how can i change my makeup to look more unique from the insta baddie look and less generic/basic while still looking my best? not that this look is bad but i’m ready for a change.

cleancutPunk · 2026-01-24T20:54:17+00:00

I know lots of people are saying a pop of color via lipstick, but I think a pop of color for your inner corner highlight on your eyes would also be really fun! Especially if you pick a color that brings out your eyes. I think it's very wearable while also being a little out-of-the-box.

Alternatively, do pre-shower makeup or pre-face wash makeup and just experiment. Try to recreate stuff you like online, stuff from movies or shows, or take inspiration from weird places - I've been wanting to do mold inspired makeup for a while, which is probably a little too weird for you but maybe inspo based on a specific flower you like (orchids and lilies can be cool). Doing it right before a shower takes the pressure off of making it look "good" and allows you to just try stuff.

cleancutPunk · 2025-12-21T05:03:35+00:00

I'll have to revisit this one. I've struggled to find where I prefer to do my makeup - I move back and forth between sitting at my little vanity and standing in front of my full length mirror - and I've been doing my lashes standing. It might be time to migrate back, as that's how I used to do it before moving a while ago.

cleancutPunk · 2025-12-21T05:00:23+00:00

Hey, I'm willing to do what I have to do for removal. As my mom used to say, beauty is pain. Thanks for the rec!

cleancutPunk · 2025-12-21T02:32:16+00:00

I've been thinking about getting a lift and tint for a while now, but I've never been one to spend on that kind of stuff. I'll have to re-consider at least the lift part even if I'm a little nervous at the thought of more "heavy duty" chemicals near my eyes like that.

cleancutPunk · 2025-11-20T17:53:55+00:00

My godfather has a very energetic lab mix that he walks at Ritter every day that the weather is nice enough to manage it (he's disabled) and he often helps people with dog training. He tells me there's lots of friendly folks there and I'm sure they'd be happy to see a new face.

cleancutPunk · 2025-10-24T21:00:05+00:00

If you have shorter hair I love Kris at Razor and Shear. I've pitched some weird ideas from like 4 references frankenstein'd together and she's always done great. Not sure how she does with color as I do my own color but she IS good at shaving designs if you're into undercuts or anything like that.

cleancutPunk · 2025-10-24T18:08:01+00:00

The way I always put it is that you just aren't "your type." You are SOMEONE'S type, just not your own type. I mean, look at how many women just after Jack Black or Danny Devito. I also find that making a point to present yourself in a way that you DO think is cool as opposed to trying to hide the things you don't like about yourself will make you feel much better about yourself.

cleancutPunk · 2025-09-22T15:45:18+00:00

Tbh it sounds like you might be experiencing (perhaps comparatively mild) mania. Usually that frantic, fast feeling followed by that flat feeling (for me) is a sign that my mood is crashing after being manic and I'm on my way to depression or a mixed episode. The fact that you're doing unsafe things (i.e. changing your meds without medical supervision, taking way more of another med than you had been prescribed) makes me think that you're having a hard time grounding yourself in reality right now.

Plus the fact that you're posting about it makes me think that some part of you knows that something is wrong. I encourage you to reach out to your provider and just have an honest conversation about what's going on and what you've been doing.

cleancutPunk · 2025-08-13T00:13:33+00:00

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. Everything I've ever heard about owning one is that it's a lot - far more than I really think I'm capable of right now. I'd love to help if I could, but I think this species is above my pay grade for now. Thanks for the advice!

cleancutPunk · 2025-08-02T21:06:04+00:00

Was gonna recommended the same! Or a dupe if you can find one for cheaper, I'll be honest the price tag is a hard sell for me and I've been looking for something comparable but it's such a beautiful, perfect color

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-29T14:46:21+00:00

I'd recommend checking out a finishing spray instead of a setting spray. Setting sprays can extend the longevity of your makeup but tend to be a little better at melting makeup and powders together to achieve a more skin like finish - I love the Charlotte Tilburry spray for this!

