Review & Swatches: Benefit They're Real Tinted Lash Primer

Benefit recently released a new lash primer - They're Real! Tinted Lash Primer in Mink Brown! Before the official launch, Benefit gave away mini versions as a gift with purchase in stores like Ulta and Sephora. I was honestly wondering when they would do this since They're Real! is such a popular mascara. Personally, the only reason why I didn't like They're Real! is because it would uncurl my lashes. Besides that, I thought it was great for volume, definition, and length and so I knew I had to get this primer to try out. The full sized version contains 0.3 ounces of product and retails for $24.

Hao Are You #13 // Preparing For Winter

Or aka - more food shots because all I do is eat. I have actually been trying to cook and eat healthier, but I do treat myself whenever I'm out of town. When it gets cold, I also get really lazy to cook and just like to get hot pot / shabu shabu instead. I've also been busy and so it's great just to be able to get some food with friends and loved ones during the holidays to catch up!

Here are some places I've been visting!

Piatti // (pictured above!) My boyfriend looooves Italian food and we recently discovered Piatti while scrolling through Yelp. The food itself isn't unique, but it is still quite delicious and the location is really nice! The atmosphere can also be romantic for a quick date.

Yakitori Yakyudori & Ramen // Ramen is one of my top choices for winter and Yakitori Yakyudori & Ramen is amazing. They also have small dishes that you can order (the middle picture is Takoyaki) and I can't wait to go back to try even more of them. The line was super long, but the food was worth it.

iDessert by Jean-Philippe // I also found this ice cream place while scrolling through Yelp and was surprised to find out that it was in Little Italy! Even though I've been to San Diego many times, I never realized there was a Little Italy there. This ice cream had a meringue shell and the ball on top contained syrup that you could squeeze to either fill the ice cream or to be a topping. I personally don't like the texture of meringue, but everything else was great! You could order with a cashier, or with any of the iPads through out the store. I thought the second option was great because I was able to take my time choosing without the fear of annoying the cashier. 

Sprinkles // I really don't need to do any introduction on this company! I just wanted to show their adorable Gingerbread and Peppermint cupcakes they had for December. I'm a huge fan of both flavors in general and so I could not skip out on these.

Fig Tree Cafe // My sister is really into brunch (as am I) and so we had a double date at Fig Tree Cafe. I had their Stuffed French Toast (amazing) but I also stole some slices of my boyfriend's pizza. They had huge portions for really reasonable prices and the store / workers were really welcoming. I'm cranky in the mornings and so this was a great place to start the day. I can't wait to go back to try their eggs benedict as well.

Mokkoji Shabu Shabu Bar // One of my good friends introduced me to this place. It's a bit more expensive than my go - to choice, Boiling Point, but I preferred eating this way so that I could cook the food the way I wanted to. Boiling Point usually serves hot pot all in one pot ready to eat, but you cook your own food at Mokkoji. Even looking at this simple picture is making me crave hot pot again. 

What are your favorite foods to eat during winter?

Also -

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I was going to do a Christmas based post, but not everything celebrates Christmas and that includes me. My family has always been low key about Christmas and I even get anxious when people give me gifts during this time. I do really enjoy this time of the year though. Everything is happier and more lively. 

I hope you all have a great holiday! 

Haul: My First Kiko Purchase!

I've never gotten anything from Kiko Cosmetics before (besides a lip / cheek product my friend gave me) and so I decided to take advantage of its sale during Black Friday / Cyber Monday! I saw some pictures of the Cosmic Starlets collection and I looooved the packaging of their blushes. I've also heard great things about their lip and eye products and wanted to try those as well. 

Review & Swatches: Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in Androgyny

Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in Androgyny is a purpley plum mauve lipstick and was released for the Holiday 2015 season. It was supposed to be limited edition but since it was so popular, Jeffree Star Cosmetics has decided to bring it back next year! The white cap was only for this release though and future editions of this color will be in the regular hot pink packaging. I've been really into mauves lately and so this shade was the only I really wanted from the holiday collection. There is 0.19 ounces of product and retails for $18.

Review: Etude House Honey Cera Toner, Emulsion, Cream, and Priming Eye Serum

Along with the products from the Snowy Dessert Collection (review here), I was also sent some products from the Etude House Honey Cera line! I don't believe this particular 4 piece kit is available to purchase, but you can get it with a full sized purchase of anything from this line. The products in this kit include a toner, emulsion, cream, and priming eye serum. 

