Bye Felicia!

I am a make-up hoarder. Well, kind of. I really like make-up, so I tend to buy it a lot. It's like...a hobby. People ride bikes, collect comics and stamps, I collect make-up. Or I used to.

A couple of  years ago I really felt pressure to buy a lot of the new make-up items, mostly from the drugstore, in order to make sure I was trying the latest and greatest and providing my readers with reviews, swatches, etc. I had So. Much. Stuff. Too much actually. And it was really stressful to me to have all that stuff that wasn't getting used and wasn't being enjoyed.

But then over the course of the last couple of years, I realized two things:

1. Not every new product that comes out will look good on or work for me.
2. If people want reviews of every damn new product that comes out, there are already 400 bagillion blogs and videos out there with that info (I'm lookin at you YouTube).

So what does that mean?

I cleaned the shit out of my stash. I mean that literally and figuratively. If the product didn't look good on me, or wasn't something I used a lot I got rid of it. I didn't just throw it away (unless it was expired). I returned a crap ton of stuff to Sephora and Target, and gave away BAGS of make-up to friends and family (you're welcome Jen and Laurel!). And now what I have left is a stash of my most favorite and most used make-up.

This is not to say I don't still fight the urge to buy (or at least want to buy) all the new things. I just don't give in. [Note - to be clear, I NEVER actually bought ALL the new things.] I really think about whether or not I need a sixth foundation in my drawer, or another dark red lipstick in my purse. Most of the time the answer is no. I try to limit myself to picking up new items either, when something runs out that I don't already have a replacement for, OR a couple of things for each new season.

I have gotten to the point this year with make-up (and other things in my life) that if it's not working for me, then it's done. I am done hanging on to stuff that I won't use. I don't care how trendy it is or how much someone else says they love it. I am not a YouTube Beauty Guru (and that's okay - I love them, I'm just not one of them!), I don't have millions of followers and an endless supply of cash and sponsor-ships to try out every new beauty item under the sun. I am done trying to be something I am not, it's exhausting and expensive and stressful and just plain shitty. I am who I am, and I think I am pretty awesome.

Have you every had one of these "epiphany-style" moments? What was it?

Order of Application According to Mel

Hi Lovelies!

Today's post is all about the order of application. Beauty product application that is. There are so many products out there, and it can be really frustrating when you apply something and you aren't getting the end result you wanted. Part of that could be due to application error, or it may not be the right product for you. But, the order in which you apply your make-up can really make a difference in how products work with each other to give you the end look you really want.

What follows below is MY order of application. I have been wearing make-up since I was 5 (seriously, Tinkerbell make-up was the bomb), but truly wearing makeup since I was 14. My application techniques (hello foundation brush!) and the order in which I apply them has changed quite a bit in the last 20 years.

Alright, first thing's first: skincare. Wash your face, apply treatments, serums and eye cream and then moisturizer BEFORE you put any amount of makeup on your face. You should ALWAYS start with a clean face.

Next, primer. There are a ton of different face primers out there, and I will be doing a separate post on that later, but now is the time to prime. There are brightening, pore minimizing, hydrating and other types of primers out there, but generally speaking a primer is going to help your make-up last longer, and provide a sleeker canvas for your make-up.

Now it's time for foundation. This is where you really need to assess the make-up you are about to apply and take note of cream and liquid products vs. powder. In basic terms, you can layer liquids and creams on top of each other, but once you apply a powder you are done with liquid/cream. So, if you are using a liquid foundation, creamy concealer and then powder to set your make-up, the blush and bronzer all need to be powder. If you use powder foundation and concealer (ex. mineral make-up) then proceed accordingly. Does that make sense.

For me I use liquid foundation 99% of the time so I apply my foundation first. I dab on a few dots on my cheeks forehead, nose and chin. Then I use a brush to blend it all together. I apply the heavier amounts towards the middle of my face and blend out.

Next I add under-eye concealer and cover up any blemishes or spots. Applying your concealer after your foundation was weird to me as I always did it the other way around. But if you are going to spend all that time covering things up, the last thing you want to do is rub over that with something else. This has made a huge difference for me, especially in covering up blemishes.

