What's in your beauty bag [Grace]?

My hair stylist extraordinaire allowed me to rummage through her beauty bag and ask about her favorite must haves for right now! Grace is the talent behind Hair Haus in Jenison, Michigan. I have had the pleasure of knowing her as a friend since our high school days and she has been working her magic on my hair for the past 5 years. She is currently pregnant with a little bundle of joy expected to arrive in just a couple weeks! I cannot wait to meet him! Here are some things from her beauty bag that she is loving right now!

"Neuma smoothing creme is organic and I really love that! It adds lots of moisture and it's also weightless on your hair. It is so versatile and can be used on all different hair types." I also love this stuff personally and every time she uses it on me I also can tell a difference in my hair. My frizz has smoothed itself out and I love that it smells likes citrus! I purchased this smoothing creme at my last appointment. I love physicians formula just as much as Grace! She uses the mineral wear and applies it with your typical foundation brush. "It has such buildable coverage and it's talc free. That is important to me because I have sensitive skin. It's one of the first foundations I have used that doesn't break me out. I am getting a little upset though because Walgreens doesn't carry Physicians Formula anymore!" Grace and I are both fans of Revlon Matte Lip Balms but she is braver than me and is rocking 215 shameless desinvolte. "This one feels moisturizing to me which I like and is rare to find in a matte lip color. I bought it because last year I was looking for the color of the year, "pantone" This one seems to stay on evenly without leaving cracks on my lips. I just love it!"

Grace has also experimented with oatmeal masks. She originally found a recipe on pinterest and has fine tuned it to her liking. Here's her recipe!
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. nutmeg
15 drops of lavender essential oil
15 drops of tea tree essential oil
[Blend up your oatmeal then add the honey, nutmeg, and essential oils.]
"I blend it to more of a powder consistency. And before I apply it to my face I remove my makeup with a coconut oil and caster oil mix and remove it all with a steamed towel." 

[photos taken by Katy O Photo] 

What's in your beauty bag [Bee]?

Alright, time for a new little series on my blog. I always love seeing what products other people are using and loving. Basically, what's in their beauty bag at the moment. What better way to start off this series than taking a peak into my current beauty bag! These are the products that I am reaching for as I get ready to tackle each day. I have been more of a minimalist lately. Only using a few basics to give myself a fresh and natural look. Don't get me wrong, some days do call for a dramatic winged liner look. This fall for me it's all about a fresh and awake look. Glowing skin, long defined lashes, strong brows, and a small pop of color on the lip.

Rimmel match perfection has been my autumn foundation. I was able to find a perfect match on my first try, 202 nude. This foundation is not only a great deal but the coverage is great and buildable. This foundation keeps my oily skin at bay without being super matte. It just looks natural and glowy. The lasting power however isn't so great. I find that it's great for during the work day but if I have something in the evening I need to touch it up. This physicians formula mineral glow pearl was in my last favorites post and I have been seriously loving it! It's a perfect bronzer/highlight combo. It's also not orange. It gives the perfect amount of acceptable daily shimmer. Simple soothing facial toner is a nice and gentle toner that won't irritate the skin. I have noticed after consistently using this that the excessive oil my skin was producing has calmed back down. It leaves my face nice and clean without that tight feeling some toners can give. Maybelline instant age rewind dark spot eraser+treatement is a new product in the 'age rewind' line [which I love!] This one is just as amazing as all the other ones. I love the funky sponge applicator, although it does get a little dirty from time to time. This does a good job at hiding dark spots and covering blemishes. It's also light on the skin, I feel like sometimes concealers can feel thick and heavy. This one definitely does not. 

NYX butter gloss in eclair has been my go to gloss for everyday. It's a mauve-y pink that gives just the right hint of color to your lips. I have always loved these glosses because of the price, color pay off, and they smell so sweet. 

Covergirl clump crusher, not sure how I feel about it quite yet. Yes, it holds up to it's name and does de-clump your lashes. But personally I am not a fan of the plastic mascara wands and I kind of like some clump on my lashes. However for an everyday lash this does the job. For a more dramatic look

I have been layering it with Maybelline Miss Manga [which y'all know I love]. 

