Sephora Sale Picks + New Makeup & Skincare Finds

In all honesty, makeup is not something I love to spend my money on. I prefer clothes. However, after a makeup lesson with a makeup artist (read all about that here) and seeing my mom's new products, I am ready to replace some of my products that I have had for way too long and add some fun new things to my collection.

And lucky for me, this desire to purchase new products couldn't have come at a better time! The Sephora sale started for Rouge members AKA people who spend $1000+ yearly at Sephora last week, and it just opened to VIBs (people who spend $350+ yearly) and Insiders (free- AKA me!) today!

Sephora Beauty Insider Appreciation Event

To shop this sale, you just have to sign up for an Insider account. This is what I have. It is absolutely free. It's not a credit card or anything like that. They just send you emails from time to time and you earn points for any purchases made. I signed up one day when I was buying some mascara in store. It's really easy, and they really don't even send many emails. You can click here to sign up. 

Once you have signed up to be an Insider, you can get 10% off between today and Monday September 3. You can only shop online using the code YESINSIDER one time, so make sure you purchase everything you want in that one order. Or you can shop in store as many times as you want if you show them your Insider email.

If it were Old Navy or Loft, I wouldn't consider making a purchase if they told me I only got 10% off. However, this kind of deal is rare for many of these brands and products, so getting 10% off is pretty good!

Now, I'm going to share my favorite things included in the sale by category, and then I will share some new makeup and skincare products that I am loving. They all happen to belong to my mom, but I used them when I was home last week and LOVED them!

Makeup

For the Face:

(my favorite bronzer | my favorite powder | my favorite blush)

For the Eyes:

(my favorite eyeshadow | my favorite mascara)

For the Lips:

(my favorite lip balm | my favorite lip gloss)

Skincare

(favorite face lotion | favorite self tanner)

Hair

New Makeup & Skincare Finds

As I mentioned above, all of these products are my mom's. She invested in some new makeup and skincare products recently, and I got to test them out while I was at home! I am definitely going to grab some of these things while I can get them for a discounted price! The Bobbi Brown face wash and toner were two of my very favorite things! They both left my face feeling so fresh and clean.

sheer finish setting powder | bronzer | bronzer brush | full coverage face brush | under eye corrector | pot rouge for lips and cheeks (not available at Sephora) 

similar eyeshadow palette | eyeshadow brush | mascara | brow shaper | gel eyeliner | eyeliner brush | cream shadow stick

high shimmer lip gloss | lip gloss | lip pencil (not available at Sephora)

toner | face wash | brush cleaner (not available at Sephora) | face moisturizer | extra repair moisturizing cream | hydrating eye cream

Thanks so much for reading! I'll be back tomorrow with all the best Labor Day weekend sales! Hope you have a great day!

Shop My Sephora Sale Picks

What I Learned from a Lesson with a Makeup Artist

Receiving blog post suggestions is something that makes me so happy. It's not always easy to come up with something new to write about every day. One of my friends suggested I interview a makeup artist and write about it. I loved that idea because makeup is definitely not an area of expertise for me. Thanks for the great idea Jackie! :) 

I thought Ebie's wedding would be the perfect time to talk to a makeup artist because we would already be getting our makeup done. I had the list of questions my friends and I came up with, and I was ready to go. However, it's actually not easy to look down and take notes while getting your makeup done, and wedding days are definitely time-sensitive days. At some point, my mom asked the fabulous makeup artist if she taught makeup lessons because that would be a great birthday gift for me. She said she did, and I decided I would put my laptop away, relieved to know that I could ask her all the questions during the makeup lesson!

The makeup artist I'm talking about is Courtney Matthews, and she worked for Bobbi Brown for years. If you're in the Mobile area, we highly recommend her! Her email is cocokat5712@gmail.com. She did our makeup for Ebie's wedding, and then she came over to our house in Mobile and gave my mom and me a makeup lesson. This was one of my very favorite birthday gifts!

I tried to consolidate my notes, but I took over 3 pages of Word document notes while she was giving us our makeup lesson. I learned SO MUCH! When you see words in Italics, you can click on them to be taken directly to the product mentioned. 

Skincare

Before we even got started on makeup, Courtney gave us a whole spiel on skincare. To sum things up, she said the skin is so important, so start there- get your skin looking great and makeup will be so much easier.

