July 2013 Favorites

As I say every time I put up a favorites post, I honestly cannot believe that another month has come and gone. This time, it's even more dramatic as this will be my last month before starting a huge chapter in my life: university!! It's so crazy I can't believe it, much less think about it, so let's just get right on into my favorites for the past month (which is much more lighthearted).

Starting off with beauty, July was a pretty busy month for me. Traveling to London and picking up another job definitely limited my time spent daily on makeup. Therefore, I only wore the essentials to combat the summer heat as anything else would have been complete overkill.

I wore my Maybelline BB Cream all throughout the month after it sitting in my foundation drawer for a while. I pulled it out at the beginning of the month and wanted something light, but still gave enough coverage to keep me satisfied. I wore it all throughout my trip to London and still reach for it now in the mornings when I rush off to work. The color 'light' works well on me in the summer as the shade is quite dark, so it's not something I turn to in the winter. That being said, I'm truly loving it at the moment.

For the eyes, I only have two favorites for the month as I've tried to keep it low-key in this area. I personally don't have very oily lids, but I still can feel shadows rub off when it gets too hot so I try to stick to mainly creams and bases during the hottest summer days. This is where the amazing Stila Smudge Pot in 'Kitten' comes in. It's a cream shadow that I've owned for quite some time and love to death. While I do have to admit that it dries out pretty quickly, I'm still able to use it and have a gorgeous shimmery eye. On top of that, I've been loving my Too Faced Natural Eye Palette on days when I can actually be bothered to work with shadow. That being said, even on those days I typically stick with just two shadows: '' and ''. Blended over the Stila cream base, the eye looks so dramatic even though it's only a three product look; perfect for summer!

Oh boy. If I had to choose an ultimate, absolute, perfect favorite of the month (if not summer) it would have to be this combo of the Revlon lipstick in '' and Revlon lipgloss in ''. This lipgloss was talked about by several bloggers and YouTubers when it launched with Revlon's new package design and being intrigued, I had to go pick it up myself. I completely understand the hype with the lipgloss and I'm not joking when I say that I've worn it almost every single day. It's flavorless, odorless, not sticky, and just all around a great lipgloss. Worn over the lipstick, the combination lasts for several hours without needing to be touched up and the coral color looks good on so many skin tones, it's a must for any fellow coral lovers out there.

Moving onto nails, I have one nail favorite of the month, which is Essie's "Come Here". I purchased this polish quite a while ago and it has been the color I have worn on my toes every single month since then. I almost always have gone for wearing red polish on the toes so the first time I tried this polish on, it was a huge deal as it was a step out of my comfort zone. However, I haven't regretted it once and find myself reaching for this polish time and time again.

Transitioning into hair, this may be a first for me as I don't recall having any hair products featured in a favorites. I have been loving the "Not Your Mother" dry shampoo and use it almost daily as I've been seriously trying to cut back on washing my hair now that it's 3/4 blonde and I'd hate to ruin the color and texture any more than I already have. This dry shampoo is a clear favorite of mine from all the many I have tried. It doesn't leave any marks on my brunette roots and provides a light and clean feeling to my bangs when they feel too gross for words.

Now onto the fun part: random favorites! I'm only going to mention one random favorite this month as I feel like I've been blabbing on enough already. No surprise, it's music related as I tend to mention every month. My first music favorite has to be Jay Z's Holy Grail... Magna Carta album, which is one of my all-time favorite records of his (and he has quite a lot). I love the features with other artists on the album and cannot wait to hear him live when I see him in just a few weeks in concert. My last music favorite has to be a band called The Neighbourhood. I heard their song "Sweater Weather" on an 8tracks playlist and I fell in love and had to investigate further. I ended up loving almost all of their songs and definitely want to try to see them in concert when they come around my area in the fall.

And that wraps up my July favorites! I hope you all enjoyed and I can't wait to be reading everyone else's favorites of the month - See you next post!