A Few of My Favorite Things
Posted on April 26, 2008
Filed Under department store/premium brands, drugstore brands, favorite things | Leave a Comment
So you’ve read a little about me on the home page - why I started this site. If you’d like to get to know a little more about me, what better way than to talk about a few of my favorite makeup and beauty items? There’s so much I love that I can’t cover everything at once, but today I thought it would be fun for me to pick my “right-now” must-have-and-use items.
For starters, I almost always go for a good primer on my face before anything else. I use a great foundation primer that I’ve found at Aromaleigh. I won’t put on foundation without this now. A little bit goes a long way, it’s got all kinds of goodies like vitamins and grapeseed extract, and it makes my makeup just glide on evenly and helps with staying power! I use it daily and I’m seeing a single bottle last close to a year.
What about foundation? Well, for the past couple of years, I’ve become a mineral makeup girl when it comes to foundation. I’ve tried over a dozen different brands, including the famous Bare Minerals - some with more success than others. I’m pretty much settled on Aromaleigh Voile now. Get a good kabuki brush and buff it on - it leaves an amazing flawless finish on my face - and is so much easier and quicker to blend and apply than any of that liquid stuff I used to use. I find that the mineral foundations come in such a greater range of colors than non-minerals, so it’s possible to get a better match. You can even custom mix shades easily. I keep on hand the Voile in 3N, 3W, 4N and 4W (adding in more of the 4s in the warmer months. It’s simple, just sprinkle the powders in a little ceramic dish (I use a LeCreuset ramekin) and mix with the kabuki.
As any busy woman, I’m a huge fan of any product that can be used for more than one use. I’ve recently discovered the joys of The Multiple by Nars. This is such a versatile amazing thing to have in your makeup bag!!! Picture a huge tube, like an overgrown lipstick. Depending on the color, you can use it on your cheeks to blush or bronze, on your eyes as base or shadow, anywhere you want to accent or shade, even on your lips! I currently own three. Palm Beach is the first color I tried — nice medium bronze — I love it as blush, but it also works as a crease color on my eyes, and I also use it at the hairline, chin, etc. sometimes. Portofino is a nice pinky-coral. I love it on my lips and cheeks. St. Barts is kind of a brownish-taupe, and a bit more understated on my skintone than the other two. I’ve used it to shade the sides of my nose, and it’s amazing on my eyes and my lips. They run just under $40 a pop, but I have a feeling these will last me a while. I’ve already got my sights set on South Beach, Cannes, and Maldives as well.
Speaking of multi-purpose products, Bare Minerals face color in Bare Radiance will always have a spot in my makeup bag as well. I’ve tried a lot of the different BM radiances and face colors, and this one is my favorite. I love to use it as a subtle bronzing powder. In the summer months I find myself reaching for it quite often for my cheeks, eyes, and lips (under clear gloss).
Now, so let’s talk about lips. I’ll confess. I am definitely a glossaholic! If pressed to tell what my best feature is (don’t we hate those questions), I would probably say either my lips or my eyes. For some reason I gravitate toward glosses (although I will wear good old lipstick from time to time), but I prefer gloss by far. You can color *and* texture, and I just love the way it makes my lips look nice and full. Plus the scents and flavors they often come with make it so fun!! So gloss doesn’t have much staying power compared to long-wear lipsticks, but I don’t like the way longwear lipsticks look and feel so much anyway. Plus, it’s fun to apply gloss! So, don’t ask me how many I own (too many to count!!), but my current favorites includes glosses by Smashbox, as well as Lancome Juicy Tubes and L’oreal Colour Juice. I also love fun flavored shiny goodies from Bath and Body Works like Bigelow Mentha Lip Shine and the Liplicious line.
Eyes - yes - I have favorites here as well. I’m just in love with almost every eye color collection from Aromaleigh. There is such a range of colors available, and they can be as subtle or as vibrant as you want. My favorite set is probably the Eye Lustres. These are just way too cool. They aren’t matte, and they’re not frosty. They have this beautiful, subtle sheen that is appropriate across many age groups and settings! Even if I still worked in the corporate world, I would be able to use these.
Eyeliner — what I’m using depends on the time I have. If I am not in a *huge* rush, then I’m likely to use an eyeliner brush and any of my many, many minerals to line my eyes. I’ve got these sort of strange dark blue eyes and on an average day I end up with some kind of brownish eyeliner. I’ve got too many too pick a favorite though. If I am in a hurry, though, it’s a quick and durable pencil liner for me. I love the Quickliner by Clinque. No need to sharpen, and this will last from 6:00 am until I go to bed (which can be quite late since I am a natural night owl). My current favorite colors are Violet and Smoky Brown.
I’ve used an eyelash curler since Jr. High. My eyelashes are fairly long but oh so straight. I have to admit I’m not partial to any particular brand here. I tend to just get a drugstore brand for this, although I’d love to try one of those heated ones one day! Mascara? Of all the drugstore, department store, and etailer brands I’ve tried, I always come back to Volum’ Express mascara by Maybelline. It has gone through many packaging and slight name changes over the years, but I’ve always loved it. Ultra-quick (don’t need but one or two coats max), thickens like crazy, doesn’t clump, doesn’t flake, and stays put!! I can remove with any basic eye makeup remover without pulling all my lashes out, though.
Whew!! A “few” of my favorites, huh? I guess I can talk about makeup all day! I’ve got more to share including my favorites in skincare and bath and body categories, but I’ll save those for another day!
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