Category: beauty

While I cannot say that I am a beauty guru by any means necessary, I can say that I have acquired some tricks of the trade over the course of the last few years by watching various YouTube makeup tutorials. I am the kind of girl who prefers a natural makeup routine most days but will definitely amp it up for a special occasion or night out with a dark smoky eye or a statement lip. 

Wet your beauty blender/sponge and then ring it out on a towel to get rid of excess water. 

I’ve used my sponges dry and soaking wet, but wetting in then ringing it out is how to make your makeup adher best to my skin. Spray your sponge with setting spray to further extend your face makeup’s life!

Foundation is meant to be used sparingly. 

At this point in my life, my skin is pretty clear, so I work with what God gave me and I work to enhance that. For this reason, I wear a high-coverage concealer under my eyes every single day and skimp out on wearing foundation on the rest of my face, just using powder, blush and bronzer to make me look more ~alive~.

I will wear a tinted moisturizer sometimes, because I like the way that it simply evens out my skin tone and contains SPF and doesn’t make me look cake-y or unnatural.

Prevent mascara mishaps by applying it in a handheld mirror, s-l-o-w-l-y.

The key to doing your mascara effectively is taking your time with it. I find that whenever I am rushing, I get it all over the place and have to do major clean-up, which just ends up taking more time and (Q-tips).

Blend, blend, blend and then blend some more.

If you are not satisfied with your eyeshadow has turned out, just keep blending around the edges. When in doubt, add a dark brown on the outer corner and just keep blending. It makes a WORLD of difference. To blend the edges of your eyeshadow even more seamlessly, pick up a bit of your face powder on an eyeshadow brush and blend up toward your brow bone. 

Apply your eyeshadow before your face makeup. 

This is especially applicable when using dark colors, so you are able to easily wipe away fallout under your eyes without messing up the beautiful ~canvas~, for lack of a better word, you’d just created.

Hand too shaky for liquid liner? 

Use an angled brush to apply a dark shadow to your lash line in the place of eyeliner. I love how much more easily it is blended. 

And those are my best makeup tips! If you liked these tips, please share with a friend!

I’d like to finish off this blog post with a question: What is your ride-or-die makeup product?

As many of you probably know, Birchbox is a monthly beauty subscription box service that matches you with products you may like based on your skin type and tone, hair color and type, etc.

I received a Birchbox subscription as a 23rd birthday gift from one of my best friends, Emily. While I have never tried Birchbox before, I have received Ipsy Bags in the past, so I was excited to see how these two beauty monthly subscription boxes differed.

A look inside at the products:

Benefit Cosmetics BADGal BANG! Volumizing Mascara 

 

I was initially very excited to try out this mascara as I have really enjoyed using Benefit’s other mascaras, They’re Real and Roller Lash, in the past.

Unfortunately, I did not like this one as much as I liked the other mascaras that Benefit has produced. While BadGal BANG! was nice for separating and lengthening your lashes, I found that they weren’t…well… voluminous enough for my liking.

I found this to be a bit irksome as the name suggests that the mascara does just that when it does not.

Vasanti Makeup Magnet Wipes 

 

I loved that these wipes were not at all greasy or irritating on my sensitive skin, but still managed to get all of my mascara and eyeshadow off, most likely because they are infused with micellar water. 10/10 would repurchase.

Stila Cosmetics Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Portofino

 

To be honest, I was never one for the liquid lip trend. I often find them uncomfortable because they dry out the lips and look unflattering when they wear off, as they often crack and wear unevenly.

I tried it out regardless — while the color, which Birchbox describes as a “pink rose shade” was a pretty one for fall, seemed to be long lasting and also dried evenly, I do not see myself reaching for this one. I would definitely be interested in trying out the satin finish lipsticks in the line though, in hope that they are a bit less drying.

Number 4 Super Comb Prep and Protect 

I spray this leave-in conditioner on wet hair after having showered and was pleasantly surprised at how easily it detangled my thick hair upon bushing it out. It was very soft to the touch and left my hair feeling silky smooth and smelling amazing. I am definitely interested in trying this out again to see if it ends up repairing my hair from its color and heat damage.

Balance Me Congested Skin Serum 

Upon first impression, I put a bit of this serum on a few breakouts on my chin. While I cannot tell if this helped to clear them up any faster, I loved how it made my dry, sensitive skin feel smooth to the touch and added a bit of moisture back into it.

After having read some rave reviews on Amazon, I feel that I will definitely have to keep testing this one out!

The verdict: As a recent college grad, I do my best to avoid spending a lot of money on makeup. If I choose to purchase a high-end product, it was most likely heavily researched to ensure that I can justify the price.

With this in mind, I loved being exposed to new products that I would not normally know about at an affordable cost. I also like that they are sample size, because I can try it out and then repurchase the full-size product if I see fit.  I look forward to receiving my next Birchbox and trying out more products next month!