Beauty Favorites

Hey y'all! After quite the busy summer, I have a few beauty favorites that I would like to share. As I've mentioned before, I am a huge YouTube junkie when it comes to all things make up and beauty and have accumulated a few goodies over the past few months thanks to my YouTube findings. (As a delightful side note, I am pretty sure The Mister knows how to do a mean highlight and contour due to how many YouTube vids he's listened in on...many a summer night in the C household was spent with me watching YT and TM playing PlayStation.)

Let's start with skin care....

Angels on Bare Skin - Lush - 

I was in search of a new cleanser and have very sensitive yet combination - oily skin..I scar easily (and go through spurts of breakouts) that require a daily exfoliation light enough for my sensitive skin but mechanical enough to slough off and eventually erase the dark scarring. (#HighMaintenance, I know.) All of that being said, Angels on Bare Skin, delivers that to me daily. It's a calming (and pretty exfoliating) cleanser for all skin types. The smell is amazing (like every thing from Lush) and your skin feels amazing after every use. If your skin is high maintenance like mine or you are looking for a nice gentle daily exfoliation, I would totally recommend this.

Breath of Fresh Air - Lush - 

On my trip into Lush, I also picked up a toner. I was in Florida and the Breath of Fresh Air toner just seemed like the right purchase. It can go over make up and perfect for the end of the summer heat or midday pick me up!

Sephora Masks - Rose and Green Tea - 

Also for my FL trip, I picked up a few Sephora Natural Therapy sheet masks as my skin always freaks out when traveling and I had heard the rose mask was super calming. I got the rose mask and rose eye masks and the green tea mask as well. The rose masks were my absolute favorite out of the two (though both were great). The smell is divine and it calmed by face right down after a nasty plane breakout or two.

Now, let's move on to make up...

L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte foundation- 

Y'all, I have a new favorite foundation and I am not afraid to shout it from the roof tops..This is a full coverage, matte finish foundation and it does not move, get shiny, or melt off your face for HOURS.. I put this bad boy on with a beauty blender due to how heavy it can feel on the skin if you don't apply it right. This is definitely for more combination/oily skin types! One thing to keep in mind - this foundation has a yellow under tone (except for the darkest two shades which are more pink-ish).

Urban Decay Naked Weightless Concealer - 

There is nothing I love more than a brightening under eye concealer (#DragQueen) that is also super light-weight and non-cakey. This is perfect for achieving the perfect highlight and contour look. A good dupe for this is the NYX high definition concealer wand.

NYX Contour Kit - 

Although this is not in my own personal kit, I have a good friend that got this recently and I have been doing her make up with it and LOVING it. It's a great price and the color payoff/pigment is very good. It blends like a dream and always makes sure her #ContourIsOnFleek. The banana shade is my absolute favorite for setting under eye concealer.

Lights, Camera, Lashes - Tarte - 

Believe me when I tell you - this mascara is the.holy.grail. I am an avid falsies user and nothing could ever get me away from my L'Oreal Telescopic....until I got a sample of this stuff during a recent Sephora purchase and OMG...I will never buy another mascara again.

Products in the Queue -

Just today, I picked up a mini GlamGlow mask...YouTubers fah-reak out about this stuff so I had to see what all the fuss is about...I will keep you all posted! I also got a Dr. Jart Brightening Infusion Hydrogel Sheet mask (can you tell I have a thing for masks!?) as it said on the package it is good for dark circles (check), dullness (check), dark spots (double check) and uneven tone...We shall see if it delivers!

Products I am in search of - 

A good body butter! It's so hard to find a reasonably priced body butter with decent ingredients in it. Any suggestions?

Life Update - 

Over the past few months I have been contemplating where I want my next step to be as far as social media goes and I am thinking of re-lauching my YouTube channel around the new year. I am hoping to get a new vlogging camera and start doing things like, tutorials, "get ready with me" vids, favorites videos, unboxing vids, Disney magic (duh) and maybe even some fitness related things as well. So stay tuned for all of that and let me know if y'all know of any 14 year olds that can teach me the basics of video editing!

Also, with the holidays looming and me finally finishing decorating our new apartment in the next few weeks, you guys can expect some fun little blog posts coming your way!

Happy Shopping!
xoxo

Dear Santa...

Every year my mom requires me to write out mine, The Mister's and Cy's Christmas list....You see, Nana and Grandpa are very practical and they only want to buy what we want and will use...Of course we love and appreciate them for doing this...Thanks Nana and Grandpa!

Anywho, I was making my list today and wanted to share a few of my favorites for the season -

Morphe flat buffer brush (G6) -

At the end of every month I go around to various YouTube beauty guru's channels and check out their monthly favorites. I like to do this because it gives me ideas on what to buy for my kit and new products to try. That being said, this month I saw Jaclyn Hill raving (and using) the Morphe flat buffer brush (used for foundation). She is usually a Sigma brush user so when I saw she was using something different for her foundation (not to mention using a brush that is significantly cheaper than a Sigma brush) I knew it had to be a good product. I have been using a Sephora stippling brush to apply my foundation that was working well, but as with any other makeup junkie, I saw something shiny and now I have to have it!

MAC Prep and Prime Highlighter in the shade Light Boost -

I have been using MAC Prep and Prime in the shade Radiant Rose for about a year. It is amazing and has made such a difference in my highlighting and contouring game.

Snow White tank - 

Me in this tank at Epcot's Food and Wine Festival = perfection

The Andy Cohen Diaries - A Deep Look at a Shallow Year - 

This book came out today and I will be buying the kindle version of it later tonight, but I have the hard copy of his first book (Most Talkative) so I really want his second one for my shelves.

What are some of the things on your list this year?

