March 2013 Favorites

In a lot of ways, March felt like a really long month. 

I went to Vegas, came home sick, had a ton of work to catch up on, and took a quick weekend trip for Easter -- it just seemed to go on and on.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. 

Besides being sick and all the work, it was a pretty great month.

And there were a few pretty great products that I definitely relied on in March.

But the unquestionable star of the month was definitely my Beauty Blender.

Beauty Blender Sponge

I'm actually on my third or fourth set of Beauty Blenders, so I've long known how great they are for applying foundation, particularly when you have dry skin.  Somehow, though, I always seem to move away from using it and go back to my brushes just because they are a little quicker to use.

This month, though, I had an epiphany.

With my dry skin, there's no brush that can give me as smooth and flawless a finish as this little sponge.

I also started using it to blend my concealer this month and I could kick myself for not trying it that way before.

I can't say that I'll never use a brush to apply my foundation again, but I think a Beauty Blender will be my foundation application tool of choice forevermore.

(Which means I could potentially be stuck spending quite a pretty penny for these things every few months.  If you've tried the Beauty Blender and one of the drugstore dupes and can recommend one of the cheaper alternatives, please, please, please do so in the comments below.)

When it came to face products, I found myself reaching for my Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream quite a bit.

Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream

I've mentioned this product several times in the past (you can read a full review here) and what I usually say is that of all the American BB creams I've tried, this one is most like the traditional Asian options.  It feels like a tinted moisturizer but delivers the coverage of a light foundation with a nice, glowy finish.

I wore it everyday that I was in Vegas because it's perfect for vacation or anytime that you're in a hurry since you can apply it really quickly and easily with your fingers. 

I'm almost done with this tube and I'll definitely be repurchasing when it's finished.

There were two lip products that got heavy play from me this month. 

The bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in Sparkplug was my go-to gloss in March.

BE Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in Sparkplug

It is the perfect dusty pink shade with subtle golden shimmer for everyday wear.  I brought it to Vegas and it's been in my bag ever since.  It pretty much goes with anything.

When I wasn't wearing Sparkplug in March, I was probably wearing the CoverGirl Lip Perfect Jumbo Gloss Balm in Rose Twist.

CoverGirl Lip Perfect Jumbo Gloss Balm in Rose Twist

Like Sparkplug, it's a great everyday lip color but it's a brighter rosy pink so it really perks up a pale complexion.

In general, I don't really let the seasons dictate what color makeup I wear -- I'll wear a bright lip in February and I'll wear a deep berry in the August.  The only exception to that is my nail color.  I pretty much only wear dark shades in winter and bright shades in summer.

And nothing screams spring to me more than pastel and nude colored polishes.  That's why I wore Zoya's Kennedy and Kendal pretty much all month.

Zoya Kennedy (l.) & Kendal (r.) Nail Polishes

Kennedy is creamy beige shade with just enough pink in it to not wash out my super pale skin. It's opaque in two coats and lasts about a week without significant chipping with a topcoat.

Kendal is a creamy pale lilac shade that was the perfect polish to wear for Easter.  It's opaque in two coats too, but I only get about 4 to 5 days of wear without significant chipping even with a topcoat.

I love both polishes and will probably wear them like crazy in April too.


Other Random March favorites --

• Vegas.  Everything about it.  I wish we could go back tomorrow.
• The Mets naming David Wright captain.  About damn time.
• The Islanders getting themselves firmly in the NHL playoff hunt. About damn time too.
• Netflix Instant.  In addition to watching tons of obscure horror movies, I've been catching up on whole seasons of shows that I somehow missed before. In particular, White Collar (Is Matthew Bomer the most beautiful man on earth?  I seriously think he could be. Reason enough to watch, for sure, but the show is good fun too.) and The Killing (So wonderfully dark, creepy, and realistic.)
• Cadbury Mini Eggs and White Chocolate M&M's.  Enough said.

What were your favorites for March?