Morning and Evening Skin Care Routine

Every morning, or on days when I plan on wearing make up, I use a couple of products to help keep my dry skin hydrated throughout the day. I am not that good at keeping up with my skincare routine, but I do try doing it at least once a day, whether in the day or evening.

For the morning, I would first use the Aveeno Smart Essentials Daily Detoxifying Scrub and I find this a very gentle scrub with a mild but pleasant scent and perfect for mornings. Given its a scrub, I find a lot of scrubs will turn my sensitive skin redder than it already is but not with this scrub! Its gentle but does the job and I feel my skin feels a lot smoother and applying makeup is better.

The next thing I use is Boots Expert Anti-Redness Serum. I have used this serum for a while now, and am on my third bottle already. I find this serum at radically reduced my redness, and have made wearing blush possible, without looking embarrassed or as if I have a fever, which is how red I can get.

The last thing I apply in the morning is Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturizer. I am still testing this out, have been for a couple of weeks but so far I find this is a very nice moisturizer for daytime. I do use this for a nighttime moisturizer but I find its not as heavy, therefore, not as moisturizing as others I've tried, which means I'm still on the lookout for a nighttime moisturizer.

Evening Routine 

Given than I am wearing makeup, the very first thing I use is the Garnier Clean+ Nourishing Cleansing Oil. I'm already more than half-way done with my second bottle of this. Its almost the perfect cleansing oil I've tried. I find it removes almost all my makeup and does not dry out my skin. The only thing I noticed about this is that although it can remove gel liner, or so the one I have, it cannot remove Kat Von D's Tattoo Liner. I find that this product will only fade down, not actually disappearing.

The next thing I use is the Biore Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser. I don't know if you're supposed to use two cleaners, but I find this helps clean my face even more, and because its a bit minty, it tingles the skin which I love. This is a really great product and I think if I had to chose between this one or the Garnier oil I would have to go with this one because it feels nicer on the skin whilst applying it.

The rest of my evening routine consist of applying the Anti Redness Serum and the Simple moisturizer.


I hope this was insightful and interesting : ) 

xx

2014 Favorites

Hello everybody! 2014 was a very interesting year for makeup for me as I expanded my knowledge and my makeup collection : )

The following are my favorite makeup products of 2014 : )

Makeup:

First off, face makeup. I've been loving two foundations this past year one having been mentioned in a previous blog post which will be linked below:

L'Oreal Visible Lift Blur Foundation in 201 Light Ivory 

Covergirl truBlend Foundation in Li Ivory 
This is a very light coverage foundation perfect for warm California weather. I found it evened my skin tone, toned down the redness, and stayed on very nicely all day. Its great for dry skin and is easy to blend with either a sponge or a makeup brush.

L'Oreal Magic Anti-Redness Correcting Primer 
This is green! This will literally make you skin look green when first application BUT have no fear once blended into skin and with a foundation over it, any redness you many have will be gone (or toned down extremely depending on how red you are). I have the reddest cheeks ever so this product has been amazing. I find the fuller coverage a foundation has, the better however.  

Other face products are mentioned below, some with links leading to past blog posts decribing them in more depth : ) 

 
E.L.F Maximum Coverage Concealer 

E.L.F. Contouring Blush and Bronzer in St. Lucia 
This is a very affordable and very shimmery product but the shimmer is not overpowering, but instead gives a very lovely look to the skin. The bronzer looks too dark for my fair skin, but I find blending it in with my face powder helps tone it down to create a very pretty sun-kissed glow to the skin. 

Wet 'n' Wild Coloricon "Bronzer" in 743A Reserve your Cabana 
This says bronzer, but is not, even for my pale complexion. What I love about this is that its a gorgeous highlighter. Its glowing and gleaming and all the right words when describing a beautiful cheek highlighter. The only little thing that's not so great is the smell this product as; its very noticeable when applying this product, and can be overpowering and a bit too sweet but I find that the scent does not linger; its only there when you open the product.

Milani Face Powder in 01 Light 

Benefit Hoola Bronzer 
This is a great, but slightly expensive bronzer by benefit that is matte, and can be used as a contour and/or bronzer. Its great with my fair skin and does not look orange. I find Benefit sells a lot of value packs with a sample size of this bronzer that I recommend buying first to make sure it suits you and I also find that this sample size has lasted me for over a year, continuous use for over 7 months of that. 

Eye Makeup 

L'Oreal Lash Out Butterfly Mascara 

Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in "Navy" and "Lionfish"

Sonia Kashuk Eyeliner palette

Rimmel London Waterproof Gel Eyeliner

Jordana Color Effects Eyeshadow powder in 08 Perfect Team
This is an eyeshadow duo with a white and a black. I rarely use the white, if I do its to help blend my cream color and my eyebrow highlight. The black shade is the best black eyeshadow because there is no fallout whats so ever. I use this to set any gel eyeliner and it works perfectly.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze
This is an amazing everyday shade and one of the easiest color tattoo shadows to use. I find some of the other colors can be a bit drying and hard to blend but this one works amazingly.

Smashbox eyeshadow palette in "Cosmic"
Although there is fallout with the darker shades, this palette is perfect for everyday because you have a black eyeshadow, two neutral colors, a shimmery neutral color to add some sparkle and two blue shades to add some color to your look. I love this palette as you can see I have barely hit pan on the two neutral shades. I just think this palette is amazing and very useful when  I don't want to be messing around with other palettes trying to find all the shades I need; this palette as them all.

Nails 

I've been loving Revlon's Colorstay range, particularly the colors 225 Jungle and 250 Rich Raspberry and also Revlon's Colorstay Gel Envy in 620 Rush. These are great, affordable nail polishes with great color range. They last for about a week which is very good though I do find the gel envy lasts not as long as the normal range.

The other nail polish I've been loving is Sonia Kashuk's 04 Sweet Dreams nail polish.

Lips

Maybelline Baby Lips in Grape Vine 

A very easy to apply lip product that leaves your lips moisturized and with a lovely color. The color is very sheer but visible.

Laura Mercier Lip Glace in Opal 

A yummy smelling lip gloss that feels amazing on the lips and gives a gorgeous glowing color. 

Buxom Full on Lip cream in Kir Royale
By far my favorite of the bunch, this lip product tingles my lips and stays on for a very long time, ultimately staining my lips. The color pay off is fantastic and the product feels very nice on the lips. 

Covergirl Colorlicious lip gloss in Berrylicious 
This lip gloss is the perfect everyday shade. Its a light dusty rose mauve with no shimmer and feels very nice on the lips. 

NYC Smooch proof lipstain 16H in 498 Berry Long Time 
Amazing, matte lip color for every day. Easy to apply and will go with any look.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in 460 Blushing Mauve 
An everyday rose-mauve lip color that you would need a mirror for but it feels amazing on the lips and is perfect for any look, evening or daytime. 

MAC Cremesheen lipstick in Hang-up  
The best feeling mac lipstick I own. Its very creamy, and can be worn blotted to a nice stain or full on for a dramatic look.


That is it for my 2014 favorites, I hope you found this helpful and interesting! : ) 

Happy New Year! xx