Hello my darlings!
About a month ago Jaclyn Hill created a tag on YouTube called the “Ride Or Die Makeup” tag. This tag is basically choosing one item from each makeup category as your go-to product, the one item you can always depend on & it just will never fail you. Thanks to my girl Tiffany for tagging me in her post, be sure to check it out when you’re done here!
So I thought about this for a minute & I realised that I almost have 2 full sets of “Ride Or Die” products.
Ridiculous? Maybe a tad but I have products on both ends of the price spectrum that I consider “Ride or Die” because they never fail me.
There are two sets because I wear makeup almost every day but I reach for my more affordable products for day-to-day use & my more high end products when i’m getting dolled up to go out. Its just my preference because I would rather not use my high end products daily because lets be honest, they’re not cheap.
In the pictures of me in this post I used all the products mentioned to create my simple go-to look. Where there were 2 products mentioned in one category I had half of my face in the more affordable products & the other half in the higher end products (including lashes). Let me know if you can tell which side is which! (excluding the lipsticks Lumiere & 1995)
So lets just get right into it now shall we!
Primer
If i’m being honest there are no primers that would say I absolutely LOVE. I’m yet to find the right ones for me however of the ones I have tried these are so far my favourite. They both keep my skin oil free which is pretty much my goal.
Neutrogena Healthy Skin is a very moisturising primer & I tend to use it for my day to day makeup application since i’m not always trying to look super matte. This makes my skin look natural without being oily. It can cause the face to look a little greasy after some time so I don’t recommend this primer for use if you’re going to be taking pictures. For me it serves its purpose keeping my skin moisturized throughout the day while keeping my makeup intact.
Make Up For Ever Step 1 is a new favourite of mine. It keeps my skin oil free & totally mattified. While it can make my face feel a little bit stiff initially it really is the least stiffening of my mattifying primers. I reach for this whenever I’m doing my makeup with the intention of taking lots of pictures because they’re guaranteed to look great.
Foundation
Easily my favourite foundations on earth are my Covergirl Queen All Day Flawless 3 in 1 Foundation in the shade Almond Q840 & Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation in the shade Deep Honey. I have always had very oily skin, even though in more recent times I have noticed some dry patches, I guess that now means I have combination skin? lol. Whatever the case may be these babies work perfectly with my mostly oily skin.
Covergirl Queen All Day Flawless Foundation is an all in one foundation that combines concealer, foundation & powder all into one product. This foundation gives a very natural skin-like finish & covers any imperfections on the skin. This line isn’t very easy to find but I love that Covergirl came out with the Queen Collection to cater to us WOC. Absolutely my favourite drugstore foundation.
Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation is full coverage & oil free. This product is amazing! I don’t have perfect skin by any means & this covers all blemishes with pretty much one layer & gives a truly matte finish. It is without a doubt full coverage & could very well be considered a “heavy” foundation to wear but I absolutely love it! I would wear this everyday with no complaints. My all time favourite high-end foundation.
Concealer (Blemishes)
Concealer is an absolute must for me to give extra coverage for any blemishes on the skin when I don’t use my heavy duty foundations. Sometimes I use these even with my full coverage foundations for extra coverage just to be safe. My faves are LA Girl Pro Concealer in the shade Chestnut & Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12-Hour Concealer in the shade Deep.
LA Girl HD Pro Concealer is a heavy duty concealer. It has a thick consistency so there’s no doubt gives full coverage. It blends well and lasts all day. My only complaint here is that sometimes it’s hard to get the product out the tube. Some tubes I’ve used don’t give this problem but sometimes I have to squeeze it super hard & then of course way too much comes out & it gets messy. The product itself is amazing though!
Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12-Hour Concealer gives a great full coverage for blemishes & the stick applicator makes using it a breeze. It goes on smoothly & blends well. I wouldn’t recommend this for under the eyes because I did notice some creasing but I love it for my purposes.
Concealer (Under eye)
For under the eye my goal is always to brighten & avoid creasing so concealers that work best for me in this category are LA Girl Pro Concealer in the shade Fawn & Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in the shade Deep.
LA Girl HD Pro Concealer as I said before is a thick heavy duty concealer and it does not crease on me at all. It dries quickly so working fast is imperative but the colour fawn is the perfect warm shade for my skin tone to brighten up the under eye area.
Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer is even thicker than the LA Girl Concealer and more creamy so I use a lot less product to get a flawless full coverage finish. The shade deep on first thought might sound like it would be a dark shade to match my complexion but it really was made to brighten the under eye area for girls of a deeper skin tone. It is definitely not the same shade as my Amazonian Clay concealer even though the shades are both named “Deep”.
