3 Easy Autumn Make Up Routines

I love make up, but I tend to wear the same looks every day. Either a brown-toned or rusty-pink toned eye look, the same blush every day, and really similar lipstick every day. (I'll cop to admitting way too many lipsticks, but really only wearing 4-5 colors.) 

For that reason, I've been looking for new looks to try. I wanted to share some lovely bloggers and YouTubers in this post and avoid the "big beauty gurus" (you know who I'm talking about). I think you'll love these three looks--I can't wait to emulate them with my make up collection! 

1. Grungy/Matte Autumn Look from Rachel Leary 

GRUNGY/MATTE AUTUMN MAKE UP LOOK! Another Fall make up look! This time I wanted it to be all matte & focus more on deep red tones - my fav! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been so ill & still not feeling 100% myself, forgive me! Hope you enjoy!

Personally, I've been on the hunt for the perfect oxblood lipstick for ages; I think I finally found one recently. Paired with a cranberry eye look, it's lovely for a late Autumn glam look (like on Thanksgiving)! 

2. Everyday Autumn Makeup Look from Emily at Under the Scottish Rain 

I love this lovely, bright look from Emily at Under the Scottish Rain. An understated eye look with a bright lip is so lovely, especially when the weather outside is getting cold and rainy (or snowy!) Check out Emily's post here. 

3. Fall Make Up Tutorial from Chezza Bee

This make up tutorial from Chezza Bee is so lovely and such a traditional, pretty Autumn look. A copper-y eye with a mauve-y nude lip? So in right now and really, really pretty. 

3 Beauty Products for Halloween

Can I just say something about Blogtober? I am exhausted. I brought this on myself though. I’ve massively neglected my Instagram in favor of writing so many blog posts. The page in my bullet journal dedicated to my writing goal is dominated by writing blog posts in advance every single day… and I haven’t even started thinking about NaNoWriMo. (Gosh, am I going to take on NaNoWriMo after this!?) 

But I’ve also been loving Blogtober—having the chance to write all these posts that I’ve always wanted to write… like putting together my favorite outfits, finding new beauty products, sharing the best tutorials I’ve pinned on Pinterest… it’s been a lot of fun! 

I decided to take it easy on myself with this post. I love Halloween make up; it’s my favorite time of the year because, duh, Autumn, but also, Halloween and spooky-themed everything is so much fun. Here’s a round up of some of the cutest, most fun, and most spooky beauty products. 

1. Pumpkin Bath-o-Lantern Bath Bomb

Before every busy Halloween, we all need a little self-care. This pumpkin-shaped bath bomb is scented with “exotic pimento, sweet vanilla and cozy, warming cinnamon,” and promises to turn your bath water a pretty, pumpkin orange. What could be better? 

 

 

 

 

 

2. imPRESS Matte Halloween Nails with Glitter Accents

Press on nails are not something I ever thought I would recommend… or wear. But I really love imPRESS nails—I went through a phase of wearing them every week a few years ago (post-baby it’s much more difficult to rock a long nail) and they always last 7+ days. Seriously. 7+ days! These ones feature a gray-and-white matte color scheme with a spooky church yard and several glitter accent nails. Perfect for a subdued Halloween look. 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Make Up Revolution Vampire Night Lip Kid

This is such a fun lip kit! It features 1 matte liquid lipstick and a matching liner so you can contour your lips (or just prevent feathering—hello aging!) in the color Vampire Night, a rich, bloody burgundy color. Perfect for a vampire costume or just for fun. 

Beauty Review: The Luxe Vox Box*

*Disclaimer: As always, the asterisk (*) in the post title denotes a sponsored post or a post where I received product for free. All opinions remain my own. For more information about my disclosure policy, please see here. 

I love getting Vox Boxes from Influenster. I get so excited every single time. Needless to say, when I found out I was getting the Luxe Vox Box, I was beyond excited. I really love this style of Vox Box too because I love getting a variety of products instead of just one. Who doesn’t love trying a bunch of goodies instead of just one? 

For the sake of saving time, I’m going to do mini reviews of each product. Here’s everything I received—and what I thought! 

