Hey Guys!

Hope you’re all doing well. I was travelling for most of the month of May to Japan and will definitely need to post about that wonderful trip. So this month most of my favorites were travel oriented haha!

Prior to my departure, I just popped into Sephora and bought a bunch of the mini kits (and retrieved some point perks as well) so I could use travel sized products of all my beauty favorites on the go. You do need to down size when travelling but I take that quite literally in the size of the products I take with me, I don’t actually down size the NUMBER of beauty items I use… cheeky-much?

Benefit Surgalicious : Deliciously Nude Lip & Cheek Kit

This kit comes in a cute box with a decent sized mirror, a blush brush and a tips and tricks  booklet on how to use the products. It contains :

– Benetint – Cheek and Lip stain (4ml)

I love this product, it’s very liquidy and little goes a long way. It’s a very pretty rose color. You do have to work with it fast because it will set and then not go anywhere. It’s perfect for my combination skin as a blush and I love layering it with a powder blush (such as Sugarbomb) for extra long staying power when I’m out and about doing touristy things from the break of day till night time.

Because I have dry lips, I don’t love using this as a lip stain. Stains aren’t the most hydrating products out there. However I can still do it in combination with a lip balm. My favorite combo is with the Dior Lip Glow I mentioned in My November 2015 Favorites.

– High Beam –  Liquid Face highlighter (4ml)

This is a great liquid highlighter that gives you a satiny pink glow that isn’t quite subtle so you can tell it’s there but it’s not glittery either which I don’t care for in a highlighter. As with a lot of liquid products, I enjoy layering a powder over especially if you’ll be in hot or humid weather (which was the case in Japan). Also pink highlighters aren’t my go to as I tend to gravitate towards champagne ones the most. A powder can give a champagne slant to the color if needed. But if you are in regular weather or happen to have dry skin then there’s no need for an extra step.

– Sugarbomb – Blush (3g)

This blush gives a beautiful neutral flush to the cheeks. Actually Benefit claims it gives you a “sugar rush flush” haha! It actually combines 4 different shades of  rose, shimmering pink, soft plum, and peach. They do blend very well together and come out natural looking. It goes with a variety of makeup looks, you can’t go wrong with this one ! The brush isn’t my favorite but it does come in handy when traveling, you can make it work.

– Ultra plush sugarbomb (6.5ml)

This ultra plush lip gloss is the perfect pinky nude color on those care free days when you don’t want to wear a high maintenance lip. It compliments a lot of eye looks from very natural to dark and smoky. It’s not too sticky and it’s quite comfortable to wear.

You can pop the insert out and reuse it to store miscellaneous items, jewelry, hair pins etc… I didn’t take the box with me on the trip as it was too bulky but just used the travel sized products in my toiletry case that I just adore and will also have to post about. It retails for 31,50€ which is not bad for the products that will last you a good while.

Too Faced Totally Obsessed Set

This set comes with the perfect travel sized Too Faced best of Products ever :

– A Better Than Sex Mascara

You know I love this mascara as one of my all time favorites. I’ve mentioned this in My October 2015 Favorites. It’s still true to this day, so getting a back up through this set was a great selling point for me. I tend to stick to some makeup staples that really work for me, and I keep using them consistently, even if I don’t mention them every month in my favorites, or it would get boring really fast !

– Chocolate Soleil matte bronzer,

Same goes for this lovely chocolate smelling bronzer! I raved about it in My September 2015 Favorites and still love it. Matte bronzers are my favorite with my combination skin, I like to control the shine on my face and be matte every where else. I also believe travelling for three weeks isn’t the best time to try out a new product that might not agree with you and that you could end up being stuck with for the remainder of your trip! So my advice is to stick to what you know works for you and avoid the hassle.

– Melted Liquefied Long Wear Lipstick in Chihuahua

I had never tried the Too Faced Melted Lipsticks and I was really curious about them after seeing all the YouTube videos they were featured in. I was reluctant to buy the full size because I love my lips to feel very hydrated and I was afraid these long wear liquid lipstick types wouldn’t do that for me.

I was pleasantly surprised at how nice they felt on the lips. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t say they are hydrating but this lipstick certainly didn’t dry out my lips or at least not initially. I’d have to use lip balm after a couple of hours, but I tend to do that with a lot of lip products. I love the precise applicator which felt really nice.

