I believe that beauty is more than skin deep, however your skin needs your love and attention too. I’ve been wearing full makeup since I was 4 years old performing in a traveling dance company. Before you start judging my mother, it was normal and required by the head dance instructor. My mom just helped teach me about makeup and she applied the makeup so I didn’t look like a hot mess of a child on stage. It’s possible this is where my love of makeup started but now I appreciate makeup more as an art form of expression. Not on the level of some of the videos you might see on instagram where there’s a master of technical arts required to apply the contoured look or the super smoky eye. Those people are crazy good but doesn’t that also look like an incredible amount of effort and layers to anyone else?!
Anyway, as I’ve started to age I have learned the value of taking care of my skin. Everyone on facebook is posting their “How hard did aging hit you” challenge and I can say with certainty that a large of majority of my age group spent way too much time in the tanning bed!! I’m included in that group but I am not alone. That time we all spent trying to soak up the fake sun has aged us all unnecessarily and damaged our skin. There is no rewind button, unfortunately. But there are ways you can help your skin.
I’ve used Rodan and Fields products for 3 years now. I started out using the products just purely to support my best friend in her side business. Then, like most others, I became hooked! So, I started selling the products and thought maybe I could use some extra income too. Who couldn’t? At the time, I was overcommitted between my full-time job and my family but I really wanted the discount and the extra side hustle income. Did I mention I was also building a house at the time? Long story short, it was the wrong time for me to try to add anything to my already crazy schedule. But I continued to use the products because they were WORKING!!
I saw a dermatologist for my skin in my teens for acne. It was embarrassing but who doesn’t have acne issues in their teens- a tiny, minuscule population of “perfect” humans who somehow escaped pimples. That’s who. And I wasn’t one of those “perfect-skinned” lucky ducks. So I tried the horrible creams that made your face red and dried your skin out. I tried covering it with loads of foundation. Eventually, things got slightly better but I just continued to mask my imperfections as I improved my makeup game.
I’ve always been a bit of a makeup snob. I like certain products and will only buy those certain products even though my nearest Sephora store is an hour away and we just recently added an Ulta beauty to our mall. I’ve tried many different foundations, concealers, eyeliners, lipsticks, lip tints, and oh so very many mascaras.
My current favorite makeup products are as follows:
Foundation: Rodan and Fields, Radiant Defense, shades 1-4. I use shades 1 and 3 when I’m in the winter (paler) months and shades 2 and 4 during the summer (tanner) months
Concealer: Estee Lauder Double Wear concealer in Light to Medium
Bronzer: Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess
Blush: Nars Orgasm and Nars Angelika
Brow Definer: Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer in Blonde
Eyeliner: Sephora brand long lasting liquid eyeliner in dark brown. I LOVE liquid eyeliner but I only use it on my upper lash line. I use sephora brand eyeliner pencil on the bottom and smudge it a little.
Mascara: My current fav is Better Than Sex mascara by Too Faced however this changes. My all-time favorite was YSL mascara but it's $$. I've tried Diorshow, which was great and I've tried Buxom and a few others but my main concern is how easily it washes off and doesn't clump.
Lipstick: This changes a lot but my go-to is Huda Beauty in Muse and Trophy Wife. It goes on and stays on, which is a requirement for anything on my lips per my husband and son. :)
Now, on the days when I’m not doing anything but cleaning the house or not getting out of my sweats, those days barely get anything beyond just washing my face! I scale according to my schedule for the day.
But before you can get quality makeup and think that’s going to cure everything, you’ve got to take care of the skin underneath the makeup!! That makes a world of difference in how the makeup will look or adhere to your skin. Rodan and Fields makes amazing products that will moisturize your skin and give it the attention it deserves. The attention to deprived it when you decided to get into a tanning bed 3 times a week in your teens! Why oh why did I do this!? I was also the person who used to go to the sunscreen section of target and buy the oil, the accelerating, sun come light my skin on fire, oil. Oh and don’t forget the Sun-In I’d throw in the cart hoping it would lighten my hair while I baked my skin. Good times.
I’ve since learned the importance of sunscreen anytime I think I’ll go outside and see the sun. It’s important to put sunscreen on your face of a morning but do not put sunscreen on, for example if it’s in your moisturizer, before you go to sleep because it’s known to clog your pores. I also learned the value of self-tanner. I love self-tanner because it’s a simple way to add some color to your skin without damaging it or causing extra wrinkles. But finding a perfect self-tanner is another challenge. Some self-tanners give you that dreaded orange look while others remain greasy or streaky. Some don’t want you to get dressed for 3 hours. Who can walk around their house with 2 kids buck-naked for 3 hours? If you have that kind of time, then go for it girl! My favorite self-tanner is the Fake Bake self-tanner. I use Fake Bake all the time and Fake Bake Darker when I want to have an extra dark tan. I put it on with the super handy mit and it never streaks and then I almost immediately put on some pj’s and go to bed. I just make sure to rub it in really, really, really good and it dries almost instantly. I buy it at Ulta beauty at our mall or on amazon.
I’ve also had friends ask me about how to use products like the foundation from Rodan and Fields. It’s a lighter coverage but it also has a moisturizer in it that your skin just soaks up. It gives me that dewy look that so many people strive for. I also use their foundation makeup brush. I decided the easiest way to discuss this was to make a video. So I’ve added my video, please be kind as I was only 1 cup of coffee deep while filming this! But hopefully this will give you visuals and information about my morning Rodan and Fields routine to start my day with better skin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seCV9bT1bew
One thing I’d encourage everyone to do is to try new things. If you’ve always wanted a smoky eye or to try that crazy contour thing, then go for it! Just get in front of the mirror, watch that youtube video and remember to take care of the skin and the face under the makeup! Oh and don’t forget to blend, blend and more blend!!!
XOXO
Ashley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seCV9bT1bew
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