This whole line is targeted to plump, firm, and moisturize the skin. My skin is dehydrated and so this line was totally up my alley and I couldn't wait to start using everything. For some background, I used to have very acne prone skin until about a year ago that left me with so many acne marks that are still there now. I still have some pimples popping up here and there, but that's more stress related. My skin also used to be normal to oily and now it's overall dehydrated, dry on my cheeks, and a slightly oily t-zone. It's kind of hard to deal with, but I generally buy/use products for brightening and moisturizing.

This 4 piece set actually includes a lot of product for me to really try out and I'm very very happy to say that none of them broke me out!

The Honey Cera Toner* is thin and milky that easily spreads over my face. The claims include being able to "moisten rough and dry skin without any stickiness." I would apply this product with a cotton round, but it's not like water like regular toners and so you could even use your hands.

I do prefer to use it with an exfoliating cotton round though to remove any leftover cleanser or dirt. Unlike their claim, I did feel some slight tackiness but it wasn't that bad. It's just different from the toners I'm used to because they leave my skin matte. The way I see it with this toner is that this adds moisture to my skin as well as taking away dead skin while most toners just take away dead skin.

Emulsions are not normally part of western skin care products, but to my knowledge, they're also another thin product that helps with moisture. The Honey Cera Emulsion* claims to "provide rich nutrition and strengthen the skin's oil-moisture balance." As I've mentioned, I do have some oily parts to my skin and so the description made me very happy!

I apply this product with my hands and just spread it over my face. This product is also thin and sinks into the skin really quickly, but also leaves a slight tackiness. The texture was surprising because I thought it would be liquidy, but it kind of sticks or holds to itself pretty well like honey. It was hard to pour the product out of the bottle and so I had to use a cotton bud to get some out. Using a cotton bud was more hygienic anyway and so I wasn't too bothered. Once you blend it, the texture thins out.

Both the toner and emulsion are very similar and if I had to choose, I would pick the emulsion. I already have a toner that I really love that is a chemical exfoliant. It's also my only exfoliant and so it's the only product I can't switch out. The emulsion on the other hand, is more unique in my collection. I have an essence that's supposed to also balance my "oil-moisture" as well, but it did not work as well as the Honey Cera Emulsion. 

The Honey Cera Cream* claims to "provide dry skin with abundant nutrition and radiance." I don't know about radiance, but it does provide my skin with a lot of moisture. If I've never tried the Fresh Seaberry Oil before, I would've thought this was more than enough for my dehydrated skin. It's still really good as a day and night cream, but I do add a drop of my Fresh Oil at night. During the summer, this will be perfect though! My skin is just more dry during winter. 

It also works really well under makeup just by itself. A lot of creams leave my skin with a slight oily residue that I need to put primer or powder over it before foundation. Even though skincare takes awhile to see the effects, this cream did leave my skin a bit more plump and smooth that you can see right away.

The Honey Cera Priming Eye Serum* claims to "enhance dark circles under the eyes with its whitening function for a smooth and brightened eye area." I've never heard of an eye serum before, nonetheless a priming one. I'm also not sure if the priming aspect is for makeup or an actual eye cream. 

The texture is thin and so it works well by itself and under makeup. I'm still in my early 20's and so there's not too many wrinkles to test on. My undereye area is dry though and so it's very easy for my concealer to crease and make the lines appear worse / more visible.

Because of the thin texture, it does sink into the skin pretty well. At night, I do use an eye cream though because this serum doesn't feel hydrating enough just by itself. In the morning, I just use this to help with the dryness. My undereye area looked smoother and also helped prep that area for concealer. This eye serum would probably work best for those who are just starting with eye care products or want to really oomph up their exiting eye cream.

I also couldn't test out the whitening claims for the undereye area. I do find that when my eyes are more dry, they look darker and so that bit of moisture did help? Eye creams / eye care products are hard to test out for my age range though - sorry! All I can say is that I do like it because it plays well with my makeup and that's usually the thing that defers me from using eye care products in the morning. 

Final thoughts: Overall, I'm very happy with this collection as well. My dehydrated skin is in love! Realistically, I probably won't buy the full size of the toner since I do love my current one but it's a really good choice for those who have dry skin and don't have acne marks. I really want to get the other three products though once I run out of the things I'm using now. The Lush Celestial Moisturizer I use is about the same price as this Honey Cera Cream, but it's just not moisturizing my face as well as it used to. The Honey Cera Emulsion was a surprise love, but it's just the thing that was missing from my routine. The full sized Honey Cera Priming Eye Serum also has a metal applicator and so I bet that would feel great on my puffy eyes in the morning. If you're looking to get into the Korean skin care routine, this would be a great collection to look into if you have dry skin. Nothing broke me out as well and that's always a huge plus for me!

