April Favorites

April Favorites – Makeup

April is over, and spring is finally in full swing! April saw the end of Lent and Weekly Makeup Baskets, along with a lot of new and rediscovered products. Here are my favorites for the month:

DKNY Perfume in Golden Apple – First perfume favorite! I’m trying to go through all my full size perfumes to justify buying some new ones, and this one is a welcome rediscovery. I love the sweet, subtle scent. It truly smells like a yellow apple.

Revlon Lip Butter in Juicy Papaya – I love lip butters, but this orange color was especially great! I was impressed by how long this color lasted on my lips, how creamy and moisturizing it is, and how flattering the color is. This will be a summer staple.

Revlon Balm Stain in Honey – I wear a lot of pinky-mauve lip shades, but I especially like this one. The Revlon Balm Stains are one of my favorite formulas, and this one is perfect for every day. The pencil makes application super easy, and it keeps my lips moisturized all day.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cashmere + BareMinerals Single in Culture Pearl – I talked about this in a Weekly Makeup Basket Review, but this combination creates such a beautiful, shimmery base on the lid for any eye look. It’s a really fun addition to daytime looks.

Starlooks Kohl Eye Pencil in Obsidian – Okay, this has long been a staple in my makeup basket, but this month I used it with a different technique: tightlining from the underside of the lash line. This blog post gives great background info. I was amazed at how it made my lashes look so much fuller and my eyes really pop!

Sephora Collection Microsmooth Baked Foundation Face Powder – I just started using this during the past week, but it is amazing. It sets my undereye concealer so well, and it helps my face products stay all day. This powder is definitely a great investment.

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer – Um, wow. This concealer is definitely worth the hype. With the Sigma F86 brush, it works perfectly under the eye. It doesn’t crease, covers well and lasts all day. I’m so glad I finally picked this up.

Julep Glow Pore Minimizing Blush in Peach Bellini – This was the highlight of this month’s Julep Box! I love the color, its pore-minimizing properties and its staying power. I really liked using it in conjunction with darker blushes for a great, dimensional look. It’s a very nice, everyday blush

Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Palette – One of my favorite eye products from the drugstore. The shadows are so pigmented and easily blendable. I really love using this for simple, daily eye looks. It makes them quick, easy and beautiful. Well worth the $5.

LOTS of good stuff this month! It was hard to narrow it down, actually. I’m excited to start switching up products for the new season 🙂 What were you loving this month? I’d love to hear!

Jaclyn Hill Sigma Expert Box Review

It’s here!

I mentioned this in my post introducing my Lent challenge (a million years ago!), but I have been anxiously awaiting the Jaclyn Hill Sigma Beauty Expert box, and it finally made its way to me! It sold out before I got a chance to purchase it, but after being on the wait list for several weeks, it finally came a little over a week ago. If you’re not familiar with Jaclyn Hill, she is one of my favorite beauty YouTubers, and I love her tutorials. The secret to Jaclyn’s flawless looks are the brushes in this Sigma kit (at least according to Sigma 😉 ).

I was already looking into buying second brushes of the ones I already had from this kit, and the price was right. I know there’s a lot of hype about Sigma products, but I think they’re worth it. Their brushes are not cheap, but they hold up really nicely (I haven’t had one shed, and I wash mine weekly) and really do apply product beautifully.

Here are the brushes included:

Products listed below from L to R

 

I already had a few brushes in this kit when my wonderful husband got me the Essential Kit for my birthday last year and through later purchases. However, they were brushes I wish I had two of, and for the price and the other brushes included, this kit was exactly what I was looking for. Here are my short thoughts on the brushes in this kit.

F80 – new vs. dirty

F80 Flat Kabuki – This has been my go-to foundation brush for a while, and I had already been looking into buying another one so I wouldn’t have to wash it so often (as you see above, it can get gross). Its inclusion in this kit worked out perfectly! It’s perfect for flawlessly applying fuller-coverage foundations.

F86 with F80

F86 Tapered Kabuki – I’ve heard a lot about this brush, and what they say is true: it’s perfect for applying undereye concealer. I’ve used it with MAC ProLongwear and my Maybelline Undereye Brightener and it applies flawlessly! This may be my favorite brush in this kit. I seriously love it. Below I have photos comparing it to the Real Techniques blush brush, which has a similar shape. These kabuki brushes are so dense and soft, perfect for applying makeup.

F86 and Real Techniques Blush Brush

F35 Tapered Highlight – This was the brush I was most excited for. It is perfect for a beautiful powder highlight. It gets right onto your cheekbones and applies the product just densely enough for it to be really visible but not too much.

