mark. holiday breakfast with lucy hale

on a work trip through new york city yesterday, i was able to sidestep into the blog world and had the true pleasure of having breakfast with mark. brand ambassador lucy hale, celebrity makeup artist kelsey deenihan and a handful of the best beauty editors in the business. it was such a treat!

we met up at the crosby hotel (which is beautiful if you’re ever in soho btw) and gathered around for bacon, eggs and lots of beauty talk. lucy and kelsey are a hilarious pair and aside from being able to tell right off the bat that they are both beauty obsessed, you can also tell that they have a total ball when they work together.

(photo credit to rob loud)

my top five takeaways from chatting with this dynamic duo:

1 – lucy is a beauty minimalist in her everyday life. she opts for concealer, mascara and lip balm when she’s not totally done up for shooting or an event. she can also cover a zit like nobody’s business. she says it’s all about the brush, and she prefers to use a super tiny pointed eyeliner brush to get the job done.

2 – her mark favorites are mark. lipclick in cha cha (quickly becoming overrun by her feelings for new lipclick matte in siren – more of a bluer red, so gorgeous), touch and glow coral glow (because coral looks good on everyone, and i tend to agree) and on the dot neutral. she says she feels most confident in a neutral, smoky eye.

3 – she believes that what makes you different makes you cool and this is her beauty advice to all halers young and old. case in point, if you haven’t noticed her brows are insane. she looks back at photos as a tiny tot with a unibrow and sees that it actually made her unconventionally beautiful. her biggest regret is waxing and tweezing them over the years. now, no one touches them – and she urges everyone to embrace their quirks. love. that.

4 – her skin is crazy sensitive and acne prone. (hello! glad i’m not alone.) she chalks her current clarity up to facials every two weeks in la. she is undyingly loyal to her facialist and says it has made all of the difference.

5 – if you’re going to do your mark. hook up one way to get through fall, kelsey recommends choosing on the edge liquid liner in bronze edge and glow baby glow lip gloss in pretty femme. these colors are classic and they look good on everyone. done and done!

i could have talked to these two all day. they are funny and refreshing – my kind of beauty girls! you can shop all of lucy and kelsey’s favorites below, and stay tuned for much more holiday goodness from mark. land. there are so many beautiful new products to share in the coming weeks!