10 beauty products to swap out for spring

Being in Vermont, this winter has been…long. After yesterday’s weather and looking at the forecast for the week, I think it is safe to say the spring is finally here to stay. Transitioning away from our winter wardrobe is something that those of us with heliophilia, await from the very moment that the leaves start to fall.

daffodil

I noticed that I don’t really find myself thinking about as much is updating my makeup bag. When I say updating my makeup bag, I don’t mean adding to it…that is a never-ending thing for me that just kind of happens whenever I have money. What I’m referring to is the swapping out of darker, more wintery and sultry makeup for brighter, lighter and fun makeup used in the spring.

20140509-093004.jpg Winter Beauty

20140509-093013.jpg Spring Beauty

Everyone has their rules for just about everything now-a-days. While I understand that rules can be broken…there are products that I generally find myself going to in particular seasons that I don’t care for as much during others.

The ten beauty products I swap out for spring:

1. Perfume

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Left: Dolce & Gabbana + Versace
Right: VS Coconut Passion + Viva La Juicy

2. Nail Polish

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Left: Essie in Wicked + OPI in Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!  + Sinful Colors in Nirvana
Right: Butter London in Teddy Girl + Essie in A Crewed Interest + Ruby Wing in Gypsy

3. Lip Stick/Gloss/Balm/Etc.

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Left: Beauty for Real + Bite in VIB Rouge + Baby Lips
Right: Make + Givenchy + Dior

4. Foundation

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Left: Clinique
Right: Laura Mercier

5. Concealer

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Left: Benefit Fake Up
Right: Nars (Because my skin gets darker…)

6. Blush

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Left: Nars blush in Seduction
Right: Nars Illuminator in Orgasm + Nars blush in Taj Mahal

7. Mascara + Eyeliner

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Left: Guerlain + Sephora Define Yourself Black Eyeliner Set (Out of Stock + now I regret recommending it so much…)
Right: CoverGirl + Sephora Define Yourself Color Eyeliner Set (Out of Stock)

8. Face Lotion

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Left: Clinique
Right: Supergoop (+ SPF)

9. Anti-Bacterial “Stuff”

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Left: Bath & Body Works  (I want my hands clean, not dry + No longer available, so glad I stocked up!)
Right: Purell

10. Tools

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Left: Free gift with purchase from Sephora + sponge I found at a some drug store (here’s a better alternative + it’s a two pack!)
Right: Birchbox (No longer available, but here’s their new Birchbox exclusive Pouch) + Julep

Are these products that you find your self swapping out too? What else do you swap of for the spring? Do you have Instagram? Share a “What’s in my makeup bag” photo and share what’s stashed in your current makeup bag with the hashtag #myspringswapout!

 

 

meet your match

Meet Your Match Kit

Meet Your Match Kit (open)

I majorly heart Sephora.

I majorly heart trying new products.

Each time Sephora comes out with a new collection or kit I can’t fight the feeling of needing to have it.

This was very much so the case with the Sephora Favorites Meet Your Match Kit.

There was nothing that I disliked about this kit, but I want to stress that these are minis. Samples. Not full-sized products. A lot of the reviews were from those that were disappointed with the size, so I was prepared to be a little disappointed. I wasn’t. In fact, I was very pleased with it.

A few notes:

The “purple” nail polish is really thick. I only painted one coat and was afraid that two coats wouldn’t dry without me managing to smudge them, and the color was bold enough to look as though I’d painted two coats.

The “coral” nail polish was a bit thin and even after two coats, I could still see through it, but I didn’t mind as it wasn’t too noticeable…

Meet Your Match Coral

Coral

Meet Your Match Radiant Orchid

Radiant Orchid

Meet Your Match Neutral

Neutral

Kit Includes Deluxe Minis of the following products:

Nails Inc. Devonshire Row Nail Polish

Tarte Lipsurgence Lip Tint in Elite

Bite Beauty Lush Fruit Lip Gloss 

Deborah Lippmann Nail Lacquer in Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Formula X Nail Color in Invincible

Hourglass Cosmetics Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss in Child

I am so glad that I purchased this kit! I really do like all the colors and can’t decide which color set I like the best.

Do you have one that you prefer over the others? Let me know in the comments, this info may be used to help me plan a special giveaway later on!

xx
Bethany

Lipstick Challenge

Social media has opened up whole new worlds for me! From twitter parties, to networking opportunites, to finding out about Keiko Kaveri’s #NoBareLips30.

This lipstick challenge starts today, with It’s World Kiss Your Mate Day, so take a photo kissing someone you love and join in on the fun! After the 30 days, I will share all my photos from the challenge along with what products I used.

Can’t wait until then? During the challenge, I will be sharing my photos on Instagram and Twitter, so if you aren’t already…FOLLOW ME! And don’t forget to tag me, if you want to make sure I see your lippies!

Instagram

My April Birchbox

I promised that all my posts wouldn’t be about Birchbox, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to share about my monthly Birchbox!

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This month’s Birchbox theme is Rainy Days. And even though Vermont has been seeing more snow showers than rain, in my book (and Birchbox’s…I asked on Twitter and they said yes) it still counts!