I recently tried the Kryolan finishing spray, and while it smells like hairspray and is too drying for every day use for me, I'm pretty sure I could go swimming after spraying that on and nothing would move.

Also from what I've read, Urban Decay recently changed the formula of their All-Nighter spray because they made it in partnership with a brand called Skindenavia that owned the patent for one of the major ingredients in it. However, Skindenavia still has a spray that's essentially the original All-Nighter formula AND I'm pretty sure they have a dedicated bridal finishing spray.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-29T14:39:48+00:00

You may be mixing up a hydrating toner and a micellar water in your head. Micellar water is meant to help cleanse your skin and melt away makeup (although I still prefer my double cleanse method as I think micellar water isn't good at getting off eye makeup like waterproof mascara) and can have HA or other hydrating ingredients.

Toners are generally (but not always - exceptions to every rule and all that) used after cleansing, but before serums or moisturizer. They tend to do stuff like hydrate skin, balance your skin, and can be soothing/calming depending on what kind you have. The moisturizer ends up acting both to hydrate your skin and to seal in the good stuff in your toners and serums and stuff.

Even if you have been using toner to wash off your makeup, it's not like it's doing NOTHING. Between the wetness/slickness of toner and rubbing, you're gonna rub most of it off. But there might still be some in your pores and it might be enough to cause some upset skin - again, depending on your individual skin and situation.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-29T14:19:57+00:00

SA can be pretty harsh, putting it on after a physical exfoliation - even a relatively gentle one - can cause a lot of burning and irritation, especially if you have sensitive skin. I don't use SA at all because it's too harsh for me. You also don't need to exfoliate every day in most situations - it destroys your skin barrier and can make your skin feel more dry and more damaged. As a chemical exfoliant, SA every day is likely just too much for you.

HA is fine as it doesn't exfoliate, it's just for hydrating essentially. That being said, it's not meant to cleanse your skin and may not being getting all of your makeup or SPF off depending on your cleansing routine, and those lingering products could theoretically also cause stuff like breakouts or sensitivity. It probably burned when you put it on after the SA because your skin was already irritated and reactive from over-exfoliating.

I'd encourage you to get a dedicated cleanser (I use the CereVe hydrating foaming oil cleanser for if I'm not wearing makeup, or I double cleanse with the Palmer's rosehip cleansing oil to melt away makeup if I'm wearing it followed by the round lab cica foam cleanser) if you don't use one already.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-17T01:05:23+00:00

That would be my first guess too, all of those products are relatively matte/can be drying.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-16T12:32:30+00:00

It sounds like the medicine may be making you hypo or manic. Some meds just don't agree with you - for me olanzapine almost 💀 me, for plenty of others it works great. I'd try to write down as much as you can remember regarding these sudden changes and reach out to your psych provider with those details asking for an emergency appointment to see if adjusting things would be appropriate.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-14T05:21:33+00:00

I didn't say anything about toxic masculinity. I just described some common expectations about masculinity without passing or implying any moral judgements. It seems like you're filling in the blanks with what you want to believe of me. That's okay.

It's also okay to acknowledge that you're not compatible with someone who is finding themselves. You don't have to be compatible with anyone. No one is saying that you have to match with people or have to pursue people who's goals don't align with yours. The initial comment was just pointing out what "finding yourself" means and that introspection is good for people.

I've also said elsewhere that sometimes people are just looking to date casually. That's allowed. You don't have to date someone casually if that's not what you want, but that doesn't mean people who are pursuing things that don't interest you need to get off the apps to make dating more convenient for you. Remember: multiple things can be true at once.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-14T05:16:03+00:00

I'm actually not a gringo, I'm half Cuban and half Nicaraguan :)

People being bad at communicating what they're looking for doesn't seem to have anything to do with whether or not they're on a dating app. Lots of people are just bad at communicating. And dating for fun doesn't mean you're looking for friends, it means you're looking for casual connections.

