October Favorites!

It's my favorite time of year! I love fall and the clothes, food & drink, decor, weather and everything else that comes with it. Unfortunately, we only had a few days of autumn weather in Texas, but towards the end of the month it finally started to cool down. I have several beauty and non-beauty favorites that I have been loving all through the month of October!

LUSH lip scrub - LUSH makes several different flavors of lip scrubs. This is their winter version - it's cola flavored and bright red. You apply this and gently scrub it into dry lips. It's made from castor sugar & coconut oil so you can lick it off and you're ready to apply your lip product. It has cherry & date extract, so it's a bright red and tastes like cherry cola. It will run you about $9 and I have had mine since last December, so it lasts quite a while.

Sephora Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover - This is a waterproof eye makeup remover from Sephora's own collection. I have the 4.2 oz bottle and a little bit goes a long way so this will last me a lifetime. I typically use this in the morning if I have any mascara or liners smudges around my lashes or under my eyes before I apply my moisturizer and makeup for the day. I also use this to clean the gel liner off of my angled liner brushes. You shake it to mix it up, and the bottle dispenses it drop-by-drop. The packaging hasn't ever leaked on me, so it would be a good travel makeup remover as well. I picked this up for $10.50 near the registers at Sephora. 

Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation - I have been loving this lately as a tinted moisturizer. I typically stay away from matte foundations because I have dry skin, but I wanted to give this a try since it was a mousse. The finish of this foundation depends on how I choose to apply it. I sometimes dab it on with my fingers quickly as a sheer "tinted moisturizer" just to smooth and slightly blur my skin. When I want a little more coverage, I use a damp beauty blender. I make sure to moisturize well before applying this and use a damp applicator so that it doesn't look cakey or dry on my skin. It matches my skin tone perfectly and it's lightweight and easy to throw on for a quick cover-up. I don't use this on a daily basis, but its a good product to swipe on if you're in a hurry but want to look put-together. I picked this up at Walgreens for around $6.

Sephora MicroSmooth Baked Luminizer  - I have this in the shade "Stardust." It's a highlight powder with a gold shimmer to it. It doesn't have glitter or any chunky sparkle to it - it's so smooth and flawless and adds a beautiful highlight to cheek bones. I use this on my cheek bones, brow bones, and even as an eye shadow sometimes. It's versatile and compact and never looks chalky on the skin. This is a good highlight for fair skin but I think it will work for so many other complexions as well. It costs $14 at Sephora. 

Stardust

If you've been reading my posts, you already know how much I love Benefit Hervana blush. If you haven't, you can read about it here. It has been my go-to blush during the month of October.

MAC pigment in naked - I've rediscovered this! I bought this years ago and forgot about it until recently. It's slightly shimmery and it's the perfect nude. I sweep it all over the lid & crease and pop on some mascara and go. Love it. MAC pigments run around $21, which is only slightly more than the basic shadows, and you get a ton of product.

Naked

Vince Camuto Perfume - I have actually been wearing this all year round, but it's especially perfect for fall and winter. This is a slightly floral, vanilla scent but it has more musky notes like leather, patchouli, and amber. The floral notes are rose and jasmine. I always get compliments when I wear this and I can't get enough of this scent. Besides the lovely fragrance, the bottle is so pretty and looks really nice on display on a vanity or dressing table.

Glade room sprays in Pumpkin Pie & Red Apple - These smell SO good and make me really feel like it's fall. The scents linger for days and when I use these, guests always say the house smells amazing and so much like fall. The pumpkin scent smells like pumpkin spice, and the red apple is a crisp and fresh apple scent. I also bought the Glade plug-ins in the Red Apple scent as well. Glade always comes out with really amazing fall and winter scents and I always go crazy buying them up. They have recently released their holiday/winter scents and they sound amazing. Can't wait to check them out!

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte & Oprah Chai Tea Latte - I always anxiously await the arrival of the PSL, and this year it was released early. We had a few cold & rainy days early in October and I quickly made a Starbucks run to have my first PSL of the season. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, I typically prefer tea, but I'm not a big fan of to-go hot teas at Starbucks. My standard Starbucks order is usually a soy chai tea latte and I switch to the frappuccino in the summer. I waited quite a while before I gave the Oprah Chai a shot and I'm sorry I did because I love it! It isn't drastically different than the original chai, but it is a bit bolder and the flavors seem more pronounced. Also, a portion of proceeds go to Oprah's education foundation. I'm currently sipping a chai tea latte and loving that they've brought out the festive red cups!

What were your favorites this past month? What are your favorite fall staples? Happy fall everyone!

September Favorites!

September flew by but I'm so happy to see October. I'm ready for fall weather, pumpkin everything, and boots! Fall is my favorite season and I'm so glad it's finally here. Here are some beauty and non-beauty items I loved during September.

Beauty:

Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation - I love this foundation. I'm usually a fan of Revlon foundations not only for their consistencies but also their color range. They have a nice array of fair shades and some really light shades that match my skin perfectly. I have this foundation in the shade "ivory" and it's an absolutely perfect match. It really looks like my skin and provides just enough coverage. You could apply a light layer for sheer coverage on a "no makeup" day or you could add a thicker layer for light-medium coverage and touch up any spots with concealer. I apply this with a beauty blender.

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer - I like the yellow tones in this concealer. I use it under my eyes with pretty much any foundation. It provides good coverage so you could wear a sheer layer of foundation and cover any under eye bags or darkness with this concealer and you're ready to go. I like the packaging, I just wish it was a little larger because I run through it pretty quickly. I apply this with the same beauty blender I used to apply my foundation. I use the shade "Chantilly." This goes for $29 at Sephora.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush - This is my transition blush. It still has shimmer and a highlight to it, but it's a deeper pink so it's the perfect transition from summer to winter. At $35, I think it's priced fairly. I love the packaging and the blush is pigmented and so easy to blend. The highlight swirled in is subtle but still adds a touch of a sheen to the cheekbones. I've been reaching for this a lot lately and I think it could be used as a daytime blush during Winter as well.

Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara - I have been loving this mascara. It's affordable as far as high-end mascaras go ($24) and I love the brush. It's a soft brush that's fat at the base and tapers to a point at the end - sort of pear-shaped. It's really black and doesn't flake onto my under eye area or smudge throughout the day. My favorite way to wear this mascara is with a smoky wing. I apply gel liner in a wing and then use a pencil brush and a black shadow to smoke out the edges. This look combined with the mascara has a really beautiful effect and makes it look like you're wearing false lashes.

Non-Beauty:

Bamboo Lane Crunchy Rice Rollers - These are fat-free popped rice snacks lightly sweetened with rice syrup and natural cane juice. I like to have these for breakfast with a little almond butter. They're crunchy but light and have just the right amount of sweetness. I picked these up at Costco, but I've linked the Amazon page for them for those of you without access to a Costco.

Twinings Earl Grey Tea - this is an old favorite of mine but I rediscovered it last month and remembered how much I LOVE this tea. I take my tea with sugar and milk, but lately I've been using Monk Fruit sweetener as a sugar alternative.