2014 Best In Beauty

Hello Lovelies! It's time again for my annual "M" awards! I am going with "M" because it's by first initial and because it's mostly for make-up. And because it just came to me. I really tried to streamline things this year and not award something in any category that I didn't feel was really outstanding. This is not to say that other products I raved about in 2014 weren't awesome, but as I thought back over the year and thought about truly stand-out products this is what I came up with. And I know I chose wisely because all of these products were either in the bathroom or in my purse and not in my master make-up stash. So go grab a bevvie and a snack and settle in, here we go! 

And the first M award goes to, red lips! Any brand as long as they're red. I have had a long standing, love-hate relationship with red lips, but 2014 was the year I finally embraced them and learned which hue of red works best on my skin tone. As one of my boss ladies always tells me, I really have the Wednesday and Mortitia Adams look and it turns out deep berry-reds and brick reds with hints of burgundy and definitely on the cool side pretty much rock my lip world. Some of my faves here are Lime Crime's Glamour 101, Mac's Russian Red and Ruby Woo, Maybelline's Deepest Cherry and Divine Wine, Revlon's Red Velvet and NARS Olivia and Dragon Girl. I forgot to throw in my NARS Audrey lippie (it's buried in my bag right now). And on a side note, if you ever need to put on a lipstick that will take you from ho-hum to the baddest mama-jamma, it's Dragon Girl. The name alone implies a level of bad assery that the average lipstick just can't compare with. 

And the M award for best cheek products is a three-way tie! Milani blush in Luminoso is pretty much all I wore from May until yesterday because it's so awesome. I got it at CVS and there is so much product in here, I don't know if I will ever hit pan! My NARS palette from last Christmas (2013) also got a lot of use. I hit pan on the bronzer and used the darkest one (Dolce Vita I think?) quite a bit this fall. And in the back are my Makeup Geek blushes. Makeup Geek isn't done in this post (hint hint) but peeps I'm tellin ya to get your booty over to Marlena's website and YouTube channel and get yoself some of her products. At $9.99 a pan it's cray.

Drugstore lovers unite! The next M award is for face products and everything here can be procured at your local Target and CVS. The Maybelline Dream Wonder Fluid Touch foundation is out. of . this. world. This bottle pictured here, is empty. Empty people. I used it that much. It's a light weight medium coverage foundation that is essentially pure foundation awesome in a bottle. Next up is the E.L.F. HD brightening concealer. This is the shizz under your eyes. It's $3 and this is my second tube. Guys, this is pretty major on the makeup commitment scale for me. Just understand that for a second. My other loves in this category are the Sonia Kashuk contouring stick and the Milani eye brow pencil. Both products blend to perfection and last all day. Love them.

The M awards for eyes go to two brands, Makeup Geek for the stellar eye shadows, pigments and gel liners and YSL for mascara. These shadows are $5.99 each and like $6ish for the pigments and liner. They last all day, blend like a dream, are so affordable its almost criminal and the color selection and color payoff is amaze-balls. A-maze balls. Not to be forgotten in this picture is the mascara of the decade people. It is the Babydoll mascara from YSL. Yep, it's pricey, no getting around that. But it is LIFECHANGING. Volume for days and length to match. Completely worth every lash-tastic dollar. 

The first-ever M award for brand of the year goes to, drum roll please, MAKEUP GEEK! Guys, for serious, go check this brand out! These shadows are better than Mac, cheaper than Mac, and have way cooler names and color pay-off than any Mac product I have ever tried or owned. The new foiled shadows are cray-cray pigmented. And the blushes are beautiful, last all day and are talc free. I just seriously can't say enough about this brand. I haven't tried everything they have and I am sure there are duds in there (as there are with every brand) but the quality of the product for the price point is amazing. The website is easy to use, out of stock items come back fairly quick and shipping costs are very reasonable. Try it. Now. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Alrighty then. moving on to M awards in the hair and skin care category! Many of you will not be surprised that the Tangle Teezer is getting an award. I have raved about this and bought this for a great many of you for birthdays and such. Guys and girls with long and medium length hair, you need this. NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED IT. Target carries them and be sure to get the Tangle Teezer brand. I have had people tell me they use this on their kids' hair and it's the only way the kiddos can handle have their hair brushed. 

