June Empties!

I have been trying REALLY hard to use up as many things that I currently have as possible. Here are a few things that I have emptied this month along with whether or not I would repurchase it.

1. Suave Moroccan Oil Shampoo
Yes, if I was in the market for a cheap hydrating shampoo I would certainly repurchase it. I have a whole shelf of shampoo and conditioner that I have accumulated through couponing so for now I will be sticking with using those other items up first.

2. Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Deep Conditioning Treatment
I have repurchased this over and over again! I have been using this product off and on for probably almost 10 years and I will continue to use it. It is easy to use, smells great and doesn't leave my hair feeling weighed down! I highly recommend this one!!

3. IT Cosmetics Hello Lashes mascara
I have already repurchased this because I knew I didn't want to be without a backup of this mascara. It is awesome! The formula itself is pretty wet so if you like a drier mascara this one may not be for you but within a week or 2 it does thicken up a little and allows you to control it a little more during application. The way the separates, lengthens, and adds volume certainly makes me add this mascara into my top 5 of all time. (Let me know if you want to see a post on what my all time top 5 are!)

4. Lea Journo conditioner
This conditioner smells heavenly! On top of that is does make my hair feel pretty soft but it is priced a little too high for my liking. I received this in a swap with a friend so I never bought the original pouch. (yes I said pouch! It doesn't come in a bottle like traditional conditioner which I think it is a fault since it is kind of a pain to keep it standing up on the rack I have in my shower) I would certainly like to use this product again but I probably won't purchase it since it is pretty pricey. There are lots of good drugstore and lower end conditioners that work just as well in my opinion.

5. Dove VisibleCare Body Wash
I use this product at night before I go to bed and I love crawling into my bed having my skin feel hydrated, soft and smelling nice a fresh. I have already repurchased another bottle of this (and got a really deal on it at CVS with coupons!! SCORE!) I would certainly recommend checking this body was h out if you love the smell of original Dove but don't want to use a bar of soap, this is an awesome alternative.

That wraps up my empties for this month. What have you been able to empty out this month?

Skincare and Basic Daily Makeup Routine

I have really switched things up in my daily routine the past couple of months. Gone are the days of having an hour every morning to get ready so I have simplified things a lot. Lets start with my current skincare routine. As some of you know I was really struggling with breakouts at the beginning of the year, it was the worst my skin has ever been. I since have switched to just using the BareMinerals Purifying Facial cleanser as well as the Purely Nourishing Moisturizer for combination skin. I use my Clarisonic both morning and night along with it and my face has cleared up almost completely. I HIGHLY recommend trying this routine if you have been breaking out, the cleanser isn't over powering and doesn't dry my skin out or leave it feeling tight which I really love. I also have liked the fact that the moisturizer doesn't leave my face shiny or feeling greasy. A+ all around for that!

For makeup I have switched to all silicone-free base face products. In my "everyday" makeup basket I keep the following items which I think have also helped clear up my skin- Becca Mattifying silicone-free primer, Korres Vitamin E silicone-free face primer, Bare Minerals Ready foundation, Bare Minerals well rested, Bare Minerals Bisque concealer. I haven't ever really been a fan of Bare Minerals. I used their loose foundation quite a but when I was a teenager (that was when I had flawless skin and had nothing but maybe an occasional pimple from hormones) but as I have gotten older and started to experiment more with makeup I found that I didn't get the coverage I really wanted from their loose foundation and by the end of the day I looked like a total grease ball. I kept hearing about how wonderful the READY line of makeup was from Bare Minerals and had tried out a few of their pressed eyeshadows which blew me away! They certainly were nothing like the messy, not so pigmented loose shadows I remembered using in high school. When my face got really bad I decided maybe it was time to give BM another shot, after all I had absolutely nothing to lose at this point. I was shocked when I used the ready foundation with the precision face brush how amazing the coverage was! Not only that but I actually stayed matte for almost 10 hours which in my book was certainly amazing for just a powder foundation. (I didn't even use concealer the first time I used it!) It has been almost 2 months and my face is pretty much back to normal with just a few breakouts here and there which is totally manageable. I HIGHLY recommend trying the ready foundation if you weren't a big fan of the original loose foundation for the same reasons I mentioned above. Just make sure to get color matched at a store that sells the products as the color range is not the exact same as the loose.

