Makeup Bag Friday 1

Hi all! Today I thought I would give you all a closer look into the products that I currently have in my makeup bin. I keep all of the items for the week that I want to try out or get more use out of in a little clear bin that I got from Target years ago for $1. Each week I try to switch out the products and constantly rotate through my stash to make sure that I like everything and that everything is getting used! In this post I will show you what I have been using for this week!

 February 26th - March 3rd

Urban Decay B6 Vitamin Infused Complexion Prep Spray
This is not my favorite product, it makes my face feel kind of sticky, which is really weird. The B6 spray claims to reduce redness (which I need), minimize pores (again I need), and absorb oil (which I don't need). I think this spray is just a little bit to harsh for my skin, which is a bummer because I really wanted to love it. However, I will continue to use it up until it is gone.

Smashbox Camera Ready BB Water
I am currently trying to use up this foundation, and it still has so much, so this will probably be in a lot of makeup bag posts, sorry... This is a nice BB, however, it is not cruelty free and it pulls a little orange. I typically mix this with the Covergirl primer I am also trying to use up because if I don't it looks like an orange mask, also probably should have mentioned I have the shade fair/light. I like the formula of this foundation, because I don't like a lot of coverage, but I wouldn't repurchase it even if it was cruelty free.

Covergirl Outlast all-day primer
Now this, if it was cruelty free, I would repurchase. It has a lotion-y consistency and, while it may not help with longevity, it mixes with foundations beautifully and helps smooth out my skin. It is not technically a pore filler and does not have any silicone in it. This primer does not dry out my skin, make it feel tight, or break me out. I really like this, so if you are not cruelty free I would recommend this primer.

Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer - Custard
This shade is way too dark for me to use it under my eyes. I foolishly bought the shade that like all of the "beauty gurus" used, which I know I shouldn't have because I am so fair, but I did.... Honestly color aside, this product does not wow me. I think it is over-hyped, now I'm not saying it is a bad concealer, but I don't think it is worth the $30 price tag. However, I am probably using it wrong and the right shade would help but, I don't know, $30 is a lot for .22 oz.

Urban Decay Naked Skin Ultra Definition Loose Finishing Powder
This is the powder I am currently trying to use up, and honestly, it is not the best for dry skinned gals. Granted, most powders are not the best for dry skinned gals... Anyway, it does a nice job of setting the face without looking powdery. This is also a good option if you want one of those HD/ silica type powders without the possibility of a flash back because this is tinted! Unfortunately it does emphasize dry patches.

Laura Geller Baked Highlighter - French Vanilla
This is a creamy vanilla highlighter shade without any discernible glitters. It offers a nice natural lit from within glow. In fact this highlighter could be used as a light setting powder. I really do like this, I think this product would work well if you had a lot of texture on your cheeks or pores, without emphasizing them. The link I provided takes you to one with a split pan of French Vanilla and Portifino for $43, but check Hautelook. On Hautelook you can usually find the single pans for around $12.

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush - Paaarty
This is the birthday gift from Sephora, so it is free (!!). This is a peachy mauve shade which looks very natural on the cheeks. I have really been enjoying these, I also enjoy the Amazonian clay blushes in general.

BareMinerals Bareskin Sheer Sun Serum Bronzer - Bare Glow
I like to use this to bronze up foundations and sometimes I put it in my primer and use it just as that (the primer and bronzer serum). I don't think I would purchase it (I have a sample), it's nice but not mind blowing. I like the concept but it is a little orange.

It Cosmetics Brow Power - Universal Taupe
This used to be my favorite brow pencil, I've even used most of it up, but the more I use it and the more I've tried other brow products I've realized that I don't like how stiff and warm this is. It is still a really great brow product, it is just not my favorite anymore.

It Cosmetics Tightline Full Lash Mascara 
This is a nice lash primer, I like that it is black and not white, makes it easier to cover haha. I like the super small wand especially for my lower lashes, however, I believe that NYX makes a super similar mascara for a much lower price.

