IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY OF 12 DAYS OF FAVORITES!

I'm not kidding when I say I've been writing and rewriting this post. This is probably the largest faction of my entire makeup collection... although eye shadow palettes are really getting up there.

Welcome to Day 3: HIGHLIGHT

Highlight is the one thing I CANNOT resist. Do I already have a pale champagne highlight? Yes! Do I need another one from another brand with another formula? HELL YES! And this is the thought process for just about every shade of highlight that suits my skin tone.

There are a lot of products here today (because it was breaking my heart to narrow it down), so buckle up, buttercup.


We're going to kick things off with the Jouer Powder Highlighters. I have three in my collection, but the two that I absolutely adore are Citrine and Skinny Dip. I also own Rose Gold but I haven't played around as much with that one.

I love these! Are you sick of hearing me say this about every product yet? But it's true; I do! I purchased Citrine a while back and absolutely adore it. It never looks powdery on my skin. It never emphasizes texture. I've never had a single problem with it, ever. So when Jouer launched their Skinny Dip collection this past summer, I jumped on the site to order the bundle.

I'm not going to lie, I was nervous Skinny Dip was going to be too deep for my skin tone. If I tried to wear it with my current complexion, it might be. But I had a little more color over the summer and loved to look even more sun kissed with bronzer, so this was my go to. For EVERYTHING. This will probably be exclusively my summer highlight until I run out and can no longer repurchase it (this, along with their tan lines highlight are labeled as limited edition). I have swatch comparisons of all three of the Jouer highlights I own towards the beginning of my Instagram (@beautybykristinrenee); these were some of the first products I posted about.

If you're looking for a higher end product, try these out! I've never been disappointed.


Onward and upward (even though I don't love one of these more than the other)! I first purchased the Josie Maran Argan Enlightenment Illuminizer in July. This is one of those products that I had in my Sephora cart for a long time and just never purchased. I don't hear very many people talking about this. When I swatched this in person I knew I had to buy it!

Most of the time I use this as a base for my powder highlight. If I use this on an every day, going to the office type of look, I'll pair it with the Argan Enlightenment Illuminizing Veil (this is a very very subtle highlight, but it is STUNNING). But this can definitely be used on its own. No matter if I wear this by itself or with another highlight or what highlight I pair with it, it creates a look that I've never been able to recreate with any other products. This creates almost an extra dimension to the highlight whether you keep it subtle or you like to glow for the gods. It's almost ethereal.

This kicked my Cover FX custom enhancer drops off of my top spot for liquid highlighters.


Now, I know the first few highlights were on the pricier side, so we're gonna round things out with my favorite affordable highlights. Let me tell you, finding a drugstore highlight that I love is a challenge. There are a few that I have my eye on that I definitely need to give a go. But for 2017, these have the top spot.

Similarly to the Josie Maran product, I use my Colourpop Super Shock Cheek (specifically in Lunch Money) as a base for my highlight. Ever since using this technique, I'm very underwhelmed with how just powder highlights sit on my skin and look. I have used this on its own and I love it, but it's just a habit now that I put something on top. Which I mostly do bc I put this on after foundation and concealer, but before powder. So the powder over top tones it down a bit. I have a few of the Super Shock Cheek highlights and I love all of them, Lunch Money is just my most well loved (I'm dying to try Flexitarian though). Honestly for $8 you 100% cannot go wrong. And Colourpop has been having a ton of sales lately!

I also love these Pixi Glow-y Powders that was a collaboration with Aspyn Ovard. These were my first highlights from the drugstore that really wowed me. Now I say 'drugstore', but they're only available at Target or online from the Pixi Beauty website. I have the shades London Lustre (a white champagne-y color) and Santorini Sunset (a light golden shade).

I absolutely love using these on my eyes as well. They make the perfect inner corner highlight and if you just want a simple but shiny lid, just swipe on of these shades all over and done!

In the end, if you asked me to recommend only ONE of these products, it would have to be the Josie Maran Argan Enlightenment Illumizer. I'm not kidding, get a sample, use it as a base for a powder highlight and you'll never go back to applying highlight the same!

