I’ve ditched a few makeup favorites for drugstore brands (hey… they’re cheaper… and most ended up being better overall for the most part), had to make some changes due to discontinued products (boo!), and added a few newbies to the makeup routine over the past year or so (because, mom skin, y’all… it’s just totally different).
This post will walk you through my typical full coverage makeup regimen, my daily makeup regimen, what has been working well, what could use some improvement, and what products I’d like to try next.
Full Coverage Makeup Regimen
So, since I have been blessed with adult acne, it makes it much harder to get rid of any acne marks quickly. Aging skin and acne just don’t mix, guys. That being said, now add skin that is beginning to wrinkle and the fun begins. Most days I wear fairly minimal makeup, but when I have time I LOVE to play with new trends and see what’s out there that works. Lately I’ve been all in on drugstore dupes. I’ve found that I can usually find drugstore brands that work as well (or better… heck yes!) than pricier brands. I’ve also found that the pricier brands I grew to love changed their lines CONSTANTLY. So, once I found something I loved they discontinued it. Bummer. Here are the steps I take for a full coverage face, what I use, what works, and what isn’t my favorite, but is currently what I use.
And I thought I loved my beauty blender. You guys. Oval brushes are a thing and they are LIFE CHANGING. Now, I’ll have to say they’re not great for everything, but here is what I find them most effective for:
I think my favorite has to be the foundation brush. It makes foundation go on so smoothly without clumping, streaking, or absorbing all of the foundation. I do love the blush and powder brushes for the same reason-effortless blending.
I still use my beauty blender for concealer, highlighter, and contouring. I also use my eyeshadow brushes for eye makeup. I found it extremely hard to use the eye makeup flat brushes as they were hard to get an even application with a flat brush.
African Black Soap for Brush and Beauty Blender Cleaner
I have tried so many products and different methods to clean my brushes and beauty blenders over the years and NOTHING has come close to African Black Soap. It even gets my beauty blender completely clean. The price also can’t be beat! The. Best. Hands. Down.
Maybelline’s Master Prime Primer has something for everyone. They have options for dry skin, redness, large pores, you name it, they’ve got you. When I’m using full coverage makeup I typically use the redness control because I tend to have a little more redness in my cheeks as I get older. All of these that I’ve tried have worked better than all expensive primers I’ve tried. A great primer can go a long way to make your foundation look smoother, which helps provide such great coverage.
So, this stuff is magical. I follow primer up with this foundation. It’s a great full coverage foundation, is extremely light, goes on smoothly, and stays. All. Day. Long. It also doesn’t cause my skin to break out after wearing it like some heavier full coverage makeup I’ve tried. It also has many different shades, so matching a color is fairly easy.
My only beef with this foundation is that I’m pretty sure it’s being discontinued. They do however make a non “better skin” version that is still awesome. I believe the only difference is the normal Superstay version doesn’t contain salicylic acid, which dries your skin anyway.
Might as well keep with the Superstay theme… I figure if I’m going to use a a Superstay foundation, I might as well follow it up with a Superstay concealer. This concealer works just as well as the foundation. I use it on blemishes, redness, and sometimes I even use it as an under eye concealer. It’s pretty awesome.
This also seems to be discontinuing, however. I will more than likely replace it with the non-salicylic acid version, which should be just fine.
The Superstay concealer works for under eye circles, but I’ve notice that the older I get the worse my dark circles get (yay!). This concealer seems to help combat the dark circles, but my only complaint is that my eyeliner and mascara seem magnetically attracted to this concealer. Like, they’re besties…
I’m still using it for now until I find something that doesn’t stick to my mascara and eyeliner so much.
I have used Too Faced Shadow Insurance in Champagne for years. I loved it because it doubled as a shadow. It has a slightly shimmery nude base color that’s great for everyday wear or as a shadow primer. Well, in true Too Faced fashion they discontinued it. Fail, Too Faced, huge fail. I’m pretty much on a rally against Too Faced since they’ve discontinued every product of theirs I love.
I received Urban Decay Shadow Primer in a gift from Ulta and it’s serving its purpose well, but I’m not about to shell out a fortune for this stuff. I’m keeping my eye out for a great drugstore dupe and if I find one, you’ll be the first to hear about it!
As a contour newbie, I chose this version because 1. it was cheap 2. it had awesome reviews. I was NOT disappointed. It has great color, is easy to blend, and did I mention it’s cheap? Oh… I did? Ok.
If you’ve never contoured you need to try it-it’s not as hard as it sounds, guys and a little goes a long way. Find a YouTube video and try it once-I promise it’s not hard!
What I love about this product is it has great pigmentation, blends fairly easily, but doesn’t just blend away. You know what I mean… I know you’ve all had a product at least once that you put it on, it looks great, then you try to blend it and then think “wait… I just wanted to blend it, where did it go?!”.
My only complaint with this one is that it’s rather odd having a two sided product. It just keeps getting pointier and pointier as I use it. How do you fix that? If you figure it out, let me know…
Meh. I can take or leave this one. It highlights alright, but I always add powder to my finished face anyhow, so it kind of defeats the purpose. I don’t typically use highlighter, so I just figured I’d give this one a try since I was using other Maybelline products.
