I’m excited for today’s gift guide with my favorite skincare line today. I’ve been using TULA all year and just love all their products. When I got pregnant I fell more in love with them because they’re safe to use during pregnancy, but they’re great for all ages and skin types. I have so many friends that have starting using them and say they’ve seen a change in their skin. I only want to share the best with you and TULA is at the top of my list.

I’ve been so lucky and have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far. No first trimester morning sickness or anything other than crazy fatigue and hunger, but it’s still been an adjustment. I was prepared for all the diet modifications and lists of foods and drinks that were off-limits, what I wasn’t prepared for was all the beauty products you can’t use. Obviously anything you put on your skin is absorbed into your blood stream, and you don’t want those things to harm baby. Luckily I’ve found (and already had a few) great pregnancy approved products I wanted to share.

belli oil, palmers belly butter, bio oil, pouf

Just a quick post to share some summer beauty favorites. I try to keep it as low maintenance as possible in the summer. Who wants to spend time under a hair dryer/putting a lot of makeup on when it’s so hot out?! I recently tested a few new products that I ended up loving and wanted to share.

Before I received these oval makeup brushes from My Makeup Brush Set, I’d probably been using the same old set for 5 years. This one is a game changer, I’m really able to blend my makeup and have even been experimenting with contouring…. something I was so intimidated by before.

makeup brushes c/o, world market pouf, wayfair rug

I love Voluspa candles and have bought this set the last few years. I like a to buy a few to have on hand for gifts.

 – Shop all my beauty picks –

In the summer I like to cut back on my beauty routine. Less makeup, less shampoo and heat styling my hair. Which means I look for low maintenance products that still do some heavy lifting. Most days I apply tinted moisturizer, mascara, lipgloss and put a little dry shampoo in my air-dried hair and I’m out the door. Here are my current favorite products helping me get through the summer heat.

Happy Wednesday – thanks for reading!

If there’s one makeup product I can’t live without, it’s mascara. I’m a bit of an addict and usually have about six different ones floating around my makeup drawer. I have a few favorites but am always up to try out a new one. Until recently my all-time favorite was this one from Benefit. I love it and always end up going back to it, but I decided to mix it up and try a few to review.

The Good:

Too Faced Better than Sex. Everything about this mascara is perfect. Love the brush, love the way it goes on without clumping and seems to stay put all day. This is huge. I usually do my makeup around 5:15 am so I depend on a product to get me through the day.

L’Oreal Voluminous. This one was my favorite in high school and my lashes always looked long and healthy so I decided to go back to it. It’s pretty much the same 10+ years later and is a great budget friendly mascara. I’m really picky about brushes but I love this one.

L’Oreal Voluminous Superstar. Another great drug store buy, this mascara kicks it up a few notches. It has a dual brush with one side for primer and one for the mascara. The primer goes on white and makes it easy to see where you’ve applied and where you need to go with mascara. It’s great for length and volume but does smear a bit after a few hours.

The Bad:

Maybelline Colossal Spider Effect. The brush is terrible, it’s bristles are short and it’s hard to apply and what you do apply ends up clumping. I didn’t notice any spider-like length to my lashes.

Les Watier. I’m not sure where I should start with this one. I was optimistic because the brush is great, but I can’t say the same thing about the product. It’s extremely hard to saturate the brush and once you do (or think you do) it doesn’t add much to your lashes. I honestly felt like I didn’t get any product out of the tube. I thought maybe I got a defective tube but asked a friend who also bought one and she had the same experience.

So there you have it. The good, the bad and the few I’ll buy again!