-Use a gentle cleanser every day but substitute an exfoliating cleanser twice a week.

-Also use toner if you’re prone to breakouts because it makes your face extra clean. You can use it to clean your face after exercise. Try to find an alcohol free toner that is very gentle, like a micellar water because it freshens up your skin.

-Double cleansing is something that is trending right now. What this means is you use a cleansing oil to absorb makeup, wipe it off, & rinse it off and then use a cleaning cleanser like Cetaphil.

-After cleansing, apply serum- use a dropper to put it on fingertips, rub your fingers together to warm it up and make it body temperature, press it into your skin, and let it seep in.

-Next, use a little bit of moisturizer and rub your fingers together to let it warm up to body temperature. This allows it to seep into your skin better.You want to use your hands to mimic your own body. This strategy takes advantage of the products we buy. Courtney used Brandless facial lotion. She said every product by Brandless is around $3. They wanted to create a company that has high quality products that are affordable.

-Courtney could not suggest eye cream more. She said it is SO important. Use the tiniest amount, rub it together between your fingers to warm it up before pressing it in there where the puffiness is. Bobbi Brown Eye Cream is the one Courtney used. It helps with so many things, but one thing in particular- it makes concealer go on smoother.

-Don't have a lazy night! If you don’t want breakouts, jump up and do the bare minimum before going to bed- cleanse your face and put on moisturizer at least. It takes 2 weeks for your skin to recover when you do not take makeup off before bed!

-Don't be scared of oils- use plant oils or organic coconut oil to take off makeup or for hydrating purposes. 

Makeup

Outfit Details: Robe | Leggings

-Concealer- start with concealer under your eyes to brighten. She said if you start with concealer, you will find that you don’t have to go overboard with foundation. You want the concealer to brighten and lift your eye, like an eyelift without surgery. I’m in between colors of my Tarte Shape Tape concealer, so both colors together worked the best to conceal the circles under my eyes. Courtney used a cream blending brush, but she said you can also just use a regular concealer brush and then pat with your fingers. She also reemphasized the importance of hydrating before using it.

-Foundation- Courtney used a Bobbi Brown foundation stick in warm sand. It's very versatile. You can use a foundation brush or pat with your fingers. Bobbi Brown trains her employees to use their fingers a lot and not a beauty blender because beauty blenders waste so much product. Foundation can be applied on your whole face, but make sure to go around your concealer.

-Powder- use something that is as colorless as possible so you don’t look like you have a ton of makeup on. Powder should just be used to keep the shine down. Courtney said the concealer and foundation combo was enough for me. She said I could apply powder if I got shiny, but she suggested that I not use it on a day to day basis.

-Bronzer is supposed to be color correcting and not give you a tan. It should only be used on the cheekbones and then leftover product can be swept lightly over your forehead (my bronzer has shimmer, and I definitely don’t want that all over my face). You have to have a really good bronzer brush. It is worth the money because it is shaped properly and has softer bristles so its not grabbing tons of color. It is lightly putting color on our face. We want it to go on as sheer as possible, and then we can use leftover bronzer to warm up nose, under chin, and rest of face to bring the color up from your chest.

-Blush- concentrate on the apple of your face. Come up the cheekbone making downwards strokes. Use a blush brush. My color is Bobbi Brown pale pink. My mom's is dessert rose or apricot or coral shimmer. My blush is from high school and needs to be replaced. It does not necessarily go bad. It just loses pigment over time. Another type of blush that can be used is a pot rouge. Courtney called this the best purse product because it can be used on cheeks and lips. It's the same color but looks a little bit different on cheeks and lips. You just tap your finger in it and apply. Courtney’s favorite is Maui.

-Eyebrows- Courtney used an eye cream pencil and said start at the inner part and go out. Do it little by little on each side and then use eyeshadow with a brow brush to fill in. Courtney used Bobbi Brown wheat. She said it lifts your eyes and makes you look more awake.

-Eyeshadow- I have the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. Courtney said press your eyeshadow into your eye to concentrate it into your eyelid. If you’re feeling diva like, don’t use concealer first so you can go back under your eyes to cover the fallout and you don’t have to do it twice. Start with Bone for a good base shadow (no shimmer) to mimic the color of your skin. This takes the color out of your eyelid. Apply it all over from eyelid to eyebrow. Then, press in Half Baked all over lower lid. Build it with Copper in the corner and bring it lightly to inner eye. Then go over that with Snakebite. Start in the corner again and then all over the crease. Blend it out in the corner so it doesn’t stay too concentrated and chop your eye. Blend it outwards and upwards to look more like your eye sockets.

