2018 Beauty Edit | Hair, Skin and Nails

Hey guys, welcome back to the second edition of my 2018 Edit. Yesterday I spoke all about lifestyle favorites which you can read here. Today we are moving on to the Beauty favorites of 2018. Before we get straight into makeup (coming up tomorrow) I want to talk about skincare, haircare and nails because I don’t cover those things a whole lot, well I do talk about skincare a lot but nails and hair tend to get brushed aside, no pun intended.

Skincare

Let’s start with skincare because that is that to me is the first step to a beauty aside from diet and taking care of the inside mentally and physically.

The ugly truth is, your makeup is going to look like trash if you aren’t taking care of the skin underneath. That doesn’t mean having perfect skin with no acne, hyperpigmentation or lines because we all have those things. No routine is going to eradicate every imperfection and really who cares? We all get pimples and lines. My goal is to minimize those things, keep my skin hydrated as possible and age gracefully. The fixable issues that make makeup look crappy are dry skin and texture. If your skin is moisturized and well care for, your makeup will look great regardless of any other skin issues we may be struggling with. I feel like in 2018 I got a handle on my skin though.

My skin is never going to be perfect, I will always battle clogged pore, hormonal acne and discolouration, rosacea and lines. I am turning 32 in two days.

My skin is changing as I age and my needs have changed as well. I want it to look as best I can get it. I have less acne now but congested skin under the surface so I focus on cleaners and masks to unclog pore and keep them clear as possible. My skin is dry on the surface but oily underneath. It’s a dirty trick.

My other focus is anti-aging and hydration. I have tried a ton of skincare this past year and these are the ones that stood out to me.

For keeping acne in check last year I used Differin Gel every day. It helped reduce my clogged pores and the only breaks outs I have are just hormonal and they are greatly reduced to changing my diet. Differin Gel will be torture the first couple of weeks, to me, it felt like I had a mild sunburn and peeling like crazy but after that settles down, it’s like having new skin. It’ll suck at first but stick with it.

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Aside from the Differin Gel for detoxing my pores I loved the L’oreal Pure Clay Masks, especially the charcoal one as well as the cleanser. I also like the red clay one which was in last years faves but the black ones really work for me. They don’t strip my skin either! It’s gentle and effective. I have used detoxing products last year that tore my skin up.

Another line I really enjoyed was Elemis, particularly the Superfood range. It’s so gentle and nice for the morning. I also have the night cream which on some days when things are every dry I use it for a day cream because it’s not heavy at all.

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Speaking of hydration. The Hydro Boost line from Neutrogena is amazing. From the cleanser, serums, masks, and gel, I loved it all.

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I also want to mention the Hydro-Boost Spf and the Jan Marini Antioxidant Daily Face Protectant. I use a lot of AHAs and retinoids so sunscreen is extra important.

Before makeup I really enjoyed using the L’oreal Hydra Genius on days I need some extra hydration.

Hair

I hate styling my hair, let’s just that out there. I am low maintenance with hair stuff. in 2018 though, I got a hair cut for once, bangs and colored it plummy purple. I also put some effort into taking better care of it since the hair cut and it still looks healthy and that was 8 months ago. It’s back down to my butt already too.

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Currently, I am still purple but the bangs are growing out because they are too much effort and I learned how to trim my ends so I don’t have to get it done very often anymore.

I don’t mind keeping my color up, but just getting it cut and curling or anything like that I hate. I hate just blow drying it to be honest but I do that much. Mostly, I dry it straight and sleep with it in a lose bun and I wake up with curls but I tend to dry it straight. The longer it gets, the straighter.

That all being said, I made an effort to just take better care of my hair this year and keep it nice. I washed it once a week, blow dried it. For someone who loves makeup as much as I do, you think I would be more into hair.

I do have a few products I liked though.

I used a variety of hair colors, no one I liked more than the other really.

Between coloring to blend my roots and keep my hair vibrant I found this color depositing shampoo and conditioner from ‘N Rage that is phenomenal! I have never used to such a great product. This stuff cleanses, adds a ton of color that lasts and it conditions better than any mask I have ever used. I mean, it leaves my hair so silky and shiny. I use it maybe every two weeks sometimes more or less depending on how I am feeling with my color but damn this stuff is good. It’s cheap too and at Sallys. I can’t get over how good this stuff is.

Now, if I don’t want to add purple to my hair but my roots are showing (cue Black no 1 by Type O Negative) By the way, I am naturally blond so my roots are lighter than my purple plum so they don’t look like a cool shadow root. Just shitty. Anyway, my other go to is the L’oreal Magic Root in Dark Brown. It darkens my roots, makes my hairline look THICC and covers up if I got foundation in my hair which I always have and I look like I have gray hair. LOL! This is a late discovery thanks to Tati in 2018 and it’s a game changer. I also have thin hair so it helps with that too.

Another Tati recommendation is the Pantene Dry Shampoo. It smells great, no white cast and it works! I can actually go days without having to put my hair up thanks to this stuff. It gives me volume and texture in the best ways

And lastly for hair is the L’oreal Elnett Satin Hairspray. Smells like a grandma but works great. I love the nana glam scent.

I guess I have taken an interest in hair in 2018 more so than before. I think because I am happy with my hair. I do think keto improved my hair too.

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A couple other loves for hair is scrunchies, my crushed velvet hair wrap (seen above and my natural hair color) and Wet Brushes. For real that hair wrap was a savior when I was annoyed with my bangs.

Nails

Between my former roommate and Suzi Nail Career Education, I took a real interest in nails. I basically learned how to polish them properly and clean up mistakes so in 2018 my nails stayed polished and nice looking for once.

Two miracle workers for my nails are the Orly Bonder Basecoat and the Seche Vite Top Coat. I actually can go days without messing up my mani.

As for colors, I was into two brands, OPI and Sinful, and kind of odd shades. All very fall looking colors.

From OPI I loved these shades, they are listed in order below left to right.

• First Date at the Golden Gate
• Inside the Isabelletway
• Needs Sunglasses
• Don’t Talk Back to Me
• Opi Scores a Goal (my number one fave)
• Suzi The First Lady of Nails (my number 2 fave)
• Get in the Expresso Lane

I mean, that olive and purple are my favorite colors.

And from Sinful Colours.

• Coco Bae
• Chick Chick
• Shout
• Vacation Time
• Tanlines
• Rorange
• Spark
• Electric Sage

I found my dream mustard nail color in Shout from Sinful. Hell yeah.

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There was also a moment of duo-chrome cyber punk nails.

Phew, okay. That is all for Hair Skin and Nails of 2018. This ended up being a bit more in depth than I thought it would be. Anyway, I will see ya’ll tomorrow with a full face of my 2018 favorite makeup products as well as a look back on my favorite looks.

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