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!


 

 

0

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! :)

0

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)

0

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!

0

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)

0

A Culled Collection

Lately I have been so overwhelmed by the amount of makeup that I own, so to help combat that I have been going through my makeup and decluttering it, using up products, and actually trying products out more than once. I remember in high school when I would wear makeup everyday, yet I only had a little concealer kit for dark circles from physicians formula (which I think you can still buy? you can!), the maybelline one by one mascara, a smokey eyeshadow quad from maybelline, an eyeliner (it varied what one I got each time), and one lip gloss from bath and body works. That was it.

This was thee best mascara ever!

The one on the far right was the one I had and it was the bomb

It all fit in a small makeup bag I stole from my older sister! Then I graduated high school and bought a foundation and powder set from covergirl the clean one for sensitive skin and then my oldest sister gave me an Avon lipstick and boom I was hooked. I found out about beauty youtubers and man did I watch so much youtube right away! I would make a list of all of the products that the beauty vlogger would recommend and eventually try to purchase all of them, thinking that each new product would be better and be awesome and make me so happy. But that product didn't do it, so I need to try a different one, maybe that one will, on and on until I had way more makeup than one person could use.

I now have a three drawer sterilite container full of makeup, granted that is after an entire year of working to get everything to fit in there from a nine drawer craft supply stand, plus a small bin with all of my high end eyeshadow palettes. It was ridiculous! I have cut my makeup collection in half over the last year and I am extremely proud of that, but I still have a ways to go before I am fully happy with the makeup that I own. For a long time, I foolishly thought that I needed a drugstore counterpart to every high end item I had, which is ridiculous. I so badly wanted to be rich, beautiful, and look like I had it all together like all of the beauty youtubers. But I am not them, I'm awkward (and not in the cute way), and weird, and sometimes really loud, I cry a lot at stupid things (just ask my sisters), I talk about poop way more than anyone should (also I have a bowel disease, which kind of explains this one), frankly I'm super poor right now because I just graduated college, I get gout (which is a type of arthritis that normally middle aged men get, of which I am neither), my life is crazy but not in a way that makes for good stories and I'm not that good at makeup. I am not them, I am me. 

Anyway, back to culling my makeup, this year I plan to spend at least a week with basically every single product I own and determine what I actually love and will use. Like for example, a year ago I had 9 (omg yikes) contouring type palettes now I have 2 but only 1 is the traditionally contouring palette with 6 shades, because I don't contour a lot because I have a weird face shape and chubby cheeks that look weird when contoured too much. I definitely did not need 9! I just went back and looked at my inventory from January 2016 and counted, I didn't even know I had had that many! I still think 2 is a little much but I'm going to use them up and then I'll probably repurchase one of the wet n wild contouring duos or just use a bronzer, who knows. I want to eventually have like a capsule makeup collection, simply because I don't think I could get down to what would be considered a minimalist collection (like what I had in high school lol). This whole post is happening simply because I couldn't decide between three blushes that looked similar, the only three that look like that in my collection, but I think having three is excessive because two are dupes for each other and one is similar but has a lighter base color but very similar shimmers and glitters. (In case you were wondering it is the japonesque blush in shade 03, nars orgasm, and thebalm's hot mama (which is a itty bitty sample size)). I would eventually like to get down to 100 or less products, I'm currently in the mid 200's, hopefully by 2018 I will have it culled down and I will love all of the products I have. My one main issue now is that I like, genuinely like, trying out new products, but then I have a hard time deciding which I like better or what I am going to keep or get rid of.

Wow, sorry for the super rambley post. It is basically just a stream of consciousness from my brain to the computer
TL;DR I hoarded makeup and now I don't want to hoard it anymore and weird life story/motivational pep talk

0

Makeup Breakdown: Liquid Lipstick

Hello! I hope you are doing well! Today I'm going to breakdown all of my liquid lipsticks and tell you which ones are my favorites, and which ones are, well, not. Also please excuse the random cucamelons and tomato? I didn't realize they were in the pictures when I took them. 

