Sabrina, Author at The Beauty Look Book

Travel Makeup for a Week in California

January 9, 2019

Today I’m sharing what makeup I packed for a week of travel in December to California! I’ve also included a closer look at three of my favorite makeup bags that I’ve used numerous times for travel. When it comes to travel and makeup I bring more than I need because I’m always testing products even when I’m on vacation! I don’t always manage to blog or post reviews while I’m on-the-go but behind the scenes I’m always testing and trying out product. For those who want to know sweater worn above is the Everlane Cashmere Crew in Light Oatmeal, size I ordered is XS and it’s a perfect fit! The customer reviews online helped me decide what size to pick based on height and weight.

My recent travel skincare favorites are in this post here. Today’s roundup is all about makeup! I fit most of my makeup into 3 key makeup bags that I have used on many trips including:

The Daily Edited Transparent Travel Case $90 (original version, current one has a wider leather strip on one side)
The Daily Edited Large Cosmetic Case $120
Truffle Clarity Jetset Case $88

All three pouches are ones I bought myself and since I ordered them the prices have gone up. If you see different prices on older posts it’s because they have changed! I do think they were all worth the price because all three have held up really well. If you click on the Travel Packing category you can see what I’ve packed on previous trips. I also usually bring a few of the cute Glossier Pouches that come with online orders because they’re nice to have to protect compacts or fragile items.

Beauty spill of items I packed. I brought my Dyson Supersonic Dryer with me because we were going to be staying with family for a large portion of the trip. Both of them were our brothers who have short hair and don’t use dryers because they don’t need to! For brushes I brought the T3 Vented Brush with me.

Truffle Jetset Clarity Case

An overwhelming number of you asked me about the photo I posted on Instagram above, in particular you wanted to know what brand of makeup bag held all the brushes and if they were full size or travel size tools. I always tag items in Instagram photos so all you have to do is tap the photo once to see brand tags. This one is the Truffle Jetset Clarity Case. It measures 7.5 x 5.25 x 2 inches and has one open compartment inside. The top and base has a clear plastic window so you can see what’s inside. I’m able to fit a lot inside, I have a bag spill of everything I was able to put in it.

All the brushes I brought are the full size options. Lately I’ve been really loving the Laura Mercier Makeup Brushes*. She redesigned them sometime last year and they’re what I’ve been reaching for the most. They’re synthetic and pick up powders really well for smooth application. I still also really love Wayne Goss Makeup Brushes* because they’re ultra soft and well made. Mine have held up over a few years and many washes. I’ve reviewed them here and here.

Other makeup products I fit inside include the:

Pat McGrath Perma Precision Liquid Liner
L’Oreal Lash Paradise Mascara Waterproof
Tom Ford Waterproof Extreme Mascara
Laura Mercier Caviar Eye Stick in Rosegold
Sisley Waterproof Eyeliners x2*
Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk
Anastasia Brow Wiz in Caramel
Anastasia Tweezers
MAC Eyelash Curler

The Daily Edited Transparent Travel Case

I also really love The Daily Edited Transparent Cases which are a great dupe for the Anya Hindmarch Inflight cases, both compared and reviewed here.

It has two zippered compartments, one is deeper than the other. In the top I’m able to stack 2 Hourglass palettes, shadows and several foundations. If you’re packing liquids you’ll most likely have to put this into checked luggage. The bottom fit some Armani eyeshadow singles and the Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Palette perfectly.

Things packed inside include:

2 Hourglass 6-pan Palettes (holiday 2018 editions reviewed here and here)
Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 6.5
Laura Mercier Flawless Fusion Foundation* in Buff
Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter (review here)
NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Ginger
Armani Eyes to Kill Stellar Eyeshadows x4
Hourglass Scattered Light Eyeshadows x5 (review here)
Anastasia Soft Glam Eyeshadow Palette
NARS Velvet Lip Glide in Roseland (review here)
Fenty Beauty Gloss Bombs in Fenty Glow and Fussy (beauty looks here)
Hourglass Arch Brow Tinted Brow Gel in Soft Brunette*
Tom Ford Boys and Girls Lipstick in River (review here)
Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution in Pillow Talk

The Daily Edited Large Cosmetic Case

I’ve owned The Daily Edited Large Cosmetic Case one for a long time now and after using it on many trips and several moves I still find it’s one of my favorites. You can monogram these and I’ve picked the smaller size font sometimes with the blind embossing instead of the gold. A number of you have asked for a review on the Cuyana Makeup bags which I still plan on doing, but for this trip I wanted to bring ones I knew would work for me. This one is roomy and sturdy for all a number of things I want to bring. I sometimes pack a couple to separate and organize products.

