Eyeshadow Sticks I Love

Gone are the days where I spend a lot of time on my eye makeup, instead if I use eyeshadow at all I opt for a single wash of color all over the lids. To me not only does that look more modern, but its also incredibly quick and easy. I have found over about the past year that cream eyeshadow sticks are perfect for achieving this very understated and minimal eye look that I am drawn to nowadays.  However, I have also realized that eyeshadow sticks are very easy to get wrong; they can be too creamy and have no longevity or be too dry and not blend properly. That being said, I have found two brands that really nail a cream eyeshadow pencil formula that blends well and stays put all day. 

First and foremost is a longstanding favorite in the beauty blogging community: the By Terry Ombre Blackstars. These come in at a hefty $45 a piece, and while I was extremely skeptical of that price tag, they really do live up to all the hype they have received over the years. The formula, to me, is the gold standard of cream eyeshadow sticks because they blend so effortlessly but stay put all day long. I have two shades (although I plan on adding more to my collection): Misty Rock, which is a gorgeous mauvey purple with the most beautiful and complex metallic shimmer, and Bronze Moon, which is another very complex shimmery bronze shade (as one might suspect). I think the thing that really sets this formula apart is the shimmer itself. Because they are so multifaceted, the shimmer gives off that wet look that looks absolutely gorgeous on the eyes.

My most recent find in the cream eyeshadow stick world has been the Burberry Eye Contour Sticks. Much like the By Terry version they have incredible longevity and blendability. They come in at a slightly cheaper $28 a piece, which is definitely not cheap but considering how close they are to the By Terry offering in efficacy, they are a decent value. I have three shades in total: Pale Copper, which is a mid-tone gold/copper shade, Rosewood, which is a purple-toned brown, and Midnight Brown, a cool-toned shimmery dark brown (which also happens to make the best smudgey smokey eye). The shimmer is definitely more subtle in these compared to the Ombre Black Stars, but it still adds a gorgeous dimension to the eye that lend themselves perfectly to that one wash look on the eyes. 

What are your favorite eyeshadow sticks? 

Skincare Products I'm Switching Into My Routine For A/W 2017

Every Autumn without fail my skin does a nose dive into serious dryness and sensitivity. Not only is this odd because I generally have very well behaved skin the rest of the year, besides the odd hormonal breakout, but also because I don't live in a particularly cold or harsh climate. It's as if my skin has an internal clock, realizes its October and decides to deplete itself of all moisture. I jest, I jest. I know there is nothing scientifically accurate about that statement, but because my skin tends to freak out from October through February I have to insert extra products into my routine in order to keep my skin in check. 

The most recent addition to my Autumn/Winter skincare routine is the Peter Thomas Roth Pumpkin Enzyme Mask, which is an exfoliating mask that you leave on the skin for 3-5 minutes to get rid of any dull or dead skin. Not only does this mask smell like you're slathering a pumpkin pie on your face (I don't know about you but that sounds incredible to me), but it is extremely effective at removing dead skin without irritating. The mask does make my face sting a bit when I first apply it, which is totally normal since that is the acid doing it's job. (I always follow the Caroline Hirons rule: burning is bad, stinging is good). My skin does look a bit red after using this, but that calms down pretty fast. I always do this mask at night, and without fail, whenever I wake up the next morning my skin looks and feels pretty incredible (if I do say so myself). 

Glossier's Super Bounce Serum is in my skincare rotation year-round but come October, it becomes my most-used serums. The hyaluronic acid in the serum really helps my skin absorb moisture better and just generally look and feel less dry and dehydrated. I love using this in the morning underneath my daily moisturizer just to give an added boost of hydration. I am definitely curious to try The Ordinary's version of this serum, since it is a fraction of the price, but for now I'll be sticking with the Glossier offering since I know that it works so incredibly well. 

The ultimate "comforter" in my A/W skincare routine is by far the Pai Rosehip Seed Regenerate Oil. This oil seriously does everything, from helping with hyperpigmentation, to hydrating, to calming down aggravated skin. I use this oil almost every night during the winter because it always "resets" my skin. No matter how awful it is feeling or looks, this oil always makes my skin feel and look much healthier and hydrated. I would definitely recommend this to those who suffer with acne-prone skin (who often have oily skin) as well, because it really helps to heal existing breakouts. 

Last but certainly not least is the La Roche Posay Cicablast Baume B5, which is definitely the meatiest "skin fixer" in my routine. This stuff works on both the face and the body to repair really dry, irritated skin. I usually have a few instances over the course of the colder month where I have small patches of eczema on my face and this stuff works great to soothe the irritation as well as hydrate the effected area. If my lips are extremely dry and cracked I will also use this on them to get them back to normal. 

What are your skincare essentials for Autumn and Winter?

Lipsticks for Autumn

I always find myself wearing more and more lipstick during the cooler months. I don't know whether its the fact that I enjoy wearing more makeup in general during autumn and winter, or if it's that darker lipstick seems more festive for this time of year, but I find myself much more drawn to lipstick starting around October. There are so many lipsticks that I love during this time of year, in fact I could write a whole post solely on my favorite red lipsticks, but for the purposes of this post I thought I'd narrow down my three favorite lipsticks and shades to wear from now until the end of winter. 

I'm usually not the biggest fan of nude lipsticks, just because I like the natural color of my lips and a lot of nudes can read as quite ashy against my pale skin. However, NARS Intriguing Velvet Matte Lip Pencil has become my go-to nude and is a shade that I will wear a lot with darker eye looks in the coming months. The warm rosiness of the lipstick keeps the lips from looking too pale or ashy, while being neutral enough to still be classified as a nude. The Velvet Matte Lip Pencils from NARS are also easily one of my favorite lipstick formulations because they are incredibly easy to apply, and stay on all day without feeling uncomfortably dry.

The red lipstick I see myself wearing a lot this autumn is actually a newbie in my collection. The shade is Scarlet by Make Beauty and it is a truly vibrant red that sits somewhere between a blue-based and an orange-based red. Because the undertones are quite neutral I can see this shade working on a lot of different skin tones. One of my favorite looks during the fall and winter is very minimal makeup with a bold red lip and this lipstick works perfectly for that look. The formula is also classified as a matte according to MAKE Beauty, but I would say it is more of a satin because it does have some slip to it. 

And finally, an autumnal lipstick post would be nothing without a mention of Glossier Generation G in Jam. I don't think there has been another color that I've worn on a consistent basis like I have with Jam. I love berry shades, especially for that stained look and Jam does just that. It is easily one of the most low maintenance lip products I own and because of that I reach for it all the time. I love wearing this lipstick all year round but because of its tone, it works the best in fall. 

A Makeup Collection Clear Out: Tips and What's Left

Because I've been working on my living space and downsizing how much stuff I have, I thought I'd go through my makeup collection and really have a thorough clear-out. While I am pretty good about getting rid of things that are clearly too old to use, I hadn't done a strict declutter in a very long time. Makeup, like clothing, is an easy thing to accumulate and lose sight of how much you actually own versus how much you actually use on a regular basis. I ended up clearing out a lot of stuff that I just wasn't using and was very strict with myself when it came to justifying things to keep. Here are some guidelines I followed to make this whole makeup declutter a successful one: 

Check Expiration Dates ~ Checking to see if a product has gone off is the easiest way to start culling through a makeup collection. Especially with lip and cream products its easy to tell when something is past its lifetime. Meg, from Lips So Facto wrote a really helpful blog post a few years back, which goes into detail about expiration dates of makeup and is very useful if you are unsure if a product has gone off or not. While I don't stick strictly to the expiration dates, because I use my makeup on only myself, it can be a helpful tool to get rid of things that are beyond useable. 

Empty Out Your Drawers ~ I always find whenever I am doing a clear out, whether it be for makeup, clothing, or miscellaneous items that it is very helpful to empty out everything you are clearing out from the storage system its in. I cleared out each drawer and put all of the products on my bed so I could sort through them easier. I think its also somewhat of a mental exercise to clear everything out because then its easier to feel like every product is subject to the declutter instead of leaving the things you think you'll use in the drawers without scrutiny.

