April Favorites - Beauty, Music, and Podcasts
How is it almost May already?! How? We are literally almost halfway through 2018. But the weather still feels like February. Go figure. There are quite a few things I have been loving in April: from makeup to podcasts to music. Even snacks!
Music
I am an unapologetic Cardi B fan. She makes me laugh and her songs are bangers. I have been listening to her new album. Invasion of Privacy non-stop since it was released at the beginning of April. My favorite tracks? Best Life featuring Chance the Rapper, I Like It, I Do featuring SZA and Bartier Cardi. But the entire album is a banger.
What else was I obsessed with music-wise? Beyonce's Coachella performance. I mean...I could write a whole think piece on how important, ground-breaking and amazing this performance was. I will sum it up by saying is that for this who don't understand the hype around Beyonce (and I give you major side eye for that): Beyonce makes black women feel seen, feel heard and acknowledged. Her rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing (also known as the Black National Anthem) not only gave me chills but took me back to my childhood when we sang that song every morning in school before class. Outside of that her vocals were FLAWLESS. She sang opera, people! Shes the Queen for a reason! If you want to understand her significance and symbolism of her performance I recommend reading these two pieces .
Websites & Podcasts
I have a slight obsession with Refinery29's Money Diary series. My love for the series is so strong that I decided to do my own riff on it in this post from last month
The series started a little over a year ago and and has exploded in popularity. The idea of the series is to show the diversity of women's salaries and how they earn, spend, invest and save their money. Each diary covers 7 days as the diarists' not talk about how much they spent and what they spent their money on. If you have not started reading this series yet...what are you doing with your life?
I started listening to Thirst Aid Kit after a Refinery29 diarist recommended it (seriously, those diaries are chock full of great food, book and podcast recommendations!). I am now completely hooked. Just imagine you and a good friend gushing over all the hot actors you like - but it's been recorded. That's Thirst Aid Kit in a nutshell. I've binged every episode and my personal faves are the ones about Keanu Reeves, Ton Hiddleston and Colin Farrell.
Beauty
I bought quite a lot of makeup and skincare items this month. Between the Sephora VIB sale and other promos I simply couldn't resist. I discovered a new foundation this month that I am loving and have been wearing pretty much everyday. Physician's Formula Healthy Skin Foundation. This foundation is bomb. I was really skeptical about it as it's not formulated for oil skin and a few YouTube reviewers with dry skin loved it. Which is a usually a sign for me to stay far away from a foundation - anything described as dewy is a no-go for me. But then I saw a YouTuber I follow who has super oily skin as well rave about it and thought, "why not?" I am so glad I gave this foundation a chance! It is not a matte foundation. But it isn't overly glowy or dewy either. It's a nice natural finish with medium coverage. I am usually a full coverage kind of girl but I love the way this makes my skin look. Like my skin - but better. My trick for making this work is to apply my Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer to my nose, forehead, chin and around my mouth - basically where I get the oiliest. I then use two powders: my CoverFX Mattifying Setting Powder on the areas I primed and my Laura Mercier Translucent Setting Powder all over my face. I set with Too Faced Sweet Peach Mattifying Setting Spray and Mac Fix + to make everything a bit less matte and powder-y looking. And the foundation stays on all day. I have gotten so many compliments on how my skin looks when I wear this.
Another item I have been loving is the CoverFX Mattifying Setting Spray. I tried this out when I ordered a mini-set of CoverFX items from Hautelook and loved it. I had planned on eventually buying a full size but was prompted to go ahead and buy one when CoverFX had their 25% off Friends & Family sale. What I like about this spary is that it doesn't make your makeup feel too powder-y or flat but sets nicely and mattifies well. Nothing can keep me 100% oil-free throughout the day but this does a pretty good job. The only foundation that it isn't matte enough for is my PF Healthy Foundation mentioned above. Because that foundation isn't matte I need something a bit more heavy-duty. But this works really well with my matte foundations.
I am not a lip gloss gal in general. I don't like the sticky feeling off most glosses or my hair getting stucvk to my lips whenever I move or it's windy outside. But - I have been obsessed with ColourPop x Ellarie Ultra Glossy Lip in Netta. It is the perfect neutral-toned gloss. I pair it with my Urban Decay Nighthawk Lip Pencil. It's a combo I have been wearing almost every day (I'm wearing it right now!). The formula is on the sticky side but it has a nice opacity to it that I like and it lasts a good while on the lips - I can usually drink my morning cup of chai and still have most of it on my lips when I'm done. I am still a matte lip lover but this Spring and Summer I will definitely be rocking more lip glosses.
And those are my April faves. What have you been loving this month? Let me know in the comments!
