November 2013 Favorites

Hey Beautiful!

Happy (late) Thanksgiving to all who celebrated it yesterday here in the U.S. I hope you ate lots of food and had a great time surrounded by family, or just one on one with someone special if that's what you prefer. Every last Friday of the month I decided to post a monthly favorites list composed of the top 5 products I loved. It's fun to recap on the things you've used and loved the most and I thought why not share that with you!

Here is the list of what I loved this month:

St. Ives - Daily Hydrating Vitamin E Body Lotion

I have used this almost every night because of how cold and dry it's starting to get. The lack of moisture in the air combined with how many times I have to wash my hands while at work makes for very unhappy skin. St. Ives has helped sooth and protect my skin all month long.

Chapstick Moisturizer - Green Apple

Since we are already on the topic of dry skin, I found this chapstick a couple months ago at my local grocery store. I love green apple products and I also like the different flavors that Chapstick makes. Last year I got an apple cider flavor and it was amazing. This lip product is my go-to in the fall and winter. 

Lorac 3D Liquid Lustre - Diamond

I know I just did a post on these, but I still can't get over how much I love them. I really like all of them a lot, but I figured putting them all on here was kind of cheating. The Diamond shade is a nice touch to any look because it's neutral and goes with everything. Use it all by itself or use it to spruce up some eyeshadow, either way it's definitely awesome. You can find my review on this product here.

Starlooks Kohl Eye Pencil - Obsidian

I love love love this eyeliner. Maybe it's because I only ever buy myself $1 eye pencils from the drugstore, but either way, this is like heaven. It goes on so smoothly unlike any other eyeliner I've EVER had. And you don't have to work for a dark line, it's super pigmented. I love Starlooks pencils.

Be a Bombshell Lip Crayon - Shameless

I love this new product I got in my Ipsy bag because it is one of the only lip colors I've actually liked on myself. I don't know what it is about lip colors, but to me it just never looks right. But this one is perfect. 

What are your favorites for this month? Do you disagree with some of the products I posted? Let me know why in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Brianna

Elizabeth Mott It's So Big Volumizing Mascara

Hey Beauties!

This post is half a review and half a challenge. I received a sample size Elizabeth Mott It's So Big Volumizing Mascara in my September Glam Bag, which I was extremely excited about because I love trying new mascara. I went to the website, as I do for all products I receive in my Ipsy bags, and checked it out. I like to see the cost of the products I'm getting and what else they offer. It's a really cool way to find new brands and new favorites. That's how I fell in love with CAILYN Cosmetics. But when I checked out the website, I found that Elizabeth Mott offered two things; mascara and what they call a lash card. My immediate assumption was wow, this mascara must be pretty good if that's all they sell. On the homepage you can see that they have two pictures comparing eyelashes with two and ten plus coats with this mascara. The eyelashes with ten plus coats looked completely unreal. That lead me to my next thought: challenge accepted.

The thing that has always bothered me about mascara and the companies that supply them is the fake lashes they use for advertising. Maybe it's just me, but I want to know how it ACTUALLY looked on that model! Then at least I could have some sort of clue how it would look on me. But instead, the commercials are fake and you just have to spend the money to find out for yourself. Which is exactly why they do it and it works like a charm. But unfortunately for them, they have beauty bloggers and the power of reviews so if they have a below par product, everyone has the opportunity to find out. 

Also a side note here: 

When reviewing mascara products, I'll always show you what they look like on me. And I do understand that it looks different on everyone. At least I can give you a better clue what it REALLY looks like unlike the commercials and ads. 

So continuing on with my story. I decided to put the ten plus coats to a test to see if my lashes really did look like the picture advertised on the front page of Elizabeth Mott. After all, if they did, then they can have all my money and that's what I'll switch to. 

These are the results. The three pictures on top from left to right are the first, fifth, and tenth coats respectively. The picture on bottom compares both eyes after using ten coats but in different ways. My right eye was the one used in the above images where I took a picture after each coat. This gave it time to dry slightly before applying more. My left eye was me applying ten coats one right after the other. Definitely a difference there. The right eyelashes are darker and fuller.

As you can see in the images above the tenth coat isn't as glamorous as the one on the website. Although from far away it's not too far off. This leads me to believe that they, too, used false lashes for advertising. I must point out that I didn't use a lash card which could have helped reduce clumping as it claims on their website.

Overall though, this mascara isn't as bad as I first thought. After a couple coats it does look rather nice. It does clump a little bit as you can see, but not as bad as others I've had. It doesn't smudge or flake off throughout the day; it stays put like a good mascara is supposed to.

The Bottom Line:

No, I would not recommend this. It's not worth the $20 to me. I have drugstore brand mascara that works better than this using less coats.

Pros:

• Doesn't flake 
• Doesn't smudge
• Stays put all day
• Lengthens

Cons:

• Expensive
• Requires at least 3 coats to look lengthened and volumized
• Drugstore mascaras are a better option (cheaper and seem to work better for me)

Do you own or have you tried Elizabeth Mott It's So Big Volumizing Mascara? What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!