Colourpop Blotted Lip - Lexi and Deja Vu
I love these, I reviewed these here.

Tarte Tarteist Lip Paint - Birthday Suit
Again this is the Sephora birthday gift this year. This is a beautiful mauve brown shade. It definitely dries down darker than it looks in the tube, but I have really been enjoying it! It is not drying and is very comfortable, I reviewed these here!

 *go.magik.ly links are affiliate links, where I could make a small commission, click them or not, it's your choice*

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Birthday Haul!

Hey all! My birthday was just a few days ago, so I thought I would share with you what I gave myself for my birthday! I forgot to include the Sephora Birthday gift, but if you want to know more about it you can read about them on my first makeup bag Friday post! 

Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette 

The biggest item I splurged on, which I had been planning to do so since I found out they were going to be restocked was the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette, so far I really like it! However, I'm not a big fan of the scent, its a little too strong and sweet for my liking, but it fades away after you apply the shadows. 

Essence Pure Nude Highlighter

This was the only impulse buy, everything else I had been planning. The Essence Pure Nude highlight has been getting so much attention recently and I saw it at Ulta so I was like why not? So far I am really liking it!

 Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso

I actually had this blush a few years ago but I decluttered it for some reason? This had come back on my radar a few months ago, but then when I saw Jamie Paige's dupe video and how it was a dupe for the Too Faced Papa Don't Peach blush I was sold, because again, I don't like the scent of the peach collection. Really looking forward to wearing this blush this spring and summer! 

Wet 'N' Wild Ombre Blush in In a Purple Haze 

I have been wanting to pick up at least one (but really all) of the Ombre blushes when they first released, but I kept putting it off because I had too many blushes, but I finally had decluttered a bunch I never wore and I was like score I can pick one up! These are very sheer blushes, which is okay with me, I prefer sheer blushes. It doesn't look purple on the cheeks but it looks more pinky/lilacy on the cheeks and I really am enjoying it! 

Let me know if you would like to see a review on any of these products! 

*go.magik.ly links are affiliate links, where I could make a small commission, click them or not, it's your choice*

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Alexis Ren X Colourpop Review

Hi all! I was so excited about this launch! The message and theme behind this collaboration was "no makeup" makeup, and if you have read anything I have written, you will know I am all about that life! Also this was the first time Colourpop released a powder face product, which is super exciting. However, I have yet to try their new powder eyeshadows. The Alexis Ren collection features the Topaz palette, an ultra matte lip in Little Weapon (not pictured as I did not purchase it), an ultra satin lip in Bare Necessities, and three new blotted lip lipsticks in Deja Vu, Lexi, and Exotic (also not pictured).

(L to R) Golden Moment, She's Here to Stay, Bare Necessities, Deja Vu, Lexi

Topaz Palette
The Topaz palette ($15) is quite clearly the shining jewel of this collection, for good reason. The bronzer, Golden Moment, is on the orange side of the bronzer spectrum. As you can see from the swatch it is a little powdery, but the powder formula is so creamy it almost feels like a super shock bronzer from Colourpop. It can look a little patchy, on me anyway, if I don't use a light hand or if I don't put any setting powder down before it.Golden Moment is extremely pigmented, so if you are fair like me use a super light hand other wise it will look super orange. I really do like the bronzer and I am super excited to use it this summer when I am a slightly less ghostly shade! 
The highlighter, She's Here to Stay, is, as you can see a little dark for me. This powder also has a creamy texture, but it doesn't kick up as much powder as the bronzer shade. As I mentioned it is a little dark for me right now, but I have no problem mixing it with a lighter highlight to make it work for me because it is such a beautiful highlight. I have no issues blending it either so thats a bonus!
 - Overall, I really do like this palette, however it would better suite someone with a darker, or even more tan, skin tone than me. That is not saying though that my equally fair friends cannot make it work, they just have to be careful!