Inside this one:

Atelier Travel Size Colognes, I love their Vanilla Insensee and Bois Blond for this time of year
Urban Decay All Nighter Spray (mine was from a GWP), but they do have the travel size option with 1 oz/30 ml available individually
IGK Jet Lag Dry Shampoo (mine is the mini)
Kopari Coconut Deodorant Mini (full size reviewed here)
Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Glow Powder*
Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb in Diamond Milk (on the lips here)
Moroccanoil Treatment mini size
Tom Ford Eyeshadow Quad in Honeymoon
Clinique Take the Day Off (also from a GWP)
La Mer Pressed Powder
Chanel La Creme Main Hand Cream
Tatcha Mini Lipstick

One last look:

Overall I think I packed everything I could have possibly needed for this trip. We tend to travel and dress casually otherwise I would have brought some bolder lip colors. I could have packed a lot more lip gloss or lipstick but I felt like I kept reaching for the light and glossy gloss bombs from Fenty Beauty. The IGK Jet Lag Dry Shampoo was a life saver for me. I’m one who prefers to wash my hair daily but there were a couple days we were so tired by the end of the day all I could do was wash my face before passing out and falling into a deep sleep. The dry shampoo was great for 2nd and 3rd day hair in the mild California climate.

Hope you liked this post! Do you have any go-to travel makeup bags? When I traveled with a couple girl friends I was really surprised to see they use these large canvas zip organizers that unfold and hang to fit all their beauty needs. It literally fits EVERYTHING inside. I like to keep my things separated in little pouches but perhaps I need to investigate the larger beauty organizers for travel.

Press samples have a * next to them. All other items purchased on my own.

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Packing Skincare Travel

Travel Skincare Favorites

January 7, 2019

I have a roundup of some of my favorite travel skincare items that I brought with me on our trip that I used. I tend to over pack on some beauty items, especially makeup, but for skin care I feel like I can keep my travel picks edited. We were in California for a full week and out of the items I packed these are the things I used! Most of my trips have been shorter ones so I pack minis with me when I can.

I usually pack a few face masks on trips but this round I brought my Foreo UFO and it was perfect! I reviewed in detail here, you can see a quick video demo here. I brought 10 packets of the different sheet formulas and used it every single day of our trip. I also packed it into my carry on bag to use on the plane. My skin tends to be dry at higher altitudes so this was the perfect tool to help replenish moisture quickly in 90 seconds. The weather in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco is also noticeably colder compared to Florida. Climate is also a lot more dry. Having this with me was perfect to hydrate and rebalance my skin. It was super convenient and compact to pack into my travel case.

For cleansers and scrubs, I packed minis of the Kate Somerville Eradikate Cleanser, Fresh Beauty Sugar Face Scrub (for me), Kate Somerville Exfolikate Scrub (for Andrew), Drunk Elephant Baby Facial and a mini toner that was from a GWP. I didn’t end up using the Baby Facial, I felt the sugar scrub was sufficient to exfoliate throughout the week. There was a possibility we were going to another destination after San Francisco, so I packed a few extra things just in case.

For moisturizers I used two throughout the week. On most days I felt the Glow Recipe Watermelon Juice Moisturizer mini was sufficient for a lightweight moisturizer. The rest of my skin care routine was enough to balance my skin for something like this one. On a few days and night when I needed more I used the Tatcha Travel Silk Cream.

For lips I packed two items, the Tatcha Kissu Lip Mask (it was limited-edition and currently not available but I hope they bring it back!) and Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask in Champagne. I used the Tatcha Kissu at night and kept the Bite Beauty Lip Mask with me in my purse for on-the-go application. Both are excellent options for dry lips.

Two face mists I ended up bringing were the Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist and Omorovicza Queen of Hungary Face Mist. I did not need two but we booked our tickets last minute and I ended up with duplicates with my rush packing job. I ended up using both throughout our travels but found myself reaching more for the Tatcha one. I love that both are travel friendly in size!

