March Favorites

March Favorites

Another month has come and gone! Through my makeup basket series, I’ve tried a ton of new products, so it was hard to narrow down products for the month. But I have, so here is what I’ve been loving this month.

Bite High Pigment Lip Pencils – I used the Holiday 2014 Set this month, and I am obsessed. I photographed the red in the kit, but they were really all amazing. Beautiful texture, highly pigmented, precise application and stained the lips to a long lasting, colorful finish. I really enjoyed all of the pencils in the kit, and I’m ready to add some more to my collection.

Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless Foundation – A full review of this is coming soon, but this is a nice drugstore foundation with a beautiful finish. This gives the skin a nice, finished look, even if it’s not the most longlasting of foundations.

Sigma E65 Brush – My biggest discovery of the year was using dark, pigmented eyeshadows as upper and lower eyeliners. So pretty! This was the brush that I used, and it was perfect for applying shadow that way. I’ve loved this brush!

Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel – I got this in a Birchbox and this. peel. is. magic. Seriously. I’ve used it once a week since I’ve gotten it, and I recently purchased a full size. I get a lot of masks and peels in Birchboxes and as samples, but this one truly stands out. It has lightened hyperpigmentation, smoothed my skin and really given my skin a luminous finish. loooove.

Benefit Lollitint – This is a unique color for blush, and the liquid finish is just really pretty. This may be my favorite of all the Benefit tints and a perfect product for spring.

Maybelline Color Tattoos (Caramel Cool and Inked in Pink) + Too Faced Matte Eyes Palette – These are such amazing products that don’t get enough love. The combination of the shimmery color tattoo with the matte shadows is just incredible. I love the pretty eye look and how the eye looks is pretty and just a bit dramatic.

L’Oreal Infallible Foundation – There is also a review of this coming up, but this is my new favorite drugstore foundation. It’s just beautiful in the finish and really keeps oil at bay as well.

Bite Lip Primer + Too Faced Lipliner in Perfect Nude/Sephora Lipliner in Nano – Oh my goodness, this lip combo! I love this lip primer just in general, but with just a lip liner on top, the combination creates the perfect finish. The color of both these lipliners are gorgeous neutrals. I also love the defined look of my lips with this combination. I see myself pulling this out a lot in the near future.

July Favorites!

What? July is almost over?! This has been a little bit of a weird month as I’ve been really concentrating on using up products and clearing things out. I’ve also gotten some new things that I’ve finally gotten a chance to try or just make up my mind about.

July Favorites

Bare Minerals Concealer in Well Rested – I pulled this out again, and I forgot how much I love it. When applied right (not super thick or cakey), it looks amazing and really erases dark circles and lasts all day. Between this and the product below, I’ve been looking very rested, even if that was not the case.

First Aid Beauty Eye Duty Triple Remedy – If you’ve been running in the same YouTube circles I do, you’ve probably heard about this product. I was skeptical, but truly it. is. magic! This is a salmon-colored cream that comes out of a metal applicator. You rub it in with the applicator, which feels very cool on the skin, and it erases dry circles and puffiness! An extra 2 hours of sleep in a tube! It also makes any concealer apply over this really smoothly as well. Major favorite.

Sephora Powder Brush – I’m pretty sure this brush has been discontinued or something because I can’t find it online anywhere. I bought this a few years ago, and I hadn’t been able to find a good use for it for a while. This month, though, I used it to contour, and it worked beautifully! The shape is perfect to contour, and it’s nice and fluffy. Maybe unavailable, but a good brush even so.

Fresh Sugar Lip Polish – I have used the ELF lip polish for a while, but I found it was a little too harsh. This polish was really great for smoothing my lips and exfoliating. I’ve made this a more regular part of my routine, which has made my lips softer and made lip products go on really smoothly.

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion – So, let’s be honest. I’m trying to use up a lot of products sitting in my drawers, so this came out. I forgot how creamy and easy to apply this pencil is! It’s very black and really great for tightlining. I’ve found when I use it on my waterline I get some fallout throughout the day, but it is really great to tightline.

NYX Butter Gloss in Apple Strudel – We all know NYX Butter Glosses are perfection in a tube, but I’ve really been loving this shade this month. The color isn’t super pigmented but not too neutral. It warms up my face and looks really nice with just about everything.

Be a Bombshell The One Stick in Flustered – I almost gave this product away after I got it in an Ipsy bag a while ago, but I’m so glad I didn’t! I used this with my Real Techniques Stippling Brush, and that was perfect for this product. It gives a nice, deep rosy flush that is buildable and makes my skin look really healthy and bright. I really really like this blush.

Bite Beauty Lip Primer – I’ve loved this product for a long time, but I’ve really used it a lot this month. My favorite look has been this primer with the Too Faced Perfect Liner in Perfect Nude. The primer makes the texture not overly matte, and the color is really lovely on its own. I’ve tried the primer with other lip liners, but this is definitely the prettiest.

So that’s what I’ve loved in July! What were your favorite products this month?

TheBalm Mini-Haul & Reviews

Recently, one of my favorite brands, TheBalm, had a 50% off flash sale to celebrate their new server. Historically, their server has crashed whenever they do flash sales, so this new one was supposed to hold up better. It did, but their processor had an issue, so as usual, the 50% prices went to those who waited…or loved pressing their refresh button. I finally got through and picked up some things I’m really excited about! I’ve been using them for a few weeks, and here are my thoughts.

TheBalm Mini-Haul!

I picked up 3 cheek products: Bahama Mama, a bronzer, Cindy LouManizer, a pink-toned highlight, and an InStain blush in Argyle. (Swatches are towards the bottom of the post).

Bahama Mama

Here’s a good look at Bahama Mama. As with all TheBalm’s products, the packaging is just way too cute with it’s vintage, pin-up-esque style. This is almost similar to Benefit’s Hoola bronzer, but a tiny bit darker and with sleeker packaging. I also think it’s slightly more pigmented than Hoola. I’ve used this with several different brushes, and it’s great for contour and for adding some extra bronzy color to the skin this summer. I really like this bronzer. It blends nicely, and a little goes a long way.

Instain Blush in Argyle

If you haven’t tried an InStain blush from TheBalm, you need to. It’s a powder formula that turns into a long-wearing cheek stain, and the colors are gorgeous. I’ve bought all of mine on 50% off sales, so I’m pretty sure I’ll have all of the colors before long… Argyle is a beautiful, cool-toned pink. It’s a very subtle, everyday color, especially compared to Lace, which is also a cool-toned pink but very bright. I’ve been wearing it almost every day this week, and it looks very pretty and natural. If you have fair skin like I do, you need this blush.

Cindy LouManizer

The Mary LouManizer, the famous highlight from TheBalm, is probably my favorite powder highlight ever. When I saw this pink Cindy LouManizer, I was really excited to try it. This is also a very shimmery, sparkly powder, and a little goes a long way. With the pink color, I find that it’s better with a very subtle blush and this on the cheekbones. I also think it will be great to use it as a blush with a BB Cream or lighter coverage foundation as we get into warm weather. I’ve also used this as an eyeshadow, and it’s really pretty, especially with some of the matte shades in the LoracPRO and Naked2 Palette. I don’t know that this is a must-have product, but it is very pretty.

Here are swatches from L to R: Bahama Mama, Argyle, Cindy LouManizer

Swatches in natural light

Swatches with flash

Keep an eye out on TheBalm’s Instagram page, where they usually announce flash sales. If you haven’t tried anything from them, I would recommend it, especially for cheek products. With a sale, they’re an amazing deal.

Did you take advantage of the sale? What did you pick up that you’re excited about?