Let me tell you something.... blogging for 6 days straight is no joke. I'm halfway through the goal. Kudos to people who blog every single day all the time. Anywho... let's just jump right in today.

Day 3 of my 12 Days of Favorites is BLUSH!

I do love me a good blush, so I'm super excited to share my absolute favorites with you!

Now, when I say I love me a good blush... I mean just that... I love good blushes, but I don't own a lot. It's definitely one of the smaller factions of my collection. I've found what works and I rarely stray from that. And I do have to confess... one of these does have a stronger hold on my heart than the other.

Which do you want to read about first? My FAVORITE favorite... or just my favorite? I guess we'll go out with a bang, so favorite it is.

A fairly new purchase to me, the Physicians Formula Butter Blush is no joke. I love the butter bronzer so I never had a doubt that I'd love the formula. What I did doubt however was the shades. Before I accepted my true pale-ness, I was curious as to how these would show up on my skin let alone skin tones deeper than mine. And at $12.99 a pop, I was skeptical to try without swatching... which you can't really do at the drugstore. There were two original shades, Natural Glow and Plum Rose. They still only sell these two shades in Ulta, but I have seen two more shades at Wal-Mart.

The shade I picked up is Plum Rose. Let me tell you this is GORGEOUS! It glides on flawlessly. It's very rare that I find a blush that applies such as this. I HIGHLY recommend this shade. I love that it's a muted color. I'm not a fan of bright blushes with a ton of pigment that make me look like I walked out of a circus. This is definitely one of the BEST every day blushes on the market... at least that I've tried.


Now... you guessed it... my FAVORITE favorite blush!

I've been using the Japonesque Velvet Touch Blush in Shade 02 for YEARS! It has never once failed me! It has never been patchy. It has never blended poorly. It has never made me look anything less than perfectly flushed.

Now I know what you're thinking... "Kristin, it looks so boring... it kind of looks like a regular powder..." WRONG. I don't know how they make this but this shade is literally PERFECTION! This is the ONLY blush that has always blended perfectly with my bronzer. And we've all had that moment when you look at the blend between our blush and bronzer and it looks muddy and is a weird color. THIS NEVER DOES THAT! NOT ONE TIME!

I will forever repurchase this product. This is slightly more expensive than the Physician's Formula Butter Blush, but it is worth every cent of the $22 price tag.

If you told me I could only pick one blush to use for the rest of my life, I would pick the Japonesque blush hands down.

I'm very excited for tomorrow.... it's my favorite!

Can you guess what it is?

Hellooooooo interweb friends! Welcome to Day 5 of my 12 Days of Favorites!

It may be Winter... well maybe not for a few more days technically.... but your girl still loves to bronze because as you're probably sick of hearing, I'm pale AF.

My all time favorite bronzer this year has been hands down the Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in the shade Sweet Tea. I have been reaching for my Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer as well, but this was definitely my go to, especially over the summer. You can get it here or here.


This bronzer does have two shades. I usually mix them, but you can use either one on their own. Be warned this is a luminous bronzer so if you prefer a matte bronzer this may not be for you. I do love matte bronzers but a lot of times I feel that a more luminous bronzer gives me some extra life to my skin.

A lot of bronzer can look orange on me very easily. And I really try to avoid looking like an Oompa Loompa. But this has the perfect tone to it that it gives me the perfect tan to my skin without having to go tanning or self tan (because I would royally mess that up).  Since my skin is lighter now than it was in the summer, I do sometimes have to use a light hand with this. But I don't mind that because I love how this blends out and is the perfect shade. I also think this would work really well even for medium skin tones. I'm not sure if this would work for deeper skin tones though.

Overall, I highly recommend at least checking out this bronzer in store. Swatch it, try it out, maybe even buy it and try it out for a little and if you don't like it, return it.

What are your favorite bronzers? Do you prefer bronzer, contour, or both?

Can you guess what tomorrow will be......

Are you getting sick of me yet? Hopefully not if you're willingly clicking onto these pages!

