Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Mary Poppins' Carpet Bag





My husband hates to get things out of my purse. He calls it the Mary Poppins bag or my Hermione bag.

    Either way, there's a lot more in it than there should be, and just like my makeup bag I'm trying to streamline, but it's just not easy. Who knows if I want  purple or brown or black eyeliner today? Maybe I want liquid eyeliner, or do I want to use a pencil or a brush, or just shadow? Umm.... what? There are so many options! And that's just the eyeliner. Let's not discuss the plethora of eye shadows and palettes in my bag. In fact, I got a new bag just to fit more in it! It's a dilemma. 

    I read somewhere that to streamline your morning routine, you should only keep the basics, those products that you know you will use, in one makeup bag and everything else separate. That way, you don't have a lot of choices and decisions to make when you're rushed. If really pressed for time, you can just grab that bag and know you're covered. It really does make a lot of sense, but I haven't found the willpower to try it yet.

Anyway, here is what's in my bag right now. Subject to change of course. 


The bag itself is from Ikea. I drooled over my friend's so much she bought me one last week. I'll pay her back of course, probably in coffee. 

 I have 3 different primers I'm trying out:

-Almay's Smart Shade CC Luminous Primer
-Benefit's the POREfessional and
-Garnier's 5 Sec Blur

I love the POREfessional, but as it's fairly pricey, I'm trying to find suitable alternatives. I tried buying one that appeared to be a brand name POREfessional primer that was only $15. While the packaging seems legit, the formula seems off. It's not as silky as the sample I have, and the staying power seems shorter. The Almay primer is nice, but I haven't used it enough yet to give a true comparison. I am really liking Garnier's 5 sec Blur. It's quite to close the POREfessional sample I have, and like most silicone primers, it appears to be just as silky. For the past two days it has lasted through my entire work day. My dry skin is hard to prime since most products appear to be geared towards women with oily skin. My skin will start out glowing and luminous, but by the end of the day my cheeks are dull and the makeup has cracked and shifted. Of these three primers the Garnier seems to have solved this problem for me. Time will tell.


    Tucked away in my bag I also have 8 different eyeshadow palettes,  Revlon Lash Potion mascara, Revlon Nearly Naked foundation, Revlon Photo Ready concealer, NYX yellow HD concealer, e.l.f. Glitter Primer, Maskcara liquid blush in Princess Peach and e.l.f. Makeup mist and set.


I haven't tried many Revlon products in the past but I decided to stock up as they were on sale recently. Last week at Ulta all Revlon products were 40% off and you could combine that with a $3.50 off $10 coupon. I may have made a few trips there to try them out. So far I've been very happy with my purchases. 

All that talk earlier about eyeliner and it's not even in my bag. It's in a separate place. Because there's too much of it. See, it's a problem.


What do you think? What are your favorites? Things I should try, leave out? Best primer for dry skin? 
What's your favorite way to store your makeup?

2 comments:

  1. Have you ever had a primer that your skin reacted badly too? I use eye primers occasionally but tend to stay away from face primers because I used one from Mary Kay once and my whole face was broken out the next day. Generally I don't have a huge problem with acne any longer so I was very surprised. Do you feel like primers make a huge difference with your face makeup longevity? I have heard that if your face is moisturized enough primer isn't very important. What's your opinion?

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    Replies
    1. I'm so sorry that happened to you! That's awful! I hope they took it back for you. I have used a primer that my skin reacted too. It wasn't too bad, just some small breakouts on my chin. I was using the e.l.f. Hydrating primer and while I felt like it worked very well on the rest of my face, my chin is not as dry so all that extra moisture caused some upset. I am actually doing research on face primers for a post right now!! I've been trying different ones for weeks to see what works best for me. I find, so far, that they are most useful for making pores look smaller and helping your makeup last longer. I think if your skin is well moisturized most people certainly don't *need* primer, but it can still be useful. I would see if you can get samples of different ones and start by using small amounts. I can tell my skin doesn't like it if I use too much.

      Also, makeupalley.com has some great research tools in their product review section. I don't buy hardly anything before checking there. You can filter the reviews by skin type and see how other people with similar skin felt about a product.

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