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Hey Sweet Shoppers, it’s Keely here today. After a few recent trips to Ulta, Sally’s and the beauty aisle at my beloved Target, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my go to items and recent finds. While I would never consider myself a girly girl, I love beauty products. I mostly stick to the drugstore varieties, my cheap nature and the whole being financially responsible thing dictate that. (plus I get to play with more stuff that way)  I’ve been pretty successful finding good products that don’t break the bank and allow me to splurge on a few items that are worth the extra dollars.

You know how most women have good and bad hair days? I have good and bad eyelash days. Seriously. I’ve given in to my crappy hair but I’m fighting the horrible lashes I was born with. They’re blonde, not particularly long and they don’t curl at all, just the opposite. In fact 90% of my hair dryer utilization is to heat my eyelash curler. So when I’m having a good eyelash day, it’s on.  A few things have made my good eyelash days much more common:

This cheap mascara (Really. My HEB has coupons on this all the time and I’m getting it for about $4 or $5 ) ROCKS. It doesn’t clump or flake and it has enough coverage, both volume and length, that I don’t need a bazillion layers. ( My one complaint, it dries out faster so I have to replace it more often. )

I tried this out a few months ago. It’s not Latisse, I’m not claiming that it actually creates  lashes but I noticed enough of a difference to replenish my tube and add it into my routine. I think  of it as a conditioner. What I’ve noticed is that I don’t lose lashes like I did before, my mascara goes on nicer and a weird gap in my lash line filled in.  My eyes can be sensitive to some products and this hasn’t bothered them at all. Shop around, I’ve seen this stuff range in price from $5 to $15.

I have no problems buying a good eyelash curler. It makes a huge difference, I won’t ever buy a cheapy one again. I’m going to need a new one soon and this one’s been hard to replace, if you’ve got a quality one you love, link me up.

The best stuff to get all the mascara off….

I go between coconut oil and baby shampoo (in the shower). Coconut oil really does a supreme job of removing every bit and not being irritating. I’ve tried so many eye-make up removers, oily, non-oily, a lot of them really bother my eyes.  Bonus, it smells really good and you can cook with it. Some people even use it as a facial moisturizer, I put it on my cuticles but my face doesn’t like it.

Speaking of coconut

I swear by Suave Coconut Conditioner as a shaving gel. My daughter thought I was just being cheap but she swears by it now too. We’re hairy so shaving’s a big deal to us.

This is my bargain primer. Don’t let the brand scare you off. It works like a charm. Plus you can use it as intended when you run your next marathon.

I’ve never found a toner that works better than good old fashioned witch hazel, effective and not too harsh. My greasy t-zone thanks me.

I love this mask. My skin feels so nice afterwards.

My Clarisonic Mia, I adore. Christmas before last I came across a great internet deal and hit submit before I could back down. I’m so glad because I can’t recommend it enough. In the last few years especially (Hello middle age!) my skin texture has changed. I didn’t even realize how much until after I started using this baby.  My daughter has the Olay knock-off and my Mom tried something similar from Overstock, they aren’t anywhere near the same.

Another thing I swear by is good make-up brushes. .

Everyday Minerals has really nice, quality brushes. They run sales fairly often too. My favorites are the Eye Kabuki above, the long handled Kabuki,  and the eye blending brush.

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I almost always have my toe nails polished, spring, summer, winter and fall. I do my fingers now and then too. I love China Glaze polish, I think it goes on and wears the best. I’ll use some other brands as well but I always seem to notice how much better  China Glaze wears. I’ll spend a little on nail polish because I there’s a big difference in application and wear. I like Orly a lot too. OPI and Essie aren’t bad and while I’ve drooled over some Butter colors, $14 a bottle is too spendy for me.

Holy Top Coat Batman! Sech Vite Fast Dry is a miracle in a bottle. Put this on when your last coat is still wet and your nails will be dry and glossy in mere minutes.  Five minutes and you can fold towels kind of dry.

And last but not least….let me pucker up and say that Revlon’s new Lip Butter…is fabulous. I have abnormally dry lips, even with constant moisturizing they are dry, so I tend not to wear a lot of actual lipstick. I like stains but I haven’t been very happy with the drugstore versions. I actually love  gloss but you have to apply it like ever ten seconds. I’ve been pretty much stuck on Burt’s Bee’s Raisin Lip Shimmer ( I still think it’s great stuff but I like variety)

These are my newest finds. They’re a moisturizing cross between a lipstick and gloss, not too much of either. I’m mixing it up again, whoo hoo.  My favorite colors are Berrie Smoothie and Peach Parfait.

That’s a peek into my beauty bag. Thanks for humoring me, I’ll be watching out for the next make-up/ beauty thread that pops up in the forum.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping.