I use concealer that matches my foundation. It just makes the under eyes look the same color as the rest of my face.

I’d be more worried about it being dirty straight from the factory. The most important thing is to make sure it can dry fairly quickly after use. Wash it, wring it out, and let it dry. A damp sponge that stays damp is a nice home for mold.

I’ve only tried one product–their liquid eyeshadow. I almost didn’t try it after reading reviews of people saying it burned. I didn’t have any reaction to it, but it just was too sheer and looked like nothing, so it’s going back to Sephora. Ulta brand liquid shadow has actually been my favorite so far!

I return ones that don’t work. I collected a bunch of samples from Sephora during my big search for the right color last year to reduce waste.

I absolutely love the texture of the rare beauty lip gloss. The one thing to know is it’s very sheer. My winter shade is 230N, and the darkest shade, nearly berry, is my favorite. I just got nearly mauve, too, but it adds very little color on me.

The lip oil has a lot more color to it.

Are you trying to get them really sharp? I go through one UD Rockstar pencil a year and have had the same UD Grindhouse sharpener forever. The only issue I’ve had was a pencil where the “lead” was broken way far down, so it kept sliding out. But I’m never trying to make it sharp, just get product above the wood.

A friendly person on Reddit suggested I might be olive because I complained most foundations are too orange on me. I tried some more olive friendly ones (e.g. Fenty 290 is a good summer color for me), and sure enough, they were a way better match.

The vein test doesn’t work on everyone. I have blue and green. Turns out I’m neutral olive.