Hello beauties! I hope you all had a great weekend. I was over the river and through the woods, visiting Mr. Danger’s family this weekend. I think they enjoyed the blush swatches on my arm and didn’t think I was strange at all. I take that back, they know me too well. Anyway, I’m back with my July Favorites!

Makeup

Really, my favorite thing of July was not writing 678 papers for grad school, but there were also several cheapo makeup products I found myself using again and again.

1. Too Faced Chocolate Soliel Bronzer You might be thinking, “Rebs, this is not a budget product. Get it together, girl.”

You would be right. However, I’ve been using the deluxe sample size of the Chocolate Soliel Bronzer that I got in the $20 Beauty Blogger Darling set from Sephora. (I’ve also seen this bad boy at Ulta.)

For $20 these are perfect sizes for me to try out some of Too Faced’s most popular products, and I’ve been using the Chocolate Soliel daily.

I thought this might be too dark on my light skin, but I have a lot of warm tones that I think it blends well with.

Also it smells like chocolate. I feel like that give its 50 points alone.

2. Brown eyeliner

I don’t know why, but recently black eyeliner has been feeling like a huge effort. Combined with the fact that I’ve also been wearing a lot of shimmery neutral eye shadows, I’ve been leaning more towards brown eyeliner lately.

My favorite at the moment is the Jordana 12 hour Made to Last Liquid Eyeliner Pencil in Espresso Last. I got this for $2.99 at my Walgreens, and it reminds me of Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencils.

One con with this eyeliner is if I don’t let it set, it does smear. I also don’t get more than 6 hours out of it, but I have really watery eyes, so it could be just me. Overall though, it’s a great eye liner for me.

3. e.l.f’s Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal In the summer, I love wearing highlighter. It makes me feel sunny and beachy. But I also love being cheap. The internet told me this was a great dupe for Benefit’s High Beam, so I took a HUGE risk and paid $1 for this e.l.f product.

In my opinion it’s not the perfect dupe for High Beam, but it’s still a pretty, ridiculously cheap highlighting product. I wish it was a little bit more blendable, but I can’t really complain for $1.

4. NYX’s Chunky Dunk in Berry Mojito There’s no way we are going to get through a Favorites post without a NYX product. Although I already talked about my love for the Butter Lipsticks and Butter glosses, I actually used the new Chunky Dunks a lot this summer.

Though they’re not my favorite lip product, (they aren’t long lasting and their color is very sheer), they are about as low maintenance as you get. When I was in a hurry and wanted a bit of color, I’d reach for this hydrating “lippie”, (as NYX describes it, you will never hear me utter that word).

I have Sex on the Beach (a red-coral), Rum Punch (a mauvy color on me), and my favorite, Berry Mojito, (a berry shade).

And those drink names. Perfect for summer.

5. Rainbow Honey’s Pikake Glitter Topper

Hi, my name is Rebs, and I’m a glitter addict.

I got this top coat in my June Rainbow Honey mini bag, and I’ve been wearing it in some fashion or other for the past month. (And if you want to know if $12.95 for a mini bag subscription is worth it, check out this post on Rainbow Honey).

I’ve worn Pikake over purple, pink, and red nail polish. I’ve used it as an accent nail, on my toenails, and I’m this close to painting my house with it. It’s pretty, glittery, and feminine.

6. Tarte’s Maracuja C-brighter Eye Treatment

Full disclosure: At any given time I am fighting dark circles and major bags under my eyes. My family is delightfully genetically inclined to them and my little brother charmingly calls them our, “crack eyes.” (He’s got a way with words.)

Very few eye creams have done anything for me, but I like this one. I got this Tarte deluxe sample from Sephora as part of their Tarte Bright by Night Skincare Set, (it also came with Pure Maracuja oil) for about $10.

Pro tip: It’s not listed on their website, but I found it in my local store by the register. My under eyes do look brighter, (I documented it with pictures too, because I am a junior scientist, but they’re pretty unappealing photos of my bags. Just use your imagination) and at the very least some of my fine lines caused by dry skin have gone away due to the moisturizing effect.

The full size product of this costs about $38 and I might save up for it. My little sample is 0.088 ounces and a little bit goes a long way. A full size could last you FOREVER.

Life

It’s not all makeup, grad school and beer in my life. Occasionally I have other hobbies, here’s some other loves of the month:

1. House of Cards

Sometimes it takes me awhile to catch on to things, (ex: I started blogging in 2014), and I finally marathon watched this juicy drama about a ruthless congressman.

2. Blueberry-Mint Frozen Gimlet from Cooking Light

This recipe is delicious and easy, all you need is a blender. If alcohol isn’t your thing, or your under 21, just leave out the gin. Then pretend you are on a antebellum porch sipping your cocktail.

3. My new planner from Target

I love office supplies, and I especially love calendars. While I think my coworkers’ Erin Condren planners are super cute, I believe $50 is best spent on beauty supplies. So I got this planner from Target a few weeks ago for $10.

4. Mr. Danger’s Cappuccinos

Summer mornings are a lot slower at the Danger household. Therefore Mr. Danger has been making us delicious cappuccinos, but not with a fancy machine, with a Stovetop Espresso Maker and a Glass Milk Frother. We got ours from Amazon, and the whole project costs about $30 and takes about 10 minutes.

So those are my July favorites, most of which I hope fit into your beer budget. Let me know if you’ve tried any of these products and what you think!

Questions of the Day:
1. What are your July favorites?
2. Any must haves for August? (Mine are textbooks. Boo.)
3. Do you love office supplies too?

Love,

Rebs!