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My 5 Holy Grail Beauty Products

Beauty
Comments(6)
June 1, 2020

Welcome to Dressed for My Day! I thought we’d take a brief foray into beauty today. While I’m not a professional stylist, I feel a little more comfortable with my fashion sense than I do my beauty expertise. So I rarely venture into this area. But today I’m simply sharing my 5 holy grail beauty products. These are the products I use and probably won’t budge from until they stop making them or they change the formulas. Yes, I like these that much.

I shared my complete natural face makeup routine in a fairly recent post, and little has changed in my product choices since then. (See my recent makeup routine post here.) But I’m generally open to new products and, as a blogger, I kinda feel like it’s part of my job to try out new things.

But the five products I’m sharing today are the ones I’m not budging on anytime soon. These work for me…where other products I tried did not. I’ll share more as we go.

#1 – Benefit Cosmetics The POREfessional Face Primer

I’ll go ahead and start with the one product I have switched to since that last beauty post. I mentioned there that I had tried a sample of the Benefit Cosmetics The POREfessional Face Primer and had ordered it. Well, let me tell you, this is decidedly the best primer for me.

I discovered several years ago that my foundation goes on more smoothly and easily with a primer. And a good foundation primer also helps your foundation stay on better. You can also find primers that minimize pores. Obviously that’s one of the benefits of Benefit The POREfessional Face Primer.

Benefit The POREfessional Face Primer
Benefit The POREfessional Face Primer

This primer truly minimizes my pores and fine lines, creating a smooth surface for makeup application. It goes on easily, has no odor and does not aggravate my skin in any way. I only need a small amount to cover my face.

Application Tip: I do suggest you wash your hands thoroughly after applying and before applying your foundation. I discovered that my foundation was sticking to my fingertips in a weird way and couldn’t figure out what was going on. Then I realized that it was “chalking up” because I had the primer on my fingers. So now I wash my hands between application and have no problem. Works beautifully!

The Benefit The POREfessional Face Primer is a little pricey, but you can also order mini size if you’d like to just give it a try and see if it’s worth the price for you. The one I ordered included the mini as a gift, but I don’t see that offered any longer.

#2 – Stila Hide & Chic Fluid Foundation

I’ve really struggled for the past ten years or so to find a foundation that works well for me. Most foundations felt great going on, but then left me with a sort of web like surface on my skin after just a few minutes of wear. Does anyone else have that problem? I don’t really no how to describe it other than to say my skin had the same appearance of an old timey crackled photograph. Or maybe vinyl that is showing some age. Make sense?

Anyhow, my hunt for a foundation that leaves the surface of my skin smooth is over. Hallelujah! I’m loving the Stila Hide & Chic Fluid Foundation.

Stila Hide & Chic Fluid Foundation
Stila Hide & Chic Fluid Foundation

This foundation is in the mid price range I’d say. There are definitely more expensive foundations out there, but this one isn’t cheap. However, right now it’s available for less than half price. It’s a great time to try it out if you’re hunting for a good makeup.

The Stila Hide & Chic Fluid Foundation is a very thin, silky liquid foundation. But it works beautifully in conjunction with the Benefit The POREfessional Face Primer. Because it’s a thin liquid, you can apply just a little for a very natural look or you can build more coverage by simply applying more. I also love this foundation comes in 30 shades. That’s quite unusual. I wear the shade “light/medium 3” for lighter medium skin tones with neutral undertones, in case you want to know.

#3 – The Original Beautyblender

These first three holy grail beauty products all have to do with creating a beautiful, flawless complexion with the application of foundation. And, while I love the Stila Hide & Chic Fluid Foundation, I’m not sure I’d like the results nearly as much without using the Original Beautyblender. Ever since a friend introduced me to the Original Beautyblender several years ago, I’ve used it faithfully to blend my foundation to a smooth, seamless finish.

beautyblender
The Original Beautyblender

I don’t apply my foundation with The Original Beautyblender. I use my fingertips for application. But I use the Beautyblender to blend it after I get the foundation in place. And I don’t rub it in. I just “bounce” the dampened sponge over my entire face and neck, careful to concentrate on nooks and crannies and along the hairline. The contrast between the before and after is quite startling.

And I’ve tried other brands of similar products, but never liked the results nearly as much. So I’m sticking with The Original Beautyblender until they stop making it. It just works too well for me to mess around with a good thing.

You don’t want to clean your Beautyblender with anything that contains glycogen. So I suggest using the Blendercleanser Solid. The Blendercleanser Solid usually lasts me about 6 months and a Beautyblender usually, with proper care, lasts me for about a year.

