Face of the Day/Quick Halloween Idea

October 28, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

I know that not everyone procrastinates, but some people do. I am doing a “face of the day” post today that will double as a quick Halloween idea for anyone in a rush this Friday. It’s not exactly a “Halloween” look for me since I love pin up and rockabilly makeup and fashion. I will include products used, a quick hairstyle (hair is not exactly my forte) and a few outfit ideas. I hope you all enjoy ❤

I am doing a more Rockabilly type of styling today, but this look can easily be a vintage pin up look if you curl your hair and wear a vintage fitting (think cinched waist, flowers etc) dress or pencil skirt. I chose this look to do as a "last minute" look because typically many people have the items and makeup needed on hand or can find very quickly and for very cheap last minute.

Rockabilly makeup is typically very matte. The eyes, the face, and the lips…matte. So, you're going to want to possibly exfoliate and moisturize very well before starting this look. I also put on lip balm before starting on anything because matte lips can be super drying.
Products used to create my look today:
Anastasia Dip Brow in “Ebony”
Nyx Jumbo eye pencil in white- used as an eyeshadow base
Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette- Heaven all over the lid and Cashmere Bunny in the crease
Physicians Formula eye booster pen (holy grail product) in ultra black
Red Cherry Lashes in #605
Wet n Wild Mega Length Mascara on bottom lashes and to blend false lashes
Body Shop tea tree face primer
Elf acne fighting foundation in “porcelain” with 2 pumps white manic panic mixed in
La Girl HD pro concealer under the eyes
BH Cosmetics Studio Pro powder to set and further mattify look
Kat Von D blush in “Essex”
A little bit of Nyx matte blush in “light” to contour a little, but not too much
I wanted to give a little bit of dimension on my face, so I used the Mary Lou-Manizer highlight on the very tops of my cheeks
Nyx Matte finishing spray to set everything and make the look last
Nyx soft matte lip cream in “Monte Carlo”

There are so many different ways to style this look, which is why I love it so much.
If you’re in a hurry, you can do the “poof” thing with your hair and place a bandana in it. You could pull it back into flowers, curl it, do victory rolls if you’re daring. It’s honestly up to you and your preferences. Personally, if I am in a hurry I love how a cute bandana and earrings pulls the look together instantly.

Here are some more ideas. These are all things I already own. As you can tell, the possibilities are almost endless. If this is a look you want to recreate one day, or even for Halloween, be creative. Interpret it as you wish.

Subscription Fever: Lip Monthly

October 24, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

Last month I decided to cancel both my beauty box and ipsy subscriptions because the samples I was receiving from both were merely piling up and ending up in a tiny sample landfill. I stumbled upon a relatively new subscription service called Lip Monthly, and decided to give it a try since I am a lip product addict. Lip products of any sort are probably the few things I get ridiculously excited for when it comes to subscription services.

It’s $10 per month and they say they will send 3-4 full sized products and 1-2 sample sized products. I was automatically intrigued just from reading that. So, I used a coupon code (will link at the end) and got my first box for $5 and started the subscription. The reviews I had watched seem mixed. Most seem to either love Lip Monthly or hate it. However, it seems that’s how the cookie crumbles with most subscription services. You can’t please everyone.

I received my tracking info last Friday and received my bag on Monday. So, shipping time seems to be about average.

These were the products that came in my bag. From what I have seen on instagram and youtube, this was the standard bag for everyone with a few differences like maybe their eyeliner pencil was a different color. The bag came with a card, but the prices were not beside the products so I can’t tell if I got more than my money’s worth in terms of product value. It looked like there were 4 full sized products and 1 sample sized, the sample being the lip scrub.
The J Cat lipstick in my bag is actually defective. I opened it and can’t even swatch the product because the lipstick is broken in half on the inside. I will have to email them about that, so next month I will update about their customer service. However, I can tell the color isn’t going to be for me. The one thing that does upset me a bit about this subsciption already is that they sent out the same color lipstick to everyone. When it comes to nudes, one color does not fit all. This color probably looks stunning on people with darker skin tones…it just makes me look dead. It looks like, well, my skin.

There was a purple shimmery lip tiny (balm?) that came in the bag and it smells pretty nice. Much like grapes if you’re into grape flavored things. There was also another chapstick that I have actually tried before (and like) from another subscription that smells like cherries. I’m not too sure what the point of sending two balm/chap stick type products is? The shimmery one doesn’t exactly compliment the weird nude tone lipstick, and I am not one to put on balm on top of more balm.

