/Beauty Picks/

Everybody has their own daily skin and makeup routines, in accordance with their skin types and what products work best for their skin, that may or may not significantly change throughout time (or of course, through the introduction of new products out in the beauty market). However, here is my current skin routine that I've stayed on for the past 3 months or so.



1.) St. Ives Blemish & Blackhead Control Apricot Scrub - This exfoliating scrub is great for every other day use especially if you have oily and acne-prone skin, like I do. I always thought acne ended at a certain age into adulthood. Disappointingly, I truly understand and empathize with those that suffer through adult acne.

2.) Pond's Cold Cream - Pond's Cold Cream has literally been around for AGES and this is definitely one of the beauty products out there that I SWEAR BY. It wipes off makeup in a jiffy, and the best thing about it is that it wipes off even the most stubborn waterproof eyeliner on top of my teeny tiny eyes. Since I like to wear false eyelashes quite often, the glue gets mixed in with the eyeliner, and this cold cream just sweeps it off! Before using cold cream, I had to scrub off the glue+eyeliner mixture with LOTS of makeup remover and about 1,240 pieces of cotton, and ended up with a really red swollen eye prior to getting even half the gunk off.

3.) Bare Escentuals Maximum Coverage Concealer and Flawless Application Face Brushes - I actually stumbled upon these brushes when I bought the whole Bare Minerals Starter set. I LOVE the concealer brush and sometimes use it for whole face coverage. I mostly use the Flawless Application Face brush for when I need to set my foundation in with the Bare Minerals loose powder.

4.) Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour - Although a bit pricey for nail polish, I am (and always will be) a sucker for ALL Chanel things. They just introduced the new Black Pearl shade of polish, which definitely goes right up my alley and my love for dark nail polishes.

5.) Smashbox Photo Finish Light Foundation Primer - The days preceding to my usage of primer can be categorized as the "I didn't know squat about makeup" days because primer changed EVERYTHING. After discovering Smashbox's primer, I then started to passionately hunt for all different kinds of brushes (concealer, foundation, you name it!), then immediately switched my foundation to try to attain the more "professionally done" makeup look. This is another product that I'll swear by since it really does the job well, and holds my makeup on a regular 9-5 day, with minimal oiliness -- which is a HUGE deal for me since my skin gets VERY oily even after just 30 min. of having makeup on! I use the Finish Light since it is for oily-prone skin.

6.) Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler - My teeny tiny eyes come with short tort eyelashes, and Shu Uemura is probably the one and only curler that can curl every single lash (if you can call them that) of mine. I think it's safe to say that even the best makeup artists out there stick to Shu Uemura's curlers. They come in smaller sizes as well to curl even the shortest of lashes.

7.) Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil - Along with 2 loose powders, a bronzer blush and 3 brushes, the Bare Escentuals starter set also includes this illuminating powder. I usually put this on after putting on loose powder for that "glowy" effect. -- Be careful not to use too much for it can easily look like oiliness.

8.) MAC Studio Fix SPF15 Foundation - Ahhh what would the world be like without MAC??! It is the VERY essence of what all makeup should be like... of GREAT quality and completely AFFORDABLE. It's just a couple bucks more than drug store foundations, but far exceeds any of those contenders in quality.

9.) Bobbi Brown and Laura Mercier concealers - These are the 2 concealers I'm still thinking about getting, but am leaning towards trying out both. I'm more familiar with Laura Mercier products than that of Bobbi Brown's, but have been hearing great things about both of these.

10.) Sephora Liquid Eyeliner - If you are like me and have close to non-existent Chinese eyes (unless you pile on the eyeliner to create somewhat of an eyefold -- like I do), then this product is for you. It has a nice fine-tip applicator brush for easy glide and stays on without smudging or turning oily throughout the day.

11.) Nivea Avocado Body Oil - I've been using this body oil for close to a year now (which produces milky smooth skin), up until recently when I went to Shanghai and discovered the dry-flaky skin that I got when I was there actually came back with me to the Philippines. I had to apply this oil thrice a day yet the flaky skin was still present. I'm using this oil plus an Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion and the combination of both products seem to slowly be warding the dry away.


12.) False Eyelashes - As mentioned above, for someone (like me) who needs to pound on the eyeliner to widen teeny tiny eyes, it also helps to wear false eyelashes. I've tried several assorted types and brands, and came to the conclusion that the best that work for me (in terms of creating full, natural looking lashes) are the ones that are criss-crossed, and are medium-length. I bought around 3 packs of 7 set lashes when I went to Hong Kong and Shanghai, since they sell them pretty much on every corner of any street, just as they do milk tea... The girls there can't seem to leave the house without false lashes on.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

xx

(Images via Sephora, Chanel, St. Ives, Ponds, Mac, Nivea, Amazon, Google Images)