Urban Decay Naked Basics

 Urban Decay is commonly known for their widely popular Naked Palettes but the fans of them have one complaint: too many shimmery shades and not enough matte shades. Urban Decay's answer? Naked Basics.

This palette comes with 6 shades. 1 shimmery shade and 5 matte shades. Venus is the shimmery shade and is described as "soft- off white", Foxy is "very light yellow/white matte", W.O.S. (Walk of Shame) is a "very light nude matte", Naked2 is "taupe matte", Faint is "warm, dusty brown matte" and Crave is "deepest, darkest brown/black matte".

First off, the formula of these mattes is incredible. I don't own a lot of matte shades, but the ones I have are chalky and dry. The mattes in this palette are so smooth and non drying. I love them so so so so much. I can usually wear all of these shades at once, but I have really been favoring W.O.S. on the lid + Naked2 & Faint in the crease with Venus as a highlight.

The packaging of this is rubberized and easy to hold for on the go. This retails for $27 which is a little over half the price of one of the original Naked palettes.

Do I recommend this? Absolutely! It has all of the shades needed to make a beautiful neutral eye and has become my go-to everyday palette!

Keeping Your Kisser Smooth

Winter is here with a vengence and my lips are feeling it. Here are my picks for lip balms and treatments to keep your kisser soft and well loved all year round!

1. Korres Lip Butter (in Jasmine)
This lip butter is the priciest of the bunch but I love it to pieces. It glides on like silk and lasts the whole night when I put it on before bed. I always wake up with super soft lips in the morning! This lip butter comes in a wide range of colors so you can have a tint of color or be on the sheer side with colors like Jasmine.

2.TokyoMilk Dark Femme Fatale Lip Elixir 
I got this lip elixir mostly for my mom, when I saw that it was in the scent "salted caramel" I thought it would make a perfect Christmas present for her as she loves salted caramels with a fiery passion! I also ordered a tin for myself because it sounded like it smelled yummy! This stuff is not for everyone but I personally love it. This works really well but is a bit on the thicker side so don't make the same mistake as I did and grab a big glob to put on your lips! You only need a little bit to coat your lips sufficiently! I love the scent of this elixir, it doesn't smell like the fake scents they put in a lot of lip balms but once again, it's not for everyone. One of my friends really dislikes the smell and I have a few friends who love the smell. The TokyoMilk lip elixirs also come in a variety of odd scents that sound very intriguing. Last thought- you get loads of product in the tin!


3. C.O. Bigelow Rose Salve
Smells like old ladies but works wonders! Great for lips, cuticles, elbows, heels and whatever needs a good fixing! This salve comes in a tin as well, which many think is pretty gross because you have to put your finger in it. I personally don't mind as long as I use a pocket hand sanitizer on my hands first, haha!

Thanks for reading! Please leave me any comments if you have questions or have an opinion on any of the products reviewed here!

Photo Diary #1

I'm sorry for the lack of posts this week. I actually have a review for the Tarte lip glosses but need to add a pic so expect that soon.

I decided to do a photo diary so you guys can kinda look into my life. (From top left to right)

1. New drugstore lip products for me. Revlon lipstick in Rose Velvet and Maynelline Baby Lips in limited edition Coral Crush
2. Butter London's Lippy lipgloss in Tea with the Queen (love this! Super pigmented and not sticky!
3. (Middle) AC/DC is finally on iTunes!!!!
4. Benefit's High Flyin' ultra plush lipgloss set. (They're minis which is great; you can try all their shades out)
5. Humphrey the hedgehog! I took care of him while his owner was out of town.

Trends.

No review just yet, this post is about makeup trends.

Do any of you follow trends? What is your opinion on them? Given that I live in a small town and am one of the few in my school who wears lipstick (or pigmented gloss) on a daily basis, I don't follow lip trends because no one really cares about them.

On one trip to Ulta I grabbed 2 polishes from the James Bond OPI collection in a a berry color and dark wine red color which are in for fall. I haven't stuck to the fall trend though, because I like to change my nails weekly and like to wear whatever I want.

I suppose of I lived in a bigger city where more girls my age were into makeup trends my view would be different, but for now I'll stick with catering my makeup to my mood :)

So tell me, what do you think of trends in the makeup world? Do you follow any trends or wear whatever you want? Tell me in the comments!

