I use Revlon usually.
It's really pretty cheap, but it doesn't *look* cheap. I like it. I've finally gotten a hang of the whole makeup thing. This is my usual makeup routine:
1. Put on coverup. When you're choosing your cover up, hold it up to your jaw. I've always made the mistake of putting it on the inside of my arm to see how it works, but that's a different color than your face. You want to go about 1/2-1 shade LIGHTER than your normal skintone. I always went darker until my acting teacher was like "You look ridiculous. Learn to do makeup." hahaha The secret is to use as little cover up as possible, it goes a long way. and if you happen to have a large breakout, don't try to cover it up with the cover up. Just let it go. Otherwise, it'll just look like a breakout that you tried to cover up with coverup haha.
2. After coverup, I put on a layer of LIGHT foundation. I think the bigger the brush, the more even/natural it will look. and don't feel the need to spend the money for million dollar brushes, they all do the same thing.
3. Then, I put on a VERY VERY light layer of darker foundation. I have a weird olivey/tan skin tone, and I can never match it well. So I had to get kind of creative with the foundation.
4. Then I put on one more very very very very very light layer of the lighter foundation. This just evens it all out.
5. I don't usually use blush, because I don't really blush anyway, and I look kind of dumb with it.
But get a smaller brush for blush, and put some on your cheekbone, the tip of your nose, your chin, and your forehead. For your cheekbone, put it from the ear to the apple. Don't go in circles or under your cheekbone or anything. Use blush sparingly - it's SO easy to go overboard.
6. For the eyes, do the eyeliner first. Always start with the bottom, because if you do the top first, when you open your eyes wide to do the bottom, it gets all over your brow. I also reccomend a pencil/pen eyeliner, I think liquid is too dramatic for normal wear and can actually wash you out. --- To put my eyeliner on, I dont' line the whole eye. I start where my pupil starts, and end at the edge of my eye lid (does that make sense? haha).
7. Eye shadow - Put on the color you want to pop first. Then take a lighter color and put it over the top of it. Then take a mix of the two and brush it just ONCE under your brow line. I especially like doing that because my eyebrows are very low and it kind of makes it look like there's more space.
8. For mascara, just put it on the top. Most people don't have long enough lashes for it to look decent on the bottom, and it gets all clumpy and blah looking. If you put it on the top, it'll really draw the attention to your eyes. I've got a little secret where I rotate the mascara brush while I'm doing it, and I blink. It's a lot cleaner and I have a lot less accidents then when I'm swiping my eyelashes with it.
9. For lips - I use lipstick & lipgloss together. I put on a bit of darker lipstick, then use a more "fun" lipgloss to make it look younger.