Recently I noticed that I’ve been running out of some products that I feel like I can’t live without. Not just your cute shit that you get as a novelty to look at but you rarely ever use, but those things you use on the regular and even daily without fail. I don’t always make the discernment between sparkly stuff that catches my eye and the products that sustain, enhance and that I rely on every day so this is actually really helpful for me.

Spectrum Coconut Oil: Aka, Black people’s liquid gold. I use it to remove my make-up every night. A little goes a long way and though mine is running low, I’m pretty sure I can stretch it for at least another week or so. It can also be used on your hair, in your hair treatments, on your skin, on chapped lips and a myriad of other uses I’m sure I haven’t listed and some which may not have been discovered yet. Check out our video at Soul Sistah Series to learn more about the Coco Cure!

Rose Hips Oil: It’s filled with antioxidants and fatty acids and stuff which is scientifically proved to be good for your skin. All I know is, after I cleanse tone and serum each night, I put a small amount on my face and it absorbs it so well. It feels super soft and smooth. I’m oily so I was always scared to put oil on my face, thinking it would make it worse. I’ve learned some thangs since I started hanging out in the Whole Foods skincare section. LOL! My first ever bottle lasted a long time because you only need one good squirt a night. But It was done last week.

Shea Moisture Argan oil and Raw Shea with Frankincense and Myrrh: Another oil that does not leave my skin feeling greasy or sticky. It absorbs into my skin so well and again, leaves it feeling soft and smooth after every shower. Sigh…that shit is done.

EM cosmetics  Felt Tip Illustrative Eye Liner: There are a range of middling to great felt tip eye liners on the market right now and trust me when I tell you, I have most of them. LOL! I’m a wing tip cat eye junkie and I searched most of this year for a felt tip that would give me the most perfected, controlled line, the most pigmented black, the tip designed to give the best thick to thin release….(I know you’re like, what the hell is she talking about?) and Michelle Phan damn did it. It’s exactly what she describes it as. It is an illustrative (read graphic) Eye liner. Think calligraphic brush. For steady hands only. When it comes to perfecting a cat eye and painting my nails, I have very steady hands. I use this liner every day and it makes it so easy and so precise that I feel like a pro! I could tell my pen was running low last week and I cannot have that. Like I can’t. Drawing my cat eye in the morning is one of the great joys of my day.

Pumpkin Velvetine Lip color by Lime Crime: It took me a moment to realize that this was not just a matte lip color I love but one that I can wear with anything, every day and always look good. Let me just say that the Lime Crime liquid matte formula is basically everything. Light, comfortable, long wearing, never smudging, running or bleeding. And  the color Pumpkin is not represented well on the website at all. It’s a warm, earth tone in the terracotta family but with a vibrant brick/orangeish colored hue. It’s described as a “Brick red.” On my skin tone, it just always looks good. It’s the kind of lip color I can always wear when I don’t know what lip color I want to wear and I don’t want to think about it.

God, I need a dress that can do that. I need like ten dresses that can do that. 

Smith Rosebud Minted Rose Lip Balm: It’s just my boujee petroleum jelly. It’s rose so it’s pinkish in color which is cute. It lasts forever. I get one. It lasts all year. It’s in a tin, not a tube because although I know we live in a germ infested world, I like touching my lips.

Honorary Staple

Fenty Beauty Pro Filter Foundation: Since I bought this foundation, I have given most of my other foundations away. I still have a few but I don’t know why I keep them. This is the only one I use. Fenty gave me what I never knew I always wanted in a foundation. It’s light but buildable coverage does not cover my skin as much as enhance it. Every night, when I remove it, I swear it’s like I’m just removing a light layer. It’s such a difference from removing a heavy formula, full coverage foundation that feels like you’re wearing a mask. I also love that there are at least 2 or 3 shades that match me. Currently I’m rocking 400, but 410 and 420 work as well. And kudos to Fenty creator Rihanna for raking in $72 million in just a month!!! All those empty spaces at the Fenty counter at Sephora don’t lie!

In My Dreams Staple (LOL!)

Matte Trance Lipstick Flesh 3 by Pat McGrath 

I picked from the fruit of The Mothership Collection and now I am obsessed with the color Flesh 3 which is sold out everywhere but that’s the story of my life. I’m not super big into nudes but when you find a nude that suits you, the whole world is suddenly changed. LOL!! I did get one her Metamorphosis kits last year which included an eye shadow a pigment and a meh felt tip liner. Frankly, I haven’t used it in a while, but this Mothership Collection…It is seriously glam, and I dared not look at it directly for fear my wallet would explode. All I want for Christmas is for them to restock.

LOL!