Everything was packed up in a few travel pouches including my Away Mini Travel Case and the Truffle Jetset Clarity Case. Both versatile and nice for traveling. I kept a few things to carry on the plane with me but for the most part checked the rest of the liquids in one of our medium suitcases.

There will be a few more packing posts to follow on my travel makeup and more but for now I hope you enjoyed reading about my skincare picks! I think I packed well. I could have skipped was the Baby Facial and packed 1 face mist instead of 2. We were only gone for a week but this was an open ended trip and there was a possibility we were going to be traveling for a while longer. I did feel like I was missing two key things. One was a good eye cream, but I felt my moisturizer did the job for the week. I also did not pack any acne spot treatments, but thankfully I had no breakouts this trip to worry about! I feel the best things I packed for skincare included the Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask and Foreo UFO Smartmask. I now consider those travel essentials and definitely plan on bringing those with me on future trips!

Do you have any favorite travel skincare essentials? Do you tend to pack for shorter trips (1 week or shorter) or longer vacations? Would love to hear about your favorites!

Post sponsored by Foreo. Press samples featured include the Foreo UFO, Tatcha Dewy Skin Mist, Away Travel Case. Other items purchased by me. As always all opinions are my own.

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California Travel

California Travel Diary

January 6, 2019

We planned a spur of the moment trip to California the last week of 2018 and had such a great time. Andrew had some meetings on the West Coast so I decided to tag along to keep him company and to also visit family and friends. We decided to hit up three cities in one week including San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I was beyond thrilled to go back. We didn’t have any concrete plans beyond our flight dates. It was all about catching up with loved ones and packing in as much eating and shopping as we could! A number of you messaged me asking how I manage to stay fit while having an “amazing appetite” and it made me laugh so hard I started to cry. After months of sticking to mostly clean eating I decided to live life to the fullest and not care about the calories for the last week of the year. It was 100% worth it. Also with all the walking we did neither of us gained any weight during the trip.

San Diego

Above Left: Flying out of Tampa International Airport overlooking St. Pete Beach, Right: Landed in San Diego with the Away Luggage in Bigger Carry On and two Everywhere Bags (c/o), rest of our luggage was at baggage claim, wearing Madewell Sweater, Joie Jacket (older style), jeans worn are Frame Denim, sneakers are Converse Shoes

We took a red eye from Tampa to San Diego and packed our Away Luggage with 1 Medium Suitcase, 2 Bigger Carry-Ons and 2 Everywhere Bags. Full review + packing posts to follow in separate features as this one is pretty lengthy with 3 cities. I will say that the Medium Luggage was perfect for us and that we are both incredibly impressed with the Everywhere Bags. In San Diego Andrew booked us a room at Hotel Republic near downtown. It was around 12 minutes walking distance from Little Italy and in a relatively safe area. We enjoyed our stay! The rooms were clean, modern and very comfortable. We would definitely consider staying here again.

We stopped by some of our favorite food places and tried one new spot. The first morning Andrew had to rush to meetings so we had breakfast in the hotel which was decent but there are better options in town. Our favorites:

Mission Cafe in North Park / Hillcrest – There are several locations around the city and this one is our favorite. They have the best rosemary potatoes and coffee in town. If you are going on the weekends go early, the wait can sometimes be longer 45 minutes!
In-N-Out Burger – I used to eat this weekly. There are no other burgers like this. If you like to eat healthy then I’d say avoid this, but I love it. My brother has offered so freeze and ship them to me from California.
Indigo Grill – One of our favorite dinner spots in Little Italy. We met up with a good friend here for dinner. If you try it I highly recommend you try out the brie appetizer. Their ribs are also pretty good.
Pho on 5th – This is a little hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant, we’ve tried a lot in town and there are so many good ones. This one is our favorite.

Other food places I’d recommend by area:

Little Italy – Crack Shack, Ballast Point, Pappalecco (for coffee and desserts), Ironside, PrepKitchen
Hillcrest / Balboa Park – Cucina Urbana
La Jolla – PrepKitchen, Coffee Cup La Jolla, Whisknladle, Herringbone, Piatti

We stopped by Coronado a couple times to visit family and walk around the beach. Compared to Tampa, the beaches in Coronado seemed freezing this time of year! We still love it here.

