Beauty Products I Love

I began using makeup as an early teenage, but I also began taking care of my skin properly ever since then too. I tried several new skincare and beauty products over the years, but even with changing concealers, mascaras and lotions, I still come back to my favorites again and again. And once I find a product that really helps an issue, then I definltey don’t let it go. I’d like to think my favorite beauty products are a mix of fairly affordable and a few well worth the splurge. I’ve been wanting to put this post together for over a year now, but I’m glad I waited and found a few new favorites to add to the list. Since February leading up to Valentine’s Day was all about showering everyone in our lives with love, it’s time to focus the rest of the month on showing ourselves some tender loving care. So I thought I’d share the beauty items I love and have proved their trusting value to me. 

Bath

I never put much thought really into the bath soaps I used, aiming for natural products, but it wasn’t until I discovered Lush that I really cared more about what went into the beauty products I used. I was hooked after showering with the amazing The Olive Branch Shower Gel I had been gifted for my birthday. It’s just a pretty smell, like walking through a field of orange blossoms. It always makes showering a special treat, which is why I alternate with the Buffy Bath Body Butter. The natural scrubbers exfoliate the skin, while shea and cocoa butters hydrate and smooth the skins incredibly, even afterwards. When I was a teenager I had always been self-conscious of cellulite, over the years I’ve become more accepting of it. Mostly thanks to great products on the market now, one being Frank Body! First it was their Coffee Body Scrub, then came their Body Balm, and I’ve become a big fan. You don’t see results overnight, but it does really help to hide and diminish it naturally, including stretch marks and scars too! The other thing has been dry brushing, which does wonders for your skin. 

My hair is very curly and voluminous, and easily reacts to the products I use with it. Over the years I’ve come to realize that my hair type does better when washed with a clarifying shampoo. I faired well with a drug store brand, but then decided to treat my hair to better quality cleaners. I’ve just started using Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree hair care line, and I noticed an improvement after the first wash. It hydrated my slightly dry hair, while giving it some good healthy volume.  

Hair Care 

Like I mentioned before, my hair is temperamental when it comes to using too many products, I simply just don’t need them, just a squirt of Alterna’s CC Caviar Cream onto my damp ends to tame frizzy ends is all I need. I don’t use shine or frizz oil once my hair is dry, usually it’s just a spritz of hairspray. Once every two weeks or month, I spray my roots then my ends with John Frieda’s Lightening Spray just to maintain my hair shade. 

When I do wear my hair naturally curly, which isn’t often, I do give my hair a light spray of Bumble and Bumble’s Surf Spray. It makes my already curly hair curlier, by defining each curl while taming my frizz. 

Skincare

Face

I have naturally pretty good skin, which I’m very thankful for, so I enjoy  Philosophy’s Take A Deep Breath for it’s lightweight feel while still being moisturizing. On the rare days, more so during winter, when my face is a bit drier, I use Josie Maran’s Light Argan Oil before going to bed. 

I use a few products to help with my dark circles, and I enjoy swiping Sephora’s Pomegranate Sleeping Mask underneath my eyes and lids on days when I really need to wake up looking fresh. When I wake up, it’s First Aid Beauty Eye Triple Duty Remedy.

I don’t enjoy being fairer during the winter, and although I do have an olive skin tone, I’m thankful for St. Tropez’s Bronzing Face Lotion when it’s too cold to catch sun rays. 

I’m cult lover of Stila’s One Step Correct Primer.

For the at home facial treatment, I use my favorite for exfoliating, cleansing, and bring new life to my facial skin every one or two weeks, and it’s Glam Glow. For that time during the month when my skin becomes temperamental, I use Murad’s Clarifying Acne Mask where needed. 

Okay, I know it may seem weird to have Castor Oil on this list, but after an esthetician friend recommended it to help my eyebrows grow more, I haven’t stopped using it. It’s not like my naturally thin eye brows grew rapidly, they have slowly become fuller than when I first began using it. So I keep using it in the hopes of having naturally thicker brows. 

Body

This isn’t a sponsored post, but I really do love Burt’s Bees skincare products, especially during the winter. Their Almond & Milk Hand Cream is just so good, it’s one I usually only use when my hands are as dry as paper, but a little goes a long long way. It eases my dry skin and leaves it silky smooth for a few days. It does goes on thick and slightly oily, so it’s not a hand cream I use daily or on the run, it’s perfect during the evenings when you have the time to massage it into your skin properly. 

I’m notorious for picking at my nail cuticles, I’m getting better at it, but the reason were that they were very dry. Ever since using Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, it not only has made my at-home manicures a bit more luxurious, it’s helped to soften my cuticle skin too, stopping me from picking them. I love rubbing the excess in my skin too. 

For daily moisturizing with a bit of tint, the cult favorite Jergen’s Natural Glow. 

Make Up 

Of all my the beauty products I love, I just couldn’t, and I mean really couldn’t live without my Onomie Dark Circle Correcting for Eyes. I have pretty bad dark circles, and I’ve tried every kind of under eye concealer, from drug store to designer, and I never had a product that really give me the coverage I wanted, until I tried Onomie. When I tried the home trial, I instantly saw the difference. Over time it helps to reduce them too. 

Keeping with achieving bright dark circle free eyes, Tarte’s Inner Rim Liner does wonders to brighten the eyes even more. Everyone of my eye shadows are by MAC Cosmetics, and has been since I first started wearing make-up back in high school. But of all the colors, Blanc Type is my go – to, not just for natural looks, but as a base for any eye shadow color I choose. 

We always have that nail color that we just love no matter what. You know the one you’re constantly buying because you go through it so quickly, well Essie’s Sand Tropez is that for me. It’s a great year long color, no matter the season, fancy or casual, it works. I love this color so much, I even used it to fix these scuffed heels. 

A perfectly curled set of lashes can do wonders for your eyes, especially with a swipe of mascara. Tweezerman’s eye lash curler is a drug store pickup, but it curls my lashes so perfectly it convinced a girl friend to pick up for herself. I’ve been fortunate to have long lush lashes, and I love MAC’s Extreme Dimension Mascara cause it makes my lashes fuller like falses without being overly dramatic. 

Bronzer is another one of those products I’ve searched far between affordable to very expensive. Either I was going through the expensive stuff way to fast for my wallet and the drug stores brands just weren’t giving the shade I was looking for. Physicians Formula Bronze Booster is a drug store product, a bit more on the high end, and it was great with my skin. It gives me great sun kissed color without having to cake on the stuff. 

To set it all in place for a long day wearing make up, the e.l.f. Make Up Mist. This product works just as well as the more expensive versions, keeping my make up fresh for hours, and it smells so nice when you spray it. 

What are your true and tried favorite beauty products? 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin