Review: Urban Decay Vice Palette & Look #1

Hey everyone! So a little while ago you might remember that I mentioned my dad getting me the Urban Decay Vice palette, and I can officially say I'm in love with it! The colors are incredible and you can create so many looks with it! I'm also going to show you a fun look I did at the end of the post and do a little tutorial of how I did it.

This is how the front of the palette looks. I love how the UD looks like crystals (even though it's not) and how the case feels sort of rubbery but hard and smooth. The only gripe I have about the case is it gets super dirty really fast and I always have to wipe it down the best I can. The front of the palette has a button you push in and the cover opens all by itself without any help. It's pretty cool! 

Once this bad boy is opened, you see these lovely colors! All of the 20 colors are brand new that haven't been in any other palettes. I know alot of times UD puts out palettes with repeat colors so this was a nice surprise having 20 new colors to play with. There is a mixture of matte, shimmer, neutral and bright shadows so there's lots of variety when choosing the look you want. It also comes with a double-ended Good Karma Shadow and Crease Brush, which isn't the best brush ever, but it's not terrible. I always have to use a primer before I put on any eyeshadows, but some of the more glittery ones in this palette, especially Provocateur, definitely require a primer first to help with fallout. This palette retails for $59 and can be found at Sephora and the Urban Decay website. I haven't seen it at Ulta so I'm not sure if they carry it or not.

Desperation, Muse, Junkie, Chaos

Jagged, Blitz, Occupy, Unhinged

Penny Lane, Black Market

Provocateur, Rapture, Nevermind, Echo Beach

Vice, Noise, Anonymous, Freebird

Armor, Laced

So those are the colors closer up. Hopefully you can see them well enough. Now onto the look I created using four of the colors!

I started off by priming my lids with the Urban Decay Primer Potion and I put the hot pink color, Noise, over the first inner half of my lids. I then took the color Unhinged and placed that on the outer half of my lids and blended the two colors together a bit. I then took a little bit of the color Echo Beach through my crease, blending out any harsh lines from Noise and Unhinged. Lastly, I took the color Anonymous and used that as my brow bone highlight. Then I finished off with mascara. I wanted to do a fun look since I'm more of a neutral girl and I'm really happy with how this turned out.

I think I'm going to be doing a Vice Palette series with different looks I come up with since there are so many different looks you can create. I'll add them in with my other posts once in a while so you guys aren't bombarded with Vice Palette posts!

I hope everyone liked this post and found it informative! Do any of you guys have the Vice Palette?

February 2013 Favorites!

Hi guys! It's the end of yet another month which means it's time for my monthly favorites! I don't have too many favorites this month again, but the few things I do have, I've been absolutely loving! So lets get started!

The first product I've been loving is the Cocoa Butter Body Butter from The Body Shop. The skin on my legs has been super dry lately and this body butter has been a miracle worker to soften them and just make them feel better. I'm in love with how this smells too!

My next favorite has been the Sonia Kashuk Radiant Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 15 in the color Fair. There were a few days this past month where I felt my skin needed some extra coverage and this was my go-to. I've probably mentioned before that I don't like foundation, so I prefer tinted moisturizer or BB creams. I just dot this on my face with my hands and rub it in a little, then I take my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush to blend everything else in. This matches my skin very well and definitely gave me the extra little coverage I needed.

Next, I've been loving the Maybelline Illegal Length Mascara in the color Blackest Black. When I first tried this mascara, I hated it! It made my lashes look spidery and thick, which I wasn't happy with. Then I thought to layer my favorite mascara of all time, BareMinerals Flawless Definition, over top of this, and I fell in love. I had the length I wanted, but then the BareMinerals one helped to get rid of the spidery, thick look. I have a feeling I'm gonna have to layer the BareMinerals mascara on top of any mascara I use because nothing has ever come close to it!

I've also been loving the Korres Evening Primrose Eye Cream. I've been using this at night and I have to say, this makes my eye area feel so soft and nice! The smell of this is a little bit much, but it wears off after a little while. I bought this at Sephora a while ago in a kit with some other Korres products, but I can't find this sold by itself on the site now. Of course, something I end up really loving gets discontinued :(

Then I've been loving the Maybelline Color Whisper in the color Pink Possibilities. I talked about this a little in my recent haul post here, but this little baby is amazing! It's so moisturizing, and gives a sheer wash of color, but you can definitely build up the color as well. I'm so glad I got this, and I'm gonna have to get a few more once my spending ban is over!