*These products were sent to me as a PR sample. All opinions are 100% honest and my own.

For more information on any of these products mentioned, please visit Etude House's Official Website! 

Review & Swatches: Etude House Snowy Dessert Collection

I'm extremely excited to announce that I am now part of the Etude House Pink Bird Program! In short - they'll be providing me products from their recent collections once a month until next year. I was already a huge fan of Etude House and so I was waiting forever for them to post up that they were looking for new Pink Birds. 

This month, I was sent some items from the Etude House Snowy Dessert Collection. This collection includes a blush, contour powder, gel pencils, lip tints, hand creams, eye shadow palettes, and scented wax tablets. All of the items have a dessert theme and they're all adorably packaged like usual!

The items that I received and will be talking about include -

Ginger Cookie Blusher

Play 101 Pencils in #71 and #73

Pudding Tint in PK001 Grapefruit Pudding (#3)

Review: My Scheming Sheet Masks

Along with the Geo Eyevelyn Choco Contact Lenses (review here!), LoveShoppingholics also sent me three masks to try out. 

They're all from the brand My Scheming! The specific masks I received include the Raw Job's Tears Brightening Black Mask, Snail Essence Hydrating Black Mask, and Cactus Essence Hydrating Black Mask. All three masks are $2.20 on the LoveShoppingholics website and so they're very affordable!

I've never tried this brand before and so I was very excited to see how they would work on my skin. All three masks help improve skin hydration plus a little more based on the mask.

& now let's start!

Raw Job's Tears Brightening Black Mask*

This mask was the first one out of three that I tried. Right when I pulled it out of the bag, it was dripping with essence. A lot of the other sheet masks I've tried had a clear essence but this one was slightly milky. 

I liked that the mask had multiple slits around the edges and so it was able to really contour around my face. I would say my face is pretty normal? and there was a little bit around my temples that felt too wide. I just folded it over so that it wouldn't touch my hair and it was good to go!

This is definitely a laying down and relaxing kind of mask because of how much essence there was. I just watched some YouTube videos for about 20 minutes and took off the mask. I took some pictures after taking off the mask (so 2-3 minutes) and the center of my face already absorbed whatever was left. I also think the essence from the center of the also moved towards the outer edges of my face though. I ended up massaging the essence that wasn't full absorbed yet from the outer edges into my face.

I use sheet masks mostly at night, but this one could be used in the morning due to how fast it absorbed (compared to Vita LightBeam Essential Mask & WHP Charcoal-Mineral Mask). It didn't leave a tacky texture either and instead left me with a smooth and slightly mattified look/feel to my skin. 

Snail Essence Hydrating & Repairing Black Mask*

This one has the same fit and sheet texture and so I won't repeat myself.

The essence is different though! Instead of being milky, it is clear and a bit thicker. There was an overabundance of essence again and so I just squeezed a bit out so that it wouldn't drip everywhere. I feel like I shouldn't have done that though since the essence stuck into my face a lot better than the Raw Job's mask.

After wearing it for about 20-25 minutes, the sheet mask did feel a bit dry and so I took it off and used whatever essence was left on the mask + on my face and massaged it it into my face and neck.

Again, this mask initially dried to a more tacky feel and then fully dried to a more soft matte (but still moisturized) appearance. I was taking my chance by wearing this mask before a date with my boyfriend and I was super glad that it left my face slightly matte instead of overly dewey like some other masks so that my makeup will still apply on well.

Cactus Essence Hydrating Black Mask*

The texture and fit is the same as the other two masks and the essence is similar to the Snail one. There was an overabundance of essence again and it did drip down my neck. It's nothing having tissues around my neck wouldn't fix though! The sheet did stay fully saturated during the 30 minutes I wore it as well!

Like the name of the masks says, this sheet mask is hydrating and left my skin with a glow. The essence also stayed on my skin well enough that I could give myself a nice facial massage. Like the other two masks, this one also sunk onto my skin well enough that I could use it in the morning before applying makeup.

Out of the three masks, this one really helped with hydration. Even though this winter hasn't been that cold, my skin has been extra dehydrated and this essence sunk into my skin without leaving any film "sitting" on my skin.



Final thoughts: I think all three masks would be great for any skin type. Even though I loved the Cactus Essence one for hydration, I would repurchase the other two since I prefer my masks to include some kind of brightening or repairing properties for my acne marks. All three sheet masks sink in quickly into the skin and so they're also great before going out / in the morning if your skin needs a pick me up. It's also important to note that none of these masks broke me out! My skin felt smooth, but not fully hydrated though and so I did need to use another moisturizer underneath.