Another day, another post! Welcome to day 3 of my 12 Days of Favorites!

Can you guess what comes after foundation and concealer? You guessed it! POWDER! I didn't realize how many powders I actually have. Now it's not A TON but it's still more than the average human would need. I've tried various loose powders and pressed powders. So, I've pulled out one of each to talk about.

First, let's start off with pressed powder. I purchased the Kat Von D Lock-It Blotting Powder from Sephora over the summer. It kind of sat in my collection for a hot second just because I had put it away and forgotten about it. Let me tell you what a mistake that was!

I love this stuff (I think you're really going to get sick of me saying that)! This is the only powder I've been keeping in my work bag (or purse if I'm going to be out of the house for a very long time... I'm not really one for touch ups). It's incredibly smooth and I don't know what they put in this stuff but I swear to you it blurs my pores. Legitimately... gone... every. single. time.

I use the shade light. It doesn't have a lot of pigment. It's kind of like how Laura Mercier just came out with different shade for her setting powder. It's pretty much translucent, but a shade close to your skin tone will make it truly translucent on your skin. Another thing I love about this product is that it's refillable. You can purchase just the pan of product once you've used the first one up (or if you'd rather just carry it in a magnetic palette) for $10 less. Now don't get me wrong, $19 is still up there for a powder, but it's not that far off from some drugstore prices (many Physician's Formula powders retail for close to $15).  I would definitely suggest giving this product a go.


Now on to loose setting powder. I've tried a few loose setting powders in my day but none... NONE... have compared to the Urban Decay Velvetizer. The hype is real!

This is marketed as a something you can you as a setting powder or you can mix it into your liquid foundation to make it more full coverage and matte. I haven't tried the latter method yet... honestly, I'm a little scared. Maybe I'll just give it a go one day when I'm not leaving my house... just in case.

But oh. My. GOD. This as a setting powder is PHENOMENAL! My skin has never felt as smooth and soft as when I use this. This is another product that blurs imperfections. It is a very very fine powder, so I would not recommend using this to bake. I've tried. You can get it to work but it takes a while to build up enough product. It just doesn't like to pick up on a damp sponge.

One way I've been using this product recently that I LOVE is to set my eyes after primer/concealer with this even if I'm not using it on the rest of my face. Because it is so fine, I find that it creates the best base for my eyeshadows to blend perfectly.

Have you tried either of these products? Have you used the UD Velvetizer as a mixer? What are your holy grail foundations? Let me know if you love anything (especially drugstore! ya girl's on a budget)!

Welcome to day 2! Today we’re talking all about my go to FOUNDATION and CONCEALER!

I struggle with complexion products for a couple of reasons: 1) I have oily skin, 2) I get cystic acne, and 3) Everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) tends to break up and/or look cake-y around my mouth and tip of my nose.  I especially struggle with my skin being oily because I don't want it to look too dry so I have to find a balance between my skin being supple enough to look healthy but matte enough to control my oils.

I've had a couple foundations come close. And I have a foundation that would be my holy grail. I'm talking does everything I want it to AND is from Target. BUT and this is a major but for me.... the lightest shade is too dark. I'm pale AF. I didn't realize how pale I was until just a few months ago when I was trying out the Fenty Beauty foundation. My face is apparently naturally darker than my chest (so are my hands). I would swatch foundation in the store on the back of my hand and it would match my face perfectly. But it was too dark for my neck and chest. So when people tell you to color match to your neck and chest, LISTEN TO THEM.

Anyway, back from my tangent... the best foundation I've found that controls my oils, is as close to the shade of my skin as I can find, and doesn't look heavy or cake-y is the Too Faced Peach Perfect Comfort Matte Foundation. It genuinely pains me to have my holy grail (or as close as I can find to a holy grail) foundation to be one that's higher end. In a perfect world it would be from the drugstore, but what are you going to do?