Dr. Brandt No More Baggage Depuffing Eye Gel

This is one of those products that I was excited to try, but isn’t something I would normally buy on my own. Even though I struggle with fatigue (especially at certain points in my cycle), I don’t necessarily get puffy undereyes or even dark circles. (Ok, that sounds like a humblebrag—but trust me when I say I have other skin issues!) The first time I used this, I didn’t notice a huge difference. 

The second time, however, I used it under make up and I felt like it made a huge difference. I usually color correct under my eyes (just to brighten my skin a little bit) and then use foundation as normal. I used this instead of my usual color correcting and I felt like it made my undereyes look smoother and brighter. I really enjoyed using it, but for $42 for a tube, it’s not something I would repurchase. But if you have undereyes that you struggle with, it’s definitely a great product! 

Amika Un.Done Texture Spray

I received two Amika products and I was most excited about this one, the texture spray. My hair tends to be quite flat and dull, especially on the days when I watch it. This is an aerosol spray, not unlike a dry shampoo, that is supposed provide “instead volume and perfect-imperfect texture.” It “utilizes an invisible, salt-free formulation to deliver effortless, tousled beachy hair.” 

Did I like it? No. Like dry shampoo, it gave my hair a texture that I would describe as straw-like and almost waxy. I love the feeling of smooth, soft hair. If a product can keep my naturally very soft, smooth hair feeling that way, but also give it volume, I love it—but that seems like asking for a lot. I used this two days in a row and both days, the volume it provided barely lasted two hours… but the waxy, gross feeling in my hair did last. Hard pass. 

Amika Nourishing Mask

I love a good hair mask—even though “hair mask” is a nice way of saying “deep conditioner.” I don’t use conditioner daily, because again, my hair texture is pretty lank and flat naturally and my hair is pretty healthy at the moment. It’s not something I really need to worry about. However, my hair does have a lot of breakage because I wear it in tight ponytails and buns a lot, so I was hoping this mask would help with that. 

I have been using this in the shower twice a week and I really love using it. I almost feel like it gives my hair a little bit more body than usual and definitely makes it feel very soft and look very shiny. This mask promises to "restore hair to its natural vibrancy and health from the inside out," which is quite a hefty promise; but it also says it "hydrates for long-lasting softness, shine, elasticity, and manageability." That last one is definitely true. At $28 for 250mL, it's not a terrible price for something you use at most 1-2 times a week! (The mini size which I've linked is only $10--great for sampling!) 

GrandeLips Hydrating Lip Plumper

This is the item I was dreading reviewing. Firstly, a lip plumper is not something I would ever, ever purchase or want to use. But I couldn't very well just not use it and fluff a review. I felt between a rock and a hard place. So I put aside my reservations and I put it on one morning early last week. 

Cue my rapidly scrubbing my lips and nearly screaming. Within seconds to applying, my lips were burning. Not just feeling warm or fuzzy. But burning. I had light chemical burn all around my mouth for several days. Don't buy this product. Don't use this product. I wish I had trusted my gut!

AQUIS Hair Towel

Ok, that last mini review was a bummer, right? Chemical burns are no good. But I love this hair towel. It is made from "Aquitex," a hair drying technology that is "ultra light." It is supposed to rapidly dry hair to "damp stage" without heat. I personally do not use heat on my hair, so this was something I was very excited about. With the change in seasons, my scalp has been very dry and itchy, so I've been having to wash everyday to avoid flakes and nourish my scalp with soothing ingredients. (If you're wondering, I've been using YesTo Coconut Tea Tree Shampoo.) 

I love the shape and thinness of this towel; it makes tying up my hair after my shower to do my make up very easy. It does seem to dry my hair very quickly, which is also very nice. However, at $30-45 for a single towel, it's quite expensive. I have some not-as-fancy hair towels from Target that were $5 a piece at the most that do almost the exact same thing. But if you have a lot of hair and want to cut how much heat you use on your hair, it would definitely be a good splurge. 

Beauty Review: Erno Lazlo Firm & Lift Masks*

Disclaimer: As always, the asterisk* on the end of this post title denotes a sponsored post. I received the Erno Lazlo Instant Firmer Firm & Lift masks via Influenster for review. To learn more about my disclosure policy, please see here. As always, all opinions expressed are my own. 

Originally, I had been planning to do another Inspiration Sunday today--but when I received these masks in the mail during the last week of September, I knew I had to free up some space in my blog calendar for October! That's the hardest part of doing Blogtober--planning everything in advance makes it easier, but opportunities like this throw things for a loop! 

