My must have facial products!

I’ve been trying to brainstorm some good ideas for some upcoming blogs so today I thought I would share with you my must haves when it comes to facial products! I think that taking care of my skin is the most important thing so I am always looking for the best products that are good for my face and my pocket! Please share with me some suggestions you might have when it comes to the products you use! I would love to hear about them so I can try them out for myself! 

Here it goes: 

The first thing I always do to start off my face routine is use my Neutrogena makeup removing wipes. I have tried many different products and brands for removing my makeup but I always go back to these in the end. They are oil free and they do not burn my eyes or leave my face feeling sticky. They do remove most if not all my makeup (it depends how much makeup is caked on my face that day) These are inexpensive and I can pick them up almost anywhere!   
My next must have is my Clarisonic! I got this a few years ago as a Christmas present and it is one of my favorite facial cleansing brushes that i ever owned. Even after I have used makeup wipes to remove my makeup i use this to give my skin a deep cleanse and you would be shocked to see just how much more this gets off your face. The only con to this product is that I am CONSTANTLY charging it and it takes about 24 hours for it to charge fully.  

 As you can probably tell by the pictue below, I thoroughly enjoy products made by the company Simple. My all time favorite is their cleansing micellar water. I use this before applying my moisturizer or any other products. This will clean your face like you wouldn’t believe and it keeps my face feeling so refreshed! All of the face washes shown here are great and I use them differently depending on what my skin problem is at that time. If you haven’t tried products from this comapny I would definitely recommend it! 

 

This next product is one that I only use sparingly but I love it and it does it’s job! This is also a Neutrogena product and it is an Oil Eliminating Atringent. It helps clear and prevent breakouts and clear away blackheads and keep them from coming back. I always turn to this product when it is my breakout time of the month. In a few days, this dries out my breakouts and keeps them away for good. This does claim to not overdry but if you use this product too much, it will begin to make your skin dry so I only use this maybe two to three times a month as needed.

 

My favorite products when it comes to the removal of blackheads are anything that is made from Biore. I LOVE the Biore deep cleaning pore strips and man do they work! I also decided to pick up the Biore charcoal cleansing bar at m last Ulta visit. I like using this in the shower to give my face a quick wash when I’m too lazy to do anything else. I really like the bar and it does make me feel fresh and clean but it isn’t anything special.  

A few months ago while looking for a new moisturizer, I picked this little fella up since it was on clearance and I’ve always liked Burts Bees products. This is a really nice moisturizer and it does keep my face nice and hydrated. This isn’t anything spectacular but it is something I would buy again.   

Lastly….my favorite facial mask! I have been using this for years and I really don’t think anything comapres from all the other products I have tried. It feels so good on the face and even better when you take the mask off. I believe I picked this up at Wal Mart but i am pretty sure that you can get it from any drug store!

  
  
That’s it for my favorite facial products! Like I said pplease leave comments below with some suggestions of new products to use ESPECIALLY moisturizers and under eye cream! thank for reading! Hope you all have a great weekend!

—-Nicole ❤

August 2015 Ipsy Bag!

Hey everyone! I am back! If you didn’t see my post from yesterday then let me fill you in on my life. I haven’t been posting much lately because I just moved back into school for my last year of undergrad! But now that I’m back in the swing of things, I will hopefully have the time to get posts up more often 🙂 so enough about that, here was this months Ipsy bag! 

  
 This months Ipsy bag itself was very cute! I wasn’t very impressed with the items I received this month but I did like the bag. You win some, you lose some, right? 

I received five products this month which is usually the amount that I always receive. 

 

Up first is a volumizing spray from Briogeo. I have not used this yet because it is very rarely that I blow dry my hair. This does have a good smell to it and I read great reviews about it so we will see. I may just use it in my hair dry when I am having a scrunchy hair day which is usually always! 

 
 The next item I received was a lip liner in the shade nude. This lip liner is made from the company Lord & Berry. I am guessing this is a sample size of this product. I am not a big lip liner person but I think this will look nicely under the Hikari Lip Gloss that I received in my bag which we will get to next. 

  
This lip gloss by Hikari Cosmetics is my favorite item that i received this month. This is in the shade Merlot and as you can see from the search it is a beautiful, glossy purplish color. I love glosses that are not sticky and this one is great. I’ve worn it now a few times and the color and glossiness lasts all day. This definitely gets a thumbs up and will be a perfect color for Fall! 

   

A also received a sample size (I’m guessing) Glamour Dolls eyeshadow. I have never gotten an eye shadow from this company before but it did not disappoint! This is in the color Sorcery and it is a beautiful shimmery gold which is one of my favorite colors to wear on my lid. This shadow is very pigmented and lasts all day. I will definitely be looking into buying more of these shadows.    
Last but not least, are tweezers from Swissco. These honestly don’t do much for me. I tried them out but it was hard to grab onto the hairs even though these have a slanted end. I wasn’t very impressed. 

