Favorites: Beauty Edition!!

I always am stuck with what I want to write about, so today I started to go through my closet and makeup drawer and I decided to make a post about what my favorites are! I will do 4 posts in this series, my favorite beauty products, hair, fashion, skin care. Today I am doing beauty! So let’s begin!

My Favorite…

1.       Face Primer: Tarte Cleanslate 12 Hour Perfecting Primer. This primer really keeps my foundation on and it makes it perfect (hence the name “perfect primer”). It really locks in my face products and during the day I don’t see my foundation smudge at all.

Eye Primer:  Nars Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base. I love this primer, it really locks in my shadow and throughout the day it doesn’t crease at all, my biggest pet peeve is when my makeup creases or smudges, these 2 primers really help to keep my makeup staying in place.

2.       Foundation: Revlon Colorstay 24 Hour Foundation. This foundation is perfect for people with combination to oily skin. It keeps my face shine free, and it looks natural if you blend it in right! I highly recommend this foundation. People with dry or normal skin also rave about this product.

3.       Concealer for Under Eye: Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer. This just camouflages my under eye dark circles. It can also highlight your brow bone if you bring it up to your cheek bones.

4.       All Over Face Concealer: Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Duo. This can also be used for your under eye but I like to use it to hide redness, or blemishes on my face. It also comes with a powder in the duo that I like to set my concealer with, it really locks in the concealer.

5.       Setting Powder: Covergirl Clean Oil Control Pressed Powder. I hate when my face is oily, it annoys me so much so what I love to do is just press this into my skin on top of my foundation and concealer and it really just keeps everything matte and flawless all day.

6.       Bronzer: Nars Laguna. It is the perfect color for contouring, I love this product especially when I want an all over complete look. I think bronzer is an essential for every makeup bag because it can completely transform a look.

7.       Blush: Benefit Coralista. I just think any of the box powders are amazing! I especially like this one because it is shimmery and you can use just a little and get such a nice glow!

8.       Highlighter: Sonia Kashuk Sheer Shimmering Highlighter. Try to say that 5 times fast! I like that this highlighter is liquid based, I think it works well with my skin type (combo-oily). It also just is perfect for getting the perfect glow on your cheekbones.

9.       Eye shadow Palette: Urban Decay Naked 2 . This palette comes with 12 pigmented, high quality shades that are perfect for everyone!  I love this palette; it comes with a 2 sided eye shadow brush, all over lid brush and crease brush. I love this palette; it is perfect for traveling or anyone starting out with makeup. It may be pricy but it is such a good deal!

 

10.   Mascara: Maybelline Mega Plush. To me, this mascara is just perfect. It’s a gel consistency so it will last for a long time. I also like to put the Revlon grow luscious mascara on first then put the mega plush because, 1. The lengthening mascara holds the curl and 2. It is suppose to make your lashes grow and I have seen a difference in the length in my eye lashes. With the lengthening and volume I get the perfect type of lashes.

11.   Eyeliner: Urban Decay 24-7 Glide-On Eye Pencil. This eyeliner is pigmented, smooth, glides on perfectly, and it stays in place. They also have many different colors, so that is also a plus.

12.   Lip Balm: Maybelline Baby Lips. Baby Lips are the best lip balms I have ever had. Ok that is a little exaggerated, but seriously they are amazing! They last for 8 hours, seriously and they really keep your lips hydrated and smooth. Another plus, they are like $3.00 at the drugstore!

13.   Lip Balm Stain: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain: Hydrating, Great Color, and Long lasting. What else do you need? They are also inexpensive and from the drugstore! I wear the balm stains all the time on my lips and they are the best!

14.   Lip Stick: Mac Lip Sticks. I think MAC is known for their lip sticks, I really like them! They come in all different finishes and colors!  

15.   Lip Gloss: Dior Addict Lip Polish. Great color is what I just love in my lip glosses and Dior has it! Lip gosses are the topping on your lips so you have to make sure it is the best. I really like Dior lip glosses because they aren’t sticky to me and I hate sticky lip glosses.

Thanks! Have a great Day and Happy Holidays!

- AM

Holiday Gift Ideas!!

Hey Lovelies!! Okay, so it’s December 12, 2012, (12.12.12) this is so cool! I made sure I uploaded a blog today! Back to business, so the Holidays are here, some have started and others are rapidly approaching, well you don’t have to go super crazy cause I got your back! So let’s begin!!

1.       Candles!! I love getting candles for the holidays! The best candles (and the only ones I get) are from Bath & Body Works. I love this store! Basically everything in this store is perfect for secret santas, friends, family or anyone who loves body care items and fragrances. The 1.3 oz candles are $3.50 (2 for $5 online). The 4 oz candles are $10. The 14.5 oz candles are $20 (2 for $22 online). Here are a few of the new holiday candles they have this year! These candles may be a little pricey but they do last depending on how long, or how much you burn candles. Bath and Body Works is always having sales, so really, they have great gifts for a low price!

http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/home/index.jsp?cm_mmc=Google-_-Paid%20Search-_-Brand%20-%20Tier1%20-%20Core%20Terms%20USA_Core%20Terms-_-bath%20and%20body%20works_Exact

2.       Sephora Gift Sets!! I love this time of year for makeup! You can find high end makeup in gift sets for so much cheaper than they really are! Sephora has so many value sets that are a great gift for someone into makeup! In the pictures you can see they have bath, makeup, brush, nail polish, fragrance sets and there are so many more sets online! If you know someone who loves makeup, Sephora is the place to go to get high end good quality makeup! They have sets for every wallet, ranging from $10 - $330!

http://www.sephora.com/value-sets-by-recipient-gifts#!categoryName=value-sets-by-recipient-gifts&pageSize=60&sortBy=price%3A0