The Aussie 3-Minute Miracle Moist conditioner is the best leave in treatment/daily conditioner of all time. This isn't what I consider a hair mask, like the L'Oreal one I raved about and still love. This is a conditioner. And I use it daily. Also, it's $3. Yeah. Three effing dollars. My hair is so soft and shiny and smells so good after I use it. 

Batiste dry shampoo for dark hair is a life saver. I do not wash my hair every day. I usually wash it two or three times in a week. And I would be S.O.L. without this product. It smells good, doesn't leave a white cast on my dark hair and it really gets all the oil so I don't look like a Nirvana groupie (not that that's a bad thing, I love them. Just not the greasy hair that goes with them).

Skin care award winners are an oldie but a goodie and a new product taking the beauty world by storm. The Smith's Rosebud Salve has been around a long time and for good reason. I use this stuff day and night and it can be used on your lips, cuticles, dry patches on your face, etc. I even used some of this on my dog's feet once (she had her own tin that was used only for her feet, just FYI). 

The Glam Glow Thirsty Mud is another life-saving beauty product. It's mask that can be worn for 20 minutes or you can sleep in it (which I do) and it really helps to hydrate your face. I have dry skin anyway but through Minnesota winters, I get alligator-dry skin and this has saved me! This is spendy too, but I'm telling you it's worth it. Bonus: it smells like coconut! Just be sure that when you sleep in it, that you wash it off in the morning, you can't put makeup over this. 

And last but not least, the MVP M award is going to Zoya Nail Polish Remover. This stuff. OMG this stuff. It smells nice (not like I want to bathe in it, but it doesn't stink and make you high like normal nail polish remover), like lavendar or something. And it removes the reddest, glittery-est nail polish like nothing. Guys, if Beyonce were a nail polish remover, she would be this one. Yeah, I went there.

I have a couple of other honorable mention products but I will do a separate post on those soon! Tell me in the comments what your best in beauty products were this year and if you have tried any of the ones I mentioned. 

To Spend or Not to Spend? That is the question.

Last week I was chatting with one of my boss ladies and she recommended I do a post on beauty products that are worth the $$ and the ones that aren't.

Sounds simple enough right? I thought so too. At first. She asked me on the spot what I think is worth the splurge and I said mascara, lipstick and blush. And after it came out of my mouth, the wheels started turning and I was lost in a land of beauty product-induced ADD. Lipstick is worth splurging on right? Oh wait, Revlon! NARS bronzer is the only bronzer of life. Crap! Sonia Kashuk cream bronzer is the bomb dot com. And then I had to pull myself back to reality and the rest of my work day.

After noodling this around for a couple of days I have the following blog post for you. Thanks for the challenge Wendy!

Okay I will try for the love of Sephora, to keep this short and orderly. I could have gone through every step in my routine to compare products but for your sanity (and mine) I will not do that to us.

First and foremost, you can really find some seriously awesome gems at Target/Walmart. Seriously, I could buy a complete face of makeup and be 100% satisfied. But when I really thought it through and went into my collection and swatched and played, I realized there were some things I think are worth the splurge if you're going to do it.

One thing I think every woman should have is a classic go-to "I am more awesome than She-Ra, Wonder Woman and Storm combined." lipstick. It could be red, nude, pink or black. Whatever your go-to shade is, splurge on it. Go ahead and buy that tiny little tube of awesome at Chanel, YSL, Dior, NARS, or Bobbi Brown. Why should you have this? If you have to whip out that lipstick and reapply at dinner with clients, the boardroom, whatever, it should be classy. And if its something you wear everyday, it's worth the money. My go-to? NARS Audacious lipstick in Audrey. This is obvious if you know me.

Lip gloss is not worth the money. You can find some amazing options from NYX, Revlon and Bonne Bell (yep. I said it.). Same with lip balm or lip salve. My absolute all-time fave is the Smith's Rosebud Salve. $6 of sassy in a tin.

Mascara is another product worth the splurge. There are some AWESOME mascaras from L'oreal, Maybelline and Almay. BUT there are some AWESOMER, all that and a bag of chips mascaras at Sephora. A few of my faves are Benefit's They're Real!, Sephora's Outrageous Volume and my new love YSL Baby Doll mascara (holy-balls Batman!). They last longer, don't smell, don't flake and are just worth it.

