Beauty Guru

For as much as I love trying new beauty products and surfing through Sephora if I'm ever early for an appointment, I wasn't always one of those girls who loved makeup. I'm still learning and figuring out what works, but I feel like I'm on my way to becoming my personal beauty guru.

I grew up with a mother who never wore much makeup. The running joke in the family was that my grandmother would apply her makeup and then take it off. My mom always used higher end products and I remember my first product (that wasn't from Bath & Body Works or Bonne Belle) was some Trish McEnvoy Concealer and my mom passed down her pallet of 3 eye shadows. I still have them in this little container, but they're at home and haven't been used in years. It just makes me smile and look back at my first expensive beauty products. Right now I have a makeup bag and little container bursting with various beauty items (not counting the amount of hair products I have. We won't talk about that... I have curly hair, so naturally am still trying to find my perfect products) from samples of half of La Mer's product line to Revlon lip sticks and everything in between.

What I have to say is that it is a process to find your perfect products. I have sensitive skin, so I try to only ever switch up one product and try it for a bit before introducing anything else new. I'm also trying to figure out which products I can just buy from the drugstore vs. what I need to buy higher end. I only started wearing makeup on a regular basis when I started at Valentino - it was a big girl internship and I needed to look professional, clean, and put together. My mom purchased a good concealer and foundation for me. I already had the Naked 2 pallet from the MC beauty sale and a few lipsticks (red, a bright pink, and a nude). I figured I was ready to conquer the world.

Now, I wear a little bit more on a daily basis including blush, eyeliner, bronzer (I wish I didn't need this, but I'm super pale and live in NYC. Also, it February.). I still have products I want to buy and try such as a good primer, eyebrow stuff, a good light eyeliner for highlighting. Highlighting and contouring that is all over Pinterest scares me. I've started watching some of these beauty gurus on Youtube to see how they do it -- they are basically doing this for a living. Why not take advice from them? Plus, they do a mixture of high and low products. If you go to Sephora and ask for advice, they expect you to walk out with a Sephora bag and a lot less money.

MakeupAlley. This website is amazing. Thinking of spending $20 on lotion at Lush? Why not see what others thought of it first? They have reviews on high end cosmetics along with drug store items.

Have fun with your makeup! Sometimes it's fun to wear purple eyeliner or use a little more sparkle for a night out than you normally would.