First Impression: Makeup Monsters

March 12, 2015March 12, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

Hey lovelies,

I have a first impression up on my channel with my honest thoughts on a newer indie brand of makeup.
If you’re in the market for new liquid lipsticks after the Lime Crime scandal (don’t get me started on that one…already trashed my one little velvetine) then watch this video and maybe my other one on Pretty Zombie Cosmetics!

I love doing lipstick reviews and swatches, and I’m always seeking out new brands and colors to try.

My overall thoughts on this particular liquid lipstick is that it’s really nice! Not too drying, not sticky and the color is very opaque. It’s not super long lasting like my LaSplash lipsticks, but I don’t always want that kind of lasting power all of the time.

Make sure to subscribe to my channel to watch more of my videos! Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

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:

First Impression: Body Shop Honey Bronzer

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

I will probably be doing a few mini/quicker reviews this week since this time of the year is very busy for me (and many others). However, I did want to talk about this little gem that arrived in my mail the other day.
I’m not a huge bronzer fanatic, mostly because most bronzers tend to make me look orange. I think this is a problem for many people with very pale skin. However, I’ve seen Essie from EssieButton talk about this bronzer a million times, and when I finally found it for 50% off and with free shipping on The Body Shop’s site, I decided to give it a try.

I got the shade light (duh) and it is indeed very light and very matte. That’s right, there’s no shimmer in this baby and that’s downright amazing. I applied this after I contoured my face using Nyx’s blush in “taupe” and this bronzing powder did not look orange, and it did not turn orange throughout the day. I went to a dinner/baking party last night and when I left 5-6 hours later I noticed my face still had a pretty nice (but very subtle) bronze glow to it.

I now see why Essie raves about this product so often.

Pros:
-Very suitable for pale skin
-Decent amount of product (11 g total)
-Beautiful packaging and presentation
-Long lasting
-No orange/red tones
-Matte

Cons:
-Price. It’s $20 regular price, which is higher, but the body shop has sales so often that it would be easy to catch it at a great price.

Overall, I’m very happy with this product and will continue to use it as my go-to bronzing powder for now during the Winter. I would definetely reccomend this to any other pale friend out there that struggles to find something that doesn’t look orange on their skin.

Thanks for dropping by and make sure to follow me if you want and talk to me and stuff 🙂

Review: Lioele BB Cream

December 12, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / 1 Comment

Another item on my (getting shorter) list of things I’ve been searching for is a nice BB Cream that actually matches my skin tone. Many lines of BB Creams will say “Light/Medium” but lean more towards medium skin tones and have very warm undertones. Which is fine, but I am extremely pale.
So, I started reading reviews and watching videos and decided to give the Lioele Beyond the Solution BB Cream a try since I didn’t see too many negative things about it. I have never ever tried any line of Asian skin care.
I ordered it off prettyandcute.com for 30% off, but this can also be found on Amazon for around $14-16.

It comes with a pump, which is fantastic. I am all about face products with pumps. When I first pumped this onto my hand I noticed it is very thick. Not at all like a normal BB cream texture, which is nice if you like full coverage like myself. If not, this might not be an ideal product for you.

I don’t know if this product changes to match your skin tone, but I added a pump of manic panic dream tone just in case. I applied it with a damp real techniques sponge and it applied very easily and blended very well into my skin. The color was spot on, and it seems to have a very neutral undertone instead of a warm one, which was also nice. The only thing that bugged me was it has a bit of a floral smell at first (I thought) but once I applied it I couldn’t smell anything anymore.

This BB Cream lasted very well on my face and did not look cakey or anything as the day went on. That’s always a fear of mine with anything that is fuller coverage that I’m trying out for the first time. It felt light on the face as well. It also did not change colors throughout the day as well. I wore this for about 10 hours the day I tried it, so it is long lasting.

