Skincare Favorites

When the colder weather changes my face likes to throw a tantrum. It gets weirdly dry in spots and it breaks out a little more. However, I have been using some amazing skincare items lately and I thought I'd share them with you!

Cleansers

I have been using two different cleansers one by Kiehls and one by Korres. Why two you ask? Well, a while ago I had bought a small set at a Kiehls counter that had some favorites like a body scrub, body lotion, face lotion, and cleanser. I really love this cleanser it is a gel consistency and it really cleans off everything well. I have used it while still wearing make-up and it gets it all off. 

Once I was finished with that, I had a set I bought from Sephora waiting to be used. It is the Wild Rose Regimen Kit by Korres. Korres is an all-natural brand from Greece and I love their make-up and skincare. I'll do a more in depth review on Korres maybe in another post, like a guide to the brand. The set comes with a Green Tea Cleanser and it is great. It smells incredible and it is so nice on the skin, I recommend the Green Tea cleanser 100%.

Toners/Serums

I think I've mentioned this before but I am in love with the Eau Roma Water by Lush. It is a spray on toner and it smells just like roses and it leaves my skin feeling so refreshed. It is for more dry skin and it is a great spray for when you're done putting make-up on. I certainly think it keeps my make-up on longer. 

Also from the Wild Rose Regimen Kit from Korres is the Wild Rose Serum, which the kit says you can use alone or under your moisturizer. It almost has a minor oily texture to it, which is great for anyone with dry patches. I always get really flaky between my eyebrows (weird, I know) and now it is totally gone. 

Finally, I adore the Caudalie Vinosource S.O.S Thirst Quenching Serum. It might be more the smell than anything else, because I still find the Wild Rose Serum more moisturizing. However, it smells incredible and I felt like it really brightened my skin up which is a welcome treat in the winter time. 

Eye Creams

I received a sample of this in a Sephora order but I am certain this is a holy grail item for me. It is the Clinique Even Better Eyes Dark Circle Corrector. I always have dark circle, and I am pretty sure mine are more hereditary and this works miracles on them. It almost looks like a correcting concealer because of it's color but it is pretty liquid like. I am buying the full size when I can find a spare $40 somewhere. I think it is well worth the money though. 

Also in the Wild Rose Regimen kit is the Evening Primrose Eye Cream. I can't say too too much yet, because I've only been using it for a little but I love the creamy feel to it and it feels like it plumps the skin around my eyes pretty well. 

Moisturizers

Okay so very quickly, I have three moisturizers to speak of. In the Kiels gift set I bought there was the Ultra Facial Cream and I honestly think this may be one of my holy grail products. It is so moisturizing without being greasy and I have been trying not to use all of it up yet! 

Then with the Korres kit, there is the Wild Rose Moisturizer which is very similar to the Ultra Face Cream except it is a little less moisturizing in my opinion. Also, it smells like roses...but I love that. 

And lastly, for something I've been using for a while on and off is the Korres Wild Rose + Vitamin C Advanced Brightening Sleeping Facial. It is meant to be used at night  cream and I love this stuff. It is a tad bit more on the greasy side but I think that is okay for a nighttime cream. 

So there you go! My recent skincare favorites! What have yours been? 

10.12.12 Haul!

Happy Friday everyone! Someone went shopping today and I thought I'd kick off the weekend with a haul post! 

First up, are these flats from Old Navy - yeah, you read that right. I was a little shocked too that something this cute existed but I'm only just rediscovering a like for Old Navy again. These are tortoise colored pointed flats. The only downfall to these is I'm a 6.5 and they only had a 6 or a 7. Also, they are a little flimsy feeling but honestly I don't wear "nice shoes" all that often so they'll last me a while.

 

Also at Old Navy, I picked up some new socks! I literally have no socks so I figured with the cold weather it might be a good idea. I picked up two packs, one that is all light grey colored and one that has a polka dotted pair, a black pair and an argyle patterned pair. 

I also got a plain white vintage tee because that is just a classic staple to have in your closet and then I got a black beanie! I really love the beanie look and I haven't found any good ones for a while so I picked this one up right away. 

I stopped in at Aldo because I had seen this pair of oxfords and I immediately had to have them. I knew that I loved the style and that I would wear them a lot. The problem is a lot of brands are making their oxfords very flashy or with multiple colors. There are some that do the classic style but then put a neon stripe around the sole...not what I wanted. 

At $40 these were amazing - only problem..they didn't have my size and I had to order them so I have to wait before I can wear them. 

The light makes me look way too yellow, I need to take a picture outside and put that one up.

So if you haven't guessed, I did in fact stop in Sephora and I probably took six laps around that place. It is truly a dangerous store for me :) I was good though and only bought two things. The first is a new foundation, and I am only just getting on the bandwagon now. The Make Up Forever HD Foundation has been out for ages but I never really thought it'd do anything different. 