Brianna

Ipsy's November 2013 Glam Bag: Glam It Up

Hey Beauties!

I just got this month's Ipsy Glam Bag on Monday and I'm really excited to share what I got with you guys. This month was really awesome because we got an additional product on top of the 4-5 we normally get. Since Michelle Phan curates the bags for Ipsy she gave out a product from her new line, em michelle phan, to all the subscribers. If you haven't subscribed to Ipsy yet, you probably should. I can't stop raving about it.

Here is the list of the products I received this month:

• Be a Bombshell Lip Crayon - Shameless
• Starlooks Gem Eye Pencil - Amethyst
• em michelle phan Waterliner Intense Color Eyeliner - Amazing Grey
• Kiss everEZlashes Lash Double Pack - Lash 03
• Pixi Beauty Bronzer - Subtly Suntouched

I've already tried the Be a Bombshell Lip Crayon. It's an awesome shade for my skin tone and it's a creamy formula that feels nice. I'm going to do a review on Starlooks pencils in the near future because I love them so much and want to share that with you! 

If there are other things that you would like me to include in these Ipsy posts just let me know. As of right now I'm trying to find a good way to share them with you without making them too short. Also if you would like to join Ipsy you can use my referral link here or if you don't want to be pressured into using it you can use this link.

If you're an Ipsy member, how did you like your bag this month? If not, what's your favorite makeup brand and why?

Thanks for reading!

Brianna

12 Awesome Cruelty Free Cosmetics Brands

Hey Beauties!

I know that today's post could get a little controversial. For this reason, I will explain further what I mean for this post. This post will NOT be a discussion on what is right or wrong, or what you should believe in or support. I will not discuss my views on this topic because this post isn't for me. This post is for those who actively want to support cruelty-free brands, and I want to help make that easier by listing several options below.

1. NYX Cosmetics

2. Too Faced

3. Stila

4. E. l. f. Cosmetics

5. CAILYN Cosmetics

6. Burt's Bees

7. Wet n Wild

8. L.A. Colors

9. Jesse's Girl Cosmetics

10. Tarte

11. Urban Decay 

12. Smashbox

BONUS: Elizabeth Mott

You can find a MUCH longer list of all the cruelty-free companies at the websites below:

List of Cruelty-Free Companies (PETA)

Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide (Leapingbunny)

Did I miss your favorite cruelty-free brand? Let me know in the comments below! (Comments that I feel are inappropriate will be deleted)

Thank you for reading!

Brianna

LORAC 3D Liquid Lustre Review

Hey Beautiful!

The other day my roommate and I set out on a mission to get her some new makeup and happened to land ourselves in Sephora. Every time I manage to go into that store I find myself just outright giddy. I can't even control myself in there. My roommate can attest for how excited I get, I almost do laps around the entire store even though I've seen almost everything a million times. It doesn't even matter to me. So because of this 'giddiness,' if you will, I decided that I would not leave that store without buying at least one thing. So as you can probably assume by this point, I left with the LORAC Rockin' Red Hot 3D Liquid Lustre Set. That is a mouthful. Just try to say that three times fast. If you can do that, I'm thoroughly impressed with you.

The set comes with four liquid eye shimmers: their most popular shade, Diamond, and three other limited time shades, Amethyst, Platinum, and Topaz. It does not include their other shade Gold. I actually really wanted to try the Gold, but these shimmers are $16 a piece. The only way I justified spending that much money was when I found the set for only $28. Score.

Here's the swatches

I have to say, I absolutely love these eye shimmers. When I came home after buying them I immediately took the Amethyst shade and tried it out. I didn't use a primer because I wasn't really trying out a full look. I just wanted to see what it looked like on my eyes. To my surprise it stayed. All night. When I went to wipe it off before bed that night, it had BARELY faded. I was expecting it to have creased worse than normal eye shadow, but it didn't! I mean, yes, it did crease a little, but not even half as much as I was assuming it would. I was shocked and delighted all at the same time. 

So fast forward to last Saturday and I wore it at a Halloween party. I wore the Diamond shade because I went as Marilyn Monroe and she was known for wearing a whiter eye shadow. I did the unthinkable and fell asleep that night without taking my makeup off. I woke up the next morning and it was still there FULLY intact. Even after tossing and turning all night, my eyeshadow hadn't budged an inch. Talk about good quality and long lasting.

Alright, moving on to the packaging. The applicator is an eye dropper that you drop one drop on your finger and then apply. You can apply more or less depending on the look you are trying to achieve. It blends out a lot better than how it looks in the swatches, I just wanted to give you guys a look at the consistency and the color: which you can see better by clicking on the image. Also make sure you shake before using because the shimmer settles to the bottom. 

The Bottom Line:
Yes, I'd recommend this!

Pros:

• VERY long lasting
• Very pretty shimmer/shades
• Easy to build upon or leave as is
• Great deal
• Can be used on eyes or cheeks!

Cons:

• A little difficult to apply with finger and actually get it where you want

If you have tried these, tell me how you feel about them in the comments below! What is your favorite purchase from Sephora?

Thanks for reading!

Brianna