#4 – Urban Decay Double Down Brow

Beautifully shaped and filled in brows are like exquisite window dressing on a picture window. They brighten and accentuate your eyes like nothing else. And as we gals get older, we have to take a little more care with our brows. But honestly, I’ve always had to fill in my brows a good bit. I’m a true blonde, and my brows are thin and white. So I lean heavily on a good brow product.

Urban Decay Brow
Urban Decay Double Down Brow

Urban Decay Double Down Brow works beautifully for me. No, I don’t always get it right still. Filling in and shaping your brows is not easy. That’s why so many women opt for more semi-permanent solutions such as microblading. But I haven’t gone there yet, and I doubt I will. So I choose Urban Decay Double Down Brow as my solution. I find I work better with a brush-on powder application (it’s really a putty like powder) instead of a pencil.

The Urban Decay Double Down Brow comes in several different color combinations, but the Taupe Trap is supposed to be universally flattering, and that’s what I wear. I use the It Love Beauty Fully Angled Liner/Brow Brush #217 to apply the product. Then I finish it off with a little brush from my brow brush.

#5 – Lancome Définicils Lengthening and Defining Mascara

My final holy grail beauty item is the one I’ve been using the longest. While I’ve tried other mascaras (and even recommended them) along the way, I always return to my Lancome Définicils Lengthening and Defining Mascara. And I don’t think I’ve venture away again.

Lancome Définicils Lengthening and Defining Mascara
Lancome Définicils Lengthening and Defining Mascara

In the same way that my eyebrows are thin and blonde, so are my eyelashes. They’re short, thin, light colored and sparse. Ugh. And when I use mascaras that other women love, I just end up with big blobs because it takes a lot of mascara for my lashes to even show up. Or maybe it’s because my lashes are so short and the product tends to gloop up on them. I don’t know what my problem is really. I just know that the only mascara that doesn’t gloop and glob on my tiny lashes is Lancome Définicils Lengthening and Defining Mascara. So I’m sticking with it.

Application Tip: I dip my wand in one time and then apply that product on all of my lashes twice. I’ve learned that a little product goes a long way if you use it correctly. Also, be sure to “pull” the product all the way to the end of your lashes, lengthening as you go.

Shop my Holy Grail Beauty Products

The links above and the links in the shopping widget below are affiliate links. If you shop through them and buy anything, I potentially earn a commission, but at no additional cost to you. Thank you for shopping my links and supporting the work I do here. I appreciate you!

If you have any questions about the products I’ve shared here, please let me know. Also, you might want to check out my Beauty Routine for Women 40+.

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Do you have a holy grail beauty product? One you won’t change because it’s working that well for you? I’d love for you to share! I may add a link to it so we can all check it out. Let us know why you love it so much!


Have you ever wondered what the “gospel” is? Gospel simply means “good news.” The good news is that:

  • God loves us, but our sin separates us from God.
  • God’s love didn’t leave us without a solution.
  • God demonstrated His love for us by sending Jesus to die for our sins and conquer death and sin through His resurrection.
  • we can live life in relationship with God by believing in Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

That is the gospel. Our world needs a dose of good news today considering all the bad news. Do you know someone who needs hope? Share the good news with her today.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ~ John 3:16-17

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xoxo, Kay
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6 thoughts on “My 5 Holy Grail Beauty Products

  1. Thanks for sharing your beauty products with us, Kay. I often stumble around with makeup. My skin has always been very sensitive, and it has been difficult to find a foundation that works well for me. Mascara is also problematic. I will try Lancôme though. You have given me a lot of good ideas for foundation, primer, and my thinning brows.
    Thanks also for BFMD.
    Lord bless you and your family, Kay.
    Suzanne

  2. Hi Kay,
    You had shared some time ago a face primer that is a knock off of Smashbox and you were sold on it. Do you feel Benefit Primer is way better? I mean significantly better results for the price difference?

    1. Yes, I would still wholeheartedly recommend the Maybelline knockoff of the Smashbox primer. It definitely worked. But for me and the application of the Stila foundation I think the Benefit primer works better. So if the other is working well for you, stick with it. Or try the travel size of the Benefit primer when you run out of the other. ?

  3. I just ordered 4 products from ulta via your blog. I hope you get the credit. I can’t wait to try the foundation, beauty blender and pore something. I was eyeing the foundation from previous post and with it being on sale I decided to try it. I have the hardest time picking a color via my computer screen. So we shall see how that goes. I so appreciate your thorough description and feed back on products.

@dressed_4_my_day