Current Loves: Beauty Edition

One of my favorite types of videos to watch on YouTube or blog posts to read are beauty favorites. Where someone shares their current favorite products. I've actually found a lot of amazing products from watching or reading those.

So, I wanted to do the same. This is geared towards makeup this time. I may expand later and include other beauty products, like hair and body. 

So let's get into it!

These are my everyday makeup products. And together, they make up my everyday routine. 

Let's start with foundation. I've been very impressed with the brand tarte. Tate uses high performance naturals. None of the bad, icky ingredients that are harmful to the skin. Instead, they use healthy, natural ingredients that are actually beneficial to you, all the while providing amazing, long lasting coverage and color payoff.  How amazing is that?! 

My favorite combo for foundation has been to use a light layer of the tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Full Coverage cream foundation first using the Airbrush Finish Bamboo Foundation brush. Then with a separate brush (also the Airbrush Finish brush), I apply a light layer of the tarte Amazonian Clay Airbrush Foundation. This, to me, really sets and locks in the cream foundation and gives just a little added boost of coverage. I don't use any other powder product over this. I use the Airbrush foundation to set. It lasts all day with only a minor touch up if I'm heading out for the evening. 

Shades from left to right: Exposed and Dollface

Moving on. Blush. My most reached for blushes usually are also from tarte cosmetics. They last all day and have great color payoff. There's a good variety of color options. They are the Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blushes. 

My bronzer of choice has been the It Cosmetics CC+ Radiance Ombre Bronzer. It gives you a natural looking warmth and glow without looking orange or fake. It Cosmetics also uses better-for-you ingredients. The formula is anti-aging and is also clinically proven to be waterproof, so you know it'll last all day. With living in Texas, that's a major selling point when buying makeup!

For my brows, I've been using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Whiz pencil in Ash Blonde. They've renamed it to 'Taupe', so if you see that, don't be alarmed! Its the same. It works great for filling in my brows and keeping them looking natural. Its a dual end pencil. One end is the pencil and the other is a spooley so you can brush out your brows and help blend the color for a natural finish.

 **Oh..by the way..excuse the terrible manicure! I was way overdue!**

Moving on to the eyes. My absolute favorite palette is this Dior 5 Colour palette in Rosy Tan. Its the perfect natural. The colors are velvety and smooth and are long wearing. I can't say enough about this product! The sad news? I believe it's been discontinued. I'm going to go through some of my other palettes and see if I can find dupes for these colors, cause I'm going to be super upset when this is gone! 

For eyeliner, I've been using the Kat Von D Tattoo Tattoo Liner in the shade Trooper. Its an ink black color. There's no parabens in it so that's a plus! It has a brush tip as opposed to felt tip liquid liners. So, it won't fray. It hold its shape to provide an effortless line. And its true! This is coming from a girl who has never had any luck with using liquid liners. EVER. And this liner is just about as fool proof as you can get, in my book! I love it! 

And lastly, mascara. I have been absolutely in love with Chanel Le Volume De Chanel. It gives amazing volume and lift to my lashes. The formula is fantastic and is super black in color. And the wand is great too. I will definitely repurchase this once I get close to running out. 

So there you have it! These are my current beauty favorites! I hope you've found this helpful. Like I stated earlier, these types of posts or videos are my favorites. I've provided links where available to purchase if any of these products have caught your eye! What are YOUR favorite beauty items? 

*post contains affiliate links

Makeup Removers

 We All Want Healthy, Clean Skin

Right, ladies? Clean, clear, healthy skin is something we desire. 

And its a good one thing at that. 

We should be proactive about the health of our bodies; skin included, since its our largest organ. 

To me, healthy skin starts with clean skin. 

Most of us women wear makeup daily, for the most part. Have you neglected to remove your makeup at night before going to bed? I'll admit it. I've done it. Many times. 

Someone once told me that your skin ages 7 days for every night that you don't remove your makeup. Say what?! So, if you skip removing your makeup once a week, you've aged your skin by 28 days! That's crazy. 

I found this article on an experiment a woman did with sleeping in her makeup for a month. YIKES!

Alot of us, myself included, skip the actual removing of makeup and go straight to facial cleanser. Doing this, however, doesn't fully clean your skin. When you cleanse before taking your makeup off first, its only 'skimming' the surface, so to speak. But when you use a makeup remover first, when you cleanse your skin, the product will be able to go straight to your pores and absorb better into the skin to do its job. 

Make any sense? 

I have 2 products I use daily and are by far my absolute favorite when it comes to taking my makeup off. 