E25 Blending – I. Love. This. Brush. It’s what I was looking for but didn’t know I was! I’ve used it to deepen color in my crease and for the outer corner. It’s dense enough to apply color accurately and fluffy enough to really blend it out the way I want to. This is an essential for eyeshadow.

E55 Eye Shading – This is a basic eye brush for applying color, nothing too fancy. But it’s useful and a good one to have for all-over lid colors.

E30 Pencil – I honestly didn’t know what to do with this brush, but now I’ve learned to love it for applying shadow as eyeliner on my upper and lower lash lines. I thing it would also be great for precisely applying a really dark color to the outer corner, so I’m excited to play with this more.

E40 Tapered Blending – This was another brush I wanted a second one of. I love having one fluffy one to apply crease color and one clean one to clean up any coloring “outside the lines.” This is so perfect for blending any shadows and is certainly a must-have.

Those are my thoughts! Did I need any more brushes, probably not, but I really enjoy these and think they’d be a good investment. This box is available for a limited time here. Do you have some of these brushes? Which are your favorite?

Mani of the Moment – Cajun Shrimp

Today’s Mani of the Moment: one of my favorite spring/summer polishes, Cajun Shrimp! I love the unique orangey red color and how bright and sassy it is. Definitely a favorite as it gets warm. What polishes are you loving?

To give credit where it is due, I took this title from the lovely ladies of Her Late Night Cravings. I think it’s such a cute title and wanted to use it myself 🙂 They have one of my favorite blogs/YouTube channels, so check them out!

Post-Easter HAUL!

Lent is over, so now…time for a Haul!

Haul Time!

I made stops at Sephora, Ulta and MAC and wanted to share what I picked up. (Lots of photos ahead)

Sephora Products

First stop was Sephora, where I was pretty conservative…for me. I was so sad to miss last week’s VIB Sale, but I found some good things. I had points that I was able to trade in for products I’ve been dying to try: Benefit’s Big Easy Liquid to Powder Foundation and the Becca Ever-Matte Poreless Priming Perfector. I’ve come close to buying full sizes of both of these, so I’m glad to get a chance to see if I actually like them before I spend the money. I also picked up a Sephora Collection Microsmooth Baked Foundation Face Powder in 05 Porcelain. I’ve enjoyed the Revlon Nearly Naked Powder, but I’m excited to try something new. I also picked a Bite Beauty Creme Lipstick Duo in Violet and Palomino.

Size comparison of Bite Duo with a NYX Butter Gloss

A swatch of the Bite Duo – Violet

Swatch of the Bite Duo – Palomino

These brights will be awesome for spring and summer. The formula is really pigmented and creamy, and it looks like it will wear really well.

Then, I made the next stop on my Haul Journey – Ulta:

Ulta Haul

It was also after their 20% off sale, and my Ulta looked pretty picked over as a result. Several products I really wanted were not in stock…but I guess that’s an excuse to come back 😉 They were having a 40% off drugstore brand sale, though, which was awesome. I picked up my favorite night moisturizer, Neutrogena’s Light Night Cream. I’ve tried several moisturizers that are okay, but this is still my favorite. It’s not too heavy, moisturizes well overnight and has a really clean, subtle scent. I’ve had a hard time finding it at Target and other drugstores, so I was happy to find this at Ulta.

I also picked up a ton of lip products. Swatches below!

Lip swatches!

From L to R in the picture above: Revlon Balm Stain in Honey; NYX Butter Glosses in Sugar Cookie, Fortune Cookie and Raspberry Tart; Revlon Lip Butter in Juicy Papaya. These are some of my favorite lip product formulas and have wanted new colors in them for a while. These came out the winners. Ulta also threw in a free sample of It’s a 10. I love this for de-tangling hair and actually almost bought some that day, but it’s a little expensive for what it is. This will hold me over until I need to purchase or find an alternative.

My final stop was MAC where I picked up several things I’ve been looking at for a while:

MAC Haul

I picked up 2 powder blushes, Melba and Margin, and a ProLongwear Concealer in NW20. I tried the concealer for the first time this morning and it is definitely worth the hype!

Swatches – Margin, Melba

So…I went a little crazy, but I am so excited to have new things to play with for spring/summer! Have you picked up new products for the new season? Anything you would recommend? Happy Hauling!

Lent Challenge Reflection

Happy Easter! He is Risen!