L to R: body butter, eye cream, tinted moisturizer, color whisper

Well, that's everything! I hope you all enjoyed this post and comment below what your favorites have been!

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Mini Ulta Haul!

Hi everyone! The title of this post might confuse some of you, since you know I'm on a spending ban until April 1st. You might be thinking, "It's about time she fell off the spending ban wagon!" On the contrary folks! My lovely fiance says he's very proud of me for not buying anything beauty related that I didn't need and said he wanted to treat me to something. I couldn't believe those words actually came out of his mouth! David, treating me, to makeup?! But he was serious and took me to Ulta! I love him :)

As you can tell, I was very nice to his wallet and only bought two items. Maybelline had the buy 1, get 1 50% off deal and I've been dying to try the Color Whispers and the new Color Tattoos from the Metal collection. I also had a coupon for $3.50 off of a $10 purchase, so I was definitely nice to him! 

Anyways, I had been dying to try the Barely Branded Color Tattoo since it seemed very similar to that Barely Beige color they had in the limited edition line from the Fall. I couldn't find it anywhere I went to and when I heard Maybelline was putting out a new line of colors and I saw this color, I had to have it! It's incredibly long wearing and the swatch of it doesn't even want to come off my hand! The only gripe I have is it's definitely alot more sheer than the other Color Tattoos. I only have Bad to the Bronze and that one's so incredibly pigmented, so I kinda expected the same from this. I still really like this though and can't wait to use it more. I've already used it twice and so far, it's not bad.

Then I heard about the much talked about Color Whispers. I kept hearing that they were better than the Revlon Lip Butters, which I haven't tried to be honest, and that they were just amazing. I love balmy type lip products, so when I went to Ulta, I wanted to try one. I picked mine up in the color Pink Possibilities, and I'm in love with it! You can keep the color very sheer or you can build it up to make it pop more and it's incredibly moisturizing. Also, is it just me, or is the smell simply amazing?! Seriously, it smells just like Fruity Pebbles! I put this on my lips and then smell them just because it smells that amazing. 

Once my spending ban is over, I'm definitely going to have to try out more of the Color Whispers. I'm still not sure if I want to try out other colors from the Color Tattoos in the Metal collection though. Anyways, after the buy 1, get one half off and my coupon, everything came to only $7.93 including tax. That's pretty impressive for me considering I haven't been able to buy myself anything since January 1st. I only have a little over a month left so woohoo!

I hope everyone liked this post and if you would like to see full reviews of either product, please let me know! Has anyone else tried either of these products?

Also, don't forget to enter my 200 follower giveaway here! It's for U.S. residents only and I had to remove some entries because people weren't following the rules! I also extended it to the 17th of March, so there's still plenty of time to enter, just please make sure you read the rules and follow them!

(CLOSED) 200 Follower GIVEAWAY!!! (U.S. Residents Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Hey everyone! This is my first ever giveaway for having 200 followers! I'm so excited with how much my blog has grown since I started blogging in the Summer and as thanks to my wonderful followers, I wanted to do a little giveaway. I know it's not the best giveaway in the universe but I still wanted to do something, so here's what you can win:




- Stila One Step Bronzing Serum
- Aquolina Pink Sugar Glossy Shower Gel sample packet
- Philosophy Amazing Grace Shampoo, Bath, and Shower Gel sample packet
- Matrix Total Results Curl Shampoo and Conditioner sample packets
- Circus by Andrea's Choice nail polish in Somersault (this is a matte nail polish if you didn't know)
- Coach Poppy Flower perfume sample
- Miss Dior Eau De Parfum perfume sample
- Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara sample in Excessive Black

Now for the rules!
1. You must be a follower of my blog via GFC
2. You must like my Facebook fan page as well
3. It's optional to follow on Twitter, but I rarely use Twitter, so it's not a must. I just added it if you wanted extra entries
4. Also, I hate to say it, but this will be a giveaway to U.S. residents ONLY! I'm so sorry to all my readers in other countries but I just can't afford postage outside the U.S. right now. I really wish I could :(
5. Winner will be chosen through random.org

Well I hope you like this giveaway and enter to win! :)

Samples, Samples Everywhere!