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While I really liked everything in my Birchbox this month, I was particularly excited about the Color Club Art Duo Pen. I got it in black and plan to use my points to purchase in white.

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Do you have a Birchbox subscription? What was your favorite product in your Birchbox this month?

Have twitter? Follow me
@20somethingplus

Mani and a Magazine: Plus a Pedi

Today actually hit the 70s! In Vermont, that’s a BIG freakin’ deal! So of course sandals are a must and that means one thing: PEDICURE!

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Even though I’m super excited that the weather is nice, I have to be realistic. I know the temperatures will dip again, so I didn’t go too fancy with my feet, but my life needed a little perfection in it so, I went with Formula X for Sephora in Perfection.

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For my mani I wanted to embrace spring and love A Crewed Interest by Essie, it’s one of my absolute favorites and just really reminds me of spring.

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Still haven’t gotten my first official pedi of the season but when I do, you’ll know! Anyone else rockin’ sandals yet?

Ask Me Why I’m Bald

Two nights ago, I had my head shaved.

Now, this is something I NEVER thought I’d do. I’d seen people do the “big chop” and thought how brave of them, or that it looked great on them, but that I couldn’t pull it off. I had already transitioned and had been team natural for about a year, but my hair wasn’t in the best condition, as I took a very, shall we say, Solange approach to my hair (with much different results).

Whenever I considered cutting off my hair, I would shoot it down. When I transitioned, I had grown out my relaxer and then cut off the relaxed ends, so I never did anything even remotely close to a big chop. I had gotten my hair cut shortish in the past, but that was because I’d asked for a Rihanna cut without being on top of the fact that she’d since cut her hair from a bob to a reverse mullet/pixie…big mistake on my part. People said it looked great but I just wanted it to hurry up and grow out.

I cried every morning for months.

So when the school that I work at held a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, my manfriend thought I was crazy when I told him that I wanted to be a shavee and go completely bald. He reminded me of how I’d hated my hair being really short and did not want to go through months of my misery.  Got to love him! He even came and took pictures.

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But this was different and for a really great cause. No tears, and it makes me happy to know that I stood (well sat) in solidarity with children who don’t get to make the choice to have or not to have hair. So I did it. And I’d do it again.

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Conquer childhood cancer.

 

 

Twenty Something Giveaway

This weekend I went to my home state, Connecticut, to spend time with family. And by spend time with, I mean two of my siblings and I signed up for a Spartan Workout.

The three of us had signed up for this event months ago, but about a week ago I found out that there was also going to be a Sephora VIB Rouge event going on at the same time.

I wanted to go to both.

So, even though I was informed that I could not eat my cake and have it too, I was luckily able to plan it out perfectly.  got to quickly pop into the Sephora event and still make it in time for the Spartan Workout. I also managed to snag a few freebies and since I already happened to have some extras, I wanted to share my good fortune, so I am holding my first ever GIVEAWAY!

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Nothing too major (sorry, I’m not big time…yet), but if you win you get twenty something, 25 to be exact, samples and a Sephora makeup bag.

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To enter, you must like my Facebook page, follow me on Instagram and Twitter, and comment on this blog post once you’ve done all three. For an additional entry, you can share on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with the hashtag #20somethingplusgiveaway. Don’t have one of the above? Subscribe to the blog instead! There are no official rules or anything like that, but you have from April 1 – April 14 to enter the, winner will be selected at random and announced on April 15.

UPDATE: Congrats to the winner Shayna Clavin! 

Sephora + Pantone Color IQ

As a VIB Rouge member of the Sephora Beauty Insider Program, I am almost embarrassed to admit that I only just finally got my Color IQ.

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The Color IQ is a number assigned to your skin color to help you narrow down your skin’s best foundation matches.

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Your skin is scanned in three locations and then assigned a number which is used to then find what foundations would be best for you. The process is super quick!

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They even send you an email with your Color IQ number and your best foundation matches.

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Not really sure if your foundation is the right match for you? Run to the nearest Sephora and get your Color IQ!

Select Your Shade, But Not Mine

Benefit Cosmetics is one of my top five makeup/beauty brands. I’d been wanting to sample their new Big Easy multi-balancing complexion perfector (think BB/CC cream), and when one of the three free sample options from Sephora happened to be all the shades, I thought, PERFECT!

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Then I got it and read, ‘find your shade,’ but none of the options looked even remotely close to my complexion.

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I have darker skin, but would be typically considered ‘dark’ more so than ‘deep’. Shade 06-deep/beige, the darkest shade, looked like I could maybe get away with it, maybe…

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But, no, not unless I wanted to look really, really washed out. So, instead I will continue using my current go-to BB cream and call it a day. While I was a little disappointed, I was extremely grateful that I hadn’t shelled out the $40 like I’d wanted to, and encourage you to find sample sizes when trying new products so you don’t invest in something that may not work for you. I came up with a list of other products that are good alternatives for dark skin.

Alternatives for Dark Skin:
Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer
Becca Ultimate Coverage Complexion Creme
bareMinerals Foundation
Maybelline BB Cream
Smashbox BB Kit

What do you use?