Swatch Saturday: La Girl Creme Lipsticks

May 16, 2015May 16, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

Hey beauties,

I feel like I haven’t done a Swatch Saturday post in ages. Okay, maybe like two weeks, but I really love doing swatch posts! Especially when lipstick is involved. Well, if lipstick is involved, I’m probably down. Today I’m going to be swatching 4 lipsticks that I don’t believe I have talked much about, and that’s the LA Girl creme lipsticks.

Everyone has been so obsessed with liquid and matte lipsticks (myself included) that I wanted to look in my collection and pull out some creamy lipsticks. Matte lipsticks aren’t for everyone, and even though I adore a great matte finish, I do like a nice moisturizing lipstick finish as well.

If you don’t know about LA Girl, they’re a brand that can be bought online at http://www.lagirlusa.com or can sometimes be found in select drugstores and Five Below stores. They are cruelty free, and very affordable.

They sell quite a few lipsticks, including liquid lipsticks, but I don’t see much on their Luxury Creme lipstick line. So, I’m going to swatch and talk about the 4 I have in my collection.

There are 24 shades in all that range from light nudes, red, and a black. I do love the range that LA Girl has in these lipsticks and I feel there is something for just about everyone.

Price: $4

Consistency: These are very creamy and hydrating.

Application: I personally like to apply these straight on the lips and then take a lip brush to evenly apply it the rest of the way. These pair best with lip liners because they are very creamy and therefore a bit slippery. I find that liners help my lipstick to “stick” and not get on my teeth as much. That and liners prevent the weird feathering thing that can happen with non-matte lipsticks.

Finish: As I’ve said possibly a million times, these are not matte, but they’re not too super glossy either. I like that about them. They’re kind of a happy medium, in my opinion.

Pigmentation: With all of the ones I swatched for this post I had no problems with the pigmentation. They went on smoothly and with no patchiness.

Packaging: I’m not a fan of the packaging. The packaging is a bit cheap (okay, very cheap) and a little flimsy. However, I will say that because the product inside is so good I can forgive cheap packaging. I can tell that LA Girl kind of sacrificed nice packaging for a great lipstick, and that’s okay in my book. I can respect that. If you’re a packaging snob (no judgement here, I am myself at times) then the packaging may bug you a bit too much with these.

Staying Power: Because these have a creamy texture and finish, you’re probably gonna have to reapply them throughout the day, especially if you eat and drink with it on.

Smell: I found that these don’t really have a smell, which is fine in my book.

Worth a try? In my opinion, yes. I really like LA Girl as a brand, and I think these are nice lipsticks to try out if you want to try pinks or reds, but don’t want to drop a ton of money on a higher end brand. The only things that bug me with these are the packaging because I end up getting lipstick all over the tube every time I apply one. That and if you rip the little sticker off completely you suddenly don’t know the name of the lipstick you’re putting on. That’s also annoying. Other than that, I really love the way these feel on the lips. Because there is shea butter and vitamin e in them they are very hydrating. Perfect to throw in your purse on a nice Spring or Summer day.

Swatches:

Amour: A very “nude” lipstick that looks almost brown on my skin tone. I did conceal my lips before these swatches so I could show you all the true color. I really like this color. It pairs well with “nude truffle” lip liner by Nyx. I know that not everyone is into the brown-nude thing right now, but I am. It’s my way of being “bold” at times without wearing a bright or odd colored lipstick.

Be Mine: A very brown lipstick with just a tinge of red in it. I know this color can be intimidating for people with fair skin, but I happen to love this color. It has a very “marsala” tone to it, and pairs well with a warm and matte eye look.

Promise: This is probably my favorite out of the 4 I own. It looks a wee bit different on my lips than it does swatched on my arm. It’s more of a plummy-berry color that’s bold, but not overpowering.

Last Night: This is a shade I would probably never purchase myself, but I actually got it in my Lip Monthly bag last month. I quite like it now that I’ve tried it on. It’s pretty intimidating inside of the tube, but on the lips it’s a nice deep pink color. Still bright, but wearable if you’re afraid of pinks like I am.

Arm Swatches:

From the wrist down: Last Night, Promise, Be Mine, Armour

That’s it for today’s swatch Saturday post 🙂

Let me know if you all like this style/set up for lip swatches, and feel free to request lip swatches!