   
  All in all, this months bag was decent. It definitely wasn’t one of my favorites but I did receive a few good items that I will enjoy.

How did you guys like your bags this month? What was your favorite and least favorite items received? Let me know 🙂 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

—Nicole ❤️

  

I’m a slacker!

I’ve really been slacking with getting new posts up and I apologize about that! I just moved back to school for my final year of undergrad so it’s been pretty stressful and busy the past week! I’m going to have a post up soon on my Ipsy bag from this month and I have a few other things up my sleeve 🙂 so keep posted! I just wanted to let you guys know I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. I’m going to get it together soon and I hope everyone is having a great week! 

—Nicole 

August Boxycharm Unboxing && Coupon Codes!

Hi, beauties! My favorite beauty subscription item has arrived and it is the best one yet! If you are new to my posts, I definitely suggest that you check out the Boxycharm Subscription. It never disappoints! So let’s get to it 🙂

In this months box included five FULL SIZE items and the box theme was Gorgeous Globetrotter.

This first item is by So Susan Statement skin and it is a full size highlighting crayon. This highlighter is absolutely beautiful! It’s very creamy and goes on so smoothly. It is made with Chia Seeds to help keep the skin hydrated and moisturized and Silk Peptide to promote skin elasticity. This highlighter is priced at $20.00.

Swatch of Highlighter 

How beautiful is that?!?!?

The next item in the box was MicaBeauty Gel Eyeliner. We have recieved MicaBeauty products in previous boxes and I really enjoy this brand! This gel liner is very creamy and goes on very smooth. I wore this yesterday and even though I sweat most of my makeup off imy eyeliner stayed on all day and never faded so this is a great product in my eyes (literally) This product is $35.00.

Along with the gel liner, the box also came with an eyeliner brush by the company Seta. I’m not sure how I will like this brush since I have never applied gel liner with anything besides an angled brush but I can’t wait to give this a try and see how I like it. This brush is priced at $16.00.

Next, is one of my favorites of this months box! It is the Nios Shield Leave-In Conditioner. I love a good Leave-In conditioner and this one has it all! This conditioner has SPF 15 in it which helps protect your hair from the sunlight and our scalp from being burned (I really wish I would have had this for the beach). It also contains Vitamin E and B5 for extra hydration. My favorite part of this product is that it has Moroccan Argan Oil which helps tame frizz and leaves my hair looking so shiny after using this. You can use this conditioner on damp or dry hair which is also an extra plus. The one complaint I do have about this product is that it has no scent. Some might like that but I love a good smelling Leave-In Conditioner. This product is priced at $26.00. Also, if you are interested in trying this product out or another product from this company, I have a coupon code for $5.00 off your order just use BOXYCHARM. This deal expires 12/30/2015!

My favorite item from this box was the Coastal Scents Revealed 3 Palette. When i saw this in the box I was so excited to break it open and try it out! This palette contains tons of different shadow textures and colors and are so pigmented and beautiful. You may think that we don’t receive big items like these in our boxes frequently but we do and that is another plus to this subscription! This palette is originally $35.95 but it is on sale right now for only $19.95 so if you ever wanted to try this palette out and I suggest that you do, I would do so soon!

That was it for this months box! This has definitely been my favorite one from the past few months. The total price of this box was $136.95 and I only pay $21.00 a month! If you haven’t checked this subscription out, I suggest that you do 🙂 It is amazing and I would NOT steer you wrong.

If you are subscribed, what did you think about this months products? Which was your favorite or which could you have done without? And if you aren’t subscribed do you have any questions about the subscription? Which was a product you would like to try out? Let me know in the comments! I love hearing from you all.

Have an amazing day!

—-Nicole ❤

Giveaway!!!!

Check out this amazing blogger and enter her giveaway 🙂

Ulta Kicked my Butt….Part 2!

if you didn’t see my post from two days ago (part 1) then you will want to check it out and you can do so here  🙂 if you did see it, here is part 2 for you to enjoy 🙂 let’s not waste time and get to it!

Because my order was so big, I decided to split this “haul” into two parts AND because these items above were shipped to me separately from my previous one’s. (What? I feel like that sentence makes no sense) MOVING ON:

This is another Ulta Baked Shadow that I picked up and this is the color Taken. It’s very pretty but once again, I take awful pictures so the swatch doesn’t do it justice. These are originally $8.00 but I got them for $4.00 a piece with the sale.