3.       Hair! Now, depending on who you are buying a gift for, they may have all the makeup and candles in the world, well why not get them hair tools! I love curling, straightening, blow drying my hair (only sometimes though, not every day because you don’t want to damage your hair!) Getting someone hair tools is especially important if they have really old products! There are so many hair tools out there like, curling irons, hair straighteners, blow dryer, hot rollers, curling wands, hair clips, hair ties, brushes, teasing combs, etc. Oh I can go on! Two of the best hot tools/ hair care brands are Hot Tools and Conair! I love these brands! They sell good quality hair tools for good price. Conair you can get in drugstores, ranging from $17 - $68. Hot Tools which you can buy at Ulta or online (the only places I have seen them sold) range from $30 - $80.

http://www.conair-store.com/?trk_src_ss=CONFGS49WEBPAYPC

http://www.hottools.com

4.       Remember though, you can get makeup, hair care, body care at many department stores. Ulta, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Sax, CVS, Target, Sephora. Get something you believe this special someone will like and use!

5. Clothing! I love receiving clothes for the holidays! I love to be comfy and cute at the same time and Victoria's Secret has both of my needs when it comes to clothing! My favorite clothing item at Victoria's Secret are the yoga pants! They are great for everything! Forever 21 and H&M are also inexpensive clothing stores that sell many cute items also! If your looking for more expensive high quality clothing pieces I like Nordstroms, or Neiman Marcus, or even Macy's if your looking for department stores. But Urban Outfitters, or Brandy Melville and PacSun are great stores that have many different brands of clothing but all the garments are great quality and cute! Really just find out where this person likes to shop and even getting them a gift card is a great idea so that they can go shopping and buy things they like and you dont have to be stressed out with finding the perfect thing!

Have a great day and Happy Holidays!

- AM

https://twitter.com/FashionForwardA

Holiday Outfit Ideas!!

Hey!! So it is the holiday season again (thankfully)!! I love this season so much! What I hate is not knowing what to wear for the holidays!! Do not worry, I am saving all your worries and giving you 4 outfits that I would wear!! So lets begins!!

Casual - Dressy! This green sheer high low shirt is from Forever 21. Green is the color of the season so I definitely wanted to incorporate it into these holiday looks. These dark blue wash denim jeans are from Hollister. I love how the nude heels go so well with the outfit, to me it gives the outfit a fresh look! For my accessories I paired a black silver embellished bracelet from Forever 21 with a silver spiked bracelet, a tribalesque black and silver ring, a black and silver necklace, with silver rings from Charlotte Russe. Over all, I really do like this outfit! It is great for a holiday party!

Party! I really like this look, I may even wear this when my family gets together! I paired a blue sparkle shirt from Forever 21 with black denim jeans. I matched my shoes with my jeans obviously and the accessory is just 3 inter looped bangles to form 1 bangle from Forever 21!

Fancy! I know there are some people out there who dress up for the holidays, I mean I do it so no worries! I really like this forest green dress with a sweetheart body con part with half sleeve/ neckline lace from Forever 21. Green IS a holiday color! This dress hits in the middle of the thigh. I added nude open toe shoes which in my opinion, work really well with the color of the dress. For my accessories I added a ribbon detailed bracelet with pearls, all from Forever 21!

Fancy! This is a lace oxblood purple dress from Target. The dress is 3/4 sleeves. Its a high neckline dress and in the back it has a low back, not that far down though, no worries on bras being visible. The dress is a little short but not to short for family occasions. I paired this dress with black bow heels because I liked how the 2 dark colors looked together. And for accessories, I added cream colored hoops from Forever 21.  

I hope you liked these outfits! Recreate them and send them to my twitter account, I want to see your take on these outfits!: https://twitter.com/FashionForwardA

Have a great day and Happy Holidays!!!

- AM

Holiday Gift Guide!!

Hey!! Its the holiday season! Literally my favorite time of the year! Now is the time where I don't mind the cold! I think my favorite part about the holidays, is picking out presents! I have some tips for picking the best kinds of gifts for someone in mind!

1. Know what he or she likes: I love picking out gifts for people, but I hate when I pick it out and they never use/ wear it ever! Know what this person likes, example, color, favorite store, sport or activity etc. Know alot about them so that you can narrow your chooses down.

2. Ask questions: when I am looking for presents, I always like to ask questions. I know that my friend likes makeup so I wanted to know what she lacks in her collection, I would ask her "what is one thing that you lack in your makeup collection?" or "if you could have one beauty item this Christmas what would it be?" when they answer you can get a better view of what you want to get them.

3. Look at them: give a good look at the person you are buying a present for. What does he or she do on a regular basis? What does he or she use on a regular basis? Is there anything that could help he/she improve something. For example, maybe they go to the gym alot and they bring alot of stuff with them but have to carry it all in their hands, well you could get a gym bag for them, something affordable but helpful in their everyday basis.

4. If you want to buy them clothes, know their style and body figure: Take a good look at this person, are they pear shaped, curvy, slim, tall, petite? Do they have big hips or a big bust? See what they like most about their body, what they like the least? Look at what they wear on a regular day. You could research different clothing items that would improve their body figure, or something to hide their imperfections.

5. Choose something you know they will like, or something you love and think they will like!

6. You don't have to buy something, you can make something! I am pretty sure that every mom says "the best cards, are the homemade ones". Well, you can make them something, for example, a poem, a letter, a project saying what you like about them most. Come up with creative projects that will make their heart melt while reading!

I hope these tips help you! Just remember, don't get to worried about finding the perfect gift, I bet any gift you get this certain person will be amazing! Happy Holidays!

- AM