I am not a morning person. Don’t try to change me or send me any articles promising to teach me how to be a morning person– you’re just going to have to accept me as I am. Since I am well aware that I am not always at my best first thing in the morning, I have 7 beauty essentials in my bag at all times.
When it comes to putting together a beauty essentials kit, you’ve got to assess your own needs. For me, I feel my best when I have a smooth complexion, groomed brows and bold lipstick. If you are a girl who cannot live without smokey eyes and flushed cheeks than your toolbox will look a little different than mine. The key to true beauty is figuring out what makes YOU feel beautiful and owning your uniqueness!
Take a look at the contents of my bag:
In the bag, I keep the essentials to make sure that I have the look that I want. I want bright eyes and bold lips– my concealer and brows take care of that. One of my favorite liquid lipsticks is the NYX Liquid Suede Lip Creme in Cherry Skies. The smooth long-lasting formulation and rich color ensure that I have a perfectly polished appearance.
What do you keep in your bag to make sure that your look is on point?
It’s officially wintertime round these parts. December was incredibly warm, seriously, it was ridiculous. Beautiful. Fantastic. But it was ridiculous. And now that we’re headfirst into the month of February, we have been hit with real winter weather and with it, comes real winter skin woes. Masks are an increasingly popular skin care solution and it is not difficult to understand why. Using a mask is a convenient and direct way of infusing ingredients topically on the skin. Beauticontrol’s Oxygen Infusion Radiance Masque and Exuviance’s Pigment Lifting Masque both deliver promises to enhance and even tone so can using these masks be the key to brighter winter skin?
Bubble masks and sheet masks also just happen to be two of the trendiest masks on the market. Sheet masks are just what you think they would be: all you need to do is unwrap your mask and place it on your face. There are holes for the eyes and nose and mouth so that the mask is easily moldable to the shape of your individual face. The masks are drenched in a serum that can be rubbed into your skin afterward for long-lasting benefits. Bubble masks are delivered in a form that when exposed to the air, oxygenate and bubble on the skin. The infusion of oxygen perks up dull skin and is designed to leave you with a rejuvenated complexion.
The Beauticontrol Oxygen Infusion Radiance Masque is a bubble mask and part of the BC Spa Bright line of products and is designed to be used as a complement to the Spa Bright Illuminating Serum, both pictured below.
The Oxygen Infusion Radiance Masque is without a doubt, a “you can feel it working” product. The masque is dispensed from an airtight pump (remember, it begins to bubble when exposed to the air!) and you apply a thin, even layer onto clean, damp skin. Within a minute, you’ll begin to feel the mask activating on your skin…literally. All of the sudden you will feel 1000 teeny explosions dancing across your skin’s surface, it feels a bit like a little festival. But on your face. Yeah. Ok, ok… that’s not a thing.
After the bubbles die down and you’ve rinsed the remaining mask off of your face, you’ll be surprised at how smooth and well, bright, your skin looks. The mask is recommended for weekly use or any time that your skin needs a pick-me-up, the results are instant and transformative. When used with the twice-daily Illuminating Skin Serum, you will notice dark spots from acne and/or hyperpigmentation fading and a smoother skin texture overall. You can get both of these products here.
The Exuviance Pigment Lifting Masque is a sheet mask that promises to do its part in the fight against skin discoloration. The mask feels slightly cool and refreshing once you’ve laid it out on your face so I took more than the prescribed 10 minutes and kept the treatment on my face and laid down. This, unlike the shower-friendly bubble mask, is definitely a “relax and take your time” type of treatment. I wish I could recommend a glass of wine to go with your mask induced chill time but since you really can’t move your face, I will only suggest that you stick with a nice white. #StainsForDays
The mask gives you an instant moisture boost thanks to the rich, concentrated serum. Once you’ve rubbed the remaining serum in, you are left with undeniable supple skin. The Exuviance’s masks are sold in a set of 6, which mean 6 weeks of this treatment. I was sent this product for review purposes and I am halfway through the box. I’ve been pleased by the results so far and have been able to incorporate it into my existing home spa routine. Man, I am going to be too beautiful to handle soon.
