Greens & Things
This Saturday consisted of re-visting a trail that my boyfriend & I discovered a while back, which actually leads to a park. Although these pictures do not do it justice, it truly looks like something out of Alice in Wonderland in person. If you look closely at the first picture you can see the opening of the trail, which looks tiny & is completely surrounded by trees.
Also, I'm kind of obsessed with these overalls from Madewell. I try to stay away from trends most of the time but I just couldn't refrain from buying these once I found them. When I was a kid I practically lived in overalls & now I remember why. This, of course, is nothing compared to my bad-ass tweety bird, patch-filled, 90s ensemble but great none-the-less. It's such a versatile piece which transitions beautifully into all seasons.
Overalls | Crop top | Shoes: Asos
Later, we decided to have some drinks in an outdoor bar downtown, which was 16 floors up & had some awesome views... it was a good day.
Higher End Products Worth the Hype
Here are some of the products that I own that are on the pricier side that I believe are worth the hype/money.
- Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow HERE: It took me a while to purchase this because I was trying really hard to justify the price until finally I gave in. Sure its expensive but you're getting two decently sized, top of the line products both of which have beautiful color payoff, after using it for a little over a month now I can honestly say it is worth the hype.
- Kevin Aucoin Sculpting power HERE : Contouring has never really been my thing but recently I was playing around with some of my bronzers and found that instead of applying one color all over or the same color to contour/bronze I get more dimension and more of a natural look when two different colors are used. So I decided to try this powder out and it works beautifully. Since this power (shade medium) is cooler in tone it gives the effect of a shadow while warmer bronzers are better for other parts of the face.
- Cover FX custom cover drops HERE: I absolutely hate having to buy different shades of foundation to match my skin throughout the year so I am so glad these drops exist. Aside from working wonderfully to either darken or lighten your foundations these drops will make just about anything ( moisturizer, primer, illuminator etc... ) into a tinted moisturizer/foundation. WORTH IT.
- Becca shimmering skin perfector pressed ( Jaclyn Hill's Champagne Pop pictured) HERE: If you had to pick one high-end highlighter to use for the rest of your life pick any of the Becca highlighters & I promise you, you will not be disappointed. I also own the shade Opal and both of these are beautiful. The pigment is incredible, it's truly worth every penny.
- It Cosmetics Your Skin but better CC Cream HERE: Lets preach shall we... stop what you're doing right now, go to your nearest ULTA and pick this up! If you're in the market for something to use for daytime I highly recommend this stuff. It has a high SPF, moisturizes and color corrects all in one. It's light weight but full coverage and won't make you look like a cake.
- Laura Mercier Silk Creme foundation HERE: This is the old formula, I have yet to try the new one but I'm sure it will not disappoint. This is one of the first foundations I ever bought and till this day nothing really beats it. I only really use foundations at night for outtings, so I like for the foundations to photograph nicely, not look cakey or settle into any lines and stay on really well and this one does the job like no other.
- Makeup forever Step 1 Skin Equalizer HERE: I own the smoothing, mattifying and the moisturizing equalizers from MUFE and they are all amazing. Best primers I've used, they actually do their job.
- Josie Maran Argan Enlightenment Illuminizer HERE: I love this for either mixing in with my moisturizer for an all over glow or highlighting certain areas of the face, it is my favorite multi-purpose liquid highlight.
- Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow gel HERE: This stuff is cement for your eyebrows, yes cement, not hair-spray because I've actually tried hair spray on my eyebrows and this does a much better job. I will never be without it.
- Cover Fx Illuminating primer HERE: As you can probably tell I appreciate a little glow, mostly because my skin is kind of dry but also because it is very flattering and healthy-looking to have glowy skin. This primer is great for that effect and actually primes.