Eyeshadow. This is a toughie. You can get some really awesome palettes from high-end companies (LORAC, Urban Decay, Too Faced are some of my faves!) but you can save a bomb and get an E.L.F. palette or the new Maybelline the Nudes palette and have just as great of an end look. It really depends on your budget. If you are going to splurge, get a palette. You get to try so much more and often palettes come with a brush and/or liner or even eye primer so it's a way to try more with less.

Eye liner and eye primer. Meh. Covergirl, Maybelline and Milani all have great options at Target and CVS. Save the cash and hit up your local drugstore for great options in tons of colors.

Face products. This is the area I have the least experience with. I have two foundations from Target that I love (Revlon Color Stay and Maybelline Dream Wonder Liquid Touch). And I just don't feel motivated to seek out $40+ liquid foundation at the department store. I used to be a die-hard Bare Minerals user about 10ish years ago and I still like it, but I have found that it doesn't work the best with my dry skin.

Blush on the other hand is something I think is worth the splurge. I have several great blushes from E.L.F. and Wet N' Wild that I use often, but when it comes down to it NARS, Tarte and Benefit are just better at it. Sorry. I have a NARS palette from last year's holiday collection that I use everyday. The pigment is amazing, the lasting power is perfection and I love all the color options from the higher end brands. Again, it's something I wear everyday so for me it's worth it.

Setting powder, primer and concealer can all be money savers. Check out Maybelline's Fit Me concealer, or the Instant Age Rewind line. My fave is from E.L.F. (it's $3 online). Check out Rimmel for primer and setting powder. The Stay Matte powder is like $3 and comes in translucent as well as some actual colors. The Fix and Perfect Primer is $7 and it lasts forever and does everything the Smashbox primer does.

So if you are going to splurge on products I recommend you do it on blush, mascara and lipstick. Save your money on everything else.

Some other money saving advice:

• Ask for samples at Sephora and Ulta or whatever department store. Or do the free makeovers and request they use products you are considering purchasing. Once you see how it looks on your face, you can decide if it's splurge-worthy.
• If you are looking to try a trend (i.e., the Kendall Jenner lip, Lorde's dark purple lipstick, electric eyeshadow, blue mascara, etc.) try cheaper brands like Wet N' Wild, N.Y.C. or E.L.F. 
• Sephora does a VIB sale in November (roughly) each year where you get 20% off your total purchase. Save larger purchases for that sale.
• Look online for coupons.
• Download Target's Cartwheel app (I have saved $315 so far!) and the Retail-Me-Not app to look for online or in-store coupons.
• Do not splurge on something unless you have the cash in that moment to do it. DO NOT put makeup on a credit card. Don't.
• Splurge on skin care items like serums and moisturizers. Cleansers are only on your face for seconds, the other stuff goes with you through the day or night. Spend money there. Also masks and treatments are worth the money. 
• There are a lot of great in-between brands of makeup to try too! It doesn't have to be Wet N' Wild vs. Dior. Check out MakeUp Geek cosmetics for some of the best eyeshadows and blushes hands down! Eyeshadows are $5.99 each and blushes start at $9.99 each. 

April Favorites

I apologize for the delay in postings, but life gets crazy every now and again so what's a girl to do? 

Anyhoo...I hope you all had a great month! I surely did :-) It was my birthday month and right now I am currently on "vacation" so April has been awesome. 

So let's talk about favorites. Above is a picture of all my April faves. These are products that I used a lot and really stood out for the month. 

Above is my Tangle Teezer, Batiste for dark hair, Kai perfume oil, Loreal Damage Erase Balm and Vaseline Rosy Lips lip balm. Really none of these are new, but all of them have saved my butt this month. First off, if you do not have a Tangle Teezer, please stop reading and go immediately to your nearest Target and buy one. It has made a HUGE difference in combing out my wet (and dry) hair, I can't even tell you. I think that if you have kids you really need this and I know brushing kids' hair can suck and be down-right painful for them (and you) and I am telling you this makes a difference. Life changing. Seriously. 