Above wearing Everlane Cashmere Crew, Kate Spade Sunglasses (older color style, current version here), Rag and Bone Ankle Skinny

I also made a point to stop by one of my favorite coffee shops in town. Communal Coffee has really interesting floral lattes (and regular ones too). Their light bites are very good as well. They have a cute flower shop inside which is a little spendy to build your own bouquet but they always have the prettiest fresh cut flowers. The shop is not just Instagram friendly. They actually have very good coffee and food.

Los Angeles

Our next stop was LA! On the way up we stopped in between San Diego and Los Angeles to see Rachel of Beauty Professor! I posted a photo of us with her beautiful baby on Instagram in case you missed it! We drove up that evening to LA and we stayed with my brother while we were in town. View from my brother’s house:

We did one touristy thing while in town which was to visit the street where you can see the Hollywood Sign on Windsor Boulevard between 4th and 5th Street. Also shown in this post here.

We managed to pack in a lot of shopping at The Grove, Beverly Center, Americana at Brand and Westfield Century City. I would say the best spot to shop is Century City. The Grove is always fun, but with the recent changes and upgrades, you will find a lot more options at Century City or Americana At Brand. Melrose is also a super cute area for the smaller boutiques and restaurants. Quick thank you to the sweet readers who stopped me to say hello while we were out and about! It really made my day that you took the time to stop and say hi 🙂

Highlights Below:

Westfield Century City has Eataly is super cute inside! I think the one in New York is better, but the one in Los Angeles isn’t bad. We bought some bite-sized pastries and espresso to refuel and re-energize in between all of our walking and running around.
Sugarfina stores aren’t anywhere in Tampa (yet), they have a small selection here and there at a few stores, but no free standing location. I stocked up on their holiday santa cookies and gummies!
Compartes Chocolates has some of the cutest chocolate bars, I usually go to the one on Melrose but we didn’t make it there this time. Luckily there was a cute store in Century City!
Gjusta is my brother’s favorite place to eat so we met up with him there. This was my second time here and it is always amazing! We also really love Gjelina in Venice (restaurant and take out) but for dinner they often require reservations which we didn’t plan in advance for. We were in town Christmas week and knowing how busy they are we didn’t even try to go.

Other eats and tries:

Butcher, Baker, Cappuccino Maker was a spot we tried for the first time in West Hollywood, Andrew’s breakfast sandwich was amazing but my avocado toast was just ok. The coffee was delicious though!
Egg Slut – We met up with my bestie here for the first time and loved it. Andrew was convinced we were going to Shake Shack next door and still hasn’t forgiven me that we didn’t stop by this trip.
Dominique Ansel at The Grove – We had a few pastries here and the cronuts. The one in NYC is better but the Los Angeles location is still very good.
Din Tai Fung (not shown) – We were so excited about this we forgot to take any photos! My family is from Taiwan and when I was in college, I spent a summer there. I ate at Din Tai Fung in Taipei every week. I don’t think any of the locations in the US are quite like the original ones, but it’s still very very good! It was Andrew’s first time trying it and he was very impressed.

My bestie Laura, so happy to see her! Below wearing the top is the Free People Nikala Tee (still available here), jeans are the 7 For All Mankind High Waist Skinny, Chloe Mini Marcie, Cole Haan Grandpro Stitchlite

Below outside my happy place, I had to stop by multiple Sephora stores. This one at Century City is the best one we saw!

Last Stop San Francisco

Cropped Sweater from & Other Stories, Frame Le Skinny Denim jeans on repeat, Converse Shoes, Chloe bag

Our last stop was San Francisco. We arrived in town Christmas Eve and stayed a few more days at my brother-in-law’s house. One of our good friends gave us a tour of the new Facebook facility in San Francisco. He’s based in campus in Menlo Park but was still able to give us a tour of the new building. The views from the top floors were amazing!

Leather jacket from Vince (old style, current version here)

My must-sees for San Francisco were Tartine Bakery and Tartine Manufactory. I would eat at both places on a daily basis if I could. The bread and pastries are the best I’ve ever had! I live for the Tartine Morning Buns.