Hello everyone! Today I bring sort of an interesting post to the table. I'm going to be talking about my obsession love of samples. I really am a sample hoarder. I have an entire big shoebox full of samples, plus two whole freezer bags full of them as well (which I can't find! *sadface*).

As you can see from the picture above, I have alot of samples. Also, like I said earlier, I have alot more samples that I can't find right now because my room is a mess! So yeah, I have many samples of many different things. There's a ton of skincare samples, a few makeup samples, and a crapload of perfume samples, which I actually can't stand perfume to be totally honest. I'm thinking about doing a giveaway on my blog in the near future, which will probably include a few of those perfume samples because I'd rather have them be put to use instead of being thrown away or sitting in my shoebox. I do also have a good amount of hair care samples as well, which I'll probably use if I feel like using something different.

There's also this really funny movie that comes to mind when I think about all my samples, and that's Friends With Money. Jennifer Aniston's character in that movie is great! She goes to different cosmetics counters asking for samples of skincare because she's broke, then you see in a later scene her hoard of samples. It's just hilarious and totally reminds me of myself and my momma. Yes, my mom's a sample hoarder as well, but I have way more than she does!

These samples could definitely come in handy whenever the sad day comes where I'm all out of skincare or makeup and have no extra money to spend on it. Samples are definitely a great way to try out new things, but also great of you're pinching your pennies and don't want to spend money on new products. I'm thinking of maybe doing a Project Samples series on my blog so I can use up some of these bad boys and let you guys know the progress I'm making.

I hope everyone enjoyed this post! Do you guys like the idea of a Project Samples series? Is anyone else a sample hoarder like my mom and myself? Let me know! 

The Versatile Blogger Award!

Kimberley over at Happy Pretty Blog nominated me for The Versatile Blogger Award back in January and I'm just now getting to post it! Thanks so much for nominating me Kim!

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award (of course).

2. Include a link to their blog.

3. Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve discovered recently or follow regularly.

4. Nominate those 15 bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award (include a link back to your post!)

5. Finally tell the people you nominated (&other blog readers) 7 things about yourself

7 Things About Me! 

1. When I was younger, I hated makeup! Seriously, I couldn't stand the look of it or anything, but now I love it!
2. I'm coming up on my 3 year anniversary where I work. 
3. My fiance and I recently set our wedding date (finally!) to September 14th of this year! So exciting!
4. I've been engaged for over a year and a half now, which is why I'm excited we finally set our date lol
5. I may be 24, but I still love Pokemon games as much as when I was younger. Seriously, the one I have for the Nintendo DS is so much fun! (I know, I'm a massive nerd)
6. The spending ban I put myself on January 1st is killing me, but I've been doing so well so far!
7. I can't wait til April 1st, which is when my spending ban is over and I can start buying makeup and skin stuff again! Yay!

Now I'm gonna cheat on this part (sorry!) because I read so many amazing blogs and I have some lovely followers, so I want anyone who wants to do this little tag to do it! These things are so fun and it really helps getting to know someone! 

Talk to everyone later!
-Katy

February 2013 Ipsy Bag

Hey everyone! It's that time of month again where I show you all what I received in my monthly Ipsy bag! I'm not the happiest with this months bag, but lets get into what I got!

The first thing I got were Lash Cards. Honestly, this product is useless for me. I'm not really sure why anyone would spend the money for something you don't get many uses out of and this is just really gimmicky to me. I don't have many problems putting on mascara, and if you do get mascara on your eyelids, you can use a q-tip to touch it up. It's alot cheaper that way.

Next I got the Pixi Flawless & Poreless Face Primer. I'm willing to give this primer a try since I'm still on the hunt for a good one, but I've already gotten a face primer in a previous box, and I do have other primers in my stash to use up.

Next I received the MicaBeauty Gel Eyeliner in the black color. I've never tried gel eyeliner before because I feel like it'll be awkward for me, plus I have really hooded eyelids so trying to do a winged look doesn't work out so well and I know gel eyeliner is typically good for winged looks. I might give it a try just to see how it works.

Then I got the POP Smokey Lash Kapow Mascara in the color Smoky Black. I've read some reviews on this mascara, and I keep reading that it smudges quite a bit, which isn't that appealing. I might try this with a lash primer first and see how it works. I already have so many mascara samples anyways, so I don't know when I'll give this a go.

The last product I received was a Coastal Scents quad in the golden color set. There was also a gray/black color set, which I kinda wish I got more. I don't know why, but I hate yellows with a passion. The color Sunbeam looks hideous to me, but I could maybe work with Golden Globe if I mix it with another color. I actually really like the Dark Golden Olive color because greens tend to look nice with my eyes. Dark Goldenrod is just kinda meh to be honest. It still has a yellow tone to it, but I can probably work with it.

Well that's everything! Not really impressed with this months bag. I really hope next month they include some skincare or makeup I'm actually interested in. I'm also not a fan of the actual bag the products came in. It's a major dust magnet!

If you're subscribed to Ipsy, did you like your bag?

Spending Ban Update #1

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've posted something and I really apologize for that! I've been in a little bit of a funk and I've been having a few issues with my Blogger account which has kinda made me a little mad. Anyways, if you read my 2013 New Years Resolutions, you know I started a 3 month spending ban on January 1st, which is going til April 1. I'm now 43 days in, and have 48 more days to go! I guess I thought I should do a bit of an update post letting you guys know how I'm doing.

I'm doing incredibly well! I haven't bought any makeup or skincare since I started my spending ban. The only thing I have bought was a Suave dry shampoo at Walmart for under $3 because I ran out of my other can. I did mention in my resolutions post that I would be buying things that I absolutely need, and the Suave dry shampoo is really nice and I didn't want to be without it. Plus, it's under $3, so it's not that bad of a burn.

It's so strange not buying anything beauty related, even still. I was so used to picking up some kind of eyeshadow, nail polish, or skincare item not all the time, but pretty frequently. The Sephora website is still my best friend, but I think it's feeling a little lonely right now. I do visit the site about once a week or so to see what's new, and seeing all these blog posts and Youtube videos of new drugstore products that came out are awesome and all, but I wanna buy something!

I have to say, my wallet is thanking me, but not too much because I still have rent and bills to pay, and groceries to buy, which still leaves me broke, but I'm not using my credit cards unnecessarily anymore like I was before this spending ban. I'm looking forward to April 1st, but I promise I won't go wild. I do wanna pick up a few drugstore goodies that I have my eye on, and I do want to take a trip to Sephora.

Sorry it's taken me so long to do an update post! I wasn't even sure if I wanted to write one since I've been so good. I look at other spending ban update posts, and with most of them, the person has bought at least one thing! Not much of a spending ban if you ask me...

Anyways, if you guys want me to do another update, please let me know! I can maybe add in a few things I've been wanting to try and whatnot. 

If you're on a spending ban, how is it going? If you're not on a spending ban, would you try to go on one?

Review: Quaker Real Medleys Oatmeal+

Hey everyone! Today I'm going to be doing a review of a product I received in my Holiday Vox Box from Influenster. I know I got the box a little while ago, but I'm just now getting around to doing the reviews of the products received! Today will be about the Quaker Real Medleys Oatmeal in the flavor Apple Walnut.

Don't mind the EBOOST in the picture, I'll be doing a separate review on it and will probably be using the same picture, since I'm lazy! Anyways, what I really liked about this oatmeal is that it was really easy and convenient to use. The directions say it only needs 45 seconds to heat up, but I had to put it in the microwave for a little longer. I also used milk instead of water.

The flavor of this is also very good! I'm not the biggest fan of plain oatmeal. I always need some kind of flavor to it, and this was perfect, especially since it had chunks of apples and cranberries along with little bits of walnut. 

One container costs about $2, which for me is a tad bit pricey, so I do usually end up purchasing the boxes with the packets inside and add honey or some other flavor. They do have other flavors and whatnot, so check them out on the Quaker website!

Overall, I did like this oatmeal, but probably won't buy because it's a bit pricey. Otherwise, it's great because of the flavor!

