May Favorites
Just to give a little update in case you read last month’s favorites, this month was definitely better. It was by no means any less crazy or less busy, but it wasn’t nearly as stressful when considering my personal life. Thank goodness for that! This month, I was able to focus a lot on home decor improvements and that’s something that always excites me. I love seeing spaces come together. I may not be the best at it, but once it’s done I feel so happy and accomplished. You’ll see a few of those improvements in this post!
We have been trying to figure out what to do in our backyard for the almost three years that we’ve been living in our house. We’ve added a few things, but I’m totally not an outdoors type of girl and it’s just not a space that I wanted to spend much time in. I’ve really been paying attention to that area lately, trying to make it more inviting to interest me a little more.
One silly thing about me is that I love light. I always have to have all the lights on, and even stores with bright lighting tend to be my favorite. There was never much light in the backyard, except for the one attached to the wall on the side of the door. Cafe lights are really popular right now and I love the way they look. We didn’t have anything to attach them to, though, so we bought two 1 ½” PVC pipes and spray painted those black. We added some hooks and ordered a 50’ string of lights off Amazon.
As funny as it is, my plan actually worked! I’ve been spending much more time in the backyard, no matter what time of day it is. I know Summer nights are about to be amazing because we’ve already been firing up the grill and enjoying our meals outside as much as possible. Now if the pool would just warm up a little more, we’d be all set!
This is definitely one of the most random things I’ve ever mentioned on my blog, but a huge favorite this month is our new shower head. There’s kind of a funny story behind this: we ordered a new shower head with a hose to put in one of our other bathrooms that we bathe our German Shepherd in. I realized how much of a difference that one made, so we decided to order a bigger one for our bathroom too.
My husband is actually the one who insisted on getting a shower head that was wider in diameter and I had no idea it would make such a difference! We ordered this one on Amazon for less than $25! I love all the different settings that it has and how fast my showers are now that I have more water coming out, covering a bigger area. If you’ve been wanting a bathroom upgrade, I highly recommend this!
A bread box has also been on our list of things to find for quite some time. We’ve seen a few in stores, but have passed on almost all of them because they just weren’t what we were looking for or they didn’t have a very smooth opening and closing slide. This one caught our eye randomly when we were walking through Target. It was at the very bottom of the shelf, so that would explain why I’ve never seen it before. It’s exactly what we wanted and I’m so happy we finally found it. It’s very smooth to slide open and shut, and I like that it has a frosted front so you can still see what you have inside.
I’ve mentioned my PopSocket once before, but I quickly wanted to mention it again to update. I used to have it slightly lower than in the middle of the phone and it was fine. I could tell it was a little off, I just didn’t want to bother moving it. I eventually gave in and moved it even lower on the phone and omg, it has made the biggest difference! My small hands are definitely appreciating the new placement!
Okay, this is going to make my me and my husband look like total nerds but we’ve been really into puzzles lately. We both spend our entire days looking at computer screens or other blue screen devices and we had to do something to give our eyes a break. We’ve been picking up some puzzles at the dollar store and doing them throughout our days when our eyes start to hurt. We’re both incredibly busy individually and this has actually given us some time to spend bonding together, which is always a good thing.
If you keep up with me on Instagram, you might recognize these from one of my stories. The past few years, I’ve been really into bathing suit tops that have underwire. Those are getting a little uncomfortable for me and don’t always flatter a small chest, so this year I was wanting something different. I found both of these Aerie brand bathing suit tops at Marshalls for $5 a piece! $5 y’all!! I got the pink one first and loved it so much, I went back to find another color.
I love that these have straps like a bra, so you can adjust them as needed. I also really appreciate the triangle shape because then there’s no worry about weird tan lines. I don’t know about you, but that’s the first thing I think about when looking at swimsuits. The ring in the middle adds more color, so there’s plenty of bottom options that these can be paired with.
Another thing you would’ve seen on my Insta stories is that I finally broke out my self tanner for the first time this year. The St. Moriz Fast Self Tanning Mousse is definitely my favorite because the three hours that is has to develop flies by so fast and then you’re tan before you even know it. I’m so happy to finally bring this back into my routine again! And in case you missed it, I just posted a blog talking about my two best tips for prolonging the wear of self tanner. You can find that here.
