Daily, Health, Photos

Makeup routine

5 Comments

I wear makeup almost on a daily basis. I like how it evens out my skin tone and makes me look not-so sunburnt. I have the reverse effect of raccoon eyes meaning that I have a really white under eye area and rosy cheeks. Not to be confused with rosacea.

Shown in order, here are the products I use on my face on a daily basis. I’ll get further into it below but I don’t wear two foundations on my face each day, but just switch them out whenever I’m feeling it. Same goes for the under eye concealers, I don’t wear them on a regular basis.

After my simplified skincare routine I apply foundation. My go-to was Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation until they took it off the shelves to reformulate it to a Moisture Supreme foundation which is now a thicker, greasier, heavier consistency. I have disowned that particular product but still love the brand itself. Since I have dry skin, I like to have a dewier finish rather than a matte, flat look to my face.  I’d rather look hydrated with luminous foundation than look like I haven’t exfoliated and have dry flaky dandruff like skin on my face. I’ve been using Marcelle BB Cream as my new foundation. You can see a full on routine that I blogged about here.

I am a huge fan of foundation and would purchase the most expensive bottle, if it worked for me. That is the only one item I will splurge on, because I think it is so worth while to me, personally. I recently bought the Bobbi Brown Luminous Foundation but I haven’t used it enough to say that it is my holy grail foundation that will ultimately replace Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation. I’m still a little disappointed that they did discontinue my favorite foundation.

Ever since I had my weird flare up in using a certain eye cream I have been really hesitant on putting too much on my face. If I really feel the need to put under eye concealer on, I use the Bobbi Brown Corrector in the color bisque. I use the absolute smallest amount you could put on your finger. Literally a pin point and blend it in. If I have a red mark on my face from a blemish I use Laura Mercier Secret Concealer. Though I haven’t used that one in ages.

The next thing that goes on my face is one of my favorites. The bronzer. Not sure how to apply it? Here is a video I filmed on how to apply bronzer. I’m not too partial on a certain bronzer but I have gone through a few boxes of Benefit Hoola, I have also tried Laura Mercier Bronzing Pressed Powder, and next to use up will be my Vasanti Brazilian Bronzer.

I’ve been using blush lately just because I have it and I like to use different colored blushes on my cheeks to give it a varied flushed look to my skin. Right now I’m using E.L.F Blush in the color candid coral.

I don’t need to use mascara as my eyelashes are one of everyone’s favorite feature of mine. People have joked about how envious they are of me for having such long lashes. I use mascara to make them more obnoxious and volumized. My day-to-day mascara is Vasanti Long Lash mascara. It’s decent for every day wear since it’s not too in your face. It gives your lashes a nice coat and doesn’t flake and leave residue underneath your eyes at the end of the day. When I want them to look like false lashes I use my all time favorite duo which is the Makeup Forever Smokey Lash then Buxom Lash layered on top.

I know a ton of people are a fan of MAC Cosmetics, and I did a MAC makeup review back in 2009 of all the information still remains accurate in my opinion, so check that out too if you’re interested. I don’t wash my brushes daily anymore more like ever 3-4 applications.

See my skincare routine below:

Continue Reading

Daily, Photos, Reviews

Skincare routine

8 Comments

My skin has had a rough go of it for the past number of weeks and I’m careful now what I use on my face. In January I had a product that made my eyes swell up and my skin dry out so much it looked wrinkly and cracked. While I am more prone to a dryer skin in the winter and then dry-normal in the summer. I almost always feel the need to moisturize, especially my scaly man hands. I’ve been trying to figure out which products are fit for me, and which products I’m weeding out of my facial cleansing routine. Thus the title of this post my skincare routine at the moment.

Shown in order, here are the products I use on my face on a daily basis.

When I get up in the morning I wash my face with a sample sized Philosophy Purity cleanser. Since it’s almost out, next up to the podium will be the the Bioderma Solution. Purity is truly a great cleanser for my skin type, and I am definitely going to be purchasing the large bottle. I also use this in the evening when I want to remove my makeup. It doesn’t irritate my eyes and of course I use it twice in the evenings. Once to get all the makeup off, and another to actually cleanse the skin.

On days where I feel like I need to scrub my face a little more I break out my Sibu Balancing Facial Cleanser. The exfoliating beads aren’t as harsh as some exfoliators I’ve used in the past, so you can really use this one on a daily basis. I’ve used it for a week straight when I first got it, and I didn’t have any negative reaction to it. I reviewed the Sibu daytime facial cream a few months ago, and while it does have a similar smell, it’s not as strong as the moisturizing lotion. In fact, I like the cleansers scent much more. It has more of an orange scent to it which I find appealing. I recommend you exfoliate your face and body on a weekly basis to get all the dry, dead skin cells off your body. You’re left with a very subtle smooth skin. Plus, when you moisturize you feel so smooth all over. I’m a huge fan of exfoliating.

After cleansing my face I always apply my eye cream as my under eyes get cakey and dry looking if I don’t. Right now I’m obsessed with the Bobbi Brown Extra Eye Repair Cream. I also have the hydrating eye cream by Bobbi, which is more of a lighter weight which is perfect for day time. The extra eye repair is a nice thick consistency and is amazing to keep that area moisturized, especially at night.

Next on goes the facial moisturizer. Currently I’m using a light weight facial moisturizer by Bioderma Hydrabio Light Cream and while it’s great for my sensitive dry skin. I don’t feel like it’s worth the money to go out and buy again. I didn’t pay the $48 for this at Shoppers Drug Mart, I actually won it on a Twitter beauty basket giveaway from a Twitter party (follow me!)

This next step is only if my skin is feeling incredibly out of whack or super dry and tight after cleansing my skin. I’d only use these serums or oils at night and apply around the eyes or places I feel dry. Which are usually my chin, cheeks and eye area.

Left to right: Origins A Perfect World which smells terrific since it has White Tea in it. Though it’s a little heavy silicon feel to it. But sometimes my skin needs and likes it. Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery is probably my favorite by far. I’ve gone through 3 sample sizes and have yet to fork over the money for the full sized. SkinCeuticals Hydrating B5 Gel is pretty good. I’m using this one right now, it’s thicker (still liquid unlike Origins) consistency than Kiehl’s. The last one is pure Vitamin E oil, which was the only product that truly healed my dry cracked sore skin from when it was inflamed and dry. It was very messy, sticky, and oily on my face. A little goes a long way with this.

Note: Only use one of these products at a time! lol Don’t change them up either from evening to evening. Finished one sample and then headed to the other. All of these serums are amazing but incredibly expensive.

On my “night table” which is actually a set of dresser drawers, I keep a variation of lip balms and hand creams. The one’s I gravitate more towards is the impeccable Avene Cold Cream lip balm, and the Philosophy Somebody hand cream. All moisturizes, and cleansed for a good nights sleep.

That concludes my daily skin care routine! In February my skin has been pretty much back to normal. I think the simplicity of everything helped a lot. Meaning not wearing tons of makeup, cleansing my face with good quality products. I know there was a ton of product shown, but the only ones I use on a day-to-day basis are the one’s in the first photo.

Hope this was helpful, and if you have any questions of comments leave them below!

I was not compensated for this post, but the Sibu facial cleanser was provided by Sibu.

Continue Reading