We also tried a few other cute places which I didn’t get pictures of. Most of the restaurants were closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas but we managed to find some open restaurants. On Christmas Eve we stopped by a ramen place called Iza Ramen which was really cute! On Christmas evening we decided not to cook at home and instead went out for Chinese dumplings. Three of us put in our names at both Kingdom of Dumpling and Dumpling Kitchen (they’re both on the same street) and waited nearly 45 minutes for a table. Kingdom of Dumpling opened up first. It’s a very tiny restaurant inside with maybe only 8 tables. Even though the wait was long and space was a little cramped, we had the most entertaining memorable Christmas there. We would 100% go back.

A few more snapshots of our trip. I have the worst fear of heights and it’s an ordeal for me to walk down steep hills. I would almost rather stop drop and roll down any steep hill, it’s that bad. Andrew held my hand the entire time. We walked through Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Lombard Street and it was so packed for the holidays! We eventually made our way down to Boudin’s at Fisherman’s Wharf to grab some coffee and just took our time to enjoy the city.

On our last day before we flew back to Tampa, we stopped by a hole in the wall Banh Mi shop called Dinosaurs in the Castro. It was excellent! It’s tiny but the food was delicious.

I hope you enjoyed our California Travel Diary! We are not good at planning but we always manage to have a good time even on spur of the moment adventures. I hope in 2019 we’ll be better and plan our trips more in advance. I’m currently researching places to visit in the upcoming months. We have so much on our travel bucket list it’s hard to pick a destination!

Do you have any favorite spots in California? Or any travel plans for the upcoming year? I’d love to hear about them! Packing posts are what most of you have been asking me for. I’m breaking it down into a 3 part series so stay tuned! I’ll let you know what I brought with me, what I could have skipped and also the list of things I felt like I missed.

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Lifestyle

Looking Forward + 2019 Goals

January 4, 2019

For 2019 I made a list of goals I wanted to share as I’d love to hear about yours as well! I’ve taken a lot of your feedback to heart. I asked in a recent poll what you would like to see more of here on The Beauty Look Book. The things you’ve asked to see more of aligns with what I want to cover as well! I tend to make an evolving list of personal goals throughout the year. I feel like it’s a great way to grow. Topics I want to focus more on and goals for 2019:

Health, Wellness and Fitness – So many of you asked for more posts about health and wellness along with fitness beauty favorites. I’ve received a number of e-mails from readers about recent blog posts saying I look healthy and happy! It’s been a work in progress but both Andrew and I have never felt better because we have focused on our personal health and well being. This has been a major focus in my life in general. I haven’t write much about it but in the months leading up to our move to Florida a couple years ago I was not healthy. I had high stress, high blood pressure and a physical indicated I wasn’t in the best shape. 2017 was a stressful year with our additional moves/exploring and by the first portion of 2018 my health suffered after getting sick multiple times. Both Andrew and I made a conscious effort to take better care of ourselves. We’ve been consistently exercising, building strength and started weight training. We’ve also changed our diet to incorporate clean eating. It’s taken months to create good habits. I didn’t want to adopt anything drastic or temporary just to lose weight or get fit quick. I wanted to incorporate things I knew I could sustain. More on these topics soon! For now some of my fitness favorites can be found here in this post.
Tutorials and How-To’s – I always want to evolve and change to be a better beauty resource for you and tutorials are something I know can be more helpful than just swatches. I’ve incorporated more looks this past year but I do want to take it to the next level with video and photo tutorials. I’ll be experimenting with both!
Hair Posts – I was touched by all the love you gave me on getting the highlights! It was a big step for me but I think it was a good one. I literally felt like I had my own cheerleading squad with all the love from you! There have also been a large number of requests for curling tutorials, more hair dryer reviews, and more hair products/tools in general. More coming your way this year! I will say that I’ve still been using the Harry Josh and Dyson regularly and still really like them both.
Budget Beauty Brands – You loved the Budget Beauty Post #1 and I wanted to do more but never got around to doing more round ups. I’ll be focusing more on affordable beauty and try to find more dupes this year. So far L’Oreal and OPI remain my favorites but I’m going to try out more options this year to review for you. Let me know what your favorite budget brands are 🙂
Daily Looks – As a beauty blogger I’ve focused mainly on product reviews as I feel like the easiest way to present them. A large number of you want more look posts with a mix of what I’m wearing or using or loving like my Sweater + Red Lip Post and my Holiday Glow Looks feature. I’ll be sure to do more of these!
Regular Favorites Posts – My favorites rotate as the weather shifts and seasons change and also as new formulas come out I discover new loves. I’m asked on a weekly basis what my ABSOLUTE tried and true daily go-to favorites are. I’ll try to compile an updated list of my ride or die beauty favorites each month.
Lifestyle and Travel – Even though this is a beauty focused blog, LOTS of you have asked for more travel posts! Particularly the travel diaries with the places we eat, stayed and shopped. Full California travel diary coming your way soon from our recent trip. I hope that we will travel more frequently this year. For lifestyle you’ve asked for more home decor and organization posts. Organization is something I struggle with on a daily basis but I have found some things I think are essential for keeping things more put together and easily accessible. More on all of this to follow this year!