My overall review:
Pros
-Fairly affordable (not drugstore, not high end)
-Easy to Apply
-Long Lasting
-Neutral toned
-Does not break my skin out, and it did not dry my skin out
-Comes with a pump

Cons
-Smells a bit weird at first
-Still not my exact shade, and I need to use Manic Panic dream tone with it

This isn’t a pro or con so I didn’t know where to place it, but this BB Cream is very thick and is a medium/full coverage. This could be a pro or con depending on the person. I do like this BB Cream though and have used it several times since my initial application.

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!

First Impression: Origins Face Products

December 6, 2014December 6, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

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So, this cute little set was one of the two things I *limited* myself to buying from Sephora on Black Friday. The reason I chose this was because I’ve seen so many people say these products are amazing, but I couldn’t see myself paying $25 for something that might not work on myself. When I saw this set for $10, I just put it into my cart without thinking too much on it.

Now that I have tried all 3 little things that came in the set, I wanted to post a first impression on each.

Clear Improvement Mask This mask claims to actually pull junk out of your pores and clear them out with active charcoal. When I started to put this mask on my face, I realized that a little bit of product goes a long way. I decided to mainly put this mask on my most problematic areas such as my nose and chin, since there’s not much product in the samples and I didn’t want to waste any. I will say that this mask made my face feel so soft and amazing after I washed it off. The pores on my nose do look better than they did before I put the mask on, which is saying something because I do not have nice pores on my nose. It’s something I’m self conscious about and have been working on.

I mean, it also looks so pretty on, right?

Modern Friction Dermabrasion This claims to take your skin from “rough to smooth” without pain. This dermabrasion is indeed very soft on the skin and did not hurt to scrub into my skin a bit. My skin seriously felt so soft afterwards! I had to stop myself from just petting my face constantly. My skin is so dang dry this time of year, and it hasn’t felt this nice since fall started. My makeup went on smooth the next day and looked flawless. This may be a product from this set that I need in the full size once I am done with the sample size.

Drink Up Overnight Mask This claims to rehydrate the skin overnight working and the suggested usage is twice a week or as often as desired. I put this on after I had used my toner and just before I was going to bed. It definitely lived up to the claim. My skin felt very soft and hydrated. I’ve also been using the Loreal Youth Serum at night though, and I will say that my skin felt similar with the overnight mask as it does with the serum. So, I don’t know if I will personally be purchasing this one in the full size, but it is an extremely nice moisturizer!

This set was $10 on Black Friday and there are 0.5 oz in each sample. That doesn’t sound like much, but none of these take very much product at all to get the job done. I know I will get my money’s worth and then some. It was worth it just to be able to finally try this line without stabbing my bank account too hard.
Let’s not talk about what else I got on Black Friday and Cyber Monday…

Anyway, this was just a short and sweet impressions today. I still have some other goodies to review in the upcoming weeks that I can’t wait to play with and share with you all! Please follow me if you’re new and reading this, or talk to me and tell me about your experiences with these products if you have any!

Lip Monthly Review

November 23, 2014November 23, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

For anyone interested, this is my very first video about my Lip Monthly bag for the month.
Please subscribe to me, and if you have a beauty channel let me know and I will for sure take a look at yours as well ❤

This is a huge step for me, and I know my video isn't the best. I'm going to pretend that most vloggers don't have great first videos haha.