I've only tried it once but I do really enjoy this. It is a little watery but so moisturizing, which was what I was looking for. In the cold weather my skin gets much drier and things look too powdery and dry on my face. This has been great so far. I am the color N 125 for anyone wanting to compare. 

 Then I picked up the regimen set by Korres called the Wild Rose Brightening Skincare Set. It is made for Normal and Dry Skin which is both categories I tend to fall into. I've used the 24-hour Moisturizing and Brightening Cream and I love it. So hopefully, I've found my new cleanser and moisturizer!

My final purchase for the day happened by accident. My main goal for going to the mall was to buy those oxfords and find boots. I knew exactly the kind I wanted too, black, with a little slouch to them and with no heel. Essentially, I wanted motorcycle styled boots but they were no where to be found. Apparently, the style right now is riding boots or high heeled boots.

So as I walked through JCPenny to leave I gave a look at the show section and I found these boots, and they did have black but I actually liked the deep brown better. 

Hope you enjoyed! Have a good weekend!

FOTN: Olive Sparkle

Just wanted to share my "face of the night" with you guys :)

I think I'm going out to have drinks with the boyfriend tonight so I wanted to look extra pretty.

It's a really subtle smokey eye with a metal taupe brown and pink. I lined my upper lash line with olive green liner and winged it out and used black liner on my lower lash line. On my lashes I used a brown mascara. Finally, I filled in my brows.

On my face, I used a BB cream all over, and some concealer under my eyes. I used Korres contouring powder in Mykonos. It has a bronzer strip, a blush strip, and an all over color strip. You can read more and see it here.

I used that pretty much all over and then used Bobbi Brown's shimmer block in Rose Gold on my cheeks.



Products used:
Eyeshadow: Sephora's 4 shadows and liner palette in "brunette eyes No. 08" = used Retro Powderpuff (pink) all over the lid and Marie in the crease along with the dark grey liner in the crease.

Eyeliner: Stila's Waterproof liquid eyeliner in Flash for the upper lash line and Urban Decay's Zero (black) for the lower lash line.

Mascara: Covergirl Natureluxe mousse mascara in brown

Brows: Sephora Rectractable Brow Pencil in No. 4 Midnight Brown

Face: Dr. Jart + Waterfuse BB Cream

Concealer: Benefit's Erase Paste in No. 2

Face Powder/Contouring: Korres Magic Light Face Contouring Powder Trio in Mykonos

Blush: Bobbi Brown Shimmer Block in Rose Gold

Sephora Haul 5.4.2012

So I have fallen victim to my obsession once again :) I headed to Sephora with my mom because she wanted to find some things for my cousin's wedding. She really doesn't wear make-up so there was a lot of testing.

I of course ended up buying a bunch of things. I had a specific idea of a few things I needed and then stuff I wanted. While I didn't love how much I spent, it could have been like three times worse!

First I knew I wanted a new cleanser because I am pretty much out of the ones I have at home. I did a lot of studying and reading of the reviews and I decided to try the Bliss Clog Dissolving Cleansing Milk. I put it in my shower already so here's a picture of it from Sephora's website:

Second, I knew I wanted a new foundation, and I also wanted it to be a natural one. Choices get limited when it comes to natural make-up lines it really is either Tarte, Korres, or Josie Maran. The thing is most of it is powder and my skin doesn't love powder foundations. So I picked up Josie Maran's Argan Matchmaker Serum Foundation.
(Pics go from left to right)

This next product I am totally in love with. It is the Korres Magic Light Face Contouring Powder Trio in Santorini. They have one that is more pink and it called Mykonos, which is pretty too. This is an amazing powder and you can use each color separately like the box tells you or swirl it together. I love it both ways.

 Then I had heard about Jack Black's lip balm from a girl on YouTube (LegallyBrunette214) and I really have a weakness for lip balm so I knew it was going to happen. I chose Vanilla Lavender and the smell is heaven!

Next is a Sephora eyeshadow palette. I wanted some nice purple shadows because that color goes amazing with brown eyes and I picked this up:

 I adore the 2nd and 3rd colors that are swatched on my hand. They are so pretty paired together and go really well with the purple shades too.

The last product I bought was one I was intent on getting since it came out: The Korres Wild Rose + Vitamin C Advanced Brightening Sleeping Facial. I've been using their Wild Rose moisturizer and mask for a long time so I knew right away I'd want to try this. I will probably do a review on it, to let you know if I think it works.

Lastly, I had enough points at the checkout for a 500 point perk with my Beauty Insider card. So I got the Too Faced Naked Look palette with 2 eye-shadows, a blush, and two lip glosses. the eye shadows are amazing I'm wearing them right now and they are the perfect neutral colors. I love the darker taupe one. The "blush", it is really a shimmer veil" is nice and it will be a good highlight. Sadly, I hate the lip glosses. One of them when I went to try it (the air kiss one) was soft and sticky and my finger sank right into it. The other one is nice but has no real color to it.

Sorry this post was so long but I hope you enjoyed!