What's in My Makeup Bag

So often we talk about what products we love but not what products we actually use, so I thought I'd take a moment to talk about what's in my makeup bag and why I chose it.

First, the bag. It's the January 2014 Ipsy bag, I actually traded to get this bag since I hadn't joined Ipsy yet. I love it, the silhouettes are super cute and it's a great size to hold all of my stuff. I'll probably swap it out next month if the June Ipsy bag is super awesome (currently the April bag holds my cords and the May bag holds my sunscreen in my purse), but right now I'm digging it.

The tools I keep in my bag are simple and cheap in case they get destroyed. There's a mirror compact I got from Sephora for free (my favorite price), an eyeshadow brush that's so old I'm embarrassed to even thing about it, and an E.L.F essentials angled blush brush I've had for years and years. I'll probably replace the brushes in the next year or so when I replace my everyday ones with nice new brushes. Then the old ones will go in my bag and these ancient brushes will be gifted to my spawn to play with.

I keep two different types of lip balm in my bag, the Malin+Goetz one I reviewed here and a cheap one I picked up at Kohl's because I'm a sucker for cherry lip balm in cute packaging. The cherry one is pink and shimmery so it gives my lips some nice color as well, which is a nice perk.

My eyeshadow is a quad palette of neutral colors from Wet and Wild, I picked this up at the Dollar Store for a buck and I love it. I like to keep neutral makeup in my bag so I don't have to worry about clashing with my outfit. The second color from the bottom is my favorite, a nice beige color that almost matches my eyelids. I use it as a base, then I put the top color along my crease. The second from the top makes a great highlighting color and the bottom I'll use from time to time when I want a little more oomph to my look.

The eyeliner is a black automatic pencil from Covergirl, I like it specifically because I don't have to sharpen it and it has a smudging sponge on the other end. The lasting power is decent enough and the price is low enough I'm not going to cry if I lose it.

The mascara and lipstick are the free birthday gift from Sephora. The lipstick isn't my favorite and I'm actually debating throwing it away. It smells....cheap, like the play makeup you'd get as a child. The color is fine, a nice neutral reddish color. But it just feels and smells cheap, and I know the brand (Make Up Forever) is not a cheap one at all so I'm perplexed. The mascara is nice, the brush is just HUGE so I tend to get it everywhere when I'm applying it.

I like the E.L.F. Shimmering Facial Whip because it's a multitasking machine. I use it for blush and highlights, but you can also use it for lip and eye color. It smells super good too, like lemonade. And it was a dollar, you can't beat that! I don't know what color I have, the sticker came off, but it's a pinkish shimmery color.

There's a Mary Kay lip gloss mini I'm trying to use up, but it sucks so I'm not going to spend any time talking about it. And the lotion is just a Neutrogena lotion I picked up from a hotel room, nothing special there. Lastly, a Pixi bronzer in the shade summertime. It's light enough I can add some color to my face or do a little light contouring on the go.

What's in your makeup bag? Do you change it up all the time or keep things the same year round?