@benaiah@pdx.social i might be able to kinda give some advice! i honestly am in much the same boat and am kinda working my way up
i will say that i really like japanese makeup and korean makeup since they often have more of an "accentuate what's there and keep it light" feel instead of the current "FULL COVERAGE FULL CONTOUR" thing popular in america. canmake is a really nice brand that has good tutorials on how to use, most can be applied with fingers, etc.
@benaiah@pdx.social e.l.f. is also a pretty low-cost brand that i think is really useful for kinda testing out concepts. they have some real winners and some losers, but not bank-breaking. wet n' wild is actually also incredibly solid - the things they do well, they do Really Well. nyx is also one of my go-to brands at a slightly higher price point
if $$ is no object though, walk into a sephora and go "i want to get into makeup but idk where to start", and they'll pick you up in a whirlwind LOL
@benaiah@pdx.social tho it might be worth budgeting for a trip to sephora regardless since iirc they all have makeup artists in-house, and one of the services they provide is basically one-on-one tutoring, but idk how much money that is to get - or if it's "if you come spend enough money we'll tell you how to use what you just bought" lmao
also realtalk i've found my brushes off aliexpress better than the fancy shmancy ones so don't worry too much about buying an actual shitton of expensive ones