*****Update: The bronzer shatters super easily, so be super careful with it. I kinda recommend it a little less, because it shattered while sitting in a drawer, it wasn't even dropped or moved around roughly.****** 
***** Update again: Colourpop's customer service was really good and they are replacing it! So woo hoo!****

Ultra Satin Lip - Bare Necessities 
Bare Necessities is described as a peachy pink nude on Colourpop's website. However, on me it looks a little neon, which is a little weird but if I use a darker lip liner it looks more wearable and natural. The formula is nice and appears to be the same as the permanent Ultra Satin Lips, so I won't go on forever, but if you want to know what I think I reviewed the USL's here!
- Overall, I wouldn't repurchase it, simply because the color was not what I expected, nor necessarily wanted.

Blotted Lip Lippie Stix - Deja Vu and Lexi
Deja Vu is described as a pink nude. It does pull a little mauve, which I personally like. This is such a natural and wearable color! It lasts around 3 hours without eating and only drinking, so it has a pretty average wear time for a lipstick, however since it is such a natural color you can hardly tell when it wears off and you don't have to worry about it smearing all over your face which is like my second biggest fear.
Lexi is a cool toned red, that falls on the deeper end of the red lip spectrum. This is my favorite red lip stick out of all of the red lip sticks I have ever owned. It looks so natural, yet still packs a punch, and again like Deja Vu, even when you are eating you don't have to worry about it smearing off of your face because it wears off so nicely!
-Overall I would repurchase these and only these for the rest of my life. Lol.

Have you tried anything from the Alexis Ren X Colourpop collab? What do you think about it? Let me know below!


 

 

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5 Things about me!

Hi all! I am so excited for the weekend! I thought today I would share 5 things about me that you probably don't know! As you have probably noticed, I don't share much personal information on here, simply because I am rather shy in real life and sometimes that translates online as well!

1. I know how to run a sound board haha

2. I have a bachelors of science and art in psychology and a minor in sociology.

3. I have Crohn's disease and sero negative arthritis (primarily in my left foot).

4. I want to be a social worker and that is what I am planning to get my masters in.

5. I will read anything and everything.

Hope you all enjoyed! let me know below 5 things about you, I would love to get to know you all! :)

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Makeup Wishlist

 

Hi all! Today I wanted to share with you some of the "no makeup" makeup products I have been lusting after recently! In case you were wondering I am transitioning all of my makeup to cruelty free and I am on the hunt for a good drugstore tinted moisturizer or bb/cc cream, so if you have any favorites please let me know!! 

RMS Beauty - Living Luminizer

Everyone has been talking about this recently, but I had first heard about it a few years back from Emily, who runs the blog Cupcakes and Cashmere. Ever since then it has been in the back of my mind, but I haven't been able to make the $38 splurge yet. It is available at sephora * 

Glossier - Boy Brow in Brown

This is another product I hear people raving about! The boy brow seems to be a unique waxy gel thing for your brows and is fast and easy! Which is everything I want when it comes to my brows! It is $16 at Glossier.com

100% Pure - Fruit Pigmented Ultra Lengthening Mascara in Black Tea 

I haven't heard many people talk about this one but I have such sensitive eyes, I want to see if a super natural mascara would irritate my eyes, and the packaging is gorgeous! This mascara is $25 at 100% Pure's website

Pacifica - Alight Multi Mineral BB Cream 

This is a skin tone adjusting BB cream, which I think sounds super cool. I don't think I have ever heard anyone talk about this product, none the less I have been eyeing for the last two weeks, but I need to work through some of my foundations before I can justify purchasing a new one! It is $16 at Ulta *

Glossier - Perfecting Skin Tint in Light

Oohh this reminds me I also want to try the I believe it is called the stretch concealer from glossier as well! But anyway, this seems like a perfect product for those "no makeup" makeup days, it is a tint so it shouldn't be heavy looking or cakey on the skin! It is $26 at glossier's website

Pacifica - Blushious Coconut & Rose Infuse Cheek Color in Camiella 

Holy long name batman! I have seen/heard some minimalist beauty youtubers talking about how this blush is their go to! So on the list it goes! It is $12 at Ulta *

What have you been lusting after, makeup wise? Let me know! 

