I’m back!! Did you miss me? I hope so, because I missed you guys so much! I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last post…. I’m so sorry. I’ve been dealing with a lot of computer/internet problems lately….grrr. And on top of that sinus/allergy issues have been kicking my butt.

Today is a new day though and it seems the internet/computer issues have been fixed (crosses fingers) and I’m feeling much better so hopefully I’m here to stay!

So on that note….Today I wanted to discuss highlighters. I don’t know about you, but I’m obsessed with them at the moment. I have over 20 of them, but I always seem to reach for the same 4 products. Find out which ones they are below.

Eyeko Beauty Cream, Benefit High Beam, Elf Lilac Petal and Mac Silver Dusk.

(Pictured in order are: Eyeko Beauty Cream, Benefit High Beam, Elf Lilac Petal and Mac Silver Dusk).

All of these products are very similar as you can see from the swatches. In fact Elf Lilac Petal and Benefit High Beam are so close I’d consider Lilac Petal a dupe for High Beam. The biggest difference between the two? The price: Benefit High Beam is $24.00 while the Elf Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal is only $1.00 at Target!!

What are your favorite highlighters? I’d love to hear from you so please share.

Note: I received a press sample of the Eyeko Beauty Cream for review and the MAC Silver Dusk is a sample I got from my sister.

Hi Girls. How’s it going? I hope your week is going well so far!

Today I thought I’d post a list of my favorite beauty products. I get asked all the time to do this so I decided why not it should be fun.

I’m sure this list will change in the future, but at the moment these are the makeup products I reach for the most. Enjoy.

Face Primer:
Nars and Smashbox are tied

Liquid Foundation:
Nars Sheer Glow or Illuminare Fantastic Finish Foundation

Mineral Foundation:
Bare Minerals

Concealer:
MAC Studio Finish

Powder:
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural

Blush:
Bare Escentuals Golden Gate and MAC Love Rock

Bronzer:
Bare Escentuals Faux Tan

Highlighter:
Benefit High Beam

Lipstick:
MAC Hue or MAC Angel

Lipgloss:
NYX Sweet Heart

Eye Primer:
Urban Decay Primer Potion

Pencil Eye Liner:
Urban Decay Zero

Liquid Eye liner:
Revlon Colorstay

Mascara:
MAC Studio Fix Lash

Eyeshadows:
I will be doing a separate post on my top 10 eyeshadows in the next day or two so watch out for that.

What are your must have beauty products? Please share!!

We have another guest post for you today. Enjoy.

Hello, my name is Heather, I’m 27, and I’m a freelance makeup artist. These are the blushes/bronzers I find myself using the most on clients and myself. I’m a Mac NC15 for reference.

Let me know what your favorite blushes are, I have TONS of blushes these are just a few of my favorites. Maybe you’ll know of some that I don’t so please share!

Top 10 favorite blushes/bronzers

1. Nars- Orgasm

Don’t tell me you didn’t see that one coming. It is a beautiful pink/coral with
a hint of gold shimmer. It looks great on every skintone in my opinion. You’ll
find yourself hitting pan with this one for sure.

2. Nars- Albatross

This is more of the highlight blush than a colorful blush. Its truly the perfect
finish to any look.

3. Benefit- Coralista

A beautiful shimmery pink blush. The packaging is super cute and its one I always find myself reaching for. I also love the smell of Benefit blushes, is that weird?

4.Too Faced-Pink Leopard

This blush is a mixture of pinks and tan, take a big fluffy brush swirl it in the blush and just buff all over for a nice healthy glow.

5.E.L.F.- Blushed and Bronzed Contour Powder

This blush is only $3.00 off of the ELF website, or you could use a code and get it even cheaper. It is worth much more than three dollars plus you get both the pink/coral blush and a great bronzer with a nice shiny palette and a huge mirror.

6.E.L.F.-Candid Coral Blush

Watch out Orgasm you may have met your match. This blush is a pinkish coral shade with gold shimmers. It’s gorgeous, has great color payoff, and for $3.00 you can’t beat it.

7.Hard Candy-Living Doll

This is a baked blush with swirls of pinks and gold (I see a trend forming here). This is 6.00 at your local Wal Mart and the color payoff is amazing.

8.MAC-Dollymix

This is one of my favorite blushes because its such a vibrant pink. The color is so pretty and cheerful and it looks amazing on almost all skin types.

9.MAC-Florida

This is what I would refer to as the cremeblend version of Dollymix. It’s such a vibrant pink and its staying power is unbelievable. I have only had this since the Lily Pulitzer Collection came out and I find myself going for it more often than not.

10.MAC- Pink Swoon

This blush is a beautiful soft baby pink. It gives you that fresh faced look without glitter or shimmer. Kim Kardashian says: “This is the perfect pink, I carry blush in my purse at all times” well said KK.

I love Benefit Cosmetics, so when I spotted this set while out shopping last weekend I knew I had to pick it up.

At $34.00 this kit is such an amazing value. It would make a wonderful Christmas gift for yourself or someone else on your list. It includes a few of my favorite products as well as some items I’ve never tried before.

The Celebutante Set includes: Full Finish Lipsticks in Lady’s Choice and No Competition, Velvet Eyeshadow in Leggy and Dandy Brandy, Lip Gloss in I’m with the Band, High Beam Luminescent Complexion Enhancer, Benetint, Rose-Tinted Lip & Cheek Stain, Dallas Powder, and two brushes.

The eyeshadows are soft and creamy and they apply like a dream. Leggy is pinkish nude and Dandy Brandy is a copper spice shade. Lately I’ve been wearing leggy on the lid with dandy brandy in the crease it’s a very nice natural look!

