Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Best of Beauty 2013

Best in Beauty 2013 

As we get ready to say goodbye to 2013, I thought it would be fun to do a best in beauty round-up. All items below are my best beauty products from this year. Most of them I have used the whole year (in some cases i have used them for years - hello Revlon ColorStay!) and all products were purchased with my own money or gift-cards given to me by family for various occasions throughout the year. I think this would be a fun series we could do all year long, maybe call them "the Melissa's" or the "Melly's"?? Thoughts??

What are you 2013 faves?


Best Primer, Foundation, Concealer and Powder: Rimmel Fix & Perfect Primer, Cover Girl Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 Foundation, Revlon ColorStay (for dry skin), Cover Girl & Olay under eye concealer and Maybelline Shine Free Powder.


Best Bronzer, Blush and Highlighters: Sonia Kashuk Undetectable Creme Bronzer, The Balm Bahama Mama Bronzer, Benefit Cosmetics blush box in Rockateur, The Balm blush in Hot Mama!, The Balm Mary Loumanizer and the Dior highlighter in Amber Diamonds.



Best Eye Shadow Palette, Eyeliner, and Mascara: Lorac Pro Palette, Rimmel ScandalEyes eyeliner and the Maybelline Line Stiletto liquid liner. Best mascara is Benefit They're Real! and (not pictured) Maybelline's The Rocket.


Best Lipstick: Revlon Super Lusterous lipstick and their lip butters. (pictured: Black Cherry, Pearl and Red Velvet)



Best Lip Pencil: I don't use lip pencils :/ So I cheated a bit and did lip crayons instead! Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain (various colors this one just happened to be on top) and the mark. Color Me In crayon in Wine Bar.


Best Lip Gloss: Revlon lipglosses in Bordeaux and Rose Pearl, NYX lip butter gloss in Eclair, mark. Juice Gems in Papaya and OCD Cosmetics Lip Tar in Black Metal Dhalia. 

Monday, December 30, 2013

Skin Care Series: Treatments


Okay so in my original post in this series, I forgot a couple of products. My bad. But I've added them in and posted pictures here :-)





So. Okay, let's get started. This post is the third in my skin care series.

As you can see in the picture above I use several additional products to treat specific things for my skin. This is a longer post, but these treatments and serums are really the meat and potatoes of skin care, so grab some coffee/tea and settle in.

So in the order I would put these on my face I use the Murad Rapid Age Spot and Pigment Lightening Serum (it's the small pump bottle with the white top in the above picture). I use this on two acne scars on my cheek. I had two zits a year ago on my cheek and because I am so fair skinned the scars are like little beacons of light drawing all of your attention to my cheek (at least that's how I think they look). And so I got this small bottle as a deluxe sample from Sephora and have been using it to fade those spots. It seems to be working, but not fast enough for me.

If I have a zit I use one the two products next to the Murad bottle. The little dropper bottle is something I got from a spa and I have no clue what it is but when I put it on zits they go away and then I'm happy. I also use this mark. get treatment zit cream for the little pus bastards that sometimes show up on my face. Unfortunately this product is discontinued, but it really does work.

I also use the Michael Todd True Organics Pumpkin Mask once every couple of weeks to restore moisture in my face. I love using this because a) it smells like pumpkin which is delish, and b) it looks like someone smeared baby food all over my face and the look on my boyfriend's face when he sees me wearing it is priceless. It also seems to work and makes my skin pretty. I got this is an ipsy bag a few months back.

And finally I use the e.l.f. Lip Exfoliator a few times a week to get rid of all the dead skin on my lips. It smells like vanilla and is a little moisturizing so it doesn't totally dry out my lips. And it's $3.



Friday, December 27, 2013

Skin Care Series: Eye Cream

The second post in my skin care series.


And now moving on to eye cream, I am now using two. In my first post my routine only shows one eye cream, and now it's after Christmas and I am using two. Because that's how I roll. And my mom bought me a new eye cream, and I added it into my routine. So there.

The first one I use is the Mary Kay Timewise Firming Eye Cream. About 8 or so years ago I used to be a Mary Kay rep and I used this all the time. Then I hated it and quit and eventually stopped using the products. But I there are a few products they make that I love and this is one of them. It targets lines, wrinkles and darkness and it is amaze-balls.

The other eye cream that I have used for about a year now is the Benefit It's Potent! Eye Cream. This really targets darkness under the eyes and I am telling you it really works! Don't get it in your eye or it will burn, but under your eyes its fantastic.

Both of these eye creams are very moisturizing, and work great under makeup.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Skin Care Series: Olay Total Effects Nourishing Cream Cleanser


This is my skin care routine. Yep all that stuff goes on my face every morning and night. I am a strong believer in good skin care and that taking care of your skin is the best beauty investment you can make. After all, the best makeup in the world won't do a thing if it's applied to a crappy canvas.

So I thought I would share with you, through a series of posts, what I do to keep my skin in top form.

Let me start by saying a few things:

  • This is not a sponsored post. All of these products were paid for with my hard earned dollars and all of the opinions (as always) are my honest to goodness feelings about these products.
  • I am 32 and I have dry skin. I get the occasional hormonal zit here and there but mostly I am fortunate to be zit free. 
  • I am trying to be as proactive as humanly possible regarding anti-aging, without breaking the bank and spending too much time in the bathroom.
  • These are the products that work for me. I'm not saying, nor am I guaranteeing these will work for you. BUT if we have similar skin types and concerns, maybe give them a try.

With that out of the way. Let's get started.




I wash my face every morning and night with a creamy cleanser. I find that foaming and gel cleansers are just too drying for my skin. I have tried Cetaphil, Purity and a couple of others formulated for sensitive skin, but they don't work for me. But this amazing cleanser is my holy grail. It is the Olay Total Effect Nourishing Cream Cleanser. It fights 7 signs of aging and gently cleanses my skin and removes makeup without over drying and stripping my face of the oils it needs to keep it together. I have been using this for over 5 years now and any time I try something different I can tell a big difference. My skin is red, dry, flaky and gross. Then I go back to this and within one wash it's all good in the hood.

There is a slight smell but it's not perfumey (which I think is totally inappropriate for any skin care product). And once I wipe this off with a wash rag the smell is gone.

Sometimes I use a makeup remover wipe if I had on a crap ton of makeup that day or some weird long wearing weirdness happening on my face but 99.99% of the time this is the cleanser I use.

Next in the series is serums, treatments and eye cream. Tell me in the comments below what your favorite cleanser is!