Image via Funny Cats
I am a self-admitted beauty product junkie. It all started when I was a little girl. I would watch my beautiful mother as she applied her makeup each morning. At first I was fascinated by the faces she would make as she applied her mascara and lipstick, but eventually I was drawn to how her makeup enhanced her natural beauty.
Images via CartoonStock
This weeks Friend Friday questions focus on beauty and the products we can’t live without. I have my beautiful mother to thank for my product addiction. She never used a ton of products, and still doesn’t, but she always used just enough to move her from “mom” status to “most-beautiful-mom-in-the-world” status. And who doesn’t want to be just like their beautiful mother?
Now, on to the questions!
1. What’s your favorite drug store makeup product and your favorite higher-end product? Somewhere along the line I became a make-up snob. I wasn’t always that way – I used to be perfectly content with my L’Oréal and Cover Girl makeup. Then, one day, I tried my first higher-end product and there was no turning back.
Today, there are actually few – if any – drugstore makeup products that do it for me. You know the adoration that people feel for Maybelline Great Lash Mascara? I don’t get – it flakes like crazy on me. After a couple hours I look just like this little guy. Only not as cute.
This is what happens when I wear Maybelline Great Lash Mascara. (Image via Flickr)
I have had similar experiences with other popular products. Either the color pay-off isn’t as good, or it wreaks havoc on my skin. The one drugstore product I truly love is actually from Target, and that is the whole line of Sonia Kashuk professional brushes (the ones with the black handle). I adore them – they are just as good as any Bobbi Brown or MAC brushes I have tried.
Two of my favorite Sonia Kashuk brushes
As for high-end, I can’t just pick one favorite product. I have a triumvirate that I can not live without: my MAC Studio Fix Powder. This is a pressed powder with the coverage of a foundation. No matter what other foundations or powders I may try, I always go back to this one. Next is my YSL Volume Effet Faux Cils Mascsara. ADORE this and never flakes on me! Finally, my lipgloss. Brands change, but currently I am loving my Josie Maran Argan lipgloss. The argan oil keeps my lips moist and the colors are beautiful.
YSL Mascara, MAC Studio Fix and Josie Maran Lip Gloss
Honorable mentions go to Urban Decay Primer Potion – it is a MUST for anyone who ever wears eyeshadow – and the perfect pink of NARS Orgasm Blush.
2. Is there one type of product that is your go-to, can’t live without? My mascara is my go to product. I will skip the powder and lipstick and blush on occasion, but I will never, ever skip my mascara. I think my eyes are my best feature, so I love to play up my lashes as much as possible. The YSL is my favorite, but I also adore tarte’s Lights, Camera, Lashes! Both do wonderful things for my eyes.
3. What’s the best hair product you’ve ever used? Hands down, MoroccanOil. This is the stuff hair dreams are made of. I raved about it briefly a few months ago here and my opinion has not changed. When I started using MoroccanOil I was able to get rid of 90% of the other styling products I used.
The Holy Grail of all Hail Products
I have fine but thick hair, and all I have to do each morning is take a nickel size amount and run it through my damp hair pre-drying. It protects my hair from the heat and makes it smooth and frizz-free. The only other product I use is a volumizing mousse, and that isn’t even daily. That is it – nothing else needed. My hair has never been healthier and it smells unbelievable. I swear the smell of this product is worth the price alone. Seriously.
4. Fess up, what’s the worst beauty look you’ve tried to rock and look back at now with a little shame or apprehension that you actually did that? Is it bad that I actually don’t have a look I am ashamed of? Most of my life I have actually gone for a more natural look. You know, the “is she or isn’t she wearing makeup” look. I never wore really crazy colors or caked my makeup on. No Mimi moments for me.
Mimi from the Drew Carey Show (Image via BreBeauty)
The last few years I have actually gotten more adventurous with it and started experimenting more but the look is still more classic. If I do up my eyes I keep my lips more neutral, and vice versa. I did have a few scary hairstyles growing up, mostly due to out of control bangs that were at war with my cowlick, but who didn’t?
5. When it comes to beauty products, we all use the same basic products. What do you use that helps show off your personal flare and personality? This goes back to my eyes being my best feature. As I mentioned above, I try to play up my eyes as much as I can. Sometimes that is just with a heavy coating of mascara while sometimes it is with eye shadows (I can’t get enough of Bobbi Brown, MAC and Global Goddess shadows combined with the Urban Decay Primer Potion of course!). I love by Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On eyeliners – the colors are amazing and they STAY PUT. My personal eye trick? I line the inside of my eyes with a white liner – it makes them pop even more!
Yes, that is me. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
What about you – what is in your makeup bag?
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