what's in my make-up bag: my everyday essentials.

last night at yaki-boy with my girls

me with my bday cakes!
celebrating all month!!

hey, y'all.  today, i want to share with you the make-up products that i use for my everyday "face".  it's a simple look and there's not much to it [pictured to the right. i went out with my girls last night to yakitori boy to catch up, eat some sushi, and do some karaoke. great times, girls!].

when going away for the weekend or to my boyfriend's house, i tend to lug a whole bag of make-up with, but i hardly ever use the other stuff i bring.  maybe i should cut back on what i take along with me, but then again... i never know what kind of mood i'm in and what kind of look i want to achieve.  what i'm about to share with you are my beauty must-haves and things that ALWAYS belong in my make-up bag.

i always start out by washing and cleaning my face.  i usually use a foaming scrub by neutrogena because it doesn't sting my eyes as much.  plus, it has the microbeads to help with exfoliation, and it does a great job of removing eye make-up. 

after washing my face, i always use a moisturizer.  my face, like many others, tends to get very dry after i wash it, so i condition and moisturize with clinique's toner and dramatically different moisturizing lotion.  this is a water-based moisturizer, making it feel very light on the face unlike oil-based moisturizers.

next, i use a translucent powder and sparingly brush it across my face to reduce the little shine from the moisturizer. i use maybelline's dream matte powder in medium sand.  i also use this after i'm finished with my entire face to set my make up and eliminate any shine.

i love the healthy glow that a bronzer gives to my face.  i use the contouring technique with my bronzer. i suck in my cheeks and brush it on with a large angled brush in the hollow parts of my cheeks [contouring my cheekbones].  i use on my jaw line, down my neck, and along my side of my temples.  i mix a little of the bronzer with a blush and use that on my cheekbones for a hint of rosiness.  i've been using estee lauder's bronze goddess in soft matte bronze for the longest time, and i love the results it produces.  i sometimes also use n.y.c's smooth skin bronzing face powder in sunny - it has less glitter than my estee lauder bronzer.

i have an asian nose, so i like to contour my nose.  i use smashbox's brow tech in taupe for this [didn't like the way it looked on my eyebrows so i now use it to contour my nose]. 

next up are my eyebrows.  i have full eyebrows but my hairs grow out unevenly [some spots of my brows are lighter than others], so i use estee lauder's automatic pencil.  this pencil has two ends, both with removable refills.  the one end has my brow color in soft brown [the color goes perfectly with my brows; smashbox's taupe is a bit too light for my brows], and the other has my eyeliner in jet black.

i usually prime my lids.  i use urban decay's primer potion to help the colors of my eyeshadows appear more colorful and vibrant without having to put a lot on, and it helps the eyeshadow last throughout the day with creasing.  i really hate the design of this bottle.  it's so hard to get to the sides of the inside, and that is where most of the product is.  i usually end up depotting this into another container after a few weeks.  terrible bottle design but great product.

the eyeshadow colors i typically use are more neutral.  i'm not really into the colorful stuff.  on a normal day, i typically use lancome's sensational effects quad set in honeymoon, burnt sand, mochaccino, and lezard.  if i want something very quick and easy, i brush on the burnt sand shade and that's it, but if i'm looking to give my eyes more of a dimension, i use all 4 shades to fill in my lids, line my crease, color my outer corners, and highlight my browbone.

i curl my lashes and then use estee lauder's jet black eyeliner on my top lashline to line my eyes.  next, i brush on a couple layers of mascara on both my top and bottom lashes with avon's super full mascara.  this mascara is amazing.  it makes my lashes look so full and long that people think i wear fake lashes.  i absolutely love this and bought a couple tubes at a time [because i love, love, love using mascara].

after all that, i use a big face brush and swirl on a couple strokes of maybelline's dream matte powder to reduce any shine and set my make up.  and of course, glide on a layer of carmex strawberry chapstick, and i'm all done! all this usually takes me about 5-10 minutes so it doesn't consume a lot of my time when getting ready on an average day.

i've been looking for a good foundation to wear for when i want to look absolutely flawless.  i normally don't wear foundation so picking and choosing is a bit difficult.  i've read that NARS sheer matte foundation [$42] is pretty good.  it's a water-based foundation and many people have said it feels very lightweight, like you don't have anything on your face at all.  i think i'll go ahead and try this!