Favorites, Makeup

November 2015 Beauty Favorites & Current Everyday Makeup Routine

December 2, 2015

#BLOGMAS DAY 2

Greetings, Earthlings!

For Day 2 of the Blogmas series, I decided to put a little fun twist to this month’s favorites roundup. Since I spent most of the month with a nasty eye infection on both eyes, I haven’t been able to experiment much with makeup, especially eye makeup. So a lot of my favorites are still the same from last month’s, which is why I thought I’d just sort of do an ” everyday makeup routine” post featuring all of my makeup favorites.

Mind you, this is for my “everyday makeup look”, nothing too glam or dramatic, so I’m aiming for a natural makeup look with all these products. 🙂

Base

Foundation

After I moisturize my face, I usually go straight to foundation and skip primer, unless my skin is a bit problematic or I need my makeup to look super flawless for a long time.

My current favorite base is a mixture between my current favorite foundation, if not my all-time favorite, the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation and one tiny drop of the The Jojoba Company 100% Natural Jojoba + Rosehip Oil. Get a similar one here. I mix them on top of my hand before lightly dotting them all around my face so I don’t use them up all at once (because if I do, it’ll end up looking cakey).

I then blend out the foundation using my ride-or-die foundation brush, the Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki Brush. If I need additional coverage I’ll use up the rest of the foundation that’s left on my hand.

The Chanel foundation has a semi-matte finish, so the face oil gives the skin a luminous, dewy glow without that sticky, tacky-to-the-touch feeling. I find that mixing the foundation with this oil makes the foundation settle into the skin better. They don’t settle into fine lines as much and last much longer, which is why I don’t really need primer on a daily basis.

Concealer

Since my skin is currently healing from a crazy acne rampage, I have a lot of acne marks or hyperpigmentation that I need to cover up. My go-to concealer for spot concealing is the Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer (check out my Top 10 Best Make Up For Ever Products post for more amazing MUFE products!).

An itty-bitty-tiny bit goes a looong way.

That’s how much I need for one spot! I just dab it on the spots with my finger.

I then proceed to concealing my undereyes. I love the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer (featured here) and the Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer (featured here), but lately I’ve been so in love with the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer because it’s so brightening and has an incredible wear-time!

I simply dab them across my undereyes in a triangular shape and blend it out with a dampened Beauty Blender for a softer, more diffused finish. If I need extra coverage (usually for special occasions or important meetings) I like blending it with my Sigma 3DHD Precision Brush instead.

Then I set everything with my favorite setting powder, the Laura Mercier Translucent Setting Powder with my Sigma F35 Tapered Highlight Brush. I basically apply it wherever I’ve applied concealer.

Also check out my Top 10 Best Sigma Brushes post if you’re interested!

Finishing

Blush & Highligiht

My current favorite blushes are still the Becca Mineral Blush in Flowerchild (for the third consecutive month!) and the Olivia Palermo x Ciate London “The Cheekbone Cheat” Blusher Bronzer Duo in Seaside Park (for the second consecutive month!), but another blush I’ve actually been enjoying a lot is the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blends blush in Pure.

Here are swatches of the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blends. The swatch on the far left is a mix of all the four colors, and the rest are the four individual colors.

I just lightly apply them on the apples of my cheeks and back towards my ears with my Nars Yachiyo Brush (featured here) in small, circular motions.

I’d then proceed to highlighting the tops of my cheekbones with my current favorite highlighter, which is the “Iridescent Strobe Light” shade from the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit palette (featured here).

Bronzer

I don’t really contour on a daily basis, but when I do, I’ve been using the bronzer shade from the Olivia Palermo x Ciate London “The Cheekbone Cheat” Blusher Bronzer Duo in Seaside Park.

The powder is very buttery smooth and finely milled, making blending such a pleasure!

Eyes

Since I spent most of the month with eye infections (yes, both eyes!) I haven’t been able to wear much eye makeup, so I’ve just been using the Charlotte Tilbury Eyes Mesmerize in Marie Antoinette as an all-over shade almost everyday to avoid having to blend eyeshadows using a brush too much as my eyelids are still pretty sensitive. This doesn’t have an incredible wear-time, probably only around 6 hours before it starts fading, but it does look gorgeous and natural on the lids.

I’ve been avoiding lining my eyes too much this past month, but whenever I could, I’d line my eyes with my go-to Kat Von D Tattoo Liner! It doesn’t smudge or transfer, which makes it completely safe for my sensitive eyes.

After shadow and liner, I curl my lashes with my all-time favorite eyelash curler from Kevyn Aucoin, and apply a few coats of my current favorite mascaras – a combination of the Benefit Roller Lash (for incredible lengthening, separating and curling) and the Too Faced Better Than Sex (for immense volume and UMPH!) mascaras.