The Batiste dry shampoo for dark hair is awesome! I love the smell and the fact that it doesn't turn my (formerly) dark hair white or ashy. It won't stain you hair, but if you have dark hair you know what I'm talking about. 

The Kai fragrance oil is so frickin fabulous I can't stand it. I received this in my spring FabFitFun box and am so in love. It's so light ad fresh (smells like lilacs, but is apparently different on everyone). 

The rosy lips lip balm from Vaseline is super. It keeps my lips really hydrated and the smell isn't too intense. It's like $1.50 at Target. Go get it.

And finally my Loreal hair mask. I've talked about this before so I won't get into too much detail other than to say that if you heat style or color your hair you also need this. I recently dyed my hair blonde again and holy lifesaver. Seriously awesome, add it to your shopping list, you will not be disappointed.

So I apologize that this photo is lopsided. I tried for 20 effing minutes to get it to turn and saved and re-saved the damn thing like 1,007 times and it wouldn't work. Ugh. Moving on. These are my make up faves for the month. The E.L.F. HD Powder is $6 at Target and it's so amazing. The powder itself is white, but it doesn't  leave a color behind (so I guess that would make it translucent, duh.) and is so great for setting your makeup and your concealer. I use this in my T-zone and under my eyes. I am also in love with the E.L.F. HD lifting concealer. This doesn't do much to actually conceal, however it brightens like nobody's business. If I were a betting gal, I would bet that this product rivals other products twice or three times the price. I am also digging my Loreal Voluminous mascara. I had to ditch the Maybelline Rocket mascara because the last two tubes I bought flaked like crazy. This mascara is a tried and true product for me and I always go back to it. 

And finally, drum roll please........the best palette known to (wo)man...the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette. And yes, it does smell like chocolate. Yes. Yes, it does. You get 16 shadows for $49 on Sephora. And it is worth every.damn.chocolately.penny. I treated (haha, get it?) myself to this for my birthday and couldn't be happier. I wish I would have had this before the Naked palettes. Or any other nude/neutral palette. There is such a variety of neutrals along with a burgundy, a purple and a greenish brown and a couple of pinky shades in here. It is glorious. Glorious I tell you. The outside packaging (to include the box it comes in) is all designed to look like a chocolate bar. And the shadows are made with actual cocoa powder (hence the smell, which does go away when you put the product on your eye, but for allergy purposes you might need to know that). And just ugh, admire the awesomeness will you? All the shades are really pigmented and blend well. A couple of them are gritty-er than others and have a little fall out, but overall this palette is phenomenal. A great buy for the makeup enthusiast, the chocolate enthusiast, your mom, grandma, yourself, or your niece who is just learning to use makeup. I just. I need to stop before I get too carried away. It's awesome, check it out the next time you are in Sephora or Ulta.

What I'm loving right now - skin care and beauty

Sorry it's been awhile guys! Life has been busy and this winter has really gotten to me. BUT I think I (finally) see the sunlight at the end of the tunnel and hope to be back on my regular posting schedule :-)

I wanted to share a few things with you that I have been loving lately. None of them are extremely new to the market, and not really new to me (except one product) so let me share with you what they are and why I love them!

First up is the Neutrogena Naturals Fresh Cleansing and Makeup Remover Cleanser. I used this once about 3-ish years ago, and really liked it. Since my holy grail cleanser is being phased out by Olay, I thought I would try working this back into my routine to see if I still like it. And I am happy to report that it's so far so good! I love that it really cleanses and removes makeup without being too drying. There is a slight smell to this cleanser BUT it's not terrible and once you rinse your face the smell is gone. This is $8 at Target and you can get coupons online and if you have a smartphone you N-E-E-D the Cartwheel app for Target. The app itself is free and you can add coupons to use on the things you are already buying. I downloaded the app about 6 months ago and have saved over $100 so far.

Second in the line up is the Aveeno (okay technically it's third) Positively Radiant Moisturizer. Now I am perfectly happy with my moisturizer currently, but wanted to try something new and I had a coupon. And I really am enjoying this as well. It's $13 at Target not sure if this will replace my current fave, but time will tell. And if I'm being honest, I love Jennifer Aniston and she is the spokesperson for Aveeno so I kind of wanted to try it because of her. Judge me, I don't care.