-Eyeliner- Nothing is going to brighten your eye up like black. If you don’t want black, go as dark brown as possible. Start at the outside and stay right at the base of the lashline and go all the way across as far as you have lashes. Then, you can go over it and draw more of a line or cateye if that is your thing. Courtney used Bobbi Brown gel liner with an ultra fine eyeliner brush. She suggests using a waterproof eyeliner and only putting it on the top.

-Mascara- The best drugstore mascara is Loreal Voluminous. It's great in waterproof and regular. Super helpful tip- don’t pump your wand! It puts a bunch of air and bacteria in there. The more air that gets in there, the thicker it gets. Courtney said she also loves Bobbi Brown smoky eye mascara and said to never redip mascara because there is plenty of product on your wand to do two coats on each eye. After doing 2 good coats on top, graze whats left on the bottom. Use very little on the bottom lashes so it doesn’t pull you down.

-Lips- No matter the color, when you choose a lipstick, make sure it does something for you, and it's not just a color on your face. Don’t let it take away from your eye color. Courtney used Bobbi Brown lip color. She used a basic lip brush, and that always makes lipstick stay on longer because it is pressing it into the lips. She said my lips are very defined, so I don’t necessarily need a lipliner. However, she did use a lipliner to fill my lips in at Ebie's wedding before lipstick, so that it would last longer. Wrong lip colors take the attention away from your eyes, so you want a color that will compliment your eyes! 

I learned SO much and clearly tried to be as thorough with my notes as I could. I'm so excited to share this with you! I hope it helps! Thanks so much for reading! Have a great day!

Outfit Details: My Mom's Dress | My Dress (similar) | My Sandals

SHOP THE MAKEUP:

February Favorites

I found a few things this month that I absolutely love. Some of them are so affordable that I had to buy multiple colors! Spring is my favorite season and spring clothes are my favorite clothes! I hope you love my February favorites as much as I do!

 Favorite Dress // Favorite Top // Favorite Bottoms // Favorite Shoes // Favorite Accessory // Favorite Beauty Product

Favorite Dress- When I tried this dress on, I loved it so much that I had to get both colors! I bought an identical dress (but white) from Anthropologie last year, and it was $118. This dress is $24.99. It is such a steal, so I had to get the blue and dark gray. The ruffle sleeves are adorable! It does run big though. I sized down to a small.

Favorite Top- My mom actually got this tee for me a few months ago. I've loved it ever since she gave it to me because of how soft it is. And because of the length. However, it has been especially great to wear this month. Our weather has been so strange, and this tee has been the best layering tee. It's perfect to wear under cardigans and jackets when it's cooler out (because the sleeves are more fitted), but it's also not too hot when we have a warmer day!

Favorite Bottoms- I have been loving all of the scalloped details I've seen this season. When I saw these shorts, I had to get them! You can click here to check them out in solid colors. I tried on solid white and black pairs and thought they were adorable too! And the best part is that they are on major sale! They were originally $54.50, marked down to $27, plus an additional 20% off with code CANTSTOP. So they are currently $21.60!! I sized up to make them a little looser.

Favorite Shoes- Ebie got me these Marc Fisher wedges for Christmas, and they are going to be my uniform all spring and summer. They are an investment, but I know I will get tons of use out of them! I will have more about these must have wedges coming up in a blog post soon!

Favorite Accessory- I got my first pair of Lisi Lerch earrings for Valentine's Day, and I am in LOVE! They are so fun and make such a statement! They are really big, but they are lightweight. I wore them in Birmingham on Saturday, so I had them on for 8ish hours, and they were comfortable. My exact color is no longer available. However, they come in 29 other colors, and you can click here to see more Lisi Lerch earrings. 

Also, make sure you check out my Instagram post from last night because I have teamed up with some of my favorite bloggers to give away 3 pairs of Lisi Lerch earrings, as well as a couple of other things! I wish I could win!

Favorite Beauty Product- I have been ranting and raving about this butter gloss since I found it a couple of weeks ago. So if you are a frequent reader, I will not make you read more about my love for this lip gloss. However, if you do want to read more about it, click here to see my whole blog post I wrote about it!

