Sephora PRO Palettes Warm, Cool, & Editorial | A Review

I've been sitting on this post for a couple weeks now and it's really overdue. Sephora's PRO team has created three pro eyeshadow palettes that have just recently launched at Sephora. I've already collaborated on a video with my friend Zach where I share some of my thoughts and swatch all of the shades. If you can watch the video (HERE) if you'd like to see me be the world's most awkward human. In this post I wanted to go a little more in depth with the bare bones of these palettes.

Sephora Collection Lip Masks | Review

Like I talked about in my Makeup Tip Monday Post, I've been all about lip care lately. Keeping my lips soft and smooth has been the name of the game lately. I think it's a key part of having an even and clean looking lipstick application. Lord knows that trying to get a liquid lipstick, especially a dark shade, to sit right on dry lips is a total nightmare. No one wants that so always remember lips need love and care too. 

Makeup Tip Monday | A Plump and Soft Lip Routine

It's Spring so that means love is in the air, right?! Spring is wedding and prom season so I feel like "love" goes hand in hand with all of the seasonal occasions at least to some extent. Either way love or not I feel like there's an exceptional amount of kissing going on around this time so it's a better time than ever to get full kissably soft lips. Hell, even if you aren't doing any kissing full soft lips just because sounds pretty nice to me. Imagine all the beautiful lipsticks that you can pop on your lips without any issues - mattes, satins, glosses, anything!

Friday Favorites | February Favorites

I really don't have that many favorites this month partially because the few products I have been loving I've really been obsessing over and also because I've spent the last month trying to find the perfect pair of eyelashes. I've found some new good ones but, I can't rule out a favorite just quite yet because some are still waiting in various shopping carts all over the internet. I have quite a few tabs open at the moment. 

Friday Favorites | Favorite Face Brushes

So I've actually sat around thinking about this post a little longer than I would like to admit. Friday Favorites posts are always the hardest for me because truth be told I don't love many things. Sure I might like a good amount of things but the jump from like to love in my book is a hard one to make. It probably also doesn't help that sometimes I just don't think about those everyday routine bits that have been so tried and true that they almost forgettable favorites... If that makes any sense to anyone besides me. 

Sephora Rouge Gel Lip Liner | Review

There is something absolutely satisfying about a super clean polished lip. It's like an art form all by itself. I always envy people with naturally even lips because making that ish symmetrical without looking crazy is something serious. Sometimes I think making my top lip symmetrical is more stressful than making my winged liner even. We all have our makeup struggles and that one is pretty high up there on my list.

5 Fantasitc Gifts to Give from Sephora

Time is really ticking on the Holiday/Christmas countdown clock. Everything is slowly but surely creeping up upon us and the shopping time is about to be down to the knuckles. I'm personally pretty good at not waiting until the last minute to get too many gifts but, I'm always on the lookout for another good gift to give. Gift giving is that one time where you get to find out how well or how poorly you know your friends. For some reason it's also that fun time of year where you totally blank out on what to give some people despite how well you know them. It's that hectic time of year that just fries your brain to a charred little crisp. 

My Everyday Complexion Routine

I feel like the title of this post may be a bit misleading because sure this is my everyday complexion routine but, it's probably a bit more than most people's typical everyday makeup style. When I do my makeup I go all in for a full face because that's my preference. I do it for work and when I'm going out somewhere and usually this happens way more often than a no-makeup-makeup day. Everyone's life calls for a different type of makeup routine and this one just so happens to be mine.

Friday Favorites | At Home Gel Manicures

There are so many things that I was thinking about for this Friday Favorites post but, currently I'm doing a complete overhaul on my room so about 99% of all of my makeup in skincare is currently in boxes until I get some better storage containers in my room for everything. Needless to say I can't find a damn thing. It's a bit flustering not being able to get to much of anything that I need at the moment but, it will be worth it in the end so I guess I can deal for now. I was going to do something that was more for the season but, then I remembered something I started doing again that I absolutely love - at home gel manicures!

Light Makeup Medley

When I have a day off 98.9% of the time I don't wear makeup. I just take my days off as fresh face days so my skin can breathe and have a break from being smothered under a face full of makeup. Typically they are the days when I do my face masks and other skincare treatments. Sometimes on the rare occasion though I want to pull myself together a bit and pop on some makeup. I consider these days quite light makeup days although I feel like many people may beg to differ a bit.

Two New Sephora Buys

A lot of new things have came out from Sephora Collection over the past few months and I've been debating on what things I've wanted to try. I haven't been super active on sifting what to buy and and what to skip over because I have a few other products unused in my arsenal I want to play around with first. Unshockingly enough though a not so crazy thing happened the other day and I ended up impulsively buying two new Sephora beauty bits. 

[Hipster Lashes and Iced Coffee over Celebrity Skin with Bobbi Brown Heather Liner]

I think the impulse really started when my friend Julie asked me how to put on falsies and I used that as a mental excuse to just buy some lashes and give her a tried and true lash application demo. It was a pretty good excuse if I do say so myself since it was for educational purposes. 

The lashes I bought were the Sephora Collection False Lashes in Hipster. The lashes are wispy with the perfect amount of fullness to them. They almost have that 3D effect to them because the longer wispy lash pieces very slightly in length and curl. They are absolutely gorgeous because they give the perfect amount of eye widening pop. The one issue I do have to say that I have though is that the band is white and you can see it against dark liner so you have to make sure you go over the band with liner after the lashes are secure. 

