Ode to Mascara... and a few other faves

I have always been a big fan of makeup.  In our house growing up, we didn't have rules on how old you had to be to wear makeup, so I started playing with it at a young age.  I have also been blessed with long eyelashes, in fact my boss at Victoria's Secret in college used to call me Lashes (Drea, loved her).  So, one of my favorite products in the world is... Mascara.  To the ladies out there who don't wear any makeup at all, I get it, you like low maintenance, quick, out the door.  But, I personally feel like that is no excuse.  Unless you wake up and leave your house within 3 minutes, you have time to freshen up your face, at least enough to not frighten small children.  A quick swipe of blush (it is NOT for old ladies!), mascara, and lip gloss and you are out the door, that honestly should take you less than a minute.  NO EXCUSES LADIES!

I wouldn't consider myself an expert on how to DO makeup, I just have always loved it.  I have done my friends makeup here & there for events and stuff, but nothing too fancy, I would definitely NOT trust myself to do it for anything too serious, go to a professional, I am not one... but, I think the most important thing that gave me a knack for it and maybe makes it appear that I am better skilled than I am... is that I am not afraid to try something new!  Green smoky eyes?  Sure.  Dramatic neons?  Why not.  I mean, it washes off in two seconds, so what the heck.  If I don't like it, I can always just go back to my classic purple or brown in a hot second, so why not try it?  I found a few things I liked just by playing around on a night when I wasn't going anywhere,  just wanted to get a little creative.

I am kind of rare though being a makeup whore... I buy cheap makeup.  Not like, Bonne Bell or anything, but I'm talking drug store makeup.  I'm all about CoverGirl, Revlon, Rimmel, etc.  I think when you try so many looks, you either have to buy a HUGE pallet and use a different one everyday so you use it down evenly, or you have to just buy cheap and make it look good.  I don't skimp on skinCARE, but makeup, I mean, whatever.  I use my fingers to apply most of it, no fancy sponges and not a lot of brushes, and I change it often. 

Just like in clothing, I don't like to be matchy-matchy with my makeup, matching it to my outfit exactly... if I'm wearing a blue outfit, I might do green eyes or something, but I hate blue on blue, etc.  I mean, it's fine if that's just what you wear everyday and then you throw on a blue top, but if everyday you wear a different colored shirt and then you match your eye makeup to it... cheesy (IMO).  Be more creative!  My latest favorite was sort of a seafoam green shadow with navy liner, and I got three compliments on my eye makeup in one day.  Some of my favorite products are featured below.

1.  CoverGirl Last Blast Volume Mascara

If you learn ANYTHING from this at all, learn this: this is THE best mascara EVER.  Just make sure you get the original, in the orange tube, and NOT waterproof... this mascara is BY FAR the best I have ever used, better than any expensive designer brand out there.  I can guarantee it.  I have so many friends and family members using it, we nearly have to label our tubes to keep track of them.  Only con: you run out of it faster than some others, it does dry up somewhat quickly.  Mascara tip, better believe I am cheap and add a drop of water to my tube when it gets super dry.  It does work one time!  The upside on that con though, it's less than $10 for a tube (I've seen it for $6 at Family Dollar, hell yeah!), which is way better than some of you pay for that garbage at the department stores that doesn't work HALF as good as this stuff.

 

2.  Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil

This stuff can sometimes be hard to find in the stores, maybe it's just hard to find my color.  I am obsessed with eggplant colored eyeliner and this one has a really good deep purple eggplant color, called Purple Passion.  Funny how common you think that should be, but it really isn't.  I found this one on a hunt and I've been hooked since.  It stays on for a long time, is reasonably inexpensive, especially since it's "drug store makeup", and it doesn't rip your eyelid as you run it across.  I have three of these I've sharpened down to nubs in my makeup bag, but they are somewhat hard to find so I keep hanging onto them until they are totally gone!  I have it in white, too, for the inner corners of the eyes and under the brow... I just like the way this stuff feels, for an inexpensive liner.

 

3. Revlon Diamond Lust Shadow

These are my recent favorite, I think they are fairly new, because I haven't seen them before.  I've used Revlon shadow for a long time, I really like it, but I haven't seen these before.  They have a lot of glitter-looking stuff in them, which scared me at first, but the nice thing is... if you use the applicator to apply it, the glitter doesn't really get on your lid as much, but if you use your finger, the glitter is more noticeable, so you can sort of apply it two ways.  I use this when I want to apply it to my whole lid for that dramatic, all-over shadow look, but you can obviously wear it for any occasion!  It comes in five colors, but I really like Neptune Star, it's sort of a dark teal color.  Really pretty!

4.  Physicians Formula Baked Bronzer in Baked Tan

This is BY FAR the best bronzer I have ever used.  Costs me like $15 at CVS but it's well worth it.  Looks like you can get it for $12 on their website.  It does last me quite a long time, so it is worth $15 anyway.  It's not orangey looking (make sure you get it in the Baked TAN shade, not Baked BRONZE, or it will be orangey) and use it everywhere, it works on the bod too and since it has a very slight shimmer in it, it makes your skin look great!  I wear this stuff everyday, all seasons.

5.  Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Lip Gloss

Now, this is my personal preference, every store has it's own gloss and I haven't tried them all, although I have tried quite a few.  I have loved a lot of glosses in my day, but I haven't switched off this one in a long time, probably 4 years or so!  I did recently fall for the Pure Romance Kiss & Tell gloss, but the tube was like $14 and lasted me about 2 weeks... so, back to the old tried & true.  Again, personal preference I use the shade Grapefruit Blast because it's really light, not much tint to it but a little bit, tastes delicious, just a little shine, and you can still glam up your eyes and wear it appropriately.  It's only $7 (or 2 for $12 or 4 for $20!) and it lasts quite a while, even for TOTAL gloss addicts like me.  No complaints from boyfriend, even when it ends up on his cheek or lips, it's totally clear!  Just leaves a shiny lip print :)

Please give me your feedback!  Did you try any of these products?  What do you think?  Got anything you like better??  Let me know!  I LOVE makeup, if it's cheap, I'm down to try it!