Quick Review: City Color Shimmer Shadows

November 11, 2015November 10, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 3 Comments

Hey lovelies,

If you follow me on instagram, you’ve probably already seen this picture. I put together a short and sweet little swatch post, but I also wanted to touch on a few other things here on the blog because I personally don’t like having 100 line Instagram captions.

To be clear, even though I am an affiliate with City Color, I purchased these shadows myself last weekend during a sale. City Color had a sale every week last month, and one weekend these shimmer shadows were 50% off. These are already very affordable at $6.99 each, so when I saw they were $3.50 I snagged the shades I’ve been wanting to try.

If you follow Dupe That on Instagram, you’ve more than likely seen these compared to the Kat Von D shimmer shadows which are a whopping $21 each. Don’t get me wrong, they’re gorgeous, but single shadows have never been something I’ve felt inclined to spend that much money on.

The City Color ones are $6.99 each at regular price, and there is 3.65 grams of product in each pan. That is a lot of product. You’re definitely getting a lot for your money with this.

I do enjoy the packaging. The lettering rubs off after a bit, but I have found these easy to store in my acrylic organizers on my vanity. Because they’re flatter, they can be stacked by twos in the little containers that found from Ross.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I got these, but the first time I swatched them, my heart nearly stopped. These are so buttery. Like to the point where I feel as if I poke my finger too hard in the pan the product would crumble. I don’t believe it would, but I don’t know what other way to describe how soft the texture is.

These do not crumble though. That is actually a pet peeve of mine with shimmery shadows. I don’t enjoy the little crumbles that some can leave behind, and these don’t do that. In my opinion, the closest comparison makeup wise I can make regarding texture would be to the Makeup Geek shadows.

Very smooth. Super pigmented. Not a pain in the ass to work with.

Swatches from top to bottom: Cheers to Life, Marsala, New Year New Me, Bubble Bath, Homecoming Queen

I have seen Marsala compared to KVD’s Raw Power, and they are almost spot on dupes. Marsala and Cheers to Life are probably my current favorites because they are amazing Fall shades, but New Year New Me is gorgeous as well, and doubles as an awesome highlight! It’s a very pale white-gold type of shade, making it a highlight that multiple skin tones can use, including fair skin tones like myself.

I like to put a few shades over top of my tattoo because it truly shows how pigmented products are, and these shadows are no exception. These were all swatched in natural light and with no primer underneath.

There are so many more affordable brands that are stepping up their game and bringing out some high quality products. It’s really exciting to me! I love splurging, but I also love saving a bit of money when I can, which is why I follow so many pages that find dupes. Ha!

I do have a coupon code that will save you 10% on top of every sale City Color has, and you get free shipping at $25. My code is lunafayebeauty 🙂

Though I am now affiliated with this brand, my opinions are still very honest. I’ve been a huge fan of City Color for a long time now, so naturally I was excited to have my own coupon code to share with you all in case you’ve been wanting to try a few things.

If you have these shadows, what are your thoughts on them? What are some of your favorite shades? Comment and tell me all about it!

As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you’re all having wonderful days.

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ColourPop Turns 1!

May 27, 2015May 27, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 11 Comments

So, if you follow me on Instagram you’ve probably already seen this picture. ColourPop Cosmetics turned 1 years old as a company, and they celebrated by sending out a free shadow with ANY purchase last week in the shade “Birthday Girl.”

If you’re unfamiliar with Colourpop, they’re an indie brand that has been taking youtube and instagram by storm lately. They have grown so much over the past year, because their products are affordable and very unique. I have posted a few reviews that I will link at the end of this post, but in a nutshell, I love their products. They’re cruelty free and there’s an absolutely stellar range of colors. They started out with only eyeshadows, then added lippies, then added blushes, then added highlighters, and most recently…bronzers.

What I love about this brand is their attention to detail and how they constantly keep everyone in suspense as we wait on what they’ll come out with next. I’m so happy that they have had a great deal of success this year, and I wish them nothing but the best as a company.

I only ordered 2 things this time, mostly because I really wanted “Birthday Girl.” Don’t judge me, the pretty pink packaging sucked me in. So, I ordered a super shock shadow from the “Rumer Has It” collection, which is a collab with Rumer Willis. I ordered “Swan” because Swan Lake is beautiful in general, and I have a massive soft spot for white shadows…and glitter.

White shadows are the only ones that really show up well on my fair skin, and there’s just something so classic about stark white shadow and bright red lips, which is a look I wear often.

The brush pictured is from Sedona Lace, but I will be talking about that later on 😉

If you’re unfamiliar with Colourpop’s super shock shadow formula, they’re very creamy and not creamy at the exact same time. Very pigmented, very smooth, and rarely require primer if you wear them alone. For $5 a piece, these are some of my favorite single shadows, and I don’t buy single shadows very often.

Left is “Birthday Girl” which is a really pretty bronze shade and right is “Swan” which is a glittery and gorgeous white shade.

Both of these swatches are done over no primer, and I barely swirled my finger around in each pot to get this pigmentation. These are intense.

However, when I was looking closely at Swan I noticed it reminded me of something I already own…”Polyester Bride” by Urban Decay, which is my favorite inner corner highlight to use…and it’s $18 for the single shadow.

Left: Polyester Bride by Urban Decay $18

Right: Swan by Colourpop $5

Well, they’re similar but still different. Colourpop’s has more glutter in it and Polyester Bride is more shimmery and a has a bit more silver in it. However, if you’re not too weird about little details, Swan might be a great and affordable alternative if you’re been wanting Polyester Bride, which I do recommend as a shade.

