For those who know me, you know I am a sucker for a bold lip and an amazing mascara. I try a lot of different mascaras. I try from drugstore to premium brands like Benefit. Some brands are worth the pricier price tags but some you would be shocked that they are so cheap. One of my favorite mascaras is from Benefit. This is definitely a higher end mascara. You can find it in +Sephora. This mascara has a great wand. It separates your lashes like no other. It has more of that plastic brush and it has a ball on the end so that you can get in those inner and outer corners. The formula is great and it really does make your eyelashes look like they are fake.
Benefit just started to add to this fabulous collection. They recently added an eyeliner and an eye makeup remover. This is great since the mascara is so amazing already the brand and product line is already off to a great start. The eyeliner is for those girls that love that eyeliner that is just perfect. This liner is in a gel like pen form. In the past, you were either to get the pencil form or the gel form which you can apply with an angled brush. Benefit doesn't stop to amaze me with their products. A pen gel formula eyeliner. The tip has more of a rubberized feel and all you have to do is click up and dispense the gel. This formula enables you to be able to hug your lash line to give you that perfect liner look. Since it has a pen applicator, you can get a perfect cat eye and winged look. I am a total amature with the cat eye or winged look but with this liner, it will definitely make it easier to do. I am going to still need practice to avoid looking like a panda bear but if I am going to learn, this liner is probably the best one to learn with.
Benefit is also adding a eye makeup remover which is perfect since trying to get all this stuff off your eyes is usually a challenge. They managed to create a balm like eye makeup remover. This is going to be great to remove all the eyeliner and mascara. This doesn't debut until June but I am already looking forward to this launch. The eyeliner will retail for $24 and the eye makeup remover will retail for $18 and for those who are interested in getting the mascara now, that retails for $23.
Do you have a favorite mascara or eyeliner? Let me know I would love to try new things!
I want to be able to give you the lowdown on beauty oils. They've been around for a while now because I remember using oils as cleansers in high school, which was a while back. These are now oil serums that are good for your skin. There are many different oils that you can get. There are ones that help with aging or give you a brightening glow. There are so many different ones that its probably hard to choose which one you want. I've noticed that I like to stick to the ones that are regular since I add drops of these into my moisturizer plus I like to use them as cuticle oil or anything else that I want extra moisturizer for. One of the ones that I love is argan oil. Now there are a ton of things that come with argan oil. Its really good for your hair so one of the products you've probably heard of is the Moroccan Argan
Oil hair products. These are good even though for me, I think they make my hair a bit too greasy so I stay away from those in general. Some of the beauty oils that I like with argan oil are +josie maran 100% argan oil and 100% argan oil light. I love the light one since I have more oily skin, I feel that the light one absorbs into my skin faster without feeling oily. In the morning my face feels so soft and I think it attributes to the oil. Another thing that I learned to love to do with the beauty oil is put it on my cuticles. This does wonder on your cuticles, what I do is remove my polish and then I put a couple of drops on each nail and go to bed. I rub it in before I go to bed but then in the morning, my nails and cuticles are very hydrated. This helps my hands stay hydrated which a lot of people don't realize that when dealing with this whole anti aging process a lot of people forget their hands are a dead tell as to their age. So always make sure to take care of your hands.
Another serum that I love is the +tarte cosmetics Maracuja oil, this the other one that I use which I do the same thing. I use it the same way. Another one that I love because I was able to get a sample from +Sephora is the +boscia skincare Tsubaki beauty oil. This one has a floral scent that smells like heaven. This one helps with the premature signs of aging which for me would be great since my skin hasn't aged fully. I think once I finish my Josie Maran and Tarte one I will buy the Boscia one. I am really starting to like the Boscia skincare lately, so I will probably be buying a cleanser from them once I finish my +olay pore refining cleansing scrub. But all in all I think everyone should be
using a beauty oil. Doesn't matter which one you decide to use, you cannot go wrong if you at least have adapted one into your skincare routine. Everyone needs it, even if you have oily skin. As I've said before, these trick your skin to thinking you've already produced oil therefore your skin produces less oil making your skin less oily. Josie Maran 100% and Light retails for $48, the Tarte Maracuja and Boscia Tsubaki oil retails for $46 so they are around the same price. Please go out and splurge on these and thank me later.
One of my favorite Youtubers is +Amelia Liana and I love it because she is based out of the UK and always reviews stuff that are more popular over there and not so popular over here in the US but surprisingly, we are able to get a lot of those things here in NYC. One of the videos that she posted was a haul video from her trip to France. There were a lot of different things that she talks about and one of her holy grail type product was this Nuxe Rêve de Miel® Ultra-Nourishing Lip Balm. She raves about it and how it makes your lips super soft and great. Since this year since NYC has been going through a never ending winter season, my lips have been really chapped and my regular Carmex isn't really doing it for me anymore. I definitely needed something better. I was going to get the Bite Agave Lip Mask because I saw my other favorite Youtuber +Nicole YoungWildandPolished reviewed it and she loved it. I figured that was what I needed since my lips have been just really bad. After seeing the Amelia Liana video, I was sucked into the Nuxe lip balm so I went to Duane Reade to see if it was available and the first one was sold out but when I went downtown, I saw it in a Walgreens! I was stoked.
This is said to be one of France's most coveted drugstore brands and over in France is a cult favorite. The box it comes in says it has been tested in extremely cold weather conditions in Canada and even in that cold weather, users said that it excelled at restoring comfort and moisture, while leaving your lips feeling super soft and protected from the dehydrating effects of your daily life. I used it that night before I went to bed because I learned from Amelia that its what she does, so why not just stick to tradition, lol. The lip balm is thick but not too thick that you can't wear it during the day. It has a citrus smell to it and it isn't balmy glossy. Once you put it on, it has a matte finish to it which I love. This balm immediately moisturizes your lips and doesn't rub off easily. In the morning you can still feel faints on it on your lips which I like because then I know its working. I was able to find this in Walgreens downtown NYC and it retails for about $18 which is a lot for a lip balm but my lips were severely chapped an no regular products were working. If you want to splurge, I definitely recommend this product and I will see if I can find some drugstore dupes for those who do not want to spend $18 on this. But again, the Bite Agave mask, is basically the same thing and retails for $38 so this is a lot cheaper than that product.
Do you have anything that you use as a night routine that have turned into your 'can't live withouts?' Let me know!