Setting Powder
In this category I only have 1 “Ride or Die” product and of course it is the very popular and well loved Laura Mercier Translucent Powder
Laura Mercier Translucent Powder is the one setting powder I own that I can use without even thinking about it. There is no flashback, overly yellow finish or “cakey” look at all. It is just the most perfect, finely milled powder that gives a flawless finish every time!
Face Powder
To set my whole face, considering I am an oily gal, I aim to get a smooth, shine-free & matte finish. My Ride or Die product is the Black Opal Deluxe Finishing Powder in the shade Dark.
Black Opal Deluxe Finishing Powder is a loose, hypoallergenic powder that sets my makeup beautifully while keeping my face shine-free throughout the day. Super finely milled powder is very light weight & gives a flawless, cake-free finish every time. It is described as a translucent powder but I’m pretty sure theres a little coverage given from this product.
Blush
For blush I love something that has a warm golden sheen that warms up my cheeks and gives a slight highlight while still being a very pigmented pink blush tone. My favorites are Milani Baked Blush in the shade Rose D’Oro & NARS Orgasm.
Milani Baked Blush is a highly pigmented blush that is very buildable and applies beautifully. The shade Rose D’Oro is described as a shimmery shade but its not shimmery in terms of having specs of glitter on your face it is a nice sheen almost like a highlight.
NARS Orgasm is a high intensity peachy pink blush. This is one that could easily get out of control if you use too heavy a hand but the colour is beautiful & it gives the most beautiful subtle highlight while warming up the cheeks. It has a silky texture and is very blendable.
Bronzer
For this category I only have 1 item because it is just the best bronzer I have come across for us WOC. Its none other than the Covergirl Queen Collection Natural Hue Bronzer in the shade Ebony Bronze. I use this powder to set my cream contour.
Covergirl Queen Collection Natural Hue Bronzer is a beautiful bronzer that had undertones that aren’t too red & not too shimmery. Looking at the product it may appear to be too shimmery to use for contour but once applied it gives a matte finish. It isn’t the easiest product in the world to find (so of course I have a backup) but it is absolutely beautiful for us WOC!
Cream Contour
So I had to add this category because I absolutely cannot live without my cream contour products. I live to contour my nose with these products! I use my Covergirl bronzer I mentioned above to set my cream contour in place. The 2 products in this category are my LA Girl Pro HD Concealer in the shade Dark Cocoa & the Stila Shade & Shape Custom Contour Duo in the shade Deep.
LA Girl Pro HD Concealer as previously stated is a thick concealer and is perfect not only for the uses above but also to contour. This concealer dries pretty fast so you have to work quickly but the applicator also makes it super easy to chisel out the check bones or contour the bridge of the nose. It gives a beautiful natural contour on those of us with deeper skin tones & honestly you can’t beat the price.
Stila Shade & Shape Custom Contour Duo is a very creamy contour product & it blends into the skin very easily using a beauty blender. This product is very buildable, so you can create a natural contour using a light hand with the product or go for a very strong & defined contour using a heavier hand, as you see fit. Definitely one of the reasons I love it so much.
Highlight
For me highlighters need to be golden, creamy & highly pigmented. My faves are from Colour Pop in the shade Glo Up & Becca in the shade Champagne Pop.
Colour Pop Glo Up like their eyeshadow this highlighter is SUPER creamy & buildable. The golden colour can go from a natural “glow from within” to a super intense “see you from mars” highlight, depending on your preference. Unfortunately I believe this was limited edition from the Kae pop collection.
Becca Champagne Pop is an absolutely beautiful apricot-golden highlight that has an almost creamy texture. The product is so pigmented that its super easy to go from having a natural glow to an almost blinding highlight if you’re not careful, lol.
Mascara
A face just isn’t complete to me without some mascara. Lashes aren’t a day-to-day necessity for me because my lashes can pretty much look super long & thick when I use either of these 2 mascaras. My choices are the L’Oreal Telescopic Mascara & Too Face Better Than Sex Mascara.
L’Oreal Telescopic Mascara for me primarily separates and elongates the lashes while added a subtle & natural thickness for an effortless look. I love this mascara wand because it is very thin so I can easily use it to get those bottom lashes looking right as well.
Too Face Better Than Sex Mascara is amazing! This one elongates & thickens the lashes with ease. It easily gives a more dramatic look than the L’Oreal but I reach for them pretty equally because once you use this one lightly & not layer it on you can get a natural lash look just the same. I can’t use this one as easily to do the lower lashes because it gets pretty messy because of the size of the wand so I tend to grab the L’Oreal for that part but I love this all the same!