Now I will set my concealer with a translucent powder. If I am doing powder blush and bronzer I will also apply powder to my nose, chin and forehead to keep those areas from getting shiny. If I am doing cream bronzer and blush I will wait to powder those areas until after those products are applied.

Applying cream over powder gives a cakey look that I am not in to.

Now I will contour my face. I do a little on my cheeks, nose and forehead. Then I do bronzer on my cheeks, forehead, nose and chin. Next I apply blush to the apples of my cheeks and blend back towards my hair line. And finally, I apply highlighter to the tops of my cheeks.

After that is done I move on to brows. I don't like to do my brows until after all of these steps are complete because I don't want to accidentally brush over my brows and mess that up. So I usually use a pencil or a pomade product for my brows and once those are done, its time to move on to eyes!

Eye primer is the first step in your eye shadow game. You can use concealer, a cream eye shadow or an actual eye primer. Using a primer before eye shadow will help make your shadow last longer, prevent creasing and can help colors appear brighter and truer to what they look like in the pan.

I am not going to get into application of eye shadow as that really depends on the look you are going for, but once your eye shadow is done it's time for eyeliner.

There are tons of different forms of eyeliner, powder, gel, liquid, pencil, etc. Whatever you prefer now is the time to apply it. If you are doing a liquid liner, I like to let that set a few minutes before applying mascara.

Whew, we are almost done.

Now that your eyeliner is applied and dry, you can curl your lashes if you want. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't Curling your lashes while your eyeliner is wet will likely cause the eyeliner to move or rub off onto the lash curler so that's why I recommend you wait to let it dry. And once they are curled (or not) you can apply mascara.

Do not pump your wand into the mascara tube. This will cause clumping by pushing air back into the tube and will result in your mascara clumping on your lashes and drying it out faster. So if you need more mascara on the wand swirl it gently in the tube (kind of like you are scraping the sides of the tube). One coat of mascara is generally sufficient (depending on the look you want).

Now if you wanted to, you can apply false lashes. You may need to touch up your eyeliner at this point and if you are adding lashes I always go back in with a quick coat of mascara to kind of make your lashes mesh better with the falsies.

Now that you are done with eyes and face, it's time for lips. If you are going all out, you can apply concealer over your lips to prep and prime them for lip color application.

First apply lip liner. The lip liner should either match your lip color or the color of the lipstick you are applying next. Leave the brown lip liner and light lipstick in the 90's where they belong. It's not 1994, you are not Kim Mathers, let it go. Also, do not over line your lips. Follow your natural lip line or just slightly outside of it.

Apply your lipstick straight out of the tube, or using a lip brush or your fingers (this is better for darker colors so you don't get it all over the place). And then blot. And by blot I want you to take your index finger and (in a non sexual way) stick it in your mouth and close your lips around your finger and pull your finger out. Any excess lipstick will now be on your finger and not on your teeth.

Finally if you want to add a lip gloss to the top of your lipstick you can add that now.

Good grief that's a lot of steps! For a final, final touch, you can add a make-up setting spray at the end that will set your makeup and help seal it in to last for the day.

I do not use all of these products on a daily basis, and sometimes I have even more steps if I am going all out for a really dramatic or specific (Halloween) look. It just depends.

I know it seems like a lot, but this all can really be done in 5-10 minutes once you get your routine down.

Do you have a different order of application or other tips? Leave it in the comments section below!

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. 

New Maybelline Products!

Hello lovely readers! Today I am talking all about one of my fave brands from the drugstore - Maybelline! They have released a lot of new products lately and I have a few so I thought I would share my thoughts on them with you.

A couple of important things before we get started:

1. My favorite app - Target Cartwheel - has a coupon for 10% off several makeup brands, including Maybelline.

2. If you have a CVS near you, and/or shop there often, you should get their extra care card and do the beauty rewards. I had a coupon for 20% off, a $5.00 off beauty bucks AND when you spent $15 or $20 on Maybelline you earned another $5.00 beauty bucks. Yeah, it kind of rocked my world.

