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Friday, January 6, 2017

Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray

Hey everyone! I'm back again for another review, this time about Urban Decay's "All Night" setting spray. I've heard a ton of reviews about this product both good and bad, and naturally neutral. Overall I would put this setting spray in the "neutral" category. It works just as well as the NYX ($7.99) or e.l.f. ($3) setting sprays but is a bit more expensive ($31). So lets jump into the pros and cons!
Image source

Pros:
-Works as described. My makeup lasted all night without any crazy smudging or anything. 
-Cute packaging as per usual with Urban Decay products.
-Doesn't have any crazy scents or texture.
-Sprays on evenly.
-Cruelty free.

Cons: 
-Is a bit pricey.
-Runs out quickly.



Image source.
So overall yes, the pros outweigh the cons; however, that is simply because the product works as described (yay!) and has gained brownie points for being cruelty free (also yay!). I would suggest getting the e.l.f. or NYX setting sprays first if you've never used a setting spray before as they work just as well for a fraction of the price- and in my experience tend to last longer anyway. 

Do you own Urban Decay's "All Night" setting spray? Love it? Hate it? Leave a comment below to let me know how you feel about it! Thanks again so much for reading! -Emma

Friday, December 30, 2016

Importance of Skin Care

So I decided to write another little informational piece for this week, this time not about myself, but about something everyone in the beauty world should know about. Skincare! Super easy, you can fit it into your routine and it makes a huge difference in your makeup looks or even just everyday life. 

First off having a good skin care routine can be good for your mental health. Having a routine in general helps ground you and keep you on track. When things are expected and controlled it's easier to maintain a specific healthier life-style. Also, if you are not stressing- less breakouts and dark circles! (YAY!)

Second of all, when you have a clean basis for your makeup to be applied it makes your makeup last longs, look smoother and cleaner, and can help boost your confidence. I'm super lazy sometimes in the sense that I really do not want to wear BB cream or foundation or any of that, so I make sure my face is clean as can be and I just apply everything but foundation/BB cream. This is also a great way to give your skin a breather. 

Third, if you are taking care of your skin, regardless if it's completely clear or not- it will feel cleaner, clearer, and more comfortable. You may even wanna go fresh-faced a few days because of how nice your skin feels!

So in conclusion, keep up that skin routine. Don't over cleanse, make sure to exfoliate seldom and moisturize often (as needed for skin type). Don't be afraid to be you and enjoy your skin! It's unique to you and it's what makes you, and your makeup looks special and individual! 

Any skin-care tips that you have? Family "skin secrets"? Tried and trues? Leave a comment below and let me know! Thanks again so much for reading! -Emma

Friday, December 23, 2016

LORAC Pro Palette 3

Hi everyone! It's Emma again with another review! This time I am reviewing the LORAC Pro Palette 3 ($44). I had been waiting forever to get my hands on this one and I finally had enough money and a coupon so I excitedly shelled out all of my extra cash (per usual...)! So this is my overview and review of the palette and how I have been using it!

About this palette: It is cruelty free, is sold at many different beauty and department stores. It comes with it's own LORAC lid primer in a sample size (which is more than enough), and is super pigmented! Below are my pros and cons for this product!
Image source: here.
 
Pros:
-Highly Pigmented
-Great Nude/Natural Colours
-Lots of Colour Choices
-Staying Power (doesn't rub off easily)
-Has BOTH Shimmer and Matte Colours
-Comes with Lid Primer

Cons:
-The Palette is Pricey ($44)
-Hard to Remove
-Small Shadow Pots

Top row pigments applied without primer. 

Overall the only issue that I would truly find actually noteworthy with this palette is that the colour "Medallion" (the bottom colour third to the left) is not really as sparkly as it appears and has a lot of fallout when applying. 

Bottom row pigments applied without primer.

