Show and Tell Tuesday: Beauty Routine (Mine includes coffee!!)

I'm linking up with Andrea today who's hosting a show and tell about beauty routines!

When I realized what the topic of today's link-up was, I'm not gonna lie -- I freaked out for a hot minute.  Why?  Because I am super high-maintenance.  And I know it.

Maybe before you start reading the rest of this, you should get a cup of coffee.  Or a snack.  Or both.  This is a long post.  You might need fuel to make it through.

Okay - here we go.

This is embarrassing, but I'm going to share it anyway.  Here is my bathroom closet:

IT'S A MESS.  I know.  Since taking this picture, I've cleaned it out and reorganized.

You know, because that's how I roll.

A pic of part of the clean out process:

Of course, I forgot to take an "after" shot.  But once the floor was cleared, my husband left me a present.  He replaced the nice, clean, empty floor with his dirty workout clothes.

Thank you.  I love you, too.  I appreciate all the work you do to keep our house clean and organized.

Back to the beauty stuff, though.

So you saw my bathroom closet, and now maybe you can understand why I'm high maintenance.  I'm a product junkie.  I love trying new ones and figuring out what works best for me.  I mean, I've never been the type who can just roll out of bed, throw clothes on, and head out to face the day.  No, no, no.  Even saying it sounds so wrong.

If you haven't already figured this out, I am a planner.  I like to be prepared.  I don't like surprises.  I like to know what's coming and be ready.  So getting ready for the day is all part of this.

I set my alarm so that I wake up with enough time to get myself ready without having to rush.  (I hate rushing.  It stresses me out.  Shocker - I know.)  I brew a cup of coffee from my trusty Keurig and bring it upstairs with me to drink as I get ready.

A girl's gotta have her coffee.  I consider this an integral part of my beauty routine.

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And while we're talking about coffee, how true is this?

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The other reason I was a bit intimidated about writing this post is because there are so many parts to a beauty routine.  I mean, are we talking about make-up, hair, nails?  So much beauty, so little time.

Therefore, I've decided to give you a basic overview of my routines.  We don't have years here, people.

Let's start with nails because that's the simplest of my routines.  I would love to get my nails done on a regular basis, but I don't have the time or, quite frankly, the money.  (There must be a lot of profit in the nail business because all of the nail salons near me are constantly busy, though.)  I will get an occasional manicure (a few times a year at most), but unless it's a gel manicure, it just doesn't last on me.

I always think well-manicured nails look so nice, though.  I admire women's nails from afar sometimes.  Does that make me weird?  (If it does, I'm okay with that.)

I just keep my nails short with a clear coat of polish on them most of the time.  It's easy and quick.  I'll put a fresh coat of clear on about once a week or so.  I like wearing rings so I want my nails to look presentable.

Please pay no attention to the length of my fingers.  My husband makes fun of me because they are so long.  He says they're like "E.T." fingers.  E.T. phone home.

As for my toenails, I do indulge in pedicures.  Here's why:

1)  I love them.  I always feel so good after getting one.

2)  They are so relaxing.  I love sitting in those massage-y chairs and soaking my feet in the bubbling, hot water.  I could fall asleep sitting like that.

3)  They last.  I usually only have to go for a pedicure every 3-4 weeks because the nail techs use high-quality polishes.

4)  They look so nice.  I love wearing open-toed shoes, and you can totally tell when people get pedicures versus the at-home version.  It just makes me happy to look down at my toes and see them looking nice!

5)  When I do my own toenails in the fall/winter months, they look awful.  I get the polish everywhere, I don't wait long enough for it to dry, it starts chipping fairly fast, and I don't have the patience for the whole process.  Plus, it hurts my back from having to lean over the whole time.  I know, I'm a big baby.  But pedicures are kind of my little treat to myself.

I just went for a pedi last night with a good friend.  It was so lovely.  I really wanted a light or bright color, but none really jumped out at me from the wall o' colors, so I went with a deep magenta.

