I’ve had this post saved in my calendar for months, and the original title was “2018 Beauty Awards” – but considering it’s already the end of February (whoops!), it seemed fitting to make a tweak to the title accordingly. Honestly, I had all the high hopes that 2019 was going to be the year where I was ahead of schedule and totally had it together – I’m hoping 2020 is my year!

Anyways, I present to you, my favorite beauty products I’m loving these days –  but really, they’re my all-time favorites from 2018 and now.

While my wallet doesn’t always appreciate it, I love trying out new beauty products. It’s one of my favorite little indulgences, and although I’ve been trying to curb my spending (I recently gave up not buying anything – including beauty products – for a month!), I definitely love trying out new products and beauty brands from time to time. And when something actually works magically, I’m always excited to shout my love of it from the rooftops – or at least, this little blog. So here are a few of my new favorite products that I love, and will happily refill if I haven’t already!

Drunk Elephant Magic + Summer Friday’s Mask

I’d heard amazing things about both Drunk Elephant and Summer Friday’s, so when I got a gift card from my family for Christmas, I decided to give these brands a try. And believe me, the hype is real (and worth it!)

I bought two Drunk Elephant products – their Shaba Complex Eye Cream and A-Passioni Retinol Cream, because turning 30 was stressing me out. I’ve been looking for a new eye cream over the past few weeks, and after navigating through the wild world of Sephora reviews, it seemed like everyone and their mom loved this eye cream (believe me, I’ve read a lot of eye cream reviews, usually they’re not so flattering!). I’ve been using it for a few months and I absolutely love it – it’s light, moisturizing, and I’ve seen a noticeable difference with my fine lines under my eyes. I’ve tried so many eye creams over the years, and this one is my new favorite. Use it for a few weeks to give it a shot, it definitely works even better over time.

I’ve been meaning to use Retinol cream for awhile now, and felt like there was no better time to double down on creams than right before my 30th birthday 😉 Again, I went through reviews of a ton of Retinol products and I loved that so many people spoke so highly of Drunk Elephant’s A-Passioni Retinol cream. It’s made of vegan retinol, and is also filled with nourishing, super food ingredients that make it a little less harsh and more natural than other similar creams. I use this about 3 times a week (and mix it with another moisturizer to do double duty) and I’ve been impressed with how firm and nourished my skin has been looking these days.

Summer Fridays mask was another product I saw literally ALL over Instagram – and I’m telling you, I was 100% influenced. But honestly, the hype is real and good because I love this face mask, especially since I’ve been traveling so much with work these days flying back and forth from NYC to Chicago. I have the Jet Lag one (I use mine as a moisturizer vs. a mask most of the time) and it makes my skin super hydrated and soft -especially after traveling!

My Favorite All Natural Skincare Brand – W3ll People

I’ve always wanted to go to (mostly) all natural beauty brands, but it’s been hard to make the move 100%. That’s one of the reasons why I love W3LL People – they take your favorite beauty brands and products and transform them into an 100% all natural, vegan, cruelty free version that’s just as good. Don’t get me wrong, there are still products that I love that I’d never breakup with (like a few of the products in the next picture below!), but it’s nice to have a brand that I can buy the majority of my beauty products from (and at Target) that I know are good for my skin and the planet.

I’ve been using a few of their products recently, including their Bio Based Pressed Powder in fair golden, their black Expressionist mascara, Bio Bronzer Baked Powder in tan, and their amazing lipsticks (my personal favorite being their Optimist semi-matte lipsticks). They’re all pretty magical and work amazingly well (which totally kicks the rumor that all natural beauty products aren’t as effective to the curb).

My Fool-Proof Way to Cover Under Eye Circles

Over the years, I’ve embraced my under-eye circles – but not so much that I still don’t want to hide them. I’ve had circles under my eyes since I was little, so I’ve tried everything in the book to make them go away. These days, I’ve found these three products, used together, that have worked better than anything I’ve tried in the past. And I love them so much, that I’ve convinced my friends to start using them too!

1) Trish McEvoy’s Instant Eye Lift: While I’m usually skeptical of anything with “instant” in the name – this concealer actually does make a dramatic difference after one use. I take the wand and swipe down to make a triangle underneath each eye, and then use my ring fingers to blend around the eye area, down to my cheek bone. It instantly makes me look awake and is light enough that it doesn’t crease easily.

2) NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer: I’ll then add on a layer of NARS creamy concealer to really cover up the under eye circles more. This concealer is the best one I’ve ever used, and it covers up just about anything!

3) Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder for Under Eyes: Last but not least, I’ll add some of Laura Mercier’s Secret Brightening Powder under my eyes to help brighten and ensure that my concealer stays put all day long. I used to have issues with my concealer creasing or not staying put all day long – and this stuff is magical for keeping your under eye coverage in tact all day long. I usually use a powder brush to brush it on under my eyes (make sure you have an excess amount that you can brush off!), and leave it on for 10-20 seconds to help my concealer set. It instantly brightens and keeps everything in place until you wash off your under eye concealer at the end of the day!

A New Favorite (and Local!) Hair Care Line

I used to live in Appleton, Wisconsin for a few years, where I went to school at Lawrence University, and then worked for a few years in the city after I graduated at a few social media jobs. Antidote 1848 is a new hair care company that creates salon quality hair care and styling products made with all natural ingredients, like organic apple cider vinegar, organic sunflower oil, organic coconut, and natural Shea butter – they even use Wisconsin cranberries too!

All of their products are made with plant based ingredients, and the products smell absolutely amazing too! I’ve been using their Ginseng Shampoo and Keratin Conditioner for a few months now, and my hair honestly looks so much healthier and shinier since I started using it. After using Antidote 1848, I also started looking at the ingredients of my tried and true hair care products, and was shocked at all the synthetic ingredients that hair care companies get away with adding into products you buy at the grocery store. Needless to say, I’ll be buying a lot more of these clean hair care products in the future!

Phew – that was a longer post than I intended it to be, but I clearly love all these products and have quite a bit to say 😉

So tell me – what products are you loving these days that are worth trying out? There’s nothing worse than being excited to try our a beauty product only to be disappointed, so I’ve been finding reader and friend recommendations to be the most useful these days. Let me know what you couldn’t live without, and I’ll try to give it a try too! xx

Shop the products in this post here!