My Staples

One of my favourite things to learn about someone who loves makeup is what their everyday makeup routine consists of. For some reason I find this fascinating, kind of like "what's in my purse" posts. I think I'm just a little nosy and I just love hearing what other people are doing. And you never know what you are going to learn a new little trick! So I thought I'd share what my most basic daily routine is. Although my favourite kind of makeup look is a natural look, as you will see that does not mean that I don't use a fair amount of product ;)


1. After I've cleansed and moisturized apply my primers. I use UDPP on my eyes and Smashbox Compact Anti-Shine on my t-zone. I have combination skin, so it gets oily in places, especially on the sides of my nose, so I need to apply something ot help keep my makeup from slipping off.

2. Next I use my Benefit Lemon Aid, which is supposed to be a colour correcting eyelid primer, on my eyelids and all over my face wherever there is redness. So in the middle of my forehead, around my nose and on my jawline. This product is a very creamy pale yellow colour which actually hides redness quite well, but it must be worn under foundation otherwise it will make you look ghostly white.

3. Next I use Bobbi Brown Corrector in Bisque (HG product!!!) under my eyes, which is an amazing product that everyone should have.

4. Now for foundation. I use Bobbi Brown Stick Foundation in Warm Sand 2.5, and it is a really good foundation. It's easy to use because it's in a stick, and although it's concentrated, it blends really well so you can achieve anywhere from a sheer coverage to a full coverage. They also have a really good range of colours. What I do is I swipe it directly from the stick all over my face where I think I need it, then, to achieve the most natural look possible, I dot a little more moisturizer on top of the foundation and blend them together like that into my skin.

5. Now for powder I use Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil. I don't really love this product, but since I got it with my Bare Minerals set I feel like I should use it. Maybe it's just my imagination but I feel like it turns my makeup a little orangy and powdery looking, so I only use it sparingly on my chin and jawline, which are the places that my coat collar might touch my face. It does set makeup well and foundation on the collar is just gross.

6. Right now for blush I am using Cherry Crush Lip&Cheek Stain by Stila. This is a nice product because it is a stain, it stays on the skin for a long time, and because it's a gel formula it's easier to work with than say a Benetint-type stain, which is also lovely, but will drip down your cheek if you don't blend fast enough. This product also smell amazing!

7. For highlighting right now I'm using Benefit High Beam. I put tiny dots of this on my brow bones, my tear ducts, by cheek bones and my cupid's bow. I really like the colour of this product, it's very pale pink with silver shimmer, and I like that it's not too glittery. But I have to be careful with this because if I use too much it will make my face look greasy.

8. For brows I'm using Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper in Mahogany, to groom my brows.

9. And finally I use L'Oreal Telescopic mascara in Blackest Black. I know a lot of people love this mascara and I like it fine, but it's just whatever for me. I always use a seperate lash comb in conjunction with whatever mascara I'm using because I don't tolerate any clumps at all, so I feel like it doesn't matter what mascara I use anyway.

By the time I've done all that I'm already late so for lips I'll just apply some more Cherry Crush stain with by usual Blistex over the top.

So that's it! This does look like a lot of product for one face, but with all of these used sparingly I can achieve a pretty natural look. I can tell because I do get compliments on my skin from time to time, and when I tell people I'm actually wearing a ton of makeup they are often surprised :)

What are your daily makeup routines?