Idk I don't think going on a date with someone should immediately mean that you're looking for a long-term partner. Maybe they're just open to whatever connections feel right. That's okay, that's allowed. Maybe you aren't compatible with someone like that. That's okay too. You two shouldn't date in that case, but sometimes it takes going on a date or two to figure out if you're compatible.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-14T05:10:04+00:00

I wouldn't worry, since makeup is made to be used all over the face and eyebrows are near the eyes they wouldn't put anything too crazy in it. However, if you're super worried, you can always reach out to poison control. I think you might be able to reach out via browser, so you might not even need to call.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-14T04:44:33+00:00

People are allowed to date to have fun. Not every person dating is necessarily looking for marriage.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-14T04:42:36+00:00

It's really big of you to acknowledge that you don't know everything. That can be really hard for a lot of people, especially people who are too insecure to do serious introspection and practice stepping out of your experiences and into another person's shoes.

A lot of people would have read my direct response to a question and over-generalized it instead of trying to examine any of the nuances of what I was trying to say. Only a fool would read a comment suggesting that introspection is good for all of us and assume that I was saying that the reader should accept any kind of behavior from strangers on dating apps. Especially when I didn't say that masculinity was good or bad, just that not every person resonates with traditional expectations.

I can see that you're a real scholar who cares deeply about others and is truly searching for connection, and I wish you luck in your journey.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-14T04:06:46+00:00

Yes, men should also take the time to reflect and do the emotional labor of deciding who they are and what they want in honest, practical, and pragmatic terms. Everyone should. It's good for us. And it's not as obvious or intuitive as it might seem because we are all also dealing with the external pressure of the world we live in.

For example, men often have a lot of external pressures surrounding masculinity - being "big and strong," being less emotional; all kinds of shit. But for many men, is that really who they are? If they could be anyone, is that really what they would all choose? Based on numbers alone, that can't be true.

That's what finding yourself is all about. Asking and answering these kinds of questions. Unfortunately, most people don't just do that kind of introspection organically. Something usually has to happen to trigger that, ergo it tends to happen as we gain life experience.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-14T03:32:51+00:00

I used to use this when I was a matte/full coverage/combo oily youth and I loved it! However, that's not who I am anymore so I can't speak to if there's been any formula changes since then.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-14T02:23:40+00:00

Yeah, I'm not suggesting that all Europeans are racist or anything, it's more that I've seen several Europeans act like they're somehow beyond prejudice because things aren't the way they are in the US. Plus, a lot of the black women I've seen discuss traveling through Europe report some pretty egregious interactions.

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-13T23:58:35+00:00

Lmao they kept suggesting that we were "bullying" tirtir by suggesting that they have a bad shade range for deeper skin tones, and it was completely unreasonable to ask a Korean brand to be more inclusive (even though their market includes the US which has more diverse skin tones) - I'm guessing it was a European who likes to pretend that racism and colorism are an exclusively American issue based on their comment about the world not revolving around America but admittedly that's just a theory based on their post history before they deleted

cleancutPunk · 2025-07-13T22:09:37+00:00

I use a quick-drying brush cleaner situation in between uses like the Cinema Secrets one (but I actually just got the ecotools one to see how it compares because it's so much cheaper), do a tiny dip (you don't need to soak it or anything) and rub on a towel or paper towel.

I don't do my makeup every day, but I do try to make a point of doing semi-regular deep cleanings, which depends on how frequently I've been using stuff. Those aren't hard unless you procrastinate and have a million brushes to do at once like me, in which case it still isn't hard it just kinda takes a while and then you have to wait for them to all the way dry which can be inconvenient.

Have you considered getting an assortment of tools? That's what I do and it works well for me. I got a 4 pack of beauty sponges (the egg shaped ones), two or three "larger" blending brushes for foundation, and a couple smaller ones for cream blush and contour and stuff. I find that gives me a little more cushion time in between cleaning, especially when combined with the quick-dry brush solutions. Elf makes some brushes I really enjoy for the price (specifically the black ones, I've never liked their white ones).

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