February Favorites 2014
Hey guys!
It is the beginning of March, which means that today’s post is going to be
about everything I was loving in February. Let’s dive right in, shall we?
I am going
to start with my makeup favorites, and the first one is a drugstore mascara. I
picked up the L’Oreal “Lash Out Butterfly” mascara, in non-waterproof, black,
ages ago and never really got around to trying it. Boy, was I missing out all
those months. I have been loving everything about this mascara, the formula,
the wand, the plastic bristles, and the packaging is pretty good too.
The formula is not to thick and not
to watery, which I find that a nice
balance. I have had very few problems with flaking, or smearing and smudging
throughout the day, which is great. Ok, moving on to the wand, which is what
really makes this mascara special. Around the majority of the wand are short,
plastic bristles, which I find really nice to get the bottom lashes and the
base of the top lashes. Once I get the root of my top lashes, then I go in with
the curved side of the brush. This is curved perfectly to really catch the
outer lashes, giving you length, a little bit of volume, and definition, really
giving you a nice “butterfly” effect.
I usually
do about two coats, and haven’t noticed any major clumping. This has been the
mascara that I reach for everyday during the past month. It retails for around
$7 or $8 depending on where you get it, and it is available at drugstores and Ulta. (Pretty much anywhere L’Oreal is sold!)
The next
item is a blush. Lately I have become a bit of a blush junkie, and have picked
up a quite a few in the past month. So far my favorite is the extra dimension
blush in “At Dusk,” from MAC. I got this blush when it was released in the Magnetic
Nudes collection earlier this year, but I don’t think this is the first time it
was released.
The color
is a cool-toned soft pink, that is slightly darker then a baby pink color. It
is a fairly light color, but having said that it has a nice color payoff.
Because it is so light, it won’t suit most skin tones. I have fairly pale skin,
so it just adds a lovely wash of pink to my cheeks. It wears nicely throughout
the day and it goes with pretty much any eye and lip color.
For lips I
have two products. The first is from the drugstore and it is the Maybelline
“The Color Elixir.” Holy sweet momma! This could be my favorite lip gloss ever!
Let’s begin with the packaging, which I actually adore. It is a clear tube with
a silver cap. When turned upside down, there looks to be a lipstick in the
clear part, which actually houses the glossy stain.
Now lets
move on to the product. Being a glossy stain, I adore the formulation. Once the
initial gloss wears off, you are left with a stain of the color. Duration wise,
it last fairly long on me, nothing too spectacular, and if I am eating it wears
away in the center. However that doesn’t bother me at all, because I love
applying this product. The brush is lovely to use and it smells delicious. It
is not drying on the lips and I haven’t notice too much feathering so far.
I have
three colors: 050 Caviar Couture, 025 Mauve Mystique, 035 Dashing Orchid. I
plan to get a few more because I adore them so much. They retail for around $9
and can be found in Ulta, or anywhere else that Maybelline is sold.
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| Left to Right: 050 Caviar Couture, 025 Mauve Mystique, 035 Dashing Orchid |
The last
makeup product is a higher end lip gloss from Urban Decay. The release of the
“Naked” lip glosses’, earlier this month had me super excited to try them out,
and I think I am in love. I have no real
complaints about anything to do with this product.
The product
itself is fantastic. It has a nice spear-minty smell that I really like. The
formulation is perfect, as this lip gloss is hydrating to the lips. It is infused with Shea butter, avocado oil
and vitamin E to help hydrate and condition. In terms of duration, the color
lasts about 45 minutes before having to reapply. The colors are all fairly
nude, with a choice for most skin types.
The have
the color “Walk of Shame,” which is a light coral-pink color, but have my eye
on at least two more shades. They retail for $20 and you can find them at
Sephora and Ulta.
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| (Please excuse my very dry hands! It's been a rough winter!) |
Moving on
to lip care, I have a new favorite lip balm. I finally caved and picked up the
Crème de Rose lip balm from Dior, and I am so glad I did. This really is the
most moisturizing formulation I have ever tried. Like the name suggests, it
smells like roses. Not only is it moisturizing, it seems to be plumping my lips
as well, because it’s plumping all of those little dehydration lines in my
lips, giving them a fuller appearance. You can purchase it at any Dior Counter
or at Sephora for $27.
The next
favorite is the Josie Maran Argan Cleansing oil. I use this to take off my
makeup at the end of the day and it is really nice to use. I use about two pumps,
and that will take off everything, even my waterproof eye makeup. It is gentle
enough to use on my very sensitive eyes, which is great. In addition to taking
the makeup off, it does cleanse really well, but I like to follow up with a cleanser
just to be sure. I got mine at Sephora in the beginning of the month and I am
pleasantly surprised with how little I used, easily getting me another three
months of use, if not more. It retails for $32 and you can find it at Sephora.
My next
favorite is hair care, and it is the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day 5-in-1
Styling Treatment. I use this after I get out of the shower and before I brush
my hair. It claims to do 5 things:
smooths, volumizes, conditions, streghthens and polishes. I agree with all of
them except that it gives you volume. On my hair it is also a fairly good
detangler, which is something my super long, fairly thick hair needs. It is $26
and you can get it from Sephora or Ulta.
My new
fragrance obsession is the Elizabeth and James Nirvana White and Nirvana Black.
This is Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s new perfume line and it is incredibly.
Unlike most other celebrity perfume gimmicks, the twins clearly wanted the
perfumes to be actual, long lasting formula that can be worn alone or paired
together, which is my personal favorite way to wear them.
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| I found this picture on Google images, because I left mine at my mums house and don't have them with me :( |
Nirvana White is a more floral
scent. While Nirvana Black is more of a masculine scent featuring Sandalwood. I
love everything about the two perfumes, from the scents to the bottles, which
they designed to look antique. Scents are very personal, so next time you are
in Sephora I would definitely give them a sniff. They are exclusively sold at
Sephora and retail for $75 each for the 1.7oz, $55 for the 1oz, and $22 for the
.34oz Rollerball.
My final item is a set of nail
polishes from Formula X for Sephora. “The System” is a four piece set
containing four nail polishes: a Nail Cleanser, Base Coat, Top Coat and then
there is a fourth slot where you can insert any nail color you want from the
collection. I love painting my nails,
but for some reason, every time I paint them they chip with in the first 48
hours. So I was really excited to try this new system, and I was really happy
with the results. On me, it lasted five days before I had the first chip. Now
it claims to have, like, three weeks of wear or something ridiculous like that,
which clearly didn’t happen, but five days of no chipping was a HUGE success
for me, so I am quite pleased with the results.
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| Left to Right: Nail Cleanser, Base Coat and Top Coat |
They have a huge selection of
colors, and special effect top coats to choose from and they are price in the
$10 -$13 range. The System is meant to be used with the Formula X polishes, but
I have found that they play nice with all other brands. You can purchase the
set for $32 OR individually from Sephora.
Thank you so much to everyone taking the time to read this! It means a lot!!!
Love ya,
Mallory
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