De-cluttering #1

I have decided to start a decuttering series here on my blog because recently, I have been going through all my makeup to sort out the things that I wear constantly and the items that I have not touched in a really long time. Over the years, I have horded a lot of makeup but I have realized that I barely use 50% of my collection, so in an attempt to use more of my collection, I have decided to get rid of items that I know I will not reach for in the future.

• Maybelline Shine Free Pressed Powder in Soft Cameo: I did like this powder when I first got it mainly because I used it all over my face to prevent my face from becoming oily. However, whenever I use this powder over foundation, my foundation instantly becomes cake-y. It is a great product if used alone on my face, but I love my Rimmel Stay Matte which I can use alone or with foundation as well, so I decided to get rid of this product.
• ELF Eyebrow Kit in Medium: I know a lot of people like this product but I could not get myself to like it. I think the reason is because I prefer using an eyebrow pencil to fill in my brows because it allows for more control. Since I cannot seem to get this product to work for me, I have decided to get rid of it and stick to eyebrow pencils from now on.
• ELF Contour Blush & Bronzing Cream: St. Lucia: This is a beautiful blush and bronzer duo, however I am not a fan of cream products. I find them really hard to work with and the bronzer can look a bit muddy on my skin at times. Therefore, I have decided to pass on this product, however if you are a fan of cream products, I would suggest you try out this product since it is super affordable!
• Estee Lauder Sumptuous Bold Volume Lifting Mascara: I did not like this product at all. This mascara weighted down my lashes and made them look super clumpy. It did not really lengthen or hold my curls for a long time. There are plenty of drugstore mascaras that work better at a more affordable price!
• Covergirl Lip Perfection Lipstick: Fairytale: I did like this product back when I first got into makeup. It is a pretty bright coral color, however ever since discovering liquid lipsticks, I rarely reach for my regular lipsticks as they are not long lasting and they smudge everywhere.
• Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede in Finale and Preview: I am pretty sure this whole line was named after parts of a play which is pretty cute. However, I am not a fan of the formula, they are on the sheer side and they are not long lasting at all. The colors itself are alright, nothing unique and they are not the most affordable lippies at the drugstore so I would not recommend this product at all.

These are all the products that I have for today, but I will be continuing this series in the future!

July 2017 Favorites

The month of July has flew by in a blink of an eye. Summer is pretty much half over at this point and I am not ready for it!! Today, I am going to share with you some of my favorite products for the month of July. Since I have been trying to use up my make up before buying new ones, there is only a few new items in this post.

• Maybelline Facestudio Master Fix: Wear Boosting Setting Spray: I have always used my Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray since I have started wearing makeup but I wanted to find a drug store alternative. I picked this up the other day at CVS when they were having a sale and it retails for $9.99 for 3.4 fl oz which is very affordable. Currently, I have been reaching for this product more than my Urban Decay one because I find that it does keep my makeup looking fresh and matte throughout the day. It helps my makeup last longer at a fraction of the price compared to the Urban Decay setting spray. My only two complaints are that it does smell a little weird and it does not come out cool compared to the Urban Decay one (unsure if this is because of the hot weather but I feel like my Urban Decay one always sprays out cool).
• Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid Highlight in Opal: As I have mentioned previously, I love Becca highlighters because they are extremely pigmented. Opal is one of my favorite shades, it is a golden pearl color that is extremely flattering for a variety of skin tones. I have this shade in both the liquid and powder form and recently I have been loving the liquid form because I find that it is more flattering on me. It does not look cake-y and patchy compared to the powder one!
• BH Cosmetics 11 Piece Make-Up Brush Set: This set of rose gold brushes are so pretty that the photo does not do them justice. They retail for $23 and they contain a foundation brush, powder brush, contour brush and a whole bunch of eye brushes. They are extremely good quality and feel super soft. There has not been any shedding when I wash the brush and I just love how they feel on my skin.
• Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: I have been wearing the shades “In Full Blue-m” which is a pale grey blue shade and “Devil Wears Nada” which is a pale pink shade nonstop. They are super flattering shades and great for the summer time. The formula is also pretty good, I can usually wear them for a week with minimal chipping and I work an office job so I type constantly.

Hopefully, I will have more products to show in the month of August! For now, what have been your favorite products that you have been loving?

2017 Everyday Makeup Routine

When I am going to work, I usually try to keep my makeup as minimal as possible, since I like to sleep in as much as I can. This is what I have been using almost every day since summer has begun. There are some days where if I know I am going out later, I will wear more makeup but if I am just going to work, I like to keep things very basic.