Thanks so much for reading! Have a great day!

SHOP THE POST:

The Best $5 Lip Gloss

If you watch my Instagram stories, you are probably sick of hearing me talk about this lip gloss. But not everyone who reads my blog watches my Instagram stories, so I'm sharing all about it here today! 

I stumbled upon my first NYX butter gloss right beside the cash register at CVS a couple of weeks ago. I had heard several bloggers talking about it, so I was excited to find it. I was obsessed as soon I tried it the first time. So obsessed that I went to Ulta the next day and purchased two more colors.

I am really picky about lip products. My favorite thing to put on my lips is Blistex Lip Medex chapstick. I honestly don't wear much lipstick. I like lip products that are super moisturizing, and these butter glosses are just that! The colors I have are Angel Food Cake, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Vanilla Cream Pie. The picture below shows them in that order!

I can't get over the price for how good the product is! It's $4.99 at Ulta, and they are currently offering buy 1 get 1 50% off! I have also seen them at Target. However, I've been chatting with my friend Sarah about these butter glosses, and she has looked for them in 3 stores and not found them. So you can click here if you'd rather order from Amazon.

Do you have any favorite drugstore products that work really well? Thanks so much for reading! Have a great day!

SHOP THE POST:

My First Blog Collaboration- Neutrogena

I'm so excited that the day is here to share this fun news with you! Neutrogena reached out and asked me to partner with them and share their Healthy Skin line! 

My immediate (and obvious) answer was YES! Number 1- the freezing cold temps and Christmas treats have taken a toll on my skin, so ummm duh! I'm more than happy to give some products in a line called Healthy Skin a try. And number 2- hello, it's Neutrogena! I have used and loved this brand for years, so of course I would love to try their products and share my thoughts with you! 

I have used their sunscreen, lip gloss, face wash, and makeup remover for as long as I can remember. However, all of the products they sent were new to me, so it has been so much fun experimenting with them!

Some fabulous news is that they gave me a code for you to get 25% off any makeup product from Neutrogena.com. Just type in code HEALTHYSKIN25 at checkout for your discount to be applied. And you can get free shipping with a $25 purchase. I'm not going to go in depth about all of the products in this line, but I wanted to share a couple of my favorites. 

1. Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup Foundation

Would you believe me if I told you I've never owned liquid foundation? It's the truth. They sent 3 colors for me to try, and shade Nude (40) was the perfect shade for me. I was always scared liquid foundation would feel really heavy and caked on my face. This stuff is very natural-looking and does not feel that way at all. It is a lightweight formula that contains SPF 20. So this makeup is actually better for your skin than wearing no makeup at all!

2. Moisture Smooth Color Stick

This color is a little different than the color I have been wearing lately, but I LOVE it! I used color Fresh Papaya (20), and it is unfortunately sold out on Neutrogena's website right now. However, it comes in 7 other colors that are currently stocked. You know how sometimes lipstick can feel like it is drying out your lips? This product does not do that. It is so moisturizing and smells amazing! I found it pretty neat that it is made with fruit extracts. Maybe that's why it smells so good.

As I mentioned, you can get 25% off at Neutrogena.com. However, if you'd prefer to shop at Ulta, they are offering buy one get one 50% off on the products pictured below!

Throughout my first 8 months of blogging, I have not felt like any brands who reached out were a good fit for me. There have been quite a few times where I have had to say no because I will only partner with brands that I truly love. So, as you can probably tell by now, my first partnership with Neutrogena has brought me so much joy! 

I am so grateful for YOU reading my post, and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to partner with a brand I love! Can't wait to see where this crazy fun blogging adventure goes in 2018! And if you have any questions about any of the other products pictured above, feel free to message me. Or click here to check out Neutrogena's website yourself!

_____________________________________

I'm going to add one more thing to this post because several bloggers have messaged me asking how I decided which brands to say no to and why I finally said yes to a brand. As I mentioned earlier, I have not felt like any brands were the right fit for me until Neutrogena reached out.

Sure, it sounds fun to receive free products and get paid to share about them. AND I am a people pleaser and hate saying no! However, what is most important to me is keeping the trust of my readers. I would feel awful sharing products or brands that I cannot stand behind 100%. I only want to share products and brands that I truly love, and Neutrogena positively falls into that category!

I am so thankful to have you here! If you have any questions, I'd love to chat! Have a great day!