5 Steps to Decoding YouTube Beauty Tutorials

Whenever someone asks me about anything makeup related I always refer them to the greatest invention for the beauty world - YouTube. When I suggest this I am usually met with trepidation as it's hard to pinpoint exactly where to start with all of information that's out there.

That's where this list comes in...hopefully after reading you will be on your way to navigating the YouTube beauty world.

1. Start in one place - Do you want to learn how to do a smokey eye? Or are you looking to learn how to perfect a highlighting and contouring routine? Pick a lane and stay there so as to not get overwhelmed. As you start perfecting things and watching more tutorials, you will start to gain the confidence you need to take on learning more techniques.

2. Eyelashes - Watch every and any video you can find on how to apply eyelashes..there are so many tips and tricks out there that you'll be a lash wiz in no time. Every guru has a different technique and different tips to share...take advantage of that knowledge!

3. Keywords - "High end" and "drugstore" are going to be your best keywords when searching for beauty tutorials. If the idea of walking in to a Sephora/Ulta scares the crap out of you, start small with drugstore products and work your way up.

4. "Beauty Dupes"- There are many high end products that you can find "drugstore dupes" for. Just a quick "(insert make up line here) drugstore dupe" Google search will usually yield you some results. For me, I usually spend more money on things like eye shadows (from high end lines) and less money on foundation. Which brings me to my next point...

5. Know what to spend money on - The thing I am always going to spend the most money on are brushes/beauty blenders, eye shadows and specialty products that you can't get at the drugstore (makeup setting spray,eye shadow primer etc..). IMO brushes are the most important part of a makeup application...Knowing how and what to use to apply your makeup will make your drugstore foundation look like it is a $25 airbrush foundation. Also, it's incredibly hard to find a matte eye shadow at the drugstore..so if I am looking for a glitter-less look, I will splurge and get myself a high end eye shadow. Building your makeup collection is all about balancing high end products with drugstore products.

Two of my favorite YouTube beauty guru's are Jaclyn Hill and Carli Bybel...take a look at their videos, you will not be disappointed!

Happy YouTube-ing!!

Product Review Vlog {Younique}

Here is a video of my honest review on the Younique make up line including it's 3D fiber mascara.

And here are some close up pictures of the look -

Right eye -

Left eye -

(I know the lashes don't look that long in this picture, but in the picture below you can see the side by side difference (or lack there of)) 

If you are interested in purchasing anything from the Younique product line, please go here - www.lusciouslashlady.com

Musings

Product Junkie - 

I mentioned in a previous post that I am attempting to now do my highlighting and contouring with cream based foundations and concealers instead of powders. It has been working out really well. I have a new favorite foundation (L'Oreal True Match) and I am still getting used to working with the Beauty Blender as opposed to my Sephora stippling brush. The BB definitely gives your foundation a more airbrushed look, which I appreciate and the foundation is a medium coverage so it's great in conjunction with the BB for a light, airy, summery look.

Biting the Trend Bullet - 

I finally had to bite the trend bullet and buy myself a pair of black strappy sandals. I got them at The Shoe Dept. (online) and they were only $12.98! I was excited about that because I never like to spend a ton of money on trendy items. Alas, I got this amazing jumpsuit at H&M (for $4.95 I might add) that needed this pair of shoes. Stay tuned for an #OOTD!

Real Housewives of NJ -

As all of you Housewives fans know, RHONJ started last night and it was a crazy one (per usual). Here is my take - The three new girls I am "meh" on right now. I need a few more episodes to form a proper opinion. I feel so bad for the Guidices...especially Gia. Their lives just seems so sad right now. I am happy to see Dina back! She was always a favorite of mine on Jersey Housewives and it's nice to see her back into the dramz. We shall see what kind of drama the ladies can pull out this season!

The Art Of {The Selfie}

I have been known to take a selfie or 6 in my day. So today I thought I would blog about some tips and tricks to taking the perfect selfie.

I touched briefly upon the importance of eyebrows in pictures in one of my musings posts. The perfect arch will make you look good in real life and in pictures even if you don't have any makeup on. When you have great shape to your brows, you automatically have great shape to your face. So, step one to the perfect selfie = perfect eyebrows.

Obviously being camera ready when taking your selfie always helps. Of course big lashes are very important to make your eyes pop for the picture. IMO though, there is an even more important step in giving good face with makeup and that is HIGHLIGHTING & CONTOURING. I had to yell that because I feel so strongly about this topic...Highlighting and contouring makes it so you don't have to do much with your face (besides angle it the right way - see below) in order to get that perfect shot. Although I think Kim Kardashian is stunning without make up, contouring makes it so she is even MORE stunning in pictures. I actually believe that Kimmy K and her makeup artist (Joyce Bonelli) brought contouring back into style. So take a page out of the K handbook, contour and highlight your face and watch your selfies and regular pictures turn into Instagram gold. Jaclyn Hill has my favorite contouring video in all the (YouTube) land.

Everyone has a good side and everyone has a good angle. The trick is finding said angle. It's pretty rare that some one's best "side" is straight on. Angling your face and body while posing for the camera is always the way to go. If you have ever seen a photo of Paris Hilton (who has worked with a posing coach) you will notice that she is NEVER straight on in photos. Angling yourself softens up your lines and helps the light disperse evenly. Now, this is not to say that once you find your good side that you should take every selfie with the same face/angle. I can not stand when girls (or guys) post the same picture with the same face and the same angle. Switch it up a little! The trick is to practice in the mirror and to take a million pictures to see what angles (plural) are your best ones. 

Okay, so there is one trick to my selfie game that I will not give away (hey, a girl's got to keep SOME things to herself) and that is what filter app I use. But I will say that a filter (or two) always helps your case. Don't ever be afraid to use them because EVERYONE does... #nofilter = lies