I would say if you are beginning to play with makeup, this may not be the best choice for you to start with because it is so so pigmented which leaves a lot of room for error. Since it is so pigmented as well, it is very hard to remove once on, even without the primer. If you are a bit experienced and are moving on to "the bigger and better palettes", I would say this is an excellent palette to start with for sure. It has all of the base colours you would want and need, and works just as a high-quality palette should. 

Do you own this palette? Love it? Hate it? Leave a comment below and let me know! I'd love to hear your feedback! As always, thanks so much! -Emma

Friday, December 16, 2016

e.l.f. Lip Exfoliator

So I had heard a ton about lip exfoliating and exfoliators that were becoming popular on intragram, pinterest, tumblr, etc. but I was unsure of what they were for exactly. Like yes obviously it's for exfoliating your lips, but my root question was why. 

I noticed this popularity was also in close proximity to that of the use of matte and liquid lipsticks and it began to click for me. In order to make sure your lipstick lasts longer you want a "blank" or "clean slate" so to speak of in terms of scrubbing off dead skin.
I wanted to see if this technique really worked and if it improved my lip "health" in any way so I went to one of my most favorite makeup brands of all time; e.l.f.
Sure enough keeping up with trends they had introduced their own lip exfoliators in brown sugar coconut, cherry creme, and sweet mint. I went with the most generic, which was the brown sugar coconut one.


Source: e.l.f.'s website.
Pros: 
-It is a great price!
-Tastes Great.
-Makes lips soft.
-Works as described.
Source: e.l.f.'s website.

Cons:
-Could be used up quickly.
-Gets dull often so I have to wipe it off. 

Source: Ulta's website.


I have seen so many advertisements for luxury lip scrubs and loose lip scrubs and overall I think if you are brand new to lip exfoliating, you should start here. It is only $3 dollars for this brand and there are 3 fun flavors to try out. Overall I love this product. I use it for both makeup prep and simple lip care before bed, etc. 

What do you think of e.l.f.'s lip exfoliator? Love it? Hate it? Leave a comment below! As always thank you so much for reading! -Emma

Friday, December 9, 2016

About Me Post: Why I like Makeup

So I am always posting reviews and information regarding products; makeup, household, etc. So I thought I would make a post about myself and why I have chosen to make this blog write, and talk about one of my favorite hobbies: makeup.
Dressup and makeup fun!
So I mean, it's kind of hard to completely organize my thoughts about makeup and make sense of why it is important to me amoung my other hobbies and interests. So I hope you can muscle through the awkward beginning portion of this writing (i.e. right now, lol) and enjoy this piece when I get more into the groove of things.

So to start off like many other cis-gendered girls I was always interested in being like a pretty princess, Barbie, my mom, amoung many other things. I had and wanted all things girly and colourful as well as anything fashionable or things that stand out in one way or another. My mom and dad were super (and still are) in the sense that they let me march to the beat of my own drum and support me no matter what my new quest/adventure/interest is at the moment so-on-so-forth. 
Work selfie after I played in the
 makeup section of the department store.
 
When I was about 6 years old my mom would gladly paint her finger nails with me as well as let me paint her nails as well. Especially after my brother was born she tried to show me the same love she had always so that there was no sort of jealousy. We used to have "girl-dates" and still do where we would play with makeup, get dressed up and go out to a movie, dinner, go bowling, etc. It was really fun and to this day I still eqate makeup to fun activities or even just as the fun activity itself. A good way to focus my creative energy and spend time with my mom as well- so I think it is pretty important to note I've never had an early-life negative expirience relating to makeup and was raised and grew up with a healthy relationship with beauty and fashion as a whole. I'm very fortunate for that- thanks mommy!

Before I had super brow skills.
It's cute to look back at my old methods and
see how I used to apply makeup and how I do it now!


So with that back story on to why it is fun and an important part of my life today:

-It has always been a positive and creative way for me to vent my emotions and thoughts. I suffer from severe depression and have since I was a young child and for the most part anything creative or distracting has been my treatment method up until I was old enough to run tests and be put on medication. Any time something was upsetting, caused dismay, or if my mental illness acted up especially harshly, makeup was one option for creative outlet, expression, and distraction.