3. My Walmart had $2.00 off coupons stuck to damn near every Maybelline product in the store this week. Not sure if that's just a fluke at my store or if that's a nation-wide promo. But you can save some $$ if you are interested in picking up any of these products.

So first off is a new (permanent - thank God) additional to the Maybelline Color Tattoo line, the Leather Collection. Maybelline Color Tattoos are cream shadows that you can wear on their own or as a base for any eye shadow. I use them both ways and for me personally I have no issue with them creasing. However, everyone is different so you may need a primer to help too.

I have a couple shades, but my favorite is the Creamy Beige shade. Alone, it just makes my eyes look fresh and even toned. Under shadow it really intensifies the look of the shadows. I love it! The regular line has shades that have some shimmer to them. Then there is a metal line which has a metallic finish. The leather line is a matte finish.

Alright, now for the biggest news in drugstore makeup history - Maybelline has a 12 shade eye shadow palette!!!! O.M.G. The Nudes is only $9.99 and if you take advantage of the discounts and deals I talked about above you could get it cheaper than a gallon of gas. Random, but true. So as I said this palette has 12 shades that are all neutral and are basically the same formula as their normal quads. Some of the shades in this palette are better than others, but overall this is an awesome value and an awesome palette.

I think this would make a great addition to anyone's makeup stash but especially awesome for those who are new to makeup as you can try a lot for very little investment and/or for those who were interested in some of the higher end neutral palettes but maybe couldn't afford to invest that kind of money. I haven't used all of the shades but in the last week I have used most of them and with a primer or base they stay for most of my day (which is roughly 14 hours). I am impressed.

This isn't super new, but it's newer. The new Pumped Up Colossal Mascara comes in several shades, I have it in Glam Black and has packaging very similar to the Maybelline the Rocket mascara but this is slightly bigger and obviously it's pink. I really, really, really like this mascara. First of all, it comes off easily with eye makeup remover. It doesn't flake, smudge or clump. And it gives really good volume and length. I know mascara is different on everyone, but I feel like this could be pretty awesome for most people. Also I should note that this mascara does NOT have the typical Maybelline chemical smell that a lot of their mascaras seem to have.

And finally, we have the new Dream Wonder Fluid Touch Foundation. This stuff is super cool. Like, I feel like a scientist cool. The bottle is so small and it's glass (consider this your warning fellow clumsy peeps). And it has this cool dropper like wand to dispense the product on your face (it says put it on your finger tips, but I put it directly on my face.) Don't get too heavy handed with this, start light and you can always add more, but when finished this gives about medium coverage. One note, the bottle says shake well and you should definitely shake it first so that they product mixes correctly. When dry this is more of a natural to satin finish, I would set it with powder. It wears pretty good through out the day. If I had a really long day I might add a primer or just wear something totally different, but for a normal day this will work fine.

Normal to dry skin peeps: this could be your new go-to foundation

Oily skin peeps: proceed with caution as I feel like this might be too liquidy for you. A similar foundation to dry is the Magic Touch liquid to powder foundation from L'oreal.

Have you tried any of these products yet? Do you want to? Anything new you would recommend to me?

I really love hearing from you guys so please leave a comment below!

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.

NEW at the drugstore: Maybelline Eye Quads (not really new tho...)

Okay so these aren't really that new. Maybelline has had eye shadow quads, some of which are the same colors, since the beginning of time. BUT the recently re-formulated and re-packaged them. Way back in the day, Maybelline used to be my go-to brand for eye shadows at the drugstore, but times have changed and I haven't used Maybelline eye shadows in quite some time. However, in the last six months or so, I picked up two of them because I had a coupon and I was intrigued by the ads I saw.

The quads have a Base, Lid, Crease and Liner shade in them and on the back there are instructions for which color goes where on your eye. I prefer to use liquid liner so I don't use the Liner shades for liner, I use them to smoke out the look. They have a lot of neutral quads, but there are some fun pops of color out there too.

