You might want to check out (and hopefully she's put out a newer edition than the one I have) Paula Begoun's "Don't go to the cosmetics counter without me" - my only beef with it is she has her own skincare line, but she's not very pushy about it at least. Lot of great information in there, though. She's pretty harsh on the more expensive cosmetics - I don't necessarily agree with all that she says. Sometimes even though cheaper is not necessarily "worse," an expensive brand will just blend or look better (color matching is the biggest PITA - I am SO so white I'm practically glow in the dark - makeup in that end of the spectrum can make you look downright goth & too dark can look fake/trashy).
Cetaphil is a great non-soap skin cleanser - you can use it with water, or like a cold cream to get heavy makeup off. It's great if you have sensitive or combination skin. They have an oily skin cleanser that's not bad. Both are (if I remember right & I'm too lazy to go check the one in the bathroom) perfume free.
One of the ugly cycles you can get into with skincare is overstripping the skin of it's natural oils and causing more oil production. If you use a lot of astringent or soap based cleansers because it's the only stuff that makes your face really feel oil-free, this could be part of a problem. Anything with mint and most alcohols... there's a few alcohols that are not drying (cetyl is one, I think), but most overly strip the skins oils.
^ that, is also a frustrating problem for people who have a lot of breakouts. The oil actually helps carry gunk out of your pores. dry skin = dead skin = clogged pores = bacteria = inflammation = zits.
I don't wear much makeup - foundation always - if not for evening out blotchiness, for the SPF factor. I have a moisturizer with sunblock in it as well, though, so sometimes I'll just go that route if I'm out hiking or something that doesn't require intereaction with other people.
If we're goin out, I'll use eyeshadow/liner/mascara - maybe some blush - if it's something dressy. Good lips too, but never felt at home in anything more tinted than lipgloss. They smacked lipstick on me for my wedding, I felt like a geisha.
I never did the dress up thing as a kid but we used to loooooooooove makeup. I had boxes and boxes of it - we'd blend our own mixes and make our own face powders so we could get better "matte" finishes and colormatch our foundations perfectly. God knows what damage we did in the process but it was fun. We'd paint our faces up like a bunch of little Pat Benetars - so glamorous! ;D
A couple years ago I picked up all the stuff I needed to make my own lip balm since I was stupid addicted to chapstick (denver= DRY) and turned out some really good stuff. I haven't made it in a long time, but am probably due to make another batch. I gave it away as gifts. I made a solid lotion stick from similar ingredients (shea butter, olive oil, beeswax, vitamin E, avocado oils, etc) and it was the only thing that worked out here on knees, elbows, and ankles in the dryness. Dang I need to make more. :\
If you've got kids - it makes a fun project to do with them, you can add tints from lipsticks to the lipbalm and make it a bit tinted for them so they can play cosmetic chemist.
My husband told me about a warning he'd seen on the news/60 minutes/some odd show - they'd done a study on the test bottles of makeup in department stores - the bacteria and crap they found in them were amazing - including fecal. WTF. I used to think the girls at Bath & Body works were odd for dumping out lotion you've returned but now, not so much. o0
Re: MAKEUP
