Holy Grail Beauty Products

Products that I cannot live without!

CLEANSER-

Product: Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel 

Description:  A gentle, non-foaming gel that gently removes makeup, dirt, and oil from the skin without drying it out.  

Price: 8 oz.- $12, 16 oz.- $20

Best suited for: All skin types. Especially good for sensitive, Acne prone skin. 

Selling point:  I have extremely dry, sensitive skin and this is fantastic because it gets rid of all of the makeup and dirt, and clears my skin from acne without drying it out. I find that it works the best if you smooth it over your damp face first and leave it there for like 30 seconds to a minute and then work it into your skin with your hands or a Clarisonic.

DAYTIME MOISTURIZER-
Product: Origins VitaZing
Description:  Oil free daily moisturizer that gives you a slight sun kissed glow and evens out skin tone.
Price: $35
Best suited for: All skin types. Fantastic for both dry and oily skin
Selling point: looks fantastic on all skin tones (although if you are extremely pale like me you will have to blend down the neck) and gives darker skin tones a wonderful glow and can counteract ashiness. You can also use it alone as your daily foundation. (there is also a full review for this on another blog post)
LIQUID FOUNDATION-
Product: Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua
Description: A medium to light coverage foundation that blends perfectly into your skin.
Best Suited for: Dry to combination oily skin (I would not recommend this for someone with super oily skin).
Price: $45
Selling Point: This is the most natural looking foundation I have ever tried. This foundation is great on my sensitive skin and it does not dry/break me out. It also does not fade or oxidize throughout the day. Only downfall is that it does not come in a wide variety of shades. (there is also a full review for this on an earlier blog post)
POWDER FOUNDATION-
Product: Mac Mineralized Skinfinish Natural
Description: A baked mineral pressed powder foundation that gives a light/ medium coverage and a natural luminous finish. 
Best Suited for: All skin types. It does not break out sensitive skin as other mac face products can. if you have very dry skin I would use it over a liquid foundation or a tinted moisturizer (something like Origins VitaZing) and then use a rolling motion to pat the foundation on your face as to not irritate dry skin or flakey patches, which is the same for all powders.
Price: $29

Selling Point: This is a fantastic powder foundation that can we worn alone or used as a finishing powder over a tinted moisturizer/foundation. It gives an extremely natural finish and you cannot tell that you are wearing anything when it is on the skin. Like other mineralized products, the more that you buff it in to the skin, the more coverage you get (however as stated before, I would not recommend anyone with extremely dry skin or flakey patches on their skin to do this buffing motion as it can irritate the skin. I also wouldn't recommend this buffing motion when using it as a setting powder over another foundation, as it can disturb the foundation underneath making it look uneven or cakey) I use it with a soft buffing brush to blend it in.
UNDER EYE CONCEALER-
Product: Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat 
Description: A correcting and brightening under eye concealer that hides dark circles and gives a radiant glow to the skin.
Best suited for: All skin types. This is especially fantastic for more mature skin because it does not sink in to fine lines and wrinkles. 
Price: $40
Selling Point: Although rather expensive, this product is well worth it. It is by far the best under eye concealer and it gets rid of the dark circles I constantly have as a result of being a sleep deprived college student. I use shade 1 which is pink tinted and acts as a corrector and a concealer as the pink tones in the product counteract the blue tones in my skin.  It is extremely creamy and as stated above it is especially good for more mature skins as I have found that it does not seem to settle into fine lines and wrinkles. This is a holy grail product for both my mother and I and we have extremely different skin types. This product also brightens as it conceals making you look awake, refreshed, and like you've had a full night of beauty sleep.
EYESHADOW PRIMER-
Product: Nars Eyeshadow Base 
Description: An eyeshadow primer that makes shadows brighter and more radiant, as well as keeping it in place all day without it fading or creasing.
Best Suited For: All skin types
Price: $19
Selling Point: Although I feel that face/ foundation primer is completely unnecessary, eyeshadow primer is a must, and this product is the best at keeping your eyeshadow in place all day without it fading,smudging, or creasing. It also will make anything that you put on top of it brighter and more true to the color in the pan. This is especially great if you have oily lids because it is absolutely fantastic at not making eyeshadow crease, or if you just want your shadow to last all day.
EYELASH CURLER-
Product: Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler
Description: Honestly the worlds greatest eyelash curler.
Price: $20
Best suited for: everyone!
Selling Point:  This eyelash curler conforms perfectly to the eye so there is no tugging or one side being more curled than the other. It curls so much better than any other eyelash curler I have ever tried. If There was on a desert island and I could only have one thing (other than sunscreen, because I burn like a crazy person!) It would be this eyelash curler. The only downfall is that Shu Uemura no longer has any stores in the US, so you would have to order it from their website.

CLARISONIC-
Product: Clarasonic Mia
Description: A rechargeable face brush with a rotating brush head that buffs off makeup, dead skin, dirt and oil from your face and body making your skin soft, supple, and radiant.
Price: $119, ( the original, which is basically the exact same, it is just slightly larger and it has 3 speeds is around $225)
Best suited for: All skin types, they have different brush heads depending on your skin type and what your needs are.
Selling Point: Although this might not technically be a product, this is something that I could not live without and this product saves my skin. I use it both in the morning before I put my makeup on, and at night in the shower to take all of the makeup, dirt, oil, and built up skin off of my face. This is an absolute must have for people with acne prone skin. I can immediately tell the difference if I do not use my Clarisonic even for a day because my skin will break out and become dry and flakey.  I use this with the Mario Badescu Enzyme cleansing gel, and it is a miracle worker. I would recommend the mia over the original, just because it is basically the exact same thing ( I find that I only use one speed on the original anyway) and the mia is less expensive. The only thing "better" about the original is that it beeps after like 30 seconds to tell you when to move to the next section of your face (forehead, cheeks, chin, nose....). They have recently come out with the Mia 2, and they might have this feature, however I am not sure.