I have ditched my e.l.f eyebrow kit for this perfect dupe of the benefit gimme brow. [Which I thought distributed too much product on the wand and made my eyebrows looks too dark.] The maybelline brow drama gives me just enough product to fill in sparse areas on my brows in a very natural way. Also, this accidentally was put through the rain test and it held up very well. 

There y'all have it, everything in my current beauty bag. What's in yours? I would love to know! 

August & September Favorites 2014

August and September were very interesting months. Life got a little loco for a bit. That being said, I missed my August favorites post. So let's just combine the two shall we? During the past two months the seasons have started to change from summer to autumn and my skin has gone a bit crazy. I also seem to be losing my summer tan at a rapid rate. Despite all of that, I am choosing to embrace autumn with cozy sweaters and ankle booties. Happy October everyone! 

Dermalogica Clear Start Breakout Clearing Overnight Treatment has been a life saver in trying to help my skin recover from the craziest end of the summer ever. I slipped off my gluten/dairy free lifestyle for almost 2 weeks and boy did my skin react. After cleaning up my eating again [taco detox anyone?] and using this overnight treatment with salicylic acid every night, my skin is finally back to normal. 

I only have a sample size of the Murad essential c-day moisturizer but I fully intend on purchasing a full size. This leaves my skin feeling so great after a morning or evening cleanse. It layers nicely under makeup and also has an SPF of 30 to block out the UVA/UVB rays. Also, a little goes a long way with this. Simple moisturizing face wash has been my go to for everyday skincare. While I was in Walgreens I was reminded that I needed a new face wash. I wanted something without any harsh chemicals. This face wash is perfect. Also, this doesn't have a fragrance in it which is great because sometimes those scents can really mess with my skin. After using this for a few weeks my skin has not only recovered from the craziness that life has been but it has a fresh new look to it. It's nice to give my skin a break and allow it to recover naturally. 

These two bits of jewelry were purchased on my summer trip to Fort Worth. I wanted a souvenir of my trip and this necklace was perfect. It's do delicate and is the perfect little addition to a basic tee and jeans outfit. Sam Moon has the cutest dainty necklaces. These Kenneth Cole earrings were bought by one of my favorite cousins, Erika. She surprised me at the register and took them from my hand and bought them for me. 

I saw this Physicians Formula Glow Minerals in Bronze on my cousin Erika's birthday board on pinterest and I went to buy it for her only after finding out that her husband already got it for her. I have been loving it, and I am sure Erika has been too. It gives a nice bronze highlight to the cheeks. The shimmer looks a little intense in the packaging but it's not as intense on the skin. Just the perfect amount of shimmer. I have also been using it as an eyeshadow.  

I think my friend Michelle is so sick of me talking about how great this mascara is but it really is awesome. Don't be scared by the metallic pink/purple packaging. Also, don't be scared of the wand that bends. I was a little skeptical of those things too. But I have been converted to this funky looking mascara and my lashes are thanking me. The L'Oreal Miss Manga mascara is super dark and gives me some seriously long lasting curly lashes. The bendy wand also allows me to get those pesky lashes on the inner and outer corners that sometimes get missed. If you haven't tried this yet, you need to.

Essie Penny Talk is one of my favorite metallic polishes to wear in the fall. However, I have found that metallic polish definitely needs a top coat on it. Something about the formula makes it crack and chip a lot faster.

Other nail polish favs of the past 2 months were, this purple shade from Wet n Wild 

[213C On a trip/En voyage]. Seriously impressed with Wet n Wild's nail polishes. 

This L'oreal Colour Riche shade in After Hours is a dark dark blue. If you're able to get it perfect on the first coat it's more like a navy. But if you're like me and always need a second coat, it turns into a darker navy. Downside to this one, when you remove it from your nails the blue goes everywhere! 

This album has been looping each day for the past two months. I love that I can hear Steffany's heart behind each song on this album. I also love the story of this album and how God used her and Amanda Cook to work on this together. 'Out of Hiding' has got to be my favorite song.