Compartmentalize Your Products ~ Obviously, not everything I wanted to keep were things I used on a daily basis. In order to work out what I wanted to keep in the strictest way possible I compartmentalized my collection into two categories: daily makeup and special occasion makeup. Once I did this I feel like I could be more rigorous about the products in each category. In terms of daily makeup I used the test of whether I had used the product in the last three months, or if it was out of season if I had used it in the season it was appropriate for. In terms of occasion makeup, it was harder to use the test if I had used it recently. Instead, I made sure it hadn't been bought ages ago. I then went through and made sure each thing was something I would definitely use for a specific occasion I have planned in the relatively near future. 

In terms of what's left from this clear out, I kept all of the products that are in my every day makeup bag. I also kept all of the products in my Muji drawers that I use on a regular basis for daily makeup or that I use for nights out and special occasions. I got rid of a lot of my blushes that I hadn't used in ages because I have almost exclusively been using the Glossier Cloud Paints since they launched. I also did a thorough comb through of my eyeshadows because I had an absolute ton, a lot of which were similar to one another. All of the MAC products I used will be recycled using the Back To MAC program, however I will most likely give some of the free eyeshadows or lipsticks I acquire through Back To MAC to my sister or mom, since I don't want to get rid of a load of makeup and then replenish my collection with products I might not use. After doing all of this decluttering I feel like I have a much more thoughtful and useable selection of products at my disposal. Most importantly, I think that going forward this will make me much more thoughtful in my approach to buying makeup. 

What are your decluttering tips and tricks? 

My Favorite SPFs For The Face

Being a redhead the one thing I've had engrained in me ever since I was little was to wear sunscreen every single day. When I was younger I was much more resistant to wearing sunscreen, not because I was delusional enough to believe that I was going to ever get tan as a result of not using the stuff, but rather because I hated how it felt. To be fair, childhood was over a decade away and SPFs have come a long way since then. While I've always been pretty good about wearing sunscreen when I've been in situations with prolonged sun exposure, I have been less vigilant about wearing sunscreen on a daily basis. That changed this year however.

This sudden change in consistent SPF usage is down to two factors: 1) as I'm getting older (I'm 22 and I'm not at all complaining that I'm old yet) I've started to really realize the benefit in using preventative skin care to at least partially slow down the aging process and SPF is the best thing you can do not only from a health standpoint for you skin but from a cosmetic one as well and 2) I have found two SPFs that I genuinely enjoy using on a daily basis.

Neutrogena has always been my go-to when it comes to SPF. They were the first drugstore brand, to my knowledge at least, to spearhead a truly comfortable formula for SPF. My favorite in the range for an everyday facial SPF is the Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Liquid Sunscreen SPF 70. Even though this stuff is pretty heavy duty when it comes to the actual SPF, the formula is incredibly lightweight and works very well under makeup as it isn't greasy at all. I prefer to use this either when I'm expecting to be out in the sun longer (because of the high SPF) or when my skin is feeling a bit dry because although I don't find the formula to be greasy it does add a bit more moisture than my everyday moisturizer would.

Me being the Glossier fan girl that I am immediately bought the Glossier Invisible Shield as soon as it was available for purchase. Whereas the Neutrogena is more of a traditional sunscreen (albeit a really good one), the Glossier is an invisible gel formula. The SPF is 35, which is perfect for everyday use and has broad spectrum protection (as does the Neutrogena). While I don't think is the best choice if you're going to be out in the sun for an extended period of time, I love to use it almost every single day when I'm in and out of the sun or in my car (because you can still get sun damage through car windows). This formula is an absolute dream under makeup because it sinks into the skin and feels like nothing! The formula, being clear and a chemical sunscreen, lends itself to working on darker skin tones as well because it does not have a white or ashy cast that physical sunscreens can leave behind.

Here's to sun protection!