As always, thanks for reading, and if you’re new here I hope you decide to follow me or sign up for emails. It’s free and stuff.

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Hard Candy Natural Eyes + Potential Dupe

March 11, 2015March 11, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 13 Comments

Let me start off by saying I rarely venture into Walmart. I live in Tennessee, and just trust me when I say you never know what’s going to happen when you venture into a Walmart. I’ve had some weird experiences. However, I went in to scope out their clearance and browse around since I was bored and feeling antsy.

I ended up coming across a few gems that I can’t believe I haven’t seen many reviews on yet! I don’t own many Hard Candy things since what I have tried by them has been bad (for me) but I saw they had some really cool new things, including new eyeshadow palettes!

What caught my eye the most about these palettes was how similar they looked to the Too Faced tin palettes…and I had a hunch that the one called “Natural Eyes” may be a dupe for the Natural Eyes palette by Too Faced.

My hunch was correct.

See:

The packaging is obviously different, but still it’s the same concept.

ARE YOU ALL SEEING THIS? They look so similar! I’m so blown away by this right now!
The Too Faced palette retails at $36
Hard Candy: a wallet busting $8

The Hard Candy palette actually comes with more goodies though. It comes with a primer and an eyeliner. The eyeliner is meh (they usually are) but the primer is actually really nice!

I decided to do true side by side swatches…and the two palettes are truly very similar! Are they exact dupes? No. But if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, try this palette out. While I was swatching the Hard Candy one I noticed the shades are very creamy and buttery, which is unusual for drugstore shadows. A few shades were a bit patchy, but not too bad. I’m overall super impressed with them.

This is the side by side swatches, and I did put an awkward line down the middle to differentiate.
The Too Faced Natural Eyes palette is always going to have a special place in my heart, but I really love the Hard Candy one as well. I did swatch these over primer since that’s how most people wear shadows, and because I’m so pale that if I don’t some shades just don’t show up.
I may end up going back and picking up the Sassy one as well…because I’m sassy, that’s why.

This is a quick look I put together with the palette to test out how well they work with brushes. They blended beautifully! The matte shades are so pigmented and buttery, I’m in love already. The primer was really nice as well, and my shadows did not crease at all!
My overall thoughts are if you come across this, buy it. You can’t really go wrong with a palette like this that’s also cheap.

I had a hard time finding reviews of the new Hard Candy stuff, but if you have reviews of your own, please feel free to link them in my comments section! Or suggest something for me to try!

I did pick up one of their new foundations since the shade looked paper white (my perfect shade, yes!) so if you’re fair skinned and want to see my thoughts, make sure to follow me for updates!

As always, thanks for reading. Have a great day, lovelies.

January Favorites: Makeup and Skincare

February 2, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

I decided to type out my empties and film my favorites.
🙂

Review and Lip Swatches: Milani Matte Lipsticks

January 27, 2015January 27, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 8 Comments

IN my recent “drugstore adventures” I have found every new item from Milani except the matte lipsticks. It was so strange. It then came to my attention that the stores I had found the other new Milani items had put the lipstick display on an end cap away from the makeup section entirely. Who does that? Why do they torture me so?

Anyway, so I found them. Because the display was so hidden (did they do this on purpose?) every color was in stock, so I grabbed the ones I wanted most to try out before I go back and get some others. I ended up picking up 3 of the new matte shades that I would like to swatch and review today.

I picked up “matte naked,” “matte blissful,” and “matte confident.” My reasoning behind this was because I feel that everyone that loves lipstick should have a pretty nude, a pretty pink (even me), and a pretty classic red shade. They’re staples, in my opinion, for everyday use. Well, for most people. I do wear strange colors often, but that’s another day, another post.

I’ve been trying these out for a few days now and I will say that I adore them. From the price to the packaging…Milani does it again. They are truly amazing with lipsticks.

Price $4.99 at my local Kmart. These are starting to pop up in CVS stores though, and CVS has BOGO 50% off sales on Milani at least every few weeks. You could probably get these for pretty cheap if you wish! $5 is still not bad at all for lipstick though. I mean, have you seen the prices of some of the other new lipsticks out in other drugstore lines? They’re trying to break momma’s wallet.