-I like the way it can make me feel. Obviously since I was raised with a positive attitude towards makeup, beauty, and fashion, I've never thought I've NEEDED makeup. Sometimes; however, when I'm feeling down, the outward expression though makeup that I create can make me feel more confident about the world around me, It also in some cases gives me a new identity (a distraction/diversion) from the issues surrounding me or simply the issues created by my mental illness. So it is a helpful tool to get me through the day. 

-It's fun! It's a hobby and in that sense I enjoy seeing the transformations I can make and the art I can create. It is something I can't really explain, but it is really fun. I like how the tranformation progresses, I like that there is a meditative quality to it, and I think it's fun to see the final product and compare each stage. 

-The community behind makeup tends to be overwhelmingly positive, friendly, and supportive. When you find a group of people who share a common interest, much of the time these people are super supportive and nice to one another and open minded to new ideas and opinions of the hobby you share. It can also be good because some makeup enthusiasts also use makeup as a creative outlet or one of their treatements for their personal issues or mental health issues and so you can commiserate and communicate giving you a sort of support group. 

-There are endless possibilities and makeup and it's styles are constantly evolving, changing, and improving. It would be really hard to run out of new ideas involving makeup because there are just so many possibilities as well as so many unique individuals who love sharing their ideas in the "makeup world" so to speak.

Overall I just really personally enjoy makeup as a whole. The culture, community, the creativity, theraputive qualities, and expression that can come from using this tool or hobby- makeup. 

Why do you like makeup? Dislike makeup? Have any fun/interesting stories involving makeup? Please share in the comments below! 

As always thank you for reading and I hope you have a lovely day! -Emma

Friday, December 2, 2016

e.l.f. Setting Spray

So people are always asking about setting sprays one of the newest trends in beauty- what it's for, how it works, and which brands are the best. I tried getting the e.l.f. setting spray which is on the lower price-line ($5-6). How it compares to higher end brands, does it work, etc.

Source: e.l.f.'s website.

Pros:
The price is excellent.
It holds almost all day without having to reapply.
It doesn't irritate sensitive skin.
It's cruelty free.
It doesn't have a strong scent.

Cons:
Runs out quickly.
Spray nozzle sometimes clogs.
Can dry out your skin if you haven't primed before your makeup.

Source: e.l.f.'s website

I would say that overall, if you are going to purchase a setting spray that is cheap and works, this is the one for you. I would almost always choose this setting spray over any other setting sprays out there because it is so economic and works so well. 

Friday, October 14, 2016

BH Cosmetics Galaxy Chic Palette

I recently got this palette and I am essentially a brand new BH Cosmetics customer. I have to say all of their products I have tried have been fantastic. This palette is no different.

Pros:
The colours are surprisingly diverse.
They are large pots of colour which means more use and possibilities!
The colours are super SUPER pigmented and awesome.
Blending is straightforward.
Cute packaging and theme with names and such.
Cruelty free, wassup!

Image Source

Cons: It is a pressed palette so none of the colours are loose; however, the powder can fall from the brush you are using to your under-eye, cheek, etc. This is normal but something to keep in mind since some shadows are more transferable than others. This can also be a plus since it makes it a bit easier to blend the colours to make your final look come together.
This palette can only be bought from BH Cosmetics directly. It could be purchased from another site but in all honesty it tends to be over priced or it's simply a dupe, so in this case I recommend only buying from sources that are provided on BH Cosmetics' site.

Image Source
The cost of this palette is amazing for the quality of what you are getting. I.e. I got this palette on sale (40% off) which is a common thing for BH to do, and on top of that I spent enough to get free shipping, yay! So in total is palette was $12 for me and I expect it to last several years because there is just so much of it! And it's essentially a steal at the price for what you're getting.

Overall I highly recommend you try this product out or at least try some of BH Cosmetics other items. That's all I have this time! -Emma
Do you have this product? Tried it? Love it or hate it? Suggestions? Leave a comment below!