What’s In My Bag: Beauty Essentials.

I am a makeup-aholic. I spend far too many hours watching makeup tutorials and pinning makeup looks to my Pinterest boards. I spend way too much money on new products and colors. I just love it. It’s like art. But on my face.

Like any beauty lover, I have my cult favorites (please ignore the Urban Decay shrine in my bathroom…move along…nothing to see here…). There are just some products that are worth the price tag because not only do they last forever (because a little product goes a long way with good brands), but they also look phenomenal. Even someone inexperienced in makeup can tell the difference. That being said, there are also certain products that truly aren’t worth spending copious amounts of money on. Their drugstore counterparts are literally just as good and you can absolutely save your money for something else a hundred times more fabulous (like good foundation. Trust me).

Moisturizer.

Please don’t ever start your makeup routine without moisturizing your face. Not only does the makeup itself dry your face out, but the winter months are incredibly tough on your skin. I use this skin care regimen twice a day, and it includes two amazing moisturizers to choose from.

Find this skincare set here!

Foundation.

I can’t stress the importance of a good foundation enough. It doesn’t have to be heavy or crazy. Even a BB cream will do. But evening out your skin tone is the key to looking totally put together. I use a combination of liquid foundation and mattifying powder as the base of all my makeup looks.

 

Get the foundation here!

Get the mattifying powder here!

Concealer.

I am still experimenting with concealer and I find that my preference often changes, as the way I do my makeup is constantly evolving. Right now, my favorite concealer is by Urban Decay (which, by the way, is my favorite brand. period). It is lighter than my natural skin tone because it doubles as a highlighter for under my eyes. I am prone to dark circles so this is especially important.

Get this concealer here! 

Blush and Bronzer.

I love my blush and bronzer for all year round. Blush brightens your face and bronzer totally fixes that “one-dimensional-face” problem a lot of women have (disclaimer: it does not fix one dimensional personalities…makeup only goes so far). I use bronzer to lightly contour my cheeks and temples, without going over board. I like to look more human than Kardashian.

Get the bronzer here!

Get the blush here!

Quality eye shadow.

The problem I run into with drug store eye shadow is that the pigment is awful. Quality matters when it comes to eye shadow, even if the price tag makes you cringe. I rotate between my Naked palettes (1,2,3 and Basics 2). I stated before that I love Urban Decay, and that goes for just about every thing makeup-wise.* High pigmentation means that you only have to use a tiny bit of product to produce amazing color on your eyes. That means, while it hurts a little upfront, you buy less product overtime.

Link to Naked 3. All others can be found at Sephora as well!

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to the Naked eyeshadow palette, this one is pretty good.

Eyeliner.

This is personal for lots of people, because not all eye shapes lend themselves to eyeliner. I love eyeliner, however, and this brand is my absolute FAVORITE. It has a perfect point, and the richness in color is stunning. (I also want to point out that one time I went swimming at a hotsprings and after like 6-7 hours on water slides and steamy hot spring water, my eyeliner still looked like I had just applied it.) If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, I also really like this one.

Get this eyeliner here!

Mascara.

In my opinion, mascara is like the icing on the cake of your makeup (but like, don’t cake on makeup. Maybe that was a bad analogy). I never feel like my makeup looks complete without it. This is one of those things, though, that I almost never buy name brand. I have found that I can get the exact same results with drugstore mascara. I always use a volumizing and a lengthening mascara together.

Get the volumizing mascara here and the lengthening mascara here.

So, that is what you will typically find in my essentials makeup bag. I have plenty of other fun products I play with as well, but they aren’t necessary (ok yes they are, I mean hello, lipsticks!).  If this was helpful at all, tell me in the comment section and let me know if there are any essentials that I am totally forgetting! What are your must have products?

 

*I am not paid by any of these companies to support their products. All opinions are my own. I truly just love them.*