My Favorite Perfumes

I love the idea of fragrance, that a scent can evoke memory and that just a few notes can represent how want to express yourself to the world. In a lot of ways, fragrance has the same ability to be a form of self-expression in the same ways fashion does, albeit in a far more subtle and nuanced way. Even though I’ve always loved the idea of fragrance, I haven’t always worn in on a daily basis. This is for two main reasons, 1. When I was younger, most perfumes being released erred on the side of fruity and floral and girly, scents which I’m genuinely not enticed by or drawn to and 2. Perfume is a lot like jewelry for me, in that I love it, but it’s usually out of sight and out of mind for me when I’m getting ready and I simply forget to wear it. 

I’ve recently been getting more and more into wearing perfume on a daily basis. It's become a very simple and quick act of self-care that lifts my mood for the rest of the day. Sali Hughes once mentioned in one of her videos about perfume that smelling one's perfume throughout the day is cheering and I 100% agree. So in the spirit of becoming more and more of a perfume person I thought I'd share my favorite fragrances of the moment. 

One of my longest standing fragrances in my collection is the much loved Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt. It's a scent that I can wear no matter my mood or the season. I tend to prefer more masculine scents and this one strikes the perfect balance of being woody and masculine, while still smelling fresh and somewhat feminine. I will say that this fragrance doesn't have super long staying power since it is just a cologne, but since it comes in such a small bottle it's easy to transport for top ups throughout the day. 

I don't love all of the Jo Malone perfumes since I find some of them to be a little too floral to my liking but the English Oak & Red Current has definitely become a fast favorite. Because I bought it over the holidays, the scent tends to remind me of Christmas. The main notes are red current (obviously), rose, mandarin, musk, and oak. This is definitely a heavier perfume, but it still has a lightness to it that makes it appropriate for daytime wear. This also smells incredible when mixed with Wood Sage & Sea Salt. 

Glossier You was not a fragrance I immediately loved. I will admit that I bought it out of sheer love for the brand. I'm normally not one to buy perfumes without having smelled them first, however because I trust Glossier and it came at a pretty low price, I was willing to try it blind. I will say that this perfume is incredibly hard to describe. It's definitely on the sweeter side at first, something I'm not usually drawn to, but once it dries down you get the creamier, muskier notes coming through. Glossier You has become one of my everyday perfumes for when I'm feeling like something a little bit more feminine and subtle. 

I don't think I could write a post about perfume without mentioning Le Labo. Now unlike Glossier, there's no way I would ever purchase a Le Labo perfume without a thorough trial run, since the smallest bottles cost a hefty $180 a piece. I'm not even fully ready to commit to one quite yet. However, one of the really great things about Le Labo is they understand that their fragrances are investments and should be treated as such. Because of that they offer discovery sets and a really generous sample program, wherein you can buy a set of deluxe samples of any perfume you want for about $5 per sample. I know on the surface that sounds like a lot for a perfume sample, but because the perfumes are such good quality you need the tiniest spritz to get you through the day. I opted for the classic discovery kit, which includes their most famous and well-loved perfumes. My favorite from the set have been Thé Noir 29 and Bergamont 22, which are two very different perfumes. I like to think of Thé Noir 29 as Santal 33's underrated cousin. It has a lot of the same musky and woodsy notes as Santal, but is not nearly as recognizable as Santal has become (mainly because everyone and their mother wears it now). Bergamont 22 errs more on the fresher side of things, with its citrusy notes, but still manages to have a bit of musk to keep things somewhat masculine. 

Spring Favorites

I really can't believe we're so close to summer. To be quite honest, I'm not the biggest fan of the warmer seasons, because I just don't like the heat. However, living in San Francisco means that summer is not like summer everywhere else. June is normally incredibly foggy and cold, and it very rarely ever reaches above 80 degrees. I do thoroughly enjoy the longer days and breaking up my very sweater-heavy wardrobe. Because I felt like I was in a bit of a rut towards the end of winter, I made a conscious effort to change up my makeup routine and wardrobe a bit for the springtime. Refreshing these aspects of my everyday life have made me not only feel excited about the changing of the season, but have also made me discover and rediscover products that have become a part of my everyday routine. Although I am going to talk mainly about beauty and fashion I also want to touch on some more lifestyle things that I've been loving for spring as well.

Plants ~ I’ve always loved having flowers and greenery around. Especially because I’m planning on moving out soon I haven’t spent that much time buying that much home stuff because I don’t want to have to pack it up and move it in a couple of months time. Plants have proved to be an easy way to spruce up my space without adding a lot of traditional decor items. I’ve really liked bringing more and more greenery into my space during the springtime because it genuinely just makes me feel happier. I’ve been looking a lot at plants from The Sill and definitely plan on getting a few more plants before I move. I also am very excited about spring flowers! When I saw the first round of peonies come into store I freaked out. Having more plants around has helped me to get out of my inevitable wintertime rut. 

Tom Ford Spice Cream Color for Eyes ~ During the Sephora VIB sale I picked up another one of the Tom Ford Cream Color for Eyes, which are some of the dreamiest (and priciest) cream eye shadows that I have come across. I have almost completely moved over to solely using cream eyeshadows when I wear eyeshadow. While Spice definitely reads as a very autumnal shade, because it is such a rich ruddy bronze. Because its a cream shadow, it can be blended out to be very sheer and it works amazing as an eyeliner, which is a look I really like for the spring. 

Hairstory Déshabillé ~ I’ve been in the process of growing out my hair for about a year and it’s getting to be the length that I wanted it to be. Part of the reason why I wanted to grow out my hair is because I want to embrace my natural curls more and I personally like my natural hair when it is long. I’ve been using a few products that really help to enhance my natural curls, my favorite of which is Hairstory’s Déshabillé spray. I use this on extremely wet hair after I’ve used the Hairstory Hair Balm, and spray it all over my hair and then let it air dry. The product is modeled after traditional sea salt texture sprays, but is much more conditioning and makes the hair feel soft rather than crunchy and dry like most sea salt sprays do. 

A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones ~ In an effort to start saving more money before the big move this summer, my boyfriend and I have been trying to cook at home more instead of going out to eat. We’ve started adding to our cookbook collection and one of the most recent additions is A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones, which is a totally vegetarian cookbook. Even though my boyfriend and I aren’t vegetarian, it’s nice to have more meatless recipe options at our disposal. I really like that even though this cookbook definitely errs on the healthier side of things, the ingredients are very easy to find and aren’t niche enough that you’d only end up using an ingredient once for a specific recipe (which is often the case with a lot of these “clean eating” cookbooks). 

Essie Treat Love & Color in Tinted Love ~ During the springtime I like to go very minimal with the nail polish. Normally during the winter my nails are under a constant state of being painted and repainted and come spring, they’re normally due a much needed break from constantly being lacquered. I’ve been trying to leave my nails bare for the most part, but when I have been painting them I’ve been using the Essie Treat Love & Color in the shade Tinted Love, which is a very sheer warm baby pink. The polish looks extremely clean on the nails and I love that the formula helps to improve the health of your nails. 

The Five Product Face

I remember back in the day, i.e. five years ago, the five product face used to be a super popular topic in the blogging world. Especially now that I'm working a full time job, I can now truly appreciate the ease of having a go-to five product face for those mornings where you don't have a lot of time or simply can't be asked to do your makeup for the day. As I've mentioned before, I'm also in a phase now where I'm far less experimental with my day-to-day look, and I tend to stick to a core group of products that I know will work without even having to think about it. I also think that it looks super chic and cool when you have super minimal makeup, but spend more of an effort on your outfit. 

The most important thing about a five product face, for me, is using multipurpose products. For example, I don't have to wear eyeshadow, but if you feel like you do using your bronzer as an eyeshadow is a good way to go. For me, the most important things that I focus on when I'm doing super minimal makeup are covering up my dark circles under my eyes and any redness on my face, defining my brows, and making my eyelashes darker.

 Luckily I've been blessed with good skin, so I normally don't have a lot to cover in terms of blemishes. I normally use the Glossier Stretch Concealer, when I'm doing super minimal makeup because it can be used both under eyes and every where else to even out redness. The texture is also really great for being used on its own because it never looks dry or cakey and blends in easily just with fingers. I then use the Glossier Boy Brow in my brows just to give them more color and texture. In terms of eyes I really love just curling my eyelashes using loads of mascara on simple makeup days because it makes such a huge difference with very little input. My favorite mascara is always the Fairydrops Platinum Mascara. I also like to add some color back into my cheeks because my skin tone verges on Caspar the Friendly Ghost territory most days. The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Dim Infusion is perfect for a five product face because it has enough of a glow to double as a very subtle highlight. The color also makes you look so incredibly healthy and awake (which is a department I often need help in). And last but not least is the Dior Addict Color Reviver Balm for lips. I normally don't wear lipstick on a daily basis, so especially for a simple makeup day I don't feel the need to wear lip products. However, the Dior lip balm is perfect because it helps to hydrate the lips, while adding a healthy pink color that is super flattering on any skin tone.  

