My First Time

So two weekends ago while in the Catskills visiting my godmother, I took a trip to Sephora. It wasn't my first time being in Sephora, but it was my first time actually buying something from Sephora.

I was on the hunt for either a powder foundation or a light weight tinted moisturizer. I wanted to start experimenting with some different looks for my wedding in July, and I also wanted something I could use to brighten under my eyes a little. I'm not that big into makeup. Nothing against the ladies who like their faces #BEAT. The looks I see floating around on Instagram are gorgeous! I like to keep it simple - fill in the brows a little, throw on some eyeliner, mascara, lip balm, and keep it pushing. If I'm going out, I'll put on some eye shadow, but my "makeup routine" is fairly simple.

My skin is pretty clear and even. I have a little redness in my cheeks and some dark circles, but that's about it. I wanted something that would even me out a little but looked very natural allowing my skin to still breathe and shine through. Something with a very light coverage...anything else would have been too cakey for me.

My first stop before hitting up Sephora was the Bare Minerals boutique. I figured I'd try them since their foundations have naturally derived minerals that give long-lasting, breathable, light weight coverage. Sounds like pretty good stuff, right? Well, it wasn't as good as I thought. The foundation was very matte and had lots of specs in it from the minerals, which I didn't like. It was clear I had something on my face, which I didn't like.

This is a look I did this past weekend. I applied the Tinted Moisturizer with
my fingers instead of the brush to see what look I would get.

I made my way to Sephora and decided to try the NARS Tinted Moisturizer, and I absolutely loved it! It's a bit pricey, but definitely worth it. You only need a tad bigger than a pea sized amount if you're applying it to your whole face, and it really doesn't look like you have anything on. It's very light weight and evens you out without the cakiness. I was a little leery about trying a tinted moisturizer because I didn't want it to feel like a foundation where it just sit on top of your skin. My skin looked super moisturized and supple, and it gave me a nice glow. Most importantly, it looks like my skin! The consultant that helped me used the Urban Decay All Nighter to set the tinted moisturizer so it stays on and doesn't crease or crack. I preferred this over a setting powder-- I felt like it would make me look too matte, which I didn't want. I absolutely loved the finish! It didn't look like I had anything on! The tinted moisturizer just evened me out a bit and got rid of some redness I had, but that was it. My skin still shined through, which I was very pleased with, and I still looked like myself. It does pretty well with covering up dark circles, but I think I want something a little lighter for more coverage. I think I may go back to Sephora and purchase a concealer one-two shades lighter than my skin tone and then apply the tinted moisturizer to my entire face. I saw this from the lovely Krystal Knight of The Feisty House in her everyday makeup routine post (except, she uses two different concealers).

The tinted moisturizer was $42 (ouch!) I also purchased the All Nighter Spray, which was $29 (ouch...again), and the brush she used to apply the tinted moisturizer, which was a Sephora Brush for $29(an even bigger ouch!!) I know...I almost died when I heard the price. But, this was my first legit makeup purchase, and I wanted to purchase quality items. I know there may be something in drug stores that work just as well, but you can't try those things on in the store, which makes it a pain trying to find your shade because these stores don't have testers like Sephora or Mac. You're left to take a wild guess, which sucks because if something doesn't match, you may not be able to return it so you're just stuck with it. I've watched enough makeup videos on YouTube to know that the quality of your makeup brush determines the look you get with your foundation, and a cheap make up brush was not going to do the trick. So I decided to make the investment, and I am absolutely pleased with my purchase. It cost a lot, but this it'll last me a while since you don't need a lot of these products (if you want more coverage, the tinted moisturizer is buildable, so that would take more product...I'm happy with the light coverage). If this was something I had to buy on a monthly basis, best believe NARS would have stayed on that shelf!

I'm definitely interested in getting into makeup and going beyond just mascara and lip gloss. The next thing I want to tackle is lip colors. I've been loving the pinks, reds, and purples I've been seeing! If you have any beauty tips, please leave them in the comments!

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