The Verdict
I’ve been using both the SpaBright set and the Pigment Lifting mask in tandem for the past three weeks and I’m going to give the brightening claim a go. I had a particularly horrible acne battle a couple of months ago. (It was nuts. I was able to tamp them all down before they became full blown explosions but seriously, they WOULD NOT STOP.) In the almost-acne aftermath, thanks to my aggressive pimple murdering techniques, I had some dark marks. Now, nearly a month later, the lighter marks are gone and the deeper ones are making their way out of the door as well.
Do you have a masque du jour? What is your secret for combating winter dullness?
I’ve found it. I have officially found the 1 missing piece in my skin care routine. Holy grail, thy name is the konjac sponge.
Yes, that gnarly looking lump is the new love of my life. The konjac sponge, like so many of the “Hot! New!” beauty trends, has a long history. Konjac is actually a root vegetable, historically known for its medicinal properties and high fiber content. The same fibers that you eat are the very ones that compose the konjac sponge. Though the sponge looks like a rock when it’s dry, when it’s wet and ready to use (seriously, don’t use it dry), it takes on a velvety soft, squishy and almost gel-like texture. Give it a squish real quick. I’ll wait.
The Claims
Gently exfoliates your skin.
It cleanses your skin, including taking off your makeup.
It’s biodegradable. So it’s good for the environment but that also means it needs to be replaced.
The sponges come in a few different varieties but my favorite konjac sponge owes its black coloring to the activated charcoal woven into its fibers. Activated charcoal is purported to draw the impurities out of your skin. Purportedly, the amount of activated charcoal woven into the fibers of this sponge is not enough to actually do the job, but I SWEAR my acne-prone skin has not been as “prone” since I started using the konjac sponge.
I’ve found that I’ve used far less cleanser since starting with the sponge. The lathering action is fantastic and the cleanser gets distributed all throughout the sponge and then all over your face and seriously when you are rubbing this soft and squishy sponge over your face, you just KNOW that something interesting is happening. It’s when you rinse it out that the real shocker comes: you very well might SEE the dead skin that this sponge has sloughed off of your face. It’s gross. It’s fascinating. It, in combination with my skin care, of course, has led to the smoothest skin of my life.
Handle this sponge with care, though. Smush it gently between your hand to get the extra moisture out after each use and hang it somewhere to dry. You want to dry it out between each use because it’s damp and dark and letting that fester all day leads to….ewww.
Get your Konjac sponge here. Tell me, have you used this before? Did you love it, loathe it?
Summertime and the living is easy! And hot. And a bit melty. Wearing makeup in the summertime is a balancing act– you want to look bright and vibrant but you don’t want to be overly made up; if you’re anything like me, you want to be as naked as possible when it’s hot outside. I created this super simple makeup routine to help you beat the heat but still look chic! (I made a rhyme, y’all!)
My phone rang. I was being invited to an important, potentially life changing meeting. I tried to hide the shock induced stammer in my voice and, of course, said “I’ll be there.”
I hung up the phone, holding it a little too loosely between my fingers. My mouth was left so wide open, I am still shocked it didn’t develop a rug burn. Then, I felt the side of my lip slowly curl into the biggest “I’m so proud of myself! I can’t believe this is happening!” smile and let out a squeal reminiscent of my 13-year-old self at a Backstreet Boys concert. (Funny how our goals and priorities shift as we age, isn’t it?)
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Yes, that gnarly looking lump is the new love of my life. The konjac sponge, like so many of the “Hot! New!” beauty trends, has a long history. Konjac is actually a root vegetable, historically known for its 
owes its black coloring to the activated charcoal woven into its fibers. Activated charcoal is purported to draw the impurities out of your skin. Purportedly, the amount of activated charcoal woven into the fibers of this sponge is not enough to actually do the job, but I SWEAR my acne-prone skin has not been as “prone” since I started using the konjac sponge.
. Tell me, have you used this before? Did you love it, loathe it?
