My Beauty Must Haves – Zardozi Magazine SS15

Hi guys! I’m so honored to be Zardozi Magazine‘s guest beauty advisor this issue! A few of my must-haves were swapped out for other products (maybe for availability’s sake?? I honestly don’t know), so i wanted to reiterate my faves here – I always want to make sure my recommendations are authentic and honest for you guys before you shell out any $$$.

Let’s start with skincare, I’ve never used Glam Glow or La Mer. I don’t use masks as often as I should because they’re so time consuming and messy but when I do I love the Aztec Indian Healing Clay mask. You all know I love my Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Peel Pads, I’ve raved over them for so long and still use them lovingly. Another peel-like product i’ve begun using lately is Pixi Glow Tonic. I went to a Pixi event a couple weeks ago and received a bottle in my swagbag. One night I couldn’t find my usual toner and just wanted to get to bed already so I grabbed my Glow Tonic and applied it to my face after cleansing. It smells lovely like rose water and it gave me a slight burn (which I like because I feel like it’s actually doing something!), and my skin didn’t feel tight or dry after. I didn’t think much of it and went to bed. I loved the way my skin looked in the morning, radiant and much smoother. I’ve been using it every night ever since (about a week or two) and I’m completely in love with it! My favorite moisturizers at the moment are Dior Hydra Life Pro-Youth Creme & Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre. Usually I use the Dior after cleansing in the morning and at night. I use Embryolisse before applying my makeup but I’ve been switching it up here and there – it all depends on how lazy I’m feeling and where my jars are at the moment lol. Both of these are slightly pricy, not in the drugstore price range but definitely cheaper than La Mer which retails at $245-$450. I Embryolisse ran me about $28 (the smaller bottle is $16!), not bad!

Now for foundation, concealer, etc.. I’ve never used Laura Mercier Secret Concealer, I have used her Flawless Contouring Palette though and It’s great!!! I love cream contour, I love that it’s all in one place, and the packaging is sexy. I do love Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer but it’s so heavy I would never wear it all over like it says in the article. I use it only for under-eyes; I wear shade sx06. But to address Desi dark under-eye circles (or any hyper-pigmentation).. I strongly recommend correcting with orange/peach first, it’s been a gamechanger for me. I love Make Up For Ever’s step 1 peach primer, LA Girl Cosmetics’ orange concealer, and I just purchased MAC Prep+Prime “Highlighter” (my function for it is corrector) in Peach Lustre earlier this week. I love the LA girl concealer and it is so cheap but the MAC Prep+Prime is soooo creamy and high coverage I’m so excited to really start using it. Thanks for the recommendation, Jackie!

Everything else on the list is accurate 🙂 Hourglass Radiant Magenta Blush is my absolute favorite, it’s so stunning! Lorac makes some of the most pigmented, buttery eyeshadows and their Pro Palette is definitely my favorite. MAC Hover lipliner is a perfect brown for brown girls (the image used obviously isn’t Hover, I think that is Magenta). Other great brown liners for my skintone are NYX Brown, NYX Espresso, Smashbox Medium Nude, & Guerlain The Lip Liner. Gerard Cosmetics “1995” is one of my favorite lippies! You can get 25% off sitewide with code ‘irene‘

& yes Inglot Gel Liner #77 is the absolute best, I can’t use anything else. The brush that’s worked best for me with my gel liner is MAC #208 which is actually a brow brush but it’s the perfect density and stiffness for me.

Alrighty dolls! I hope you enjoyed this, let me know if there are ever any more product opinions you need from me 🙂 and be sure to check out Zardozi’s new issue, it’s beautiful!