How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Happy Single's Awareness Day Valentine's Day!!!

Since today is about love, I thought I'd share the beauty products I absolutely LOVE. I'm talking holy grail, heaven sent, must have, would buy over and over again status. Enjoy!

LORAC PRO Palette $42.00

If I could only have one eye shadow palette, this is it. I can honestly say this has every shade I could need for a day or night time look. The variety of matte and shimmer shades are great and the quality of the shadows are amazing. Super pigmented, blends easily, and a must have in my opinion!

Revlon Colorstay Foundation $9.99

I have tried more foundations than I would like to admit but this foundation takes the cake for performance and price! I have combo, acne prone skin, and for color reference I'm about an NC35 at MAC. I use the shade 330-Natural Tan and I find that this has great coverage (medium but easily buildable to full coverage), lasts all day, works well with my yellow undertone skin, and does not feel heavy on the face. I find that I reach for this over any other foundation including my high end foundations. My only gripe is the packaging...no pump. Why Revlon? Why?!

e.l.f. Studio Powder Brush $3.00

This brush is amazing and for the price, I feel like e.l.f. is getting ripped off. I think everyone and their Mom has tried this brush, and for good reason. The bristles are soooo soft and the flat head shape is great for everything. I mainly use this for powder and contouring and it's perfect. I own like 7 of these, no joke. 

MAC Powder Blush in Blunt $21.00

This matte brown blush has been the perfect contour powder for my face. I've used this for almost 10 years (omg, just typing that made me feel so old). I've used this on fair skintones as well and it looks great. This is a very dark powder so blending is a must, but it really is one of the best contouring powders!

MAC Lipstick in Girl About Town $15.00

This lipstick is described as a bright blue fuchsia and it is exactly that. When I want to rock a bright lip, this is my go to color. I love that it's bright but not neon bright so it's wearable for most skintones. The cool tone of the lipstick is great in helping your teeth look whiter and it has a nice creme consistency. It lasts for hours on me and I usually wear it alone, no liner, no gloss. 

Birchbox Exclusive: Color Club in Insta-This $8.00

I am obsessed with this color! It's a bright cobalt blue that is opaque in one coat but I always do 2 coats by habit. I have nothing but good things to say about this polish but I'll just let the photo do the talking.

Julep Nail Vernis in Vivien $14.00

I love my glitter polishes and when I find a glitter polish that is opaque and can be worn alone, it tugs at my heart strings. I love the mix of large glitter and gold shimmer in this polish. In 2 coats this polish is opaque and the tone of the gold is so nice...it's like platinum gold. Ahhh, love!

Clark's Botanicals Smoothing Marine Cream $115.00

I know, I know...$115 for moisturizer?! I've never used La Mer, but I can only imagine my love for this is equivalent to those that pay for La Mer all the time. This stuff is amazing. It makes your skin soooo soft and the glycolic acid gently exfoliates your skin at the same time! I don't know how this stuff works but my skin is soft, break outs seems to have gone away, and acne scarring has lightened...totally worth it to me!

Salvatore Ferragamo Incanto Shine Eau De Toilette $30.00-$50.00

This is definitely top 3 for me for favorite perfumes. I purchased this back when it first came out in 2007 and I have gone through 5 bottles at least since then. It's a light, fruity/floral scent that's perfect for spring and summer. I'm not good at describing scents but let's just say I always get compliments when I wear this and I wear this year round. And did you notice the bottle?! Loves it!

Perfume Samples: Getting Organized!

Let me first start off by saying I loathe perfume samples....if you subscribe to any of those monthly beauty subscriptions (mainly Birchbox), I'm sure you feel my pain on receiving perfume samples that you can get for free pretty much anywhere. I am also a big Sephora online shopper, so I have obtained quite the collection of perfume samples that just get stashed in some drawer or put away in some black hole, never to be seen again....until now.

During a little cleaning session today, I came across a bunch of those "useless" perfume samples and was determined to make them Useful, or at least store them where they would have the potential of being useful. That's when I decided I would have to store them in a way I could see them, still look pretty, but without getting dusty or being a cluttered mess. So here is my solution and it cost me less than $2!

What you'll need:

• An empty clear jar with a lid (I just cleaned out a used Bath & Body Works candle)
• Self Adhesive Rhinestones (I purchased a sheet of these at Michaels for $1.19)
• A butt load of perfume samples

During my recent visit to Michaels, I found these sheets of self adhesive rhinestones on sale for $1.19. They were in the Quincenera section (I should have been from Latin America in another life, all the glitter and sparkle in that section...heaven). These were great because you can individually use the rhinestones or just pull the whole strand and apply it which is what I did for the lid. 

Talk about a time saver! It literally took me less than a minute to apply and viola! I was done! So simple right?! Now I might actually use these samples because I can see them all in one place! They are actually great when you are using a small clutch or going on a short trip...You could even place one of these jars in a guest bathroom for others to enjoy! Cheers to cheap DIY's, recycling, and smelling good!

xoxo,

Kristina