Monday, February 15, 2016

~My Skincare Routine AM/PM + Everyday Makeup Routine!~

Hello everyone! Busy busy week for me this week T^T Decided to take a break from it all and finish this post! LOL I've had this post queued up for so long that my makeup/skincare routine has actually changed since I first edited this! Wow! Originally I was going to do two separate posts for my makeup/skincare routine, then I realized they all kind of go together so I might as well just make one long post like I always end up doing! Hahaha~ So let's start with some skincare!

AM (total of about 20-30 minutes for skin/makeup and 10-15 for breakfast and clothes!):

When I wakeup in the morning on weekdays one of the first things I do is plug in my (Hello Kitty!) straightener that I got from one of my besties for Christmas...three years or so ago??? HAHAHA! It's super cute but it takes a bit for it to warm up :3 (I know you don't read my blog cuz I haven't told you about it cuz I'm lame but thanks Christina!! <3 I'm finally using the straightener!! LOL) And I definitely need it now that I have cute bangs ^0^



When it's warm enough I curl my bangs and put it up in curlers to keep the curl. On weekends if I have time I curl the bottoms of the rest of my hair too and it looks super cute!! *__* I also keep the straightener on so I can re-curl my bangs right before I leave because sometimes the curlers make my bangs a bit wonky >.<

After that I use the commode (tmi I know sorry lol) and now we can actually get the skincare routine started!

Throwback! Old pic from one of my past skincare posts LOL


In my last skin routine post I believe I talked about how I steam my face before washing! Not only does this help open up your pores but for me it actually wakes me up a bit too! If you don't have a face steamer (I don't but I plan to maybe invest in one at some point kekeke!) just use a face towel soaked in hot (not scalding though!) water and wring it out. Then hold it on your face for a few seconds~ This is nice and relaxing in the morning as well haha~

AC Control Mousse Cleanser by Lioele!


My recent favorite combo for AM cleansing is my Lioele A.C Control Mousse Cleanser, which I bought from Pretty and Cute's online shop! I'm usually pretty skeptical about anything that claims it will clear my acne because nothing has really worked for me in the past. I bought this on a whim to try my luck anyways because many reviews claimed it worked really well and wasn't drying on the skin! And that was a really important aspect for me because if you read one of my past acne treatment reviews for the Bye Bye Blemishes  it used the drying method to get rid of acne and I really didn't like it :/

The first time I tried it I thought it made my skin feel tight and dry. After the next use I tried using a bit of my favorite cleansing oil as a follow up to this cleanser and my skin felt soooooo GOOD! It felt clean and fresh as well as moisturized! I actually use the Lioele alone sometimes and it no longer gives me the tight/dry feeling for some reason? Really it depends on whether my skin is behaving or not that day. Overall, using a cleansing oil after this is my current fave method!

It comes in hot pink or red!
It even comes with a nifty lil hook to hang the brush on to dry! 

I use this soft face brush I bought at Daiso and pump one pump of the Lioele on the brush and gently scrub my face, then rinse! The handle of this brush has a cute heart shape, which I've also discovered is good for face massaging! Cute and functional! YAY! Hahaha~

Gently run the rounded edges over your cheekbones and under your eye to loosen puffiness and increase circulation~
Make strokes (with a bit of pressure) down and away from the face. I also go across my brow bone to the temples and down the sides of my face as well~

Lastly I go down my chin using downward strokes.
Some people like to do facial massages before bed or after a long day at work and it's relaxing~ I find that sometimes when I wake up in the morning my face feels tired and little bloated, so if I have time I use the handle and massage out parts of my face to help me wake up a bit! Doesn't work for everyone, but if you haven't tried it yet I recommend you do! They even sell little doo-dads at Daiso specifically for this purpose but some people even use those dim sum soup spoons too! Here's a tutorial if you want to try it out~ The first place I found out about this method was from Bubz Beauty!

To make sure I don't strain my skin while massaging it I massage my face with the cleansing oil first with my hands and then with the handle ^.^

Clean and refreshed ^0^

After massaging I rinse with lukewarm water and pat dry with a clean washcloth. Typically I change my face cloth two or three times a week depending on how good/bad my skin is behaving lol~

Now this is where we start to get into both the skincare/makeup routine together~ If you read my previous post about Glossier I'm sure you could tell I'm pretty obsessed with their skincare products at the moment! Right now their Priming Moisturizer (which I blogged about here) is my "holy grail" (as they say ;-)) products! It's so nice and light and moisturizing and it sinks into my skin SOO well and leaves me with a dewy look :-D I haven't found anything I can replace it with yet :0

MY FAVE
Just a few dabs in each area does the trick~

I layer on my face and eye primer and sometimes I use a bit of my Benefit Porefessional primer on my t-zone (especially my nose) because those parts get oily easily and as great as the Glossier primer is for the majority of my face, my t-zone isn't having any of that LOL!