Formula very creamy matte formula. Not very drying on the lips and they feel like velvet on my lips. I can barely even tell I have lipstick on. However, I will say that because I have been wearing matte lipstick for so long now, I do always properly prepare my lips for matte colors. I typically scrub my lips 1-2 times a week and put a heavier balm on them at night and then a lighter chapstick on first thing every morning. If you’re interested in my “lip prep” routine, let me know

Application very smooth, which was to be expected given the creamy texture. I have applied all 3 of these on my lips now, and I didn’t have any patchiness with any of them.

Longevity These last for a good amount of time if you’re not eating and drinking. However, these are not stains or liquid lipsticks, so they will fade and possibly bleed if you’re eating and drinking. If you know you’re going to be doing either, or won’t be able to reapply after a few hours, I would personally use a lip liner of some sort to prevent the “ring around the lip” look 🙂

Smell Yes, smell is important to me. These smell like vanilla! So yummy.

Overall thoughts If you’ve been thinking about getting these, just get them. They’re wonderful. Milani has had some really strong new releases lately, some of the absolute best in terms of drugstore makeup (also just my opinion). Then again, Milani is one of my favorite drugstore brands.

Arm swatches From bottom to top: Matte Confident, Matte Naked, Matte Blissful

Lip swatches Top: Matte Naked Bottom Left: Matte Blissful Bottom Right: Matte Confident

Matte Confident is my favorite so far. Creamiest matte red I have put on my lips in awhile. If you’ve gotten anything from this line, what’s your favorite color?

Milani Rose Blushes

January 15, 2015January 15, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 7 Comments

Have you ever searched for a few things (makeup wise) so hard that when you finally find it…angels sing and your heart stops for a few seconds? Is it just me?

That could be embarrassing to admit, but I did that when I finally stumbled upon a display at Kmart with the new Milani Rose Blushes and there were blushes left! I will admit to maybe hovering over the display to block anyone else that might have also seen them and drooling for a few seconds.

Totally kidding.

This post is going to be less formal (okay, none of my posts are very formal) because I just want to admire the absolute beauty of these blushes.

They are so divine. I’m so happy that Milani decided to bring these back and make them permanent. I missed out on the first time they were out, but even if I had gotten some I probably wouldn’t have used them. Now I feel like I can admire and use them since they’re here to stay. I paid $7.99 per blush for these, which is a typical price for Milani. There’s also a shit ton of blush in these it seems. There were 3 colors in the display, and I only picked up 2. I don’t think coral colors flatter my skin tone well, so I left the last Coral Cove on the display for someone else. I am so nice.

I will say that I searched high and low for these babies. From what I have seen online, the displays only have 2 per color stocked, so if you stumble upon them…buy them. If you’re going back and forth on it, just get them because it takes stores a long time to restock things at times, especially during new releases.

This shade is “tea rose” and it’s a very matte pink shade. I think this is a shade that can be worn with both warm and cool toned looks, in my opinion. I’m no expert, so chances are I’m just saying that because I will wear it with any look no matter what.

This is the one I wanted the most, and it’s “romantic rose.” It’s a matte mauve color. I love rosy mauve colors. I typically wear brown shadows and bright lips on a day to day basis, so I feel mauve blushes kind of compliment that in a way for me.

These are the swatches with “tea rose” on the left and “romantic rose” on the right. They are incredibly pigmented. So, these blushes are not only gorgeous and affordable, they’re very pigmented and smooth to the touch.

Perfect product. Perfect luck. I am so happy with this find! I hope you all enjoyed this shorter review! It’s snowing a bit here in Tennessee, so I hope everyone is staying warm!

Tell me about your favorite makeup finds lately?

My ColourPop Eyeshadow Collection

January 6, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 1 Comment

New video up today on my youtube channel.
There’s two parts, the first part is linked in the video.
I even have swatches of the new matte shades that just came out, so make sure to watch and subscribe 🙂

How to Waterproof Your Lipstick

December 17, 2014December 17, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

Sorry for the double post, I’m trying to catch up.

I have a new video. It’s a short review and demo of how to waterproof any lipstick in your collection 🙂
My channel is still new, so new subscribers always make me so happy!

Swatch Sunday: Random Lippies

December 7, 2014December 11, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

I have quite a few lipsticks that I have bought over the past few weeks that are beautiful and blogworthy, but I didn’t buy enough of each line to really justify doing a whole post about each. So, I’m doing a lipstick swatch “dump” of sorts.