The two face makeup products I’ve been loving this month are the new Cover FX Blurring Primer that I got in my Boxycharm and the Evian Facial Spray that I’ve mentioned many times recently. The primer reminds me a lot of the Benefit POREfessional primer, which works really well on my oily skin. It’s more of a silky primer that is great for blurring pores and fine lines.
I’ve continued to use the Evian spray immediately after applying my makeup. It’s not necessarily a setting spray in the sense that it’s going to prolong the wear of the makeup. It’s more for setting everything together and really melting it into the skin. I love it!
I’ve constantly been reaching for the same two brushes all month. I try to use others, but I keep going back for this Ofra and Makeup Geek blush. I use this Ofra blush because it doesn’t have talc in it. The only bad part is that I don’t know the shade name. It came in a Boxycharm a few months back and there’s no shade name listed on the back of the pan, which is a shame because I love the color of this.
Makeup Geek blushes have always been my favorite. They were the first blushes I discovered that weren’t made with talc and I fell in love with the formula. They are so smooth and incredibly pigmented. It doesn’t take much to blend these on the cheeks. This particular shade is called Heart Throb, but I really love all the shades they have.
And in case you didn’t already hear, Makeup Geek is now coming to Target stores!! They’re starting to show up in some and I can’t wait until I can find them locally. Not that Makeup Geek’s shipping is high (because it’s totally not), but I’m so proud of them finally making their way to retail stores!
This Pür Cosmetics Sculptor palette also came in this month’s Boxycharm and I’ve been loving it! I adore the Pür Cosmetics pressed powder formulation, so I immediately knew this was going to be a favorite. I switch back and forth between using this on the face and using it on my eyes. If I’m not self-tanned, the bronzers can be a little intense. But these shades are always great for eyeshadows!
I really thought I wasn’t gonna like the Maybelline TattooStudio Eyebrow Gel after my first time using it, but I tried a few different application techniques and now I really love it. I definitely recommend applying it with an angled brush and light pressure to get the best results. Once it’s applied correctly, it’s the longest lasting eyebrow product I’ve ever tried.
The BrowGal Instatint Tinted Eyebrow Gel came in last month’s Boxycharm and I’ve been using it constantly ever since. This one is more of an everyday setting gel because you don’t have to be as careful with it. It still provides a decent amount of color and staying power. I appreciate how easy it is to use and the small size of the wand.
I’ve talked about these Maybelline Color Tattoo Eye Chromes so much and I continue to use them all the time. I got worried because I haven’t been seeing them in Walmart stores and thought they might be discontinuing them. However, I did just see them at Ulta and I was so happy about it because I’m close to needing to repurchase both of my favorite colors. Gilded Rose gets a ton of use, but this month I’ve been using a lot of Beige Luster. I love how much they intensify my eyeshadows and keep them in place all day long.
It’s getting a little hotter outside, which is causing my makeup looks to simplify. I haven’t been wearing much eyeliner and I’ve been using products that flatter without having to put in much effort. My favorite eyeshadow combination has been the Celestial shade in the ColourPop Semi-Precious eyeshadow palette and Makeup Geek’s Creme Brulee single eyeshadow. I used both of these in my most recent tutorial, with a few other shades from that palette. But on the daily, I’ve really only been using that duo plus mascara.
The single eyeshadow palette that I’ve been loving the most is the Pixi x Weylie Hoang palette. I have a full review of this palette coming up on Friday, so I’ll talk more in detail about this in that post. But for now, I’ll just say that it’s one of the only palettes that I’ve been reaching for because it’s so easy to use. It always performs the way I need it to and is something I don’t have to think too much about.
I have three lip products that I’ve been switching between this month and at first glance, they all look extremely similar. You can see a few differences in the swatch, but they’re all completely different on the lips. The Adesse Hi Definition Liquid Lipstick is the darkest of the three, the Han Lip Gloss in the shade Nude Rose is a little lighter and more glossy, and the L’oreal Infallible Lip Paint in the shade Spicy Blush is the lightest in color and has more of a cream finish. These all wear extremely comfortable on the lips and can match with anything.
I always end up having more favorites to mention than I think I do...oops. Maybe there were a few things that I could have left out, but I feel like I need to mention it all. I have to share my favorites so you can love them too! I can’t wait to spend more time in the backyard this Summer and I still can’t believe the great deal I found on those swimsuits!!
I hope you enjoyed this post! If you have any other questions, please feel free to leave them for me in the comments section below. Have you tried any of these products before? What were some of your favorites this month?
~Christina~
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