*These masks were sent to me to try out and all thoughts are 100% honest and my own.

Have you tried My Scheming Sheet Masks before? What's your favorite sheet mask?

November 2015 Favorites!

Another month! Another favorites!

November has been a busy, but fun month! I got A LOT of stuff due to Thanksgiving and holiday sales, but these are the items I've been reaching for non-stop this month!

I've been doing winged liner for about 10 years and liquid liner has got to be my favorite formula, but it wasn't until now that I figured out my favorite applicator! I featured Eyescream's Liquid Eyeliner in Black Coffee and K-Palette's Real Lasting Eyeliner 1 Day Tattoo, but it's the brush tip I'm a huge fan of! These two are very very similar, but the Eyescream liner's brush is a tiny bit fatter and longer. I have also tried Kat Von D's Tattoo Liner, but it would always flake in my inner corner by the middle of the day.

A year ago, I would've called you crazy if you said I would like to wear a lot of non-red lipsticks! Charlotte Tilbury's Matte Revolution Lipstick in Bond Girl is a perfect pinky mauve color / MLBB color on me. The texture is light, creamy, and moisturizing and I can't get enough of it! It also makes me feel pretty fancy due to its price tag.

I've also been wearing the Etude House's Bling Me Prism Eyeshadow in #5 Bling Bold. It's a metallic taupe / cool toned dark brown liquid eyeshadow. I think I might even prefer this formula over Josie Maran's Coconut Water Eyeshadow. It could be classified as a cream eyeshadow, but the formula is more thin. 

Sugarpill's Pressed Eyeshadow in Pumpkin Spice (review here) is another eyeshadow I've been wear a lot. It's the so sparkly and fun to wear! Matte shadows tone down the color and finish a bit so that I can ever wear this bright orange shade to work. 

What were your favorites during November? What are you looking forward to in December?

Review & Swatches: Sugarpill Pressed Eyeshadow in Pumpkin Spice

Sugarpill recently released a limited edition pressed eyeshadow called Pumpkin Spice! Unfortunately, it is now sold out but I still wanted to put up my review of it in case people wanted swatches for comparisons, they somehow find it to buy, or you know... if someone is planning a secret giveaway for it in a few weeks...

Moving on...

Pumpkin Spice is a super metallic "rustic copper color with warm golden flecks." Sugarpill claims that the texture is soft and smooth. If you go to their Instagram, they do compare it to their loose pigment in Penelope but say that it's more red. This eyeshadow contains 3.5 grams / 0.12 ounces of product and retailed for $12.

Review: Geo Eyevelyn Choco (Silicone Hydrogel) Contact Lenses

This review has been a long time coming! LoveShoppingholics provided me with another opportunity to review a pair of contacts and I immediately jumped on the offer. I chose the Geo Evevelyn Choco (Silicone Hydrogel) Circle Lenses* with a prescription this time due to Kim's raves about hydrogel contacts (visit her blog here!). These contacts retail for $23.90 on the LoveShoppingholics website and last for a year. They also come with a free and super adorable contact lens case!

Silicone Hydrogel contacts are different from normal contacts in that they let more oxygen in. My eyes are very very dry and I usually buy daily contacts because they're not as "suffocating" as longer term wear contacts. These Eyevelyn contacts also have H20 Natural Wettability to "keep moisture on the lens surface and protect your eyes from dryness." The description alone had me jumping for joy. These lenses also have some UV protection, which is important for your eyes in the long run as well.

Review & Swatches: Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Bond Girl

I went crazy during BeautyLish's Gift Card Event and got a Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Bond Girl. I've been constantly looking at it for weeks after seeing so many bloggers talking about it. I would put it into my cart and remove it over and over again until I decided to just bit the bullet! Bond Girl is described as a "chic natural berry," but it looks like a MLBB pinky mauve with a hint of red lipstick on me. The Matte Revolution Lipsticks contain 3.5 g / 0.12 ounces of product and retails for $32.

Review & Swatches: Blackbird Cosmetics Pressed Luxury Eyeshadows in Fire Pledge, Ruca, Beau, and Atlas

Blackbird Cosmetics is an indie company based in the US that mostly deals with matte shadows. They're also one of the few indie brands that sell pressed products. I personally struggle with loose products since I drop everything. The colors I bought are Fire Pledge (vibrant burnt orange), Ruca (blackened red), Beau (reddened dark brown), and Atlas (dark, slightly blackened chocolate brown). All of them are described as having a "matte but glowy finish" and are vegan and cruelty free. Each shadow retails for $8 and contain 2 grams of product.

