My New Product Makeup Review

Hi everyone! I haven't posted on here all year because my life has been insanely busy. The good news is in January I got ENGAGED to my sweetheart so the business is due to some exciting things in my life. We're so thrilled to start our lives together.

I've bought a couple new makeup products recently and thought I'd share my reviews of them with you. I really love when I get the chance to try new products because I find it really fun to figure out what works best for me and find things that not only I'd love but products my friends and family would love. Hence the reason I blog at all! :)

Let's get it started...

1.) Benefit "They're Real! Push Up Liner" $24.00

 

I was really disappointed in this product. I really love Benefit's "They're Real!" Mascara so I was hopeful about this eyeliner. It's a gel liner that comes out in a pen like form and this product was super hyped up on their Facebook page and online to the point where you could win a chance to get it before it was in stores. Well, I was one of those people who couldn't wait. Their marketing team did a fabulous job getting everyone excited about it but this product just doesn't deliver. It's supposed to be waterproof yet it smudges SUPER easy, forms a black line in your crease even after it dries and makes a mess when you take it off. A lot of product comes out if you twist it even slightly too much which makes it a waste and I'm just disappointed. The pen is really hard to get an even line on your eyelid without pulling at it and that bugs me. You should be able to use your liner without having to touch your eyelids much or at all. I've been using Lorac "Front of the Line Pro" for a few years which is an awesome liquid liner in an easy to use pen but I was hopeful this new liner would replace that. The Lorac liner is pretty sheen and this liner was more matte which is what I was going for. Unfortunately, this one didn't meet up to it's expectations.

2.) Mary Kay CC Cream Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 15 $20.00

My Aunt had a Mary Kay party this summer and I was introduced to some new products. I thought I'd buy a few things since they weren't really overpriced compared to some of the makeup lines I used to spend way too much money on.  Mary Kay's CC Cream was one of the products I got to try and ended up purchasing. I loved it! I've needed a little bit more coverage here and there in the summer but have wanted to avoid wearing foundation so my skin gets a little color. This had just enough coverage though to keep my skin looking like I didn't have anything on it while covering up discoloration or breakout spots and I love that it has SPF in it. It wears through a full days work and I feel as though my skin can really breath with it on. I also really liked that while we were at the party, there were 6 of us there and all of us used the "Light-Medium" color and it all matched our skin tones even though we all have a slightly different color to our tones.


3.) Mary Kay Concealer in Yellow $10.00

I'm currently trying to find products to replace some of my other beauty staples to save a little bit more money and this product is one of them! I purchased this concealer in "Yellow". I don't really get bags under my eyes but I do get purple under-eye circles that only get worse if I'm stressed or sleepy. If you have any art background you'll get it when I say that yellow cancels out purple. This concealer does just that. What I like about this product is it's $10 (a great deal for a good concealer) and a really tiny bit does go a long way. You seriously can use less than half a pea size amount on your ring finger to tap it into your skin and the pigment seems to blend it really nice. It starts out looking like a pale yellow but begins to blend in as it sets. I definitely recommend this product to anyone who needs a good concealer on a budget.

4.) Skin Rescue Deep Cleanser with Red Clay $24.00

About once a month my skin tends to break-out a little or just get congested looking. I typically use Noxema because it's always worked well on my skin to get rid of oil but I feel like this cleanser takes it one step further when I get a little extra oily in the summer. A little bit goes a long way on this one; you really only need a dime size amount and the soap comes out red and silky. I like that it lathers up really well on the face. It's great to use this with a Clarisonic Mia to really get it into the pores. This cleanser helps unclog pores and gets rid of oil. It's made out of red clay and rosemary leaf oil and smells awesome to the point of being almost therapeutic. This cleanser also helps dissolve makeup which is a nice plus. I love that another benefit of using this product is that it's more natural as far as it's ingrediants go because there are no parabens, chemicals or color additives. I got this as a sample in my IPSY bag that I get monthly and from the looks of their website it looks like they have some pretty cool skincare products. Check them out http://www.firstaidbeauty.com/

Hope you enjoyed my first blog of 2014!!!

New Year's Beauty Resolutions to Keep All Year Long

Happy New Year everyone!!! Welcome to 2014!!! 

As we start the new year fresh with new intentions, goals, and resolutions I wanted to introduce or re-introduce to you some of the most important beauty resolutions you should keep this year and always.

Good habits are important when it comes to skincare and makeup. A little bit goes a long way when it comes to this list. Incorporate them into your daily skincare & makeup regimes and I promise you, your skin will thank you for it.

• Wear sunscreen every day. I know that sounds crazy especially when it's winter in the Midwest but we are still exposed to the sun each and everyday and it's important to keep your skin protected regardless. 
• Moisturize every morning and every night. Moisturize everything. Put body lotion on after a shower so it absorbs better.  Moisturize your face in the morning before you apply makeup. Use your best night cream before you go to bed and wake up looking refreshed. Keep a hand lotion in your purse. 
• Wash your makeup off at the end of each day. It will clog your pores, cause your eyelashes to break, can create eye infections, makes you breakout, makes wrinkles deeper. If that wasn't enough to make you want to wash everything off before bed, read this.
• Drink more water. Hydrate the skin from the inside out by drinking more water. This is something everyone has to do more because it's good for EVERYTHING. 
• Stop picking at your face. You will cause scarring. The only time it's ok to pop anything is if it's white otherwise keep the pincher's away from your face. 
• Exfoliate at least once a week. And no more than twice because otherwise you will cause your pores to be larger which could cause break outs. Exfoliating helps get rid of leftover dirt that builds up in our pores from makeup and helps renew skin cells.
• Wash your makeup brushes once a week. They collect tons and tons of bacteria when you leave them sitting out with left over product on them. You want to apply makeup to that pretty face of yours, not dirt. Warm water and mild soap are all you need. 
• Do no over-tweeze. Let your natural eyebrows grow in and take shape. Then go get them waxed, threaded or learn how to tweeze correctly using this blog tutorial by Michelle Phan. 
• Keep chapstick on you at all times. Nothing is more annoying than dry lips, that burn and are chapped. These are my favorites: EOS Lip Balm, Noya Vanilla Lip Balm & Vaseline Lip Therapy. 
• Commit using your hot hair tools only twice a week, maximum. Haircuts are expensive these days for woman and using a heated curler or straightener more than once a twice a week really wrecks your natural hair textures and splits your hair ends even faster. Find a good taming mouse, cream, serum instead and let your hair dry naturally. 
• Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. This will help you avoid looking puffy in the morning, it'll keep the bags under your eyes at bay and because it's just as important and good for you as water is. So turn that phone off. Sign off Facebook, put that ice cream down and go to bed.

This list could go on for days but I hope you were able to find at least one or two from the list that you can apply to your daily life. We can't replace our skin so it's best we take good care of it. These things aren't expensive or hard to maintain and I hope you found them helpful. 

Hope everyone's holidays were wonderful and I'm wishing you all a blessed New Year!! 

Thanks for reading!!!