The Estee Lauder Eyeshadow Primer I use~


TIP! I let each layer dry at least for a minute or two while I eat breakfast so the moisture can settle in and my makeup won't look so streaky! In total I wear two to three layers of makeup for my daily routine ^.^

After breakfast it's time for layer two!
MAKEUP (total 15-20 minutes without skin routine on weekdays, 30-35 minutes on weekends lol):

Pictured here for makeup L to R: Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette in Milk Chocolate, Galaxy Chic Eyeshadow Palette from BH Cosmetics, Benefit Porefessional Primer, Estee Lauder Dual Lipgloss/Double Wear Concealer, L'OREAL Paris Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream Anti-Redness in green, Estee Lauder Sumptuous Bold Volume Lifting Mascara (white tube), Innisfree No Sebum Mineral pact, Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Eyeshadow Base (small blue put), Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint in Dark, Glossier Priming Moisturizer, Magic Cover BB Cream from The Face Shop. 

First I dab concealer around my nose area and anywhere where I have major redness and blemishes. I use a Estee Lauder Double Wear concealer from my mom (she doesn't use concealer but it came with a bunch of stuff she bought I guess lol) and I like the color but I don't like the dippy-stick type concealer. I prefer the squeezy type and dab with a brush or something~ Any recommendations for squeezy concealer that comes in lots of shades?

I blend the green and concealer at the same time together so it all looks like one even first layer :0)

The concealer and BB cream I use! If you remember from my old post on this BB cream you know that this stuff is very liquid-y so I was surprised at how long this lasted me! Hoorayyyy!

Next I use my L'OREAL Paris Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream Anti-Redness in green that I blogged about ages ago here! When I first reviewed it I thought it was just ok, but now I think I actually quite like it! Even though it's super runny it's light and build able as well! I'm almost out so I think I might actually run to Walmart or something and grab another? Or maybe I should try a different one? Hmm...

This is the big rounded brush? Not sure if I'm using this properly but it does great for blending!
Here are all the BH brushes I got from Angelina my secret santa <3 And yes I do my makeup by the window to try and get it as even looking as possible! If you do your makeup in the most natural light it will look even nicer in dim/low light situations, which is what I spend most of my time in at school LOL~ Well at least that's how I think about it! HAHA

I use this brush from a brush set by BH Cosmetics Ange got me for Christmas (thanks Momma Bee!!! <3) to blend everything out! Again I let this layer dry while I brush my teeth!

On a good day I go with this look and add setting powder and eyeshadow and then I'm good to go! When I get to school I often put on my eyeliner and/or mascara :^) Read on to see my third layer for more coverage (a look I use on weekends or when my skin is being weird lol)

If it's a good skin day or weekday or I'm lazy I'll just stop at this point for skin makeup and add my eyeshadow and powder. BUT! For today's purposes I'll also show you the third layer I add which gives me a lot of coverage!

One pump of the BB cream comes first! Sometimes I'll add a bit more of my Atom Sunscreen/BB cream or a different foundation depending on the day. But 99% of the time I use this!
I usually do 15-21 drops and it really makes a difference for the dewy look as well as the color match aspects!
Here's what they look like mixed together!
Here is the beauty blender I used! In the picture above you can see I already dipped into the color with the blender LOL. The pack I got at F21 comes with three in three colors and three different shapes including this, a 'sharper' version of this, and the 'classic' teardrop shape!

Third layer is a mixture of my Magic Cover BB Cream from The Face Shop+ Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint in Dark (about 20ish drops!! :O) This combo gives me a shade that fits my skin nicely because on it's own the Glossier is a bit too dark (even though it blends well and is quite translucent haha), doesn't give me enough coverage, and finishes very dewy, and the Magic Cover is too light and powdery but gives me a TON of coverage and smells beautiful~ I mix it on the top of my left hand and apply with a pre-soaked/squeezed beauty blender! They sell these three packs of beauty blenders at Forever 21 and since I'm a newbie I thought I would start with a cheaper version and then get a nice one once I've mastered the technique! I'm really liking the coverage beauty blenders give me so far ^-^ This gives me an overall dewy yet covered look!

Very nice for smoothing out any areas that look a bit uneven. I especially use this down the bridge of my nose and in between my eyebrows (basically down my t-zone) and around my nose.

I go in with a smaller flatter brush around my nose and in the lines of my face to smooth out a few of the streaky parts a bit. But I usually only do this if I have time hahaha.

I like to go in with another flat brush to sweep powder in those same areas I took care of with the brush mentioned above! This helps seal the makeup in those tricky areas that tend to get a bit sweaty and/or oily throughout the day.