• Step 1: Applying sunscreen. I have been pretty bad about SPF in the past, but this year, I have been more determined to use it frequently. I have been using Coola Sunscreen which is organic and this doubles as both sunscreen and as a moisturizer.
• Step 2: Powder. I do find that the sunscreen leaves me looking pretty dewy, boardline oily looking, so I like to powder afterwards. Recently, I have been loving the Rimmel Stay Matte powder, which has been highly raved about in the beauty community. It is super affordable and leaves my skin looking and staying matte all day.
• Step 3: Brows. I cannot leave my house if I do not draw in my brows and I usually alternate using the Ana or the Maybelline brow.
• Step 4: Eyeliner. Sometimes, when I am extra lazy/woke up late, I would just stop at step 3 but other days, I would move onto eyeliner. My holy grail eyeliner has been the Kiko Milano.
• Step 5: Mascara. Once, I’m done with eyeliner, I like to top it off with mascara. The mascara, I have been using (since forever) is the Covergirl…

Usually, I can go through all the steps in about 5-10 minutes, unless I am having a bad brow/eyeliner day. What products do you guys use on a daily and how long does it take you guys to do your makeup in the morning?

2017 Favorite Masks

In addition to my daily skin care routine, I usually like to do different face masks throughout the week to help keep my skin looking fresh and clear. Here are a couple of the face masks that I have been using nonstop for the first half of 2017.

• Innisfree: Jeju Volcanic Pore Clay Mask: This is the first clay mask that I have ever used and I love this to help exfoliate my skin and remove all the dirt and sebum that I have trapped in my pores. It leaves my skin feeling super clean and refresh. I do find it a bit drying especially during the colder months so I usually like to use this only once a week so that my skin does not get super dried out.
• Milky Piggy Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask: I got this product because of all the reviews I have seen of it online. It is a super interesting product since it goes on like a cream but within five minutes it begins to completely bubble up to help exfoliate the skin. I do find that when it starts bubbling up, it gets super itchy but luckily you only need to leave this on the face for about five minutes. It leaves my skin feeling fresh and clean but I do find it to be a bit messy with all the bubbles since it does get everywhere. I usually also use this product once a week and will usually alternate between this one and the Innisfree Jeju Volcanic Pore Clay Mask, I do find that this one is less drying than the clay mask.
• St. Clare Sebum Treatment MP3 Blackhead Remover Set: This actually comes with two other product a sebum softener and a serum to close your pore once you remove all the blackheads. I absolutely love this product for removing blackheads from my nose, it is very similar to the My Scheming Blackhead Acne Removal Activated Carbon 3 Step Mask set but I find that this one is slightly better than the other one. Some reviews have mentioned that this product is white but it seems that they must have reformulated as mine is black. It does an amazing job at removing all my blackheads and leaving my nose feeling soft and smooth. The only downside is that it is super hard to obtain in the US (my friend brought it back for me from Taiwan) so if you are having a hard time getting this product, I would recommend the My Scheming Blackhead mas set instead.
• Etude House: I Need You Mask Sheets: These have been my favorite sheet masks for a couple of years. I usually restock every time I go to ASIA! They have many different types of scents and each scent actually corresponds to different focuses. For example the Tea Tree masks is for soothing & clean and the honey masks is for moisturizing. I usually pick out the masks depend on the type of treatment my skin needs on a specific day. They all smell amazing and I love how they feel  on my skin. I have been trying to use these every other day but since I am lazy I usually end up using one mask a week.

I do hope to try out different types of masks in the future so if there are any recommendations please leave them in the comments 🙂

June 2017 Favorites

Hello! I have been gone for pretty much the whole month of June. This month was a busy one for me as I had to go to Chicago for a business trip in the beginning of the month and then my birthday weekend once I came back. The rest of June was spent catching up with all the work that I had put aside while I was gone! Everything has finally calmed down and I am glad to be back to posting.

Since the month of June has past, I am back with my June Favorites! Since I have been super busy, I have not had the chance to try out a lot of new products but I have been adding some old favorites back into my daily routine.

