Hey hey end of April!

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

I loved this month. It was fast and I think it even snowed but I still loved it nonetheless.

A bunch of you have asked to see where I keep my makeup but I don’t have anything special. I keep almost everything in one of those train cases you can get at ulta (think a newer caboodles!) and mine is about ten years old and falling apart. I have a makeup bag (you can see it here) that has my everyday products in it, and I rotate the things in there. I keep eyeshadow palettes stacked under my sink next to the train case and keep lip glosses/sticks in a little basket there too. The train case holds all single eyeshadows (mostly MAC & urban decay), blushes (a couple tarte & MAC), liners, powders, brushes, etc – everything! We have little to no cabinet space in our bathroom so I can’t hoard as much as I’d like.

Let’s talk about face stuff. After all those months of waiting for the Josie Maran moisturizer to be reformulated, I bought it last month and totally HATE it. It’s insanely sticky. I’ve given it three weeks of use and it’s crap. I can barely move it on my face, it’s that thick and sticky. Makes no sense. I’ve read some reviews saying the new version seems more moisturizing but I do not agree. It’s like I’m wiping glue into my skin. I can surely keep it on hand for sunscreen emergencies, but there is no way I can use it as a daily moisturizer. Which means I’m still looking for one, preferably without tons of junk in it. Since it’s something I wear on my face all day everyday, I’d like to keep it as simple as possible. With sunscreen, of course.

I’m still using the beauty booster serum that I talked about last month and am l-o-v-i-n-g it. My skin isn’t quite as dry but I’m sure that’s due to the weather. Sooo below is what I’ve really been reaching for all month.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Speaking of sunscreen, remember this sun bum stick I bought last summer? It’s almost finished now but it’s been perfect for late afternoon walks. I keep it in my kitchen and come mid day if I venture out on a little walk, it’s perfect to add some quick sunscreen to my face since it’s been hours since I applied moisturizer. Plus, it smells like wonderful fruity bananas or something. I adore it. Also perfect to keep in my purse. Definitely going to get another one of these this year. I find mine at Ulta.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Another little sunscreen I grabbed was this Shiseido 50+ at Sephora. This is actually a mini bottle (the 1 ounce) so again, fits perfectly in my purse. The consistency of this stuff is awesome. It’s not greasy by any means and some days I could probably get away with using it as moisturizer. They have larger versions too, but I doubt I’ll grab one of those since they are pretty pricey. I like the neutrogena sport face SPF 70 too, which costs much less.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Lip things! Still love on the NYX butter gloss. I like this because I don’t even need a mirror to apply it and it smells like cake. I want to eat it up. Yeah yeah, I sound like a broken record.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Last month I bought a bite beauty cashmere lip cream in moscato. It happens to be super close color-wise to MAC’s candy yum-yum, which is one of my all-time favorite lip colors and one I’ve lost. I’m sure it’s stashed in a pocket or purse somewhere but I haven’t been able to find it for months. The texture of this lip cream is awesome – it’s not totally matte but it’s close. It is still moisturizing though too. And gorgeously bright and wonderful. LOVE. I want more of these.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

I also got one of the bite beauty matte creme lip crayons and this one is in kumquat. Again, so super smooth and not drying at all. These kind of remind me of the revlon matte balm stains, but the bite beauty versions are supposedly “better” for you – like food grade ingredients. This color is perfect for spring and summer and doesn’t quite match the other two revlon matte balms I have. Really like these things.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

I know I’ve mentioned this MAC paint pot quite a bit, but it’s easily my favorite shade. I’m not completely nuts over these paint pots because I feel like they dry out quickly (I actually like the maybelline color tattoos better), but this matte shade in stormy pink is so pretty. It’s a pinkish/purplish/grey shade and is awesome underneath the naked 3 palette…

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Which brings me to my next favorite. Last month I had whipped out my naked 2 palette but I think I can say for certain that my choice out of the three would be this third one. I love these shades with my green eyes. For everyday, I get a lot more use out of the first seven shades, but I also use the other half quite a bit too. This was just MADE for me.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Mascara loves of the month are loreal voluminous in carbon black and maybelline the falsies flared. I’m pretty much done buying expensive mascaras because I love these two so much – unless we are talking about the purple and burgundy versions of YSL fauxcils because those… I flip over.

Sometimes I mix these two, sometimes I wear them alone, it just depends. I find that there are days when I prefer one over the other but it’s never set in stone. Both work on my super stubby lashes.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Another oldie but goodie is my milk chocolate soleil bronzer. I KNOW. I won’t shut up about it. Perfect shade, smells like chocolate. There is nothing else to be said. If you have fair skin, you need this.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

This blush is one of my only estee lauder products and I bought it last spring. I think that I love it so much because it reminds me of something I’d have in the 90s. Actually, it’s so 80s. This is the gelee blush in tease and is the prettiest shade of shimmery pink. As long as my eye makeup is fairly natural, this adds a pretty glow to the cheeks. But if I have a ton of eye makeup on? Then I look like 1987.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

Still working through my little high beam sample and loving it. I have checked out all the other shades of benefit’s highlighters and this is easily my favorite. I actually can’t find another liquid/cream highlighter that I like as much. And I only use a few drops on my cheeks. This.lasts.forever.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

If you follow me on instagram, then these nail choices should come as no surprise. These two shades are from butter london’s spring collection last year – fruit machine and molly coddled. They are just the perfect radiant orchid-like colors. I’m a sucker for those.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

I’m also still really liking the the nirvana white elizabeth and james fragrance. I wore the black a good bit in winter but this seems more springy to me. Definitely a change from my usual, but it smells like heaven.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

For the first time in 1.5 years, I’m talking about something different in hair! You know I’m obsessed with the macadamia oil deep repair masque (and I still am), but I saw this alba mask in whole foods a few weeks ago and grabbed it. It was much cheaper than the macadamia one and I tend to love alba products. I’ve used it about five times so far and I’m really liking it. I’m currently out of my macadamia tub, but I want to compare them on consecutive days and see which I prefer.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

And this one smells delicious too.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

And talking about good enough to eat: desert essence coconut lotion. GAH. This stuff. Sometimes whole foods has it on sale and that’s when I’ll grab it. I’ve used multiple bottles of this stuff over the years and never get over how delicious it smells. I think I like the scent better than the trader joe’s coconut body butter. Adore. My creme de corps is almost finished so I’m alternating between this and the estee lauder bronze goddess I talked about last month.

april beauty favorites I howsweeteats.com

That’s a wrap for this month. Let me know what you’re loving! I’m eyeing that too faced chocolate bar eye palette but I sooooo do not need another eye palette. I have all the naked palettes and a few more on top of that. It’s so not necessary. Trying not to cave. What are you freaking over? Please tell me you have a fantastic daytime moisturizer you love.

{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. 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!}