April’s Beauty Buys

So I skipped this post in March because…well, I didn’t buy anything new. #MakesSense I mean, not every month can be a Ulta month, you know? But in April, I found a few things that I love and wanted to share with you. (Find my February finds here.)

The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5%

I’ll be honest — I am a bit skeptical about The Ordinary. I find that when the products work, they WORK. But not every product is a home run for me. Very important here — this is for my skin and different products are gonna react differently on different people. So what works for me might not for you and vice versa, right? For reference, I have normal skin, not too dry, not too oily and I’m not very sensitive to products in general. My husband however has VERY sensitive skin so he is my tester for something if it causes a reaction or not. (Don’t worry, he definitely signed a waiver and I’m definitely qualified for these types of home experiments.) This product did not cause any reaction to him, so I’m gonna say it’s pretty safe for sensitive skin.

I bought this because an Ulta sales person said it basically worked overnight. We locked eyes and mutual dark circles over our masks and I was sold. I personally don’t feel like it works overnight (nothing does, lets be honest) but I did see a difference within a few days. My dark circles seem to have lightened up for sure. Sure I still have dark circles because I’ve always had them to some extent, but they are definitely lightened and I feel like my eyes are less puffy and less sunken in. ‘Puffy AND sunken in? Kendi, how can that be?’ you ask. I don’t know why but it is my very first question I will ask when I get to heaven. Too bad I’ll be dead or I’d report back. I’ll send my answer in the wind.

Find it here.

Anastasia Brow Wax

I’ve been looking for a product like this for YEARS. I love doing soap brows but this actually gives me the defined look without having to do too many steps and it stays longer than soap brows, in my opinion.

So what does it do? Basically you brush this wax on and brush your brows up to give them a more defined / youthful appearance. I go in and fill in the gaps and holes with my brow pencil or pomade. It’s a more natural brow look.

Find it here.

Tarte Ultra Creamy Shape Tape

You’ve heard of Tarte Shape Tape…but now comes Ultra Creamy Shape Tape! Lol I honestly can’t tell that much of a difference but I thought I’d give it a try. If you haven’t hopped on the Shape Tape train, you’re missing out sis. I love it so much, it’s the first layer of concealer I use. (Yeah I said layer…I’m telling you these dark circles are serious about their job.) Basically what I like about this concealer is that it doesn’t crease, it is super creamy and it sets itself so you don’t have to add any powder to it or anything. I use a Beauty Blender with it and it blends out beautifully. It’s also lightweight enough to use with the Illa Serum from my last beauty post.

Find it here.

Creaseless Hair Clips

Not sure if you noticed but I cut a few curtain bangs recently and I immediately had a problem I did not have before — bangs in my face while I’m trying to get ready. But if I bobby pin them back then they have a little line in them and we can’t have that, now can we? I quickly hopped onto Amazon and found these highly recommended hair clips. They really are creaseless! I couldn’t believe it. Amazon did not let me down. A nice price too because we all know I’ll lose 90% of them within a month and then I’ll have ONE that I hold on to for years, refusing to order more because I know I’ll just lose them all again.

Find them here.

Bioderma Atoderm Cleansing Oil

Remember how I told you that my love Bryan has very sensitive skin? Well finding a cleanser for him has been kind of hard because he has combination skin and it’s a lot of trial and error. I google and research and we’ve tried a lot of cleansers on him from Clinique to Origins but good ol’ Amazon had the best one for his skin. I actually bought this as a flash deal or whatever they are called because I thought why not give it a go? It has been the best cleanser we have found. It doesn’t dry his skin out, it helps with his eczema and it’s a gentle but effective cleanser. We all use it now! (It’s even good for kids!) We use this in the shower as our face wash and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s an oil cleanser so it’s moisturizing as well.

Also this is a HUGE bottle for $20. With both of us using it daily, we can get about 4-5 months out of it!

One note — it doesn’t quite get all of my eye makeup off like Colleen’s Cleansing Balm does. But I go in with some miceller — micellular — *googles how do you spell this* — MICELLAR water and get the rest of the mascara off. But as a full makeup removing cleanser you’ve got to supplement, that’s why I typically use it as my morning face wash!

Find it here.

Tarte Maneater Mascara

I’ve been on the hunt for the PERFECT mascara since I was 14. I’m gonna be honest, it’s been a fruitless journey but over the year I have tried lots of brands from expensive to drugstore and I usually found a Mr. Right Now kind of mascara that I use for a few years or so. Currently my very favorite is the Tarte Man-eater Mascara and I can’t believe I haven’t talked about it on here yet. I have very straight eyelashes and have to curl them with a curler (sometimes twice and yes with mascara on and yes I know this is bad and I shouldn’t be admitting this on the internet and one day I will rip my eyelashes out and you can say you told me so) But this is one of the few mascaras I’ve found that holds the curl for me and I don’t have to re-curl them with a wand. It also doesn’t flake off and is fairly smudge proof as well! (It does smudge if you sweat, though. Don’t judge us eyelid sweaters, we are real and so are our feelings.)

Ya’ll this beauty review is getting weirder and weirder. This is not the beauty post you wanted, but it is the one you deserve.

TL;DR — great mascara and it lasts me a good 3 months!

Find it here.

NARS ‘Chelsea Girls’ Lipstick

I struggle finding lipsticks to be honest so I get locked on one for years. I’ve been using Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk for so long but I’ve been wanting a different and brighter shade for spring. I quickly grabbed this lipstick at Ulta when I ran in for some more foundation and I just barely looked at the color and crossed my fingers it would work. I think I can see why finding lipsticks are hard for me, but I digress.

Love the shade though, it’s a creamy peachy hue and it glides on sheer but with lots of pigment. It’s exactly what I wanted for spring. I will say I would probably benefit from using a lip pencil with this one just because the sheerness can give opaque lines instead of defined, but who knows if I’ll be that dedicated? (Any nude lip pencil would work great!)

Find it here.

Colleen Rothschild Honey Vanilla Body Butter

Do you want to smell freaking delicious all day? Then this is your lotion. Yeah, sure it’s SUPER moisturizing and stays all day and everything but THE SCENT is amazing. It’s not as sweet as some vanilla scented moisturizers, almost more perfume like, so it’s not cloying or distracting (you know the type). If you’re looking for a Mother’s Day gift to yourself — lol — this is great one! Every time I slap it on, I always have someone comment on how good I smell. Even if it’s just me.

Find it here.