the tried and true

So ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for me to share with you my favorite of my favorites when it comes to beauty products. Uh, YEAH!! 

 

1) Clinique – Superbalm – Greatest lip smoothing treatment. Balm goes on clear and shiny so that you can wear it as gloss over color, or use it as a night-time lip treatment (it’s that powerful!). Fresh, citrusy scent is a bonus too.

2) L’occitane – Verbena Harvest Eau de Toilette – Mmm, if you like citrus scents, this is the one for you.

3) Laura Mercier – Tinted Moisturizer – Okay, so it’s a little spendy ($42) but trust me, it lasts for months and you’ll hardly ever have to wear foundation! Gives your skin a nice, pretty, polished glow that makes it LOOK like you’re wearing makeup without making you FEEL like you are.  

4) Sephora – 4 Step Buffer – So I’ve already raved about this one. If you really must know, go back a few posts. 

5) Anastasia – Perfect Brow Pencil – So I tried this one at Sephora and LOVED IT. It didn’t make my brows look fake, but it made them obviously better. I did one brow, then asked my (blind) sister which she felt looked better and she immediately said the one with Anastasia’s Pencil on it. (Of course I later filled in the other brow, I didn’t walk around looking like an idiot for long.)

6) Bare Minerals – Skin Rev-er Upper – Not really sure what this product was even designed to do, but, I think it’s supposed to act as a Primer for your Bare Minerals. That’s what the rest of la filles en ma famille use it as, but, I rarely use the Bare Minerals Foundation. I use this as a moisturizer! Minimizes the pores to the EXTREME, the only downside being that it smells like a Clorox Bleach testing facility (if that is even a thing).

7) Smashbox – Photo Finish Foundation Primer – Yeah so you see this in magazines and think it’s totally overrated. BUT IT’S NOT! It has silicone, which minimizes pores and fills in fine lines so you look like a million bucks even without foundation. I found this primer like 4 years ago and since it has grown to be the biggest success on the face of the planet and now comes in colors that do different things. Whatever, I don’t by that. Use the clear version and stick with the classic. C’mon Smashbox, don’t fix it if it ain’t broken.

8 ) Clinique – Brush-on Cream Liner – My mom bought this as a joke, for us to use as eye-black when we’re fangirls at football games. Yeah, well it worked then (lasted on my face from 7 in the morning to 2am all of Homecoming Friday!) and it works now, but in a different way. It’s great for those cute looks with a little perfect eyeliner and some bright lips. You know the ones. Or if you wanna wing it out the sides and be all dramatic. It’s a miracle worker that can do 1000000000 things.

9) Sephora – 3-in-1 Extractor – So it looks like a torture device, yeah. Kinda hurts your face, yeah. But it makes blackhead disappear! Like seriously. I would know, I have the worst blackheads and you just put the head around them and push. Voila! Blackheads no more.

10) MAC – Eyeshadow – Comes in a million colors and stays on all day. Again, back to Homecoming. “Aquadisac” stayed on my eyes for as long as the liner did. Awesome for when you have to basically plan Homecoming and look hot and fun all while running around with no time to pee, let alone touchup. (I also have it in Barbie and Brown Down, which are my two favorites.)

11) Mario Badescu – Drying Lotion – So I’ll be the first to say that this potion ain’t pretty. It looks so gross you won’t wanna put it on your face. (DON’T SHAKE, SHAKE SHAKE, A-SHAKE IT, OR YOU WILL BE SORRY.) But if you do get the nerve to try it, you’ll be happy. Just dip the q-tip into the pink gunk and rub it on a pimple, wake up the next morning and, I’m not saying it’s completely disappeared, but the size of the bump has gone down to the point that it’s just a little flat red spot. Well worth the seventeen bucks, and it lasts a lifetime.

12) Dove – Go Fresh Beauty Bar – So I’m basically a Marketing Major (We have “Majors” at my High School, weird, I know) and I can honestly say the best example of good Marketing is the Dove Go Fresh Beauty Bar. But it’s not hard to keep repeat customers coming back for more of this awesome soap. Smells delicious, doesn’t leave you feeling dry or sticky like regular soap, and it has little exfoliating beads that are soft enough to use daily. Plus it’s at drugstore prices, nothing is better than that.

13) Clinique – Clarifying Lotion 2 – Yummy! Best toner out there. Leaves skin feeling tight, but not like OH MY GOSH MY SKIN IS GOING TO TEAR OFF MY FACE tight. The good tight. Like tight shirts on Abercrombie Models tight. (Not that Abercrombie Models ever wear shirts, which is even better..) Stings when it gets in owies thought. But that means it’s working. 

14) Secret – Aerosol Anti-Perspirant – I have a FES (that’s Foreign Exchange Student, for those of you non-that-70′s-show-viewers) and I steal this from her every once in a while. It smells great and doesn’t make you drippy or sweaty. 

15) Mascaras:

All over best: Clinique – Long Pretty Lashes

Most Fun: Benefit – BADgal Blue 

Lengthening: Maybelline – Volum Express (So Yeah, it says volumizing, but it’s more lengthening. Maybelline’s loss, our gain.)