                                                                                      Taken Swatch  

Next up is this NYX Cosmetics Primatic Eye Shadow! This is by far my favorite! It is so pigmented and shiny and beautiful! I can’t get enough. This is in the shade Girl Talk. Look at that swatch!!

Below is another Pixel shadow that I picked up. Like I said in my last post, these are only .45 cents so I basically bought all the colors that I could. This color I wasn’t too sure about when I saw it in the package but it’s actually a really beautiful gold color. This is in the shade Charming!

  

This is another Pixel Eyeshadow and this is in the shade Hypnotic! These shadows are very smooth and easy to blend when used. I really love this color in my crease!

  
I picked this Essence gel liner up as well because I’ve been looking for new ones to try out. This was only $3.99 so I gave it a try and I really like it so far. It doesn’t get clumpy in the container after using it or dried out. It’s also very creamy going onto the eye and I really like that. It’s called Midnight In Paris 01. It’s very black which I love. I’m dumb and didn’t swatch it so I’ll try and get a swatch up for you guys or do a eyeliner look using it so you can see what it looks like on the eye.

Along with the Pixel shadows that I picked up, I also picked up a fel liner pencil thing. I guess the correct terminology is that it is a “Party Proof Liquid Eyeliner”. Now some of you may be asking…why would this girl buy purple liquid eyeliner? The answer to that question is that I have no clue why or how I did it. I remember buying it but I don’t remember buying it in PURPLE PEDISTAL. But hey, I don’t discriminate. I’ll give this little sucker a try and see how it goes. I might love it!

    

This is the third Ulta Weightless Lipstick that I purchased. This shade is by far my favorite and it is in Rosy Reverie. So pretty 😍😍  these lipsticks are originally $8.00 but I got them for $3.00.

  

These next two lipsticks and last items of this haul are my favorite. I know I said a lot of things were my favorite but these ones top my other favorites. These are the Ulta Lip Butters. They are smooth and creamy and dreamy and all that good stuff. They hydrate my lips but they don’t feel sticky and I feel like they were sent down to my from Heaven above. That’s how good they are! This is in the shade LA.

  
This one is in the shade Miami. I wonder if there is a Pittsburgh shade….doubt it 😝 Anyways…these also are originally $8.00 and I got them for $3.00.

  

 

That’s all for this haul, review, whatever you want to call it. I hope you guys liked it 🙂 comment and let me know what your favorite item is/was or what you would like to try. Have a great night! ❤

—–Nicole

 

Ulta Kicked My Butt Part 1!

Last weekend, along with my BHCosmetics purchases I also did a “little” damage online at Ulta. They were having some amazing deals so I couldn’t resist. Because I purchased so many items I will do a part 1 today and a part 2 tomorrow. Let’s get to it!!

First things first we’ll get to what I originally wanted to purchase from Ulta that day. I’ve been wanting to buy this for a while now so after long consideration I finally broke and decided to buy it.

This little beauty right here is the Mario Badescu Facial Spray With Aloe, Herb and Rosewater! I had heard great things about this facial spray so i decided to give it a try and i must say it has pleasantly surprised me! The rose scent is not too strong and it keeps my face feeling hydrated it also works good as a setting spray! This comes in at $7.00 which isn’t too bad for a 4 oz. bottle.

Next, I picked up a few of these Ulta Baked Eyeshadows. Down below is the Natural Beauty one and it is my favorite. I did do swatches but they do not do justice for how nice and pigmented these really are. They are originally $8.00 but because of the sale I was able to pick them up for $4.00 a piece!

Swatch of Natural Beauty:

Sweet Dreams

Swatch of Sweet Dreams

(My boyfriend thought the picture above was a piece of bread but it is my hand)

I had never heard of the brand Pixel but when I saw that they were only .49 cents I could not pass them up and how cute is that packaging?!?! This is the shade Gorgeous and the name speaks the truth! I was very happy with these shadows and how pigmented they are. So I picked up a couple shades of these because for .49 cents (with NO SALE)….you can’t beat that!

Swatch of Gorgeous

Intelligent

Swatch of Intelligent (Sorry not a good picture)

Here comes my FAVORITE purchases that i made which are those three little beauties down below! These are the NYX Cosmetics Prismatic Eye Shadows and they are BEAUTIFUL! I had heard amazing things about them and read great reviews so I had to try them out. I love NYX products and since these were on sale, I decided to pick some up as well. The original price is $6.00 but i got them at $3.00 a piece.

Frostbite and swatch

Tin and swatch

Bedroom Eyes and swatch

I was only able to pick up one of the Ulta Color Pure Eye Shadows because they were on such a good sale that the colors went really fast. These are originally $10.00 but they were on sale for $4.00!! This is in the shade Icing and it is a loose powder eye shadow pigment. This color is so beautiful and bright I can’t wait to get my hands on more shades!

