Men, most of you absolutely cannot tell if a lady is wearing a lot of makeup, unless she's wearing a lot of BAD makeup.
When makeup is done well, even if she's wear a TON of it... the only parts you
should be aware of are the eye colors and/or the lip color(s).
When you see women wearing a lot of foundation... it's not the fact that they are wearing foundation that is turning you off... it's that they are wearing BAD foundation. GOOD foundation blends with skin so well you'd never know it is there. Blush is the same. If your eye is drawn to her blush, she's wearing too much of it, or the wrong color for her. You should barely be aware that she has a color on her cheeks, and it should be subtle and flattering. Eyes and lips are where things are different. For most looks (other than a natural look), she will choose to accentuate either her eyes or lips. Not both, as you risk looking clownish (unless it is balanced very, very well, and no ladies, you are probably not that good unless you are a makeup artist). A strong lip color should be paired with very light eye makeup. Mascara and maybe liner. A strong eye should be paired with a subtle lip color.
The natural look is what most of you guys think of as "light makeup" when really she's probably wearing a lot of makeup... just well. I tend to go for this look a lot, and I get comments about how little makeup I'm wearing all the time. I can tell you, the ONLY difference between my natural look, and my going out to get noticed look, is usually eye shadow. Seriously. For most of you guys, that's the difference between a little and a lot.
Here's what I wear for my natural look:
Primer
Creme foundation (matched perfectly to my skin color at Sephora. Ladies, if you haven't done that, go to Sephora and make them use that little computer tool on your face and MATCH YOUR FOUNDATION to your skin. The wrong color screws up your whole look from the beginning).
Powder
Blush
Brow filler (alas, I have patchy brows)
Mascara
Lip Gloss
That's 7 products. To glam that up for evening, I'd add eye liner, and three or four colors of eye shadow, and maybe some natural looking falsie lashes just to boost my thin little lashes.
Stop thinking that a lot of makeup is the same as bad makeup. IJS.