Shiniest: Sephora Brand - Lengthening Mascara

Volumizing: Dior – DiorShow Mascara

16) Biore – Daily Recharging Revitalize 4-in-1 Cleanser – Great drugstore cleanser that minimizes pores and washes away acne and oils.

17) Benefit – Full Finish Lipstick – Great colors, stays on long and doesn’t come off through food and drinks and straws and whatnot. Not as bright colors as the tubes would have you think, but great nonetheless.

18) Tweezerman – Mini Slant Tweezers – Cute, little tweezers that get the job done!

19) Neutrogena – Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock – Dewy and glowy, smells great and protects from the sun. Doesn’t clog pores either! Great for daily use on your face.

 

Okay, well, there you have it. My top beauty picks! Plus tons of great mascaras for every occasion. Enjoy them all, my dears!

let’s talk hair and makeup, shall we?

So I posted my way of doing Prom for less earlier, but realized I left y’all hnging when it came to hair and makeup! Of course, you’re probably in a dilemma similar to mine. Can’t do what you did last year, but stuck figuring out what to do now? Well ladies, it’s your lucky day, because I double as the Fairy Godmother in my spare time..

Hair!

1) Great for long straight hair. I’m no hair expert, but here’s what I’d do. Start blowing it out with a round brush, making  parts wavy and leaving others straight. Take a straightner to the bangs and spray it all, and you’ll be good to go!

2) For long, long, long hair. Blow it out, curl it all over, and run your fingers through it to break up the curls (A LOT). Take two sections from around your face, pin them back and straighten the bangs to the side. Voila!

3) The Side ‘do! For long hair. Blow it out over to one side, I’d probably flip my head to the side. Use a huge curling iron on big sections, pin some sections of hair in the back to keep it to the right side, and spray. SPRAY! Important. How’s it ever gunna stay like that on its own?

4) You’d need really really long hair for this one. Dry it with lots of curling product. Use a tiny curling iron all over your head, inlist the help of your mom, sister and crazy aunt to get the back and underneath curled. Spray the curls whilst curling. (Fun sentence.) Seperate hair into sections, pull back the right, left and bottom sides, pin them back toward the back of your hair (loosely behind your ears), tease the top section and pin it into the back. Spray!

5) Scrunch while drying, flat iron sections, tease a little, and slap on a headband with a giant flower. How much easier does it get than that?! (freepeople.com for headband.)

6) Dry with curling product, curl sections with a small iron. Pull back into a ponytail, leaving some pieces out. Twist pony into a loose bun and pin. Bring back some loose pieces and pin. Leave it messy and spray.

Thanks to Glamour.com, the hairstyle-blog, hairstyles.com, freepeople, CMA’s, and Vanessa Hudgens’ blog.

Makeup!

1) Glitter Eyes. Sephora makes a kit (Yes, a KIT with instructions and everything!) that takes you through all the steps it takes. ( http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P222601&categoryId=B70#) And it’s only $38 and comes with all the makeup.

2) Pink Pink Lips! Benefit is tried and true. “Do Tell” is cute. Pair with light liquid liner on the top lids, for a fresh cute look. Great with simple hair!

3) Pink Cheeks. Simple makeup paired with bright pink cheeks – adorable! (As seen at Estrella Archs in Paris.)

4) Shimmery Shadow. (Seen at Jill Stuart SS09 in NYC.) I’d go liquid shadow first, powder shadow on top. IMO you could do this in any light shade and it would look FIERCE. I like the Bare Escentuals shadows (I own them in almost every shade!) and at $13 a pot, you can try them all ’till you find your shade

5) Nude everything. (Seen at Rag & Bone.) I love Clinique’s lipsticks. I think the color is Barely There, (I’m not in my makeup bag ATM) and it’s the kind in the green tube. It’s Great!! Brown shadows add subtle color to your face while still looking “nude”.

6) Smudgy Liner. Try Benefit’s. Line all around the eyes, especially the inner rims and deep into the lashline. Bring the liner out a little further than you usually would and smudge with your finger. Cute!

Well there you have it! Everything you’ll ever need for hair and makeup for your big Prom Night. Enjoy!

I’m really just here to help you out. God sent me.

If my camera was working, I swear I would upload a picture of my BEAUTIFUL SHINY FINGERNAILS, but unfortunately a button is stuck and it goes into super-zoom mode every time I start it up. So instead, I’ll tell you what I used to get these lovely nails: Sephora’s Four Step Buffer. Yeah – Generic Sephora Brand. You heard that right. With instructions printed right on it (albiet, they are in French, but still, if you parlez-vous you’re good to go)! I cannot even begin to tell you how shiny these make your nails. And I’m a biter with the worst nails ever. But I can freakin’ SEE myself in my fingernails now. Who needs a mirror when you have nails, right?

for lovers of lip balm :)

So I just returned from the lovely SoCal vicinity yesterday, back to Oregon with the rain and 45 degree weather. I miss the sun already! But possibly the best part of the vacation was this tarte tinted balm I found at the Downtown Disney Sephora. (find it here http://www.tartecosmetics.com/tarte-item-24-7 ) It lasted through a huge slice of pizza and still looked great. And for only fourteen dollars! Plus it comes in all kinds of pretty shades My favorite is the Monday shade, which goes on a subtle red.  Enjoy!