beauty

My empties bin is out of control again! I decided to grab several of the drug store priced items for this post, and will save the higher end and baby stuff for their own posts coming soon. Let’s jump in, shall we?

EVA NYC Freshen Up Dry Shampoo

I am a huge Living Proof dry shampoo fan. It is something that works really well for me. I had gotten this bottle in a voxbox and was actually quite impressed! For half the price, I felt it was almost as good as Living Proof, and you can find this brand at Target or Ulta.

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash Cream Cleanser

I have expressed my love for Murad Time Release Acne Cleanser over and over. It is my absolute favorite cleanser ever. The thing is, I hated spending that much money on something that basically gets washed down the drain every night. I would much rather spend more money on a moisturizer or serum. Well, I have searched high and low and have decided after my second bottle that this Neutrogena wash is as close as I can get for a fraction of the cost. It is a cream based cleanser, so it is soothing and not drying on my skin…but has the acne fighting ingredients that the Murad cleanser has too. In fact, several ingredients are similar. You can’t beat the price of this, and it has a pleasant scent.

No7 Beautiful Skin Age Defense Cleanser

This stuff was alright. There was really nothing special about it, and it is a little pricey for a drugstore cleanser. I probably wouldn’t purchase this again.

Garnier SkinActive Soothing Cleansing Milk

This stuff smells amazing, and it feels good when you are putting it on your skin. But that is where the good stuff ends. I was trying to use this as a makeup remover, and it just wasn’t happening. It made my foundation look like it was water proof or something. It was very strange. I just feel like it wasn’t doing anything for me, and as you can see, it was impossible to get the last bit out of the bottle too. Good riddance. I will not be purchasing this again.

Ivory Free & Gentle Body Wash

I got the Pear and Sandalwood scent, which I forgot how much I hate pear. So while we used this body wash and it was fine…I would much rather prefer another scent in it. Just personal preference.

Ganier SkinActive Micellar Water

I used about five or six bottles of this in a row. It worked alright, but I went through about 5-6 cotton rounds every night with it as well, and that just seems wasteful. I like Boscia Makeup Breakup Cleansing Oil a lot better, so I purchased that during the Sephora sale this weekend.

Have you used any of these? Discovered anything new lately that you love?

I gathered all my makeup empties for one post. This is a good mix of higher end and drugstore brands. A few holy grails, and a few major fails.

Urban Decay All Night Setting Spray

This is my third bottle of this stuff. I really like it and it is the best setting spray I have used. It does exactly what it says it is going to, and it holds up to the horrid heat and humidity we have here in the south. I will say, I saw that Glam Glow has a setting spray that I want to try, has anyone used it yet? I want to know if I should stray from this favorite or not??? I am sure I will repurchase this again at some point.

Essence Lash Princess

I know I am in the minority on this, but I hate this mascara. For the price and all the hype it gets, I was soooooo excited to try it!!! So many people compared this to Better Than Sex and I am here to tell you it is not. It flaked on me and smeared throughout the day. I really had to work with it to get it to look good. I would just rather pay for the real thing. Such a disappointment.

Mally Volumizing Mascara

I hated this mascara. It is a high end price and it sucks pretty bad! There are so many mascaras out there, please don’t waste your money on this. It was too wet when I first opened it, I had to put on numerous coats to see anything and it dried out pretty quickly. Just no.

Maybelline Volum’ Express The Falsies Mascara

This is one of my go-to drugstore mascaras. For the price, it works pretty good and doesn’t smear. I tend to grab this or Loreal’s Voluminous.

Clinique Chubby Lash

I actually really loved this one!!! I received it in a Clinique gift with some other items and didn’t expect much from it. After a use or two I was hooked and it became one of my favorite mascaras to use. My ultimate favorite is Too Faced Better Than Sex, but this is a close second.

Make Up For Ever Smoky

This was just ok for me. There was nothing special about it and not worth the high end price.

Clinique Acne Solutions Foundation

I picked this up in Fresh Alabaster. The color was good, I would say this is medium coverage. I think this was a little too dry for my skin. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. Perhaps if you have oily skin, this would be a great option for your. It tended to cling to my dry patches. For the price, it is great. Much cheaper than the other  high end brands.

Estee Lauder Double Wear

This is my holy grail foundation that you will find in my collection at any given time. This has the best coverage and is true full coverage. The color is a perfect match for my skin, which is so hard for some reason for me. I wear the 1N2 ECRU. I definitely feel like using a make up sponge like the beauty blender or real techniques version is the best application. Every now and then I will stray and try something new, but this is my absolute favorite. The only other one that compares for me is the Lancome Teint Idole which is up next.

