May Beauty Favorites

Wow, can you even believe May is even over. I cannot even fathom that this year is flying by so fast. So much has happened. My cousin has his engagement party in Pennsylvania this April, my sweet nephew turned 2 on May 10th (and I just found out earlier this week that his mom is expecting another bundle of joy which is SUPER exciting news!!!), one of my good friends from high school/college got engaged last weekend and I feel like life is just moving by and I have no clue where time is going! I guess I am just trying to stay afloat at this point. Anyway let me just get to my favorite products from May, I also am going to add a little section after the products for tips that I have learned from makeup artists, blogs, friends, etc. that might help you guys out so hope you guys enjoy this one!!

So first is the NARS blush/bronzer duo:

I know I am late to this NARS party and I have been meaning to pick up this little number for quite some time but I haven't come around to it since now. I was timid at first glance at the orgasm blush and even though it is a "universal" color used on almost every skin color as the makeup consultant told me I was super worried I would look like a clown with super pink cheeks. I was very pleasantly surprised at the outcome though and I bought it on the spot. The laguna bronzer is also great for contouring which I learned how to do from a bunch of awesome blogs over the years and from the makeup consultant, I now know where to contour on my face specifically and what brush to use! I completely recommend this little duo for everyone. The bronzer is not too dark and is great for contouring and like everyone says the blush goes on everyone, for me it is a great peachy color without being obnoxious and my sister is a few shades darker and it looks great on her as well.

Next up is the elf waterproof eyeliner pen (I think I might have done this in my elf haul post, but oh well).

This eyeliner pen is great for precision because I am not great at doing top liner and even if I make a mistake I can pretty quickly fix it. But this thing is no joke when it says waterproof it is pretty tough to take off, but with eye makeup remover it works fairly well. I believe I got this for either $1 or $3 and you can't go wrong for that much. I say if your a novice at top liner you pick up one of these an get to work!

Up next is Revlon PhotoReady Perfecting Primer.

I've never really used a primer before and just put a moisturizer on my face before applying any makeup on, but after doing a bit of research on the pros and cons of what it actually does I figured I might as well try it out and I had a $2 off coupon for a Revlon PhotoReady cosmetic so I only paid about $9 for it. I have noticed a difference in my makeup not fading and I don't have to do any re-applying throughout the day at all. 

The final beauty favorite of May is something that I have used for quite some time, but I had stopped using it and now recently realized I needed to start re-using it again. It's Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller. 

I love this stuff, my mom got this years ago and I took it from her drawer and never looked back. I thought I could retire it, but lately my under eye puffiness has come back to haunt me. All the stress from work and school has taken its toll on my eyes. This stuff is great for anytime of the day it's quick and easy, all you literally do is roll it under your eyes where the bags would/do appear and it reduces the appearance of it over time. I have found it to work for me and think it is a fantastic product for anyone rather than those crazy expensive night eye creams!

Ok now I said earlier I have some makeup tips that I have learned from just this past month that I wanted to share and I know this post is super long already and I have done a LOT of catching up in this one day alone, but hopefully some of these tips can help!

Tips:

1- Eye Shadow brushes: These small brushes are great for being multi-taskers. I have found when I apply my powder foundation I get these small creases in the eye area that I can't get around with my big poofy brush, but I just grab a small eye shadow brush dab powder on it and apply around those creases, it makes it magically disappear!

2- Contouring/Blush- This is great if you have a round face like me to define your cheekbones, nose, forehead, etc. Using a shade or two bronzer darker than your skin tone and a side angled brush go along the cheekbone parallel to your eye down to where it's parallel to your lips. For your forehead, do a light coat above your eyebrows and then for your nose do a thin coat on the sides of the bridge of your nose. After contouring it is best to apply your blush to the apples of your cheeks!

3- Highlighting: I've heard a lot of talk about highlighting certain areas of your face and they even sell highlighting powders which I was just about to buy until I was experimenting at home with my makeup and noticed I had a non-shimmery white eye shadow color in a palette at home. I tried using that as a replacement for a highlighting powdering and it worked exactly the same and it saved me some money! 

I did a small vlog to go along with the tips I listed above to make it a bit easier and to serve as a visual for you guys and get a better idea of some of the things I'm talking about. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail!

Hope you guys enjoyed this super long post along with the other super long catch up posts I had today (sorry about that) just think of it as reading material for this weekend if your bored?! Well hope you guys have a fantastic weekend!!