June Beauty Favorites

It's our favorite time!  Monthly beauty favorites!  We get to chat about all the good stuff!  I feel like I'm reaching a point in my beauty collection where I've amassed some great holy grail products.  Stuff that I'll gladly repurchase over and over.  It's the sweet spot.  

Here's what June looked like:

May Beauty Favorites

Wah hoo!  Beauty chat time.  I never got around to posting an April Favorites but I'm back with a vengeance with May.  Let's stop the chit chat and get at the good stuff now.  

*P.S. Apologies in advance for the grainy picture quality.  I had a funky camera setting that I think I've since fixed.  

Spend Your Pennies: Voluminous Million Lashes Excess

Spend 'dem pennies y'all!!  Oh Em Gee.  The L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess is my new all-time favorite mascara.  Forget everything I said in my Top Drugstore Mascaras post.  Ok, don't forget it, those are still great, but this is way better.

Let's just address the one thing we're all thinking:  this packaging is not great.  Just terrible.  I mean, it would look great if I liked buying mascara in 1996.  It just looks very dated.  And being that I'm a HUGE sucker for packaging, especially with mascara, I never would have considered purchasing this under normal circumstances.  

However, I've actually tried the regular (not "Excess") Voluminous Million Lashes and loved it so I was eager to try this version.  My oh my, my friends.  This mascara gives my lashes insane length.  Like, it somehow creates length that isn't there.  Plus, the wand is the bomb.com.  It grabs each minuscule individual lash and separates them all so it basically looks like I just applied a strip of false lashes.  Also, I can't be sure because I don't own YSL's Baby Doll Mascara but from what I've seen, the wand looks incredibly similar.  Except this one won't wipe out your saving's account to get.  (Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating).  

Plus (there's more!), I find no need whatsoever to curl my lashes when I wear this.  The thing is, I don't ever actually curl my lashes.  I couldn't tell you where my lash curler is right now if you asked.  Do I even own one?  I have no clue.  However, I've noticed that some mascaras make my lashes look super straight or oddly heavy/droopy.  This formula isn't the slightest bit heavy and my lashes even look like they're slightly curled.  

So there you have it.  Spend your pennies!       

July Beauty Favorites

It's that time again laaaddiiees!  July Favorites!  Woo!  I should also note that I've still been loving the heck out of all my June favorites too.  Ok let's get started.  

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush and Shading Brush: These are my first Real Techniques brushes and I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!  Until now, I've mostly owned pretty cheap brushes.  I mean, they got the job done and they were decent but when I saw a Buy One Get One 50% Off sale at Ulta, I immediately scoped these up.  I kept hearing about them on all the blogs I follow and they definitely live up to the hype.  And now, of course, I want the whole collection.

NYX Matte Finish:  I mentioned this setting spray in my Ulta Haul and I've definitely used it every day since purchasing.  Like I mentioned, it's not a miracle spray and I still get a little shine by the end of the day but I can confidently say that this keeps my makeup in place all day without the drooping eyeshadow/blush look.  Totally affordable and effective.  

L'Oreal Carbon Black Lineur Intense: Ok so given my strong feelings about another L'Oreal product, you might think I'm an idiot for trying another one but this is the version that Makeup By Tiffany D actually recommends and I can see why.  I've actually heard mixed reviews on this but I've found that it doesn't smudge at all on me and it doesn't lose pigmentation through out the day.  Plus, it's easy to apply.  It's a win for me.

NYX Cream Blush in Tea Rose:  So I don't think I need to drone on and on about my NYX Cream Blush obsession anymore since I seem to mention it on a weekly basis.  But I wanna give a shout out to Tea Rose because I think it's the most wearable every-day shade.  It reads a little dark in the pan but on the cheeks it's a lovely warm rosey color and just subtle enough to go with most anything.

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Brightening:  So I deffiintely bought the wrong version of this the first time I purchased it.  It worked alright though the color was a bit off.  As soon as I tried the brightening version though, welp I was sold.  At first it seems almost shockingly pink but once it's blended, it brightens up the under-eye like whoa.  Ah-mah-zing.

Milani Lipstick Chilled Brandy:  In reality, I could have listed all of the Milani lipsticks but I narrowed it down to a very un-summer color which is fabulous.  I just tried Milani lipsticks for the first time this month and I can't believe I've waited this long.  They are so well pigmented and they really don't dry my lips out at all (which I ALWAYS have problems with).  At about $5 a piece, they're an amazing steal.  I basically want the whole collection.

Elf Makeup Remover Pen:  I ordered this pen online, from Elf's website, months and months ago.  I actually didn't entirely know what it was but it was $3 and I figured I'd find a way to put it to use.  It's pretty much makeup remover in a spongey tip applicator pen and it's so perfect for clean up around the eye.  No matter how many times I use liquid eye liner, I still always have an unsteady hand so this pen has saved me many a time from just dunking my face in the sink and starting over again.   

theBalm Nude 'tude Eyeshadow Palette:  The second I saw this palette mentioned in a YouTube video, I was immediately on the hunt for it.  I managed to find it online for $20 and I think I've used it every.single.day since I got it.  Neutrals are my jam for life and this palette does not disappoint.  It's even got a great deep magenta shade that's really wearable.  I already know this will be a longtime fave for me.  

Welp, that's all I got ladies gents.  What have you been loving this month?

Save Your Pennies: L'Oreal Carbon Black Telescopic Eyeliner

If it's not apparent already, I'm a bit of a makeup addict and I'm generally pretty good at picking out products I like but I certainly find some duds along the way.  But just because I wasted a few pennies of this stuff, doesn't mean you have to!  Here's the first of my Save Your Pennies/Spend Your Pennies series.  

L'Oreal Carbon Black Telescopic Liquid Eyeliner

Blech, I've had a heck of a time finding a liquid eyeliner I like.  I bought this one because I thought it was one recommenced by one of my favorite You Tubers.  I was incorrect.  At first, I thought I liked it anyway.  The tip, which is sorta like a felt tip pen, made applying liner easier than eyeliners I've had in the past and right when it was applied, I loved it!  Pigment was great and it made clean lines.  Wah hoo!  

Except not.  About 4 or 5 hours into the day it would start to smudge around my eye and the pigment would fade significantly.  A real bummer considering I even used an eyelid primer AND a setting spray.  For awhile, I kept using it anyway because I didn't want to feel like I wasted my money by tossing it out and I just sorta figured that I always have issues with eye makeup staying put anyway.  My dumb eyelids!  

Then I snapped outta it!  I realized I didn't need to settle for mediocre products because I'm sure there's an eyeliner out there that works for me (and in fact, I think I've found one).  Life lessons ladies!  So, in my opinion, save your pennies on the L'Oreal Carbon Black Telescopic Eyeliner.