I figured since I am always speaking about things from the drugstore I would start a monthly drugstore finds blog post. I know I am a bit late on the April month but its just that April went by so fast! Every month I will write about things that I've gotten from the drugstore and loved or didn't love. Even though these products are primarily in drugstores, you can also purchase them in stores like Ulta or Amazon. I figured I'd just got out and say that before I got started.
One of the things that I love from the drugstore this month is the +COVERGIRL Clean Whipped Creme Foundation. This foundation is surprisingly really good. Its whipped so its really light and doesn't go on cakey at all. It has really good coverage too. Not sure why I am so surprised about +COVERGIRL foundation in general. I really thought maybe it was because I always thought CoverGirl is more for children or teenagers but honestly for my aging skin, this one is definitely a good buy. I do like to pair it with my Rimmel London Stay Matte Primer so that I don't shine that much but its still good. It retails for $5 so this a steal. I use the shade Medium Beige for those who were wondering.
The next product is that I swear by is the +NYX Cosmetics Matte Finish Setting Spray. Now you know I have oily skin. So I usually have to use a setting spray so that my makeup doesn't sweat off before I even get to work. I like the Urban Decay All Nighter but since I use the setting spray every day, I needed to opt for a dupe or a cheaper option. I tried the one from +e.l.f. Cosmetics and it was okay but I do like the NYX matte finish setting spray better. My only complaint is that I need to put it in another bottle since the spray on the original bottle is too much. You are practically drenched if you use the bottle it comes in. It retails for $8 instead of the $30 from the Urban Decay All Nighter.
The next product is a skincare product. Its the Queen Helene Masque Mint Julep. Yes, this
product is about 20 years old and it retails for $3.99. This mask is great! I use it on a weekly basis and I cannot say better things about this mask. The minute you put it on, you feel that it is removing all of the gunk you have on your face. The smell is mint so while it smells good you feel a cooling sensation on your face. This is the sensation that i love because it feels like its actually doing something. If you see this mask in your drugstore pick it up. I know a lot of people pass it up because it looks old school and also since its $3.99 a lot of people associate the low price with how it would work but its really good so I definitely recommend it.
The next products that I am loving right now is Boots No7 Pamper Dry Oil Body Spray. In Duane Reades here in NYC, you can get this brand Boots No7, I don't think this brand is available in all +Duane Reade stores but if you able to find it, I would definitely pick it up. Its a body oil, I know for all of my readers that live in Puerto Rico-- this oil is amazing! It isn't like putting on sun tanning lotion or anything. You just spray it on after you get out of the shower and it sinks into your skin right away. It has a smell to it that is just intoxicating. I even put this on my hands after I finish my nails so that my cuticles get nice and hydrated. This is also really good on your legs after you shave. This makes your skin look glowy and hydrated. It retails for $8.99 and like I said, you can get it in +Duane Reade or you can also get it in Drugstore.com.
My final product is a lipstick which is the +rimmellondon Airy Fairy lipstick. It is a nice
nude pink color. Its an everyday color that has a great formula. It feels really moisturizing and it is light like a gloss but the pigmentation is enough that you don't have to reapply every time you drink something or eat something. I love this color and I always carry it around just in case I am stuck without the lipstick that I put on in the morning. Its always a backup or most of the time just my everyday work color when I don't want to wear that bright bold matte pink lip that is little by little becoming my signature color. This lipstick retails for about $6 and the tube that I have now is probably the 5th one I've gone through already.
These are my April drugstore finds. Some of these things aren't new but I had recently purchased or repurchased this month and were using them the most this month. I love drugstore finds so if you have drugstore favorites, let me know because I always love hearing about new drugstore products so I can run out and go try them!!
For those who know me, know that I am known for my nails. Yes I have an obsession but honestly now a days who doesn't. I think its like the "it" thing to do now is nail art. Everyone is doing them from celebrities to the "normal folk". I love doing my nails, its something that calms me down and it lets me be creative. I love how I can do my nails while watching a baseball game. Some questions I get are "how long does it take you to do that design?" I always answer back and say it does take time but I watch all the Yankees games. If I am home and there is a game on, I'm definitely watching them play. Usually now if its not a Yankees game I'm usually watching a Mariners game. These games are usually 4 hours long so if I'm not blogging like I'm doing now, I am doing my nails.
