Let's talk OCI....makeup Forum

[mths]

cause there is a thread for everything else

any tips other than the obvious "don't look like trailer trash"?

Also, nail polish and jewlery

[Marley]

I would wear what you do on a regular basis. If you aren't comfortable using makeup, this isn't the time to try lipliner for the first time. Curled eyelashes and a neutral lip will make you look done but not too done.

I don't wear nail polish, but I would think neutrals would be fine. Definitely not anything too long, though. For jewelry, simple stud earrings seem to be TCR.

[Anonymous User]

Most women benefit from at least a little makeup, especially under fluorescent lighting.

A little pressed powder, some lip balm, brown mascara and concealer will keep you from looking underdone and exhausted, at least.

If you don't know how to apply the above properly the nice ladies at Sephora will help you.

[smokyroom26]

Makeup: Keep it natural. For eyes, I do a soft matte look with two shades of rose, a soft black eyeliner with wet shadow (my eyes look washed out with brown liner), and a little bit of mascara. For lips, a very light stain, or very small amount of neutral lipstick, followed by a top layer of this, which gives a hint of gloss and color without being shiny: Rosebud Salve (LinkRemoved)

Nails: Manicured and nude. I'd go with a very soft pink or a clearcoat.

Jewelry: Simple posts, no drop or sparkle. I have these in silver and gold. If your blouse allows for a necklace, a simple silver or gold chain. Personally, I would avoid pearls.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you want your interviewer to be looking at you, not your makeup or jewelry. Understated elegance FTW.

[sharklasers]

clown cheeks. at least they'll remember you.

[viking138]

Makeup: Keep it natural. For eyes, I do a soft matte look with two shades of rose, a soft black eyeliner with wet shadow (my eyes look washed out with brown liner), and a little bit of mascara. For lips, a very light stain, or very small amount of neutral lipstick, followed by a top layer of this, which gives a hint of gloss and color without being shiny: Rosebud Salve (LinkRemoved)

Nails: Manicured and nude. I'd go with a very soft pink or a clearcoat.

Jewelry: Simple posts, no drop or sparkle. I have these in silver and gold. If your blouse allows for a necklace, a simple silver or gold chain. Personally, I would avoid pearls.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you want your interviewer to be looking at you, not your makeup or jewelry. Understated elegance FTW.

Out of curiosity, why would you avoid pearls? Personal preference or something you've noticed professionally? I don't have posts and would rather not buy jewelry when I also have to pay ~$200 to get my hair cut and colored, in addition to getting a manicure, but if you've seen negative reactions to pearls in the past it would obviously be worth it.

[Anonymous User]

Makeup: Keep it natural. For eyes, I do a soft matte look with two shades of rose, a soft black eyeliner with wet shadow (my eyes look washed out with brown liner), and a little bit of mascara. For lips, a very light stain, or very small amount of neutral lipstick, followed by a top layer of this, which gives a hint of gloss and color without being shiny: Rosebud Salve (LinkRemoved)

Nails: Manicured and nude. I'd go with a very soft pink or a clearcoat.

Jewelry: Simple posts, no drop or sparkle. I have these in silver and gold. If your blouse allows for a necklace, a simple silver or gold chain. Personally, I would avoid pearls.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you want your interviewer to be looking at you, not your makeup or jewelry. Understated elegance FTW.

Out of curiosity, why would you avoid pearls? Personal preference or something you've noticed professionally? I don't have posts and would rather not buy jewelry when I also have to pay ~$200 to get my hair cut and colored, in addition to getting a manicure, but if you've seen negative reactions to pearls in the past it would obviously be worth it.

Unless your nails are a mess, I really don't think a manicure is necessary. Clean, short, unpolished nails are perfectly fine.

I wore dangly silver earrings at OCI. I got lots of compliments on them and had an 85%ish callback rate, so I don't think they hurt me.

[mths]

I'm in the midst of a 3 year habit of always having my nails in a french manicure (not fake,gel, or acrylic...just painted) would this be ok to keep, as long as they're short and clean?

[keg411]

I'm personally a fan of pearls so long as they make sense with your blouse. I also think as long as your nails aren't like purple or chipped most nailpolish should be okay. I plan to go with light pink, but I think anything neutral is fine.

[eandy]

I agree. Nails can be painted natural colors. The main thing is that they look neat and clean. I think small details, like fingernails, in your appearance are important in interviews.

[smokyroom26]

Makeup: Keep it natural. For eyes, I do a soft matte look with two shades of rose, a soft black eyeliner with wet shadow (my eyes look washed out with brown liner), and a little bit of mascara. For lips, a very light stain, or very small amount of neutral lipstick, followed by a top layer of this, which gives a hint of gloss and color without being shiny: Rosebud Salve (LinkRemoved)

Nails: Manicured and nude. I'd go with a very soft pink or a clearcoat.

Jewelry: Simple posts, no drop or sparkle. I have these in silver and gold. If your blouse allows for a necklace, a simple silver or gold chain. Personally, I would avoid pearls.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you want your interviewer to be looking at you, not your makeup or jewelry. Understated elegance FTW.

Out of curiosity, why would you avoid pearls? Personal preference or something you've noticed professionally? I don't have posts and would rather not buy jewelry when I also have to pay ~$200 to get my hair cut and colored, in addition to getting a manicure, but if you've seen negative reactions to pearls in the past it would obviously be worth it.