I know, I know… another pricey one. I can’t help it-I have searched high and low for a drugstore dupe for Urban Decay’s Naked pallets and it just doesn’t exist.
The high pigmentation, last-all-day wear, and awesome shades don’t exist for a drugstore price. Sorry, guys, I promise I tried!
I’ve actually used a cream blush for a few years, but secretly hated it. Why did I keep using it? I paid so dang much for it. It was a Tarte cream blush that I tried to talk myself into liking. Well, it is now discontinued, so apparently I’m not the only one that couldn’t stand it.
Replacement? Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso. Thanks to my awesome sister-in-law (you know, the one that got me hooked on Poshmark…) I have found the holy grail of blush. It’s cheap, it has high pigmentation, and the shades are gorgeous. Best of all? It’s cheapest on Amazon. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
When I’m doing full coverage makeup I usually reach for a loose setting powder. Maybelline’s oil control powder is awesome and seems to last nearly all day. My sister-in-law also suggested the Maybelline FIT ME! powder in a compact. It’s. Awesome. It gives a flawless finish weather you’re wearing full coverage makeup or just an every day look. I highly recommend both!
I’m not a fan of liquid eyeliner because it tends to look way too harsh around my eyes. I have used this eyeliner for over 10 years. Yeah… that’s a long time. When something works, it works!
I’ve tried sooooooooo many different mascaras. My favorite? Chanel. Well, I have expensive taste on a drugstore budget, so Benefit’s Roller Lash is my compromise. It has what I like about Chanel’s mascara at more of a wallet friendly price. No, it definitely isn’t cheap, but I have yet to find a drugstore brand that compares.
What I love about this mascara is that it feels almost waxy when being applied rather than a crunchy spider lash feel. What I don’t like about it is that it always seems to leave marks under my eye later in the day. But, overall I reach for this one every time.
Since I rarely wear waterproof mascara I’ve been using Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water for makeup remover. It’s gentle, not oily, and seems to help remove most of my makeup before I was my face at night. It doesn’t, however, remove stubborn waterproof makeup. You’ll have to take more drastic measures for that one, ladies.
Daily Makeup Regimen
I don’t have time for a full coverage face every day. What I do make sure to do is have a moisturizer and at least some eyeliner and mascara so my eyes still look like they exist.
The first step I take is a moisturizer followed by a BB cream. I feel like my skin never looks good enough to be naked, so this BB cream always does the trick. Does it cover everything? Nope, but that’s not the point. This moisturizes and has an SPF 15 sunscreen while being slightly tinted to give a little smoother complexion. To further smooth my complexion I add a thin layer of the Maybelline FIT ME! powder I previously mentioned.
I follow up with the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer. This gives my lids some color and smoothness without having to apply layers of eyeshadow. Add the COVERGIRL eyeliner and Benefit Roller Lash mascara and BAM! A less than five minute effortless day-to-day look.
New Products I’ve Tried
Some products were suggested to me, so I figured why not give them a shot. My current full coverage foundation is getting low, so I might as well see if something might be a better replacement.
My sister-in-law/s makeup always looks flawless, so I figured I would try the other FIT ME! products she suggested from Maybelline. As drugstore products go these were great, but I’m not ready to replace my Superstay with them. I felt they lacked a little coverage compared to the Superstay line. It did however feel a little lighter than the Superstay version if that’s what you’re looking for.
Bottom line: I’m still not ready to switch from Superstay. Yes, it’s still a pretty good foundation, but I still prefer the Superstay from Maybelline.
What I’m Pumped to Try Next
My Burt’s Bees BB cream is running low, so I’m tempted to try something different. While I love the Burt’s Bees BB cream it has a very oily feel to it. This COVERGIRL version has amazing reviews and is less than half the price of the Burt’s Bees version. I’ll keep you posted on how it holds up!
CC Cream
I’m also ready to try a real CC cream. I have funky things going on with my skin and could really use a little more coverage and correction. I haven’t really found one that is getting great reviews, so I’m open to suggestions! Anyone have any luck with CC creams? Let me know!
This one is a bit of a mixed review. NYX is the first TRUE matte lipstick I tried and although I guess I liked the formula (I really didn’t have it on long enough to give it a fair shot), the colors I chose couldn’t have been more terrible for my complexion. Seriously. Absolutely horrible. All I see are nude matte lips. Well, let me tell you, this is not a look for this girl whose skin hasn’t seen the sun in quite some time. Sadly, it went into the drawer and I went back to my trusty stand-by lip crayons (they’re way more forgiving around the lip line anyway…).
No lip collection would be complete without a tinted balm and no one does it better than Burt. You have moisture, color… what more could you ask for?!
The secret to great looking matte lips is to… well, not have dry lips. Unfortunately for me winter zaps my skin. I always use my trusty Burt’s Bees, but this winter I’ve needed a little extra help. Enter the exfoliator. No, not the terminator, but that could be handy sometimes I guess. Yes, I know I could get all Pinterest-y and make my own lip scrub, but ain’t nobody got time for that.
The Engineered Mama 