Icing Swatch

Last but not least, I picked up two of the Ulta Weightless Lipsticks. I really picked up three but I’ll save the other one for part 2! The color below is Next to Nude. These have a really nice feel to them and they are nicely pigmented but they did not last on my lips very long. I think I will try lining my lip and using these over top next time and see if they last longer!

Swatch of Next to Nude

This is the shade Mauve Memories

 

Mauve Memories Swatch

That does it for Part 1! I hope this wasn’t too long, i tried not to say too much about the products. If you were able to get through to the end, THANK YOU!

Let me know what you think if some of the products and which one’s you have tried or would like to try 🙂 I would love to hear what yinz think!! Hope you all have a great day ❤

—Nicole

Premio Dardos Award!

I am so honored to have been nominated for this award by the beautiful blogger Elisabeth! Go check out her page to see amazing stuff on all things beauty!

Here are the 15 bloggers who i nominate for this award:

1.) Ashley: almayerich

2.) Hazel: strandonbeauty

3.) Elia: eliaprincess

4.) Rebecca: rebeccasglamspot

5.) Zinah: Makeup, Hair & Everything In Between

6.) India: Be Free. Be Fashionable.

7.) Estephany: Lets Talk Beauty

8.) Ayesha: The Sassy Editor

9.) Frosty: The Frosty Perspective

10.) Brianna: I Graduated . . . Now What?

11.) Alisa: Life, Beauty, Books & Love

12.) Kate: basic beauty with kate

13.) Bridget: Prettify Your Life

14.) Ashlee: AshleeWith2Es

15.) Sam: adorebeauty2

Award Rules:

1.) Include the Premio Dardos Award Picture and the name of the person that nominated you (Include a link to their blog)

2.) Nominate 15 other blogs and notify them

All of you girls have amazing blogs and i enjoy reading your posts every day 🙂 if you have already been nominated this award then that is fine you do not have to do this all over again!

My first BHcosmetics Brush Purchase!

Over the weekend BHCosmetics was having a 75% sale off of all brushes. I had never owned anything from this company so I decided to give it a try and purchased the 10 piece sculpt and blend brush set. I also decided to buy two sets for when I do other people’s makeup! 

  
These brushes have amazing quality and I love how professional they look. For both sets of these brushes I paid $28.00 ($14.00 a piece). Usually I pay $28.00 for a professional brush alone! I got TWO sets all together for $28.00. I’m obviously very excited, haha. Overall, thumbs up to this set 👍 I haven’t gotten to try them all out yet but from what I have tried, I couldn’t be happier! 

Now on to the disappointment of my purchase….I’m a sucker for free shipping and I saw that in order to get it you had to spend $50.0. I looked through some eyeshadow palettes and I found a Wild Child Baked Eyeshadow Palette and it looked so pretty and had decent reviews so I decided to but two of these as well since they were $7.60 a piece. I was finally at my $50.00 limit so I called it quits and checked out. I recieved my package yesterday but instead of receiving my Eyeshadow Palette I recieved two items of the brow defining kit.

   
 I was very sad but hey, what can you do? So I emailed BHcosmetics in hopes they could work with me in figuring out what to do next. I have not recieved an email back yet but I’m sure it takes a couple days. Besides the little mix up, I am very pleased with my first purchase from this company. It didn’t kill my bank account and I got great quality brushes. 

Let me know how you feel about your BHcosmetics brushes, eyes shadows, etc. I would love to get suggestions on other wonderful item they have 🙂 

How To: Winged Liner

It has taken me many months of practicing and playing around with this look to finally find something that worked best for me so I figured I would share it with you! 

   
 For this winged liner look, I use a Japonesque angled liner brush and gel eye liner from MaxMakep. I know that I got the brush from Ulta for $15.00 but I really don’t know where I got the gel liner. The brush is fantastic but the gel liner isn’t anything special but it does the job. Please give me some recommendations if you’ve found a good gel liner product! 

  I start off this look by lining my top lid as I regularly would do. I myself have more almond shaped eyes, so I like a thicker liner on my top lid. That’s just my preference. 
  I then make a straight line up. Explaining this was harder than I thought which is why I decided to add pictures! I made my line a little longer than usual so that it could be seen in the picture. I don’t always do this dramatic of a winged liner but I actually really liked it in the end!
  I then make another line connecting the previous one to my top lid liner. 
  I then just color in the space with gel liner and Voila! Winged liner on point! 
  Lastly, I applied liner to my bottom lid using a pencil and added my favorite mascara by Too Faced, Better Than Sex. 
I hope you all enjoyed this! If you have a different technique, share it please! I’m always looking for new and better ways to do my eyeliner!