products for life

i'm not much of one to experiment with beauty products anymore.  i think it's a combination of preferring slightly more expensive brands, not making a ton of money, and preferring to spend it on something other than the wrong color of bronzer.

as a result i have developed some real loyalty to the products i've chosen.  enough trial and error has me sticking to one solid product routine: they are the basic staples necessary for me to feel like i'm putting my best face forward.  if you are the experimental type, or if you are just looking for a solid replacement for a product you don't love here are the most important items in my bathroom bag:

l'oreal sulfate free shampoo and conditioner

i am not kind to my hair.  i haven't cut it or even trimmed it in over 3 years... excluding the funky things i do with my bangs.  i have been known to at-home dye it upwards of three times in a single day (and oftentimes it involves blonde and bleach).  so for the longest time i was a moisturizing shampoo addict trying desperately to keep a handle on my split ends.  suave professional was the best thing i found, but it just wasn't quite doing the trick.

eventually i read on some pinterested source that sulfates are terrible for your hair.  i have never been one to care for my hair like it is my child the way i've known some women to do, so i was skeptical that going sulfate free was just some holistic attempt to purify your beauty products by minimizing chemicals.  not that i have any problem with people who DO like to minimize their chemicals, but if i'm being honest, i straight up don't care.  it's hair.  hack it off it grows back whatever.  now i'm not saying my hair is like the undyed baby soft locks i was born with, but the visual difference, the difference in feel, and the difference in how easy my hair became to manage is not up for debate.  i've tried just about every moisturizing shampoo/conditioner combo in the drugstore and a whole lot of salon brands too.  once i tried the sulfate free stuff i had better hair than any other product i'd ever tried.   plain and simple.

clinique quick corrector concealer

this was the concealer i would sneak from my mom's bathroom when i was in high school.  drugstore brands just couldn't compete.  the bags i get under my eyes when i'm tired are big enough you could take them shopping.  i've never even bothered with other high end concealers because i'm pretty sure my mom was right about this one.  this stuff rules.

lancome teint idole ultra 24H foundation

l'oreal true match foundation had been my brand for a while, and even though it left my face shinier than the hope diamond, i put up with it until my skin had enough pimples to pass for a 15 year old.  i tried switching to clinique, but wasn't wowed, and when i tried makeup forever's foundation i felt like i had just flushed $55 down the toilet.

i walked in to sephora and decided to actually take advantage of one of their overly aggressive salespeople.  "what is the best long-wearing foundation for mixed skin?" i asked.

the salesgirl, without so much as a half second pause, pointed to the bottles of lancome tient idole directly next to her.  i was worried her hasty prognosis was just an attempt to get me to buy the most expensive bottle in the store, but when i saw the bottle cost less than some of the garbage i'd already tried i gave it a shot.

that woman knew what she was talking about.  the day i switch foundations will be the day this stuff is discontinued, or the day i get a totally new face of skin.  i have never recommended a product so often or to so many people.  i'm seriously in love.

covergirl lip perfection lip color

i did a post about this stuff a few months back when i was first learning how to pull off bright lipstick in daily life.  i was so excited that i had finally found a color that didn't make the rest of my complexion look like death. i didn't anticipate that this lipstick was going to totally change my life a little.

anyone who knew me very well between the ages of 12 and 22 would be able to tell you that i was a chapstick addict.  that might sound like i'm just speaking in cutesy makeup lingo, but i'm not kidding.  i had used blistex medicated lip balm so frequently and for so long that my lips literally ceased making their own moisture at all.  if i went so much as an hour without chapstick my lips were red, raw, and ON FIRE if not bleeding.  i once put butter on my lips when my chapstick was confiscated by TSA around one of the post-9/11 bomb scares.  it was ridiculous.

about a month ago i mentioned to steve, "you know, i haven't really been so dependent on chapstick anymore."

"i noticed that too," he said.

after a bit of investigation i discovered that something about the recipe for this lipstick actually balances the moisture levels of your lips.  if i hadn't been experiencing it in real time i would have called BS, but honestly this product has all but eliminated my dependence on chapstick and it is one of the most mind-blowing things any makeup has ever accomplished.  plus it's super pretty and every single one of the five shades i've bought so far has looked awesome.

so there you have it!  i also use bronzer eyeliner and mascara on a daily basis, but i'm less loyal to the products i'm using there.  i like them, but as the great ron swanson once said, "I won't publicly endorse a product unless I use it exclusively and I really believe in it."