Beauty: Doll Me Up Mink False Lashes courtesy of Velour Lashes | Mineral Face Peel courtesy of O.R.G. Skincare | Watt’s Up Highlighter & Hoola Bronzer courtesy of Benefit Cosmetics | Balanced & Boost Mineral Veil courtesy of Bare Minerals | Urban Decay Naked Palette & Naked Flushed Blush | Lorac Pro Mascara and Pro Cream Eyeliner | Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner | MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation NC30 & Espresso Shadow | Boscia Daily Hydtraion SPF 15 Moisturizer & Nightly Hydration Moisturizer
Fashion: Glint & Gleam Day Glow Goddess Neon Yellow Statement Necklace courtesy of Shoplately | Leather Friend 300 Bracelet courtesy of Kim & Zozi | Forever 21 Life in Progress Vintaged Denim Shirt (similar) | Hello Kitty Dress (my Mom bought it for me from Macy’s – love this similar one here!) | Neon Yellow Zara Lucite Box Clutch (similar here or here) | Michael Kors Mother of Pearl Watch

I’m super excited about this post because it’s been a while since I’ve shared my makeup & skincare routine with you guys! The last time was in this old post and although some of the products I used stayed in my routine, a lot has also changed. I’ve recently found a few new favorites like an addicting peel by O.R.G. Skincare, a cream highlighter by Benefit and the AMAZING mink lashes by Velour Lashes. The sound of “mink lashes” might be alarming to some, especially those of us who love animals and who are anti animal cruelty, but rest assured, no minks were harmed 🙂 Velour Lashes uses real mink fur that they naturally shed. The fur is also sterilized so no allergy issues! They are also stronger and last way longer (up to 25 wears!) than synthetic lashes. I’ve worn my pair over a dozen times and they’re still in great shape! You can read more about them here.

I should also mention that these photos have not been touched up. The only editing done to these photos in this post is lighting (ie slight changes in white balance, saturation & exposure) but my skin, complexion, blemishes etc have not been edited! I usually don’t edit very much in my images anyway but I will take out the occasional blemish and sometimes the annoying freckle/mole in the middle of my forehead lol 😛

Photos by Chris Dyer.

The night before these photos, I used O.R.G.’s Mineral Face Peel on my dry, clean skin. It’s so easy and fun in a slightly weird way! You spray it on your face, let it sit for 5 seconds and then gently massage/rub your skin in circular motions. I do this in sections – right cheek, left cheek, forehead and then the middle nose, upper lip and chin areas. What happens is, it gently exfoliates removing any dead skin. It’s eerily fun!! All your dead skin balls up and brushes off and what’s left is amazing baby soft skin  you never knew you had underneath! It’s super gently, not harsh at all and so easy. Plus, it’s slightly addicting. I almost want to do it daily but I keep it to twice a week, instead. Afterwards, I cleanse my skin like normal. I used to use an expensive organic cleanser that was over $30 for a tiny 5 oz bottle but one time, I was in a pinch and used Johnson & Johnson Head to Toe Baby Wash instead and it was incredible! It washes off all my makeup (I don’t even use any special makeup remover) and leaves my skin feeling clean and fresh (it doesn’t dry out my skin and leaves no residue). Best of all? You can get a massive bottle from any market, drug store or super stores like Target/WalMart for around $7 (sometimes as low as $5!) for 28 oz! It lasts forever and it’s so good to your skin – plus no tears lol! An extra perk is – I also use it to wash my makeup brushes 🙂 I love this stuff so much, I always have 3 bottles in the house in every bathroom/shower. After I cleanse, I moisturize with Boscia’s Nightly Hydration Moisturizer. I love how silky it is and after using that mineral face peel, the moisturizer really soaks into my skin!

The next morning, I rinsed my face with water only (no cleanser) and apply Boscia’s Daily Hydrating SPF 15 Moisturizer. Using the peel the night before, my face was ultra soft in the morning! So good! I should also mention that every time I cleanse my face at night or rinse it with water in the mornings, I always dry it off by dabbing my face with a clean paper towel. This probably sounds crazy but it’s something I learned from my best friend April. Growing up, she always had a roll of paper towels in the bathroom and that’s what she used to dry off her face. Since I was always over there having slumber parties 🙂 it’s something I ended up adopting to my routine, too! I even do so out of the shower – never using a towel on my face. I always hear about bacteria etc being on towels since we use and reuse them repeatedly, so, it’s our way of taking extra care of our skin.

Onto the makeup… this order might be strange to some but this is exactly how I go about applying my makeup. I brush my foundation, MAC Studio Fix Fluid Liquid Foundation (my color is NC30) on with the Essence Of Beauty Synthetic Foundation And Powder Brush from CVS. Yes, you read that right, I said CVS! Now, let’s be clear here, I used to use and still have MAC’s 190 Foundation Brush and 187 Stippling Brush but I actually prefer my cheapy $10 CVS Brush for liquid foundation. It’s super soft and fluffy! I’ve had it over a year now and clean it on a regular basis and it doesn’t shed! It also applies my foundation on without any streaks. Seriously, such a little secret steal deal! I highly recommend picking it up next time you’re at your local CVS. Next, I gently dab Two Faced Shadow Insurance eyeshadow primer to my eye lids and then I brush MAC Espresso eyeshadow to fill in my eye brows using the 208 Angled Brow Brush. I then curled my lashes using my Shiseido Eyelash Curler; I always do this before applying shadow to my lids because I (like to think) it helps keep any loose shadow from landing on my cheeks 😉 . For this look, I used Naked & Buck from Urban Decay’s original Naked Palette and also applied Foxy from their Naked2 Palette to highlight my brow bone. If there is any loose shadow on my cheeks, I lightly brush it off with a powder brush, then I dab on MAC Studio Finish Concealer on all the necessary areas which for me are under my eyes, around the corners of my nose and then on any blemishes or freckles/moles I don’t like (like that one on the middle of my forehead!). Next, I brushed on my blush, this time I used Urban Decay’s Naked Flushed palette (the blush with a touch of highlighter on top) using Sephora’s Classic Rounded Blush Brush #41. Then I used my big fluffy (unnamed because I can’t read the name anymore) powder brush  to apply Benefit’s Hoola Bronzer around my forehead and to contour my cheeks. I swipe on and blend in Benefit’s Watt’s Up Highlighter to my nose (down the bridge, a tip I learned from my friend Joo!), the inner corners of my eyes and the “cupid’s bow” tip right above of my lip. With the same unnamed big fluffy powder brush, I set it all with Bare Mineral’s new Balance & Boost Mineral Veil. Geez, my routine is sounding incredibly time consuming and maybe it is but writing it out is even more daunting LOL! It’s not over yet. After I set it with the mineral veil powder, I apply Lorac’s Pro Cream Eyeliner to my water line, both top & bottom, using MAC’s 219 Pencil Brush and then I add liner on top around my lash line with Stila’s Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner. Finally, I apply Lorac’s Pro Mascara to my bottom lashes and glue on Velour Lashes’ Doll Me Up Mink False Lashes using my trusty Duo Dark Lash Adhesive… and voilà! 🙂 Done!

Whew! Holy cow, that was lengthy! Hope you enjoyed this beauty post and let me know if you guys have any questions in the comments below! I’m always happy to answer them 🙂

Xox,
An Dyer

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