(Note: an * next to a link means it is an affiliate link, which means I would get a super small percentage of money, use it or don't)

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Studying and homework tips and tricks

Hi all! Today I thought I would share some tips and tricks I learned from experience and from some of my (numerous) psychology classes I took in college! All of these can be applied to either high school or college!

1. My first tip is to be relatively relaxed when you are studying. It is much harder to focus and absorb what you are reading when you are stressed out and anxious. I know lighting a candle helps me to relax and even listening to calming music (which I will get to next).

2. When you are studying, listen to music without words. Listening to music with words more heavily engages the Wernicke's area of the brain and can confuse you if you are trying to memorize things or write a paper. But you should definitely listen to music, many research studies have found that listening to music while performing cognitive tasks increased recall (aka improves your memory)

The numbers correspond with numbers on a separate piece of paper

3. This one is a bit of a "duh", but none the less I'm going to mention it! If your teacher gives you a study guide (some do, some don't) DO IT!!!

4. The best way to study it to set aside 15 minutes (per subject) each day to review.

5. In conjunction to number 4, make up essay questions (2 or 3) related to what you studied that week, answer them and do that every week, chances are by the time the test rolls around you will have probably touched on nearly everything that could possibly be on the test.

6. Now the most important tip is for every 45-50 minutes you study take a 10-15 minute break. Studying for long periods of time with no break will fatigue your brain and thus your ability to process, memorize, and eventually recall the information you are studying will be significantly hindered.

Haha! I didn't realize I picked the section about memory from biopsychology to photograph!

7. Take detailed notes during lecture! Personally for me I have better recall if I hand write my notes, but that is not always practical. It also helps if you write down questions you have about the material in the margins or if something in the lecture reminds you of something else put that down in the margins as well. The more real life connections you can make the easier the material will be to remember!

I just realized how alarming this could look! Don't worry its just from the Forensic Psychology class I took!

8. Draw diagrams and pictures (relating to the material) in your notes! In the picture of the conscious and unconscious iceberg I drew a duck swimming in water and what was above water was the conscious and what was below the water was the unconscious (I did not include the duck because I am terrible at drawing, which you can tell on the iceberg). I also draw arrows to connect related information.

9. Use a different color pen for important words. I learned that in the study skills class I had to take in 7th grade, that's about all I remember from that class. You could also highlight them, but I liked using different colored pens.

Pro tip: Don't take biopsychology online, its super hard haha

10. Now this last tip is more of a specialized tip, meaning it likely will not work for everyone. Planners do not help me, at all. I would use them for the first month of school and then I would forget about it until the start of the next semester. Even when I would use the planner I would still be overwhelmed with what needed to be done, so at the beginning of each semester I would look at the course schedule on the syllabus and write down what day everything was due. However, when it got close to the end of the semester I would write down everything that was left to be done all on one page in order that everything was due (if that doesn't make sense look at the picture below).

I hope these tips will help you in your studies!

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Makeup Breakdown: Liquid Lipsticks pt.2

Hey all! Today I was looking through my liquid lipsticks and I was like "WOW" I have a few new ones since my last post! So I went into investigator mode and started testing and trying them out, to once again, determine which are the best liquid lipsticks!

First up is the Kylie Cosmetics lip kit in Ginger, which retails for $29 for both the liquid lipstick (.11 fl oz) and the liner (1 g), at Kylie's *website. Or you can get a single liquid lipstick for $17.
I personally really like this formula, however I do have some issues with it. First the colors do not last as long if there is not a lip liner underneath the liquid lipstick. My best friend has the KoKo K liquid lipstick, but not the liner and it did not hold up through eating Chinese food, while the Ginger lip kit, while fading, was still there and still looked pretty good. So maybe it isn't the liner, but maybe the lighter colors simply don't hold up as well through eating. My second issue is that some of the colors seem to be very easily duped, which if I am paying $29 for a lip kit that is not something I want, however, that is good for those who don't want to or can't afford to spend $29 for a lip kit. This formula, while it has been compared to colourpop a lot, I personally think it is closer to the Kat Von D formula, based on how it wears and how it feels on the lips. The packaging of these lip kits are my favorite I think it is so cute. The lip kits have a vanilla cupcake scent which is not as over powering as say the Revlon liquid lipstick I reviewed in my last liquid lipstick post. Also Kylie Cosmetics is cruelty free and gluten free!