Chihuahua is a muted dusty mauve. Mauve being one of my fave lip colors it was just perfect. Even for a more neutral color, it is very pigmented and while I wouldn’t qualify it as a stain per say it definitely packs a punch!

– Shadow Insurance

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you know my go-to eye shadow base is the Urban Decay Primer Potion. It even ranked in my Best of 2015 post! But I’ve been back and forth with the Shadow Insurance primer and I have to say I really do like it. What I really like is that it’s paraben free. I also love the squeeze tube packaging that was a big plus over the less user friendly Urban Decay one prior to their revamping it.

– Hangover Replenishing Face Primer

I have combination skin so I’m always on the hunt for a great face primer that’ll help my makeup go on smoothly but most of all that will prolong the wear of my foundation. I love the Benefit Porefessional Primer (mentioned in my guest post on the lovely Bronaghsbeautyandbooks)  but I thought it would be great to try a different one and see what happens. This product is really comfortable to wear and I love how nicely it goes on. It hydrates the skin and is infused with coconut water, so I really felt the difference with the Porefessional which is silicony feeling. While it doesn’t bother me, the Hangover primer does feel better on the skin.

However I can’t say this has increased the wear time of my foundation. To be fair this primer claims to smooth and brighten your skin for a dewy healthy looking finish. It’s not meant for a matte look. I think I’ll keep this more during winter time when it’ll be a better match for my needs.

Bobbi Brown Neutral eye palette

When traveling a great neutral eye shadow palette with a decent sized mirror and a nice dual ended brush just make things a lot smoother. I mentioned this Bobbi Brown palette in my 10 Great Mother’s Day Gift Inspiration post and I have to say this works perfectly for travel and not just beauty lover moms out there!

It’s a 10 Miracle Leave-in Light

I purchased this travel size during my NYC trip back in November of last year. I post about it in my Big NYC Drugstore Haul, and thought I would bust it out for my trip to Japan. The spray application makes it mess free and very easy to use when traveling. I really loved how it detangled my hair and treated it all in one go without having to wait for it sink in like with a mask and need to rinse it out like with a conditioner.

When you stay at hotels, I can mostly get by on the shampoos provided, but the conditioners usually don’t cover it for me. In Japan I was pleasantly surprised that most hotels carry Shiseido products, so I had nothing to complain there! I love using a leave in product after my shower though. I really do recommend you try this product out. I wouldn’t say it actually does all the 10 things it claims to perfection but it does the main ones I care about and that’s all I need!

Benefit Hoola Zero Tanning Kit

With my Sephora Gold  VIB card, I was gifted this nifty Benefit Hoola Zero Tanning Kit. It’s a smaller variation on the Benefit Do the Hoola Beyond the Bronze kit. I had never tried the Hoola Bronzer before so this seemed right up my alley. This kit comes with a mini Hoola Bronzer, a Hoola Zero Tan Lines for a Body self tanner and sponge and a  Hoola Face self tanner.

What are your May monthly favorites or just your travel favorites ?

Xoxo Danetigress

I’d love to chat with you on :

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Links to my favorites:

• Benefit : Benetint – Cheek and Lip stain (USA)  (*)
• Benefit : High Beam –  Liquid Face highlighter (USA)  (*)
• Benefit :Box ‘o Powder Blush in Sugarbomb (USA)
• Benefit : Ultra plush gloss  in Sugarbomb (USA) (*)
• Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara USA (France) (*)
• Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer :  USA &   France  (*)
• Too Faced : Melted Liquefied Long Wear Lipstick in Chihuahua (USA)
• Too Faced : Shadow Insurance (USA)  (*)
• Too Faced: Hangover Replenishing Face Primer (USA)  (*)
• Bobbie Brown Nude on Nude Eye Palette (USA) (*) & (France)
• It’s a 10 Miracle Leave-in Light
• Benefit : Do the Hoola Beyond the Bronze Kit (USA)  (*)
• Benefit : Hoola Matte Bronzer (USA)  (*)
• Benefit : Hoola Zero Tan Lines for a Body (USA)  (*)
• Benefit : Porfessional primer (USA)

(*) Affiliate links