Hello my beautiful friends and thanks for stopping by today! This post is my 200th post on this blog and I wanted to do something a little different and a little special to commemorate the occasion. I decided that it would be fun to look back on how my makeup has changed, good or bad, throughout the years. I had to go through a lot of Facebook photos to find some since the computer that had the older photos crashed going on eight years ago. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane 🚶‍♀️

I think that this is the perfect picture to start with, I was a Freshman in high school and had been convinced to go to Sadies with some friends who were seniors. I was still very much baby faced, still had a mouth of metal, and thought that blue eyeshadow was the coolest thing ever. Looking at this picture all I can think is, what was I thinking? This is very 2008. I hadn’t really ever used foundation or concealer and while I loved lip products, I had no clue what colors actually looked good on me. I would just buy whatever color I thought was prettiest, one time buying an orange thinking it would work as a nude. Things have certainly changed, and for the better.

This picture is just before I headed off to college. I finally started using foundation and concealer, not very well but I was trying. The big thing was my eyeshadow, smh. Heavily winged out, dark, not blended, glitter in the crease, it just wasn’t a good look for me. I had never heard of setting spray or primer so I still had a long way to go to get to where I am now.

Here is a picture from my first weekend at college. Blond hair gone to brown in an attempt to go red, I finally get it right in the end. I didn’t really wear makeup during school unless I was in a performing, working a show, or going out with friends. Otherwise my makeup was practically non existent. I went to an all women’s college in the Mid West so I felt comfortable going bare faced day to day. During this time I did start to develop a sort of skincare routine which, if you want to see my current one, please let me know down below. My skin during this time was pretty good actually so if I wanted to wear a bit of makeup, I was comfortable wearing a BB cream from Garnier that I liked and then I’d add a bit of mascara and that was about it for the day to day.

Here is one of the headshots taken by Lindsay King at the end of my time at school. My hair was a mix between red and blonde and it was long, very long. I still didn’t know how to do my eyebrows but I was able to fake it for the headshots. I liked my makeup to be simple by the time I graduated. I was wearing makeup on the day to day and I felt good about it. I had started reading beauty blogs, my favorite being The Anna Edit which I still read to this day. I even own her book! She still does beauty but also does a lot of wardrobe and cleaning and organizing and…I digress. Her blog and videos along with a few others were the ones who actually taught me how to wear makeup properly. I had also discovered there were books on beauty that I could read too from artists like Bobbi Brown. This was the biggest leap from start of college Emma to end of college Emma, a lot had changed. I knew how to pick out the right foundation and concealer, what tools to use, the proper way to do eyeshadow, but there is always more to learn.

Here are some of the most recent pictures from my Instagram. This is where I am now. I’m still learning new things daily but I’m also able to impart what I know to others and am able to apply makeup to others thanks to Glam Lab. Mostly I’m self taught but I still learned from that course. I now know what looks good on me, and what doesn’t. Which colors to pick and which ones to steer clear of. Makeup is an ever changing beast and you’ve got to trust your gut when making decisions but there’s also trial and error, that never goes away.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, I really hope you enjoyed the different post. Where did you start out? I’d love to know, feel free to leave it down below in the comments. Your support means the world to me. Right now I am trying to post every Wednesday and Friday. If you liked what you saw today and want to see more, please subscribe to this blog to be notified each time I post. To see the looks I create day to day, be sure to check out my Instagram which will be linked down below. Thanks so much and, until next time, don’t forget to be bold, be beautiful, be YOU! XO Emma

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