Ipsy January Skincare Product Review

Hi and welcome to my blog. Today I am reviewing the skincare products that came in my Ipsy bag. I finally had time to check them out and try them.

First to review is the Skyn Iceland Glacial Cleansing Cloths which retail for $15. This product you must rub together to make it lather.  It does a good job removing grime and cleaning your face. I appreciate the packaging on it. Overall, a winner that I'll keep in my handbag. Never know when I'll need this

Hey Honey! Open Your Eye: Eye Contour Fluid retails for $28 on their website. When I first saw this product, I had no idea what it was for. So I tried reading the back to get more info. Unfortunately, that was not helpful at all. All it said was go to the website to find out. Since I like knowing what the products for my face are, I went to the site. This is a fluid that looks like milk that goes under your eyes to help lessen the appearance of fine lines and firm the under eye area.

There is conflicting information on the website about not putting it on the eyelid. The instructions says do not do that. The Question and Answer area says that it is fine to do it. Go with instructions if you buy this.

This did lessen the fine lines around the under eye area. I personally did not notice the firming aspect of it. I tried this for three days to see if that would gradually change. This did not wow me. There was 50% of decrease of fine lines but other than that I didn't find it amazing. Though it didn't wow me, if someone needs a cream of fine lines, I would say give it a try if they can find it for a better price than $28.

Overall, I did like that I got products I've never seen before to try out in the Ipsy bag. I always love to try new stuff so for what I paid I got more than what I paid for and can find uses for.

Thanks for reading y'all and have a nice day.

What I'm excited for in February

So many awesome makeup coming out soon. What I want to try in February?

TOO FACED Peanut Butter and Jelly Palette!

Taken from Jerrod Blandino's Instagram.

From what I gather, this palette will be exclusively at Ulta. It isn't listed yet on the Ulta website so will keep my eyes open for it. Price range may be in the $30s but I don't want to say how much this will be till I see it in the store to confirm. Doesn't it look so pretty? I want to use the purple in it. The concept is so cute and packaging awesome.  Any makeup y'all are excited for in February?

Hope y'all have a nice day and thanks for reading my blog. Please stay warm.

January Ipsy Bag Makeup product Review

Hey y'all

Happy Wednesday. I finally received my Ipsy bag for this month last Friday so I played around a bit with it before posting a review.

Front of bag

Back of bag

I can honestly say that I like this bag style. It looks very cute the picture in the front. The back I wished would have the same print as the front.

What came in my bag.

Item I haven't tried yet so will not review is the Skyn Iceland Glacial Cleansing Clothes or the Hey Honey Eye cream yet. Those reviews will be for Monday. I do love the idea about having these but since 10 sets in it, I am waiting for a good testing day for it.

Review by products I've used:

Mr. Write (Now)

 TheBalm $17

Made by TheBalm. What I liked of this liner is the texture. It is creamy. Not too creamy that it melts. There is a sharpener at the end which I appreciate if the pencil breaks. I tried smudging this and it would not smudge which is awesome. One con though is the color. The color looks lovely on my swatch but it cannot stand alone on the eyes. The color I received was Jac. A pretty color but it has to be paired above another eyeliner to truly pop.

Mr. Write (Now) swatch.

Peek Brow Powder

Peek Beauty $22

 This tiny item comes with a cute packaging.

 Bottom is pink. The shade I was given the Expresso color.

 It is a nice brown color. On the website of Peek Beauty it shows the brow powder as having  two colors in one package. Would be nice if they did that with this one but this color is nice and buildable. Easy to use. I wish it would have a tiny brush to come with it

City Cosmetic Eyeshadow Trio
City Color Eyeshadow Trio $5.99

 I will be the first to admit when I saw these eye shadows I wasn't that impressed. Then after staring at them awhile, I figured out looks I could do with all three shadows. The pigmentation isn't strong on these. I had to build it up a lot to get the colors to show on my lids. They are of a creamy powder texture. The colors are from the Falling Leaves trio.

Of the three makeup items I received this month, I think I'll get the most use out of Mr. Write (Now). Next month I will say which items were the best. Next week I will give an update on the skincare products provided in this bag.

Thanks y'all for reading and hope you have a nice day. If subscribed to Ipsy, did you get awesome items?

What is your skincare routine?

Hey y'all,

Welcome to Skincare Monday. Today is just wondering how everyone takes care of their skin. Your skin is going to be with you forever so best to take care of it.

My routine:

Daily:
Face Cleanser
Moisturizer
Eye cream
Body Lotion

Twice a week:
Mask

I'm wondering if I should do a toner. I heard it is supposed to help with lotion afterwards but I haven't really used. What is your skincare routine? Do you do masks weekly? Daily? In the future I will try the 7 Day Sheet Mask challenge to see how my skin adapts to it. Some have given that routine a positive review.

Have a nice day y'all and stay warm.

How to do Gradient Lips

Hi y'all,

Ever seen gradient lips? If you watch Korean dramas, from about 2014 onward, you might have seen that look on the actresses. What is the gradient lips? It is a two toned lip makeup style. The outer lip area is filled in with a lighter or near skin tone lip color. The inner area, where your lips touch, are colored in with a darker color. Sounds easy? Because it really is.

Step 1:

 Prepare your lips. Basically add lip liner or lip primer

Step 2:

 Add a nude or light shade to the whole lips. I did Trestique Nantucket Nude. It's a matte nude color.