This post is actually from two separate orders (and I have another order on the way from Black Friday!) but I couldn't figure out lighting. Fire Pledge kept showing up as a bright orange and I think I finally got the colors pretty close to reality now! I usually take pictures before using my products, but I had to redo all of my pictures for these to make the colors more accurate. Please excuse the slightly messy appearance!

Review: Maple Holistics Vitamin C Anti Aging C Facial Serum

I received the Maple Holistics Vitamin C Anti-Aging Serum* the same time I got the shampoo + conditioner set (review here), but kept putting off the review on the serum. Now that I've completely finished the whole bottle, I think it's about time I sit down and write out my thoughts! (Sorry for lagging!)

As a refresher, Maple Holistics is a USA based brand that is natural that aims to improve hygiene, health, and daily living. The Vitamin C Facial Serum claims to help improve the skin as well as protecting it. This product retails for $11.77 and contains 1.0 fluid ounces.

Review & Swatches: Burberry Light Glow Natural Blush in No. 07 Earthy Blush

A few weeks ago, I bought the Burberry Mini Beauty Box that contained deluxe sample sizes of a few of their bestsellers. In this review, I'll only be reviewing the Light Glow Natural Blush in No. 7 Earthy because it was the product that I instantly fell in love with. Earthy is a matte medium light neutral brown powder product that a lot of people contour with. It can also be used as a blush depending on the skin tone. The full sized product retails for $42.00 and contains 0.24 ounces of product. 

The differences that I see from the full sized to what I have is that the blush has a blush brush while mine as a sponge tip applicator. The box also included a pretty decent brush that I use all the time for contouring now. 

Review & Swatches: Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Pact

The Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Pact is a pressed version of their cult favorite product - No-Sebum Mineral Powder. It's a white translucent powder that's supposed to control the amount of sebum (or oil) on your face to keep you looking "soft and fresh" all day. This compact contains 8.5 grams of product and retails for $12 on their official website, but you can find it for less on some eBay stores. 

Review & Swatches: Hard Candy So Baked Sculpting Trio in 3 x A Lady

I've briefly talked about this product in a haul and favorites and now it's finally about time I sit down and write out a full review! The Hard Candy So Baked Sculpting Trio in 3x A Lady contains three shades to help shape your face and add some color. There's a slightly golden champagne highlight, a rosey pink satin blush, and a light brown matte contour/bronzer shade. This trio contains 2.3 ounces of product and retails for $9.00.

Hao Are You? #12 // Sick of Being Sick

Doing another update!

I haven't done one since before I cut my hair and that was right after I graduated around June. There's been a lot... but also nothing happening to me because I'm super boring. I really wanted to cut my hair when I dyed it back to brown, but my mom wanted my hair to be long for my graduation pictures. Once that ceremony was done, I chopped everything off and then cut it again like 3 months after. I'm trying not to cut my hair again until march of next year, but the dye has faded so much out of my ends that I rather chop that off again than dye it over with more brown dye. 

When my hair is straight, it's about 2 inches past my shoulders and so it flips out all weirdly. I feel like my shorter hair looks the best when it's curled and so I like to just quickly curl it using a 1.5" curling iron in the mornings. It only takes 10ish minutes and I never leave the iron on too long.

During this time, my boyfriend and I also celebrated our 4 year anniversary. We did celebrate it a month or two late since there were so many things happening at the same time though. Because of so many transitioning moments like moving, graduating, and starting work full time, we had to push back some celebrations. We ended up getting an amazing dinner from Flemmings to celebrate everything at once!

& I definitely need to show some other amazing food I got recently!

The first three you can read about on my Instagram (click the banner at the top of the page!), but the fourth picture is when my boyfriend and I made bacon covered chicken stuffed with jalapeno cream cheese. It's one of the tastiest things we've made and we were so proud of it! I'm trying to cook more and I'm also trying to teach my boyfriend how to cook and this recipe was perfect for both of us.

During September, my family came to visit me and we ended up going to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. I've already went there before with my boyfriend, but it was still a good experience to go again! Also, this seal was my soul animal. Just look at its face!

I also can't remember if these are manta rays or sting rays, but I will just call them sea pancakes.... I think they look so hilarious from below too. The area the aquarium is located at is also super cute! There were so many surrounding shops and restaurants and I really recommend stopping by there if you were to ever go through Long Beach.

