As most of you guys know, I spend most days at home either with my kids, either blogging or doing small interior design projects with my MIL. This means I basically have every excuse in the world to look like a homeless person at all times and never leave the house or brush my hair.
BUT…I try not to 🙂 I have found that getting up and getting “ready” for the day in the mornings helps me be a lot more productive, and helps me get focused on what I need to accomplish that day. Does that mean I start every day with a full face of makeup and skinny jeans with heels? Hell naw. Only when I take my kids to the library. JK, but I do try to make myself presentable most days.
I wanted to share my very basic “every day” makeup routine, plus some of the skincare/haircare products I absolutely swear by! I will caveat this now by saying that I have not yet gotten into the au-natural beauty game yet. I use the full-fledged chemical shit. Maybe someday when I have $1,000 laying around I’ll throw out everything I currently have and buy everything new and organic but for now… I digress.
Let me start off with skincare. I used to take horrible care of my skin. Never washed my makeup off after a night out, never even really used moisturizer! Once I got into my mid-twenties and started noticing some wrinkles and spots on my face (and also started making money), I started to invest in my skin a little more.
My every day skincare routine is Rodan + Fields. I have been using the Redefine regimen for about a year and a half now and it has done WONDERS for my skin. I actually can’t even tell you the last time I had a breakout on my face, and it has smoothed a lot of blemishes and fine lines over time. The redefine regimen comes with a cleanser, toner, AM moisturizer with SPF plus PM moisturizer.
I also try to apply a vitamin-C serum before my AM moisturizer that has SPF in it. To read more about the benefits of using a vitamin-C serum, click here.
Other random skincare/haircare items I swear by:
*Rodan + Fields Lash Boost. If you want your lashes to grow, buy this and use it every night. Within a few months you will be absolutely amazed.
*Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask. This is basically just a super moisturizing mask that you can apply whenever your skin feels thirsty. I use it almost every night and it leaves my skin feeling so great in the morning. Plus I love the refreshing smell of it!
*GlamGlow products. I love them all but I really love the clearing mask. If you feel a zit coming on or if your face is broken out, this mud mask really helps calm down your skin and clear things up.
*Lush’s BOOM Toothy Tabs. These are charcoal teeth whitening tabs. They weirdly taste kind of floral, and it kind of feels like you’re chewing up chalk. But I like it…? And it makes your teeth glow!
*Kristin Ess Texture Spray. This is one of the most affordable hair products I’ve ever bought and I swear it’s salon quality. I use this after curling/styling my hair. Just spray it all over and then tousle your hair and you’ve got a somewhat messy/textured look to your curls, instead of them looking like prom curls.
*Living Proof Dry Shampoo. The best dry shampoo of all time, and I’ve tried like 20. I keep a travel size in my purse, plus a full size in my bathroom, and I use it every. single. day.
Next up: my makeup routine!
I switch this up depending on how I’m feeling that day or how much time I have, but for an every-day look I use a pretty minimal amount of product. Here’s my step-by-step:
- After applying my moisturizer, I’ll apply the it! cosmetics CC cream with a Beauty Blender. Pro tip: get your Beauty Blender a little wet before you rub in your makeup, that way it absorbs some of the water and less of the makeup!
- Bobbi Brown concealer comes next. I make a little triangle of concealer across my bottom eyelid and down the side of my nose on each side, and then blend that in using my beauty blender as well! Optional: if you want to set the concealer, use a translucent loose powder like AirSpun and dab using your blender.
- The I apply some Stila bronzer using an Elf Angled Blush Brush. I love Elf brushes— they’re great quality and SUPER affordable.
- I then keep my bronzer out and switch to a small eye shadow brush, and apply bronzer to my eye lids. I love the way this looks– it gives your eye lids a very subtle glow that’s great for every day and not too dramatic.
- The Anastasia Brow Wiz is probably the one thing I’d apply every day if I could only choose one! I love the super fine tip because it allows you to use little strokes to make it look more natural and less like your brows are painted on. I use the medium-brown shade!
- Use the brow wiz as liner on your bottom lash line as well.
- After I line the bottom lash line with the brow wiz, I’ll sometimes add some black liquid eye liner. I love this one from Marc Jacobs. I buy waterproof because otherwise, it always ends up smudging down my under-eyes which is never cute. I have lash extensions so I don’t use liner on the top lid, but if I didn’t have extensions I would apply it there as well.
- Mascara is next: this L’Oreal Telescopic Lash drugstore mascara is my favorite! The brush is super fine so it helps you prevent it from clumping. I only wear this on my bottom lashes because of my extensions but without them, I’d add them to the top as well.
- Finish off with your favorite perfume and VOILA! My favorite perfume right now is Chloé. I love to buy the mini bottles of perfume because they’re less expensive and way less of a commitment. I love to switch up my perfume and buying an entire bottle lasts so long that I get sick of it!
I hope this was helpful and you got some good product recommendations out of it! If you’re reading this and don’t have a good skincare routine, start now. Don’t wait until it’s too late to reverse the damage. Be preventative and take care of it now– it’s the biggest organ in your body and it needs some TLC.
<3