If you’ve read this blog, you’re aware I’ve taken the season of Lent to take a break from buying beauty products and explore my collection. I’ve done this through Weekly Makeup Baskets, where I use a small selection of products every week. This turned out to be really convenient throughout the week because I didn’t need to worry about choosing products I was going to use every morning. I think I’m going to continue to do a smaller version of this regularly so my mornings go much more smoothly. It will be great, though, to have more variety throughout the week and switch back and forth between blushes and palettes as much as I want.

It also ended up being a great thing to have lip products to use each week. I’m really bad about remembering to put products on and keep up with them throughout the day, which is silly because I have so many! I drink a lot of coffee and water throughout the day and get really lazy. So, I’ll make a bigger effort to actually use these products as well. I have a lot of lip products I really love, so I might as well use them!

I found that I still really wanted to buy products very often (probably because I kept reading beauty blogs and watching beauty vlogs), but it was good for me to take a step back I think. I didn’t save a ton of money necessarily because I decided to overhaul my wardrobe, but it made me get my beauty obsession in check. I’m really excited to purchase and try new products, but I’m glad to have re-familiarized myself with what I already have.

So that’s a short recap of Lent. Maybe it bored you, maybe you thought it was cool, but I’ll be posting some different content now. If you have ideas on what you want to see, let me know!

Until next time 🙂

Weekly Makeup Basket #6 – Reviews

I’ve made it through my last Makeup Basket of my Lent Challenge. By the end, it’s gotten a little tedious to only use a small collection of products every day for a week, but I’ve really enjoyed digging in and getting to know my collection better!

This week, my Challenge Product was single shadows again. These were also a standout of the week. I posted this look that I did using the single shadows that I loved. I also loved using the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cashmere topped with the BareMinerals single in Cultured Pearl, a BareMinerals single in Light Brown in the crease and the NYX single in Underneath it All in the outer corner. It was a really simple, pretty neutral look. I also loved using my Starlooks Pencil smudged right into the lash line and then topped with a liquid liner. I popped the Urban Decay Pencil in Flipside on my lower lash line, too, and it made my lashes look super long and my eyes look really bright. These will definitely come back!

The biggest fail of the week was the Lorac Lipstick in It Girl. I enjoyed the coral color, but the formula was a mess. It was really thin and felt like it slipped right of my lips. I layered it with a NYX Butter Gloss in Apple Strudel, which was really pretty, but also didn’t last at all. I think I’ll be giving this away and looking for a similar color in a different lipstick formula.

I made it through 6 weeks without buying new makeup, only using these baskets and exploring my collection! I’ll be posting a reflection tomorrow…and then a long-awaited HAUL this week!

Eye Look – NYX and BareMinerals singles

 

I really wanted to share some of the looks I’ve created with the weekly beauty baskets, but so far it’s been a fail… Here’s one I came up with this week that I really liked, though! Products used and how are down below 🙂

After priming my eyes, I used my Wet n Wild single in Brulee all over. Then, I used the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cashmere all over the lid. I packed a Bare Minerals single in Cultured Pearl over that. Then, I went in with my NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Purple Velvet, drawing in the outer corner and into the crease. I smudged it out with a finger and then blended a Bare Minerals single in Light Brown with it into the crease with a fluffy crease brush (my beloved Sigma E40). I finished by taking my NYX single shadow in Morocco into the outer corner with my Sigma E70. I smudged a Starlooks Kohl Eye Pencil in Obisdian into the upper lash line, used it again on my water line and finished with Benefit They’re Real Mascara.

This picture may not be the greatest, but I promise, it ended up super pretty, and I was very pleasantly surprised! I paired it with MAC blush in Immortal Flower and NYX Butter gloss in Apple Strudel.

Ipsy Unbagging – April

My latest Ipsy bag landed in my mailbox this week! I’ll be honest, the last couple have been really hit and miss, so I wasn’t sure whether or not to be excited about this one. However, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Here’s a look at what the shiny pink bag had for me this month:

April Ipsy Bag!

Ipsy bag contents

I got the following in my Beauty Rocks bag. I’ve tried some products out already, too!

Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm in Apple Pink – I’ve gotten Cailyn tinted lip balms in the past and haven’t been super impressed. They’re usually really drying, and the packaging is so silly (who uses a brush to apply lip balm?) I do really like the color of this one, though, so I’ll have to give it a try.

Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Eye Pencil in Black Velvet – I love the Slide-On Glide-On eye pencils from Urban Decay, and this one did not disappoint. I haven’t had a chance to smudge it out like the little booklet it came with said to, but I think it would be great for that as well. This is super pigmented and easy to apply as well.

Big Sexy Hair Root Pump Volumizing Spray Mousse – I had this product several years ago and didn’t repurchase for some reason. I used it yesterday, and it is awesome! It’s a little thick and will get sticky if you use too much, but it gives amazing volume, especially if you use it with a blow dryer.

Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion – There’s not too much to say about a Microdermabrasion Scrub, but I’m interested to try it because I’ve heard good things about the brand.

A more accurate photo of it…

City Color White Gold Shadow and Highlight Mousse – I used this yesterday, too and I really like it! It has the most beautiful shimmer without being too much, and the texture is really unique. I never would have thought to buy this, but I’m so excited to keep using it!

 

 

 

Overall a really solid group of products! Here are some swatches for your info:

Swatches inside – CC Mousse, UD Pencil, Cailyn Balm

 

Swatches in natural light (And what you can almost see is it SNOWING in the middle of April…)

Do you get Ipsy? What did you think of your products this month? Or, subscribe to another service you’d recommend? I’m toying with the idea of switching it up in the near future, so let me know!

Weekly Makeup Basket #6 – Last One!

We’ve made it to the LAST Weekly Makeup Basket and the last week of the Lent challenge! I’ll be posting a review of all of the baskets and the process to go up later this week. First, though, here’s what I’ll be using this week with my Makeup Basket Staples:

FACE
Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation
Bare Minerals Matte Foundation in Fair
Benefit ChaCha Tint
MAC Blush in Immortal Flower
Benefit Hoola Bronzer
NYX Powder Blush in Pinched
NYX HD Concealer
TheBalm Mary Lou Manizer

Lip Products

LIPS
Lorac Lipstick in It Girl
Urban Decay Super-Saturated High-Gloss Lip Pencil in Glinda
NYX Butter Gloss in Apple Strudel
Clinique Chubby Stick in Mega Melon

Eye products

EYES
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in Milk, Cashmere and Purple Velvet
Tini Beauty Shadow Tint in Spiced Rum
Bare Minerals loose eyeshadows in Cultured Pearl, Soiree and Light Brown
NYX Eyeshadow in Morocco
NYX Nude Matte Shadow in Underneath it All
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Flipside
Starlooks Kohl Eye Pencil in Obsidian
Covergirl Clump Crusher Mascara
Benefit They’re Real! Mascara

I really wanted to use my Julep Eye Sheen with single shadows this week, but to my dismay the cracked cap had made it all dry up! I should have replaced it earlier, but it is certainly on my list to haul ASAP.

What will you be using as we transition into warmer weather? Anything amazing you’ve been loving lately? Until next time!

Weekly Makeup Basket #5 – Reviews

The second to last week of Lent and my Makeup Basket/No-Buy Challenge! I’ll admit, I almost cracked when I kept getting emails about the Sephora VIB sale, but I held strong! But let’s be honest, I have an extensive list of what I plan to haul the week of Easter…

This week, my Challenge Product was a lot of the single BareMinerals shadows I have but rarely use. I was reminded why I don’t love loose shadows because they’re messy and kind of a pain, and I don’t know that I chose the greatest colors to create comprehensive looks, but by the end of the week I was pretty happy with how they turned out. Standouts for this week were Soiree, a beautiful dark green, which looked great in the crease, and Bali, a sparkly bronze.

The biggest wins of the week were lip products! I loved bringing back my beloved Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait and rediscovering the Revlon lipstick in Pink Velvet. The lipstick did stain my lips, making the color last for hours. I love the fun spring color! It is a bit drying, but I’m so glad I had a chance to use it this week!

The Julep Glow Pore-Minimizing blush I got in this month’s Julep box was also a huge win! I love the color and the subtle glow it left. It may have minimized pores a bit, but nothing super noticeable. It was also much more pigmented than I thought when I had initially swatched it. I’m excited to use this more this spring!

The biggest fails for the week were my beloved Revlon Colorstay Foundation and the Mary Kay Mattifier. I love Revlon Colorstay, but as the weather (finally) warmed up at the end of the week, it just felt like a heavy, greasy mess. Not great for warm weather. If the Mary Kay Mattifier had done what I expected it to do, I don’t think it would have been that big of a deal, but it didn’t. Maybe it would work better with a different foundation, but I really needed some oil control and it didn’t do so.

So that was this week! I can’t believe I’ve actually almost made it 6 weeks of just using makeup baskets and not hauling any new products! That is actually a little sad, but it’s an accomplishment for me. The LAST Lent Makeup Basket goes up tomorrow! Until then…