Along with the lashes I ended up grabbing the Sephora Collection Oil Infusion Color and Care lippie in 09 Iced Coffee. I've been wanting to try it out for awhile but, I don't try out anything in store that has a wand because I know gross crusty humans think it's okay not to use disposable wands or to double dip their used wands back into the product (YUCK.) Iced Coffee is a beautiful pinky toned nude brown shade. It looks a little bit more pink on the lips than it does on the tube but, none-the-less it gives a gorgeous sheer wash of color to the lips. I love how creamy and hydrating it is and since it's an oil and not a true gloss it isn't sticky at all. Since it's an oil it doesn't have a long wear time at all by itself, as soon as you eat or drink something most of the product comes off and it has to be reapplied. Regardless i like the product for what it is and it's great for popping over nude matte lippies when they get too dry. 

All in all I like my little purchases. The lashes are lovely and the Oil Infusion lippie is perfect for keeping my lips hydrated during the upcoming winter months. 

Top 10 Makeup Products to Buy at Sephora

The world of Sephora is both a magical and dangerous place. There's always something new coming out and I always seem to find something that I think that I just have to have in my life. Rarely do I actually need a new product but every time I somehow find a way to justify a adding a new little makeup baby to my collection. I think if my family knew how often I was spending money on makeup they would try to send me to a beauty addict reform school. Fortunately for me they don't pay attention to me like that so my addiction is allowed to flourish and I can continue to share all of my fun things with all of you. 

Sephora Lux False Lash in Plush | Review

I may not wear false lashes all the time but, I do like to dabble in the area. I really like trying out new lashes and figuring out what styles look the best. They are an awesome way to give any look a little extra pop and they are also a great way to give yourself a heart attack if they some how end up on the floor and look like a gigantic spider. Clearly, either way they are a great time all around. 

Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer | Review

Sephora rolled out a whole bunch of new products this week and I have to say they have really stepped up their game. Good job, Sephora. I have dabbled around with some of the new goodies a little bit but, I haven't gone too deep into my research with most of the products just quite yet. I was most excited to try out their new Bright Future Gel Serum Concealers because I heard so many awesome things about them - So, as you can imagine that's where most of my attention went. 

Pops of Color for Summer | Lips

I really love bright colorful lips, I really do but, I'm sure it would be hard to guess from my typical makeup selections. Typically my lip colors of choice is either some variation of nude or something dark and vampy but, during the summer I tend to step outside my typical safe zone once and awhile to experiment with a colorful pop on my lips. I think it's a fun and bold way to mix things up without having to pull out the whole nine yards and really switch up the makeup game. 

Friday Favorites | April Favorites

Another month of 2015 down and another batch of things I have been obsessing over. April has been a pretty vanilla month, as are most months of my life but none the less I found things to get excited over. I'm pretty excited the weather is getting warmer and my allergies are starting to die down again. For a minute there I was really worried for the well being of my winged liner because I couldn't go out of the house without immediately tearing up to the brink of being blinded by pollen. Things are better now and I'm happy I don't have to worry about the state of my eye makeup any longer and I can focus on the more important things in life like what kind of makeup I'm going to buy next. 

Sephora Colorful Shadow and Liner Crayons | [NEW colors] Secret Boudoir, Fresh Limeade, Cafe Au Lait

Sephora recently launched nine new matte cream eyeshadow crayons as part of their Colorful Shadow and Liner Crayon line. I can't say I have ever indulged in this line before because honestly none of the colors really caught my eye since most of them are shimmery - not my vibe. Yet, for whatever reason I really loved the new colors they came out with and decided to pick three of them up, two neutrals and a vibrant lime green just to throw in a pop of color. Tis the season for slight pops of color so why not. The two neutrals that I got were Secret Boudoir, a light matte beige, and Cafe Au Lait which is a standard light neutral brown shade. My color pop of choice was Fresh Limeade, a festive lime green which for whatever reason I feel like will be a lovely spring and summer crowd pleaser. I rarely were color but, I feel like I deserve a round of applause for the valiant attempt to step outside the box. 

Friday Favorites | Face Masks

I love masks. If I could use them everyday of my life I would... multiple times a day. There is something just so calming and gratifying about them that I try to do them as much as I can without being too excessively over the top about it. I don't have horrible skin but, at the moment it isn't necessarily where I want it to be either so I do what I can to pamper my skin and help it out. I have picked out my top 5 favorite masks at the moment. I don't use all of them all of the time but, I do have a little rotation going on and sometimes use them in combination with one another. As you can probably tell I prefer detox masks and that's because I am prone to getting clogged pores and the occasional spot or two. I wear a lot of makeup on a pretty daily basis so for me it's important to flush it all out. 

Friday Favorites | Brushes

[Top: beauty blenders | Bottom Left to Right: setting brush, blush brush, blending brush, angled contour brush, contour brush, crease brush, angled liner brush] 

I think that the tools you work with are just as important as the makeup you are putting on your face. Using the right tools to apply your makeup can make all the difference in the world; they can change a decent look into a spectacular one so I don't think that finding what works best for you is really important. I know that some people want to skimp out in this department which is sometimes fine if you can find a great product at a decent price (everyone loves that) but, shouldn't always be the case. Invest some love into your brushes and tools because they are going to outlast any makeup product you get (or they should) and will be your best weapons.

Friday Favorites | Unsung Staples

I've realized that there are some products that I couldn't live without but they don't get enough recognition. I don't even give these products a second thought sometimes but, I just grab for these products like clockwork. Sometimes it's the most simple products that make the biggest difference. These products might not be anything super special at first glance to most but, they would be my first easy fix recommendations.