Being that I do my nails so many times a week and I usually like experimenting with different colors dark and light alike, my nails get stained. You can help avoid it a bit by always using a base coat which I always use but eventually, it doesn't matter. Eventually if you don't let your nails rest without polish, your nails will get stained. Mine are no different. So I always try to whiten them before I paint them again. To do this I started to do research and also took some tips from my Dad. Just as in any whitening toothpaste you will find baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. I figured it can't hurt to try this method. What you do is put baking soda into a little bowl and then add a little bit of hydrogen peroxide enough to make a paste with the mix. I then take the paste and rub it into my nails. I make sure to cover my nails completely on the top of my nails and on the under part of the nails. This will help the stain get removed from both areas. I take a nail brush and begin to brush the paste and I do this for about 5 minutes for each nail to make sure that I get enough of the mixture into my nails. For a boost of whitening-- you can add lemon juice. I usually just put the juice that comes in that little bottle that looks like a lemon but if you have a real lemon, that works as well. I honestly am not sure if one works better than the other so I just stick to the lemon juice in a bottle since I can preserve it better.
After this I soak my nails in the mixture for a little while longer and then I rinse. I usually do this right in the shower just so that if I make a mess its in the bathtub. I try to do this every time I remove my nail polish and before I do anything else to my nals. Maybe once every 2-3 months I will buff my nails with a very fine buffer. I do not like to do that all the time because it will make your nails weak since you are making them thinner. If you have nails that constantly break-- I would say that buffing them isn't an option. I don't recommend this at all. Another tip to making your nails strong is taking Biotin which will not only help your nails grow but its also for your skin and hair so its an all around beauty vitamin.
If you don't have really bad set in stains but you noticed that after you painted your nails
red or some other dark color and your nails got a bit stained, I recommend try first with whitening toothpaste. You can just squeeze out enough toothpaste to coat your nails and then take a nail brush and brush the toothpaste in while it foams, let it sit there for about 10-15 minutes. This should remove new stains that haven't really set in and were caused by just using a dark color. For something more serious like me, you may need to try the baking soda/peroxide mixture.
Do you have any tips to get your nails white? I would love to hear if there are different things that work. Let me know, I am always willing to try new things.
I've talked about this brand before and I was all for the blueberry facial wipes that had anti-aging components. For a drugstore brand this is really good line of skincare. I really like the wipes and I could only imagine that the rest of their line is really good. Eventually I need to try the creams and the cleansers. I recently started to breakout a bit more than normal. My normal is something like once every month so if I break out a bit more I get all panicky. I start to double my water intake and think about the food I'm eating to see what's changed and what I can change to at least get this under control. A lot of people think about it outside in but when it comes to your skin, you definitely need to look at things from inside out. That being said I already did the necessary adjustments but I wanted to see if there was something externally that I can do. A lot of my friends ask me what they can do to get their skin to look like mine and I constantly ask how much water do they drink and what kinds of food do they eat. Then the obvious, if its serious then I go and ask if they've gone to the dermatologist because sometimes over the counter remedies aren't going to help.
Now to speak about the face wipes, I was finally out of facial wipes from when I bought them in Target and I decided to change to something with less of the brightening components to something that would treat acne. I decided to buy the +Yes To Carrots brand Yes to Tomatoes facial wipes which are for clearing skin. I started using these for a little bit now and my face is starting to clear up. Now, I've changed a bit of my routine just to accommodate more of a acne regimen instead of an aging regimen. But other than that nothing really has changed and these wipes are really good. They don't dry your skin like a lot of acne products. A lot of them are made to dry your skin so that it dries the acne up but with that it dries your skin and it flakes and it just looks like a hot mess. This pack retails for the same as the other ones did which was $6.99 and honestly these are worth it. They are very moist and they remove most of your makeup so that it is easier for your cleanser to penetrate your skin. I do not recommend you to use face wipes as your only way to wash off your makeup. I really think you should always remove makeup first and then use a cleanser to really get into your pores. As you may know I also use a +Clarisonic brush so that is what I use to exfoliate my skin.
After using these for a while now, I've noticed a difference and a quick fix type difference. I can go back to brightening maybe after I finish this pack of wipes. I am always looking to try something new and I always love seeing what other things are out there. If you have any recommendations, let me know I always love to try new things.