Spring Makeup Updates

Even though it has officially been spring for about four weeks, it really hasn't felt like it till now. I'm someone who always feels very effected by the weather and by the changing of the seasons. I don't consider myself the biggest fan of warm weather, but coming into this spring especially, I've been much more restless for the longer, sunnier days ahead. I've also been stuck in a rut over the past couple of months because I got caught in a routine of wearing the same things clothing and makeup wise during the winter months. I rejigged my makeup bag a few weeks ago (as well as bought a few new products here and there) and it is making me feel so much more refreshed and spring-like. 

I always tend to go for minimal makeup in the spring time and I love to keep things even fresher and simpler than a usually do when the warmer seasons come around. Because of that most of my makeup in the spring and summer is mainly eye and cheek products, since I usually just wear a swipe of tinted lip balm on my lips. One of my favorite additions to my makeup bag for spring has been the Make Beauty Bisou Bisou Universal Stick, which was created by Maddie from LaMadelynn. I love not only that you can use this product on both lips and cheeks (which can't always be said for most multi-purpose products), but the shade is unlike anything else I have in my makeup stash. It is the perfect bricky red tone, and when applied to my cheeks, makes me look like I've spent some time in the sun (without looking like a lobster). I also absolutely love the Glossier Haloscope in Quartz and even though it's a product I use year-round, it gets the most use during the springtime when I want that super healthy and glowy skin look. 

I'm normally into a good mix of matte and shimmer eyeshadows, but for some reason this spring I got very into shimmery eyeshadows that are so iridescent they almost give off that glossy eye look. As I'm sure most of you know, I love a good cream eyeshadow stick and the Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Moonlight is my most recent edition in my eyeshadow stick collection. The color is a sandy bronze color, that leans a tad cool without being full on taupe. While it is incredibly shimmery it doesn't come off as tacky or frosty, but rather its metallic and because of that looks glossy when applied all over the eye lids. I think it would be remiss of me to give the Glossier Lidstars a mention. I have to say that I don't think these are the be all end all of liquid eyeshadows, but the shades Slip and Moon are really nice if you just want a sheer wash of color all over the lid, and they are pretty fool proof to apply. 

My Makeup Routine | Winter 2018

My makeup routine have become increasingly streamlined over the past couple of years. That is down to the fact that 1. I have become less excited about product launches and 2. I have honed in the products I really love and trust to get the job done. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a shift in how I look at my beauty routine. I think it also ties in my getting older and becoming more and more attune with myself and who I am. I know what I like, I know who I am, and I don't feel the need to experiment with different looks as I did when I was younger (although who knows maybe in a few years I'll want to pick up experimenting with my look again). 

Luckily over the past few months my skin has been really well-behaved (knock on wood that doesn't change), so I haven't needed much in terms of base products. If I'm ever feeling especially red or dull-looking I will use the Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint, which provides little to no coverage but helps even out the skin and amp up the glow just enough. Most days I just use the Makeup Forever Full Coverage Concealer, which I love especially during the winter because even though it does provide full coverage, it looks incredibly natural and works even when my skin inevitably gets dry from the cold weather. I then like to use the Bobbi Brown Corrector under my eyes and then Glossier Wowder to set everything. I then use a bit of Glossier Boy Brow in Blonde through my brows and some of the Glossier Cloud Paint in Puff on the cheeks. 

I used to be incredibly into eyeshadow, but now if I do wear eyeshadow I normally just use one all over the lid and it usually comes in the form of a cream stick (because I'm lazy). Whenever I have been using eyeshadow it is either the Burberry Eye Contour in Rosewood or Pale Copper. I've also been getting more and more into the look of just wearing eyeliner and mascara during the day. My eyeliner of choice recently has been the MAC Twist Kajal Liner in Groundbreaker, which is a rich bronze shade. I really like the look of smudging the liner into a subtle wing just to give the eye more dimension if I choose not to wear eyeshadow, and its a much softer look than using a liquid eyeliner. For mascara I've been sticking to my standard Fairydrops Platinum Mascara. 

During the winter I don't tend to prioritize lipstick because my lips are eternally dry and I also tend to wear heavier eye makeup during the winter anyways. I've been using the Laneige Sleeping Lip Mask religiously this winter, even during the day, and it has drastically improved the condition of my lips. If I do wear lipstick its usually NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Intriguing, which is easily the most flattering nude lipstick in my collection!