• Coola SPF 30 Face Classic Sunscreen: Since it is the summer time, I decided to add sunscreen into my daily routine. I have been trying to add sunscreen to my routine for a couple of years now as I want to prevent sunspots on my face, however I hate the way that sunscreen feels. Recently, I decided to try out the Coola sunscreen and I absolutely love it. It is organic and does not feel heavy at all. It goes on like a moisturizer and does not feel sticky to the touch. I also got the unscented version and it does not smell at all which is preferred since I dislike the smell of sunscreens.
• Sephora Solid Clean: Solid Brush Cleaner: I have mix feelings about this product. This is a brush cleaner soap that comes with a sponge, I hate the sponge that comes with the soap as I find that it does not effectively remove all the makeup that is on my brushes. However, I do really like the soap as long as I use another sponge (this is one that the I ordered off Amazon). I find that it leaves my brushes smelling extremely nice and leaves them feeling very soft as well.
• Rimmel Stay Matte Powder – Transparent: So many people have said amazing things about this product and it is definitely well deserved. I am not a huge fan of this product for the colder days as I find it does cling to my dry patches as I have dry skin. However, this product works great during the hotter days. I find that it keeps my skin matte even when it is extremely hot outside and it prevents me from looking like an oily sweaty mess.
• Maybelline Dream Cushion Liquid Foundation: This product was in my April Favorites and I had to mention it again because for the month of June, I have been loving this product especially paired with the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder. This foundation has a dewy finish which I like since I normally have dry skin, however I always loved the look of a matte foundation base which I am able to obtain when I set this foundation with the Rimmel Stay Matte. I will most likely be wearing this foundation for the rest of the summer since it is working so well for me (and because this is currently the only foundation that is dark enough for my tan haha).
• Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush – Paaarty: I actually got this product from the Sephora Birthday Gift set. This was actually a set that I was super excited for since I have been dying to try the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blushes. This shade is extremely flattering and not overly pigmented so you can slowly build the color up to your desire. The blush itself was beautiful and I can see why so many people rave about the Amazonian Clay blushes!

I would love to hear what makeup/beauty products you guys are currently loving.

Casual Daytime Makeup

Recently, as the warmer weather has been approaching I have been changing up my makeup to fit the weather. I usually do not like wearing too much makeup when it gets hot out, as I do not like my face feeling super heavy. Here has been my go to make-up routine when I go out during the daytime during the weekend (usually when I go to work, I just put on some brows and head out the door – too tired for anything else!)

•  Korres Quercetin and Oak Anti-ageing Foundation: This has been my favorite foundation for months now, I always find myself reaching back for it because it does not make my face cake-y. While this foundation makes my skin look flawless, it always still looks very natural. I will need to switch to a different foundation soon as this foundation is getting too light for me.
• Make-Up Geek Eyeshadows: I’m not a huge eye shadow person because personally I am not quite sure how to use them. But I have been using “Beaches and Cream” all over my lid and using “Frappe” on the corner of my eyes to provide some depth and I think it looks pretty nice.
• Maybelline Fit-Me Concealers: I have been trying to finish up these two items for the longest time and it never seems to be used up. Therefore, I am forcing myself to use only this concealer until I finish it so that I can finally use try out different ones. I do actually love this concealer but I would like to try out different ones.
• Maybelline Eyestudio Brow Define: You guys already know that this is my go-to brow product so it is not surprising that this product is here!
• Kiko Milano Eye Marker: As I mentioned in my April favorites, this has been my new holy grail eyeliner. It does not budge no matter how oily my eyelids get. This eyeliner goes on extremely black and stays super intensely black the whole day which is why I am so in love with this eyeliner.
• Covergirl Lash Blast VolumeCovergirl Lash Blast Volume: This is my current mascara that I have been trying out. I do not love it but I do not hate it either, it does the job of lengthening and making my lashes look super black but sadly it does not keep my lashes curled. I am still on the hunt for a good mascara so if you guys have any recommendations do let me know 🙂
• Benefits High Beam Highlight: This was another product that I had in my April Favorites. I have been moving towards liquid highlighters because I do find that they make my skin look less patchy and cake-y. This highlighter is great for a subtle highlight and makes you glow without making you look like a disco ball.
• NARS duo in Laguna and Orgasm: Recently instead of contouring I have just been using bronzer. I have mentioned this before but my Laguna is not very pigmented for some reason (I think that I got a bad one) but recently I have been liking that because I can slowly build up my bronzer without going overboard all at once. I always finish off with Orgasm as my blush since it is such a nice pink shade.

Make-up to Try for Summer 2017

As summer approaches there are a bunch of new make-up items that recently released that I want to try out. Some of these have been on the market longer than others but I feel like all these products would be great to try for the summer time.

