… I have become one. Actually, I have always been in L.O.V.E. with makeup. Recently, I have rediscovered my passion for “all things makeup” (as you saw in my recent post about my new makeup “station”). I discovered a store called Ulta and now am in Heaven.
I have been following several people’s beauty blogs and found some things I couldn’t wait to try. So, after a trip to Ulta last week, I grabbed some of them and thought I’d share.
First of all, I have to say; I’m a Merle Norman girl at heart. However, since I don’t work there anymore, I can’t afford to shop there all of the time. When I can, I do buy their products. But, recently I have been reading A LOT of reviews and trying new things in order to find products that are comparable to Merle (without the cost). Some people disagree, but I believe there are some drugstore products that give great results! Why not save a little money whenever you can? I think it’s a great idea!
Since I love to blog AND I love makeup, I thought I’d combine the 2. Hopefully you won’t get bored, but I plan to do more and more posts about “all things makeup.” I hope you enjoy them! I also hope to do some more “vlogging,” since it’s so fun. Then, you’ll actually be able to see the products at work!
For this post, I thought I’d share some of my favorite products with you!
The first product I want to show is something new I bought last week from Ulta. In case you don’t already know, you MUST wash your face twice a day. PLEASE don’t go to bed with your makeup on!!! You’ll thank me later, I promise. Also, in order to have glowing skin (and reduce pore size) it’s important to exfoliate your skin. If you have sensitive skin, you may not want to do this everyday. I, however, have oily acne-prone skin. I LOVE exfoliating…. if it’s with the right product. I have been using a Merle Norman scrub for years called Polished Perfection. If you have a chance, try it! It’s got a great scent, and it is safe to use EVERYDAY!
I am almost out of Polished Perfection, so I thought I’d see if I could find something similar. I found a scrub that is WONDERFUL. I’m sure there are a lot of them out there, and I will try others later. But for now, this one works great! I’ve been using this for several days and can tell a big difference in my skin. Clean & Clear Morning Burst Facial Scrub is an oil-free scrub that will help open your pores and exfoliate dead skin cells, revealing brighter and more refined skin. And the scent is amazing. Really wakes up your senses in the morning.
This next product is for hair. If you are like me, you use some sort of styling tool everyday… whether it’s a curling iron, flat iron, or just a blow dryer. It’s important to protect your hair from heat damage. (However, I didn’t really start worrying about this until recently.) I’ve always had pretty healthy hair, but I want to keep it that way. I tried this product and love it!
GOT2B Guardian Angel Heat Protect Blow-Out Lotion helps to protect hair against the heat of your blow dryer (and any other styling tool you use). They also make one for flat irons, which you spray on your hair after you blow dry. I don’t like spraying things on my hair when it’s dry (it tends to make it oily and tangly). That's why I really like this product. It makes your hair smooth and soft. It’s great! It can be found at Wal-Mart and drugstores and is very reasonably priced.
Recently, I’ve had several people ask me about concealors. In all of my years of working with makeup, I’ve only found ONE concealor that does what it’s supposed to do.
Cover Up by Merle Norman also doubles as an eye shadow base/primer. It is a little more expensive (running about 13 dollars) but it will last a LONG TIME, if you use it correctly. I like to use it AFTER I’ve applied my foundation (unless you are using a powder foundation). Take a SMALL amount (I'm serious... like the tip of a pen) on your finger and smooth it under your eyes or on a blemish. Do the same thing for your eyelids. Smooth it from your lash line to your brow line. It will not only create a blank canvas (helping if you have dark shadows on your lids, like I do) allowing your shadow to be true to color, but it will also make your shadow “stick.” It works wonders!
*If you are extremely dry, make sure you moisturize very well… this concealor dries to a powder-like finish. It can have a tendency to look dry on the under-eye area if you don’t moisturize first!
Those are some of my favorite products right now! There are many more to come!
I hope you enjoyed this post and found some of the information helpful!
Stay tuned for more beauty bites!
