Sephora VIB haulage

A few weeks ago I got an e-mail for the lucky VIB’s that we get a gift with a $35 purchase. Basically, that’s all I needed to hear and I was in. I printed off the e-mail immediately and my co-worker L and I headed off on our lunch break to the local mall and hit up Sephora.

Since I’m a huge fan of Philosophy’s products, or is it the cute packaging that gets me every time? Either way, I picked up this terrific smelling body wash and body lotion set.

Despite me being a candy addict. I dislike anything that smells like food. Philosophy has some new body washes out that smells like Chocolate, and Fizzy soda pop – which smells good if I could eat it. But I don’t thin I’d like to rub that over my body. Then again, I have no qualms about rubbing something that smells like a lime margarita over me in the shower. Who knows. Maybe I just like to stick to my citrus scents, and fresh scents.

This one leans more on the citrus side of things with Pineapple and Coconut infused in it.

I also picked up a nail file, and received some freebies in my bag with my purchase. Benefit Hello Flawless foundation and a Kate Somerville exfoliator.

Now, onto the VIB goodie bag!! The most exciting part!

Oh buddy!Let’s see, what have we got?

  1. L’Occitane hand cream
  2. Algenist night cream
  3. Sephora instant moisturizer
  4. Sephora foundation primer
  5. Smashbox foundation primer
  6. Stella McCartney perfume
  7. Murad radiance peel
  8. Lancome hypnôse drama mascara

All tucked away into a little silver Sephora makeup bag. The bag isn’t the best of quality, which doesn’t bother me, seeing as I have a ton of mini make up bags. It feels like paper, and would rip in a second. I do love the striped lining in it though!

Are you a VIB? Did you pick up your Sephora VIB bag?

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Makeup routine

I wear makeup almost on a daily basis. I like how it evens out my skin tone and makes me look not-so sunburnt. I have the reverse effect of raccoon eyes meaning that I have a really white under eye area and rosy cheeks. Not to be confused with rosacea.

Shown in order, here are the products I use on my face on a daily basis. I’ll get further into it below but I don’t wear two foundations on my face each day, but just switch them out whenever I’m feeling it. Same goes for the under eye concealers, I don’t wear them on a regular basis.

After my simplified skincare routine I apply foundation. My go-to was Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation until they took it off the shelves to reformulate it to a Moisture Supreme foundation which is now a thicker, greasier, heavier consistency. I have disowned that particular product but still love the brand itself. Since I have dry skin, I like to have a dewier finish rather than a matte, flat look to my face.  I’d rather look hydrated with luminous foundation than look like I haven’t exfoliated and have dry flaky dandruff like skin on my face. I’ve been using Marcelle BB Cream as my new foundation. You can see a full on routine that I blogged about here.

I am a huge fan of foundation and would purchase the most expensive bottle, if it worked for me. That is the only one item I will splurge on, because I think it is so worth while to me, personally. I recently bought the Bobbi Brown Luminous Foundation but I haven’t used it enough to say that it is my holy grail foundation that will ultimately replace Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation. I’m still a little disappointed that they did discontinue my favorite foundation.

Ever since I had my weird flare up in using a certain eye cream I have been really hesitant on putting too much on my face. If I really feel the need to put under eye concealer on, I use the Bobbi Brown Corrector in the color bisque. I use the absolute smallest amount you could put on your finger. Literally a pin point and blend it in. If I have a red mark on my face from a blemish I use Laura Mercier Secret Concealer. Though I haven’t used that one in ages.

The next thing that goes on my face is one of my favorites. The bronzer. Not sure how to apply it? Here is a video I filmed on how to apply bronzer. I’m not too partial on a certain bronzer but I have gone through a few boxes of Benefit Hoola, I have also tried Laura Mercier Bronzing Pressed Powder, and next to use up will be my Vasanti Brazilian Bronzer.

I’ve been using blush lately just because I have it and I like to use different colored blushes on my cheeks to give it a varied flushed look to my skin. Right now I’m using E.L.F Blush in the color candid coral.

I don’t need to use mascara as my eyelashes are one of everyone’s favorite feature of mine. People have joked about how envious they are of me for having such long lashes. I use mascara to make them more obnoxious and volumized. My day-to-day mascara is Vasanti Long Lash mascara. It’s decent for every day wear since it’s not too in your face. It gives your lashes a nice coat and doesn’t flake and leave residue underneath your eyes at the end of the day. When I want them to look like false lashes I use my all time favorite duo which is the Makeup Forever Smokey Lash then Buxom Lash layered on top.

I know a ton of people are a fan of MAC Cosmetics, and I did a MAC makeup review back in 2009 of all the information still remains accurate in my opinion, so check that out too if you’re interested. I don’t wash my brushes daily anymore more like ever 3-4 applications.

See my skincare routine below:

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