• Anastasia Beverly Hills Aurora Glow Kit: I have heard extremely good things about Anastasia glow kits and have been wanting to try one but have not found one that was different than all my other highlighters. Recently, they came out with the Aurora glow kit which is supposed to be the sister of the Moonchild kit (which is absolutely stunning) and the colors are super unique and unlike any other highlighters that I currently have.
• Cover Fx Custom Enhancing Drops –  Halo: I actually tried my friend’s Cover Fx drops and they were amazing. The pigmentation was crazy and it made my skin look super glowy. Recently, I find myself reaching for liquid highlighters more than my powder ones because I find that they look less patchy on my skin. Since I am all about this holographic highlighter trend, I really want the color Halo.
• Milani Make it Last Setting Spray: This setting spray has been raved about by so many youtubers. I don’t try out setting sprays really often, the only one I have used is the Urban Decay one and I really want to experiment with other setting sprays (preferably a drugstore one so I do not need to spend so much money buying a high end one).
• Pixi Makeup Fixing Mist: I have heard mixed reviews about this product, some mention that their skin broke out when they used this product but they like the product overall and would continue using if it did not break them out. Since I usually do not break out from make up products, I figured that would not be such a big issue for me. This is also on my list of setting sprays to try out in order to find a replacement for my Urban Decay setting spray.
• L’oreal Paris Cosmetics Infallible Pro Glow Concealer: This is the newest item on the list, it released only a couple of days ago on Amazon only! I believe it is not yet in the drug store yet. Some mention that they were trying to go for the Tarte Shape Tape Concealer experience, as that concealer has been on my wish list for the longest time I figured that this might be a good drug store alternative to try out. A lot of the colors are sold out on Amazon at the moment so I will likely wait a bit longer and read more reviews before actually purchasing.
• Becca Sunlit Bronzer: This is another extremely new item to Sephora. I have only ever used Becca highlighters which are amazing, the glow they provide is insane. The reviews for these have been promising and since summer is coming, I am on the hunt for a good bronzer. I want to go for a nice glowly tanned look for the summer so I am trying to expand my range of bronzers as I currently only have Hoola by Benefit and Laguna by Nars.

Have any of you guys tried out any of these products and what are your opinions on them? I would love to hear what you guys have to say about these products before I commit to purchasing them!

Feb – April 2017 Empties

As I was gathering products for this blog post, I realized how bad I am at finishing makeup products. Every month I have been meaning to do an empties post, but every month I realized I only used up about two items. I ended up compiling all my empties from February to April and still I only ended up with the following items. My goal for the next three months is to try to finish more products so that I can purchase new makeup items.

• Anastasia Beverly Hills – Brow Wiz: This is my all-time favorite brow product and since I always do my brows, it was no surprise that this was part of my empties. I always make sure that I have back up of this in my house.
• Maybelline Eyestudio Brow Define + Fill Duo: This is my favorite drug store brow product and I actually find myself reaching for this more than my brow wiz. One of the main reasons is because it works extremely well and it is so much more affordable than my brow wiz. I am not at the point in my life where I can drop $21 for a brow product every three months so I try to use the drugstore alternative more often.
• Softlips Cube 5-1 Lip Care: I actually got this product way back in an Influenster box and since I have so many lip balms, I constantly forgot about this product. To be honest, it is not my favorite lip balm and I cannot see myself repurchasing. It retails for around $3-$5 which is not too expensive but I do not find it to be very moisturizing. It does not provide me with the deep moisturize that I want but rather just sits as a thin film on top of my lips.
• LA Girl Pro Concealer – Cool Tan: This is one of my all-time favorite concealers because it is so affordable and high coverage. I tend to use the shade cool tan to contour my cheeks and it always provide a nice subtle contour that I really liked. However, when I tried to contour with this recently, it began to look extremely muddy on my face. I decided to part with this product for that reason, as I am unsure if it is just because I have had it for such a long time (two years and counting).
• Jesse’s Girl Cosmetics Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner: I featured this eyeliner in my January Favorites a while back because it was a great dupe for the Kat Von D Tattoo liner. It was a great product (until I discovered the Kiko Milano eyeliner that I featured in my April Favorites) but the only problem I had with it was that it was not black enough for my liking. It also dried up in a month which was extremely fast in my opinion.
• Max Factor Masterpiece Max Mascara: This product came in one of my Influenster packages and I was skeptical about this mascara since I have never heard of this brand. However, it actually worked pretty well, it lengthened my lashes and did not smudge which is two of the main things I look for in mascara. I did not find that it helped with curls but I have yet to find a mascara that helps to define curled lashes.

