Product Review, Shopping, Swatch with me, Swatches

Lip Product That Lasts Up to 18 Hours?? I Put That to the Test!

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Yup! A lip color that is said to last anywhere from 4-18 hours! Dream come true or just wishful thinking?

Here is my review of Lipsense Liquid Lipstick in shade Praline Rose! ($25)

This product was sent to me by The Lipstick Guru! Check out her website and IG page for more Lipsense products!

I wanted to share with you all a breakdown of my first day using Lipsense to show how this product lasted throughout a typical day. Here we go!

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November 6th 2016!

10AM: First Impression! Woke up on this beautiful Sunday morning sans alarm clocks (gotta love that feeling) and got ready for the day!  I applied 3 layers of the Lipsense color, waiting 3-5 seconds in between each layer to let it dry, as advised on the directions. Not gonna lie, when I first read that I need to apply 3 layers and wait for them to dry in between applications, the impatient lazy girl in me cringed a little. But 3-5 seconds goes quick and the layers dry fast! Heres a swatch of 1 layer of shade on my wrist. You can see how light the formula is. Notice the lovely, subtle shimmer as well.

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The formula felt watery & light when I applied it and immediately made my lips feel sticky. On a random note, I thought that it smelled really good!  Warning- the first layer definitely stings when you apply it.  The stinging feeling is similar to how it feels when you use a lip plumper. The stinging stopped when I applied the next 2 layers. With each layer I could feel the product cling onto my lips and sink into every crevice and fine line. It felt like the product was actually seeping into my lips instead of just layering on top of it. And finally, after the 3 layers of color, I sealed the lip color with the clear glossy gloss ($20).

10:01AM: Praline Rose in particular matched my natural lipcolor almost to the tee. The shade of the lipstick looked matte and dry by itself and then looked glossy after applying the clear gloss top coat. Little traces of sparkle shined in the lipcolor which I really liked. One thing is that I had to get used to was the way the product made my lips feeling so dry and sticky.

See the swatches below of the Praline Rose under inside light and under natural light!

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11AM- Coffee and Breakfast at Starbucks! See my lipstick mark on my Pumpkin Spice Latte? Me either! I was extremely impressed at the staying power and that I didn’t see any trace of my lipcolor on my cup or on my sandwich while I ate. I typically avoid putting on lipstick or lipgloss if I know I’m going to be eating soon or I have to spend a couple minutes blotting my lipstick away on a napkin before eating a meal. So overall, the fact that the lipcolor stayed where it should (on my lips) even after drinking and eating was super exciting to me.

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1PM/2PM:   In between grocery shopping, running errands, and basic adulting, I checked a mirror and noticed that the lip color was slightly faded in the inner parts of my lips. Not noticeably, just enough for me to notice if I was really paying attention. But overall, the lipcolor was still in tact.

4PMish: Wasn’t hungry for lunch this day so I snacked on a granola bar & triscuits and checked my lipcolor after. By this point, my lipcolor was noticeably faced in the inner parts of my lips. I tried rubbing my lips with my hand to see if the rest of the color would smear, and it stayed put! I also noticed that the lip color was less shiny as it was before.

5PM:  The product completely disappeared in the inner part of my lips and only a ring of color on the outline of my lips was still there.

7PM:  After dinner, the lipcolor was completely gone.

Overall thoughts:

This lipcolor is said to last anywhere from 4-18 hours. I can personally vouch for the first 4 hours. Overall I was impressed to find a lipstick that lasts through a meal without having to reapply, which immediately categorized this product as a winner… even if it didn’t last the entire 18 hours.

The day that I wrote about in this post was a pretty light eating day (very rare for me), so this may have been a reason the color lasted as long as it did. I wore Lipsense today to a party where I ate (a lot), and after about an hour or two, I felt the lipcolor flaking off my lips.

Long story short…. Lipsense has impressed me enough that I will most definitely be purchasing more products! I’ve found it pretty difficult to find a lipstick that stays put throughout the day without reapplying, even with lipcolors that are said to be “long lasting”. Each lipcolor is $25, which is typically a little more than I spend on lipstick. But, the fact that I can eat and drink without worrying that my lipstick is going to get everywhere, makes it easy for me to justify the cost. Praline Rose is a subtle shade against my skintone and natural lipcolor, so I am looking forward to trying more shades!