This foundation has great coverage. It covers up most of my acne and acne scaring. I have minimally spot conceal. I'm in the lightest shade Snow. It is a tad yellow for my complexion but it's not something that's outrageously noticeable, which is fine by me. The first couple times I used this I was hesitant because it felt almost too dry on my skin. But I just go in with a hydrating primer or my Elcie Cosmetics Glow Enhancer (this is a dry oil) and it sits perfectly. It's also transfer proof. I'm going to say it again because this is one of my favorite aspects: IT'S TRANSFER PROOF! I have a significant concern about my foundation disappearing in patches (I don't mind so much if it just fades) or getting foundation on someone else if I hug them. This prevents all of that! It also smells faintly of peaches so ya know... bonus. I highly recommend going out and getting a sample of this to try. You can check it out on Sephora.

Next up concealer. Now I bet a few of you are thinking, "but Kristin, what about Tarte Shape Tape?!" And I feel you. Tarte Shape Tape, which you can get at Ulta, is one of my all time favorite concealers. I would be in heaven if they came out with a Shape Tape foundation... which spoiler....


But the concealer that I've reached for hands down the most (because I mostly just go to work and don't want to waste my $27 concealer on sitting in my cubicle for 8 1/2 hours) is the Colourpop Cosmetics No Filter Concealer. I love this stuff! It covers what I need to. It NEVER looks cake-y. I tend to reach for my fair neutral, but in the summer I would sometimes use light neutral. Urban Decay's Naked Skin concealer used to be my everyday go to. And I still reach for it. But I feel like my No Filter Concealer goes on smoother. It's not a dry of a formula (for lack of a better descriptor). Also, this stuff is only $6. It's available here. You really can't go wrong. I've never found a concealer from the drugstore I've liked as much.


What are your favorite concealers this year? Do you find that you've reached for the same one for the past few years? Or do you regularly change it up? Also, if you have any foundation recommendations for a girl who's pale AF, let me know!

Hello, my loves!

Long time, no talk. It's been a hot second since I've dabbled in the blogging world. I've been focusing mainly on Instagram lately. It's just been one of those phases I guess. But I've found a renewed desire to blog!

To reintroduce myself, I've been working on 12 Days of Favorites (or #12daysoffavorites if you're on the gram)! I decided to end the year with a bang and post my favorite beauty products for the year from now through Christmas Eve!

Without further ado, day 1 of 12 days of favorites!

PRIMER!


For me, a perfectly primed base is a must to get the best makeup application I can. I have oily acne prone skin, so if I didn't prime, my skin would be horrific by the end of the day.

The primer that I've reached for the most over the past year has definitely been the Becca Firstlight Priming Filter you can get this at Ulta or Sephora. I love this because it gives me a glow but it's not too much for my oily skin. I do prefer this over the Backlight Priming Filter. I can't put my finger on exactly why, but it's just better. Maybe it's because purple is my favorite color. It also smells like lemon pez so... ya know... bonus. This is pretty much my standard go to that I would grab in the morning before work. It's just a good solid primer.

Over the summer I was browsing through Ulta and was intrigued by the Stila One Step Correct primer. You can get it here and here. This was something that was on my Sephora loves list for a while but I never got around to purchasing it. I love this because if my skin is slightly red or irritated it will help cancel that out prior to applying any of my other complexion products. It's not a mattifying primer, but I wouldn't say it's a hydrating primer either. It works really well for my oily skin (are you seeing a pattern here.... I apologize to my dry skin ladies out there... if you're super dry I'm not sure if this would be hydrating enough for you, but I see this working for dry to normal skin).

The most recent addition to my primer collection was the Revlon Photoready Pore Reducing Primer. You can get this anywhere Revlon is sold. I purchased my at Ulta, but it is available in most drugstores. I LOVE this stuff! I've tried so many pore filling/smoothing primers in my time and nothing has worked as well as this! I apply this to my nose and just between my eyebrows and let me tell you, my skin looks F.L.A.W.L.E.S.S.

I have quite a few primers in my collection but these three are definitely the ones that I've been gravitating towards the most. What are your favorite primers? Let me know; I love trying new products!

See you tomorrow! Can you guess what Day 2 is.......