I really, really like the Revlon brand
Um, and usually, you can just find your lipstick shade, use it right off the stick
But I wanna show you guys this trick that I learned recently
[dog bark]
Oh my god my dog is barking
What I'm using for this is Revlon 580
It is Snow Silver Rose, doesn't that sound so Mary Sue?
It is super bright pink
I don't want my lipstick that bright
So what I'm gonna do is put it on my finger
And just put it on super lightly
There, just a light pink color that I got from this super bright pink
And this can be really helpful to know if you're like, you forgot your lipstick you don't have the exact shade you want, you can control it
And then, one last thing I like to do is I don't like a matte lip, I like it to have a little bit of shine to it
So I usually add a gloss of some sort
I have no idea what brand this is
But it tastes really good, it tastes like strawberries
And boyfriends in the past have really enjoyed it
[laughs] So...
I'm just gonna put this on really lightly
So there you go, just a very basic cosplay makeup that will look very good on camera
And again, you can customize this however you see fit
But for the most part, cosplay makeup when it comes to foundation
You wanna find a routine that works really well for you and also shows up nicely on camera
So I hope that helped, if you have any questions about what I did for my makeup, or anything in this tutorial, or if you have specific questions for your own makeup
Feel free to ask me
I know I've gotten a lot of questions asking for a tutorials on people with darker skin and what they can do for their cosplay makeup
I personally don't really feel comfortable doing tutorials on that because spoilers, I don't have dark skin
So in that case, I suggest looking for a makeup guru on youtube that has a similar skin to you and then following their makeup advice
But again, there are hundreds of different ways to do your makeup for cosplay, find one that works for you
And don't be afraid to experiment
So don't be afraid of makeup, I'm not saying you have to wear it every day to look pretty or anything like that
But, give it a try especially for cosplay it is super, super helpful
But anyway, happy cosplaying!
And yeah, I still haven't come up with a better way of closing these, so.. bye!
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