The last full sized product was a LA Girl eyeliner, which I like. LA Girl is a product I have talked about before and I have been wanting to try a few more of their products. The color I got was a very pretty blue color. I’ve been digging the blues lately since I have been playing around with black lipstick, and I have a few blue lipsticks so the eyeliner will double as a lip liner for me since blue lip liners are hard to come by.
The sample product was a lip scrub. It seems like your typical lip scrub. The smell is…okay. It smells natural, and the ingredients seems to be all natural as well, so that’s a plus.

Overall, I am neither over the moon or extremely disapppointed in this subscription for the first month in. I will give it a few more months, because I know they are newer and I can’t base it on the first bag I get. I would like to see a bit more of a theme with this subscription. It seemed like they tried to make a theme, but it just didn’t come together well. An option for individual profiles to ensure great product selection for each person would be nice as well. Not everyone is the same skin tone, and not every lip color is going to be suitable for everyone. I’m sure there are people that love the lipstick in the bag, but I can tell despite the defect in the product that it will make me look like my lips have disappeared, and that’s not what I am going for when I wear a nude lip color.

First impression: more ColourPop!

October 13, 2014October 13, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / 3 Comments

Eek! I’m really excited about this first impressions review because if you’ve been following me for awhile you’ll know that I ADORE ColourPop cosmetics eyeshadows. I will link the post at the end for those that haven’t seen it and are interested though.
Anyway, ColourPop recently released their new line of lipsticks (lippie stix) and I had to get my hands on some. Even better, when I went to put in my order ColourPop had released a brand new deep burgundy color called “creature.” All of the lippie stix have corresponding lippie pencils. I have never had many lip pencils, but lately I have been buying them more often when I see a good deal because they do indeed help your lip color to last longer and prevent colors from sliding around and fading. I only ordered one lippie pencil, and I will explain why later.
These lippie stix come in matte, satin, and glossy finishes. Because it’s fall, and I am typically all about that matte life to begin with, I only ordered matte shades. I wanted to be sure I would fall (see what I did there?) in love the ones I ordered before I go out of my comfort zone. I know, story of my life. I like my box. My box is safe. I also ordered one more eyeshadow that I’ve had my eye on for a bit, and I will also give a swatch for that.

Okay, first I am going to go over swatches of the colors I received.

(from left to right)

Bichette- I am going to be honest for a second, I mostly bought this for the epic name. Lipstick collector problems. This is a beautiful matte cool toned red though. It is pretty dark, but not too dark. It’s more of a cherry red. As if I needed anymore matte red lipsticks, but none are named Bichette…so this was a need.

Creature- a deep matte burgundy red. This is the newest color released by ColourPop, and it was right in time for the true transition into fall. I adore this color. It’s so dark and reminds me of a vampy wine shade. I mostly ordered for this color along with the pencil, but because you get free shipping with a $30 purchase I went ahead and ordered the others I wanted to try…because I’m a lipstick addict.

Creature pencil- this was the only corresponding lip pencil I ordered since I was actually in need of a pencil this dark. I love the color of this pencil and have a feeling I will be reaching for it often to go under my lipstick this fall and winter.

Pitch- a dark matte brown. This is actually a very different and new color that I am adding to my collection of colors. I have been wanting to experiment a bit with darker brown shades this fall. I am very drawn to brown in general lately in terms of lip products. I may try to pair this color with the creature pencil and see what I get out of it.

Leather- a very dark matte purple. I bought this color for a couple of reasons. One, because it’s so damn pretty. Two, I need a dark purple to go underneath some of my patchier lip colors like the Nyx soft matte lip creams. Instead of getting the pencil I opted for the lipstick to see if it wouldn’t make the Nyx matte creams as dry and patchy looking on my lips. Stay tuned for the results.

The lippie stix and pencils all retail at $5 each. And as mentioned in a previous post, ColourPop is cruelty free and made in California. I love the formula of the lippie stix that I ordered. They’re matte, but they do go on very easily and don’t look patchy on the lips or make them feel dry, which can be an issue with many matte formulas.

I only got one eyeshadow this time. I ordered Amaze since it was one that I kind of wanted last time, and then regretted not getting it after reading the amazing reviews about the color.

It’s such a beautiful golden shimmery brown. This swatch was with only one swipe of my finger with NO PRIMER. Seriously, I die over the quality of these shadows.

I ended up playing around with these lippies for a bit and came up with a few looks. I used the “creature” pencil and filled my lips in entirely and then put “pitch” on top of it. I adore the results. It’s a very dark bourdeaux-type color.

I am in love with this combo. It was extremely long lasting as well. I ate a stuffed bell pepper (messy as shit, but delicious) and my lipstick stayed in place for the most part and only required a bit of touching up. I will say that this stained my lips a bit, and after a long day of wearing it I had to scrub my lips to fully take the color off. To do so, I just mixed coconut oil, sugar, and vitamin e oil together and scrubbed my lips when I exfoliated my face (I do so every Sunday) and it took it right off. So yeah, these matte shades mean business. Very long lasting.

