*YouTube
"You cannot get your feelings of beauty and confidence from anyone but yourself. That is one of the ultimate gifts that you have to give to yourself." My favorite line from Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez during her makeup routine video for Vogue.
She starts with applying her daily Sunscreen, which I was so proud of to see. SPF is so important! For her base, she'll choose between Estee Lauder's Double Wear (when taking photos) or NARS Tinted Moisturizer for usual days.
She moves on to use the following in her routine:
Beauty Blender for blending her tinted moisturizer or foundation
Color Corrector under eye and around nose - she likes using fingers because the warmth of fingers breaks down product
Tarte's infamous Shape Tape Concealer
Fenty Beauty contour stick, accentuating existing features as she doesn't try to change the way it looks with contour
Brushes brows upward with what we like to call a spoolie aka a brow brush
Anastasia Beverly Hill (ABH) brow pencil fill in lightly
ABH GLOW highlighter palette (one of my faves!)
Tarte shadow palette all over lid from the Flirt palette
Pencil eyeliner on lash line
Eyelash curler
Tarte mascara
Cortez goes on to admit she loves to experiment with glittery eyeshadows but she used to fear those shimmery colors, afraid she would be judged by her colleagues and it would diminish her voice. "As the youngest woman in Congress and as a woman of color, its so hard to be taken seriously."
I really commend her for showing us her routine to show that every day women, who are not professional makeup artists, like myself, actually CAN do their own makeup. Even though the MUA in me really wanted to pass homegirl a blending brush through the screen for her eyeshadow. But still...kudos to AOC! She did a great job. So great that I was pleasantly surprised at how well her winged liner came out...with a pencil.
During her grand finale, she shares with us the popular red lip color we've seen her wear multiple times in the news. The Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Beso by Stila Cosmetics. It's her go-to for longevity since she doesn't have time to touch up throughout the day. She reminded us of our days of knocking on people's doors during her preliminary campaigning and she knew the red lipstick would help her shine, and bring out her confidence. After all, red lips is the Latina way! Her technique is a smart one for a lip color of this texture: she starts in the middle and works her way out.
If there's anything to take away from this video, it's "The key to beauty is an inside job...No makeup can compensate for loving yourself...That is the one foundation for everything."