It took me awhile to come to the conclusion that maybe it was something I was doing to cause my skin to breakout and if you are struggling with the same skin issues I had maybe try a few of the things I switched in my routine to see if it helps. I hope that my struggling has brought some insight to at least someone out there!

Where have I been?!

Hey there! I PROMISE I am working on quite a few upcoming blog posts including December favorites and then a breakdown by category of my favorites for the entire year (I am super excited about that post! I try ALOT of different products so I am so happy I get to share my favorites by category with you all from all of 2012! I have been incredibly busy lately but will be posting starting this week again regularly. I have moved to a new state and it pretty much took awhile to get things the way I needed them in order to get the time to write some things for the blog. I hope you all stuck with me and I am excited to get some posts up this week for you. I hope you all have an incredibly blessed Christmas!

August favorites!

I don't know about you all but holy cow August just seemed to fly by! It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the 4th of July. It is time though to show you all of the things I LOVED this month, some of the things even surprised me!

1. Suave keratin heat defense leave in conditioner (I'm actually loving all of the items in the keratin line but its been along time since I've found a leave in that I really love)
2. Organix Moroccan Argan oil body lotion- I got this on a buy one get one free sale at Walgreens and had 2 $2 off coupons so I almost paid nothing for it and it has been amazing! I will certainly repurchase this when I am out. It is hydrating but not so thick where you feel like you stick to everything.
3. Rusk thermal shine spray- I have been just scrunching my hair alot this month because it is so hot out I hate to turn the blow dryer on and this shine spray has really helped my hair even with products in it look shiny and healthy. LOVE
4. Boscia makeup breakup cool cleansing oil- I cannot say enough good things about this product. It is SO easy to use, glides on so smooth and rinses off really easily. Best of all it hasn't made my oily skin break out (always a huge plus for me!)
5. I hate mentioning limited edition products but these you might still able to find at your local MAC counter or online so I certainly wanted to let you know about them. the Hidden Treasure and Supercontinental blushes from the latest MAC collection are awesome. They are no super frosty or dry like some other MAC blushes and just look gorgeous when applied. RUN out and get these if you can still find them- they have become my favorite MAC blushes!
6. Chanel Mat Lumiere foundation- I forgot how good this foundation really is for oily skin. I applied this at noon drove over to Tampa for a rally and at 3 am before we decided to get in the hot tub my face still looked flawless, this paired with my next favorite is a match made in an oily skinned girls heaven!
7. It Cosmetics celebration powder foundation- This is what every powder foundation loose or pressed should be! Yup I actually just said that :) It gives the perfect amount of coverage without having a bit of shimmer or sheen to it. So great in the summer for oily skinned girls. I will certainly still use the Laura Mercier loose minerals in the winter but I adore this for not having the sheen that the LM minerals have when its 100 degrees outside and like 60% humidity!
8. Garnier Dark circle correcting tinted rollerball- Great product to just throw on at night or when you want to run up to the store but don't want "real" makeup on. Its super cheap too!
9. Lipgloss! Summer is all about lipgloss for me. I don't want to mess with lipstick and the last thing I want to have to worry about it a lipstick melting in my car or purse. My staples this month have been Mally's lipgloss in Mallys baby and NYX in sugar pie. 2 gorgeous colors!
Well that's it! There are a few products that I got last weekend that I'm loving but I didn't want to include them in this month favorites since I've only had them a few days. I'm sure they will be making an appearance next month.

Bridesmaid makeup!

On August 4th my mom got married to a great man in a BEAUTIFUL ceremony. Their wedding was at the Battlehouse hotel in Mobile, Al. This is a historic hotel located in the heart of downtown Mobile that was bought by Marriott and restored into one of the most gorgeous hotels I have ever been in. The whole place has that old sophisticated feel and is the perfect setting to get married in. We chose long one shoulder black dresses for the bridesmaids dresses to fit in with the classiness this hotel already offers. I wanted to keep my makeup simple yet smokey. Below is a picture of my makeup and hair and the products that I used. When I get a close up of the other bridesmaids and my mom's makeup I will do a blog post on exactly what they were wearing as well. ENJOY and as always let me know if you have any questions about any of the products I used.