Last up for skin care related items is the Vaseline Lip Therapy Rosy Lips. This is about $1.50 at Target and it's awesome. There is a slight rose scent to this product but it goes away and does not transfer to your food and beverages. What I like about this is that it seems to really form a moisture barrier over my lips and keep them moisturized for a long time. I prefer to wear this at night while I sleep but have found myself reaching for this during the day as well.

Finally, let's talk about make-up. The first product is the E.L.F. blush/bronzer duo. It's $3 at Target. And you need it in your life. The bronzer is great for contouring as well as bronzing your face, and it's extremely pigmented so you only need a little. And the blush is ultra flattering.

The second make-up product is the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Foundation. It has SPF 20 and I wear it in the shade Classic Ivory. This was $11 at Target and right now there is a Cartwheel for 10% Neutrogena cosmetics. I love this. I was totally shocked by how pretty and natural this is. I've only been using it for about 4 days, but I'm feeling like this might be edging out my Cover Girl and Revlon foundations. Like for seriously. It's so pretty and really gives what I think of as a fresh face. The only crappy part is the color selection sucks. There's not a lot to offer the super pale and the super dark skin tones. And so many of the shades seem to be pink based. That aside I do really like it.

What are you loving right now?

Most Used Brushes

After doing my go-to makeup look, I thought it made sense to do my go-to/most used brushes as a follow-up to that post.

Go-to face brushes are the Real Techniques Blush Brush, the Sigma F80 Flat top kabuki brush (I use this for my foundation) and the Sign P82 brush for concealer. The pointy tip on the blush brush really picks up a lot of product (so beware) and blends it into your cheeks. The foundation and concealer brushes are amazing for blending in face products and giving it a flawless and natural finish.

Go-to eye brushes: Up & Up eyelash comb/eyelash, Up & Up (I think?) spoolie brush, E.L.F. eye shadow brush, mark. eye shadow brush, Sigma E25 blending brush and the E.L.F. fan brush. I use the E.L.F. shadow brush is great for packing shadow all over my lids and the mark. brush is great for the outer V area. The blending brush is pretty self-explanatory and the E.L.F. fan brush is a great way to get rid of any fall-out after I'm done applying my shadows.

You can purchase all brushes at the following links:

Real Techniques

Up & Up

E.L.F.http://www.eyeslipsface.com/makeup/tools/single-brushes

mark.

Sigma

Go-To Face of the Day

Whenever I am in a hurry or don't have a lot of time to think about what I want to do with make-up, I have a few go-to products that always give me (what I feel is) a polished look. 

I love the Cover Girl Outlast 3-in-1 Foundation, the Cover Girl & Olay under eye concealer, Wet N Wild Blush in Pearlescent Pink, the Lorac Pro Palette, Rimmel Scandal-Eyes in Nude, Maybeline Line Stilleto in Black and Maybelline the Rocket in Blackest Black. 

I absolutely love all of these products, and would recommend them to anyone. And I love the Lorac Pro Palette! There are so many shades in here from everything to nude colors to the deepest smokey colors. You can really create a million different looks with this. 

All of these products have long lasting power, and I can go about my day and not have to worry about touch-ups or or melt-downs. 

What are your go-to products? 

Basic Face: Weekend Makeup

 As much as I love make-up there are some days, usually the weekend, that I just don't wear or want to wear a ton of stuff on my face. And that's a-okay. So today's post features some of my go-to weekend makeup. 

Face products. I use some sort of tinted moisturizer/BB/CC cream. Pictured above is a deluxe size I got from Sephora and it's fine. Nothing fancy or special I don't think. But it does the job. Then I like to lightly dust a powder over my t-zone so I don't get shiny. Above is the Maybelline Shine Free Powder in Light and the E.L.F. kabuki brush. I will also use some sort of cheek color to give life to my face and pictured here is the Benefit Rockateur. 

For my eyes I go really basic and comb through my lashes and brows using this handy tool from Sonia Kashuk.

Then if I'm feeling fancy I will curl my lashes. Otherwise I just add some mascara and that's it. I will of course add whatever lip balm I have handy as my lips are always dry so I have to put something on them or they will be in sad shape. 

Easy Peasy, right? What's your go-to weekend look? Or low-key look?