The two compacts I purchased are the Designer Chocolates and Chai Latte quads. Not gonna lie, the names kinda sold me. I will say that both of the Base colors and the Lid color in the Designer Chocolates quad are lame. They are pretty chalky and don't show up well. But the Lid, Crease and Liner shades in the Chai Latte quad and the Crease and Liner shades in the Designer Chocolate quads are phenomenal. Very pretty, long lasting shades of gold, brown and a burgundy brown that I actually don't have dupes for in other palettes. I was very impressed with the lasting power on these and for the price, they are great (roughly $4.99 at the drug store.)

Do you have any of these? Tell me in the comments below.

Brand Highlight: Urban Decay (It's kinda my addiction)

Hi. My name is Melissa and I am an Urban Decay Addict. It may not look like it. I don't own everything they produce. But since the brand launched I have been OBSESSED with Urban Decay Cosmetics. The colors. The names. The packaging. The first product I ever owned from this line was a lipstick in the shade Bruise. It was awesome. And I was hooked.

Over the years I have purchased more lipsticks, nail polishes and some of their single eye shadows. And now I have several of their palettes and one of their new Revolution Lipsticks in Gash (which incidentally is the EXACT lip color Gwen Stefani wears in the "Don't Speak" video). So today I thought I would share my (small) collection and give a brief review of the products.

Above are the Naked Palettes. From top to bottom they are Naked 3, Naked 2, Naked and Naked Basics. Naked and Naked 2 are a warm and cool palette of neutral colors you can use to create a basic eye look and a very dramatic eye look. Naked 3 is the newest in the Naked line and is a collection of rosy hues. I was a little worried about looking ill by putting rose/pink shadow on my eyes but when done correctly can be very flattering. The Naked Basics is probably the most versatile of all the palettes I own (Urban Decay or otherwise) as it can be used as shadow, cheekbone highlighter and contour and to fill in your brows. It's small enough to go everywhere and has a huge mirror for such a tiny compact. 

Above are the Electric, Smoked and Oz palettes. The Electric palette is the newest from Urban Decay and features 10 EXTREMELY INTENSE pigments. Those shadows are as dramatic on your skin as they are in that palette. I am PSYCHED to use this palette in conjunction with the Naked palettes to create a more wearable look for everyday. I am in love with Thrash, Freak, Urban and Fringe. I would love to figure out how to use Slowburn (bright orange) in a look too.

Next to that is the Smoked palette, which if I had to pick, is probably my fave palette of the bunch. It travels well, there are matte and shimmer shades. Basic neutrals and bright green, blue and purple to make your look a little more funky. I love this for going out. A green smoky eye is my fave look to do from this palette.

And the two palettes on the bottom are limited edition releases that came out last year with the new Oz movie. The one on the left is the Glinda palette which has lighter, and more shimmery shades. And the one on the right is the Theodora palette which features darker more smoky shades.

Pictured above is the limited edition release Revolution Lipstick in Gash. Urban Decay has a full line of Revolution lippies but Gash is being brought back for a limited time only, so if you want it, go get it. As I mentioned its the same color Gwen Stefani wore in the "Don't Speak" video (Oh how I love her, seriously she is one of my fashion, beauty and life icons.) I also have a random lip liner in Wicked. This is more of a pink/neutral liner on my lips and I use it to fill in my lips and put a clear gloss over and get a pretty, natural look with it.

Do you love Urban Decay? What are your faves from them?

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? 

January Ipsy Bag

What could be better than sampling the latest and greatest beauty products and getting exclusive deals on them every month? And having them delivered to your door? Not much right? And the best part is, this is a real thing. If you are an Ipsy (formerly My Glam) subscriber this is exactly what you will get each and every month. AND it's $10. Yep just $10. Pretty awesome huh? I've been a subscriber for over a year now, I took a break for a couple months and then reactivated my subscription. It's such a fun way to try products and a lot of the time you are getting full sizes, not just deluxe or travel sized products. Brands featured in past bags include Urban Decay, Benefit, NYX, Zoya, Butter London and Pacifica just to name a few. And they all come in a cute little make up bag.

Here are the items I got in my January bag! I haven't had time to try most of these yet so I just have pictures for you. But this is a really good deal and I have tried several of the subscription services out there and this is by far my fave and (in my opinion) the best deal. Check it out and sign up here.