Face:
- Hourglass mineral veil primer all over the face
- IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye in Medium buffed in with Real Techniques deluxe crease brush under the eyes and around the nose
- Makeup Forever HD foundation in the color 120 applied with the Real Techniques buffing brush
- Smashbox Halo powder in Light over foundation
- IT cosmetics bronzer from Live, Laugh, Love face disk all over the face with the IT cosmetics powder brush
- IT cosmetics vitality bronzer with the IT cosmetics fan brush as my contour
- MAC Dollymix blush on my cheeks with mally's effortless airbrush highlighter on my cheek bones
Eyes:
- Urban Decay original primer potion all over eyelids, browbone and lower lashline
- MAC shroom on inner half of eyelid (used a MAC 239 brush)
- Urban Decay loaded from the smoked palette on the outer half (same 239 brush)
- MAC kid in crease and a little above it
- Urban Decay blackout blended really really well in crease and slightly on the upper lash line.
- MAC femme fi and nylon mixed on browbone and nylon in the inner corner
- Mally starlight black liner in both water lines and smudged a little under the eyes with MAC carbon on top of it to set it
- Mally volumizing mascara
- Ardell 110 lashes with duo lash glue
Lips:
- MAC Spice Liner
- MAC Viva Glam V lipstick

I've been SMOKED!

It is no surprise when I say that I feel like I must buy every single great quality eyeshadow palette that I come across. It is a major weakness of mine. When I heard that Urban Decay was coming out with a new palette that focused on deeper smokier colors I had a smile planted on my face for the rest of the day. The Naked, Naked2, 15th Anniversary, and the BOS4 are already in my collection and I love each one of them for certain reasons now I can add the Smoked palette to the collection as well :)

The colors are as follows from the left top corner to the bottom right hand corner of the palette.
- Kinky: soft matte peachy ivory shade
- Freestyle: subtle matte nude shade
- Mushroom: shimmery warm grey shade
- Back Door: matte neutral dark brown shade
- Blackout: deep matte black shade
- Barlust: shimmery deep brown shade with a hint of gold
- Rockstar: shimmery eggplant shade
- Evidence: shimmery navy blue shade
- Loaded: shimmery dark green shade
- Asphalt: shimmery gunmetal shade with microglitter

This palette also comes with one full size eyeliner in Perversion which is a really dark black; and a mini original primer potion tube. Here are some swatches- the first picture is in the shade and the second one is the sun. The list above is the order in which they are swatched on my arm.

Overall this palette gets a big thumbs up. The eyeshadows are so smooth and creamy with the exception of Evidence. This color was a little less pigmented than the other shades and the texture was a little rough. It is still an awesome shade that will be ok once you use a brush and pack it on your eyes. I HIGHLY suggest picking this palette up if you love smokey eyes as much as I do. This palette retails for $49 and can be purchased at Sephora.com, Ulta.com, or UrbanDecay.com.

Eye and Face of the Day

I have really been trying to break out of the "neutral" and "taupe" eye looks lately and do something a little more fun with my eye makeup. I had a meeting with a local company but this is an easy teal eye that is a little more interesting but isnt too in your face.

I used the Wet-n-Wild Blue had me at hello palette and took the bright turquoise color and put it all over the lid over Nars smudgeproof eye primer. I then took a little MAC kid and put a little in my crease just to help blend the color. I used a little of MAC contrast and Urban Decay's tease eyeshadows in the crease and blended it all out. My brown and inner corner highlight was Urban Decay "bootycall". I used a liquid Nars teal eyeliner on my upper lashline and the top lashline and topped the lashes off with Mally volumizing mascara.

The rest of my face is pretty neutral. Here is a list of products that I used in case you want to try and recreate it. - Hourglass mineral veil primer - IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye - Hourglass Immaculate foundation - Smashbox halo powder - IT Cosmetics bronzer - IT cosmetics blush stain in the Live, Laugh, Love face disk - Mally gloss in Mally's baby Have you been doing a "different" look for the summer?