Step 3:

Add a darker color to the inner area of your lips. I used Wet n Wild Dollhouse pink

Then you are done.

It is a trend that many are sporting in Asia.  It is supposed to give an appear of youth. It's supposed to appear as if you have bitten your lips.

Here is an example I found on Google of a Korean Actress with that lip style. What do you think? Is this a makeup trend you'll try out? I prefer the bold lips or full nudes so I don't think I'll be trying this a lot but it is good that it is easy to try.

Thanks for reading. If you try out this look let me know. Have a wonderful day y'all. Will work to get better at photography for future blogs

ULTA Skin Care Event 2016

Hey y'all,

Since its Skincare Monday and just heard of this from Youtube Coffee with Dani, I thought y'all should hear about this too. Ulta is hosting this month a Skincare event. Everyday till January 23 you can get extra skincare stuff from Ulta.  Basically you just buy the skincare item on the day shown for a special deal.

The event stuff

If interested in this event then check out this page on Ulta.  Personally, I'm eyeing the 17th for the Bliss lotion. Which one are you interested in? Let's try for great skin in 2016. Good skincare can go a long way.

Thanks for reading my blog and have a wonderful day o/

Disclaimer: No way affiliated with Ulta. I just love good deals and want to share

Always wanted to practice writing a foreign language?

Hey y'all,

Ever wanted to try to learn a new language but didn't know where to practice the writing aspect or speaking? I love learning languages. It is always fun learning a language to talk to more people so I thought others might want to know a site I used to learn to practice Japanese.

Lang-8 is a useful tool that is free. The concept is that the person can write in the language they are learning. A native speaker can see the writing and helps correct it. They can explain and leave tips for the person learning.

Pros:

Get native speakers to correct your writing
Practice writing in language of interest
Free

Con:

Sometimes you might not understand the corrections explanations since people may not be fluent in your native tongue to explain

If you want to practice a language? Try Lang-8. I've used it and saw vast improvements. You should check it out.

Have a nice day y'all and thanks for reading.

Site
Lang-8

What I'm getting from Ipsy January 2016

Who doesn't love to receive mail? I will admit that I am excited to get this Ipsy bag this month.

 Products: 

theBalm Cosmetics: Mr. Write (Now) $17

skyn ICELAND: Travel Size Glacial Cleansing Cloths $15

Peek Beauty: Natural Stain Brow Powder $22

Hey Honey Skincare: Open Your Eyes Eye Contour Lifting Fluid $28
City Color Cosmetics: Eyeshadow Trio in Falling Leaves (Cannot find this item on the store but shadows around $5) City Color Cosmetics

Why am I excited for this? Because it is ALL ABOUT THE EYES! I love playing with eye makeup the most. Recently I received the holiday palettes from Too Faced, and have been mixing and matching the shadows. I am happy with everything I'm receiving but the item I want to try the most is the brow powder. My brow skills are weak. I'm just starting to learn about brow makeup and I have a lot of work to do on it. With this powder I plan on testing it out and see how it works compared to the brow pencil.  Do you subscribe to Ipsy? If so what are you exacted about trying?

Once I get my bag I will do product reviews on them to let you know how each one went. I haven't tried any of these products before but I have been looking at the Mr. Write online for awhile and debating whether or not to try it. For paying $10 a month, I am getting more than what I paid for in products so overall very excited to get all of this to try.

Thanks for reading my blog and hope you have a wonderful day.

Acure Cell Stimulating Facial Mask First Impression Review

Hi y'all and welcome to Skincare Monday!

1 Fl. oz. bottle I received in my bag.

Today I'm going to review a mask I received in my Ipsy Glam Bag for December. For people looking for a facial mask that is organic then this is the mask for you.  When I first opened the bottle and took of the seal on it, I sniffed it to see what it smells like. I've worn before masks that smelled horrible and didn't want to repeat that experience. It smelled nice. I don't know how to describe it. A clean smell.

Before putting it on, I made sure to read the instructions. Better to be careful and read everything when it comes to masks so checked out the mask and I will give the company points for an amusing instruction for wearing the mask.

"Apply evenly over the face until you look like a green sea-monster."

Sorry if image blurry. For some reason it was hard to get my camera to focus on this bottle. If anyone has tips on better improving my pictures please let me know.  The mask is a dark forest green color. Like the camouflage green on hunting outfits.  I used about a quarter size of the product to get the 'sea-monster' look.  I wore it for 15 minutes before washing off. There was no burning sensation. Just felt refreshing while wearing. When I started to wash it off, it foamed with the water a bit. So had to make sure it was really rinsed off.

After removing the mask, my skin felt so soft. I have such dry skin during the winter and it hydrated my skin. My skin also appeared brighter. If interested in an organic face mask that stimulates the cells then you should check this one out. My bottle was 1 fl. oz but the regular size is 1.75 fl. oz. It will last awhile and you do see immediate improvement to your skin.

Thanks for reading my blog and hope you have a wonderful day.

Where to buy:

Acure  $12.99
Amazon  $11.45

Happy 2016

Here's to an awesome year with full of wonderful surprises. 2015 was a year of many great firsts for me and I hope this year will add onto that. Are y'all going to try to keep a resolution? Normally I don't do resolution but this year I will do my best to try. I will do my best to update this blog in a timely manner. Go go enjoy the day. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!