Go to my “Makeup Page” to read all the previous posts in this cosmetics series.

Now that I’ve covered skin care, it’s time to talk about what products I use in the way of ACTUAL makeup. But I’ve had a hard time figuring out how to organize my thoughts and words on the multitude of things I want to broach about the makeup I like.

My original plan was to first show you what I have for my face, eyes, lips, etc in several individual posts. But the problem with this is that if I show you, for example, my lip glosses, I’m going to want to talk about the brand that produces the lip gloss. Or powder. Or blush. You get the picture. This could have gotten really long and difficult to manage because not only do I want to show you what I use, but I want to tell you about the BRANDS I like.

Sooooo…..I’m going to tell you about some of my favorite brands now, so that when I’m blogging later on about the products I’m actually using, I won’t have to stop and say, I love this lip gloss, it’s by {enter brand name here}, and I like this brand because {enter reason here}.

Huh. That was so dang convoluted. I hope you’re following my horrible explanation.

Anyhoo….

These are the brands that I like as a whole.

Please note: You will find no high-end, department store brands here, as I have never used any. My makeup has always been drugstore makeup. I have nothing against high-end brands. It’s simply expensive, and I don’t buy it. And personally, I feel that drugstore makeup is just as sufficient as any high-end line.

Please note this too: I’m not saying that all products within these brands are great or perfect. I think all brands have some products that I wouldn’t like/use/need.

These are listed in numerical order, but they are not ranked.

1. Revlon

The Colorstay line and the Photoready line are soooo great. As far as coverage and staying power is concerned, I think Revlon is, like, the king.

I have been using certain Revlon products FOR YEARS.

2. Milani

Oh man. I LOVE Milani. I’ve only discovered this brand within the last year, but it is easily one of my most favorites.

This brand is a little difficult to find in my small town. Their website says that Walgreens carry this product line, but MY local Walgreens does not. Walmart doesn’t carry it either. My town doesn’t have a Target (Target is supposed to have Milani), though there is one within 15 minutes. I need to go check that out.

I have been lucky enough to find it, surprisingly, at my favorite GROCERY STORE. The makeup selection at this store is so sparse and pitiful that it’s usually not worth the time, but I am very thankful that they carry this brand. Everything I’ve tried in this brand thus far, I LOVE. I mean, really love. Everything seems to be very nicely pigmented, with a very pretty shimmer. (If you buy something that contains shimmer.)

Also, I like their packaging.

3. Avon and mark.

Dude. I love me some Avon.

A few times in my life, I signed up to sell Avon, just so I could BUY Avon. Avon representatives get a pretty nice discount, so I  became a representative and then just bought products for myself. My former boss sold Avon as well (during a time in which I did not), and since I was her employee, she gave me her representative discount. Which was the most awesome thing ever, and since I was earning a paycheck, I took full advantage of it.

I have tried their moisturizers, skin treatments, nail color, powders, eyeshadows, blushes, lipcolors, and liners. And endless seas of their fragrances.

Some products are better than others. But I have found that their nail polishes could easily give OPI and Essie a run for their money as far as staying power is concerned. Their eyeshadows, however, were not nearly as pigmented as I like. Though this could have changed since the last time I used any.

(Note: When I say “not nearly as pigmented as I like”, I mean that the color will look dark and rich in the packaging, but when you put it on, it is very light. I hate this.)

I also really like their lines of moisturizers and skin treatments. Sometimes pricey, but very effective. The only big negative for me is that I have very sensitive skin around my eyes, particularly on my eye lids, and some of their products irritate that area badly. When using some of their products, my eyelids would become red, inflamed, and they would burn. But still….they have great, great products.

The mark line is geared toward younger females, but I love the products. I don’t see the mark catalogs nearly as often as the Avon catalogs, which is a shame. Good stuff.

4. Hard Candy

Hard Candy is all about the glitters, baby. And I like me some glitters.

The fist time I saw this line, I thought, “Eh. This stuff is going to be crappy.” But, I’ve been quite happy with the products I’ve tried.

One exception is these…

These have a very nice shimmer and glitterly effect, and they’re pigmented nicely, but they really aggravate that sensitive area around my eyes…they also tend to crease on my lid. So those are a fail for me, but they may be work for someone that doesn’t have the eye-area problems that I have.

5. Neutrogena

I like this brand for one reason……..sunscreen.

So many of their products contain sunscreen and I LOVE that. I take my sunscreen very seriously. If I can buy a powder, lipcolor, or whatever that has a sunscreen in it, I will always buy that product over something that I KNOW may work better. Even though I wear a moisturizer with sunscreen everyday, I always try to to use makeup products that also contain sunscreen. Because of this, I tend to look to Neutrogena first because I know that’s the easiest place to find a good SPF.

6. L’Oreal

Confession. I have used very little in this brand, solely because I have tend to purchase the same stuff I’ve been using for years. However, L’Oreal has SUCH a good selection of products, and they are of great quality. I would really like to try out more of their line.

(Another brand that I think looks awesome, but I have never tried due to it being hard to find in my area is Physicians Formula. I would love to have some of their face goop.)

Update!!!! I have recently started using NYX cosmetics, and I had to add this note to say I FREAKING LOVE THIS BRAND.

Tomorrow: My face coverage products.