My Vanity Essentials

I call it vanity kit because it holds the essentials that makes a woman more beautiful and confident. Let's face it, even the simplest person will still have this so- called beauty kit in her bag. Whether big or small, a woman must have one. 

I stay at home a lot, so consider that I'm sort of a low maintenance person. I seldom get treatments both for skin and hair. "As much as possible", it's something I want to take hold of, especially as a stay- at- home mom. Well, priority are my children, but it doesn't mean that I totally forget about what my body needs. 

For now, let's concentrate on what my kit contains. I bet some of you are itching to find out. First off, I just recently got a Tracy Reese for Clinique pouch packed with goodies,  it is now my new vanity holder. By the way, this is not a paid post.  For a certain amount of purchase from Clinique, you'll get this pouch as a bonus. As always, it's filled with great samples from Clinique.

Clinique is my most trusted brand when it comes to skin care and make- up. I have sensitive skin that's why I'm very careful with the stuff I put on my face. A small drop may cause an itch, a swipe of cream might lead to a red spot. The day my sister-in- law introduced me to this brand, it's like an answered prayer, it was the solution to my skin problems.

Beautiful Lips: I don't wear "make-up", I rely on pressed powder and stuff for my lips. That's why part of my kit are lipsticks and lip glosses. It may look a lot but those colorful sticks you see is composed of 1 Clinique sample, 1 Careline Magic lipstick, 2 lip glosses, 2 lip balms. I make it a point to have at least 2 shades of lipstick in my bag so when an occasion calls, I have something to put on anytime. 

• For an ordinary trip to the mall, I use Clinique's Chubby Stick in Mega Melon. It is a moisturizing lip colour balm, keeps lips soft and smooth and it makes lips look like it has lipstick on. It has a natural effect with bit of color.
• For a day time event or gathering Clinique's Long Last Glosswear with SPF15 is perfect. Like the Chubby Stick, the shade is close to natural but this has an extra gloss which gives that "plumped lip" effect.
• For night time or for an occasion that requires me to dress up, I rely on a real lipstick. The beauty of "samples", you get to see and experience if a certain shade of lipstick suits you. I fell in love with Clinique's A Different Grape in an instant. It may look dark, but once applied, it settles between a lighter shade of burgundy and rose. Not only for night, I've been using this a lot lately.
• When it comes to lip gloss, I have 2 choices. On a more affordable side, Nivea Fruity Shine and for the real deal, Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm. Both serve the same purpose: color and care but Burt's Bees is more organic.  I've run out of Burt's so I shifted to Nivea for the mean time until I can buy the other one.
• Careline Magic Lipstick. Take it from the label, it does magic. Also perfect for regular use. I use my Nivea lip gloss over it, love the effect.
• Lastly, EOS in Summer Fruit. This is all about treatment. If my lips goes super dry, I just apply EOS and I'm good.

Crazy Eyes:
Not much of an eye make-up person, but I still have a few ready in my bag.

• Avon eye-liner
• Ever Bilena eyebrow pencil (which I need to replace soon). I have thin and short eyebrows, this is the only eyebrow pencil I use, gives great result.
• A sharpener
• Eyelash curler
• Mascara
• and tweezers
  

Health Care: They're all in small containers. With hand sanitizers, I'm after the scent, but when it comes to protection, I use alcohol with moisturizer. Hand cream is essential because I work and wet my hands most of the time with chores and handling my children. A throat spray... My husband's aunt gave this to me. Ilog Ni Maria Farms throat spray is the most effective of all the treatments I've used. Relieves pain and itchiness in minutes.

Others: Still considered as essentials. These are more of quick solutions on certain situations. For example, a button from a shirt fell and we're not at home, a safety pin will temporarily put things back together.  A phone cord hair grip is my basic hair accessory, my hair remains smooth and it doesn't let the hair get tangled. My pressed powder and lenses for my phone and iPod are just extras.

Before I came up with the theme for this post, I was actually pondering of sharing the stuff "inside my everyday bag". The things that I didn't include here is my wallet, a tiny coin purse, my phone and iPod, a medicine pouch and Kleenex wipes which are found separately in my tote bag.

The main essentials which the Tracy Reese pouch carries will do. It is a big pouch, that I don't need a bag organizer, these items are small in size by the way. Everything can magically fit without making the main bag feel heavy.

I hope, with the details I've shared, it is going to be useful and helpful for the ladies out there.  At least as added options to your kit.