Hiya! I think you’re going to notice a minor theme in my beauty faves this month.

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Um. Someone.

Is obsessed.

With radiant orchid EVERYTHING.

I know I’m a marketer’s dream and all but Pantone REALLY did me in this year by naming it the color of the year. Dying.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Let’s start with nails. Remember how last year I was obsessed with all things mint? Mint jeans, mint nails, mint furniture? Well. This year, it’s lavender and lilac and radiant orchid. For the first half of the month, I had essie lilacism on my nails. Such a gorgeous soft purple. But then, I found my bottle of butter london molly coddled (this was also a favorite last year) and it ruled the last two weeks. Pinkish purpley with my name all over it.

So pretty. I also wore a matte top coat over that during one wear. Loved it.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Okay, this baby is solving my dry skin face issues. You might remember me talking about this trish mcevoy beauty booster serum a few years ago. I loved it, along with the moisturizer. Or should I say, I THOUGHT I loved the moisturizer. I actually did, but I think something in it (maybe too much silicone?) was irritating my face and making it super red. I stopped using it last year when I bought the Josie Maran moisturizer and I guess I stopped using the serum too, because I found a bottle in my bathroom that had about a third left. I started using it at night again and after the second day, was blown away at how much more moisturized my skin was. So then I started using it during the day too.

It was life changing for my face. Seriously.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

I guess it has something to do with hyaluronic acid helping your skin absorb moisture or something like that, but I am talking noticeable differences. No more flakes on my face, no more dry patches, nothing. The downside is that it is so super expensive. It’s actually MORE expensive now than when I last bought it. And even worse, since I’ve been using it twice per day, it goes quickly. You only need a few drops and it’s a very watery consistency. But I love it. This bottle is empty so I did purchase another and am waiting on it. I’m hoping that once the weather warms up, I can go back to using it once per day?

We shall see.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

So speaking of moisturizers, remember last month when I talked about the caudalie vinexpert? Well. After I’d apply it, it would “ball” up on my skin. I thought it was my dry skin just flaking off. I really liked the feel of the cream and thought it was just my face. But after reading reviews, it’s definitely the product. I wanted to like it so much because it gives a little glow and the consistency feels like silk. The bottle is almost gone, so I will still use it on days when I don’t wear makeup – because attempting to put makeup over it is a nightmare.

In the meantime, I grabbed this other sample of caudalie moisturizer in vinoperfect from a sephora rewards box I got in december. This was one of the 500 point perks and I grabbed it after Christmas.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

It still has a little tint and is wonderfully moisturizing but without the downside of the vinoexpert. The jury is still out on whether I will purchase a full size because tonight I’m going to order a new Josie Maran moisturizer since they are available again! I’m semi-devastated though and mad at myself for looking at reviews of the new formulation because it seems like people are hating it.

Seriously hope I love it as much as the old stuff.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

This month on my face, I did something different: I mixed my CC cream and BB cream. WHOA. Totally love this combo. Initially I did this because I self tanned my face (omg come on summer) and needed the dr. jart for a little more color. But as it faded, I started combining the two and it’s just perfect. I use about a half pump of each. Perfect perfect perfect.

Along with that, I’ve almost finished the dark contour shade in my maskcara iiid palette. I LOVE this. Again, I only use the darker shade to contour my cheeks and stuff (since I hate foundation, I don’t use the other side that much) and it’s just the perfect shade for my pasty skin. I’m pretty sure Cara is reformulating or repackaging this product and it will be available later? I might be making that up. Don’t hold me to it.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

You know it’s getting warm when I whip out the bronzer! So. Something happened this month where I just truly COULDN’T STAND the cold and snow anymore and was all “screw it, I’m wearing summer makeup.” It’s hard for me to wear bronzer year round because I’m so pale – I just look like an orange idiot. But my too faced chocolate soliel looks awesome over the maskcara HAC palette on the cheekbones. I adore this stuff too. I’ve gone through one whole compact each summer for the last three years. The milk chocolate shade works better for me since it’s so light.

AND IT SMELLS LIKE CHOCOLATE. Really.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

More of the same – benefit lollitint, probably the third month in a row I’m talking about it but I want to shout from the rooftops how gorgeous the shade is. Cannot get enough. I don’t wear powder on my face since my skin is dry, so I will tap this on my cheeks after the CC/BB cream combo.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Sometimes I’ll add this blush, MAC gentle, on top – it’s such a pretty purplish pink. Other times I’ll just use this if I’m in a rush. This shade is two or three years old but probably one of my favorite MAC products. If I’m not reaching for one of my tarte blushes, I’ll pick this as my go-to pink. It looks very natural, despite the purpleness.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Eyeball thingies: NARS shadow primer is still winning for me. I did try a sample of the too faced shadow insurance and used another little sample of urban decay primer potion (I used that for yearsss) and neither stood up to this. Even if I don’t wear eyeshadow, sometimes I throw this on my lids to even and smooth everything out.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

An oldie but a goodie – naked 2 got a lot of use this month. The shades I reach for everyday include bootycall and tease, but I also used YDK, busted and verve a lot this month. Along with my 24/7 pencil in mushroom. Best neutral shade ever.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Tons of you have been asking me if I bought the urban decay electric palette. I did not… yet. But sadly? I don’t think I’m going to. Yes I love me some neons and for at least ten years, I only wore crazy ass shades on my eyes. These days though, I tend to be doing more neutral shades or even matte shades or just purples – probably because I’m getting old. The other thing is that I feel like I have a version of every shade that is in the palette – mostly MAC shadows that I’ve had for a few years and few old urban decay ones. I kind of want to buy it just to look at it… but I also can’t stand clutter.

