My minimalist skincare and makeup set

Today I want to share something non-wardrobe related with you. As I am progressing on my minimalism journey, I found that there is one thing I have always been minimalistic about. My skincare and makeup. As much as I love to watch youtube videos of all those makeup gurus sharing their large collections of products, I have never been one to accumulate as much myself. I do get the occasional craving for a chest of drawers filled to the brim with all those goodies. Then, I wake up and realize that such a thing would be wasted on me. 

Now do not get me wrong, I do care for my skin and always, always put on makeup before going anywhere (yes, even in a hostel on a recent trip, very much to the amusement of the other girls in the room who did not bother at all). But I just do not have the drive and/or skillset to try on various looks and experiment with colors. Hm, that last point sounded familiar... Right, same applies for my wardrobe which until recently was a pretty impressive black on black and navy only thing. Darn, I could not write this without mentioning my wardrobe, could I?

Right, let's stop the waffling and get on with the skincare. Here is what I use. As for the makeup, I mange to keep it all in a light blue basket containing a light blue bowl to hold brushes, mascara and the likes. We do not have a lot of space in the bathroom so this basket fits nicely and is easy to get out from under the sink to apply my daily makeup look. I have another basket to hold makeup remover and toner, deodorant and my brush. That's it. 

I like to stay away as much as possible from parabens, silicone, fragrance, alcohol or mineral oil containing products. I do not see why I would want that stuff on my face and with affordable options available in drugstores these days, it is easy to stick to a clean routine.

Voila, this is it! All my face skincare and makeup.

This makeup remover and toner set from Diadermine are well-priced at around 5 euros each and perfect for my very dry, very sensitive skin. As you can see, they are free of paraben, silicone and perfume and so far, worked really well for me. I did purchase a different set of cleanser and toner recently, but these two definitely work well.

After cleansing my face, I put a few drops of this amazing pomegranate oil on my face when I go to bed, followed by the Avene face cream for very sensitive skin. Both again very clean, basic and pure. For my eyes, I am currently trying this eye cream for sensitive skin. The oil and eye cream are from a German drugstore called Rossmann, and they are ridicoulousy cheap for the quality that you get. The oil was about 5 euros and the eye cream 2 euros. Have a look at the Rossmann website here if you like. I do splurge on my face cream, this Avene one is around 19 euros in the Netherlands. That being said, you only need a tiny bit and it just has the most amazing texture. Also, I have very sensitive, difficult skin and Avene products never irritate my skin, so they are my go-to for years now.

Moving on to makeup, I like this Dream satin liquid foundation from Maybelline. Very light weight and a good match to my skin tone. Excuse the yucky cap, but this baby is in constant use and this is how it looks like after a while.
For my eyes, I use a dark blue kayal pencin from Sante (No.4), followed by dusting beige matte eyeshadow from Rossmann (yes, again those guys) all over my lid. Then, I define my eyelid and crease with one of the two eyeshadow palettes in the picture. I like to switch between the softer roy colors on the right and the cooler grey trio on the left.

Of course, I also use translucent powder to set my foundation. This one is the mineral powder from Hema on the right in the upper picture. On the left you see my current blush, a light rosy color from Catrice. Again, all these products are around 5 euros. The exception is this mascara from Maybelline, my trusted Great Lash which is around 7 euros here, I believe.

Last but not least, lips. I use two options regularly. On the left you see the Sante lipstick in Terra Red, a light dusty rose. Nice for daytime, pretty well pigmented and just what I need to look fresh. On the right is my Hema long lasting color lip duo. This is basically semi-permanent lipsitck. You apply it once and it lasts, and lasts, and lasts... The color is a stronger, raspberry red. The only problem with semi-permanent lipstick is that it tends to dry out your lips so this one is reserved for special occasions when I know I cannot touch up my lipcolor easily. Think work, job interviews,...

Whe it comes to the brushes I apply my makeup with, these five really are all that I need. From left to right:
powder brush, blush brush, three eyeshadow brushes for applying and blending.

That is it. From cleanse to cream to finished makeup look it takes me about five minutes. Ten minutes if I feel like getting creative or whenever I am dead tired and chaotic ;)

How does your makup kit look like? Do you have more or less? What is a minimalist makup kit to you?