Sarah's Go-To Beauty Essentials
Over the years I've gotten much more consistent with my makeup routine. Gone are the days of an exploding makeup drawer and experimenting with different dramatic looks or sparkle eyeshadow (but woooooo - was that fun as a 17 year old!)
Sooooo, since I've tried and tested pretty much everything out there, I'm sharing what products have passed my picky standards and will help to make your getting glam process much easier! And trust me, now that I have 2 week old Alice at home, easy is super important!
Let's start with prepping and perfecting the skin, shall we?
- The first step in my routine is using The Body Shop Tea Tree BB cream to even out my skin tone. While I was preggos, I found that any foundation made me break out... with the exception of this stuff. Discovering it has been revolutionary... if you have the same complaint, try it out!
- If I need any more coverage, I rely on my new discovery - Make Up Forever's Full Cover concealer. This stuff is amaze.
- Depending on the time of year or my desire for a tan, I'll sweep some Too Faced bronzer in Chocolate Soleil across my face. This one is a nice natural colour AND it smells like chocolate! No joke!
- Now where do I start with my Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Rose Petal? I've used it for ever (just ask Kali and Diana) - I put it on my cheeks, and use what's leftover on my fingers to add some pink to my lips as well. Just like that, a light cheek flush and lip colour are done!
Now for the eyes:
- I have naturally reeeeallly light brows. To give them a little oomph, this Benefit Gimme Brow gel is the easiest, quickest solution. I go for the Light/Medium colour, as light blondes should stick to ashy tones in order to avoid the product looking too red against fair skin.
- Usually, a swipe of this brown Almay Intense i-Colour (in Brown Topaz) eyeliner and a few good coats of mascara are my go-to's. Hypnoise mascara by Lancome is hands down the best I've ever used! It gives nice volume without that clumpy look, and it actually lasts the day. I used it years ago and then stopped out of laziness but I've recently gone back to it and vowed to never stray again. As for the eyeliner, they really did make this stuff for blue eyes! It gives a great pop and I imagine that the rest of their liners in their i-Colours line do the same.
- If I'm feeling really crazy, I'll bust out this ELF eye shadow palette! I've had it for about a year and have used maybe 25% of the colours because I'm not an everyday eyeshadow girl - but when I do go for it, this is literally all that I need. I've contemplated the oh-so famous Urban Decay Naked palette, but this one has triple the colours and literally cost $6. Tell me you've heard of ELF before? If not - GO. You'll die.
Ok, on to Lips! I used to be a nude/sheer pink kinda gal. But with the resurgence of the bold lip, I've become a huge fan of both. I rotate between a lot of colours, but the ones that I always have in my bag are:
- MAC Creme Cup (Natural)
- MAC Snob (Natural-ish Cooler Toned Pink)
- MAC Silly (Hot Pink)
- MAC Fashion Revival (Bold Purple) Note - I swear this is the exact same colour as MAC's Rebel. I have no idea why they duplicated it, but I totally got duped into owning both. Just pick one or the other!
And there you have it! Some of the best, tried and true products that I've come to love through a ton of (amazingly fun) trial and error. Do you have any go-to products that you can't live without? Spill! We'd love to know so that we can try them out too!