I’ll still be doing a lot of the same product reviews and swatches so if you love those don’t worry, those aren’t going anywhere! I want to be a better resource and share more things beyond makeup swatches and flatlays. I’m really excited for the new year! I have nothing but high hopes looking forward.

As always I’d love to hear what your 2019 goals are! Do you make a New Year’s Resolution list or have any goals? They can be big or small!

P.S. There’s still one more day to enter my latest giveaway which ends 1/5 here.

48 Comments

Beauty

Custom Pro Palette from Mary Kay

January 3, 2019

I’ve been exploring more beauty brands these last few months and recently had a chance to try out the Mary Kay Chromafusion Collection. As a serious makeup junkie I love large palettes with lots of colors but I find buying them can be tricky. There is usually at least one color that I’m not 100% in love with so being able to create and customize my own palette with colors I know I’ll use is like a dream come true. The Mary Kay Chromafusion Collection offers generously sized magnetic compacts with individual makeup pans that you can pick and choose to create your own custom beauty wardrobe.

The Mary Kay team sent over their entire collection of color options for me to try out. There are different finishes that range from mattes to shimmers. I think the formula is very good – they offer natural medium but buildable coverage. Color range is also pretty nice with colors with great everyday neutrals alongside some bolder options for a smokey eye or more trendy look. Cheek products have a nice colors that will work for a wide range of skin tones. Options include:

Formula for both eye and cheek products are smooth and apply well on the skin. There is enough pigment to show up with one swipe and colors blend easily. Lasting power for both the eye shadows and cheek products were excellent. On my normal skin type I found color stayed put all day long from early morning until late evening without budging or fading.

I put together a few looks while testing these. One of my favorites is worn below. I used my brushes from my own collection alongside other staples for the base, mascara, etc. Chromafusion products worn:

Highlight – Mary Kay Chromafusion Highlighter in Glazed
Blush – Mary Kay Chromafusion Blushes Rouge Rose + Wineberry mixed
Eyeliner – Mary Kay Chromafusion Eyeshadow in Merlot applied damp (matte)
Eyeshadows – Mary Kay Chromafusion Eyeshadows in Candlelight, Burnished Bronze, Golden Mauve and Frozen Iris blended and layered

Swatches below with a couple other of my favorites from the colors I tested.

Overall some nice powders that have excellent performance, great color payoff for a natural look and impressive lasting power! I really love when you can customize palettes to pick the colors I know I’ll use. Even better that I can switch things out for different occasions or seasons!

You can find the Mary Kay Chromafusion Collection at Marykay.com.

Sponsored by Mary Kay.

55 Comments

Beauty Favorites Roundup

Best of 2018 Beauty Favorites

December 30, 2018

What a year it has been! I cannot believe that 2018 is nearly over, it flew by so quickly. Today I’m rounding up my Best of 2018 Beauty Favorites with a mix of new discoveries alongside a few staples from previous years. I went through this entire year of blog posts to make sure I didn’t miss anything! Also a number of you have asked for my absolute favorite tried and true staples so I’m going to put together a separate post of beauty things I cannot live without. For this roundup I focused mainly on new products I really loved that I tried this year.

