Most Important Ugly: A Retrospective

In October, it'll be a year since I started on Most Important Ugly with my partner-in-crime Tayler. So much has happened since then, the opening and the exhibition seem so far away now. I'm incredibly grateful to all of the people who ended up going to see the show -- our first ever -- who bought the zine, who shared it with their friends and family, and also the the press who covered it. I just wrapped up the last entry for the Autostraddle series dedicated to MIU, where I detailed the process behind all of the shots we released. I thought it would be useful to have a space to link to all those posts and offer some final details about the products I used.

1. Most Important Ugly: I Believe Makeup is Magic  (Mars & Melissa)
2. Most Important Ugly: Becca, Bekah, Angels and Masks 
3. Most Important Ugly: Brandon, Tyler, and Gendered Makeup
4. Most Important Ugly: Massiel, Coco, and Meta-Human Experiments 
5. Most Important Ugly: My Chemical Romance and Other Majestic Monsters
6. Most Important Ugly: The Final Monsters 

For details about the shoots, I suggest going to those individual posts. For specific product details and why I like them, hop through the read more. 

Mars & Melissa, ph. by Tayler Smith

Mars: I used an INGLOT Freedom Palette on eyes and used MAC Lipglass (Clear) for the gooey eye look. Mars has electro-goth eyeshadow but it's flooded by the light so you can't quite tell, you just see a yellow haze. INGLOT and Sugarpill have the best higher pigmented shadows out there I think. My INGLOT palette is basically a dupe of two Sugarpill palettes combined, and I did it on total accident. I don't suggest one over the other, I think they're both great. He's wearing a KAOIR lipstick. This brand is pretty hard to find so I would suggest a NYX lipstick as an alternative. It's also cheaper. His nipple glitter (lol) is Naked Cosmetics.

Melissa: We used cosmetic grade red glitter , Sugarpill Love+ Eyeshadow, Melissa's own lipstick (I believe it was Revlon). That contour is using the rounded packaging of hair elastics as a stencil and a gradient of black eyeshadow blended into a concealer palette (BH Cosmetics, and they always have a sale FYI) using a stippling brush. I actually used a MAC Stippling Brush (that a reader kindly sent me! thank you so much) but it sheds a lot so I'm linking to another one.

The process behind their photos are detailed here.

This is not the actual photo in the series, you can see the photo and the process on Autostraddle. I just like this photo more at the moment because it's very robotic. 

Rebekah: We pinned her hair to hell, and she's wearing a dress from Eri's graduate collection. Eri's another monster in the series. I used Make Up For Ever Flash Palette, Make Up For Ever Eyeshadows blended and layered together in a gradient with OCC Cream Colors as a base. I originally had orange and red gradient but I thought that was #problematic geisha so I blended colors to change it to purple. Color theory is important in the context of race and art, and I wanted to do right. 

Hari & Indigo, ph. by Tayler Smith

Hari: Bobbi Brown Foundation Stick (truly fantastic), Stila Gold Foil Eyeshadow, NARS Blush in Gaiety, Make Up For Ever Flash Palette.

Indigo: Indigo's own foundation (read her routine on ROOKIE, here). She uses Revlon ColorStay Foundation in Cappucino. L.A Girl Pro Conceal in Warm Honey, M.A.C Eye Shadow in Embark. MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder in Dark. Illamasqua Gold highlight we applied with a fan brush, NARS Illuminator, I believe I then used a La Metier de Beaute lipgloss. 

Whew! That was a lot of work. I'm not going to list everything for every photo in the series -- too exhaustive. But I hope this provides an insight as to what a makeup kit looks like and what products I like to use! I don't really have brand loyalty -- I just use whatever works. Sometimes these products are hard to find but they're well worth the trouble. I'm incredibly fortunate to receive most of these products for editorial consideration as a beauty writer -- I'm not sure if this series could have been done otherwise. Let me know if you have any questions about these products and I'm happy to help out! I love talking about makeup, always and of course.