First up, I bought 3 LA Girl Creme lip colors to try them out. These retail for $4 each on average.
As you can tell, the packaging is a bit cheap and can get pretty messy. However, for the messy packaging the product itself is very creamy and applies smoothly. The colors are opaque. I normally don’t like many creamier formulas, but these are nice.

Left to Right: Promise, Amour, Kiss & Tell
I’ve been reaching for Kiss & Tell a lot over the past week. It’s such a beautiful brown with red tint to it. It looks superb paired with a dark red lip liner.

This is a photo taken the other day of me wearing “kiss & tell” with a deep red underneath. Love this combo.

Next, these teeny Kat Von D lippies were my second Black Friday snag while shopping online on Sephora. I didn’t need them, but I have a weakness for MINI things I couldn’t help it.
There’s not much to say about these because I already own two of the studded lipsticks and an everlasting liquid lipstick. I love the formulas of both of these lines. Both of these were $10 and for Kat Von D anything, that’s a steal. Even though I didn’t need these, no regrets. No regrets

Berlin is a matte darker rosy shade. I will probably be reaching for this come Spring and Summer. Lolita is a matte brownish nude shade. I own Lolita in the liquid form as well and it’s my favorite color of life.

Last, I have a couple Nyx lippies. I have “Whipped Caviar” from the Matte line (Kylie Jenner dupe, supposedly) and “Pops” from the butter line. I love the formulas of basically any Nyx line of lipstick. Super affordable, super opaque, super super.

Bottom swatch is Whipped Caviar (matte) and top is Pops (butter)

I will say that the matte one wears very comfortably on the lips as well as the butter one. The butter lipsticks seriously apply like…butter. Can you tell I am all about the brown/mauve nudes right now? I am stocking up while there are so many out because this is my go-to shade all of the time. If you’re very fair, I would suggest trying out the mauve/darker nude trend because I find it to be such a flattering way to wear a nude without it washing me out. That’s a totally personal opinion though and I can understand why some are tired of hearing about the “Kylie Jenner” lip.

I’m honestly ready to start finding some Marsala shades in my collection right about now. I’m not ever one for trends, but the last few color trends have been shades that I love already and work with often on an everyday basis.

I hope you all enjoyed my quick swatch sunday post with all of my random lippies. Have a gorgeous day!

Halloween Clearance Find: Elf Beauty Books

November 2, 2014November 2, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

The only thing that cheers me up after Halloween ends is the clearance shopping. The candy, the cute kid things…I am all about it. Typically I go after candy and things to prepare for next year, but I stumbled on a few of the Elf Halloween Beauty Books on an end cap for 50% off. I already own the Vampire one, and I love it. I actually just used it for the first time on Halloween to give my mom a glamorous witch makeup look, and I was incredibly impressed by the pigmentation of the shadows. I tried to use the false lashes, but I have never been a huge fan of the elf brand false lashes. They seem flimsy and hard to work with for me, but I have read where they do work for many others. So, I just wanted to go over them and do swatches and give my insight in case anyone has a Target nearby (where I found them) and can possibly score these as well. There were not many left when I got to my closest Target at 5 pm, so if you want some I would run to Target.

First, these were normally $6 before Halloween. My local Target had all of their Halloween things for 50% off, making these $3 per book! I was able to snag Diva and Enchanted, but I am sad that I couldn’t find Wicked anywhere, because then I would have all 4 of them since I already have the Vampire book. I think these are sooo pretty. They are not thin and sleek at all, but pretty none the less.

This is the Diva book. This one is my favorite of the two I found. The colors in this book are so buttery and soft. The lighter shades are a bit chalky and didn’t come up very well in the swatches, but I am also super pale and I did not use primer to swatch them. The gloss this one comes with is a fuchsia colored gloss, but I am not a lip gloss fan at all so I will probably be passing that on to a friend.

This one is the Enchanted book, and while it is not my favorite, the colors are pretty. They’re just not colors that I use very often. Blues don’t typically work well with my eye color, but for $3 I will play around with them a bit. As you can probably tell by the swatches, some of the colors are kind of chalky and patchy. I don’t know how they will look with a primer though. The lip gloss color in this one is a very peachy-pink nude color.

Since I will probably be giving the lashes and gloss away, I am still very happy with these finds. The eyeshadows in both books are very pretty. I may try to go to another Target and find the Wicked book so I can have all of them. My personal favorite is the Diva book, and as mentioned earlier the Vampire book is so amazing. If you come across it, get it. Don’t even think about it…thank me later.