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Let me know what you think! Have you tried Lipsense before? How long has the product lasted for you? What are your favorite shades?

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Personal

The Struggle with Confidence and Makeup

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Let me share with you an excerpt from my journal from 5th grade….

“A boy in my class didn’t want me to sign his yearbook today because he said I was too ugly.”  Jump to a year later during Christmas time, and I was writing about another boy who said he hated that he got stuck with me for Secret Santa because “why do the good guys always get stuck with the ugly girls“.

This was over 16 years ago and I can still remember exactly how 11 year old me felt when I wrote it.

So when I read that Sephora was launching Classes for Confidence to help instill confidence in people through specialized beauty training, it made me reflect on what confidence and makeup has meant to me personally. You can read about these classes here!

When I first started wearing makeup, I had this vision that it would transform me into some super confident person and I would never have to feel the way that I did all those times someone called me ugly.  Here was my makeup plan I came up with, my first #faceoftheday if you will, for what I was going to start wearing in 6th grade. Apparently at 11 years old, I thought my solution involved vanilla bean lipstick, shiny lip gloss, silver lipstick, mascara, eyeliner and maybe eye shadow- haha!

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From my journal, July 16th 2000

When I was younger, I thought  that one of the most hurtful and self-confidence crushing things a person could hear is that they were ugly. And as I grew up, I learned there were many other ways people could crush your confidence- physical appearances being just the tip of the iceberg. So please keep in mind with this post that I’m writing, that I fully understand all the painful struggles and different aspects of dealing with self-confidence and self-worth, and for this article, I’m only focusing on confidence and how it relates to makeup and the makeup industry.

I find it ironic that even though makeup is a tool that can help us feel more confident about ourselves, that confidence can easily be torn down by the cruelty we see in the makeup community. Whether it be mean comments on beauty blogs, Youtube videos, Instagram posts criticizing the way someone’s makeup looks or even meme’s like these ones below that are meant to be funny.  Trust me, I’m a huge fan of silly hilarious memes, but seeing ones like these give me an uncomfy feeling in my belly and make my heart ache a little bit. I know personally when I memes like these, I immediately think about all the times that my eyes shadow isn’t perfectly blended or all of the different shapes & sizes my eyebrows have been over the years that probably placed me in someone’s perspective of the “bad brows”.

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This way of thinking drives me nuts because memes like this and all the hurtful comments we see can take away all the power that makeup has to make someone feel good about themselves. I think that sometimes people don’t fully realize how hurtful and discouraging some of their posts can be, whether they intended to be mean or not. We’re not all professional makeup artists and we’re all constantly learning. I personally believe that we shouldn’t bring each other down based on someone’s level of makeup expertise or makeup preferences (this includes people who choose to not wear makeup at all)!  Using makeup as a way to criticize or judge each other encourages everyone to only care about surface or physical appearances, and there is soooo much more to a person than that!
I see so many ridiculously adorable videos of little girls filming themselves putting makeup on, like this one below! This is the next generation of makeup enthusiasts and beauty bloggers- wouldn’t it be great if we brought them into a makeup community that emphasizes how beauty comes in all different forms, that we should build each other up, instill confidence in one another, treat each other with respect, and and also look at the deeper parts of a person besides physical appearances.

Yes, the confidence classes that Sephora is offering is a fantastic idea, but it ultimately starts with us!
  • Tell someone that they look beautiful/pretty/nice today!
  • Compliment how someone’s lipstick, eye shadow, etc looks on them!
  • Leave a positive comment on someone’s Instagram or FB post!
  • Compliment more than just physical appearance- appreciate each other’s intelligence, talents, kindness, friendliness, points of view, etc!
  • This includes being nice to yourself too!  You are beautiful, don’t ever forget it!

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Favorites, Lists, Shopping

5 Cheap Ways to Store Your Makeup! (All under $10!)

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5 cheap ways to store your makeup!