Unless your nails are a mess, I really don't think a manicure is necessary. Clean, short, unpolished nails are perfectly fine.

I wore dangly silver earrings at OCI. I got lots of compliments on them and had an 85%ish callback rate, so I don't think they hurt me.

Just my personal preference about the pearls. I think it's generally in line with my personal jewelry "less is more" idea in a professional setting.

As far as dangly earrings go, I think it would depend on how far they dangled, and how flashy they were. I have a pair of white gold ones with little pink gold roses on the end that dangle about a half-inch - I would wear those, too.

And I agree with the clean and neat nails thing - that's more what I meant when I said "manicure." At-home manicure would be OK too.

[soupisgood]

So... 1-2 ct. diamond studs = no-no? Is that considered too "flashy"?

[smokyroom26]

So... 1-2 ct. diamond studs = no-no? Is that considered too "flashy"?

Outing myself as having no clue how big that actually is. Or if the joke's on me.

[IAFG]

So... 1-2 ct. diamond studs = no-no? Is that considered too "flashy"?

1 ct total? That's gotta be ok. 1 carat per ear? I dunno, "I have plenty of money" isn't the message I like to send when I am trying to get a demanding job.

[smokyroom26]

So... 1-2 ct. diamond studs = no-no? Is that considered too "flashy"?

1 ct total? That's gotta be ok. 1 carat per ear? I dunno, "I have plenty of money" isn't the message I like to send when I am trying to get a demanding job.

Agreed. I think that's also my problem with pearls.

[IAFG]

So... 1-2 ct. diamond studs = no-no? Is that considered too "flashy"?

1 ct total? That's gotta be ok. 1 carat per ear? I dunno, "I have plenty of money" isn't the message I like to send when I am trying to get a demanding job.

Agreed. I think that's also my problem with pearls.

Pearls are pretty cheap and widely regarded as business appropriate. There's an outdated etiquette rule that diamonds are not for daytime, so they're a little different. Plus, as mentioned, the cost.

[Anonymous User]

I kept my nails as is (unpolished and filed properly). Biggest tip I can give is to carry a nail file in your purse just in case a nail breaks so you can file it down and they don't look raggedy.

I am pretty good at doing my makeup even though I normally go to class looking like an absolute disaster, so I wore a full face of makeup: foundation with loose powder dusted over, eyeshadow (neutral tones--grays or browns, depending on the outfit), lightly applied black eyeliner, black mascara, and very neutral blush. I usually wear lipgloss, but I skipped that in favor of just wearing lip balm and neutral matte lipstick. If I was not already adept at applying makeup, I would have only used some kind of skin coverage like powder, mascara, and lipstick.

[eandy]

When we had our mock interviews, I asked the interviewer(woman) about my makeup and she said it was looked very professional. I am including the exact colors because that might be more helpful for some people.I wore a full coverage foundation(crappy skin when i am stressed), concealer under the eyes, Nars Orgasm blush, the Cover Girl Eye Enhancers Shimmering Sands trio(recommended on Corporette and I love it), Revlon Black Brown colorstay liner(top lid and tightlined), a few coats of black mascara, Clinique Bamboo Pink lipstick, and some translucent powder.
Wore LCD nail developer(clear and AWESOME) on my fingernails. I really can't recommend that stuff enough. If my nails are looking short and pathetic, they look really nice and are super strong after using it a week. Works well as a clear protective top coat, too.

I really recommend Corporette. (LinkRemoved)It has a lot of fashion/beauty advice for professional women. It's written by a female lawyer in NYC that I think works in big law. Has some good interview stuff if you search for it.

[Holly Golightly]

For those worries about nails, I highly recommend the no-chip shellac manicure. Going on 2 weeks and it still looks perfect. Plus they have tons of neutral/light pink options.

[smokyroom26]

When we had our mock interviews, I asked the interviewer(woman) about my makeup and she said it was looked very professional. I am including the exact colors because that might be more helpful for some people.I wore a full coverage foundation(crappy skin when i am stressed), concealer under the eyes, Nars Orgasm blush, the Cover Girl Eye Enhancers Shimmering Sands trio(recommended on Corporette and I love it), Revlon Black Brown colorstay liner(top lid and tightlined), a few coats of black mascara, Clinique Bamboo Pink lipstick, and some translucent powder.
Wore LCD nail developer(clear and AWESOME) on my fingernails. I really can't recommend that stuff enough. If my nails are looking short and pathetic, they look really nice and are super strong after using it a week. Works well as a clear protective top coat, too.

I really recommend Corporette. (LinkRemoved)It has a lot of fashion/beauty advice for professional women. It's written by a female lawyer in NYC that I think works in big law. Has some good interview stuff if you search for it.

God I love Nars. That entire line is awesome.

[mythosopher]

I would just like to state that it worries me that there needed to be a whole thread for this. It seems fairly common sense to me... And I'm a guy! Keep it natural/neutral and clean. Done.

[danidancer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGpLLWnO3XY

[sarahlawg]

I'm embarrassed that I'm lost on some of these makeup posts...hoping some of you will be my classmates next year...

[Dany]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGpLLWnO3XY

I have no idea what on earth she was doing for the 15 minutes in between, but I skipped to the end and thought her makeup looked good.

[smokyroom26]

I would just like to state that it worries me that there needed to be a whole thread for this. It seems fairly common sense to me... AndI'm a guy!Keep it natural/neutral and clean. Done.

FTFY