Lipstick
To be quite honest I haven’t reached for a lipstick in quite some time but this is a “Ride or Die” tag so in the case that I did want to reach for one the 2 I would automatically reach for are Colour Pop Lippie Stix in the shade Lumiere & Gerard Cosmetics in the shade 1995. Both neutral matte shades.
Colour Pop Lippie Stix weren’t a hit for me when they first came out but this shade, Lumiere I find to be so beautiful that I can’t help but reach for it! The colour is described a dusty mauve pink & I love it! Paired with a brown liner its the perfect everyday shade for me.
Gerard Cosmetics has gotten a lot of social media popularity over the last couple years & this is the only lipstick I own from them (I have other products) but I love this lipstick so much! 1995 is the perfect rosey-brown neutral shade for us WOC.
Liquid Lipstick
Ever since liquid lipstick made its debut on the market I have been their #1 fan! I love me a super matte lipstick because theres nothing I hate more than when my lip colour transfers, ugh. These 2 are my ride or die lip shades & of course they’re neutral. I pair them both with a brown or burgundy lip liner depending on what kind of neutral I feel like rocking.
NYX Abu Dhabi is a creamy and long lasting liquid lipstick. It smells yummy, applies easily & isn’t too drying on the lips. This shade is the perfect brown neutral shade.
Tarteist Creamy Matte Lip Paint in tbt is also of a creamy consistency & smells very minty. The shade tbt is described as a mauve shade but plays up as a rosey-brown shade on me similar to Gerard Cosmetics – 1995, not exactly what I would call mauve.
Lip Liner
I really only have one all time favourite here & I’m pretty sure this shade was the very first lip pencil I ever bought from MAC & it has never failed me.
MAC Chestnut is the perfect brown shade for us WOC to make pretty much any lipstick shade wearable. Whenever I’m not sure what liner I want to use this is always the one I know will work no matter what. I definitely recommend this.
Eyebrow Product
Brows can ultimately make or break a face to me so I have many eyebrow products but to get perfect eyebrows every time these products are always winners. 
Milani Eyebrow Pencil In Dark Brown glides on the skin easily & stays put all day. The colour can get pretty intense quickly so I recommend using a light hand with this but its a great product and one pencil lasts a really long time. Its not the slimmest pencil but it does the job well for me & my big brows.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz In Dark Brown is a super slim brow pencil that also glides on easily and lasts all day. The slim nature of this pencil also makes shaping the brow super easy.
Eyeshadow Palette
My go-to look for the eyes is super neutral with a touch of golden/bronze shimmer on the lids. Both these palettes give the option of having this type of neutral shimmer or being fully matte.
Morphe 35O is probably the most sought after palette these days. This thing was pretty much always sold out so of course I had to get my hands on it to see what the hype is all about & it totally lives up to the craze! The consistency of the shadows is great & there a perfect combination of shimmer & matte shades to create pretty much any look. 
Tartelette In Bloom is a much smaller palette but it has everything you need to create a neutral shimmer or matte look. The products are super creamy & easy to blend. Being a fan of neutrals I could easily live with only these 12 shades forever.
Lashes
I love strip lashes that make my eyes pop! I like lashes that aren’t too thick but still give some fullness and length. The ones I reach for most have to be my Creme #48 lashes & KoKo Lashes-Soho. The bands on both these lashes are super thin making them very comfortable to wear.
Setting Spray
For years I’ve been using different setting sprays but there has always been a part of me that longed for something better. As an oily gal I need something that keeps my makeup in place while also keeping my skin shine free all day/night without having to touch up or blot too often. This is one of my more recent purchases but I am already in love! I haven’t stopped using it since the day I got it.
Boscia White Charcoal Setting Spray minimizes pores & sets makeup while keeping the skin hydrated. Even though you can feel that your face is hydrated there is no visible evidence of it on the skin. Makeup stays totally matte & shine free after using this product. This is the best setting spray I have ever tried for my oily skin!
Perfume
Vera Wang Love Struck is my all time favourite perfume in life! I always have a backup of this scent somewhere just incase one day it decides to be discontinued. It is a long lasting, fresh, fruity & floral scent. Absolutely heavenly. I’ll probably never fall out of love with it!
The pictures below are of both sides of my face with one side done using the more affordable products & the other half being done using the higher end products. Take a guess at which side is which in the comments!
This tag was super fun to do so I tag all of you! Let me know in the comments what your “Ride or Die” products are!
Until next time my fellow makeup lovers,
xo Justine-Renee
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