April Favorites

April 30, 2018

April Favorites

May starts tomorrow and I cannot even explain to you how happy I am to finally see the end of April. This was by far the most stressful, unhealthy month I have had in a long time. There were things going on in my personal life that made me feel like I was back in grade school. I completely forgot what that even felt like and I had to work very hard at removing such stresses from my life. But regardless of what’s happening in my personal life, makeup is my getaway. I love surrounding myself in the beauty world and forgetting everything else. So needless to say I’ve had plenty time find some really amazing new products to share with you, plus a few repeats that I still can’t get enough of!

I didn’t think I’d ever get a chance to mention these chocolate covered honey grahams, but I found them again and grabbed every bag on the shelf. I’m not even kidding. Jacob got me these from TJMaxx for Valentine’s Day and they were so good, I scarfed them down within two days. I’ve looked up the brand, Jo’s candies, and can’t really seem to find these anywhere else so I just keep my eyes peeled every time we walk into a TJMaxx or Marshall’s store. The chocolate is what makes these. I don’t even really know how to describe it, they’re just so delicious!!

Okay, so now we have a quick little storytime about these white capris. I recently mentioned these in my Spring Tag post, but I left out the details on how I got them. It’s kind of embarrassing because it’s my first “I’m getting old” moment.

So...I really wanted some capris and stopped at American Eagle first because their jeans always fit me the best. I asked the young employee if they had any and she brought me to three different racks of what she thought were capris. They were bermuda shorts. Then I had to explain to her what capris actually were. She quickly gave me a judgemental glare and showed me to a rack of short cut jeans. At that point, I was over being in the store and left to find a pair somewhere else. After walking in a few other stores with the same experience, I found myself in Aeropostale. Again, I asked the employee (who was closer to my age) for capris and she immediately showed me exactly what I wanted. I told her about my American Eagle experience and she understandingly laughed with me, then informed me that they’re now called “cropped jeggings” instead of capris.

Either being 25 is older than I thought or it has been way too long since I’ve been in the mall to shop for clothes. Whatever, they’re still capris to me. And by the way, Aeropostale has seriously stepped up their game. These pants are so much more comfortable than I was expecting and they’re having some amazing sales. I scored these for less than $20!!

Another Valentine’s Day gift from my husband is this purse. Well, kind of. He actually got me a different crossbody bag, but it was causing a rash on my shoulders and elbow because I’m allergic to everything on the planet. So we returned that one and found this pretty purple crossbody purse at Target. It’s such a different design than anything else that I’ve had before and the texture of it is so soft! I love having my hands free at all times, but it has been difficult trying to downsize and not overfill it.

This month I was also introduced to a brand called The Jewelry Junkie. They sent me a few pieces, which I’ll be talking about more in an upcoming post next week. I have a pair of their earrings, a necklace, and a choker/bracelet. I love all three pieces, but I’ve definitely gotten the most wear out of the earrings. I love the design of them and really appreciate how lightweight they are.

I’ve been really into soy candles and the Signature Soy line at Target has really impressed me. There are a few in the line that aren’t as strong as others, but this Sugarcane Guava is perfect. My sister actually gifted this to me because she knows sweet fruity scents are my favorite. I keep this one on my desk and I love how it freshens up the whole space.

I recently shared this favorite Kenra Platinum Luxe One Leave-In Spray on my Instagram and discussed how much I have cut down on hair care products within the past few years. I really don’t use much of anything anymore because I’m focusing on reducing the amount of product build-up. I pretty much just use shampoo, conditioner, a bi-weekly deep conditioner, and a nightly leave-in product. I love how easy this is to use and how soft it leaves my hair. All I do is spray a few pumps into my hands and then rub it through the ends of my hair. A little bit goes a very long way with this, though, so be careful.

I used to talk this Tree Hut Shea Sugar Scrub to death in all of my empties posts. I eventually stopped featuring it because it became so repetitive, but it is still a super favorite of mine. I use it once a week and it’s the best exfoliator I’ve ever tried. I enjoy most of the scents that they offer, but this pear & chia seed is a new one which is why I wanted to feature it in this post. It’s so refreshing!

Both of these concealers have made a recent appearance in my favorites posts, but I am still loving them so much I just had to say something again. The L’oreal True Match Color Correcting Crayon in Peach is amazing at concealing dark under eye circles. The Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Concealer has been my favorite for concealing specific problem areas around the face. Both of these basically just melt into the skin and feel like nothing. They’re so comfortable! However, I only like the Neutrogena one when it’s applied over a BB Cream or foundation. When I try to apply it straight to the skin, it just disappears.

This Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Powder foundation has been all over my blog recently. I featured it in last month’s favorites and even felt the need to post a separate review to bring it even more attention. I seriously can’t explain how much I love this stuff. I’ve been reaching for it over all my foundations, concealers, and powders because it covers so well and lasts all day. I can’t get over how comfortable this is and the amount of time it saves me when getting ready is just insane!!

I kinda have a few mixed feelings about this Pretty Vulgar Make Them Blush blush in the shade Hush Blush, but I mostly love it and have been wearing it a lot this past month. I absolutely love the color of it which is why I can’t stop using it. It’s so pigmented and blends in effortlessly. But what makes me not want to use it is the talc. I’ve talked about how bad talc is for your skin many times before and I’ve definitely been battling more breakouts since using this more than I probably should. Maybe I should make my way back to my trusty Makeup Geek blushes this month and give my skin a break.

I don’t know what it was last month, but I clearly wasn’t showing my skin very much love. Even the bronzer that I used the most had talc listed as the first ingredient. This is the Pixi bronzer in the shade Summertime. It does have some glitter in it, but you can’t really see it once it’s blended into the skin. I just love the color of it. It looks so natural and provides the most healthy glow to the face.

I’ve been trying to use this Cover FX Shimmer Veil in the shade Amethyst as much as I can ever since I got it in my February Boxycharm. I wasn’t really sure what it was and wanted to play around with it to see what it could really do. I still haven’t used it over top of any eyeshadows yet, but it seems to do a very good job at holding onto eyeshadow and intensifying the pigment of whatever I lay over it. I also really enjoy its more gel-like consistency when I blend it in.

These last few items that I’m going to mention might make it seem like this post is sponsored by Pixi, but I promise it isn’t. I have gotten a few packages from them recently (which I will explain and review in a future blog post), so that would be the reason I’ve been testing out so many of their products. They just released a few new palettes that were collaborations with Youtube beauty influencers and my favorite out of the bunch are the Weylie Hoang and Dulce Candy eyeshadow palettes.

The Weylie palette looks the most simple because it has the least amount of shades and they’re all neutrals, but this is actually the one that I’ve used the most. I really love the color selection that she chose. A palette automatically becomes 10x better for me when I can create a complete eyelook out of it without reaching for anything else and that’s exactly what this palette can do.

The Dulce Candy palette is all shimmers, so I definitely can’t use that on its own. The quality and pigmentation in both of these palettes is out of this world, but the Dulce Candy shadows are slightly more satisfying because they swatch like butter. Seriously. They remind me a lot of the Makeup Geek foiled eyeshadows, which are a shimmer lover’s dream. I mean, just look at that swatch!

Lastly, I have two lip products that I’ve been loving and they’re also both by Pixi. The first is from that same Pixi Pretties collab. This one is the Lip Icing in the shade Cake, which is included in the Chloe Morello set. I actually didn’t think I was going to like this one and I still don’t when used on its own because it’s basically just clear glitter. But it’s absolutely stunning as a topper!

I’ve been enjoying putting it on top of many different matte liquid lipsticks, but my favorite so far is the Pixi MatteLast Liquid Lip in the shade Evening Rose. The Pixi MatteLast Liquid Lips are definitely the most comfortable matte lip products I’ve ever used, but the Lip Icing adds the glossy shine that I love. There’s something about that rich pinky rose and gold glitter combo that is so flattering!

With the month I had, these products definitely made it a lot easier to get through. I’m so grateful I have this happy space where I can just escape from life’s stresses and focus on what I love. Obviously I’d recommend all of these products mentioned in this post, but don’t say I didn’t warn you about the talc issue if you start breaking out too!

~Mani Monday~

Sometimes I go through phases with my nail polish colors. There’s times where I don’t want to wear anything but soft neutrals, and other times I want to wear all the colors in the rainbow. Right now I’m all about the classics: pink and red. I’ve been wearing them a ton lately. This makes the third time in four months that I’ve done this color, which is extremely rare. I wore this Sinful Colors polish in the shade Energetic Red back in January and then chose an almost identical shade (Sally Hansen’s Redgy) in March. Even though I’ve worn this more than usual, I still love looking down at it like it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it.