When I found out I was going to receive these Erno Lazlo two-step masks from Influenster, I was beyond excited. I love face masks. (I wrote about my favorite ones here.) However, when I received my box and saw I had received the masks designed to firm and lift, I’ll be honest: I was a little disappointed. I don’t know all the other varieties of Erno Lazlo two-step masks, but I do think others would be more suited to my skin type. However, I was still very excited to try these, because, honestly, who doesn’t want a little bit of lifting in their skin? (Don’t answer that if you’re, like, 18.) 

Here’s what these masks promise to do: 

“A mix-to-activate firming and hydrating modeling mask that softens fine lines and wrinkles, quenches thirsty skin, soothes, cools and instantly plumps skin’s surface. Made with mineral-rich sea water and spiraling maxima — a high powered age extract. Restore firmness and bounce from the inside out.”

Also: “Our new mix-to-active, two step powder masks deliver instant gratification with the potent powers of key ingredients and botanicals.” 

Interestingly, this is what the description on Sephora says (it’s interesting that it’s totally different from the packaging on the box): 

“Harnessing age-old secrets of Korean spas this dual-phase formula you mix to activate and peel to reveal gives you firmer, more youthful-looking skin. Powerful actives cool while working to restore the look of elasticity and tone for spa-worthy results. Use it before a big night out, after a long day, or whenever tired skin craves it most.”

Woo! That’s a lot to promise. And frankly, the promise of restoring from the inside out—am I eating this or what? Human skin is not that porous, realistically, so that’s an odd statement. 

Let’s get to the masks though. 

As has been said, these are two-step masks. In the box, there were 4 masks: 8 packets total. One packet is powder and one packet is liquid; it also comes with a stirrer stick. First things first, you’re going to need a bowl when using these masks which is definitely different from my usual face mask! 

The powder mix, when I dumped it out, was faintly blue. Alright, easy enough. I opened the liquid packet and went to pour it in—and realized it’s not really liquid exactly, but closer to a very thick gel. I had to work pretty hard to squeeze it all out. Once I started stirring, I had to work hard to incorporate the gel into the powder (and I got a little excited at one point and got powder everywhere. Oops); but once it get mixed together, it formed this very cool, almost mousse-like texture. 

Using the stirrer stick to smear it one my face, I really struggle. It was slightly gooey and clumpy and I felt like it wasn’t covering some spots. I switched to my hands and that worked much better, but I still got a lot in my hair and eyebrows on accident. Once I was done, I realized I still had about half the mask in my bowl. So that’s a big thing: if you want to do this mask, unless you have a pretty big face, have a friend with you so you aren’t wasting mask! 

My first reaction to the mask on my face was that it felt really good. One of the ingredients in the mask is peppermint oil (it’s in both packets) so if you are sensitive to peppermint oil (and many people are), definitely be careful. However, it felt good to me, very zippy and made me feel quite awake. 

After about 10 minutes, it started to get a little itchy; that was it drying down to form the mask. I managed to keep it on another 5 minutes, but by then it was falling off. When I read the instructions and saw that the last step was to peel it off, I couldn’t imagine the clumpy, mousse-y stuff on my face peeling. But alas, after 15 minutes, the mask had dried down to roughly the texture of Silly Putty that had been rolled very thin. It came off in one solid piece. I used my toner than put on my moisturizer. 

Did I notice a big difference in my skin right away? I can’t honestly say. I did feel very moisturized and refreshed after the end of the day. My skin felt very, very smooth. Mostly, it just felt hydrating. 

My Final Verdict: Did I enjoy these masks? Absolutely. I love masking. Did I see any benefits to my skin? Not really. But they didn’t make me break out and they didn’t aggravate my skin either, so that’s a win. 

At Sephora, these masks cost $80 for a box of 4. That’s $20 per mask! For that price, it’s just not worth it and I would never recommend them for that reason. Plain and simple, they’re just too expensive for the lack of real changes I saw to my skin. Are they super fun though? Absolutely! So if you’re looking to splurge, or want to get a fun gift for a bridal shower, they’d be very, very fun. 

What's In My Make Up Bag this October?