Complexion, Highlighters and Base Products

Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter in #4 was the best cream glow highlighter, full review here (cheaper dupe from L’Oreal reviewed here)
Armani Neo Nude Powder wins for best all over finishing glow powder, I repurchased 4 and 5.5 after finishing those up, full review here
NARS Highlighting Powder in Fort de France* was the best classic highlighting powder I tried this year, swatches of all colors here
Hourglass Vanish Flash Highlighting Sticks* were the best cream highlighter formula, review here
Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Glow Powder * once I figured out how to use this on top of cheeks as a highlighter (not really as a setting powder) was the best natural glow powder I tried this year
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush * in Incandescent Electra and Iridescent Flash were my top 2 blushes (both on the face swatched here), they literally are going to last me forever, even with regular use I’ve barely made a dent, I also ended up really loving the Ambient Lighting Palette Edit Vol 4 (reviewed here)
Natasha Denona Diamond and Blush Palettes* were the most unique options I played with this year, full review here
Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 6.5 and Laura Mercier Flawless Fusion in Buff* were my top 2 foundations

Best Eye Makeup

L’Oreal Lash Paradise Waterproof Mascara was my most-used favorite mascara of the year
Hourglass Arch Brow Volumizing Gel in Soft Brunette* was the best brow gel I tried this year, review + swatches of all the shade options here
NARS Eyeshadow Quad in Singapore *, it was one of the first two quads launched and sold out almost everywhere but you can still find it now online at NARS Cosmetics, review here
Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Eyeshadow Palette ended up being one of the best eyeshadow palettes I tried this year (tied with Pat McGrath), I didn’t review or swatch it but it lives up to the hype 100%
Pat McGrath pretty much won on all counts this year for me, her 6-pan MTHRSHP palettes* were among my favorite (loved ALL of them), the ones I liked the most were Platinum Bronze and Dark Star, spring colors review here and holiday launches review here
Sisley Phyto-Khol Star Waterproof Eyeliners * was my favorite eyeliner formula of the year, I really appreciate that even after months of use it has still not dried out like many other twist up formulas do, full review + swatches of all shades here
Hourglass Scattered Light Eyeshadows were stand outs for sparkly long-lasting shadows I loved to layer or wear alone, all shades I bought swatched here

Favorite Lip Products

Bite Agave Lip Mask was my go-to balm of the year
NARS Orgasm After Glow Lip Balm * was the best luminizing balm I tried, review here
Fenty Gloss Bomb in Fenty Glow and Fussy were in my top 2 for lip gloss this year, both on the lips here
L’Oreal Color Riche Shine were the best affordable shine lipsticks I tried, just as good as luxury brands in my opinion (better than Chanel and YSL to me), swatches here
Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat and Matte Revolution in Pillow Talk were my favorite neutrals
Pat McGrath LUST Gloss* was in my top 2 gloss formulas of the year, I really loved Flesh Astral and Divine Rose, review + swatches here
Pat McGrath Matte Trance Lipsticks win for best matte lipstick of all time, swatches here, additional colors that were press samples here, here and here
Pat McGrath Lip Fetish Tinted Balms* are hands down my favorite tinted lip balms I’ve ever tried, review here
NARS Velvet Lip Glides in Swing and Roseland were two of my most-used neutrals (alongside CT Pillow Talk)

Skin Care Loves

I really found myself gravitating to a lot more skincare tries this year compared to makeup. I wasn’t able to review everything as testing often takes so long to truly see results. I’ll do an updated skincare routine post in the new year so if you have any questions please leave them in the comments! My absolute favorites:

Tatcha Water Cream and Sisley Black Rose Cream * remained staples for moisturizer but I did discover a couple new ones I think are really amazing
Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream wins for best moisturizer of the year for me, Andrew also loves it, and I saw while in Los Angeles my brother bought this too! I think it’s suitable for any skin type, normal or dry, it’s not irritating, isn’t too heavy and moisturizes perfectly. We are on our second jar, I am going to have to order a third very soon.
Glow Recipe Watermelon Juice Moisturizer was the best lightweight moisturizer I tried, it’s great for those humid months here in Florida but really nice year round too
Farmacy Honey Drop Lighweight Moisturizer * was also another excellent find, non-irritating and not heavy, more loves from this brand in this post
Sisley Black Rose Oil * was the best face oil I tried, I’m trying to use it sparingly because it’s so expensive! review here
Foreo UFO * was the most innovative skincare tool I tried, I really do love it and it makes my skin feel and look better
Glamglow Supermud remains my favorite clarifying mask to clean out pores and clear up the skin

