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i am queen Doing my makeup in strange places with time crunch. I’m quite literal (not literal). always I can’t tell you how many times I’ve furrowed my brows in the passenger seat of my boyfriend’s manual Honda Civic SI doing my makeup on the go, spinning around as he shifts gears, waiting to pass the next streetlight to make sure my arches are even. Or how many times I’ve spontaneously decided to go outside, running to complete my winged eyeliner despite being in a parking garage with zero light. In the club bathroom, I’m the person using their lipstick as blush while gripping the tube of mascara between their teeth. At one festival, I was constantly distracted by my ADHD-fueled period blindness, running to get ready in my tent before we left, using the mirror I’d smuggled in to make sure my glitter was shining properly. I even gave a class to my wired colleagues on how to prepare in a time crunch. I am, for better or worse, that girl.
So it makes sense that my party goblin ways would lead me to put that girl invention to the ultimate test. I’m talking about lighted makeup mirrors. They shine a light on your face so you can see it from all angles (and in some cases, they have magnification that will show you every single pore, whether you want to see it or not). You’ll be able to use the power of the right look to ensure a flawless finish, whether you’re going with a heavy contour, smokey cut creases like 2016, or you want to make sure your overlined lips aren’t too much. Obviously this is my favorite.
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About CRI (Color Rendering Index)
Some lighted makeup mirrors measure specific CRI (color rendering index). It is a way of measuring how closely artificial light can mimic natural light (such as daylight). The scale goes from 0 to 100, with 100 being the perfect indication that colors will look the same as in natural sunlight. I think it’s a nice thing to know about, but ultimately, your environment will affect your makeup application more than the mirror’s CRI score (if listed). Placing your lighted makeup mirror in front of a window or in a well-lit area will give you just as good an idea of ​​how your makeup looks in any room. Once my makeup is done, I usually cycle through the available lighting schemes of any mirror to make sure it looks good on all of them. So, in summary, a high CRI is a good indication of a mirror’s color accuracy, but it’s not the only thing you need to care about.
I complete my makeup look (sparkly nude eyeshadow, winged liner, lots of blush and highlight, penciled brows, heavy mascara) using each of these mirrors at least twice – once in a dark environment and once in natural daylight. I tested each light mode and fully cycled through each battery at least once.