I have a confession… makeup organization has never been a strong suit of mine! My makeup storage and organization solution over the years embarrassingly consisted of randomly dumping my makeup in my drawers or keeping them in a messy pile on my bathroom counter. But, I have found 5 ways to store my makeup that are so ridiculously easy and affordable that they leave no excuse for an unorganized makeup collection!

1. Drawer Organizers/Dividers

Drawer organizers like the one pictured below have been one of my best investments and helped me maximize the storage space of my bathroom drawers. Now I waste no time digging through a messy drawer looking for a specific product! You can use these as separators in a drawer or use them on a counter top to store your products. I bought a set of 6 organizers that come in different shapes and sizes at Ikea for $10. Check them out on Ikea here!

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2. Decorative Tin or Metal Buckets

You’ll find little buckets like this one below in the dollar section at Target! I’ve also seen them in craft stores such as Michael’s or Joann Fabrics. Target always comes out with new cute designs all throughout the year. I currently own 2-3 different bucket designs for every holiday and season! 😉

These are perfect for storing your make up brushes, lip glosses, mascaras…anything shaped like a long tube!

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3. Hanging Pocket Organizers 

I have a hanging pocket organizer hanging up next to my bathroom sink. I use this to store beauty tools like eyeliner pencil sharpeners, nail clippers, hair ties, eyelash curlers, bobby pins, hand lotions etc! These are all items that I frequently need and somehow always manage to lose, so having extras stored in 1 spot makes it easier for to me find them when I need them.

I bought this 5 pocket hanging organizer at the Dollar Store.  I’ve seen organizers like this come in many different variations, so you can get creative with what products you can store depending on the number and size of pockets.

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4. Pencil Cases!

Back to school season for me means stocking up on cute pencil cases to use as makeup bags! I bought these pencil cases during the back to school sale at Toys R Us. I’ve seen these cases as cheap as $3.00! Perfect for packing makeup essentials when you’re traveling or to keep in your purse/backpack!

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5. Decorative trays 

Decorative trays can be used to store products that you use frequently use to allow for easy access. I have one tray sitting on my bathroom counter with my daytime moisturizer, hair serum, castor oil, and any products that I use daily. I have another tray on my bedroom dresser, with my night time skin care products. Having these products displayed out in the open not only makes it easy to access, but also serves as a friendly reminder for me to keep up with my skin care regimen! 😉

I purchased the acrylic tray in the first 2 pictures below for $6 at Ross and the plastic tray in the 3rd picture for $1.50 from Daiso.

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Swatch Comparison, Swatch with me

NYX Baked Eyeshadow Swatches!

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Sunday Swatches!

NYX Baked Eyeshadow ($6 each)

I went to a NYX store for the first time the other day and I loved it! I loved being able to swatch the products, get expert advice, and get all the benefits of buying makeup at the counter with a drugstore brand.

Check out my mini haul below! I’ll be swatching the products found on the top of the picture: NYX Baked Eyeshadow!

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Picture below:  Left: Ambrosia  Right: Mademoiselle

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Swatches!

Today’s swatches will be focused on how a shade changes depending on the application technique. I’ll be discussing how these shades look when applied with a dry eyeshadow brush, with my fingers, and with a damp brush!

A little backstory of my experience with this product: I had very high expectations of these eye shadows, and unfortunately, it took a little more effort for me to make this product work!

I got little to no product when I tried to pick up this shadow with a dry brush.  The most successful way I was able to use this product was by applying it using my fingers. I was also able to make this product more pigmented and easier to apply by using a damp eye shadow brush.

As you can see in the quick swatches I did below, the product has a very light color payout. The bottom swatch is 1-2 layers of the shade applied with my finger, and the top shade is 3-4 layers of the product.  I skipped showing how the shadows look when applied with a brush because it literally didn’t show up on my skin at all.

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NYX Baked Eye Shadow in Mademoiselle

Impression of the shade in the pan: Plummy, wine shade with a shiny finish and deep burgundy undertone.

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How the shade looks swatched on my wrist: 

In order to get this shade to look as pigmented as it does on the swatch on the left, I had to swirl my pointer finger in small circles around the pan 5-6 times and then packed about 5 layers of the on the shade on my wrist.

