Weddingbee

I love Sephora.

(image via sephora.com)

Since I haven’t been posting as much, I thought I’d write a huge honka-monga post on one of my favorite places ever! I have definitely slowed down my makeup shopping since I’ve been married. I still wear makeup everyday, but it takes me about oh, I don’t know— a good 10 minutes to slap on my makeup and run out the door. I tell Mr. Caramel that he is lucky that he married a woman who can get ready in 15 minutes!

Anywho, there are some neat-o things going on at Sephora. I think one of the best things they offer are the package kits they have every once in awhile, which basically is a “starter” kit of one of their product lines. It’s a great way to sample a line you’ve been wanting to try.

For example, I’ve been hearing some great things about Laura Mercier and I just happened to come in right when they had a starter kit available!

Here are the contents: (woohoo, free makeup bag!)

Smashbox also had a starter kit, so I grabbed one of those too! (only $47 with a value of $140!)

And here are the contents of the Smashbox package, which includes their fabulous Photo Finish primer!

Here is the list of things I use for makeup, which has not changed for the past 5 years!! Ehhh… Can you say, that it’s time for a change?

Powder – MAC studio fix (you can brush it on for a lighter load, or use the sponge for a heavier look)

Eyeliner – Bobbi Brown long-wear gel eyeliner. This is hands down my favorite, must-have makeup product. I love love this product! In fact, once I walked up to a Bobbi Brown counter, opened my mouth and the lady said “Let me guess… the Bobby Brown gel eyeliner?” She says that EVERY young girl that comes by is looking for that! Mmm I was impressed!

(image via bobbibrown)

Eyeshadows – trio mix from Smashbox. I don’t necessarily think it makes THAT big a difference which eyeshadow you use since I don’t wear that much of it (others may disagree), but I do think that Smashbox has great colors in these little trio sets that I like. I just need one really great black eyeshadow and then I don’t really care what brands they are, as long as they are pretty colors.

Bronzer – Sephora was having one of their Bronzer Wall weeks, and I selected Hoola from Benefit. I haven’t really tried many others, but I liked this one because of the texture and because it doesn’t have sparkle. (Too much sparkle makes me look like I’m 8 years old.) Much better than the MAC bronzers in my opinion!

(image via sephora.com)

Blush – the famous “Orgasm” from NARS is pretty great, but like I mentioned above, it has this golden sparkle that I don’t always like. I’ve tried a Bobby Brown blush that has no sparkle and it is very matte when you put it on. I do think that you should splurge on something as important as blush because if it is really low quality and you touch your face a lot (who doesn’t?) it can leave some embarassing finger streaks!

Mascara – to be honest, I can’t help buying those cheapie mascara brands from the drugstore since you’re supposed to be getting a new one every other month or so. I actually really like some brands at Victoria Secret, like Extreme Volume, Very Black. (And it’s a good way to use all that VS credit leftover from your bridal shower!) but some of the best are definitely the “higher class” brands like Christian Dior. Recently I just purchased this brand called Fiberwig, recommended by a friend. It has actual hair fibers (you can see little pieces of it) so it will actually thicken your lashes by adding physical fibers to your lashes! I have extremely thin lashes so this idea won me over. I haven’t used this yet, so we’ll see if I love it!

Eyebrows - I normally don’t do anything with my brows, but Sephora also has launched a new line called “Anastasia”. This comes from the famous Anastasia eyebrow waxing place in Beverly Hills. Honestly I don’t know what the hype is about that place because Billion Dollar Brows got 5 stars on Yelp and I think it’s just as good! (Cough… yes, I did spend $45 on eyebrow waxing! I’ll never do it again, although it was a very plesant experience.) Well since I was there, I picked up a brow pencil from the Anastasia line. Again, I barely started this so I’m not sure if I love it yet!

Eyelash curler – Simple. you cannot go wrong with Shu Uemura! (May he rest in peace)

Lipstick – I rarely wear lipstick but when I do, I use my MAC lipstick “Half & Half.” I’ve been recommending this color to a LOT of my bride clients. It’s a very good subtle natural color. It’s nice because I don’t have to wear lipliner with it. I’ve also noticed that Sephora has a long lasting lipstick line and they have some pretty colors for a good price!

OK, that’s the end to my makeup saga. Of course, I didn’t even talk about one of the most important components of makeup–makeup brushes!! I’ll save that for next time.

Do you have any recommendations or advice about any of the products I just mentioned or any other brands?

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