By the way, my subtitle for this post is because I got super sick recently. I'm not sure if it's a cold or flu, but I just feel terrible and lame. This post is going up a couple of days after I'm actually writing it though since I have some other makeup posts I want to put up first, but there may be a slight lag because I wasn't able to take full face pictures lately. Daylight savings has messed up my lighting even more and my sick face is definitely not going up on my blog D: 

What have you been up to lately? How do you stay healthy during winter because I'm apparently very weak?

October 2015 Favorites!

I've been pretty low key during October and didn't experiment or play with my makeup as usual. Besides stuff I have been (accidentally) constantly mentioning in my other favorites, I tried out some indie matte shadows and a fancy schmancy contouring powder from Burberry. It is a mini size from a set though and so I'm not actually thaaat fancy schmancy. I also used 2 easy to slap on and reliable products a lot too!

I'll be going left to right!

Burberry Light Glow Natural Blush in No. 07 Earthy Blush (Deluxed sample size)

I was originally so confused by this product because the mini says "Contouring Powder Face & Eyes" but I couldn't find a contouring powder compact in Burberry's line. Turns out, it's part of their Blush Line. Looking at it in the pan, I thought it would also be too light and slightly orange for my skin. To my very very happy surprise, it did up working perfectly for my skin tone. I would say that it's on the same level of "darkness" as Benefit's Hoola, but leans more of a cooler beige instead of yellow. It blends into the skin so well and the "light glow" due to its formula takes away any traces of powder. 

Becca Pressed Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal (Deluxed sample size)

My skin has been looking a bit dull lately. It hasn't been that cold in Southern California but it has dropped 20 degrees to be around 70 degrees F now. The change made my skin feel drier and now using highlighter makes me glow more instead of just looking greasy. Opal is a really great champagne highlighter, but I can also use it on my eyes for a gorgeous shimmer. For the face, I use a really fluffy brush but on my eyes, I really pack it on using a dense flat brush. 

Makeup Forever Artist Eyeshadow in Celestial Brown (review here)

Fall/Autumn is a great time for dark warm brown shades (honestly great for me all year round though). I usually gravitate towards golden bronze shades, but this one is more copper / reddy. I also like to use this shade with the next two matte shadows to play with textures. MUFE Artist Shadows feel so smooth and are super pigmented. You definitely can't go wrong with any of their shades!

Blackbird Cosmetics Pressed Luxury Eyeshadow in Fire Pledge and Ruca 

I cannot for the life of me get a realistic picture of Fire Pledge. All of my pictures make it look like a super bright orange, but it's definitely darker and leans more of a muted burnt orange shade. Blackbird Cosmetic's website shows a very accurate swatch though! After not loving the Wet n Wild Desert Festival Palette (review here), I remembered that Blackbird Cosmetics also had a dark orangey matte shadow. I'm still not ready to commit to paying $25 for NARS Persia, but I'm so glad I didn't! Fire Pledge and Ruca are great matte shadows. Ruca is a dark red/burgundy shade with some brown to it that helps make it more wearable. It's a surprisingly easy reddy shade to wear, but I prefer to use it with other shimmery shades like Celestial Brown to avoid making my eyes look too tired. Blackbird Cosmetics is also one of the few indie makeup shops that have pressed shadows and that's definitely a plus for me!

What are your October Favorites? Have you tried any of these products before?

Review & Swatches: Clinique All About Shadow Super Shimmer in Black Honey

Honestly, I didn't use Clinique makeup for the longest time since I associated it too much with my mom's generation. Ever since they started to revamp their image with their Colour Pop Blushes, I've been hooked! My latest purchase from Clinique is their All About Shadow in Black Honey with a Super Shimmer finish. The shade Black Honey is very iconic to their brand and they even expanded that color into almost all of their products. This eyeshadow contains .07 ounces / 2.2 grams of product and retails for $16.

Review & Swatches: Lipstick Queen Hello Sailor Lipstick

After getting and loving Frog Prince (review here), I was convinced I also needed to get Lipstick Queen's Hello Sailor. Instead of using pH "magic" like Frog Prince, this navy blue lipstick goes on sheer to tint the lips into a plummy / berry color. Vitamin E is also infused into the lipstick to keep the lips moisturized. This product contains 0.12 ounces and retails for $25. 

Review & Swatches: L'oreal Voluminous Superstar Waterproof Mascara in Blackest Black

Firstly, I would like to apologize for the white based background on the above picture since it doesn't show the primer side that well.

Moving on... 

The L'oreal Voluminous Superstar Waterproof Mascara in Blackest Black is a two step mascara that contains a volumizing primer (Step 1) and a lengthening and lifting fiber mascara (Step 2). I personally love lash primers and wanted to try this out in case it's better than my beloved Urban Decay Subversion Mascara Primer. Both sides contain 0.20 fl oz / 6.0 mL of product each and retails for around $10 depending on where you buy it.