I’m loving I’m with the Band gloss and Lady’s Choice lipstick (pictured above) which is a pinky nude shade, but I can’t say the same for No Competition. It may work for some of you out there, but the color looked horrible on me. It’s a dark plum shade which was just way to much for my pale skintone in my opinion.

High Beam is my go to highlighter every single day. Sometimes I’ll use a MAC MSF or other highlighter, but the majority of the time I have on my High Beam. I’ve been using High Beam for over a year now and I still love it. They don’t call it supermodel in a bottle for no reason. It’s fabulous and gives your cheekbones a gorgeous candlelight glow.

Benetint is a rose-tinted cheek and lip stain. It’s a great product and a favorite of many celebs.

Dallas is described as an outdoor glow for the indoor gal! Sweep Dallas across cheeks, chin, and forehead to lift away signs of dullness and give your complexion a naturally radiant and vibrant glow – so sheer, it’s a wash of color that will benefit just about every skin tone.

Overall, You can’t go wrong with this kit I highly recommend it. And if you’re new to the Benefit brand this is a great way to try out some of their best products for a great price.

Have you tried Benefit products before? Which one’s are your favorite?

Any Whitney Port fans out there? I have to admit I’m a fan and while checking out her blog recently I noticed she mentioned her everyday 5 minute makeup routine. Here it is:

I start by mixing Fresh High Noon tinted moisturizer with the Fresh Soy Face Cream to get a nice base with a little sunkissed glow. Then I dust Bare Minerals Powder with SPF 15 to even out my skin. Next I bronze with Guerlain Number One for Blondes on my cheeks, hairline and jawline. Then I brush a little bit of NARS Orgasm Blush on my cheekbones, a little on my forehead, nose, and chin to keep it constant. I use Anastasia brow gel to give my eyebrows a nice shape (this is especially helpful if I haven’t had time to go in to get them done.) I highlight under my eyebrows with Benefit Eye Bright and then curl my lashes with a Sephora eyelash curler. Sometimes if I’m really feeling like going all out for the day I put on Maybelline mascara.

Seems like a lot of steps but it really only takes 5 minutes!

Image Source: http://whitneyport.celebuzz.com/

I’m in love with luminizing/highlighting products and have quite a few. My two favorites being Benefit High Beam and Smashbox Artificial Light in Flash. They both give you that healthy natural glow without making you look like a grease ball. And for someone with oily skin that’s not an easy thing to achieve.

As you can see in the photo above the Smashbox product is slightly darker than the Benefit product and I like to use them in different ways. Artificial Light is wonderful to mix in with your liquid foundation or moisturizer for an all over glow. I like to apply high beam just on the cheekbones and cupids bow for that perfect highlight. They call it “supermodel in a bottle” for a reason!

Artificial Light is $24.00 for a 0.7 oz bottle. High Beam is $24.00 for a 0.45 oz bottle. Both at Sephora.com.

So which one do I prefer? I love them both, but if you only have room for one in your makeup collection I would say I reach for high beam more often. They’re both awesome though and you really can’t go wrong with either one.

Have you tried either of these products? Which one do you prefer?

Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester, recently shared her loves with InStyle magazine.

Loreal Paris Vive Pro Glossy Style gel ($5.00 at Drugstores)

“This gel – it’s the absolute best. It makes my hair shiny.”

Benefit Peace Love and Glossiness lip gloss set ($26.00 at Sephora)

“Benefit glosses in Who Does Your Work? And Magic.”

Nars Eyelash Curler ($20.00 at narscosmetics.com)

“Using this eyelash curler. It makes all the difference when I want to look wide awake.”

Molton Brown Unwind atoll crystal bath soak ($35.00 at moltonbrown.com)

“Soaking in a bath with salts. This one smells incredible.”

I’m obsessed with mascara and just adore testing new ones out, so if you’re like myself then the new Lash Stash kit from Sephora may be for you.

Sephora gathered their best sellers in various beauty categories and packed them into one-of-a-kind kits. The Lash Stash kit is a limited-edition set which features deluxe samples of handpicked mascara favorites from Sephora. This kit lets you mix and match until you get the fabulous lashes you crave.

This set contains:
- 0.1 oz Anastasia Lash Lifting Mascara
- 0.1 oz Tarte Lights Camera Lashes
- 0.1 oz Sephora Atomic Volume Mascara
- 0.24 oz Stila Multi Effect Mascara
- 0.14 oz Benefit Bad Gal Mini
- 0.2 oz Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash
- 0.13 oz Too Faced Mini Lash Injection Pin Point
- 0.12 oz Smashbox Bionic
- 0.07 oz Lancome Cils Booster
- 0.085 oz DuWop Lash Venom
- 0.14 oz Korres Provitamin B5 and Rice Bran Mascara

Retails for : $39.00 at Sephora

Have you tried any of these products before? What were your thoughts?

This blush is a must have for Spring/Summer. It’s such a gorgeous peach/pink shade I just love it. It’s fairly similar to Nars Orgasm, but Coralista is much more gorgeous in my opinion. Just stroke this blush on your cheeks with a regular blush brush (I don’t like the tiny one it comes with) and you’ll be good to glow.

Retails for: $28.00 at Sephora.

Naomi Watt’s recently shared her makeup must haves with In Style magazine. Her must haves include:

1. Thierry Mugler Angel Eau De Parfum

2. Coppertone Water Babies Sunscreen

3. Benefit Erase Paste

4. Environ Ionzyme C-Quence 1 Moisturizer

5. Stila Cherry Crush Lip & Cheek Stain

6. Lucas Papaw Ointment

7. Thierry Mugler Flash on Lashes Mascara