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Next up - my hair routine.  I really should dedicate a whole post to this at some point, but I'll give you the brief version today.

I have to first tell you that I have the hair of about 10 women on my head.  I'm not complaining because I wouldn't want to have the opposite problem, but it does take a lot of work.

I mean, if we're being honest, this is one of my biggest issues:

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I am very thankful that I got stuck in the hair rotation line a bit too long when God made me, though.  However, blowdrying takes me FOR. EV. ER.  I usually wash my hair every other day at night, put my hair up in a bun, and then take it down in the morning to blowdry because then it doesn't take as long as if I just washed and towel-dried it.  Lastly, I either curl or straighten it to eliminate the frizzies and help it hold a style.  Again, though - if we're being honest - if I'm not going anywhere, the ponytail it is!  I don't "do" my hair if I don't have to... it just takes too long!

Here are some of my current favorite hair products:

(From left to right: Dove dry shampoo, WEN replenishing mist, Sally Hershberger's "Hyper Hydration," "it's a 10" miracle leave-in product, and L'Oreal's "Total Repair Extreme Reconstructing shampoo and conditioner)

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Now on to my basic make-up routine.  (Wait, do you need to get another cup of coffee?  Another snack?  A bathroom break?  I told you it was a long post today!)

In the morning, I wash my face with Neutrogena's "Oil-Free Acne Wash"... or, in this case, the Target brand one.  (I use philosophy's "purity made simple" at night with my Clarisonic to remove my make-up.)

Then, I follow with my moisturizer (Oil of Olay with SPF) and apply primer.  Right now, I'm using Laura Geller's "Spackle."

After it dries, I put on my foundation.  Here's a new one I just picked up to take for a trial run.  It's Maybelline's "Dream Fresh BB" cream in the medium shade.  After using it this morning, however, I think I need whatever the next shade up is - medium tan or something similar.  This one was a tad too light for me, but I do like the light consistency to it.  It's more like a tinted moisturizer, which is what I was looking for, and - bonus - it has SPF but no bad smell!  And it was less than $7.  Another bonus!

Then I put my eye cream on followed by my concealer.  Because I use a lot of drugstore products, one of my splurges is this eye cream from Clinique.  I've used it for years and swear by it.

My concealer is super cheap.  It's a CoverGirl one in the shape of lipstick.  It's super creamy and glides over my eye cream.

I then do my eye makeup in this order: eye primer, bareMinerals' "bisque," CoverGirl's vanilla eye shadow, a mixture from a Lorac eyeshadow palette, eyeliner, and mascara.  I'll change up my eyeliner colors based on what I'm wearing that day.

(Sorry - the products in the pics are not in the order of use.  My bad.)

My current eyeliner collection:

And mascaras:

Next, I apply powder to set my foundation and concealer.  Right now I'm using these three on rotation - Laura Geller's "Balance & Brighten," itCosmetics' "Celebration Foundation," and bareMinerals' original foundation.

I add some bronzer (a Physician's Formula one) and then put bareMinerals' "Mineral Veil" all over my face to give it that airbrushed look.  I cannot be without this stuff!

I add my favorite blush - Laura Geller's baked blush in the shade called "Bali."  It's a peachy/pink tone.

I finish it all off with some sort of lipgloss, usually in a pink shade.  Here are the ones I'm currently using:

And we can't forget about my Justin Timberlake lip balm.  I've had this since college and can't get myself to part with it!

Whew!  And that was the abridged version!  And we didn't even talk about skincare!  I'm exhausted just thinking about more.

Here's one last shot.  This is how I corral my everyday make-up:

I realize it's nothing fancy, but it works for me.  I keep it in my bathroom closet so I don't have my stuff all over the place.

I can't wait to read about all of your routines to hopefully get some new ideas.

Oh, and I asked this last week but wanted to ask again... are any of you going to blogHer in NYC from July 16-18?  I'm going and would love to either meet up with some of you or get some helpful tips!

Have a great Tuesday!