My Worst Beauty Products of 2015

Hello, everyone!  How has your week been?

 For today's blog post I have my least favorite/worst beauty products for the year 2015.  I don't usually keep bad products around, so I tried to remember as many as I could.  Also, for the products that I no longer have, I had to use stock photos from Google.

First up is the Tarte Amazonian Clay foundation.  A lot of people love this foundation, but it was awful on me.  After I first applied it, it was perfect.  It matched my skin tone perfectly and made my skin look flawless, but after only two hours of wear I had to remove it.  It had settled into every pore and fine line I had and became patchy.  Definitely not for me.

 
Also from Tarte is their The Sculptor Contouring Face Slenderizer in the shade Park Avenue Princess.  This product is just the wrong color for me.  It's very red toned and a bit too warm in tone to use for contouring.

 
 A product that a lot of people love is the Benefit Cosmetics They're Real mascara.  I don't like this mascara at all.  It clumped my lashes up so bad and the spikey parts stabbed me in the eye far too many times.

Similar to the They're Real mascara is the Kat Von D Immortal Lash mascara.  The wand is very similar, meaning I stabbed myself in the eye multiple times with this product as well. 

   
For hair I have the Kerastase Therapiste shampoo and conditioner.  I have a whole blog post about why I hate these products, so I'll just say that I had two to three weeks of bad hair days because of these two.

   
Another hair product is the Number 4 Super Comb Prep + Protect detangler.  This did nothing to detangle hair and smelled awful on top of it.  Luckily I received this product from Birchbox and didn't actually waste any of my money on it.

  Next is the Kat Von D Tattoo Brow.  I did not like this for my brows, it was so difficult to use and because it is a liquid it just looked obviously fake.  I do want to say though that this is very pretty as a brown eyeliner.

  And finally, a product that I know I'm one of the very, very few people to hate: the Beauty Blender.  I prefer the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge over this (plus it's a lot cheaper).  The Beauty Blenders are quite porous compared to the Real Techniques one, and it left a weird, spotty looking texture all over my face.  No thanks.

 
 And that's it for my worst products of 2015.  What are some products that didn't work for you?

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a great weekend!

My Favorite Beauty Products of 2015

Hello, everyone! How was your weekend?

I wanted to give a little shout out to some of my favorite beauty products from the past year.  I have quite a few so let's just jump into it!

First up are two products from First Aid Beauty.  Their Face Cleanser and their Ultra Repair Cream.  I've said a few times before that the Ultra Repair Cream saved my face.  My face was so dry and flaky, but this stuff cleared all of that up.  I also really like the Face Cleanser because it leaves my skin feeling so clean without leaving behind any soapy residue or drying my skin out.

Next up is the YSL Effet Faux Cils mascara.  This mascara gave my lashes the length and volume that I wanted.  As an added bonus, it also has a nice scent to it.

Urban Decay came out with their Naked Smoky palette last year and it's amazing.  It's everything I hoped the Naked 2 would've been.  I like the Naked 2, but I think I'll use this Smoky palette much more often then the 2 palette.

Kat Von D also came out with another eyeshadow palette.  Its 12 neutral, matte shades are so pigmented and smooth and are perfect for everyday looks or dramatic looks.

I only started using the Batiste dry shampoo last year, and I'm so glad I finally gave in to the hype.  My favorite one is the tinted dry shampoo for dark brown hair.

The Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz pencil is another favorite from last year.  The Medium Ash/Brown shade matches my brow hair perfectly and is so easy to use.

The Becca Cosmetics and Jaclyn Hill collaboration is definitely one of my favorites.  The Champagne Pop pressed highlighter is divine.  It is seriously so stunning and looks amazing on so many different skin tones.

I tried out the Stila Cosmetics Stay All Day black liquid eyeliner this past year.  It's not as matte as I'd like it to be, but it's easy to use and it actually does last all day long.

I have another highlight favorite: the Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Baked Powder in the shade 01.  This product is absolutely not matte.  Idk why it has "matte" in the name, but it is shimmery highlight perfection.

I've always been a fan of the movie Edward Scissorhands, and Sugarpill came out with a limited edition 25th anniversary palette for the movie.  As a fan of the movie, I HAVE to include this palette in my favorites!

Finally, I have the Starscape blush from the Nars and Christopher Kane collaboration.  It looks a little scary in the pan, but if you're light handed with it, it's absolutely beautiful.

That's all my favorite products from 2015!  What are some of yours?

Thanks for stopping by!

Everyday Natural Eye Makeup Tutorial - Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

Hello, everyone!  I hope your week has been going well!