Bioderma Sensibio H2O, Mary Kay Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover

Firstly, I use the Mary Kay Oil Free Eye Makeup remover first. I love that this works well, and gently too. I don't feel like I have to "scrub" at my eyes to my eye makeup off. I wear waterproof mascara almost all the time and this takes it off with no problem. 

Sephora also makes a really good one as well.  

I found the Bioderma off of Amazon and I love it! Its super gentle and fragrance free, which makes it excellent for sensitive skin. Its a rinse free formula. I just douse a cotton round and sweep it over my face. I usually use 2 cotton rounds total. Its a little pricey, but lasts me a long time, so I can justify the cost. It runs around $30 for a 500ml bottle.

There's a few formulations of it too. But this one was the one that stood out the most to me and has done an amazing job.

(I would link the Bioderma but at the time of this post, the Amazon site is temporarily not working. But you can google it and find it on other sites as well.)

And then I can move on with the rest of my nighttime routine. I have noticed such a change in my skin since I started making a point to actually taking my makeup off before cleansing. 

I hope you check these products out if you're looking for a good makeup remover. 

I have another post coming soon on the products I've been using at night. (Maybe today!)

XOXO 

Laura

Drugstore Makeup

Drugstore Makeup ONLY?

First off, my inspiration for this blog post came from Kate from The Small Things Blog. If you're not following her, you should! She is a beautiful hair stylist and has some awesome and very easy to do hair tutorials, as well as makeup, and daily living posts.

 I'm determined to one day travel to her salon and get her to do my hair! But its going to happen! 

She recently posted a blog post on building a makeup kit from Target. Like a, "What would I do if I lost all my makeup" kind of thing. So I decided to do one as well.

I've lost all my makeup!?

I have to tell you, the diva in me instantly gasped at the thought of losing my makeup bag. My close friends could tell you..my makeup collection is a little excessive. It ranges from drugstore to high end. I know... I have a problem. 

Can you relate? If so, repeat with me. 

Hi, my name is _______ and I'm a makeupholic. 

First step is admitting, right? 

Ok, so we've lost all our makeup. Now what? Well, first things first. I finish having a complete meltdown and then immediately set out to restock and start over! The good thing about drugstore makeup brands is that they've come a long way from when I first started using makeup as a young junior high girl. They've really stepped it up and so I am confident that I could be satisfied with drugstore only makeup.....for a while. Haha! 

Here's what I've come up with.

The cool thing is I actually already have most of this. Make that all, except the eye shadow quad. 

Product Breakdown

Hands down, the best drugstore foundation that I've found so far is the Revlon Colorstay. It has excellent coverage for me and there is a good selection of colors to select from. They also have 2 formulas to choose from.  Normal/Dry and Combination/Oily.

As far as concealers go, the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind is fantastic. I've gone through numerous tubes of this stuff. 

The Physicians Formula Super BB Powder has been a more recent find and I'm really enjoying it. It gives a little extra coverage and is excellent for touch ups during the day. I find that it compares with Benefit Cosmetics 'Hello Flawless!"powder as far as coverage and feel on the skin. Like I said, I'm really liking it and its way cheaper too!

I threw a random eyeshadow quad in there just to show the colors I typically lean towards, which are browns/neutrals. 

For an eyeshadow base, the Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo does really well. You can use alone or as a base. 

I've been really liking the Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in "Coffee Cake". Its the only one I have but I'd like to try out a couple other shades as well. Its more of a cream blush so bear that in mind before applying it. Start with applying a little and build it up, if needed. 

Probably my all time favorite mascara is the L'Oreal Voluminous mascara. No matter how many higher end mascaras I buy and love, this is the one I always come back to at some point. My favorite formula is the Carbon Black. 

For lips, there are so many good ones at the drugstore that it was hard to narrow it down. Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters give good color payoff while keeping my lips moisturized. Think tinted lip balm, but better! Like I said, though, its hard to narrow down one brand, one lipstick, but this is a good go-to lippy. 

Lastly, the matter of brushes. I bought the Sonia Kashuk brush kit in the picture strictly for the clutch alone, but found that I actually like the brushes that came with it as well! Bonus! 

Thankfully, though...

Thankfully, though, I haven't lost any of my makeup! My makeup is my life! Well, not really. But, it would be a little devastating if I did. However, the good news is that there are some real winners out there, as I've shown, that would make my life a little easier as I started over. 

If you haven't tried out some of these products, and if you're a makeup junkie like me, then I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with them. 

What are your favorite drugstore makeup picks? 

Until my next post, happy makeup shopping!