How to: Create Your First Skincare Routine

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Hello, friends! It's been awhile since I did a "Skincare How-to," so I figured it was about time we fixed that. We already talked about How to Determine Your Skin Type, so the only logical next step is to use that knowledge and develop a skincare routine. With the sheer amount of products and information out there, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Before we go into talking about complex stuff like retinoids and chemical exfoliation, let's just go back to basics. In the wise words of Julie Andrews, "Let's start at the very beginning."

February Finds: 6 New Products I've Been Trying

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Hi, friends! It's around that time of the month (no, not that time of the month) when I usually do my monthly favorites posts. Usually I'd talk about all the new products I tested and my favorite discoveries of that month, but things are going to work a little differently this month. For the majority of February, I was either using products I've already mentioned on the blog, or testing new products that I haven't made a decision on yet, so I'm not quite ready to share my thoughts on them so early in the game. 

So I figured, rather than talking about the products you guys already know I like in a redundant Favorites post, how about we start the train rolling on some new products? Here's a sneak peek to some of the products you'll see mentioned on the blog within the next month or two: 

My Lipstick Collection: The Nudes

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Hi, friends! It's been awhile since I did one of these lipstick collection posts, so I thought it was about time we visited the series. If you didn't catch my previous post on my current wardrobe of Red Lipsticks, let me fill you in. I basically included mini reviews of all the lipsticks of that color I had in my collection, and it was a good time.

Today, I figured we could do the same thing with my nude lipstick collection. I've never been much of a nude lipstick person, but in the last few months of 2015, I might have become a believer.

I know I love looking through people's makeup collections to learn about what products they like to use (or maybe I'm just nosy), so I hope you guys feel the same. I figured this deserved a part two, so without further ado, let's get to the good stuff~

Birchbox: February 2016 Review

Hi, friends! It's time for another issue of "What's in my Birchbox?" where I tell you...what's in my Birchbox! I don't know what it is about subscription unboxing posts that I like so much. Maybe I'm just nosy and like snooping in other people's stuff. Anyway, without further ado, here's what I received in my Birchbox this month!

Birchbox? What's that?

Birchbox is a monthly beauty and lifestyle subscription service. It sends 4-5 deluxe samples that are curated to your beauty profile. It is $10 a month, and has a wonderful rewards program, in which you can earn points for reviewing products and making purchases in the Birchbox Shop. You can then redeem those points for full-sized products! It's probably the best rewards program out there, in my opinion, which was one of the big draws in me signing up. They're always adding new products to the shop. In the past, they have sampled products from Amika, Juice Beauty, Shiseido, as well as pages of others! Some products are even exclusive to Birchbox, like Cynthia Rowley's new makeup line and the cult-favorite Beauty Protector brand. You can get a free Mally Evercolor Shadow Stick in in Copper Rose when you sign up with the code MALLYGIFT. If you're interested in subscribing to Birchbox, I would love it if you used my referral link! Thank you!

Instagram Roundup: #5DayLipstickChallenge

Hi, friends! Last week was a slow blog week, partially due to all the time I put into my Mineral Oil Masterpost, and partially due to the Instagram challenge I was involved with. A couple of other bloggers and I devoted a week to showing off five lipstick selfies and dubbed it the #5DayLipstickChallenge. It was a fun opportunity for me to pull out lip colors that I don't normally wear. I was so happy to see that some of you joined in as the week went on! 

Now that it's over, I figured this would be a good time to look back, not only to look at how I did photography-wise (as part of my 2016 Blog Resolutions), but also to share my thoughts on the lipsticks themselves. The colors may be nice, but what about the formulas? Stay tuned!

What's the Deal with Mineral Oil?

Hi, friends! It's been awhile since I did a full post focused on any ingredient, so today I'd like to talk about something that's been bugging me for awhile: the ridiculous controversy over the use of mineral oil in beauty products.

If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll know I'm pretty active over there, so I've seen a lot of pins. There's a lot of great information on there--delicious recipes, foolproof makeup tips--but there's also a ton of misinformation. Myths and rumors get spread around and are eventually seen as true, just by the sheer number of people saying it's so. One thing I see on Pinterest a lot that really grinds my gears (boils my pasta, steams my broccoli, etc.) is the amount of false information circulating on mineral oil in skincare. And I can understand that, but today's post is going to put all that confusion to rest! I've done a stupid amount of research for this post, so I hope it's helpful to you!

*This post is all about the use of mineral oil in skincare ingredients (NOT ingestion--I am not a doctor)

Review & Swatches: PÜR Cosmetics HydraFluid Water Serum Foundation

Hi, friends! Today I have a new product to share with you from PÜR Cosmetics. I reviewed their new Cameo Contour Sticks just a few weeks ago, and now they're adding another product to their Spring 2016 lineup: the HydraFluid Water Serum Foundation. I've actually been in the market for a new foundation recently, so I was excited to see how well this worked. These babies are being released into Kohls and UTLA this Sunday, so you can use this as a sneak peek to see whether or not you'd want to pick one up.