- Nars Audatious lipstick HERE: This is one of the most expensive lipsticks that I own but I promise you it is the best lipstick that I have ever purchased (excluding liquid lipsticks). It doesn't settle into your lips or leave a weird line inside your lips, it lasts a very long time and the formula is just top notch, I can't say enough good things. (Shade Vanessa pictured)
- Mac Mineralized skin finish Natural HERE : BEST POWDER IN THE HISTORY OF POWDERS, period. If you're tired of hearing about them it's for a very good reason, you can literally dip your brush and apply it to your face 57 times in one sitting and you will not look like a cake (don't try it though, cause I'm just being dramatic... 57 times is a lot of times..) I use this almost every day ontop of my moisturizer, it's my go to.
- Soleil Tan De Chanel HERE: When applied properly (with a big fluffy synthetic bristled brush), nothing makes my face look as naturally bronzed as this stuff. Personally, I think it is worth the splurge.
Soap is Soap
Here's a look into some of my Saturday this passed weekend. After lunch, as my boyfriend & I were looking for a building I wanted to shoot in, we stumbled upon a museum which had a pretty cool display and the admission was free so we said why not. Turns out that ONE display was the only cool/remotely interesting thing in the entire place. I mean, really we just went in there because we were looking for the other building which was attached to the museum but we thought we might find other nice things along the way... not really, only 1 out of the 4 floors of the entire place was fun to look at. We had no luck in finding the door that attached that building to the actual museum, it was a damn labyrinth... so we left. Across the street from the museum I did spot the cutest little court yard and went in for a moment, turns out it was a gallery on the inside but I had enough "art" for the day. Later as we went for coffee we parked right next to an Aesop store & I was pretty excited when I saw it since I didn't even know we had one in Miami, I've only always ordered their stuff online, they're great & I've been meaning to try one of their toners, so I bought that along with a hand wash which I probably payed too much for... but I plan on reusing the container because their packaging goes with the aesthetic of my bathroom & soap is soap sooooo ha.
Let's Get Organized
I like to keep things as simple, minimal, organized and as controlled as I possibly can.. With makeup however, my collection is far from minimal so the only thing one can really do once minimalism is out of the equation, and you've cleaned out everything that is expired/unusable, is organize and TRY to control yourself by omitting from buying things you don't need.. ( I couldn't be more of a hypocrite for saying that but maybe putting it into words & re-reading this shit will help me take my own advice & convince me once & for all that I DO NOT need another nude lipstick or neutral eyeshadow.)
I am not the most organized OCD person on this planet (not that there is anything wrong with that) but I just truthfully function 100% better when things are structured in some way. Recently, I needed to move all of my makeup into my room and out of my bathroom and decided to buy the very popular Ikea Alex drawer unit (last picture shows the inside of the drawers divided w/ containers from the Container store) in order to organize all of it within my closet. I don't consider my collection to be huge compared to other people's but I do think it is a lot more than anyone would ever need & I admit it may be getting a little out of hand & I am fully aware that I may have a bit of a problem... but I'm okay with it, it isn't hurting anyone and it isn't a heroin addiction... so yes, I'm okay with it. Anywho, after organizing everything within my closet I was keeping my day-to-day makeup inside of my makeup bag to prevent from having to pull things out of each drawer within my closet daily.
I found that not a lot of my makeup was being used this way and I needed to come up with a new strategy in order to facilitate the rotation of the things that I use ( & organize even more -.-). Since I get ready on my desk, I decided to re-locate the stationary from my top drawer and replace it with my daily makeup or things that I want to use. This helps me see everything and reach for things more. I bought containers from muji and organized everything by category and in the order that I apply. I make it a point to switch out as much of the makeup from these containers as I can on a weekly basis and It really has helped me go through a lot more of it and re-discover things that I already had. I also cleaned the wax out of a burned out Diptyque candle that I loved and a bath and body works candle and used them both as brush holders along with a mason jar, the acrylic container above my desk is from the Container store & I use it to display some of my fave/ prettiest products.
Ikea Drawers | Muji Containers