Whether or not I add this third layer I always finish with some sort of setting powder. On this particular day I used my Innisfree No Sebum Mineral Pact and applied with a smaller brush (TBH I don't know if I'm using any of these brushes correctly but the way I'm using them works so oh well! LOL) mostly because I couldn't find my Peach Sake powder, which I pretty much always use to set my makeup.

Whoops! Didn't realize this pic was blurry until now lol my bad! I use the light brown color in the top row to "contour" and the large pink rectangle on the bottom third row at the end for highlight! Recently I've taken a liking to using the gold color in the third bottom row to highlight as well!

I use this large angled brush to blend out the contouring.

Next I "contour" just to slim my face a bit I guess? I can't even tell if it actually works but it only takes a few seconds and I love the smell of my chocolate palette~hahaha. I use these two colors from the choco palette and this angled brush. I use this color down the sides of my face and under my chin.
For the highlight I use this smaller puffy brush!


See the brighter areas on my nose and on my cheekbone? Also, not sure why the inner part of my face looks red in this pic, but it definitely looked fine in the end so thats a bit odd lolol.
Lately I've gotten into trying out the highlight style with this sparkly color also found in my chocolate palette! It adds even more of a dewy look to my makeup! I add it to my cheekbones, temples, a dab on my cupids bow, thin streak down the middle of my nose, on the center of my forehead, and a bit on the point of my chin!

Last step for makeup (at home) is to apply eyeshadow! Lately I've been obsessed with Aphrodite--a pretty pink color from the Galaxy Chic palette Ange also gave me for Christmas <3__<3--and I apply just this or this plus another one of these top row first four colors on this palette! I say "at home" because I usually end up finishing my makeup at school and apply my mascara and eyeliner there because I don't want my eye makeup to get messed up while I sleep on the bus in the mornings LOL.

BEAUTIFUL palette *__*
Top row of this palette is LOVE. I use these four colors allll the time! Right now I'm obsessed with the fourth one Aphrodite. And not just because it's Feb :-D LOL
Loook how pretty! It's a mix between pink/red and I LOVE it! You can also see that highlight in this picture as well ;-D


Since I took pictures for this guide during the weekend (so I have more time) I did my eyeliner and mascara at home but usually I do this in the HUB or a building that isn't busy in the morning LOLOLL. I used up most of my brown eyeliner from Drew Barrymore's Flower makeup collection and it was my faveeee brown eyeliner 3: When I wanted a bolder look I would use this old Revlon eyeliner cuz it's a very dark black color and has a strong tip to make sharp wings! But now that both of those are spend I had to dig out some of my other cuter eyeliners and right now I'm using this!

Look how pretty the packaging is lol. I talked briefly about this a long time ago and I thought it was weird how the tip has two different thicknesses. I couldn't get a hang of it so I put it away until I knew how to handle eyeliner better ^-^
If turned this way you can make a super thin line! Good for creating bottom lashes or a super precise wing!
If you use it this way you can create a thicker line! This isn't a double ended eyeliner or anything, it just has different thicknesses depending on how you hold it! It's weird to explain >.< If you have any questions about it lemme know! 


When I first tried this one out I wasn't digging the two different thick/thin line options. But now that I'm a bit more use to applying eyeliner and things I love it! I might even buy this in the dark brown color as well *0* The one I'm using here is just black.

I keep this one at home because it basically does the same stuff as my They're Real! Mascara by Benefit.

Eye makeup done!

My mascara choice is always changing but when I'm at home I use this Clinique one because it gives me nice long lashes and doesn't clump up! At school I use They're Real! Mascara by Benefit, for the same reasons. When I'm feeling extra saucy I use Better Than Sex Mascara by Too Faced and add a layer of either They're Real! or the Clinique one over it for an extra BAM! Hahaha~

My makeup from inside the H&M fitting room LOLOLL

Take allll the pics in the dressing rooms kekekeke!

As for my lip color...That changes ALL.THE.TIME. since the largest part of my makeup collection consists of lippies...LOL. On this day I wore my TONY MOLY Bunny Gloss stick in the red angry bunny face color >.< That's one of my current go-to colors because 1) It has a good amount of red color 2) Applies like a chapstick so it's hydrating! 3) Easy to take with me w/o fear of spillage in my purse (like milk or juice tints :0) 4) It's super cute!

And that's about it for my complete makeup routine! The only thing that's different between my light/heavy makeup days is that third layer and whether I wear one or two layers of mascara. Other than that they're both the same! Throughout the day I'll add a bit of powder and blot my face with those blotting tissues to get rid of the excess oil that builds up. I carry my Too Cool for School compact with me for my t-zone mostly!

Back to skincare!
PM (total 5-10 minutes pre-shower; 15-40 minutes of masking time (40 minutes=20 minutes for each Glossier mask if I do both!)):

Pre face cleansing! Gotta put my bangs up so I can get to my forehead hahaha.