Now that Spring is in the air everywhere else except in the Northeast I always look for ways to change my make up look to make it more Spring-y and less Winter-y. One way to do that is use a different blush. I usually like the darker colors for blush since I am more of a medium olive tone skin color. In the Winter, I like more of a matte finish to my blushes, I usually also go for colors that are more muted. These pair well with a nude lip or a bold dark lip. For Spring, I let it all out. I like to go lighter on my foundation so I usually go with a BB cream and then just concealer to make sure that my under eyes don't look like I haven't slept in years. I also like to add a blush that has a bit of a sheen to it. Something that isn't a highlighter but that has bit of a highlighting aspect to it. I wanted to get the +Too Faced Cosmetics Sweethearts Perfect Flush blush but it retails for about $30 and I thought that was a bit crazy for a blush. I
Lately I've been trying a lot of different blushes and I heard that NYX was coming out with a Baked Blush. I saw this and jumped on it immediately. I love how these look on my face. When you swatch them on your finger, you immediately see that the color is sheer and has a bit of a highlighter feel to it. This is a blush that you need to really layer on so that you can see color but honestly I like that about this blush. I like that you don't have to be careful with it. I like how you really need to use your brush and apply a lot of layers. This gives you the freedom to have more of a loose hand and not worry about looking like a clown. They come in a lot of colors from pinks to bronzers and for drugstore blushes, I think these are one of the best ones out there.
They retail for about $6 each which is nothing compared to its +Sephora dupe from +Too Faced Cosmetics which is $30. I definitely recommend these more for the Spring and Summer seasons just because they look nice since they have highlighter built in already. Do you have a favorite blush? I'd love to hear about it! Definitely let me know!
One of my really good friends +Madeline Mulero has been asking for my "expertise" lately about makeup lately which I love since I always love talking about makeup. Mind you, she lives in Puerto Rico and I am here in NYC. There is a bit of a distance issue but with technology that we have now a days we make it work. She recently had to go to a wedding and in April in Puerto Rico its already really hot and it was outside. She really needed tips to making your makeup last. Okay so as you guys know I have really oily skin. I use a setting spray +Urban Decay Cosmetics All Nighter or the +e.l.f. Cosmetics Matte one every single day and honestly my skin still gets oily and my makeup doesn't look like it did when I left the house in the morning. It just doesn't and I've tried everything from good primers to good foundations and honestly at this point of my life, I've learned to accept it.
While +Madeline Mulero was in the drugstore searching for some of the products that I told her she should buy, she showed me Rimmel London Stay Matte Primer. I automatically thought, hmm I need to try this. I already use the Stay Matte foundation and I have to say that this is really good. It does hold the oily back better than normal foundations that don't have that component in it. One thing I do advise about the Stay Matte foundation is that you need to make sure you don't use a lot. I made the mistake with putting a lot on my hand and applying it to my face and wow! I needed to watch my face and start over. So just be careful. I also add a little bit of the Garnier Ultra-Lift Transformer Anti-Age Skin Corrector so the matte is cut a little bit because it can be a bit cakey looking.
I finally got the primer and was super excited to try this out. I opened it up and was expecting that milky white see through silicone gel texture and instead it was creamy more of a lotion type look and I was already skeptical. I put it on and it dried nicely. It was smooth and my foundation went on very nice over it. I had it on all day. I live in NYC and today was a cool spring day but I was running around so I did sweat a bit and when I got home I took a look at my face and I was stunned. I couldn't believe how my face didn't look oily at all. It obviously didn't look as matte and put together as it did in the morning but I was stunned because the Hourglass Liquid to Powder foundation didn't look this good after a day of wear. Hourglass foundation is $55 and Rimmel London Stay Matte Primer and Stay Matte Foundation are $6.99 each that's still cheaper than one foundation.
I definitely recommend this if you have oily skin or if you are going to do something outside where you think you are going to sweat and you need your makeup to stay put without looking like a greaseball. I think this is perfect for you.
I needed to buy a new cleanser and this time I wanted to stay away from ones that had extra exfoliating elements. I just feel that since I use my +Clarisonic I don't really need to a cleanser that is harsh. I wanted drugstore because I guess I just didn't want to spend the extra money for one of the more expensive brands in like Sephora. After looking around at all the different brands, I went with Aveeno which is a great brand. This specific cleanser I purchased was part of their Positively Radiant collection. Its the brightening cleanser which we all know if you follow me is that I love anything and everything that makes me look like I have a radiant glow to my skin. Honestly since I am almost hitting 30, I am more worried about my skincare than actual makeup. My philosophy is that if the foundation isn't good, anything you build on top of it will just not look good so I figured I need to preserve my skin now that its still young-ish looking.