I just watched a video by KathleenLights on youtube saying that the little (usually useless) eyeshadow applicators can be used for ColourPop eyeshadows and work BETTER than your fingers! Mind. Blown.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, please check out ColourPop. I have a review on my blog on their eyeshadows.
Other things I found clearance shopping: a cupcake costume for Piper next year. Cheap costumes for Harmony’s dress up wardrobe, and candy for me.
Anyone else find some amazing Halloween clearance items? Tell me! I love hearing about bargains 😀

First Impression: Too Faced Cocoa Powder and BH Cosmetics Studio Pro Powder

October 26, 2014October 26, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / 1 Comment

I have been hunting for a new powder for quite sometime now. If you’ve been following me for awhile you probably already know that I talk about the physicians formula correcting powder often. I still love it. I used it most of the summer almost everyday to set my concealer and would wear it alone some days. However, it can cling to dry spots if you have naturally dry skin like myself. So now that the weather is changing and I want to wear fuller coverage makeup, it looks a bit cakey after awhile and oxidizes weird on my skin.

If you’re as pale as me, you will understand my struggle to find a powder of any sort. Many are either too dark or oxidize and are darker after a few hours…or they look caked on if you apply too much. So, I’ve been watching videos and reading reviews by people with a similar skin tone/type as me and I have a few to talk about.

First, is the Too Faced Cocoa Powder foundation in “Light.” I’ve seen this talked about a lot, but couldn’t justify wanting to buy it until I watched a video of Thataylaa (look her up on youtube. I love her videos and personality) using it lightly as a setting powder. So, I started trying to see if I could catch a good deal on it, and I found it on hsn.com for $39 with free shipping AND the teddy bear hair kabuki brush included ($68 total value). I ended up being able to use a coupon code for 15% off on top of it, so the deal was pretty awesome and it’s included in flex pay and I got money back on ebates. Just throwing that out there in case anyone is interested in trying it and wants a good deal on it, I was not sponsored to say any of that. I’m just a mom on a budget.

Anyway, back to the actual review. The smell of this product is as delightful as I had hoped and imagined. It smells like chocolate. I decided to try it out for the first time on top of a bb cream and use the teddy bear hair kabuki brush.
Application– Like a damn dream. Very easy to work with and is buildable. With that being said, I do feel it would be light coverage if worn alone as a powder foundation. I wore it on top of a bb cream so I only needed a small amount to cover everything up and set my makeup. The brush it came with is super soft as well. I don’t know if I would have bought it had it been alone, but since it came with the powder it’s definetely a perk.
Wear time– it lasted all day and did not oxidize or cling to dry patches during the day. I did chores, chased the dog and toddler around and ran errands and this stuff stayed in place and even kept the faint delicious smell all day.
Overall first impression- thoroughly impressed. I’m so happy I stumbled upon such a great deal because I don’t know if I could have brought myself to spend the money on it at regular price at Ulta or Sephora.
Lastly, I have to give Too Faced props for always having the most adorable packaging on the face of the planet. Seriously, how chic and cute is the packaging? It’s so pretty.

Second, is the BH Cosmetics Studio Pro Powder in “205” which is the lightest shade. These powders are on sale often on Bh Cosmetics’ website. I think I got mine for around $7, so this is a very affordable option. The packaging is also very sleek and black, which I like. It claims to be a matte finishing powder.
Application– I used my elf cosmetics powder brush ($3) and patted this underneath my eyes to set my concealer, and I was impressed with how easy it was to apply. It wasn’t too chalky and didn’t get everywhere. I typically pat my powder instead of brushing on my face because I feel it’s less likely to cling to dry patches that way.
Wear– It did oxidize a bit, but it wasn’t bad. It didn’t apply cakey, but it did look a bit caked up and weird in a few spots after about 4 hours of wear. So, this is a powder that will need to be touched up a few times throughout the day.
Overall impression– I wasn’t as impressed with this one, but I wasn’t disappointed either. It’s probably a powder I will reach for this fall for everyday looks and for when I run errands. The price is superb though and the packaging is also adorable and very sleek.

Both of the brands mentioned are cruelty free, and as far as I know Too Faced is vegan friendly. Have any powders to recommend for me to try in my pursuit for the absolute perfect powder for fair skin? Please feel free to comment with your own thoughts, opinions, and recommendations.