First Impression: Hair Products

November 18, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / 2 Comments

My first impression post this week is some hair products I have been testing out from an Ulta sale. I am not very into hair products per say, mostly because I have 2 kids and I have to pick between glorious hair and doing my makeup (makeup wins, obviously). However, I do like to take care of my hair since it’s very long and black.
Ulta had a sale a few weeks back where a hair product each day, and I waited until a specific day to get everything pictured. I waited for the day when the Healthy Sexy Hair leave-in conditioner was $7.99 because it’s normally $18, and I have actually tried that product once before. I loved it. It made my hair feel very soft and healthy after showering, and it made brushing it out way easier. I have very thick and naturally curly hair, so combing through it can be a nightmare at times. I will say that if you have thin or very straight hair this product may weigh your hair down a bit. It weighs mine down, but in a good way for my hair type. I want my hair to lay a bit flatter, especially if I plan on straightening it. The smell of this product is also phenomenal. I don’t know if I could ever bring myself to pay full price for this product, which is why I bought it on sale and got way too excited when I saw it was only $7.99 at Ulta.
The Psssst! products were also on sale at Ulta for BOGO free, so I decided to try the dry shampoo since I had seen a few other bloggers say it was amazing. I have to say, it’s a pretty decent dry shampoo. Very light scent, doesn’t leave a ridiculous amount of residue on my roots. I hate when dry shampoos leave a ton of residue behind, it makes my scalp feel weird and itchy. The point of dry shampoo is to refresh hair between washes, not weigh it down and make me feel gross. This dry shampoo doesn’t though. It retails at about $8 alone, and I do feel it is worth that. It works better than some of the cheaper brands I have tried, and better than a few higher end dry shampoos I have tried as well.
I went out on a limb and decided to try the clarify and shine scalp treatment even though I didn’t have high hopes. This product claims to “melt” product buildup out of your hair before showering to rejuvenate your scalp and give it shine. I do use a lot of dry shampoo and hair spray in my hair between washes, so I figured this might be worth a shot. This product definitely exceeded my expectations! I sprayed and massaged it into my scalp and let it sit for 3 mins before showering. My hair seriously felt so soft the next day and had a healthy shine to it. I would recommend this product to anyone that uses a lot of products in their hair. I guess our scalps just need a bit of treatment at times to get all of that product buildup out. I am so happy that this was not a flop like I expected, and I will for sure be re-buying this product in the future once I run out.

What are some of your favorite hair products?
Now that my hair is longer (middle of my back) I need some things to keep it healthy and strong.

First Impression: Ben Nye Powder

November 13, 2014 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

My first impression today is about a powder that I am constantly hearing about that I decided to finally try. I have heard from several beauty bloggers that Ben Nye’s luxury powder in “Cameo” is the perfect undereye and setting powder for very pale skin.
I got a 1.5 oz container of this powder off a trusted seller on ebay for $12 shipping included. Sounds like a lot for 1.5 oz, but a little bit of this powder goes a long way.
Let me just say that I am in no way affiliated with this brand before I begin…this powder is AH-MAI-ZING. I put this on over my under eye concealer and it legitimately looked like I was blurring my imperfections out.
You know that photoshop technique where they “soften” faces to make them look a bit blurry and make pores magically disappear…yeah…this powder does that. I am not even kidding.
Ben Nye is a brand that sells a lot of theatrical makeup if I’m not mistaken. So, it would make sense that their powders would blur imperfections a bit since stage performers are sometimes in very harsh lighting.
Like I mentioned earlier, a little bit goes a long way with this powder. My favorite way to apply it is to sift a bit into the lid (yes, it’s a sifting type powder) and put my damp real techniques sponge in it and dab it under my eyes and a little on my face to set everything. You could also use a brush, of course. I like to apply powder with a damp beauty blender because it blends everything together and doesn’t make my skin look cakey, which can be a problem with skin types that tend to dry throughout the day rather than get oily.
It unites my makeup together? It blurs and it unites. Makes sense, right? I’m trying, folks. It’s hard at times to properly describe a powder in words because it’s not a color like pink or red. It’s just a powder.

This shade is for pale skin. I know that Ben Nye “banana” has been talked about forever now because of Kim Kardashian, but banana shaded things will not look right on pale skin, unless that’s the look you want. If that’s the look you want, rock it, but if you’re looking for the shade meant for pale skin then cameo is it. It’s white. Like…white. It doesn’t look white on my skin (or maybe I am just that pale) but in the container it is white, but it’s not fully translucent on the skin.
This powder did last all day and did not oxidize at all! I am so impressed with this powder, and probably will not be buying anymore for a long time. If you find a great thing, stick to it until something prettier comes along, right?
I would recommend this powder to anyone that is struggling to find a setting powder that won’t oxidize, but don’t want to spend loads of money trying out new powders (I kinda did…oops).

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.