In all, I love these lippie stix. I think they are beautiful and worth the $5. I will probably be ordering more in the future, probably more mattes and maybe a few satins. I wish I could say that I am a glossy finish kind of girl, but sadly I am not for the most part. Anyone reading this tried the lippie stix yet? If so, which colors are your favorites and do you have any recommendations for me to try myself? Thank you so much for reading! Please visit again, or visit some of my other recent posts!

Lastly, do you like the combo I created on my lips in this post? Please feel free to suggest a color for me to try on my lips this week for a possible “face of the day” post, but chances are I will be playing around and posting more about these lipsticks since I adore them so much.

Link to previous ColourPop post: https://kaylahutchison.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/first-impression-colourpop-cosmetics/

Link to ColourPop Cosmetics: http://colourpop.com/

I was not paid or given products for this review. These products were purchased by me and these are my honest opinions of them.

Face of the day: out of my comfort zone

October 8, 2014October 8, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

I’m typically pretty comfortable in the neutral zone in terms of eye makeup. I was getting bored, so I wanted to switch things up a bit and try a pop of color.
I did go for a neutral look on my lids because I wanted to focus on the pop of color and my lips today. So, I used a standard matte white color and a matte brown blended in the crease. I then used my bh cosmetics Hollywood palette and blended the two blue shades on my lower lash line. I took the Nyx liquid eyeliner in extreme blue and created a winged eyeliner and put on ardell lashes in 117.
For my face I kept it simple. Foundation, concealer and wet n wild’s blush in pearlescent pink. I put a little highlight at the very tops of my cheeks just so my face wouldn’t look too matte.
On my lips is manic panic’s glamnation lipstick in nosferatu. I love this formula. It’s matte and easy to work with. The name of the lipstick itself seemed appropriate for October as well ❤
I'm pretty happy with how my journey out of the neutral box went.

Fall face: rainy day vamp

October 7, 2014October 7, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

It’s a very dark and stormy day here in my city. One of those chili days where it’s taking 2 cups of coffee just to wake up and all I want to do is cuddle with my babies and sleep. So, I decided to play with my makeup a bit to keep me busy. I tried something new and used colourpop cosmetics eyeshadow in “cheeky” as a transition color, and I love it! It’s a really peachy color that I feel would work for most people as a transition color. Other than that for my eyes I used the coastal scents revealed 2 palette, which is probably my second favorite palette to use. I used the wine and matte brown colors on the outside and a shimmery bronze on my lid.
I also tried out my coastal scents contouring brush I got in the mail. It’s way smaller than I expected, but it does work. It’s not great at blending the contour, but it’s great at laying it down and creating the line itself. I have Nyx simply vamp in “enamored” on my lips, and I’m in love with this color. I’m more of a matte lip kind of gal, but there’s just something about the rusted look with this lipstick that draws me in.
I’m off to enjoy a lazy rainy day with my girls. What are some of your favorite rainy day activities?

Face of the day

October 2, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

I went with a “fall glam” look today using a copper eyeshadow stick I got in a beauty box and a wine color blended into it from the revealed 2 palette. On my lips is Gerard cosmetics gloss in cocoa bean, and wanderlust blush by elf on my cheeks. Loving this look for fall ❤

Trend Thursday: Dark Nude Lips

October 2, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

I know that every beauty blogger has touched on the subject of the “Kylie Jenner” (I will admit I barely know who she is) look, but I am going to touch on it as well. When I saw the sudden boom of dark nude lipstick tutorials my first thought was actually, “That reminds me of the 90’s trend.” I was right. The celebrity’s look and the 90’s brownish-mauve lipstick looks are one in the same.

Even though I don’t know much about Kylie Jenner, I do know that I love dark nude shades for several reasons. 1) I think they are very flattering on many skin tones 2) it’s a nude look that someone as pale as me can get excited about. That’s right, if you are a pale princess that wasn’t able to get behind the flesh toned nude trend last year because it made you look dead (it did for me at least) you can get behind this trend!

So, in today’s post I want to show a few products and swatches of lipsticks that I think are right on trend, and include a few looks that I created with these products at the end of the post.

First is Kat Von D’s studded lipstick in the shade “Lovecraft.” These lipsticks retail for $21 at Sephora, so this is definetely a high end choice. It is a lovely choice though. This lipstick is matte and even better, it smells like a vanilla cupcake! I am fairly obsessed with Kat Von D’s line as a whole, so her products are some of the only non drugstore items I will purchase. I mostly bought this shade for the name, I won’t even lie (Any other H.P. Lovecraft fans on here?). However, it’s quickly become one of my go to nudes for everyday looks. It’s not very dark, but it is a mauve matte shade. With that being said, matte formulas can be a bit drying so I would suggest always mosturizing and priming your lips before using a matte formula.

