Weekly Makeup Basket 2.6 – Final One!

I’ve reached the end of this challenge! Welcome to my final week of Makeup Baskets…

FACE
TheBalm Down Boy Blush
L’Oreal Infallible Foundation
Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless Foundation
BareMinerals Perfecting Mineral Veil
Bare Minerals Highlight in Citrine Radiance
Dr. Jart Dis-a-Pore Primer
Tarte Blush in Flushed
Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer
Benefit Hoola
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette

EYES
Lorac Unzipped Palette
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Pencil in El Dorado
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk
Milani Eyeshadow Primer
Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Rose Gold
Julep Go Big Mascara
Julep Glide-On Liner in Smoky Plum

LIPS
Too Faced Melted Lipstick in Peony
NARS Matte Lipstick in Bangkok
Clinique Chubby Stick in Mega Melon
Mireness Glossy Kiss in Perfect Kiss

And there you have it! As always, I love to actually see and use what I have in my collection, but I am looking forward to switching up my palettes during the week 🙂 Enjoy your weeks, beauties!

Weekly Makeup Basket 2.5

The Penultimate Makeup Basket! This is kind of exciting. I’ve loved really focusing on products and getting to use some of them up! Here’s what will be on my face this week:

 

FACE
Smashbox Oil-Free Photo Finish Primer
NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla
Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation
Becca Ever Matte Primer
Bare Minerals Highlight in Citrine Radiance
Benefit Hoola Bronzer
It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores Loose Powder
Benefit Lollitint
Be a Bombshell Lip and Cheek Stick in Flustered

 

EYES
Benefit Rollerlash Mascara
Julep Go Big Mascara
Milani Eyeshadow Primer
Lorac MegaPro Palette
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Pencil in Bourbon
Jesse’s Girl Liquid Eyeliner

 

LIPS
Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Nude Creme
Buxom Glosses in Gabby and Destiny
Bite Beauty Lip Primer
Starlooks Lip Pencil in Tipsy
Sephora Lipliner in Nano

Weekly Makeup Basket 2.4

We made it through another week, which means I’m sharing another set of goodies I plan to use this week!

FACE
Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless Foundation
MAC Blush in Margin
Laura Gellar Spackle Primer
MAC ProLongwear Concealer
NARS Blush in Orgasm
Benefit Hoola
MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Medium
L’Oreal Infallible Foundation

EYES
Jesse’s Girl Liner
Milani Eyeshadow Primer
Too Faced Matte Eyes Palette
Maybelline Color Tattoos in Caramel Cool and Inked in Pink
Benefit Rollerlash (As soon as I tried to use They’re Real after I took this picture, it was clearly a hot mess…so it’s out of the group!)

LIPS
Bite Beauty Lip Primer
Revlon Matte Balm in Elusive
NYX Butter Glosses in Eclair Fortune Cookie
Too Faced Perfect Liner in Perfect Nude

We are halfway through this experiment! I’m really excited to revisit some gems in my collection, so this is exciting! Here’s to a great week!

 

Weekly Makeup Basket Volume 2.3

And it’s another round of weekly makeup baskets! Here’s what I’ll be wearing this week:

FACE
Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer
Benefit Dandelion Blush
Benefit Porefessional
NARS Liquid Highlight in Copacabana
BareMinerals Mineral Veil
Benefit Rockateur Blush
Makup Forever Mat Velvet + Foundation
NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

EYES
Benefit Rollerlash Mascara (Review coming soon!)
Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette
Benefit They’re Real Mascara
Julep Gel Eye Glider in Taupe
Bare Minerals 5 in 1 BB Cream Shadow in Soft Linen

LIPS
Bite High Pigment Lip Pencil Set – This was the Holiday Lip set for last year, and I don’t use it too much. Sometimes, I forget about these, but they have a great formula, and I’ve been looking for some lip variety lately. Here’s what they look like:

From left shades: Sable, Rhubarb, Winterberry, Pomegranate

Looking forward to using these! I’m having a harder time than I thought sticking to what I’ve chosen, but I’m excited to really dig into some of these products. I’m giving the Mat Velvet + a second chance as my regular foundation because I can’t figure out my feelings about this shade on me. This has gone much quicker than I expected, but I’m ready for a big haul come April 😉

Weekly Makeup Basket Volume 2.2

 

It’s time for another round of weekly makeup baskets! I have to admit, just ticking to one round of products was harder than I thought last week. Here’s what I’ll be using this week:

Face products

FACE
Bare Minerals Perfecting Mineral Veil
MAC Pro Longwear Concealer
Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless Foundation
Laura Geller Spackle
Dr. Jart Pore Medic Pore Minish Primer
Julep Glow Highlighter
Bare Minerals Blush in Pink Tourmaline (almost gone!)
Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer
MAC Blush in Full of Joy (a new addition to the collection 🙂

Eye Products

EYES
Bare Minerals Quad in The Happy Place
Bare Minerals Palette in The Power Neutrals
Jesse’s Girl Liquid Eyeliner
Mary Kay Ultimate Mascara
Julep Go Big Mascara
Urban Decay Glide-On Eyeliner in Perversion
Makeup Forever Eyeliner in Emerald
MAC Paint Pot in Painterly (also almost gone – so close!)

Lips

LIPS
All about gloss this week!
Buxom Lip Gloss in Gabby
Bare Minerals Lip Gloss in Rose
Buxom Lip Gloss in Destiny

 

Weekly Makeup Basket – Vol. 2.1

I’m bringing back a series I started last year around this time -the Weekly Makeup Basket! Last year, I gave up shopping for Lent, and this was a way to keep myself honest and really shop my stash. This year, I’m not giving up shopping, but I’ve been a little overwhelmed with my collection and want to make sure I’m really using what I have. I’m not doing weekly reviews of products this time because those usually end up in monthly favorites anyway, but I do like sharing my weekly choices.

First, here are my weekly staples that I’ll definitely be using every week:

Makeup Basket Staples

Staples
MAC Fix+ – perfect for setting any face and and prepping brushes
Urban Decay Glide-On Liner in Perversion – the ideal tightline
Laura Mercier Invisible Setting Powder – lovely for setting undereye concealer
Jessie’s Girl Liquid Eyeliner in Black – amazing
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer in Brightener – my go to brightener
Rimmel Scandaleyes Eye Pencil in Nude – to really open up the eyes
Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade in Chocolate – not sure I can say much more about this except that it’s my favorite
Wet n Wild single eyeshadow in Brulee – perfect for cleaning up or prepping eyes for shadow

Face products

Face
Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer
It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores Powder
Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in 1N2 Ecru
NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla
Bare Minerals Blush in Pink Tourmaline
Makeup Forever Mat Velvet+ Foundation in Alabaster
Laura Mercier Foundation Primer
Bare Minerals Highlighting Powder in Citrine Radiance
Benefit Watt’s Up Highlighter
Benefit Blush in Hervana

Eye products

Eyes
Lorac Unzipped Palette
Julep Go Big Mascara
Naked Basics Palette
Mary Kay Ultimate Mascara
Em Eyeliner in Bronze
MAC Paint Pot in Painterly

Lips

Lips
NYX Butter Gloss in Eclair
NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Happy Days
Too Faced Lipliner in Perfect Nude
Bite Beauty Lip Primer
Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick in Touch of Spice

I may check in with FOTD posts, but either way, I’m excited to really be shopping my stash! What have you rediscovered lately?

2014 Favorites – Cheek and Lips

Welcome to Part 3 of my 2014 Favorites, featuring Lips and Cheeks! To check out Part 1 (Skin and Hair Care, plus reasoning behind my favorites) or Part 2 (Face Products and Tools), visit these links!

LIPS

For this section, I picked just one color in my favorite formulas of this year. Clearly, I love neutrals, but I do have others in bolder colors. I just don’t wear them as often, so they don’t make the list 😉

Revlon Balm Stain in Honey: I love this formula, and (like I say here), this is a perfect everyday color. It leaves my lips moisturized, and it’s super comfortable.

Bite Lipstick in Zin: This falls a bit outside of the neutral spectrum and was in my Fall Lip Picks. I love the formula and pigmentation of these lipsticks. They are so comfortable, but they are not as longwearing as one would think. Still, between the gorgeous formula and the packaging, this is a definite winner.

Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Nude Creme: Can we talk about how wonderful this formula is? They smell like watermelon and are super comfortable. Again, not quite as longwearing as I’d like, but this is great. Included in August favorites here.

L’Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Color in Nude Ballet: I’ve mentioned this lip color here, and it’s kept up the amazing quality. It’s super comfortable, but the lasting power is not great. Still, I really love this for an everyday office lip color!

NARS Audacious Lipstick in Anna: While these haven’t been in a true favorites post yet, holy cow, these lipsticks are amazing. You can see swatches from my initial post here. They last forever on the lips, are super comfortable and have the most beautiful pigmentation. I also have this lipstick in Raquel, which I love. If only they weren’t so expensive!

Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick in Touch of Spice: This was in a favorites post here, and it has remained one of my favorites. This formula is so comfortable and gorgeous, and I love the color! Matte lipsticks have been a fun train to get on this year, and this has definitely been my favorite.

CHEEKS

Tarte Blush in Blushing Bride: Potentially my favorite blush of the year. Seriously. Like I say here, this plumy rose color is gorg. This formula lasts forever, and I just can’t get over how much I love this. It looks good with everything and looks so great with everything!

MAC Blush in Melba: I love this matte peach blush so much! It looks great with so many things, and I love how buildable the formula is. You can see swatches here. It lasts all day and the finish is really pretty. I’m on the MAC blush train, so I’ll probably be picking up more in 2015…

TheBalm InStain Blush in Pinstripe: I’ve talked about this blush here, and it is still amazing. Like all of these Instain blushes, you need to use a light hand, but this blush is so pretty, regardless how dark it is for fair skin. It’s a risk worth taking!

Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso: This is a gorgeous shimmery peach blush, like NARS Sin, but slightly more peach and…dare I say… more pigmented and longer wearing? This has been a go-to blush for when I’m in a show, and for simple, everyday looks. It was in my May Favorites and has been a regular part of the rotation since.

Tarte Blush in Exposed: I knew I said I wouldn’t put two of the same blush formula in the same post, but I’m so obsessed with both of these blushes, that I had to to include them both. I love the natural “nude” look of this blush. I included it in my June favorites and have used it regularly ever since.

What were your favorite Lip and Cheek favorites this year?

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!

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!