Best of: Makeup

I threw out a lot of old makeup last week, but I have stocked back up with fresh tubes of lipstick and mascara, and palettes of blush and foundation.

FOUNDATION: I have tried it all. My senior year of high school when I got a case of terrible acne, there was not a foundation I found that really covered up those awful face welts. Trying both liquid and powder, I found any drugstore brand to be terrible. I used to wear the tinted moisturizer from CoverGirl, but I wore that when I was 13! I couldn't wear that now!
I'm sure everyone's seen the infomercials on Bare Minerals. And Honey, let me tell you. That stuff is magic. It really evens out the skin tone and doesn't cake. If you are naturally dry-skinned, then the mineral powder probably won't work though. K has super dry skin and she hated Bare Minerals.

BLUSH: Frankly, lots of times I forget to put on blush, even though I do see the difference when I put it on. I have recently tried Sonia Kashuk's blush gel in Peony. It's a great shade of pretty pink and blends in well with light skin. I have also found that using a red or pink eyeshadow has the same effect. And you get two products for the price of one.

EYESHADOW: This is my problem area. My skin can be very sallow-looking even after putting on foundation. I have tried every drugstore brand of eyeshadow. And there is only one color that I thought looked good on me. And that would be boring old white.
I finally took my butt down to Dillard's and asked about a 'natural' looking eyeshadow that was shimmery. The woman gave me two colors to try. The first was a base that was...white. But to layer over top of it was a color called Kitten Heel. It's a wonderful shimmery color by Lancome and very natural looking. It's a pinkish color and is good for both day and night.

Now for the under eye. I use a Lancome eye pencil is a brown color. And for the insides of my eyes, I use a brightener from Pixi. I just put it in the corners, because otherwise, I look like a sparkled-out teenager!

MASCARA: I am a mascara freak. I am so passionate about the mascaras I hate and the ones I love. First, I hate CoverGirl LashBlast. HATE IT. It was clumpy and frumpy and lashes ere dried to bits. I immediately went to an old standby, Clinique's High Definition mascara. Wonderful for separating. I was then stupidly drawn into the Maybelline LashStiletto. The commercial touts the mascara as having olive oil in it to help nourish the lashes and it supposedly gives a shine to the lashes. Wrong. It smells funky and is no standout in the mascara department. I would have kept using it, but the smell was too strong.
Then I found it. DIORSHOW. I have heard all about this little gem forever now. It is the #1 selling mascara on Sephora.com and I had read tons of reviews. I broke down today and splurged on it. And it was totally worth it. There are three different DIORSHOW mascaras, and I purchased ICONIC because I have lots of long lashes, but they can't curl whatsoever. This baby curls my lashes beautifully.

LIPSTICK/GLOSS: Clinique Chocolate Ice is "da bomb". It looks super dark, but is pretty sheer and goes on really smooth. I layer a Pixi gloss over it and voila! Perfect. If I am looking for a good neutral lipstick to tone down my color, I have found Estee Lauder's Pink Parfait.

PERFUME: I am crazy about Miss Dior. Always have, always will be. I also love Chanel No. 5. Who doesn't???? Coco knew what she was doing. And today I was sampling perfumes and I came upon a surprise find. Gwen Stefani's perfume L is so good! That will have to be a beauty purchase very soon!

Now I don't 'department store' everything. For my hair, there is nothing better than a good bottle of TRESsemme, and sometimes some Head and Shoulders.