The Makeup Monologues

I never ended up posting a July Favourites, even though there were some standout products in that month. I figured I'd just combine the two months of July and August into a Summer Favourites type of post! We're going to start off with eyeshadow palettes. I've got one for each month! July's standout palette was the e.l.f. 'mad for matte' palette, and August's was easily the Anastasia Modern Renaissance palette. The Modern Renaissance palette was one I wanted from the moment I saw it. It's got a ton of unique shades that are still very wearable. The pigmentation of these shadows is insane- I actually tend to spend a lot of time building my crease up because I prefer to use a lighter hand with pigmented shadows. They have a lot of kickup, very similar to the LORAC formula, but that's something I don't mind at all. All of the shadows work very well with one another, and I love that the mattes are all pigmented and soft enough to be used as ...

June went by in a flash. It honestly wasn't a very good month for me, and most of the time, I was either too busy or too depressed to wear makeup. I tended to go back to the same products again and again, and those products are going to be included in my monthly favourites! I have two makeup items, a skincare item and a tea. The first product is something I've had for a long time and never loved as much as I thought I would- it's finally getting the love it deserves! Behold, the Clinique Cheek Pop blush in Pansy Pop. It's a vibrant lilac-lavender blush with a dense, buildable formula. I found it paired extremely well with every eye look I was putting together this month, and since this doesn't require a skilled hand to apply, it was the blush I wore for most of the month. My second favourite is something I purchased more recently, but still didn't fall in love with for a while. The Too Faced Peanut Butter and Jelly palette has been my go-to for the past mo...

May went by so slowly for me, but it was a month of excitement for sure! Eurovision happened and I got a job! Let's see what I loved through this month. A lot of oldies in here! First I've got some Makeup Geek shadows to talk about, and for once, I'm not waxing poetic about their Foiled eyeshadows. Makeup Geek's matte shadows in Chickadee (left) and Cocoa Bear (right) are deserving of all the hype they get. They pair together perfectly to create a warm crease. I'd never actually owned a warm medium brown eyeshadow before this, and let me just say- where have I been?! I've been wearing them all month and the only complaint I have is that now I'm in a bit of an eyeshadow rut because I don't want to wear anything else! Here's them both in my crease with Makeup Geek Foiled eyeshadow in Center Stage on the lid. Every few months or so I fall back in love with my Urban Decay Electric Palette- however, it's usually the shimmers I love. This...

This month was a busy one- finals, moving back home, and I've been working nights at a barn away from home for the past two weeks. I didn't wear much makeup at all, which makes this favourites post a strange one. I usually have all-makeup favourites posts, but this month, only one item is makeup related! So let's get down and dirty with it. I've even got a hair product in there! This is the OGX Coconut Oil Weightless Hydrating Oil Mist. I've never been one to fuss with my hair beyond blow-drying it on occasion- I can't even be arsed to buy conditioner. However, I saw this in my mom's cabinet while plugging in the hair dryer and thought, "Oh, why not?" This mist makes my hair feel soooo soft and not greasy at all. It has a very strong, sweet coconut scent that lingers for hours. I personally love that- it makes me feel ethereal and very put together. I just spray this on the ends of my hair before I blow dry it and bam, I'm in the trop...

March is over, and now finals begin for me! I didn't wear much makeup this past month- depression hit me hard- but here's what I found myself reaching for a lot over the past month. First, the Colourpop Creme Gel Liner in Piggy Bank- this stuff is amazing. I have a full review forthcoming, so I'll try to be short, but this liner is the most gorgeous, pigmented eyeliner I've ever tried and it stayed OVER 24 HOURS (I was having a marathon, don't judge) on the waterline! Next, I've been grabbing the Colourpop Super Shock Shadow in Telepathy more often than not. It's basically my favourite eyeshadow (Fortune Teller by Makeup Geek) except more metallic and in cream form. Love this. Then, a mascara- the Givenchy Phenomeneyes was my OG favourite mascara and I finally scored another GWP of it. It makes my lashes so long and the unique ball brush captures every lash! Under the mascara, I've been wearing the Urban Decay Subversion lash primer. This stuff...

February, the shortest month of the year, has almost come to an end, and while I wasn't enamored with too many products this month, I definitely fell hard for a couple. So we've got a blush, an eyeliner, an eyeshadow palette and ... a concealer?! Other than Maybelline Fit Me? This may be interesting. And with the exception of the eyeliner, I bought all of these products this month. I bought the Stila Eyes Are the Window to the Mind eyeshadow palette as a splurge for my birthday, after wanting it for probably a year. I'm so impressed with the quality of this all-matte palette, and now I have no desire to seek out any other matte shadows. These are perfect. The orange shade is my favourite, there are so many beautiful transition shades, the black is such good quality, and that dark plum is such a great, unexpected colour to deepen the outer corner with! Additionally, these blend like a dream. I just, freaking love this palette. The Urban Decay Velvet 24/7 Glide-...

Well, the first month of the year came and went incredibly fast for me! I thought I wasn't going to have any favourites this month, but as soon as I looked through my Instagram profile I could definitely tell that there were some products I went back to again and again. Let's get into it, shall we? So I've got a lotion, a brow product, a blush, a highlighter and two liquid lipsticks. Mostly drugstore this month, wow! First, the L'Oreal Brow Stylist Plumper. Wow. I thought my Rimmel one was good, and I was so, so wrong. That one never actually held anything in place. This L'Oreal one did set me back 15 dollars, but it is AMAZING. It tints and plumps the brows with little fibers, and the wand is teeny tiny so you're not smearing brown gel all over yourself. But what really impresses me about this product is how my brows refuse to budge after it sets. It's like they're being held in place by industrial amounts of hairspray. And this doesn't fade...

Well, November is over, and so finals begin. I jumped right back into makeup as a coping mechanism while writing my term papers- so here are my favourites for this month! Only a few things this month, and the majority of them eye stuff! I finally learned how to do eye shadow properly this month and got really excited- thank you, YouTube tutorials. I finally learned what transition shades and blending were.... Let's get to it! I fell back in love with my Electric Palette by Urban Decay- particularly the shades Urban (blue-purple) and Fringe (the teal, which I'd never particularly liked before). I discovered the magic of layering these shadows over a black base. It's incredible! Here are some looks I've done with the palette! Said black base is the NYX Jumbo Shadow pencil in Black Bean. This base is the bomb. Fully opaque, matte black, a little sticky, smudgable, and makes shadows pop! NYX's Jumbo eye pencil in Milk (white) is already my Holy Gra...

October went both fast and slow for me. Midterms, Thanksgiving and Halloween took up most of my time, so I definitely didn't get to do all that much makeup-wise. Thus, I came out of the month with some clear favourites, or things I found myself using over and over again. Here they are! Ta-daaa. A lot of lip products, as per usual, and a lot of Urban Decay. 1. Urban Decay Ultra Definition Naked Skin Powder Foundation in Fair Cool This stuff is awesome and I've often been forgoing my usual routine of 3-concealers and liquid foundation for a layer of this bad boy right here. The coverage on this is truly impressive and so useful for when I'm in a rush but my skin looks awful. It evens out my skin, covers redness, and gives a natural finish. I use the sponge to apply it, and a small brush to get my undereyes. This can be used wet or dry, depending on the amount of coverage you want. My only complaint about this powder is that I don't find that it's fair or coo...