Good afternoon, loves. I'm just sitting on my couch relaxing, drinking a cup of coffee, watching some Kardashian's and thought this was a good time to do some blogging before the weekend. This is part two of my winter haul, featuring all drugstore goodies. Most of the stuff was bought at Ulta, but a few of these things were from Rite Aid. The drugstore has definitely been stepping up its game recently! Like the Sephora stuff, I haven't used many of these products but I have swatched them so I can offer my first impressions at least.

Physician's Formula Argan Wear Blush in Natural -- The packaging on Physician's Formula stuff always gets me, and that's exactly what happened with this blush. It's a pretty ordinary pink blush, buttttt what makes it stand apart is the gold outlining, gold embossing in the center of the product, and the gold packaging. Just makes it seem so luxe! I also love the quality of the Physician Formula's blushes so I'm hoping this one lives up to the standard despite the inclusion of Argan Oil in the product.

Makeup Revolution The Matte Blush in Beloved -- I have never tried Makeup Revolution products and heard good things about it on Youtube. Ulta recently started stocking Makeup Revolution products so I thought I would add one of their products to my online order (they aren't sold in my local Ulta store). At the time I was in the market for a matte peachy-apricot blush and this one looked decent and got decent reviews. However, when I swatched it, I honestly was not impressed. It's chalky and swatched as more of a whitish-orange color. I'm not sure if it will even show up on my skin. I'm still going to try it out on my cheeks, but unfortunately I'm not expecting much after the disappointing swatch :(

L'Oreal Voluminous Volume Building Mascara in Blackest Black -- Not much to say about this one. It's one of my favorite mascaras ever and I needed a new tube, enough said :) one of the best volumizing mascaras at the drugstore!

Essie Nailpolish in Ballet Slippers -- SO excited to wear this Essie classic this spring! I've been wanting this shade for literally two years now -- two years it has sat in my Ulta shopping cart! I decided to take a plunge and buy it this year since interview season got me in the mood for neutral polishes and this is a beautiful sheer pink.

Wet & Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio in Bohemian Wrapsody -- Another product that I was super pumped to try but am super disappointed with after swatting. Wet & Wild released some new eyeshadow trios as part of their holiday collection. I picked up this one because it had all neutral colors. They are obvious glitter bombs in the pan, but I did not expect them to be as poorly pigmented or chunky on application. Even after three swipes, they barely left any color. Just chunks of glitter :( I'm not sure if these are meant to be used on top of other eyeshadows? Definitely not the same quality as other W&W trios, and like I said a huuuuuge disappointment. I'm afraid to even try them on my eyes because I can see these having a huge amount of fallout.

NYX Prismatic Eyeshadow in Liquid Gold -- NYX shadows are one of my favorites at the drugstore. They're incredibly pigmented and perform at the level of high-end eyeshadows. My biggest problem with NYX shadows is the packaging. My singles aaaalways fall apart --I've had the plastic breaking off, the pan falling out, the shadow cracking, pretty much everything with these eyeshadows. As for this one, the pan fell out, causing the product to crack :( I probably won't be getting more of these in the future because of the packaging issue, but gives these shadows a try if you're in the market for drugstore eye makeup because the product performs quite well.

Rimmel Stay Glossy Lipgloss in Always Lovely -- This is another product I've had in my Ulta shopping cart for a long, long time. I have so many lip products though that it was hard for me to justify getting yet another gloss. But I decided to pick this up when I saw that it was 50% off at Rite Aid (maybe they're discontinuing the line?). These glosses are good, but they're nothing out of the ordinary. They are very high-shine and come in a nice range of colors. The shade I picked up is a classic pink that leans a bit more cool and has some micro-shimmer in it. Quite a pretty shade for the spring and  nice one to toss in your bag on the go!

Almay Smart Shade Butter Kiss in Berry Light-Medium and Color + Care Liquid Lip Balm in Blooming Balm -- While I was waiting for my prescription to get ready at Rite Aid, I was scouring the makeup aisles and saw this product. It's a Almay lip butter with a free liquid lip balm. The whole package was $6, which is the regular price for one of the lip butters...so pretty much you get the lipgloss for free. I've been wanting to try one of the Berry shades and the gloss seemed like a pretty sheer pale pink, so I picked it up. The lip butters are beautiful and one of my favorite lip formulas, so I'm really excited to try that. However, I've tried Almay's liquid lip balm before in the shade Canteloupe, but have not been a huge fan of the formula. The color doesn't go on very smoothly and streaks/patches up on my lips. I'm going to give it another shot with Blooming Balm and hopefully I have good things to report!

Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex Hair Masque -- I was in the market for a hair mask since my hair has been atrociously dry over the winter, which is pretty bad since my hair is veeery course and prone to tangling very easily. I was ready to buy an expensive hair mask, but then I saw excellent reviews for this mask and decided to give it a try. Ohhh my gosh, if you have dry coarse hair you need to try this mask. Unlike the other drugstore masks I've tried, especially the L'Oreal and OGX ones, this one is SUPER thick and moisturizing, and really sticks to my strands. I put a shower cap on top and leave it on my hair for about 10 minutes and my hair is soooooo soft afterwards! It's only $13 and Shea Moisture often runs for Buy 1 Get One 50% off at Ulta. Definitely new holy grail product for me and something you will see for sure in my monthly, if not yearly, favorites!

Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub -- Lastly, but certainly not least, I finally got this bad boy!!! I've wanted this scrub since Soap & Glory released it a couple years ago. They recently pulled out of Sephora and have been available at Ulta for $10 cheaper so of course I decided to pick it up. It doesn't smell as good as its body butter counterpart, but it's still divine and I can't wait to use it this!

Quick and Easy Natural Makeup Routine

Hey everybody! At the time I'm writing this, I'm at Rochester, my very last residency interview! This post is pre-written and gonna go up probs later in the month. I wasn't even planning on doing a post like this, but tonight I had to attend the pre-interview dinner and only had a few minutes to get ready. As I was getting ready, I realized that it would be awesome to show you guys my go-to natural, lightweight, 5-minute, quick, easy makeup routine that I've been wearing for most of interview season. I've been driving hundreds of miles to my interviews so by the time the pre-interview dinner rolls around at night, I'm pretty lazy and don't feel like doing some elaborate look. This has pretty much been my standard look during dinners. It only requires a few products, it's easy, and makes me look put-together. Let's get to the deets!

Start with a clean face (and clean hands!). I skip foundation/BB cream so I don't have to spend time blending anything out. Since you're skipping foundation, you want to make sure you're using a high-coverage concealer. I love, love, love my Milani Secret Cover Concealer in Medium (a hidden drugstore gem!). I dot it directly on any blemishes and blend it out using my finger. I lock in my concealer with the L'Oreal True Match Super Blendable Powder in W5 using my Real Techniques Powder Brush. This also adds a bit of extra coverage and evens out my concealer. Boom, done with the face already! Next, my eyes. I always, always use primer since I have quite oily lids. Right now I'm using theBalm's Put A Lid On It Eyelid Primer, which I received in my Ipsy bag. It's a pretty good primer that gets the job done and keeps my shadow in place all day. Since we're keeping things easy and natural, I just apply a golden eyeshadow all across my lid using a flat shadow brush. The eyeshadow I'm using currently is the Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Half-Baked, a beautiful golden shade. I have a duo of it from the Sephora Favorites Bronze Bares All set I got last summer, but the shade is also sold independently and in the Naked 1 palette. I've also been loving the ColourPop Eyeshadow in Desert as an all-over lid color. I don't add anything in my crease or below my lash line, although you can if you want a smokier effect. Of course you need mascara to finish off the eye look! I'm currently loving my holy grail mascara, the CoverGirl Lashblast Volume Mascara in Black. Finally, for the cheeks I like applying a sheer peachy-pink blush since that color best suits my complexion. I used my travel-sized version of the NARS Blush in Deep Throat, which is one of my favorite everyday blush colors. I kept my lips bare because I was going out to dinner and didn't feel like fussing with any lipstick or gloss, but you can use a nude lipgloss or lip balm to finish off the look if you wish.

That's it! Just a few staples and you have an easy, peasy natural makeup look that can be done in just a few minutes. I love this look for work and other professional events. It makes you look nice and bright without looking like you've caked on makeup.

My Spring Makeup Bin

Spring is finally here! I'm so happy that the sun is shining and there's no more snow in the ground. I think this is the first year I realized I may have seasonal affective disorder, or a legit case of the "winter blues". But now that it's sunny and beautiful out, my mood's been so much better. This past weekend, I figured it was time to switch out of my winter makeup bin to more fun, bright makeup. My makeup bin consists of my daily 'reach for' products so it obviously contains some stuff that is standard from season to season like concealers, eyeshadow primer, and finishing powder. It's usually my lip colors and blushes that change. As you can see, spring is full of pinks and corals and oranges, much different compared to the winter taupes and browns! Here is a round-up of all the products I have in my spring makeup bin:

Eye Products
CoverGirl Full Lash Bloom Mascara
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser in Honey
Milani Secret Cover Concealer Stick in Medium
Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette

Face Products
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Mood Exposure
L'Oreal True Match Super Blendable Powder in W5
Milani Baked Blush in Berry Amore
ModelCo Blush Cheek Powder in Peach Bellini
Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Dollface

Lip Products
Almay Butter Kiss Lipstick in Nude Light-Medium
Cover Girl Smoochies Sizzle Gloss in Make It Sparkle
MAC Lipstick in Creme in Your Coffee
Maybelline Color Elixir Lip Color in Rose Redefined
NYX Butter Gloss in Apple Strudel
Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Peach Parfait