I'll be perfectly honest when I say that my make up routine doesn't necessarily deviate from season to season. That being said, I have been trying to incorporate some new items for the Fall--and trying to leave my bright, peachy-coral eyeshadows for Summer. (This is truly a sacrifice because I love my Too Faced Sweet Peach palette.) 

Want to see what's in my make up bag? Here are my daily favorites right now. 

My face products are pretty much my usual. After applying my SPF mixed with a few drops of jojoba oil, I put e.l.f. HD setting powder all over my face with my e.l.f. Face Brush (it's the fluffy one). I then apply Wet'n'Wild Photofocus Foundation with my e.l.f. Kabuki Brush, then buff out with a beauty sponge. 

Recently, I've stopped contouring (just because I want a softer face for Fall!). However, I've definitely upped my blush game. I've been mixing Wet'n'Wild ColorIcon blush in Mellow Wine with my Pixie by Petra in Peach Honey blush/illuminator that I got in my ipsy bag. It mixes really well with Mellow Wine, which is quite dark, and provides a nice highlight. 

Once I've done my blush, I apply a layer of Smith's Minted Rose Lip Balm to help condition my lips while I do my eye make up. 

For my eye make up, I use my favorite Urban Decay Primer Potion as my primer. (I also use it as a lip primer sometimes!) Lately, I've been loving this little Clinique eye shadow quad that I got for free several years ago; it's called the All About Shadow Quad and includes the colors Olive in my Martini, At Dusk, Peach Pop, and French Vanilla. French Vanilla is the perfect color for setting my eye primer and At Dusk is such a gorgeous, rich gold. I will often use Buck from the Naked I palette in my crease and then just cover my lid with At Dusk--it's that pretty!

My favorite eye brushes to use are my Urban Decay two-sided blending brush and my rose gold Luxe 207 brush from my ipsy bag. I was really suspicious of the Luxe brush at first, but it works really well for blending out the edges of my eyeshadow once I'm done getting everything in place. 

I finish every eye look with my favorite mascara at the moment: Ulta Beauty Maximum Lashes. Super affordable and volumizing--my two mascara requirements! 

Lately, I've been using my Ulta Beaty Color Enhancing Lip Primer religiously. I love that it isn't too dry, so if I'm using a drying liquid lip, it doesn't make me feel like the Sahara is one my face. My favorite lip colors right now are: Too Faced Melted Metal in Violet (I actually got this for $3.99 at Marshall's!), Ulta Beauty Matte Lip Crayon in Soiree, and NYX Liquid Suede in Soft Spoken.

What beauty products are you adding to your bag for Fall? I've got my eyes on the Too Faced Just Peachy Mattes palette!  

Beauty Review: Wet'n'Wild Photo Focus Foundation

For the past few months, I'd been hearing nothing but positive, glowing reviews about the Wet'n'Wild Photo Focus foundation. Like the Liquid Catsuit liquid lips, it's highly affordable and reviewers said it had great coverage and wore great. Of course, this got my interested. 

I'm a high end foundation user. Personally, drug store foundations have just never worked for me; the color selection is usually very orange or warm-toned and gets neither very light nor very dark. For that reason, I just never look at drugstore foundation options. So the fact that I was seeing some top YouTube beauty gurus using Wet'n'Wild... color me intrigued, in the words of Natch Beaut. 

While on a trip to Idaho, I'd forgotten my foundation (ugh) so I ran to Walgreens fully intending to buy this foundation. They didn't have it at the store I went to though and since it was nearly 11pm at night, I instead bought the L'Oreal Pro-Matte foundation (which I liked but it's not cruelty free and it oxidized about 2 shades darker). 

Once I finally finished my tube of L'Oreal Pro-Matte, I vowed to buy Wet'n'Wild Photo Focus. My chance came about a week and a half ago. I picked out the lightest shade, Porcelain, feeling sure that the Shell Ivory shade would be too dark. I bought it after I'd gone to the gym, so I didn't get a chance to try it right away. 

The next day, I cracked it open and... the first thing that hit me was the smell. The smell of this foundation is what I can only describe as extremely chemical, somewhere between the smell of a hospital and paint thinner. It's horribly unpleasant. A little repulsed, I moved forward. 

Another note: I don't like the little paddle that you use to get the foundation out. It's so wonky and inflexible and mostly just drips everywhere. Another notch against this foundation. 