Hair Favorites of the Year

Sisley Precious Hair Oil * wins for best hair oil for me, review here and here
Moroccanoil Treatment is always a classic, I can’t live without this product
Aquis Hair Towels were a great find based on recommendations and reviews I read online, this is another product I never want to be without, after testing the Long Lisse Luxe and Waffle Luxe version I found they both performed well, I prefer the waffle version as I like texture in my towels, I also prefer the longer options
Christophe Robin Shade Variation Mask With Temporary Coloring in Warm Chestnut was a great find for me after getting highlights earlier this year, it leaves my hair so shiny and soft!
Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask * was my favorite try of the year, I finished 2 jars already, I want to buy another but am testing a few other brands out right now (Oribe and Kerastase) – my friends say Kerastase is the best and on a recent Instagram poll many of you said Oribe is better, I’ll keep you posted!
T3 Trio Whirl Trio was the best and only hair tool buy of the year, I relied on my Dyson and Harry Josh Dryers * and they’ve served me well, and I still love my HAI Ceramic Straightener, I decided to only buy one curling tool and have really loved it! If you see any hair posts of me with curled hair like this post or this one and also here I’m using the 1.5 inch wand.
Living Proof Dry Shampoo, Moroccan Oil Dry Shampoo for Dark Tones and IGK Jet Lag had a 3-way-tie for me in terms of dry shampoos this year, there are actually a lot that I loved this year but if I were forced to pick 3, these would be the ones I’d live off of for the rest of my life

That wraps up my favorites for the year! I hope you found some new loves too. Let me know in the comments what your favorites were! Also I’ve been a little behind on giveaways with my recent travels so I’m doubling up and giving away 2 sets of beauty goodies. Two readers will be selected to win all these items listed below:

1 Away Mini Travel Case (winner can select 1 choice of Pink or the Halo color)
All 3 Fenty Gloss Bombs in Fenty Glow, Diamond Milk and Fussy
Fenty Holiday Duo with lip minis of Spanked and Griselda
1 Beautyblender Original
1 Mini Drunk Elephant Serum
1 Mini Tatcha Watercream
1 Mini Living Proof Dry Shampoo

Open internationally to anyone 18 years or older. Runs through 1/5/2018. Simply enter by completing at least one of the steps in the widget below. Two winners will be selected at random within 72 hour of giveaway end time and will be winner names will be displayed / announced on the widget. I’ll contact winners directly via e-mail. Prizes typically ship within 1 week. Not sponsored or affiliated.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Press samples featured indicated with a *.

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California Travel

Hello from California!

December 26, 2018

I’m a day late but hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I’m writing from San Francisco, California right now. We decided to spend our last week of the year on the West Coast for Christmas to visit family and friends! I was so thrilled to be able to hit up three cities, San Diego (our hometown), Los Angeles and San Francisco. I’ll have a more detailed travel diary up soon but you can follow along on what we are doing on @beautylookbook Instagram Stories. It’s been two years since we left San Diego and my first time back since then. My heart has been filled with so much joy as we’ve been reunited with friends and family. I’ve been trying to live as much as I can in the moment so I haven’t been posting as much but I have some beauty reviews coming up very soon that I’ve been working on so stay tuned!

City guide, packing post, travel beauty picks and more to follow soon. So many of you have asked about our favorite food spots in San Diego and I’ll compile a list of our favorites. We were in town only for a couple days but made it back to Mission Cafe (best one is in Hillcrest), Indigo Grill, Pho on 5th and of course In-n-Out Burger. After being on a very strict healthy diet back home for the past 6 months (mostly chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes or some kind of vegetable) we decided to indulge in a full cheat week with all the amazing food on the West Coast. I’ve been busy getting my fill of bread, dumplings and pastries.

A quick peek at some places we hit up in San Diego – Coronado, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I was also so thrilled to be able to visit my good friend Rachel of @beautyprofessor and finally meet her adorable baby Johanna. This is such a precious age and I’m happy I was able to see her!

All the things I packed to follow in a more detailed post, but above wearing the Everlane Cashmere Crew, 7 For All Mankind b(air) Skinny Jeans, Make and Model Cozy Up Cropped Hoodie in Grey, Loft Cable Knit Sweater, Vince Moto Jacket (old style, similar here), Converse Chuck Low Sneakers. Also been living off the IGK Jet Lag Dry Shampoo for the nights I’ve been too tired to wash my hair. We also put our Away Everywhere Bags to the test for the first time and I can say hands down it’s the best travel bag I have ever used. Andrew was also impressed after testing it!

Hope you all had a great holiday! Sending you lots of love from California right now.

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