Lancome Teint Idole Ultra

This is the only foundation I have found that comes even close to the coverage and match of Double Wear for me. I wear the color 230 Buff (W). This is another full coverage foundation that applies best with beauty blender type sponge for me. This is just a couple dollars more than Estee Lauder, but sometimes Lancome wins for me because of gift with purchase. If you are looking for a full coverage foundation and have a hard time matching in other brands, give this or the Double Wear a chance. And let me tell you, these both hold up to Alabama humidity. And that is saying something!!! It is a steam bucket down here most of the year. 

Wet n Wild Cushion Highlighter

So I grabbed this at Walgreens one day when I was picking up a few things. The color of this is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I love love love it. However, that is where my love for this baby ends. The packaging ruins the product for me. They did a piss poor job on the packaging. It is such a pain to open and close. The little applicator sits on top of cheap peace of plastic that separates it from the highlighter cushion. The lid never screws on properly and therefore left the product to dry out way too quickly for me. I know I only paid $5.99 for it, but when you are using high end products and then you grab this thing…you just get angry lol. If you are looking for a cheap option to dive in to the world of highlighters, like I said, this is absolutely gorgeous on. But it isn’t worth it in my opinion to deal with the crap packaging.

Rimmel BB Cream

For a BB cream that you can grab at a drugstore for under $10, this stuff is amazing. The coverage is closer to medium and the color light works just fine for me skin tone. This is a 9 in 1 and has some benefits and some SPF too. My absolute favorite to use is the Lancome Skin Feels Good Hydrating Skin Tint Healthy Glow SPF 23. But if you are looking for more affordable option, this would be the way to go.

Real Techniques Sponge

I will admit, I have spent $20 on the Beauty Blender. It was when it first came out and one of the Sephora girls used it on me and I was blown away by the application. But spending $20 on a makeup sponge that needs to be replaced every three months makes me want to blow something up. No thanks. You can grab a two pack of the Real Technique sponges for $10 or less and get the same. exact. results. I am all about you get what you pay for when it comes to most things. But let me tell you, RT stepped up their game big time when they made this product. As you can see in the picture, I cut open my RT sponge (the orange one) and another knock off beauty blender I bought at Nordrstrom Rack for $2.99, and they both do not completely absorb your make up. Which is what the real Beauty Blender claims they are good for. Save you money and go with RT!

Have you used any of these? Let me know what some of your recent favorite finds are!

My empties bag is overflowing! I thought it would be fun to grab all of the ones that are shower related and save the makeup and other skincare for a separate post. All but one of these are found at Target or your favorite drug store, so they are definitely affordable!

Dove Purely Pampering

I used to buy all Bath and Body Works shower gels back in the day. I am not really sure why, I guess for the scent and because it was fun to shop there? The ingredients of their stuff leaves lots to be desired though, so I would rather just grab something at Target and not have to buy six bottles at once to get a better deal. I have used a few bottles of this Purely Pampering line from Dove and I love the scent!!! It does a decent job of not stripping away too much moisture.

Yes to Tomatoes Charcoal Cleanser

This is more like a scrub to me. I love love love the scent and use it once or twice a week at night after I wash my face. You can find it at Target or the drugstore for $10 or less and is a solid choice. Not all the Yes to products are a win for me, but this one is!

OGX Orchid Oil Conditioner

This is marketed for colored hair. I love the smell and packaging. It is a decent drugstore find that I buy regularly, but interchangeably with other similar options. I like to have one drugstore brand set and one higher end set in my shower that I switch use with.

Purity

I have my daily morning holy grail face wash, Murad Time Release Acne Cleanser. I use that ever single day no matter what. At night, after I remove my makeup, I like to use something different. I will use up any free samples or perhaps a drugstore cleanser. I got this one as a gift with purchase and have had it before. It is a decent cleanser, but honestly, there is nothing special about it. I dont even really like the lemony smell that it has. I use it when I get them for free, but I would never seek out to purchase it.

Aveeno Positively Smooth Shave Cream

I used Skintimate shave cream for years. I am not really sure why I was ever so loyal to it? It really never did me any favors, that is for sure. Maybe I liked the colorful bottles? Anyways, I picked this up out of desperation to make my shaving experience better. My legs were literally peeling, they were so dry. This is my second or third bottle of the stuff now. I love how smooth it makes my legs feel, and the scent is pleasant and would compliment any body wash/lotion products you plan to use. I have a new go to and will never buy Skintimate again.

So, what shower products are you loving lately? Anything new out there I need to try?