First up are the Colourpop Ultra Matte Liquid Lipsticks! These can be purchased on Colourpop.com for $6. From left to right the shades are: Midi, Solow, Cluesless, and Bumble. They have a very thin, liquidy, almost water like consistency.This is probably my least favorite formula of liquid lipstick, it is very drying and flakes. I am one of those people who habitually, and unconsciously, rubs my lips together and when I did that with these on the product flaked even more than with just normal wear. However, on the plus side, they are long wearing and the price doesn't break the bank. 

Next up is TheBalm's Meet Matt(e) Hughes liquid lipsticks. These retail for $17 at kohls.com. 

The shade shown above is Committed. This is a warm terra cotta mauve shade, similar to Kat Von D's Lolita but lighter. Meet Matte Hughes have a Girl Scout thin mint cookie smell, they have decent wear time, and do not flake. They also have a mousse like texture. Unfortunately they remain tacky on the lips, but I have found setting it with translucent powder helps some of the tackiness, or if you eat that also helps the tackiness. 

Now we have the Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks. These retail for $20 at Sephora.com. The shades shown above left to right are: Lolita and Lovesick. The Everlasting liquid lipsticks have a thin, watery consistency similar to the Colourpop ultra matte ones, however these do not flake and are not as drying. They have a good wear time and hold up decently through eating and drinking. These do have a slight sweet scent but once they have dried down completely (which takes like no time) you can't smell anything. This is one of my favorite formulas. 

Next up is the Tarte Tarteist Lip Paint in Namaste. The full size retails for $20 at Sephora.com. This lip paint has a minty cookie smell as well, however, it is not as strong as the scent of the Meet Matte Hughes lipstick. The Tarteist lip paint has a thin moussey texture as well and it dries down to a satiny texture that is very pleasant, for me. This, unfortunately, is not very long wearing and doesn't last through eating or drinking, well unless you drink through a straw... Regardless of the staying power this is still one of my favorite formulas. One bad thing though, is that there is some oily leakage that escapes, it's not a lot, but still annoying. 

Halfway through! The Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lipcolor in the shade Seduction. This retails for about $7.99 at target.com. However you can also get it at Ulta.com for $8.99. Application of this product can be a bit tricky, because if you apply too much it doesn't dry down matte, but if you don't apply enough it can look patchy and streaky. If you get the perfect amount it still takes a few minutes to dry down matte, and once it does it has decent wear time, not as great as say Kat Von D, but decent. This liquid lipstick has a strong scent, probably the strongest of them all. It smells like chemical fruit and frosting, it does linger for a little bit until it dries, but then I didn't notice it much after that. The texture of the product is thicker and not moussey, but the applicator is great. 

The OFRA Long lasting liquid lipsticks retail for $19.90 at ofracosmetics.com. These have a moussey, light texture and feel nice on the lips, they don't get drying until after a few hours of wear. They have pretty good wear time for being moussey and they have a nice cake scent. They are some of my favorites. Shown above are the shades: Pasedena and Mina. 

Up next is the Colourpop Ultra Satin Lips. These also, like their matte cousins retail for $6 at Colourpop.com. I personally prefer the satin lips over the matte lips from Colourpop by leaps and bounds. The formula is thicker and almost moussey, but not quite. It has no real noticeable scent. These do not dry down completely so there is some transfer but they wear throughout the day quite well. The shade shown above is Dopey, which is a perfect fall color! This is probably my favorite formula (and price point) out of them all!

Finally, the Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in the shade Bella. The full size retails for $16 at Sephora.com, which is a pretty decent price point compared to the other higher end liquid lipsticks. They have a sweet, non offensive scent that dissipates quickly. The formula is thin, but not watery thin. It dries quickly and lasts for most of the day. These are drying, but I mean that is to be expected, I don't love this formula but I don't hate it, if I owned a color that actually looked good on me I'd probably like them more. I look like a crazy clown when I wear this shade, it's actually really funny. 

What is your favorite liquid lipsticks? Any that I absolutely have to try? Let me know down below! 

0