It actually works pretty well! I have a full review on this here!  In this review I also mentioned how not-so-great the packaging of the micellar water is--YEP. Can you all see the scotch tape "fixing" the crack on the top of the bottle? I didn't even drop it hard! I dropped it on the carpet a foot off the ground! LOL oh well...
I focus on removing the eye makeup first because that's the toughest usually and if I don't clean it well my eyes get irritated and I end up with a black ring under my eye in the morning LOL!

Compare: My face on the left side of this picture has makeup, the right side of this pic has less makeup!
I'm surprisingly not one of those people who takes care of their skin routine right when I get home. I'm a night showerer so that's when I take it all off :3 I don't own any water proof makeup really but the Magic Cover BB cream can be kind of difficult to scrub off with just any soap! And my eyeliner usually leaves me with  a ring of black around my eyes if I don't wash it out thoroughly so I start by removing as much as I can with my Garnier Micellar water and a few cotton pads first before I move on to actual cleansing!

My absolute FAVORITE cleansing oil! This is my second bottle LOL~ I completely finished the first one already ahha. Review for this here!

Time to rinse this cleansing oil off in the shower!
Once I have that top layer off I go into the deep cleanse with either my Softymo cleansing oil (same one that I mentioned up above that I use in the morning) or if I have a TON of makeup on I'll use the Snowflake cleanser I talked a bit about here! And then I just rinse off in the shower with warm water. Sometimes I give myself a face massage at this time too but I mostly take care of that in the morning~ While cleansing my face I focus on any dry areas or places with acne to make sure I get those bits clean! The great thing about cleansing oils is they don't strip your skin of any moisture and actually add to it!

Straight out of the shower I pat my face dry with another clean face towel and apply one of my favorite masks! If my skin is going haywire I use my Glossier Galaxy Greens mask pack which is AMAZING and actually gives me some soothing results!

During the holidays Glossier was selling the mask packs in sampler pods so you had an individual serving of mask in each pod! I never used an entire pod on my face though so for me these pods lasted a long time! One pod was about three uses for me for both the Moon and Greens masks. The kit came with 5 Galaxy greens and 5 Moon masks I think? And one Glossier headband ^.^  
The Galaxy greens is the mask I go to for bad skin days! It's super soothing and it tingles a bit? A little numbing around the mouth which I'm not sure is normal...but it hasn't given me any negative effects otherwise so I love it! It has little exfoliating bits and most of the results come in the morning.

If my skin is a bit dry or lackluster I use the Glossier Moisturizing Moon pack! I also use this right after washing off the Galaxy Greens pack because they work super well together! And if I'm just in need of something cool and simple on my face I use any of the My Beauty Diary masks we have on hand. The thing about all these masks is they kind of give me the immediate results of soothing and moisture, but most of the magic happens the next morning!

These little pods are so cute ^__^
This mask is completely smooth and milky and does wonders for hydrating my skin and helps it feel SOO SOFT in the morning! It also feels really cool and fresh on my skin as I'm wearing it. This also takes 3-4 uses for me to finish!


The last thing I do right before bed when I brush my teeth is I use the Lioele and my face scrubber again. For increased effectiveness I would use the Lioele twice a day! I did this the first week or two to see if it would actually make a difference and over time it really did! Although my face still has redness and spots (especially before my period) there is significantly less! Lately though I've been finding that I don't actually need to use it more than once a day (day or night either one) for it to keep my acne at bay! Only when my acne is really bad do I use it twice a day ^.^ And I don't really like to sleep with any creams or things on my face but when I'm feeling a bit dry I will apply a bit of Cetaphil on those patches and I ALWAYS put either the Balm-Dot-Com from Glossier or Vaseline on my lips at night after brushing my teeth for smooth hydrated lips in the morning :D If anyone can recommend a good sleeping pack that isn't sticky to me in the comments below that would be lovely!!

Once more right before bed (yes this is the same pic as up above, I'm a lazy gal ok? LOLOLL) seems to help any incoming or present acne calm down by the morning! For really big pimples it at least lessens redness and by two to three days the pimple is usually gone and has not left scars if I'm using this constantly! I'm so surprised it has actually been working for me haha.

PHEW! It seems like I put a bit of work into my skin/makeup routine huh? This is actually not as long a process as you might think! A lot of people actually have a few more steps in their routine ^>^ It took me a very long time to figure out what works for my skin so keep experimenting until you get combos you like! My routine is always changing to suit my time and my skin's needs ahhaha. What is your skin routine like? Have you tried any of these products I have mentioned? Lemme know down below!

Hope you all found this tutorial to be useful! <3 Thanks for reading lovelies!!

xoxo Abby

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