My Monday Face is a series here on Cocoon that covers my ever-growing obsession with beauty products and how I use them for fun, even on Mondays.
I’ve finished my third month here in tropical Singapore, and man! It has been warm. Now I might just be a spoiled Northern Californian here, but every time I step outside, I swear the humidity will suck out my soul. Traveling and living in a region notorious for its heat, I keep the makeup collection as pared-down as my heart can stand. I won’t lie; it’s been hard— last month I had a blissful dream about the rest of my cosmetics which no doubt lies packed up on a shelf somewhere in my sisters’ room. However, with term papers and heavily weighted finals galore, I find myself wearing less and less paint on my face every week. Here’s typically what I bring while I’m traveling— the ultimate minimal stash, a capsule wardrobe but for face stuff.
A lot of these products have been featured in previous posts; no wonder, because they’re my tried-and-true. I brought three backups of my NYX Microbrow; though at this point I don’t even do my brows every day anymore, I remember a devastating morning last semester where I was getting ready for work around 6am and as I twisted up the brow pencil, it had run out. I kid you not, I immediately broke into a cold sweat. Now I know that seems dramatic, but as a reformed hooligan (more on that in the future), I can say even I would tease me for my eyebrows. After that chilling incident, I vowed never to be unprepared for an eyebrow pencil shortage again. The day NYX stops selling their Microbrow is the day I shave my eyebrows off. (Don’t hold me to that; please, I’m begging you.)
Milani’s Luminoso is extremely popular in the beauty world for good reason. It’s the perfect peachy flush of color and has a permanent spot in my spring/summer rotation. There’s something magical about the way it just lifts one’s appearance. Since the weather inevitably dooms me to perspiration, I figured I might as well continue on the glowy trajectory. I really enjoy Colourpop’s Wisp for this— it’s a bit too gold while I’m in Boston, but now that I’ve significantly browned, it’s the perfect champagne shimmer. Sweat or highlight? Definitely both.
I’ve been favoring a sort of smudgy eye for a good amount of time now, and I use the matte brown in the travel-friendly IBY Beauty palette with my finger. Honestly, I just rub that one color all around my eye and call it a day. It’s the perfect color and formula, toeing the line between warm and cool, pigmented and blendable. The shimmer shades in the palette are good as well; I hardly touch them for efficiency’s sake. The messy, easy vibe I’m going for is finished with several coats of Benefit’s They’re Real!, a cult favorite. To be honest, Maybelline’s Lash Sensational has and continues to be my favorite mascara by far, but They’re Real! isn’t too bad either. I find it does a good job of lifting the lashes and staying put, though Lash Sensational holds a curl better.
Finishing off with lipstick, my love. These three liquid lips from Colourpop are the only lip products I brought to Singapore with me; clearly I wasn’t thinking about formula diversity. I haven’t missed a proper, standard lipstick this much in ages. Though these tend to be on the drier side, their lasting power is undeniable and the colors are all beautiful. Bumble is a bright rose, Wild Nothing a plummy brown. After getting bored of the full-on effect liquid lipsticks tend to have, I now often wear these shades smeared over a thick layer of lip balm, which makes them much more moisturizing and creates a nice faded look that I’ve been favoring. Saigon is the punchiest red I own and screams “Instagram me; I look like vacation!”
And that’s it for my makeup capsule collection. It’s all about brush-free application and lots of smearing around. Stay tuned for product reviews and actual looks once I return to the States!