What to Buy, What to Stash For Your Fall Makeup Update

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Welcome to Girl Friday, our brand new weekly column, where professional makeup artist Amanda Storey shares the latest in trends, tips and tricks in the world of makeup and beauty.

It happens to me every year around this time. I sit at my vanity, rummage through my products and feel completely uninspired. Coral lipstick, yawn. Bronzer, boo. Tinted moisturizer, meh. I start doubting my career as a makeup artist. I panic that I will never again lay awake at night thinking about a much-loved discontinued blush. Just as I begin planning my exodus from the city to live the rest of my life makeup-free at the river, I realize fall is coming. Time for a seasonal makeup update! All of my despair is replaced with excitement for the new fall makeup trends.

So what products should you stash away for a few seasons and what new products should you invest in to update your look? Take a peek at my top picks.

I am absolutely obsessed with Wet n' Wild MegaLast lipsticks. I have every single color they have come out with and they are all amazing. These $2 treasures are comparable to some of the priciest luxury matte lipsticks out there—dare I say better! They are fully pigmented, long-wearing and beautifully matte. If you are a lipstick beginner and don't want to commit to a high-end purchase, these are a great way to test out the trend. If you are an advanced lipstick junkie (like me) you will feel like you hit the jackpot. If you want to look like you just stepped off the runway, skip the lip liner. Instead apply your lipstick and blur the edges with a Q-tip. The best shades for fall are Cinnamon Spice, Purty Persimmon and Cherry Bomb; find it in the beauty department at any local CVS or Walgreens.

After countless seasons, the reign of overly shiny skin has come to end. The newest and most modern looking skin texture is "demi-matte" also known as a satin-finish. What does that mean for you? Stash away the dewy foundations and highlighters and get yourself a really great mattifying powder. Personally, I hate powder with a passion. I have avoided it for close to 10 years. Every powder I've tried settled into my fine lines and made my skin look sad and dull. Then I found NARS Light Reflecting Setting Powder and I became an instant fan. This powder comes in both a pressed and loose formulation. It has no color and works on every skin tone. The texture can only be described as "newborn kitten hair." You touch it and you can't even feel it, plus it is undetectable even in harsh natural light. It retails $34; I've had mine for about 6 months and it barely looks used! Head over to 2050 Fillmore Street and visit the new NARS Boutique.

In my world, beautifully bold brows aren't a fall trend, they're timeless. If you aren't blessed with Cara Delevingne eyebrows, do not fret, I have a solution. Gimme Brow is Benefit Cosmetics' newest eyebrow product and I gotta say "I'm all a-brow-t it." Sorry, I had to say that. Seriously though, this is an amazing tinted, fiber brow gel. It comes in two neutral shades and promises to thicken, condition, color and tame your brows all day, all night. The difference between Gimme Brow and your traditional eyebrow pencil or powder? Gimme Brow has a three dimensional quality. It binds to your eyebrow hairs and thickens and lengthens them with fibers. The color sticks to your hair, not your skin, so the result is very natural looking. Bonus feature: it's water resistant! It retails $22 and you can try it out at one of the local Benefit Cosmetics Boutiques: 2117 Fillmore Street; 2219 Chestnut Street; or 262 Sutter.

Larger than life lashes have been having a moment for what seems like forever. This over-the-top trend is one I am glad to see go. I mean, how many lashes have to die before we realize there's a problem! Thankfully this fall it is all about crazy cool graphic eyeliner. We're not talking a simple flick or a demure cat-eye. The new shapes of eyeliner range from Cleopatra to Star Trek. If you are brave enough to tackle this look, you're going to need the right eyeliner for the job. K-Palette One Day Tattoo Real Lasting Liquid Eyeliner ($16) is hands-down the best liquid eyeliner I have ever used. It comes in a pen with a fine felt tip brush and draws on like a dream. It is super-duper black, dries instantly and stays on until you remove it. No flaking, smearing, or running—ever. It has never failed me, and I wear some crazy eyeliner looks (see above!).—by Amanda Storey
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