This cleanser is suppose to help improve your skin tone, texture and clarity to reveal brighter, more radiant skin. Everything about that description says I need to have this now. Who doesn't want brighter more radiant skin? Crazy people! Aveeno is a great brand because they are all for the natural so in this cleanser it has soy extract that is good with moisturizing the skin. The cleanser will remove dirt and makeup without over-drying. I personally do not have a problem with a cleanser being too harsh but for those of you out there that have sensitive skin, this cleanser is gentle enough to use every day twice a day. Its oil free, hypoallergenic and noncomedogenic. This is a given with this brand which is why I love it so much.
When you dispense the cleanser on your hands, you see that it has an opal color to it. If you put it to the light it will have this opal radiance to it which is gorgeous for a cleanser. It doesn't have a harsh smell to it. Nothing too much, it is mostly non scented. But its really gentle and it does feel like its washing my face. I apply it on my face first and then go in with the Clarisonic so I can get a deeper clean. I've been using this for about a week now and I love how my face is looking so far. This retails for about $6 or $7 which isn't that much compared to some of the other cleansers you will find in +Sephora or other department stores.
Do you have any new cleansers that you decided to try and ended up loving it?? Let me know I would love to try them!
The other day I spoke about my weekend with my biffie +Valerie Suarez and how we stopped in TJ Maxx and I went overboard and bought almost every mask possible. I went in and bought everything and since I had so many, I wasn't able to blog about them in one blog so this is the second portion. In this post I wanted to dedicate it to all the eye masks that I bought.
The first one is I got was Earth Therapeutics Hydrogel Under-Eye Recovery Patch. This is for when you have tired and puffy looking eyes you can just put these on and they will help your eyes depuff and not look tired anymore. This has a couple of active ingredients like green tea and this contains organic anti-oxidants that help protect the skin from aging. This also has anti-oxidant vitamin complex and this is vitamins a, c, and e and this smooths, protects, and conditions. Other ingredients are aloe vera, cucumber and chamomile. All of these are soothing, hydrates, help with puffiness and swelling and then the chamomile relieves and naturally comforts. These are different because these aren't wet with liquid as most other ones that I've tried are like. They are completely dry and have all the goodness in a gel form. I put these on my eyes and after a half hour, I can see a difference. I usually leave these on while I do my eye makeup just to catch any fall out while depuffing my eyes.
The next one I have is the Spa Life Wake Up Under Eye Revitalizer. These are different than the ones prior because these are soaking wet. They come all in a ziplock baggie and you can see the liquid that is saturating them. I keep these in the refrigerator by the way. These particular ones have espresso and vitamin E which hydrates and perks up the eyes. The caffeine from the espresso will perk up your eyes and help your eyes not look tired. I usually put these on in the morning before I am ready to get out of bed. I leave them on for about 30 minutes. They smell just like coffee, thats the only thing that I would want to point out. They do work because my eyes look more rested than usual when I used these.
The next eye mask I bought was Spa Life Radiant Under Eye Treatment. This one was a definite "judge a book by its cover" type of buy. I saw that these had diamonds in it. I immediately said-- yup I need diamonds for my eyes. These are said to rejuvenate and brighten under eye skin. These little beauties have collagen in it so your eyes will look younger, firmer and more radiant. The diamonds will brighten the skin so after 20 minutes your eyes will look well rested and also brighter. I use these usually at night and I do not put these in the refrigerator. I lay in bed while listening to the TV or watching it since with these you can keep your eyes open, like all the other ones too. I do not use these all the time, I use these as more of a treat once every 2 weeks while rotating the other ones in more frequent.
The last eye masks that I got were the Cucumber Hydro-Soothing Cooling Eye pads. These look like little cucumber slices. They are saturated with real cucumber extract. This is good for your eyes in that cucumbers are known for soothing the skin. This will relieve the puffiness and will also help soothe and hydrate your under eyes. These are ones that need to be put on your whole eye so I personally like to put these on when I am taking a bath and I am able to close my eyes for a bit. These smell amazing and I put them in the refrigerator so that they are even cooler than normal and it give you a great "ahhh" moment. I like doing this after a long day at work.
Well these are all the ones I bought that weekend that I went out with my bestie. I know I completely went overboard but I love these things and honestly for the prices that they have them in TJ Maxx, why not.