This shade looks like a wine red with a brown/orange undertone when applied with my finger. When applied with a damp eye shadow brush, the shade turns into a shiny, metallic red wine color. The shade was definitely less plum colored when swatched on my skin tone versus how it looks in the pan.

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NYX Baked Eye shadow in Ambrosia

Impression of this shade in the pan: Bright, light, sparkly gold!

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How the shade looks swatched on my wrist: 

When swatched on my wrist, this shade looked like a light and pretty champagney gold shade. It’s a flatter, darker shade of brownish/gold when swatched with my finger. And metallic, shiny, light gold when applied with a damp eye shadow brush. I think this shade would work well as a subtle highlight on your cheekbones or in the corner of your eyes because the shade is so light and luminous.

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Lasting Impression:

Overall, these shades were pretty, but the quality of the product was disappointing.  Even after being able to increase the pigmentation of the shadow by applying it with a damp eye shadow brush, I found that the product doesn’t last throughout the day anyway. I used these shades the other day and after checking my eyes after a few hours, the shadow was completely faded.  I also found that even though this product was buildable, the more layers you added, the easier those layers wipe or flake off throughout the day. The product was also not easy to blend which made it nearly impossible to work with.

Lesson learned though-always get creative with makeup before completely giving up on it! Try different application techniques, applying various layers of the product, mix different shades together, try different base layers such as moisturizers and primers! Sometimes you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the outcome and sometimes not, but at least you gave it your all. 🙂

Now I want to hear from you!

Have you tried this product? What do you think?

What are you favorite NYX products?

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Favorites, Product Review

Friday Favorite: Sephora Rouge Balm!

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Sephora Rouge Balm in Delicate Pink $12.50

Guys! It’s fall already! FALL. Where did the year go??

I live in California and it hasn’t quite hit me that it’s fall yet. It has been slightly colder these last couple days (and when I say cold, I mean “California cold” so like…70 degrees) but I heard that it’s going to be in the hundreds this weekend!

So before I completely transition into fall mode, I wanted to share one of my favorites from this past summer!!

Sephora Rouge Balm

I saw this baby from the corner of my eye while I was already at the check out counter at Sephora and yes, I was one of those customers who held up the line while I went to go grab one!  #noregrets because I love this product!

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Quick facts about this product:

  • Comes in 8 shades- a mix of pinks, peaches, oranges and reds. The one I purchased was Delicate Pink. Check out the rest of the shades here.
  • SPF 20
  • Hydrating
  • Creamy, slightly thick texture (Sephora’s website describes it as a creamy gel texture)
  • Shiny finish
  • Has a subtle tint of color

Here’s a swatch of how this shade looked on my skin tone. I tested this shade out on different skin tones and did not see a significant difference or changes in the shade. This product is definitely meant to be a very subtle & light tint instead of a solid shade.

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Reasons I personally love this product:

  • Smells amazing- like strawberries! Kind of reminds me of pink Starbursts! I’m not sure how the other shades of this lipstick smell or tastes, but I can definitely vouch for Delicate Pink.
  • SPF 20!! I took this with me on my trip house boating for an entire week and it was nice to have lightly tinted and protected lips.
  • The packaging is adorable! The tube matches the shade of the lipstick.
  • Super creamy and hydrating! Instantly makes your lips feel soft.

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Downside:

  • This product is labeled as a lipstick but I would personally categorize it as a tinted chap stick.  Which means that at $12.50 a tube, this is little on the pricier side. I’m used to spending about $4.00 for 3 Blistex chap sticks and having those last me for a couple months (or until I lose them all).
  • Although the formula is super creamy, the texture and consistency may be too slippery to add another lipstick on top of it. I would not use this chap stick as a base layer for other lip colors or products. I personally feel like it’s a stand alone product if you want a light layer of color on your lips.