Gerard Cosmetics lipstick in the shade “1995.” This lipstick and brand has quickly gone from not mentioned often to booming in a very quick time span. This lipstick was created to give the 90’s look, as suggested by the name. Beauty Blogger Jaclyn Hill (one of my fave bloggers) actually collaborated with Gerard Cosmetics for this shade, and it is BEAUTIFUL. From the packaging to the color, it’s flawless. It’s not too matte, and it’s not creamy. I would still use a balm before putting this shade on, but it’s not as drying of a formula as the Kat Von D shade. These retail on their site for $19, but there are about a million Gerard Cosmetics coupon codes floating around. I used the code “emma” and received 20% off my order + free shipping.

Rimmell London Kat Moss lipstick in the shade “08.” I apologize in advance for the non cruelty free product, but this has been in my possession for awhile now and it’s the cheapest option I have to talk about. I do want to talk about at least one shade that can be found in drugstores that I already possess. This formula is not matte whatsoever, but it’s not shiny either. It’s more on the mauve side than it is on the nude. This shade is beautiful and would be an ideal everyday nude for very pale skin tones. These typically retail between $4-5 but Rimmel seems to be on sale often at Target and CVS.

Kat Von D’s liquid everlasting lipstick in the shade “Lolita.” Another Kat Von D product? Yes, I told you I am obsessed. I picked this up on impulse while getting some blush, and it’s probably the best impulse makeup purchase I have made in quite some time. This shade is everything I imagine when I think of dark nudes. It’s the perfect blend of mauve and dark brown. It’s matte. It’s long lasting. It’s perfect. I put this on the other day and ate 2 meals and drank lots of water and this stuff does not budge. Can we also talk about that packaging? Ugh, so gorgeous. These retail at $19 at Sephora, which is a bit cheaper than the Lime Crime Velvetines, which is what this formula reminds me of, except less messy. I can get a perfect application with the applicator it comes with, which is saying something for a liquid lipstick.

Swatches left to right: Lovecraft (Kat Von D) 1995 (Gerard) 08 (rimmel london) Lolita (Kat Von D)

First look with full list of products used:

Eyes- Too faced Natural Eyes Palette with Heaven on the lid and as a highlight, and Cashmere Bunny blended into the crease. Light cat wing made with Physicians Formula eye booster eyeliner pen in ultra black (favorite eyeliner). Red Cherry Lashes in #605 with a coat of Urban Decay’s Perversion mascara to blend lashes.

Face- Elf Mineral primer in the shade green, Elf acne fighting foundation in the shade Ivory with 1 pump of Manic Panic white dream tone foundation to lighten it. Elf matte bronzer in Fiji as a light contour, and Kat Von D’s Everlasting blush in Essex. Elf Highlighter in the shade Moonlight Pearls on the tops of my cheeks and LA Girl’s HD concealer in the lightest shade under my eyes.

Lips- Kat Von D’s liquid lipstick in Lolita

Second look:

Brows- Anastasia Beverly Hills dipbrow pomade in Ebony with a dark brown matte powder.
Eyes- BareMinerals 5 in 1 bb eye cream in Divine Wine as a base. Too Faced Natural Eyes palette for the rest- Heaven lightly dusted on the lids, Cashmere Bunny and the nude fashion shade bleneded into the crease and the shimmery Classic shade as a highlight. Cat eyes made using Physicians Formula eye booster pen in Ultra Black. Urban Decay’s Perversion mascara on top lashes with the primer underneath, and Wet n Wild’s mega length mascara on bottom lashes. Also blended in Cashmer Bunny and Nude shade lightly on bottom lash line.

Face- Elf Acne fighting foundation in Ivory with 1 pump of Manic Panic’s white foundation. Primed my face with The Body Shop’s Tea Tree Oil pore minimizing primer and elf’s undereye primer under my eyes. Light contour with Fiji by elf, and blush is elf’s mineral blush in Wanderlust. Highlighter is The Balm’s Mary-Lou Manizer and under eye concealer is LA Girl’s HD concealer in the lightest shade

Lips- 1995 by Gerard Cosmetics

These are only 2 looks, but there are so many options when a neutral lip is being used. I’m more of a neutral kind of girl myself. I wear a lot of brown and black toned things, and it shows in my makeup and even in my closet. How are some ways that you have been wearing this new trend? Have you tried a dark nude lip?