So! If you have the electric palette, you have to let me know if you can’t live without it. I’m easily convinced.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

This is going to seem like a weird product, but I dig it. It’s actually a lip exfoliator in stick form. called lip scuff. How about I bought one of these from the body shop for the first time in HIGH SCHOOL?! I can’t believe they still have it! These days I usually use a lip scrub from lush, but when it’s in stick form, you don’t have to use your fingers to get in the scrub pot. It’s not as easy to remove (read: lick off) as the lush scrubs and is more gentle, but I like having it in stick form when I’m in a rush. And it tastes minty.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

More purpley things. From left to right – a frequent favorite from last year, revlon balm stain in darling. I wish they had this shade in the matte versions.

Then bare minerals marvelous moxie in ring leader. I got this with something at ulta months ago, but I really like it – it reminds me of my old favorite MAC dazzleglass, rags to riches.

And NYX butter gloss in merengue. Love these things so much. Some of the most gorgeous moisturizing lip products ever.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

No, I’m not doing anything different with my hair – still flipping my lid over all the macadamia products. And my fave batiste dry shampoo. And the kenra blow dry spray. But I have to take a second to rave again about these little deep repair masque packs. I love the size. They are perfect for traveling because I can get two uses (if you have short hair, you could probably get three or four) and they are so easy to pack.

[P.S. a lot of you have asked me how I deal with the “white cast” from the dry shampoo. I spray it in my hair, crazily use my hands to rub it all through my scalp and my hair. Then let it dry completely – like ten minutes or so – before any styling. The white cast should be totally gone.]

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Hmmm. Do we think I have a perfume rollerball problem? I do, I do.

They are just so cheap! And I get so bored! I mean, I’d love to wear my bond no. 9  perfume all day erryday but I also would like to have money left to eat. Or to buy things that will last, like ridiculous purses.

You may remember that I was super excited for the elizabeth and james perfumes to come out a few months ago. Now my issue is that I really like them both. I have the black bottle – bought because the scent notes tend to be my favorite. I love warm fragrances. But my nose my be changing a bit. I used to hate anything floraly – and mostly still do because it makes me sneeze – but after loving flowerbomb, I decided to give the white version a chance too. And I love it just as much. I think the scent is mostly peony? Or so it says.

Either way, it’s a bit floraly. And delicious. And I like it.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

And I’ve almost demolished this nest midnight fleur perfume. I know I’ve talked about it for four straight months but it smells so good I want to eat it. Please tell me you have since gone and at least tested it. SO FREAKING GOOD.

Like I don’t even understand how this smells so good.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

My dry skin is getting a lot better and while I’m sure I can thank the (slightly, at times) warmer weather for that, I also really think it’s the kiehl’s creme de corps. Mainly because I’ve used the body shop butters for years, but this creme de corps is new to my skin. Heck, maybe it’s the combo of both. I just know I love this. It seems as moisturizing as the butters but it’s not as greasy or thick.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

And! AND. Okay, here is one thing I bought this month. Let me tell you. I don’t use many estee lauder products (though the blush in tease is one of my favorites and I do like the advanced night repair), but my mom sure does. A few weeks ago, she asked me pick her up a bottle of something she needed (that I now can’t remember) and I had to wait at the counter FOR.EV.ER. Sandlot style.

Really, I probably stood at the counter for 20 minutes looking for someone and trying to get help. I don’t know if it was some brilliant sales move, because I ended up buying this ridiculous whipped body cream. I smelled it when I first walked up to the counter. Then as I was standing there and waiting, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I was inhaling my arm where I tested it. Despite the name, bronze goddess is not a self/gradual tanner – just the name of the cream. And I think a perfume, maybe? It smells like straight up summer – like sand and sun and sunscreen (but not coconut). The smell might be reminiscent of old coppertone sunscreen from when I was like ten years old. Regardless – this will be a scent that you will love or hate. For me, it shot me right into a nostalgia spiral and I had to have it.

It’s strong. I will probably only use it on special occasions or when I’m craving summer. And I might not use it on my whole body since it is so strong. But just… go to the counter and smell it. Summer in a jar.

march beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

And that’s all the things! You know what’s up… tell me what you are loving on this month. I still haven’t found any spring things that I’m freaking out over. It’s kind of depressing. I was hoping for some pastels and things like that. I do have my eye on the it cosmetics palette because they all look like shades that I will wear, but I need another palette like I need a hole in the head. Such is life.

{as usual, none of this is sponsored and all of these products were purchased by me. i am not affiliated with any of the companies above, nor do i accept free products from them. just love to talk about what i like, makeup junkie to makeup junkie. there are a few amazon affiliate links above. thank you for being here!}