 I've never done a post like this before and I do everything by myself, so I decided to do something quick and easy for me.  For my very first ever makeup tutorial on my blog, I'm going to show you how I do my everyday, natural looking eye makeup.  This is what I throw on when I'm in a hurry, or uninspired, or just too lazy to do anything else. lol

First thing's first.  Here are the products I used in the order that I used them:

Urban Decay "Primer Potion", Urban Decay "Naked Basics" palette, Benefit Cosmetics "Gimme Brow", Smashbox Cosmetics "Brow Tech Gloss Stick" in the shade Brunette, Anastasia Beverly Hills clear brow gel, Benefit Cosmetics "High Brow", Rimmel London "Scandaleyes" nude eyeliner pencil, and the Urban Decay "Perversion" mascara.

   

Regardless of any eye look that I do, I always, always, always start with an eyeshadow primer.  My eyelids can get a bit oily, so creasing used to be a real struggle for me.  However, once I started using primer, I no longer had any issues with my shadows creasing.  This amount is enough for me to cover both of my eyes.

I then like to apply a shade all over my entire eye area (one that is about the same color as my skin tone) over the primer so that the rest of the shadows that I use later can blend easier.  For this I used the shade W.O.S.

For my transition, I applied the shade Naked 2 from my crease area up to my brow bone.  (It's a little hard to see because Naked 2 is only a touch darker than my skin tone.)

To add some more definition, I applied the shade Faint in my crease.

I then took the shade W.O.S. again and patted it onto my eyelid to clean up any fallout from the darker shades that may have fallen onto my lid.  I also took the shade Naked 2 underneath my eye.

 

To help fill in some sparse areas of my eyebrow, I first brushed through the hairs using Benefit's Gimme Brow.

 

I then shaped and defined my brow using the Brow Stick and sealed the hairs in place with the clear brow gel.

 

To clean up my brow area a bit, I applied High Brow directly under my eyebrow.

 

 Then I just blended it out with a small, pointed brush.

 

Then I added the shade Venus to my inner tear duct area and some nude eyeliner to my lower waterline.

And last, but not least, I added two coats of black mascara to my upper and lower lashes.

 

So there you have it, my very first makeup pictorial.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  (This was actually quite fun to do!)  I look forward to doing more in the future!

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you have a nice weekend!

 

Current Skincare Routine

Hello, everyone!  How was your weekend?

I thought I'd share my current skincare routine for today's blog post.  My skin is in no way perfect or flawless, but it has definitely gotten better recently.  For all of my teenage years and half of my 20's, my skin was oily and acne prone.  Then halfway through 2014, my skin became incredibly dry.  I had dry, flaky patches everywhere.  I had dry spots on my eyelids which made my makeup look terrible...it was bad.  Then I got a 10 pack of samples of the "Ultra Repair Cream" from First Aid Beauty.  That stuff saved my skin!  It is really thick but sinks into the skin pretty quickly and keeps my skin hydrated all day/night.  I no longer have super dry, rough patches.  I still have some skin issues, like redness and acne scaring, but I'll take those issues over dryness any day because I can at least cover those up with makeup.

The first thing I do is remove any makeup I might be wearing with the Ole Henriksen "Pure Truth Melting Cleanser".  This removes even my waterproof makeup.  It's supposed to be a 3 in 1 cleanser but it's pretty oily so I use a regular cleanser afterward.

For my cleanser, my absolute favorite has been the First Aid Beauty "Pure Skin Face Cleanser".  My skin has never felt cleaner after using this face wash.  It's safe for sensitive skin as well.

Next, I use the First Aid Beauty "Facial Radiance Pads" that are meant to tone, exfoliate, and brighten the skin.  Honestly, I haven't noticed any brightening, but I do still like this product.

Then I go in with my eye cream.  I have two that I use: the Tony Moly "Panda's Dream So Cool Eye Stick" for in the mornings and the Bobbi Brown "Hydrating Eye Cream" for in the evenings.  I like the Tony Moly one for daytime because it's not thick and it cools the under eye area making me look a little more awake.  I like using the Bobbi Brown one in the evening because it's a thick cream that stays on longer and really sinks into the skin to keep the eye area hydrated.

Lastly, I moisturize with the First Aid Beauty "Ultra Repair Cream".  At first, I thought this would make my skin oily because of how thick this product is, but it doesn't.  This can be used on the face or body to help relieve dry, itchy skin.  I don't think I'll be changing out this moisturizer anytime soon.  It's been my holy grail product since I first started using it.

I also want to mention that once or twice a week I use this St. Ives "Blackhead Clearing Green Tea Scrub".  I purchased this because it says that it helps calm redness which is something I struggle with right now.  I also like that it contains natural exfoliants.

And that is my current skincare routine in full!  I hope this was helpful, and thank you so much for stopping by!

Also, if you have any other product suggestions for calming redness let me know!  I'm always looking for new things to try.