Thank you for reading! x

Final Verdict: Tarte Maracuja Divine Shine Lipgloss

I really wanted to love this product. I really did. The packaging is adorable and the colors in the tubes are beautiful.

I got Glisten (described as peachy nude) and Tipsy (described as a bright peach). The colors were beautiful in the tubes and swatched on the back of my hand in Ulta but were sheer when spread on my lips. I've had a love-hate relationship with lipgloss, I only love it if it's very pigmented, there is enough sheer gloss on the market to sink a ship. When I tried Glisten last night it was sheer on the lips which I expected a bit with it being a nude but when I wore Tipsy for my church portraits today I found that the Tipsy shade was as sheer as the Glisten even after I layered it on.

I also have a beef with the stickiness of this gloss. I felt like my lips had a glue stick spread on my lips.

Bottom line, I returned these because at $21 a pop, I would love to have my $42 back in cash or credit so I could buy something I actually love and will wear.

If you're reading this and actually love this product; I'm sorry I dissed it (this is the first time I've had to post a bad review here..)! But please tell me why you like it and/or the shades that you have and adore. I am open to everyone's opinion!

I don't have a photo of these because I returned them, but there are a lot of beauty bloggers out there with swatches of these up on their blog.

Thanks for reading! x

Ulta Haul!

Today my dad and I picked my mom up from the airport (she's been in Ethiopia for the past two weeks) and so naturally I used this opportunity to stop by Ulta and pick up some stuff.

I mostly got lip goodies as seen in the photo. I got:
-Butter London Lippy in Tea with the Queen
-NYX soft matte lip cream in Antwerp
-2 Tarte Maracuja lip glosses in Glisten and Tipsy
-Too Faced La Creme lip stick in Naked Dolly (already own 2 of these and ADORE them!)
-EOS Alice in Wonderland lip balm set
-Butter London nail polish in Blagger

Excited to get a feel for some of them in the coming days with reviews for you!

Have a great weekend and don't forget to thank your veterans!


-Katie J

Too Faced Sale!

If you are interested in the eyeshadow duos I posted about or any other Too Faced products now would be the time to buy!

It's their friends and family sale; 20% off everything! Use the code FFSALE12 at checkout.

Toofaced.com

Happy shopping! :)

Too Faced Eyeshadow Duos

 Hello everyone! I'm reviewing the two eyeshadow duos I received in the mail this past week. These duos are from Too Faced cosmetics which I've been trying out more and more because I'm in love with their cruelty free brushes. I got the shades Cocoa Puff/Honey Pot and Erotica/Silk Teddy.

Cocoa Puff/Honey Pot: These shades sound delicious and are stunning on the eyes! Cocoa Puff is a warm chocolately brown with gold micro-glitter. Honey Pot is a soft shimmery gold. I really love this duo. It's great for everyday and a night out. I put Honey Pot all over my lid and use Cocoa Puff in the crease and outer corner and blend it all out. (I wore this today with my Winnie the Pooh sweater, how fitting!)



Erotica/Silk Teddy: First off, I really dislike the "Erotica" name; it does not fit the color at all. Moving on, Erotica is a cool brown with micro-glitter. Silk Teddy is a soft pink-peach color. Like the other duo, I wear the brown color in the crease/outer corner and Silk Teddy all over. Silk Teddy would also be beautiful as a highlight under the brow bone!

All in all, I love adore these shadows. The formula is very pigmented; what you see is what you get! The shadow goes on smooth and appears smoother as the day goes one. I recommend these to all of you! These are a little pricey ($17 originally, $15-ish on sale at toofaced.com) but you get a great amount of product in the pan. I predict these will last me quite awhile and I probably will be buying more colors in the future.

Thank you for reading!

You can buy these duos right HERE.

Tarte Bambeautiful Palette in 'Sew the Seeds'

This is a great little palette to have for overnighters away from home. You get four little pans of shadow that can be used for day and night looks. It comes in this cute little bamboo box that closes magnetically.