Anyway, that’s about it for today’s quick little post. I will be doing a review with swatches soon of the Colourpop Highlighters that I ordered a few weeks ago, so stay tuned!

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you decide to stay if you’re new to my blog!

Have a great night, lovelies.

Colourpop Reviews:

First Impression

Collection Video

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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.

LOLITA DUPES?

March 6, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

I have seen the “Lolita” by Kat Von D restocked several times over the past few months only to sell back out about 10 mins later. The shade is described as a “dusty rose” and it seems to be the color that everyone and their grand-mamma wants. I lucked out and bought it before the hype…not trying to sound like a hipster by saying that, I just feel lucky because I actually stink at buying things in the heat of the moment. Some of y’all just have quicker fingers than me, I suppose.

I have seen some mention some dupes and what they think are dupes, so I decided to go through my collection and I do have a few that people are claiming are cheaper dupes. How many times can I say “dupe” in one sentence?

I guess we should start with the culprit in question. This is a lip swatch of “Lolita.” It truly is a very dusty rose shade. I absolutely love this shade, and I do understand the hype behind it. Not only is the formula of the everlasting lipsticks to die for, this color is very unique.

Second swatch is the “Soft Berry” lip liner by Essence. This color will break the bank at a whopping $1.50. I mentioned this liner in my February Favorites video, because I love them. They’re super creamy and easy to apply. I can’t stand lip liners that pull and tug on my lips, and these do not. Not to mention this color is divine.

Last lip swatch I have is Wet n Wild’s Megalast lip color in “High Pitched Wine.” In the tube, this color looks similar to Lolita. On the lips, not so much. It’s pretty red toned on the lips. Honestly, I’m not the biggest fan of this formula. It’s very thick and kind of sticky. It doesn’t seem to dry completely on the lips, and that bugs the shit out of me. However, it is a very pretty color and it’s very affordable.

This is an arm swatch of all 3. As you can probably tell, “Soft Berry” is the closest match, but still a bit more brown toned than what Lolita is. Like I mentioned before, it’s truly a very unique shade.

If you’re looking for a cheaper option that’s fairly close or something either a bit more red or brown toned, the dupes in this post are great options! Essence can be purchased at Ulta or Fred Meyer stores, and Wet n Wild is typically at CVS and Walgreens.

This is my first every attempt to find and create a “dupe” post, so be easy on me! 😉
As usual, thank you all for reading!

First Impression: LaSplash Liquid Lipsticks

January 1, 2015January 1, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 1 Comment

Before I begin, I would like to say Happy New Year! I hope that everyone was happy and safe last night.

So, one of my favorite discoveries in the year 2014 was for sure matte liquid lipsticks.
They glide on without effort and stay on all day. Ultimate tool for the lazy makeup enthusiast.
There are quite a few companies that make liquid lipsticks, but probably one the most known is Lime Crime.
I like Lime Crime, but after reading some things I don’t feel ethically right purchasing anything.

And don’t take offense to that if anyone is reading this and and loves the company, it’s a personal decision, and one I just recently made after doing my own research. My tip to anyone is don’t take someone’s word for anything until you do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

I randomly stumbled upon this post on Instagram (hi I stalk beauty tags on there often, judge me) and saw swatches of some BEAUTIFUL shades by La Splash Cosmetics. And guess what? They were liquid lipsticks!

I dropped everything and went to their site and started drooling at the words “cruelty free” and “liquid lipsticks.” It was a Christmas Miracle! And get this…they’re $12 a color. Way cheaper than Lime Crime Velvetines, and there were 10% off codes all over the interwebs.

I ordered 2. That night. I have a bit of a lipstick problem…I see lipstick. I fall in love with lipstick. I buy lipstick. Meh.

Anyway, I think I ordered these on Christmas Eve and received them in the mail on the 29th. So, shipping was pretty quick considering the Holiday. My package also came with a cute Christmas card and a free gift! the gift was a mint balm, I’m guessing to prevent weird cracked lips that sometimes occur while wearing matte lipsticks.

The packaging is sleek. Nothing fancy, nothing cheesy.

I picked out the shades “Innocent Vixen” and “Untamed” because I have been wanting a liquid brown lipstick foreeeeeever now, as well as a beige-pink one. There were a few colors though, including a purple and a few reds.

My first impression of these are that they are incredible. Everything I look for and hope for regarding a matte liquid lipstick. They have a doe-foot applicator so the application was easy, and they dry quickly, but not too quickly.
I swatched these on my hand and washed dishes and had my hands in water about a million times and the swatches did not budge. I could see the water forming beads and rolling off my hand. This stuff is intense.

These are the swatches. Top is “Innocent Vixen” and bottom is “Untamed.” This was with me barely using any product, so watch out while applying. A little will go a long way.

I wore “Innocent Vixen” on New Year’s Eve, and this stuff seriously lasted all day through everything. I kissed da boyfriend, ate tacos, drank wine…nothing budged. Incredible lasting power. However, I wore “Untamed” the day before and it goes on a bit patchy and is not a build able color I found. I tried to put on another layer and it started to crack in some places, and my lips were fairly moisturized.

I’m not a fan of the balm that was sent to me. It has a pretty awful smell, in my opinion. It smells like crayons and plastic. Not pleasant. Other than the few cons, I really like these liquid lipsticks overall. If I had to suggest only one to people, it would be Innocent Vixen. It’s such a pretty nude. Note: