JANUARY BEAUTY FAVES

Hidey ho, readers! Welcome to the January beauty faves blog. Sorry that I am posting this on the second of February, but to be honest, my nails are so long right now that I can barely gather the strength to type. Anyways, lets just get right into it! If you missed the December beauty faves post, you can click HERE to find it.

So, to start with, a December follow up – my skin has continued to be an absolute wreck into the new year (joy), but I’ve continued to be (mostly) diligent with the Murad Acne Starter Kit that I recommended in December. I have upped my usage to twice a day, and I can tell a DEFINITE difference in my skin texture/oil production when I skip it. So, I’m still standing behind ole Murad. On particularly oily days, I have added Biore’s “Free Your Pores” blemish fighting astringent, which works very well, and very quickly – if I apply it on skin that I can feel is getting aggravated or is forming a blemish, it will have dried it up by morning.

My first recommendation for the month of January is directly related to my skin problems (and then we will move on from talking about my nasty ass pizza face) – I have been using NYX’s Angel Veil primer for awhile now (it is a serum and is wonderful for dryer or normal skin) – but since the last thing I need is to add more oil to my face, I switched to NYX’s “First Base Primer Spray”, and I LOVE it. 

 

I really don’t want to ever switch back. The spray application feels fantastic and refreshing at the start of my makeup routine, and I just take my fingers and lightly work it into my skin if I feel like one area didn’t get coverage. What I also love about this product is that it doesn’t cause my foundation/concealer to crease or separate, like a lot of serum primers do. The last thing I want is my under eye area to look like a crisis, and this product definitely helps me avoid that. My makeup stays locked and loaded all day long. $7.99 at ULTA!

Next, lets jump into some lipsticks. So great is my love and affinity for NYX Cosmetics, I really just want to have a big fluffy princess wedding with them so that we can be together till death do us part. They are by far the best “drugstore” range line, and I haunt the NYX aisle at ULTA like a sea hag. NYX has recently released a lot of new lipsticks, but what interested me the most were the Ombre lip duos ($11.99 at ULTA) –

I love the idea of ombre lips, but they can be really hard to maintain – not with these babies! You can go as hard or as soft with your ombre as you want – and they last FOREVER.

The color I’m wearing in this photo is “Poppy and Lily”. I also have “Ginger & Nutmeg” & “Bonnie & Clyde”. If you are someone who is afraid or unsure of how to use lipliner, let these be your loving introduction to getting it right – because there is literally no wrong way to work with these. I’ve had a lot of fun using them.

Another thing that I’ve been really digging this month are the On-the-Go Fragrance Sprays (ULTA brand) – I love anything that I can toss in my purse, and these smell fantastic.
I got Freshwater Mist and Lavender Woods on sale (regular price is $7.50, they are currently buy 2, get 2 free!), and I’ve been using the crap out of them. The older I get, the more I become one of those little old biddies that can’t take the smell of certain kinds of perfumes because they give me headaches, so the fact that they smell good and don’t make me feel like I have a brain tumor is the biggest selling point to me. So if you guys could all start wearing these too, that would be great. NO MORE PERFUME HEADACHES 2016!

Next on the list is a new favorite that I can’t take credit for – and that would be Urban Decay’s Minor Sin Eye Shadow Primer Potion.  During our December makeup swap, my makeup bestie, Stephanie, gave me a gaggle of goodies, and this was one of them. I didn’t really think that I would find a use for it, but I surprised myself – I love it! I typically use just my foundation or a NYX white eye shadow base to prime my eyes for shadow, so I wasn’t really sure what I would do with this, but love always finds a way, doesn’t it? My favorite ways to use this gorgeous champagne tinted primer are on days where I am not going to wear eye makeup, but just want a little sparkle on my lid, or when I’m wearing a lot of neutral tones that have a lot of shine to them and I want to amp them up. You can find this product at ULTA for $20.00, which I do feel like is a lot for an eye shadow primer, but not really if you take into account the fact that you can find several different uses for it. And a little goes a LONG way. Thanks, Stephanie!

Last but certainly not least, I leave you with another new favorite that I can’t take the credit for, because my mom introduced it to me. The Sigma Spa Express Blush Cleaning Mat ($25.00 at the Sigma website). My typical take on brush cleaning is never do it because I hate it and am lazy. I would literally rather buy a new brush than clean an old one, because I am tragic and wasteful. My mom ordered me one of these mats (I think she was trying to politely tell me that my makeup table looked like a holy terror), and I let it sit around untouched for a few days until I finally opened it. I toted about 10 brushes to the sink, not expecting to feel any sort of way about the experience – but then it began. I WAS CHANGED. Holy moly. Dare I say this made brush cleaning … fun? You stick it (it has suction cups on the bottom of the mat) in your sink, squirt brush cleaner on to it, and basically paint your brushes clean. It takes NO time at all, seriously. I am begging you all to buy this. If this is the one thing I recommend that you ever listen to, it is this – it has honestly turned a chore that I dreaded SO much into the easiest, breeziest thing. Thanks, Sigma! And thanks, Mom!

So that is it for January. Next month, I’ll let you know how I felt about some recent purchases – the Too Faced “Born This Way” foundation, my first order that I placed at ColourPop Cosmetics (currently sitting by the mailbox like a crazed woman waiting in antici……PATION for its arrival), and the new “Lip Lingerie” matte liquid lipsticks by NYX.

If you decide to try any of these products, please let me know – I’ve really loved talking to those of you that reached out and told me they followed some of my suggestions. You guys are the raddest. Okay, BYEEEEEE!