The $30 Starter Makeup Bag That Actually Works

Five things, five minutes.

Step one · 90 seconds — A skin tint, not a foundation.

A skin tint is sheerer than foundation and far more forgiving. It evens things out without announcing itself, it is hard to get wrong in a hurry, and the shade match does not need to be perfect because there is so little pigment in it. That last point matters most at drugstore level, where you often cannot test before you buy. A slightly-off foundation is a mask. A slightly-off tint is just a face.

Use a small amount, warmed between your fingertips, and press it on from the centre of the face outwards. Where you need more — around the nose, a mark on the chin — tap a second small layer over just that spot. You are not trying to erase anything. You are trying to look rested.

Match the shade on your jaw, in daylight, not on the back of your hand under the shop lights. The back of your hand is a different colour from your face, and the shop lights are a different colour from the world.

Step two · 60 seconds — One cream colour for cheeks and lips.

One small pot or stick of cream colour does two jobs. Dab a little on the cheeks, just above where they are round when you smile, and blend it upwards and outwards with your fingers. Then press what is left on your fingertip onto your lips. The face looks coherent because the colour is the same colour, which is something a separate blush and lipstick rarely achieve without effort.

Choose a shade close to the colour your cheeks go when you have walked somewhere in the cold. A soft rose, a muted berry, a warm terracotta, depending on your skin. Something you would describe as your own colour, slightly turned up.

Cream over a tint blends into it. Powder over a tint sits on top of it. This is why the bag has no powder.

Step three · 60 seconds — A brow pencil, used lightly.

Brows do more for a face than any other single product, and they are the easiest place to overdo it. A fine pencil, a shade at or slightly lighter than your natural brow hair, used in short strokes only where there are gaps. Then brush the brows up and through with the spoolie end — most pencils have one — to soften everything you just did.

If you have never shaped your brows, or you are not sure where they should start and stop, the brow piece covers that properly. For the bag, it is enough to fill, brush, and stop.

Too dark is the commonest brow mistake. Go a shade lighter than you think. You can always add.

Step four · 60 seconds — Mascara, two coats, top lashes.

A black or brown-black mascara, whichever suits you. Wiggle the wand at the root, pull it through to the tips, let it dry for a moment, do it once more, and stop. Top lashes only. I have explained why at length in the everyday eye and I will not repeat myself, except to say that the drugstore is where mascara is most competitive, and it is the one category where spending more buys you almost nothing.

Mascara is the one item here with a short life. Replace it every few months, and sooner if it smells odd, goes clumpy, or your eyes feel irritated.

Step five · 30 seconds — A tinted balm, all day.

The fifth item is the one you will use most and think about least. A tinted lip balm goes on over the cream colour in the morning and on its own, without a mirror, whenever your lips feel dry for the rest of the day. It keeps the face finished at four in the afternoon when the morning has worn off. It is the reason you do not need a lipstick.

Choose the sheerest tint you can find. Anything darker needs a mirror, and the whole point of this item is that it does not.

The shelf — what this actually needs

• A skin tint, matched on the jaw in daylight
• One cream colour for cheeks and lips
• A fine brow pencil with a spoolie
• A mascara you replace every few months
• A tinted lip balm
• A small bag, which is the point

The honest ceiling.

Here is what thirty-odd dollars cannot do. It cannot give you full coverage. If you want a base that covers everything — scarring, strong redness, pigmentation you would rather not show — a skin tint will not do it, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. You would need a proper foundation and probably a concealer, and you would need to try them on before you buy, which usually means a counter, and a counter usually means more money.

It also cannot do evening drama, a dramatic eye, or anything that needs precision. That is fine. This is a bag for ordinary days, and ordinary days are most of them. When you want more, add one thing — a concealer, an eyeliner, a proper lipstick — and see whether you actually use it before adding the next.

How to know it is working.

• You can do the whole thing in five minutes without thinking about it.
• In daylight, your face looks like your face on a good day, not like makeup.
• You reach for every item in the bag most mornings. If one sits untouched for a month, it was the wrong one.
• Nobody comments on your makeup, and somebody asks whether you have been away.
• You stop buying things in the queue at the chemist.

When it isn't going to plan.

The skin tint is too dark, or too orange.

Very common, because drugstore tints are so often bought untested. Mix it with a little of your moisturiser to sheer it right out, use it as a summer shade, and note where the shade sits for next time. Lighter and slightly more neutral is usually safer than darker and warmer.

The cream colour looks patchy.

Too much at once, or applied over a tint that had not settled. Use a very small amount, tap rather than rub, and give the tint a minute before you start. Building in two light layers looks better than one heavy one.

My eyes sting with the mascara.

Stop using it. Try a different one, ideally fragrance-free, and keep it off the waterline. If your eyes stay red, sore, watery or itchy, or your vision is affected, see a GP or optician rather than switching mascaras until one stops stinging.

Something is breaking me out.

Take one product out at a time for a week or two to see which it is. Clean your fingers before you apply, and wash the bag out now and then. If breakouts keep happening whatever you change, it is worth seeing a GP or dermatologist rather than blaming the bag.