March beauty favorites

On the first Monday of April, I present you with... March favorites.

March was actually a really good month for me beauty-wise because I spent $0 on any beauty or makeup or skincare products. Part of that might be because I was out of the country for a week and half... but still, I'm gonna give myself a pat on the back for showing some self control for the other 20 days of the month. Yay me! Now onto the favorites.

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Mac 'prep + prime' fix+ (available at nordstrom, macy's, bloomingdales): I can't believe I'm so late to the game when it comes to this makeup spray. For the longest time I thought this was just fancy water in a bottle with a MAC label slapped on top. But it's so much more.

If you read last month's favorites post, you might have picked up that I'm a tad bit obsessed with dewy skin. A few sprays of fix+ after you makeup is on and you've got dewy skin galore. It's also great to apply after you've been wearing your makeup for a few hours because it totally freshens up your whole look!

What really makes it a game changer for me is it's ability to "erase" dry spots. Sometimes after I finish applying my makeup, I notice I have some patches where my makeup seems to cling to my dry skin. A few spritz of fix+, and bam, dry spots be gone!

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Nyx lip lingerie liquid lipstick in #12 exotic (available at ulta): Back in February they opened a NYX store in New Jersey and the beauty obsessed blogger in me had to go check it out. I had not been planning on purchasing anything but I ended up walking out with three of their new lingerie liquid lipsticks amongst other things.

My favorite of the bunch is #12 exotic. It's a deep brick red that I think goes perfectly with darker skin tones. I should mention the reason it landed in my favorites is because I'm infatuated with the color. The formulation on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. On the plus side, it's pigmented and applies smoothly. But on the downside, it's so so so drying. I'm not a fan of NYX's popular soft matte lip creams but I would have to say the lingerie formulation is an improvement in comparison.

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Bumble & Bumble hairdresser's invisible oil (available at sephora,  bloomingdale's, birchbox): This hair oil was a total sale impulse purchase. I vaguely remembered reading an Into the Gloss review on it...and so I bought it. In the past my Into the Gloss inspired purchases haven't been all that successful (while they do feature cool celebs and cute anecdotes, some of their reviews fail to talk about the actual product.) I'm happy to say this time the product was a total hit.

In my personal hair routine, I use oils twice-- once when my hair is wet to "seal" in my leave in conditioner and later on when my hair is dry to tame the fly-aways, stubborn baby hairs, and unwanted frizz. For the first step I prefer to use cheaper oils because they work just as effectively as the pricier ones (my favorite cheapie is this garnier one.) For the second step, this oil has been my go to as of late. It's wonderful at containing my frizz (which I've got a lot of #curlygirlprobz) and it does so without making my hair oily! I also like to use it when I haven't washed my hair for a few days and my hair is feeling dry. I'll work some into my ends and my hair instantaneously feels softer.

Blendercleanser solid (available at sephora, birchbox, beauty.com, macy's): This cleaner makes me want to start singing "where have you been all my life? life? life? life? life? life?" a la Rihanna. As hard as it is to believe, I actually look forward to cleaning my brushes thanks to this guy. It makes cleaning my makeup brushes and beauty blender so much easier! I have tried other bar soaps before but I find that they a) get used up really fast and b) make my brushes way too soapy which just elongates the whole cleaning process. It doesn't leave any scent or residue on my brushes after cleaning and works perfectly with both drugstore and high end brushes.

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Hourglass ambient lighting palette (available at sephora, nordstrom, barney's): When I bought this palette at the beginning of the year, I had really mixed feelings about it. I had read so many hyped up reviews about how it was such a versatile powder and could be used dozens of different ways-- as a highlighter, as an all-over-the-face powder, as a bronzer, etc. And because I bought the palette with that in mind, I was sorely disappointed.

But once I figured out a way to make the ambient lighting palette work for my skin tone, I was glad I had had sprung out the big bucks for it. Using a fluffy face brush, I swirl it through all three and then swipe it up across my cheeks to my temples. It adds a warm glow, hides my pores, and creates a cool "flawless" factor to my look. And who doesn't want that?!