The colors are described as shimmering olive, shimmering gold, matte softest peach and matte espresso. The colors all match well to their name except for the peach color, which is shimmery instead of matte. This isn't bad at all for me; it's actually my favorite shade in the palette. I like to wear the peach shade with the espresso in my crease for a soft but gorgeous look for everyday. I'm actually thinking I'll be wearing this for my mock interview. Anywho, I bought this palette for the olive color which is the prettiest olive I've been able to find. I wanted an olive shade that somewhat matches the color of my eyes. The gold is orangey and I honesly only have used it once, but I'm going to see what looks I can create with it. 

All in all, I recommend this palette, it also comes in more neutral shades as well: "Shades of Clay". It's made from Amazonian clay, which is really cool and the color payoff is great!

You can buy this palette at TarteCosmetics.com or Ulta.

Update.

I have tons of drafts of products saved for upcoming posts, don't worry!

Some of these posts will most likely be up Thursdayish but at the moment I am swamped with school work. I have a culminating project proposal tomorrow and I'm supposed to be understanding electron configurations in chem ick.

Sorry this is not a legitimate beauty post but I thought I would keep you updated.

Ciao x

Ps- a question for you: what is your favorite beauty product at the moment? I'm pretty keen on my new Tarte bambeautiful palette in 'sew the seeds' lately! (Review to come soon!)

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream

Doing a quick post on my phone on one of my faves!

This is not a lip gloss or a lipstick but something more amazing! I'd recommend using lip balm before this so that the cream doesn't settle into lines. It goes on creamy, dries matte.

The lasting power on this cream is amazing. It lasted all the way through 4 periods and lunch today! But one of my favorite parts of this product is the price. It was on sale at Ulta for under $5!!! It also has a super delicious smell, like cupcakes!! This lip cream is available here.

(Pink!) Hope in a Jar

 Hello! I'm finally getting around to reviews! Hooray! But let's get on with the review. This is Philosophy's Hope in a Jar. It's a souffle-like moisturizer that is, as Ulta's website puts it, a drink of water for the face.

 Going into Ulta I had thought about purchasing this, but wasn't sold on the price. $40 a pop is quite a lot for this little jar, but I said "eh, why not?" But $5 of every pink Hope in a Jar goes towards breast cancer research so that made my wallet and I feel a little better. Now, where do I start? This is hands-down the best moisturizer I have ever used. It has one downfall for me, that being it's lack of SPF protection, but I can easily get past that.

I've started using Clinique facial wash and their "clarifying lotion" which is not a real lotion, but a toner. I love it so far but I notice that when I use the toner it makes my cheeks red, which isn't from the toner itself, but more of me rubbing it on my face with cotton. ANYWAY, my point is now that Hope in a Jar has been able to even my skin tone out before I apply my makeup. I love the texture of the cream too; it's not really a cream, but sort of whipped like a souffle. All you need is a little bit of it; it spreads out very evenly on the face!

 This product does have a smell to it. The smell reminds me of this lavender scented Epsom salt I have. If you're not a fan of scents like that, then I wouldn't get it. I find that the smell is strong when you put it on your face but fades to nothing after a bit. It really has been a drink of water for my face and being an oily-skinned gal, it keeps me from getting oily after an hour. That being said, I still am oily 4-ish hours after makeup application but I've yet been able to find something to keep me oil free.

Bottom-line, I adore this product. I don't know if I'd be willing to fork over $40 for it again, but I think it's an excellent, high quality product.

Pink Hope in a Jar
Hope in a Jar

Think Pink!

Bon jour mes amis!

I'm Katie and this is my attempt at a beauty blog.

I don't claim to be an expert on makeup, I'm just hooking some homies up with my opinions on products :)

This blog will be dedicated to reviews mostly, as I probably would bore if I did tutorials. I'll cover high end brands like MAC and Benefit to drugstore products like Maybelline and Loreal (for the sister on a budget, I feel you!).

All products I buy with my own money so my blogging may not be back to back as I am not able to purchase all the time.

You may be overwhelmed in the beginning with all the posts I have though, because I will cover all the products I use (and really love) at first.

Pictured here are products I got on my last trip to Ulta, they all happen to be pink. Four of these products are for breast cancer awareness month (October) and gave part of the profit to research. Expect a review for these in the next few days.

Also- feel free to comment and ask questions! I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading my first post! x

-Katie