 

What other people are saying about this product:

  • Overall, the comment section on the Sephora regarding this product is pretty positive! Here are some of the things people are listing as the positives of this product: hydrating, casual tint, SPF protection, comfortable to wear, smooth texture and easy to apply.
  • I did notice a lot of comments mentioning that this product isn’t long wearing and that their lips ended up drying out after a couple hours. Because this lip balm is so creamy, it tends to wipe off easily. The formula is similar to the texture of Vaseline. If your lips are incredibly dry, cracking or sun burnt, chap sticks such as Blistex, Burt’s Bees or Carmex would be a much better option to help with the pain and heal your lips. This product makes your lips feel soft and hydrated, but the formula does not seem strong enough to heal damaged or cracked lips.

Now I want to hear from you!

Have you tried this product? What do you think? Send me pics of your swatches!

What are some of your favorite lip balms or chap sticks?

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Personal, Product Review, Swatch Comparison, Swatch with me

ColourPop Ultra Satin Lip in Alyssa!

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Colour Pop Ultra Satin Lip in shade Alyssa

For this week’s Sunday Swatches, I’m giving you a little combo platter: a product review of a favorite makeup product, plus a personal story, AND a swatch comparison!

This shade is part of Kathleen Light’s most recent collaboration with ColourPop. This is one of my favorite cosmetic brands working with one of my favorite makeup gurus!

The biggest reason I wanted this shade was because we’re name twinsies! Alyssa! 

One of my best friends came to visit me a couple weekends ago with her little family (including my adorable baby nephew!) It only felt right to wait for her to swatch this lip color because her name is Alyssa as well! Yup, we are two best friends both named Alyssa. If we had a dollar for every time a bartender checked both of our ID’s and said “hey both of your names are Alyssa??” we’d have…a lot of dollars. 😉

Product Review:
The product feels like a light and wet formula when you first apply it, with a little bit of shine. After about 2-3 minutes, the formula starts to dry out and becomes a flat matte shade. Like most matte liquid lipsticks, the formula feels a little dry on your lips, but I found that this lipstick wasn’t overly drying and didn’t made your lips feel tight. So that’s a definite plus for me personally. This product is super pigmented, so you only need to apply a thin layer, which makes it feel light on your lips, although a little dry. I have tried using a base layer of chap stick with no tint which makes the formula feel a little more moisturizing but unfortunately, this makes the lip color much easier to smudge and wipe off.  The website recommends using Lippie Primer ($5.00) as a base.

Swatch Comparison: 2 different skin tones!

Here are swatches of the product that my best friend and I took at our favorite Wine Bar in San Francisco on both of our skin tones! This shade is described on ColourPop’s website as a “neutral dusty pink”. I found that this shade was slightly darker in person than the picture on the website.

When swatched on our wrists, the shade looked slightly different on our skin tones. The shade looked like a lighter, neutral pink on the lighter skin tone, and a slightly darker mauve shade on the tanner skin tone.

Alyssa D (my bff) on the left, and Alyssa P on the right (me!)

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Swatch Comparison: Swatched on wrist vs on the lips & indoor lighting vs outdoor lighting!

The shade looked different after applying it on my lips than it did when swatched on my wrist. When I applied this shade on my lips, the shade looks more of a nude with a hint of light pink under indoor lighting, and more of a mauvey, dusty light pink in natural light.

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Overall Impression:

Overall, I love this shade! This does go to show that the true shade of a makeup product can change from how it looks on the website, in the package, swatched on your wrist, applied on your lips, under different light sources, and on different skin tones. I highly recommend ColourPop’s Ultra Satin lipsticks!! Good quality, amazing range of shades, and for only $6!

Check out more Ultra Satin lip colors here.

Check out more from Kathleen Lights Collection here.

Now I want to hear from you!

Have your tried ColourPop’s Ultra Satin Lip Colors? Which one is your favorite?

Send me swatches of you wearing Alyssa! I’d love to see!

Do you wear chap stick as a base when using liquid lipstick?

Bonus story!

Fun fact- my bff featured in this article and I are both named after Alyssa Milano! A few years ago on a magical day in Los Angeles, we both got to meet the one and only Alyssa Milano and tell her that we are a couple of best friends both named Alyssa because of her!! This will always be one of the biggest highlights of my life. 🙂

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