So overall I would give this a 4 out of 5.

Second is the BareMinerals GenNude Matte Liquid Lipcolor in Hemp, it retails for $18 (.13 fl oz) at *bareminerals.com
First and foremost the smell of these lipsticks is amazing! They smell like homemade cookies! The formula is a thin whipped consistency that applies rather easily. Unfortunately they can be kind of patchy and streaky when you are applying them. They also are not the most opaque lipstick, which I guess they don't claim to be a liquid lipstick, so I suppose I can let them off the hook for that. However, they also do not last very long, especially when compared to the Kylie lip kits or the Milani liquid lipsticks. But the Bareminerals ones are extremely comfortable, which is why I keep and will continue to keep wearing them! haha! Also BareMinerals is cruelty free and most products are gluten free!

Overall I would give this a 3.5/5

Well I guess I gave myself a segue-way into the Milani Liquid lipsticks! The Milani Amore Matte Lip Creme's retail for $9 (.21 oz) on *milanicosmetics.com
I've heard that the original formula that was released in the limited edition Amore Matte Lip Creme's was bounds and leaps better than the formula Milani released in the permanent Amore Matte Lip Creme's. However, I do quite enjoy this formula. It is very long lasting, I took a nap and when I woke up it was still there and hadn't dried out my lips! Unfortunately, it does not hold up well through eating and drinking. These smell like vanilla, which seems to be a trend for lip products in general. Milani is cruelty free and the Amore Matte lip cremes are gluten free!

Overall I would give this a 4/5

Next up is the Ciate London Liquid Velvet liquid lipstick! It retails for $19.00 on Ciate's website. This liquid lipstick reminds me of a cross between the colourpop ultra matte liquid lipsticks and the baremineral liquid lipsticks but less drying than the colourpop and less streaky than the Bareminerals. The consistency is a liquidy whipped texture which is a little weird but it results in a beautiful and for the most part comfortable application. It has a slightly sweet smell, but is not as strong or as vanilla as the kylie, bareminerals, and milani ones are. The liquid velvets are also gluten free! The velvets do have fairly long staying power and can make it through a meal without too much wear, if the meal isn't oily! Also Ciate is cruelty free!

Overall I would give this a 3.5/5

Now, the Color is Bae Lip Lacquer from Elizabeth Mott! These are $20 from Elizabeth Mott's website. The shade is Moxie Mauve, which is ill fitting, the color, on me looks more like a vibrant midtoned pink. This formula is creamy and it smells like vanilla, however, it is sticky and the color does not appear at all like what is in the tube! Which is very unfortunate. While I don't mind the color not being 100% accurate to what the tube looks like, I hate sticky things. The longevity is average, it lasts about the same amount of time as other liquid lipsticks and it does dry down matte. This product is both cruelty free and gluten free!

Overall I would give this 2/5

 Finally, the J.Cat liptitude hydrating lip stain. Available for $5.99 from Ulta's *website. This product is awful. It is gloopy, sticky, and easily goes outside of the lip line. However, it is gluten free and cruelty free. On the plus side, this does last a long time and does leave a nice stain behind when it fades (or runs away from your mouth haha). It has a minty type smell that is not too over powering. I would recommend, if you still want to try this to not start off with a deep or bold color and stick with the naturals, that way if it bleeds out of your lip line, you will not look like a clown (like I did).

Overall I would give this a 1.5/5

Let me know of any of your favorite liquid lipsticks! I would love to try them and possibly include them in a part three!

(Note an * denotes that it is a link where I could make a small percentage of money, click it or not, its up to you)

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