It is quite sad that I only managed to use up six products in the span of three months. I am going to try to finish up more makeup items in the coming months so that I can justify buying more makeup to try out.

April Favorites

The month of April just flew by! I spent a week in April in sunny California with my best friend which was a lot of fun. There aren’t too many new products that I have tried out this month but there are some of the items that I have been loving or reach for extremely often.

• Maybelline Dream Cushion Foundation: I just wrote a review about this previously and I mentioned that the color that I got was not my color. However, after coming back from Cali, I got a shade or two darker and now this foundation fits me perfectly. I am loving this foundation, it is not too cakey and it is able to provide my skin with a flawless finish.
• LA Girl Pro Concealer: This is one of my favorite affordable concealers and I did a review on these a while back on my blog. They are about $3 a tube and they are pretty full coverage without making you look cakey. There are also so many shades that I use these for both highlighting and contouring (which is why I own so many tubes of different shades). I stopped using these for a while to try to finish using up my Fit Me and Kat Von D concealer, but I went back to these this month and I’m currently loving them.
• Benefits High Beam Highlight: This was a sample size item that I got with another one of my benefits items during black Friday. I have not had much experience with liquid highlighters so I was both excited and scared to try this out. It looks like a light pink highlighter in the tube and I dab a couple drops along my cheekbones and blend it out with my finger. This was surprisingly easy to work with and I find that it provides my skin with such a nice glow without being too overwhelming.
• ELF Cream Gel Eyeliner: I have had this product for about a year now but I never tried using it. Recently, I ran out of my liquid eyeliner and did not have time to get a new one so I decided to use a gel eyeliner instead. This product is very creamy and glides on super easily. It is also way darker than my liquid eyeliner so I really liked that. The only downside to this product is that it smudges but then again all my liquid eyeliners smudge. I find that this product is able to make my wing look more dramatic compared to when I just use liquid eyeliner.
• Kiko Milano Eye Marker: Previously I had mentioned that all the liquid eyeliners I have tried in the past have smudged on me, but then I found this product. When we were walking about Los Angles, we stumbled upon a Kiko Milano store so we decided to pick up this eyeliner since the package was super cute and when we tried the eyeliner on our arms it was super black. It was not till I started wearing it the day after that I realized how amazing this product really was. When I first started using it, I was not too impressed because the brush felt stiff and was a bit rough against my eye (although now that I have used it more, the brush is a lot softer). However, at the end of the day, my eyeliner was exactly as dark as it was when I drew it on in the morning. There was absolutely no smudging and I fell in love with this product. Highly recommend this product if you have oily eyelids like me!!
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Maybelline Dream Cushion Liquid Foundation

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I have been looking for a cushion foundation ever since they came out. The idea behind a cushion idea is extremely fascinating and I have been looking to get my hands on one for a couple of months now. More and more drugstore make up brands have been releasing them, L’Oreal Paris was the first one and then Maybelline released their Dream Cushion. Since I had a coupon deal at CVS, I decided to pick up the Maybelline Dream Cushion in true beige. They retail for $15.99, which is price-y for a drugstore item. However, with a couple of coupons, I got it for around $12 which was a pretty good deal.

The packaging comes with a cushion that you can use to apply the foundation or I have seen people use a brush as well. I find the texture of the foundation to be extremely interesting, it reminds me of a sponge. When I put the cushion into the foundation it sinks in and then expands again which feels pretty cool.

The shade that I got was true beige, which is actually too dark for my skin tone right now.  It also has a slight-y pink undertone which does not work that well with my skin since I have yellow undertones. I am hoping to use this foundation more when it i the summer since currently I look a bit like an oompa loompa when I wear it. However, I do find the application process pretty easy since I used the cushion and I did not have to clean another brush for this product. Although I do find that the cushion gets real dirty real fast. But the cushion made the application quick and easy and it applied very smoothly onto my skin. The foundation does provide light to medium coverage and you can build it up for more coverage. It does provide a dewy finish which may not be too great for oily skin but I do have dry skin so that was not an issue or me. Along the day I did find dry patches especially around my nose areas. However, I did like this foundation since it felt very lightweight on my skin but I do have to play with it more when it is summer to see how I really feel about this foundation.