I put a few pools of it on my palette (I use a candle lid) and started dabbing it on. Beyond the smell, the color was a good match, if a little light; the undertone is neutral in the Porcelain shade, so if you're a pale, neutral-undertoned girl, this is pretty perfect. (It's hard to find!) 

I got my trust Beauty Blender and started blending. And... it disappeared. All the little dabs of foundation on my face? Baby, they were GONE. My blender sponge had sucked them up. 

As it turns out, this foundation is water-based... which means if you use a beauty blender or similar make up sponge, this thing can happen where it just absorbs all the foundation. All of it. 

I started over with dabs then used my e.l.f. kabuki brush to start blending. Immediately, The thing I noticed was the foundation was incredibly streaky and just... sitting on top of my skin. It was like I had been sprayed with white out liquid and brushed it with a paint brush. My kabuki brush NEVER leaves streaks that bad. I kept going, but no matter how much I blended, how much I worked, it just sat on top of my skin and didn't blend. 

Next, I try the beauty blender again and, thankfully, they blended out the streaks and seemed to help the foundation settle down. Every now, after using it daily for about 10 days, it applies super weird and requires so much work to get it to actually blend into my skin. For a drugstore foundation, it has decent color match for pale tones (FYI, the darkest shade is Mahogany and it's definitely still pretty light)--but the process I have to go through to blend! 

How does it wear through the day? I follow a process where I use setting powder after my moisturizer, then do my foundation, then a very light layer of setting powder. This foundation wears just about as well as any other foundation I've tried; after about 4-6 hours, it starts to break down around the corners of my nose and between my eyes (which are my two biggest trouble spots). My chin occasionally gets very oily with this foundation, but I can't figure out the correlation between days when it does and doesn't. It might just be a matter of application and powder on those days. 

My final thoughts: Is this foundation good? For drugstore, it's ok. It's only $5.99 at Ulta, so if you're in the market for trying a new foundation, it's not like dropping $34 on the new Fenty foundation only to dislike it!

The pros for me are that it has a great neutral undertone and it doesn't oxidize. 

The cons are the smell (It is VERY strong and very chemical-y, for lack of a better word), the difficulty of blending, and the areas of breakdown. The coverage is definitely medium, but not a miracle worker like many YouTube beauty gurus seem to suggest. 

I wouldn't rate it as better or worse than any other foundations. It wears about as well as any of them; if you get significantly oily like I do, you'll need a blotting powder or blotting paper throughout the day. 

Beauty Review: My First ipsy Bag

I really debated blogging about my ipsy bag. Not that I didn't love it (I do), but because it seems like there are at least 100 ipsy bag reviews every week. Nearly everyone I know gets ipsy now and reviews are a dime a dozen. 

But that being said, I also really wanted to share my thoughts on ipsy and my very first bag. I feel very late to the party, because I hate subscription services and I've avoided them like the plague. But for my birthday, I decided I wanted an ipsy subscription for 6 months--just to see if I ended up liking. Without further ado, let's talk about what I got, whether I liked it, and what I wish I could change. 

This is what I got in my first ipsy bag: 

1. Luxie Beauty, Rose Gold Medium Angled Brush

I love brushes and I feel like I can never have too many eye shadow brushes. The appeal of this one seems to be that it is rose gold--so it is very pretty, but it's not rose gold! The handle is pink and the metal part is bronze. There is no part of it that's rose gold. No problem though, as long as it works, right? It is very soft and fluffy and seems ideal for blending... except it's angled. It's too fluffy to work as an angled brush, but it's too angled to really effectively blend. So far, I've used it to dab on a good concentration of shadow to my outer corner, than blended with my favorite Urban Decay brush. 

2. ColourPop Cosmetics Lippie Stix in "Glam Bag" 

I love lipsticks, so I was excited about this one. The color is very pretty--a vibrant, dark pink. The formula seems to have amazing staying power. My only issue is that... this is a September bag. This color is not "September" to me. It's definitely a summer color, which some people would love, but seasonally, it's not something I'll be wearing right now. See me in April! 

3. Pixi by Petra Beauty Blush Due in Peach Honey

Another product I was very excited for and was pleasantly surprised by! I'm hesitant to call this a "blush" exactly--it's very, very shimmery, so it strikes me as more of a highlighter. But it does put a little bit of color on, so I'll forgive them for that. It's nice to have a subtle blush-and-highlighter combo that isn't pure gold or really dark. I really love this product! Also, it works great as an eye shadow. 