Here's a quick before and after to show what effect the mascara gives me. 

Like other primer + mascara combinations, I did a layer of the mascara, the primer, and then the mascara. Using the primer by itself usually wilts my curl.

In Depth Foundation Routine | All About That Base!

I do not use all of the pictured products at once! I swear!

I just wanted to show everything that I have been using lately and frequently enough that I put them in a separate area for quick grabbing.

My desired finish after applying my foundation is a soft matte look that makes me look more awake. I also prefer a medium finish in general to cover the majority of my acne marks. I get lazy to do pin point concealing and so I only break out the full coverage concealer when I have large cystic acne.

Lately, my skin has been normal to oily. I tend to not do touch ups and so when I get back from work (out of the house from 7:20 AM to 5:40PM), I do have an oily glow going on. I don't like looking too matte and so I like to go towards more slightly dewey products and techniques. 

Here's a before and after to show you the end result! Sadly, the lighting wasn't as consistent throughout the process and I feel like I look a bit more overexposed in the after picture. I do want to note that when I do more full coverage, the contours of my face also look more flat - the same way overexposure sometimes does.

Review & Swatches: Wet n Wild Fergie Centerstage Eye Shadow Palette in Desert Festival

Now that Halloween is coming closer, I was super interested in getting an orange eyeshadow. I didn't know how much I would like a straight up orange color and so I bought the Wet n Wild Fergie Eye Shadow Palette in Desert Festival to test it out. There are three matte shades, one shimmer, and one matte based with shimmer (if that makes sense). You can find this palette for around $4.99 and it contains 0.19 ounces / 5.5 grams of product.

Review & Swatches: Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Sunset Pink

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Pink Sunset is described as a "golden, rosy pink glow" and I would say that that's very accurate! There's 5 stripes of color - 1 off white shade with a pink shift, 2 pinky shades, and 2 golden bronze shades. They can be used mixed together or separately on the eyes and face. Pink Sunset contains 0.4 ounces of product and retails for $46.

September 2015 Favorites!

It's time to do a monthly favorite again! This month looks very familiar to last months post... but I swear it's kind of different! I actually forgot that I put the L'oreal Studio Secrets Magic Lumi Concealer in Medium (review here) in last month's favorite but I guess that shows I much I love it! The Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadow stick is also a different color and so it's just one product I'm repeating.

Taken under natural light

L to R:

L'oreal Studio Secrets Magic Lumi Concealer in Medium - It's great! I won't go too much into this product since I already mentioned it last month. 

L'oreal Infallible Pro-Matte 24HR Foundation in #105 Natural Beige (review here) - I disliked this foundation when I reviewed it and gave it another chance this month. Since my cheeks kind of "ate" my foundation, I tried to see if using two layers made a difference. Turns out, it did! I also set it with the next product and setting spray and it worked amazingly. I didn't need the setting spray, but I still wanted to douse my face in it since my days are long. I've worn this foundation with 2 layers on non-work days without powder and setting sprays and it still looked great. More importantly, using two layers helped figure out how to use this foundation in a better way so that I didn't have to throw it away!

L'oreal Infallible Pro-Matte 16HR Powder in #300 Nude Beige (review here) - L'oreal definitely has been my best friend during September. This powder helped with the Infallible foundation as well as my other foundations I normally wear. The finish is a soft matte and it never made my face look too flat or cakey. 

Taken under a white OttLite

Hard Candy Contouring Face Trio in 3x A Lady - For my favorites, I'm talking about the pinky shade but only for a pinky highlighting sheen. I'm pretty disappointed in this trio since it barely shows up on my skin. I'll go more into it in my full review, but the highlighter is glittery and the blush and contour/bronzer shades barely showed up on my skin. Luckily, the sheen from the blush was very smooth and pretty that I was able to use it like a subtle pinky highlight. Kind of reminds me of Wet n Wild's Shimmer Palette in Rose Champagne Glow, but more subtle. Even though this palette is kind of a bummer, the blush is perfect for my no-makeup makeup days though!

Charlotte Tilbury Color Chameleon Morphing Eyeshadow Pencil in Bronzed Garnet - I loved Amber Haze so much that I placed an order for Bronzed Garnet as well! It has more of a warm reddy base than the golden bronze base Amber Haze has and so it's perfect for transitioning to fall/autumn. It wears amazingly well and works as a base and eyeshadow just by itself.

