What's In My 4-Product Makeup Bag

My everyday look. Yes, even my wedding day.

Remember when What’s In My Bag posts were popular? Back when I was beauty blogging I used to interview all sorts of fantastic individuals, I loved sneaking a little glimpse into people’s lives through their product collections. This was also a time in my life when I had drawers (and drawers) full of makeup that I barely used. Many of my views on the beauty industry have changed over the last decade, and my personal product collection has downsized immensely, but I still love discovering the cherished items people proudly display on their bathroom counters. Today I thought it would be fun to share the minimal contents of my own personal makeup bag!

These are the four greatly adored and carefully selected ingredients that make up my everyday look:

Brow Pencil: Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil in Soft Brunette. I love the long lasting finish, the brush, and the way it fills in my slender 90’s brows. It’s a little pricey for a brow pencil, but it will last me six months. I’ve been using this product for 6+ years, so it’s hit holy grail status.

Highlighter: RMS Luminizer in Living. This is another holy grail item for me, I have used this for at least 10 years now. I apply it under my eye brows, along my cheek bones, at the centre of my top lip, and anywhere else that needs a little *glow* up (collar bones for special events).

Mascara: 19/99 Lash Tint Mascara in Black. This is a newer find for me, I’ve switched between lots of brands (Ilia is also good) but landed on this one. I like the teensy-tiny applicator, the price tag, and the holding power. It’s a small portion size, but I feel like having a fresh mascara more often is better than holding onto one longer than necessary.

Lip Gloss: Fit Glow Beauty Lip Serum in Night. I love clear lip gloss! This is marketed as an overnight treatment lip-masque, but it’s the best daily gloss I’ve found. The ingredients are bomb (hence the high ticket price), but it doubles as a ‘skincare/makeup’ item and works instantly to hydrate and highlight the lips.
*I will also note: for a lower price point, I’m really into Hailey Bieber’s line of lip glosses (great packaging, non-sticky, fun flavours).

Q: No foundation? What happens when you have a breakout?

A: Sometimes I’m really self conscious about it, and it feels like the end of the world, but skin always heals. I used to pick at my face and blemishes a lot, but I don’t do that anymore. Knowing that I can’t cover things up makes me treat my skin a lot better - and in turn, have a lot less breakouts.

I don’t use foundation or tinted SPFs because my skin doesn’t like them (nope, not even that one perfect brand that works for everybody). I have nothing against foundation, and quite like the airbrushed look it gives, I’ve just tried so many and always end up hating the way my skin feels. Not to mention I get a lot less breakouts when my skin can breathe all day.

Powder is also a no for me, I’m more into the fresh dewy look and I find powders dry me out. My complexion is pale with red undertones so blush and bold lips can end up looking messy. As much as I have attempted to enjoy all the colourful abundance and fun that comes with makeup, I am a tried and true no-makeup, makeup girl.

I fell under the *beauty spell* for my wedding last year and bought myself a fancy high-end lipstick for the big day. Of course I ended up wiping it off the minute after I applied it. Loved the idea, didn’t love the reality.

Now that you’re in on the contents of my minimalist makeup bag, here’s a brief history of my journey through the beauty industry:

I wore stage/costume makeup for dance performances throughout my childhood and teenage years and absolutely loved it! But it was only ever for the show, at school and home I just wore mascara and lip gloss. I remember the first time I got my makeup done professionally, it was graduation (prom 2006) and I hated it. I got it done at M.A.C. and even though I asked for something subtle and natural, they were pretty aggressive with their “looks” back then. I didn’t want to feel like I had my costume makeup on, I just wanted to feel like myself. My date was a little shocked when I showed up for the event, likely because he had never seen me with anything other than mascara and lip gloss before.

In 2012, things changed. I started writing about natural skincare and somewhere along the line turned into a natural beauty blogger. Back then, the industry was a lot more niche, so I got hooked up with all the latest products - way more than I could ever use. I would receive and review all sorts of makeup, and to keep up with the trends I was getting gel nails and eyelash extensions done monthly. I watched all the YouTube tutorials and even had little Muji drawers to house my palettes and lipstick collections, it was a whole thing. But the makeup always felt like putting on a costume, bringing me back to childhood tap dance performances and competition days. Unless somebody else was doing all the work of applying this stuff, I never liked spending more than 5 minutes on makeup*. I loved taking pictures of the packaging though!

A few years in and I was starting to feel the weight of the industry. Even the natural beauty world was becoming very consumerist, always racing to “collect” the newest brand. Justifying hundreds of dollars for a single product in hopes of feeling more beautiful, booking in for the latest treatment to melt off years of your life, it was exhausting trying to keep up with it all. So off came the gel nail polish and eyelash extensions, I decided it was time to go back to the classic mascara and lip gloss days of my youth (this time around with the addition of a highlighter and a brow pencil - thank you Lisa Eldridge). Once 2016 rolled around, I had bought myself a one way ticket to Hawaii to start working my dream job for a skincare company I discovered through blogging. All the makeup I had acquired over the past few years was either gifted to friends, donated, or trashed.

Things haven’t really changed since then - makeup wise that is. When I got married last year, I knew I didn’t want a repeat of the prom 2006 situation, so no makeup artist was involved with my bridal look. I got my hair and eyelashes done, but other than that, it was just the four trusted products in my makeup bag.

*Throughout the years, my love for costume makeup has popped up during times like Halloween, concerts, and special events. I love getting into a disguise and trying on a new persona for size (I’m a Leo, after all). But washing it all off at the end of the day is still the best part.