Growing up, my younger sister was always ahead of me when it came to beauty products. She was the first to point out, upon my first attempt at makeup in the 4th grade, “blue eye shadow and brown lipstick? REALLY?” Really. She mastered the winged eye-liner at a young age, and taught me how to contour. I never really understood what made it so easy for her, until I was looking at her makeup collection one day. It suddenly became clear to me - she had ALL the right tools.

Thus began my journey to collect ‘the right tools’ too. Truly, it’s been in the past five years that I’ve really honed in on finding the best products for my face, which were worth spending a little extra on, and which ones I could pick up at my grocery store. And since I typically travel with my makeup to work (trying to do my makeup at 5 AM would be a disaster for sure) I try to make the process as seamless as possible.

When Maybelline offered to send me a few of their latest and greatest, I was thrilled to see how they’d fit into my morning routine.

First up - the Maybelline Colossal Big Shot Mascara. This is probably my favorite of the three products they sent. I had recently run out of mascara, so I was eager to try something new! I love voluminous, wispy eyelashes, and this mascara is all about the WISP. It applies smoothly, and I only really need one coat to get the romantic look I want. At $8.50, it’s a no brainer.

The second product I tried was Maybelline's new “The 24karat Blushed Nudes” eyeshadow palette. I love experimenting with new eyeshadows, and this has just the right amount. I really love the shimmer in the tones. Plus - it’s small enough to fit in my makeup bag, and super travel-friendly. I also like how tight the eyeshadow is packed in - often times, my eyeshadow is so loose that it ends in more places than just my eyes. Thankfully, that’s not the case with this palette.

Lastly, I tried out their Master Precise Liquid Liner. I was using another more expensive brand before, but this works just as well. It’s SO easy to use (my favorite feature, of course) and lasted all day. Not to mention it's 1/3 of the price that I usually pay - hello, new $7.99 obsession.