“Pretty nails,” my friend’s four-year-old daughter told me as she ran a finger across my fingernails one night. My friend lives a lot closer to my office than I do, so I periodically spend the night at her house when I’m tired of driving so much.
“Next time I come I’ll bring some nail polish and paint your nails if you’d like,” I told her. She nodded with a grin.
The next time I stayed at their house I brought a few different bottles of nail polish with me–all in her favorite colors–and painted her nails.
“I’M SO PRETTY.”
The next morning she had an appointment at the preschool she’ll attend this fall. As everyone got ready, she spun around the house in the dress she was wearing for the day, staring down at her nails. “I’m so pretty!” I heard her repeat.
Note – I purchased all of the products listed in this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. No affiliate links were used in this post.
I brought my all-time favorite foundation, the Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Foundation. It’s the foundation that I think looks and feels the best on my skin and I knew I’d want my tried and true foundation while running around a foreign city. To top it off I use the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish, which ensures that my foundation stays in place. I’ve been really happy with this product and would definitely buy it again when I run out, although I’d also be open to trying something new. I opted to skip concealer for the trip… I wasn’t looking for flawless coverage and, to be honest, I kind of like it when some of my “flaws” peak through. I feel more human without a flawless base.
I had originally planned to take a different eyeshadow palette alongside my make-up bag, but I really wanted it all to fit in the bag and I knew I wouldn’t need a bigger palette. I didn’t use every shade in the Too Faced Natural Eye palette as it was. I kept eyeshadow pretty simple while I was gone and mostly used Silk Teddy on the lid with Velvet Revolver in the crease, but I did swap out Silk Teddy for Honey Pot one day. I love this palette because I can create all of my favorite neutral looks with it and it’s nice and compact. For blush I took along Benefit’s Rockateur which has been my go-to blush lately. I’m usually not the biggest fan of blush, but this one has been a fave ever since it first came out. It adds a nice flush to my cheeks without being too much.
Mascara and eyeliner are two products that I reach for even when I decide not to wear most others. I brought this nice travel-sized version of the Benefit Roller Lash mascara, which is one of my favorites. For eyeliner I brought a couple of options, all from Urban Decay: Perversion, Tornado and Roach. Tornado is my favorite of the bunch, but I forgot to sharpen it before I left and I forgot to bring my sharpener with me, so I stuck with Perversion most days and threw Roach into the mix when I didn’t want as bold of an eye liner look.
For the lips, I brought two of the Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks in Lolita 2, a shade that I always receive compliments when wearing, and Berlin, for a pop of color. These are so comfortable, they don’t transfer and they stick around for quite a while.