4. Elizabeth Mott Pop! Goes the Shadow in Toasted

I was so nervous about this eye shadow. I've heard rumors of people getting essentially this same shade over and over and over again. And while that's probably true, I actually really love this eye shadow. It's pigmented; it's smooth and buttery; it applies really well dry and wet. I've used as an all over color and an accent color, as well as on my under eye, and I've enjoyed every look. Now, if I get this color times 6, I'll be a little annoyed! 

5. Manefit Beauty Planner Masks in Mugwort and Lily 

I love a face mask and these K beauty masks (that's Korean-based brands) got me really excited. So far, I've only used the Mugwort type (it's for pore care) and I really enjoyed it. The packaging is super pretty and the mask itself smelled really good; I also noticed a serious decrease in my pore size after using it. This was a great new product to try out! 

Overall, what did I think of my first ipsy bag? 

There were some losers and in general, I'm not a fan of the physical bag they sent. (It's a plain black bag with spiked faux leather.) However, overall, I enjoyed playing with everything I received and I'm excited for my October bag! 

Want to try ipsy? Use my code here!

Beauty Tips: Why I Decided to Quit Dairy

For the past 6 years, I've had cystic acne. I've tried just about everything I could to get rid of it: expensive skincare, prescriptions from my dermatologist, rounds and rounds of antibiotics, going on a different birth control pill, quitting birth control entirely. The only thing that really made my cystic acne go away was being pregnant--but that only lasted about 20 weeks! 

After trying just about everything, I had resigned myself to my fate: I'm just someone who gets cystic acne. That's just the reality. I have extremely oily skin, some kind of slightly hormonal imbalance (trust me, I've always been down that road of tests), and that's it. It's just a perfect storm. 

(You can read about my other oily skin essentials here.)

However, after getting involved in skincare, I was talking about my chronic cystic acne in a beauty group I'm in. Another member asked a serious question: have you considered cutting dairy out of your diet? 

And here's the thing: I love dairy. Milk in my coffee and tea, hot cocoa made with milk, cheese, mashed potatoes with butter and cream... I love dairy. It's probably up there on my list of favorite foods. I am also not anti-dairy: if you ethically source your dairy products (which I do!), you can effectively avoid any of the most negative aspects of dairy products. 

However, I also know about the connection between severe acne and dairy. For some people, dairy can make their skin worse because of the hormones in it. (And note: these hormones aren't bad for you, but for some people they are disruptive.) 

This was something I'd always wanted to avoid. Why? Because I love dairy. But I'd done everything for my cystic acne: I double cleanse with oil to help unclog my pores (I recently switched to pure jojoba), I use tea tree oil and black African soap religiously, I buy all the right expensive skincare, and I love a good clarifying skin mask. But I couldn't shake my worst cystic acne related to my cycle. 

It was time. I had to do it. I had to cut out dairy. 

Obviously, making such a huge dietary change doesn't come out of nowhere. When Forrest needed me to cut out dairy for 4 days, I cried.

So I decided to make changes small: I started with my coffee. My dairy creamer was out; I replaced it with an almond-based creamer from CoffeeMate. (Note: it's really hard to find low sugar almond milk creamers. If anyone has any suggestions that also don't have that horrid aftertaste from the almond, please let me know.) 

Next, it was the milk I use; I used Califia Farms unsweetened almond milk for several weeks, but Califia Farms is having some problems, so they aren't available in stores now. I switched to O Organics Almond milk and it's pretty good (except it has a minor aftertaste). 

Next up on my list of things to drop: butter. I love buttered toast and I'm allergic to soy, a major component in many vegan butter alternatives. Finding a butter alternative that is both dairy and soy free is taking more research than I had previously thought it would. 

The thing that's been easiest to drop, surprisingly, is cheese. I don't really miss cheese (although the sprinkle of parmesan cheese on pasta is rough) as much as I previously thought.... except when it comes to pizza. 

Here's to hoping that all this work finally (FINALLY) gets rid of 6 years worth of cystic acne. 

Have you dropped dairy to help your skin? Let me know how it went in the comments!