3 spring beauty favorites.

This time of year after a long dark winter, I am ready to freshen up my makeup routine with lighter, brighter colors.  And since I love getting beauty product recs from other women, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my current favorites.  So here goes:  3 spring beauty favorites from me to you. ;-)

top. jeans. necklace.

#1. Pink Lipstick!  This is the season for pinks, and I am wearing my favorites pretty much non-stop.  I have a hard time finding pink lipstick that works for me, because of my autumn complexion so I scoured the beauty isle and exhausted the lady at the MAC counter for the three best colors that work with pretty much all skin types.

1-Please Me.  This is your quintessential bright pink summer lipstick, and it’s a matte which I love.  It works with a lot of different colors.  I’ve had this one tube for like 3 years because it stays on really well and a little goes a long way.

2-Snob.  This lipstick is a lighter pink, I’m wearing it in these pictures and it has really nice blue undertones and according to the MAC lady is just really flattering on all skin types.

3-Fairest Nude. This is my everyday lipstick, and guys it’s magic.  It’s  another great matte lipstick, in more of a soft nude than pink, very understated and you can really play with the shade by changing up your liner.  In the winter I wear it with a dark brownish maroon liner and it makes kind of a deep bordeaux look (it’s the color I’m always asked about) and in the summer I pair it with a pinker liner and it makes a nice coral pink color (which I also get asked about all the time.)

(my favorite liner is L’Oreal colorRiche in Au Naturel.  It’s a great muted pink liner and I pair it with both Please Me and Fairest Nude and it works really well. )

#2: Bright white and pink nail polishes.  This time of year I pretty much live in white nail polish.  But every couple of weeks I like to throw on a pink.  And by throw on, I mean take it to the nail salon because Cori doesn’t like painting her own nails.  (plus I’m not very good at it.  Shaky hands…)

1- Pure Ice: super star. This white is my favorite nail color to wear, ever.  It goes with everything and it just looks so striking to me.  I have tried like every single white in every brand and the one I like most is seriously this bottle.  It’s a great chalky white and goes on in 2 coats for full coverage.  I hate when I think I’m buying white nail polish and it ends up being kind of sheer.  No, thank you.  And I hate when you have to do like 4 coats to get it to look like a flat white.  This color is fabulous for that. (and added bonus, it’s under $10!)

2-Dior: Tra-La-La. This is a really pretty soft pink, very subtle.  If you’re looking for a nude-ish pink semi-sheer polish this one is perfect.  It goes on super nice, and smooth.

3-FormulaX: Intensity. I loooooove this color!  It’s so hard to find a good light pink that pops and this is a great bright chalky soft pink.  It goes on really nice and it only takes 2 coats to get full color coverage.

Side note: do you want to know my secret for no-chip nails?  I get an acrylic overlay on my nails (no nail set, just the acrylic) every 2-3 weeks and my polish lasts the entire time.  My sister turned me on to this around 3 years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since.  I love having my nails painted, but I hate painting my own nails.  It takes me forever and then they chip in like 5 minutes. Especially because I’m a mom and I’m always doing laundry and dishes, and cleaning… The acrylic just works so well for me.  I’ve never tried gel or shellac so I can’t really say which is better, but it’s typically less expensive to get an acrylic fill than the other two.

#3:Lash extensions.  I’ve been thinking about trying out profesh lash extensions for awhile, but I’ve kind of put it off because they can be expensive and then there’s the maintenance… yadi, yadi, yah.  My friend Leanne convinced me to try these a while back, and I’ve been hooked ever since.  She does the individual lash extensions and has a great tutorial on how she puts them on.  I love doing the individual ones but they take me awhile to put on, and they last me 3-4 days.  When I’m in a time crunch, (ahem, most days) I like the strips because they go on in about 3 minutes and I love the wow factor they add to my makeup.  They stay on for 2-3 days for me. These are my favorite pair because they’re pretty and they look really natural but full.  I also use this black lash adhesive, it blends really well with my eyeliner.

There you have it!  My 3 spring beauty favorites. xoxo

vanity tray. soap pump. bathroom canisters.