July Monthly Faves

Well, July is already almost over and even though my blog was only just born last week I figured why not go ahead and do a monthly favorites post. July was quite a busy month for me socially. I spent a lot of time going out with the girls doing something almost every day from a very wet July 4th party and long days of shopping that turned into late nights out singing karaoke at the local bar, This month gave me plenty of opportunity put some products to the test in the summer heat. We’ve had some crazy weather here in the South this summer from heavy rains and flooding to extremely hot and humid days. I for one am already ready for the Fall and it’s creeping up fast. .

Okay, let’s begin with skin care. One product I couldn’t do with out this month was the Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer with SPF 50+.

This saved my skin so many times from sunburn and helped manage my rosacea. It left my skin feeling nice and soft. The packaging states that it’s not greasy, and compared to some heavy-duty SPF it is but keep it mind it does leave a slight sheen to the skin that’s not all together a bad thing if you want a glowing radiant complexion, though it does feels a bit heavy at first. However, it’s worth it to me to have such great protection from sun damage. My skin is very fair and easily burns, not to mention the sun isn’t very kind to rosacea prone skin. I’ll be writing a post on more information about rosacea and products I’ve found that get along with it and some that don’t.

On to makeup, my go to foundation for daily use this month has been the L’oreal True Match Lumi Heathy Luminous Makeup with SPF 30. Seen below is how it looks on me with no concealer or setting powder.

My shade is neutral 1-2, Soft Ivory. I feel it is a tad too dark for me typically but in the summer months my skin gets some color (not that you could tell in the picture) and it’s been matching quite nicely. This is a very light weight, light to medium coverage foundation with a beautiful almost pearly sheen. It truly does what it says and gives you radiant “lit from within” skin. It also feels great to wear during the summer too since it is so light weight.

Another go to for me this month has been the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye Contour Palette.

I’ve reached for this everyday since I bought it at the end of June, It’s an extremely useful palette to own. I know it kind of looks boring just at a glance but I’ve been amazed at the variety of looks I’ve been able to create with it alone or with colorful shades from other palettes. I highly recommend this palette to everyone. I’ll also be doing a full review of this with swatches coming soon.

Speaking of Kat Von D, I picked up one of The Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks in the shade Vampira which I used in my previous tutorial.

I originally bought this shade in hopes of using it in my bridal makeup this fall. At Sephora, it appeared to be a deep red shade which is what I am looking for. However, after I got home with it and wore it a few times I realized that it was far darker than I was wanting and it pulled too purple on me. That being said, I love it. It may not work for my wedding but it’s a beautiful shade none the less and I’ve used it quite a lot this month when I’ve gone out at night and wanted to do a more dramatic look. I typically don’t think such dark lips look great on me but something about this one just works. Oddly, I love a good vampy lip in the summer, it brings back memories of Anne Rice, Concrete Blonde and Type O Negative, of everything that is Southern Gothic and holds a special place in my heart.To me it’s something that is completely acceptable to rock year round in Louisiana.

While we’re on the subject of lips another product I have been loving for a casual everyday look is the  Nars Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien.

I feel like it’s the perfect “your lips but better” shade for me. When I wear it I feel like I have Lana Del Rey’s lips and that’s a good feeling if you ask me. Like Martha Stuwart would say “it’s a good thing”

I recently discovered quite a treasure at Wal-Mart the other day. I don’t frequent Wally World too often because I have more convenient places to shop closer to my house with way less frustration, but alas, I found myself in there a couple of weeks ago browsing the makeup section and came across Wet N Wild’s Contour Palette.

Holy cow! What a find, Under $5 and so perfect for my fair skin. If you’re a pale gal, you know the struggle of finding a decent contour shade that doesnt look like Snooki just rubbed fake tan on the sides of your face,. This product looks so natural and soft, I’m amazed, Now the highlight shade in the palette leaves a lot to be desired, but the contour shade makes up for that, I believe it comes in 2 shades. I bought the lightest being Caramel Toffee. It was worth the trip to Wal-Mart. I’m going to do a full review of this because I have quite a bit to say about it and other comparable products, so be on the look out.

An older product I just discovered I enjoy using is the Physicians Formula BB Bronze Booster in the lightest shade.

I actually picked this up last summer and hated it at the time, but i decided to try out a subtle false tan and needed something to warm my face up to match. Normally I prefer the Tarte Park Ave, Princess bronzer used sparingly which is matte.The BB Bronze Booster has flecks of gold and a very slight sheen. Anyhow I ended up dusting it around the parameter of my face and liking the warm glow. I also like to dust it where the sun would naturally hit my face and it preformed really well. I don’t know why I had disliked it before but it’s working for me now.

I’ve also been loving some fashion and jewelry pieces I picked up this month. Firstly being this bathing suit I got from JC Penny by A.N.A.

I haven’t bought one in years so figured it was time, and I had a 4th of July swim party to attend. I really wanted to find something that made me feel confident and sexy and this one does just that.

While I was at JCP I picked up these heels by Call It Spring.

I love the scraps and the laces. Very comfortable. I often have trouble finding scandals that fit well since I have wide duck feet, but the laces give me some room to play.

Then at Target I came across these cute sandals which also fit and went great with the bathing suit.

If you haven’t noticed, black and gold are my favorite colors.

That same trip to Wal-Mart I spoke about I also found this watch while passing the jewelry section and fell in love.

Another thing I haven’t bought in years was a watch. I don’t recall the brand but I believe it was around $10. Too good to pass up. I love a good deal.

Lastly, Let’s talk about a few other non-makeup and non-fashion things for fun. This month has been a month of binge watching and gaming in my spare time, I tore through all 11 seasons of Fraizer and loved every second of it. Niles Crane is the best.  I’m currently re-watching it with the Mr.in the evenings,

I think I’ll go backward and watch Cheers all over again now.

As for gaming I’ve fallen head over hills into Sims 4 this summer. Obsessively downloading custom content and all. I’ve played Sims since the days of Sims 1, Sims 2 will always have my heart though. It’s the one game I truly nerd out over, so far as to have made my own custom content and uploaded it to the simming communities which I still closely follow.

The last thing I want to talk about is Starbucks Via Instant Coffee mixes. They make me very happy, that is all.

That’s it, my July favorites. I hope ya’ll had a great month and that August is just as great. Once again thank you all for taking the time to read my blog, I hope you enjoyed this post and stick around for more content. As always feedback is welcome and be sure to check out my social media for more. All products are linked in the paragraph, unfortunately not all were still listed online.