Clinique All About Shadow Single Eyeshadow in Black Honey - Now that I swatched Bronzed Garnet and Black Honey side by side, they look pretty familiar. If you don't like cream shadows or don't like CT's price tag, I would recommend getting Black Honey. The powder formula also helps you build up the color to what you want it to be. There's a slight black base, but it's mostly this beautiful shimmery reddy burgundy color that's surprisingly neutral enough to wear by itself.

What products were your favorites during September? 

Review & Swatches: Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in Unicorn Blood

Jeffree Star Cosmetics had a Free Shipping promotion a few weeks ago and I decided to pick up a Velour Liquid Lipstick in Unicorn Blood! It's a deep brown based "rusty" red and it might sound odd, but it does remind me of blood. The Velour Liquid Lipsticks are liquid lipsticks that set to a matte and long wearing finish. Unicorn Blood contains 0.19 ounces and retails for $18. 

Tag: 7 Deadly Sins

I'm finally backtracking and doing some tags! Cindy from cindyhyue tagged me to do the 7 Deadly Sins Tag and I'm so excited! I think I was also putting it off because I was waiting for the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow Palette to come in and.... because of laziness. I'm sorry! 

Now that I've adjusted to the new phase in my life, I'm started to get back on my regular Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday schedule! I seriously hope I can stick to it since I really do like blogging.

Now that I've rambled enough, let's move onto the tag!

GREED // What is your most inexpensive beauty item? What is your most expensive?

My most inexpensive beauty item is probably the petite sizes of the Darling Girl Cosmetics Loose Pigments / Eyeshadows (review here). They're $2.50 each and they contain more than enough product too for the price!

My most expensive beauty item is the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow Palette (review here). I kept seeing every blogger talking about this palette and so I finally purchased it when a great gift with purchase was offered at Nordstrom. It retails for $68 and I'm still slightly crying about the price tag. 

WRATH // What beauty item do you have a love/hate relationship with? What product was the hardest to get?

I have a love/hate relationship with the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow Palette. If you've read my review, the bronzer is just barely dark enough for me and I don't even think I'm that dark. For something that has "Sculpt" embossed into the product, the bronzing powder is too shimmery and slightly too warm to contour. It's great on the cheekbones and looks beautiful on the skin, but I was disappointed about the color and shimmer. The highlighter side is sooo pretty as well and so I end up mixing both colors to get an even more beautiful "bronzey glowy goddess" look.

I think the product that was hardest to get was the Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Lolita (review here). I remember signing up for the email alerts for when it was available so that I wouldn't miss it too. It's not the "true" Lolita shade that was super popular, but I still really like it and wear it all the time!

GLUTTONY // What are your most delicious beauty products?

When I started to think about this question, Too Faced's Chocolate Soleil Bronzer and Bite Beauty's Lip Gloss in Mimosa immediately popped into my mind. Bite products generally smell nice - a little fruity but not super sweet. The smell from my Chocolate Soleil isn't as strong anymore, but it's still nice to get whiffs of chocolate when I use it. 

SLOTH // What beauty products do you neglect due to laziness?

Even though I now have a million blushes, I tend to not use them a lot. I also used to be super obsessed with contouring, but I can't bother to do that in the early mornings anymore. I usually focus a lot of my time in the morning on my skin now and I usually either end up just pushing cheek products to the end or not using them at all. 

PRIDE // What beauty products give you the most self confidence?

I really like my eyes and so eye products make me feel really confident. Now that I wear glasses, my eyes don't stand out as much but they're still my favorite feature to enhance. Besides that, foundation really helps boost my confidence since I still have a lot of acne marks.

LUST // What products are you currently lusting after?

What am I not lusting after is the real question. Holiday Sets are coming out from eveeeery company and they all look gorgeous. I really want Urban Decay's Spectrum Palette, but I'm never going to use all of those colors. 

I also want to get a Besame Lipstick in Red Velvet. Peggy Carter from Marvel's Agent Carter wears this color and since I'll never be as cool as her, maybe wearing the same lipstick color will make me feel a bit cooler. 

ENVY // What items would you most like to receive as a gift?

I've been wanting the Nikon J5 camera for the longest time and even though that's not beauty related, I do need a new camera for my blog. It's pretty expensive and so even though I wouldn't want someone to fully pay for me, $20 would be nice to help fund me to get it. 

Whelps! I'm done with this tag! It was pretty fun to go back into my collection and even rediscover things to use again. 

It's kind of hard to think of people to tag since I'm always late to the game, but I tag Kim from KimKine and Jenny from itsmeeejenny.