*Disclaimer: I received Quaker oatmeal complimentary of Influenster for review purposes. All opinions are 100% my own!

Yum-o!

Firmoo Glasses Review

A little while ago I was contacted by Firmoo to be sent a pair of glasses for review purposes. I received my glasses in the mail last week and now I'm ready to give my review of them!

I had read other blogs which is where I found out about Firmoo, but once I was contacted, I had to do a bit more research. I wear contacts typically and have a pair of glasses for when I don't wear my contacts so I didn't really think I needed another prescription pair. Plus, I have no idea what my prescription is or anything. Firmoo provides prescription glasses and sunglasses, as well as non-prescription glasses that you can wear whenever. They also have very good prices for glasses as well!

I chose to get a pair of non-prescription glasses to hopefully wear while I also wore my contacts. It looks like the pair I chose isn't on the site anymore, but the pair shown here is the same brand and style just in a blue color. I got mine in black.

They have this really cool feature on the site where you can upload a picture of yourself so you can see how a certain pair of glasses looks on you. I don't have many pictures to choose from of myself so I wasn't able to use this feature, but it can definitely come in handy!

A really nice thing Firmoo does is they offer you a FREE pair of glasses for first time customers! All you have to do is pay shipping.

Here is my beautiful self with the glasses on! Ha! Who am I kidding?! It's my day off work today, so my hair is dirty and I have no makeup on. Oh well! Anyways, I really like how the glasses look and feel, and I don't know if it's just me, but when I wear them, even with my contacts, they make me feel dizzy and they seem to skew my vision a bit, so in all honesty, I might not wear these too often. They're definitely cute, but I have my prescription pair of glasses that I like better.

*Disclaimer: I was sent these glasses for free for review purposes. Full review and opinions are my own and are 100% honest!

January 2013 Empties!

This past month, I feel like I went through more products than I thought I did. Last month's empties post had alot, so I'm surprised there's more than expected. So lets get into it!

The first thing I used up is the Philosophy Mocktails Shampoo, Shower Gel & Bubble Bath in the scent Peach Bellini. I just used this as a shower gel, and boy do I love my Philosophy shower gels! I'm pretty sure I've talked about them before, but they're just amazing and this stuff smells really nice.

Then I used up my last Philosophy It's All in Your Head Extra Gentle Daily Shampoo. I know I had a bottle used up in a previous empties post and I actually liked this. I don't believe they make this anymore but that's okay because I'm not too picky with shampoos and conditioners, so it's easy finding something I like.

I also used up another one of The Body Shop Aloe Calming Toner, which you all know I am absolutely in love with. I won't go on about this since I've talked about it a billion times already.
 

I finally used up the Sephora Anti-Shine Primer that I'ved been trying to go through for the last 6 months. For some reason I'm not the biggest user of primers, mainly because I don't wear the typical liquid foundation. My mineral powder foundation usually wears well without a primer, so I mainly used this when I used a B.B. cream or tinted moisturizer.

I used up one of The Body Shop Lightening Touch concealers in the shade 01. I used this on days when I didn't use the Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer. I definitely like this stuff and I always buy one or two when I'm running low, but I think I like the Maybelline concealer a little more. Plus, the Maybelline is cheaper.

I also used up The Body Shop Vitamin E Eye Cream. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this at least once, and I like this eye cream, but it's such a basic eye cream and doesn't do anything particularly special either. I can probably find something at Walmart or in the drugstore that's similar but less expensive.

I used up a hand cream that I'm not the biggest fan of and it's the Neutrogena New Hands Restorative Hand Treatment with SPF 15. First off, the smell of this is pretty bad and it's greasy. Once it's settled in, my hands don't feel dry but once I wash my hands, they're super dry again, so I constantly reapply this. I do have another one as a back-up that I'll use, but I won't repurchase. I honestly don't even know if they still make this.

I also used up one of Bath & Body Works mini hand sanitizers in the scent Orange Sapphire. You all know I love these and I use them primarily when I'm at work because I'm around so many people. I love these little babies, so no need to go on about them!

Now I know this isn't really beauty related, but I used up the Centrum Flavor Burst chewable vitamins. I don't really know how effective these are health-wise, but I liked these! They tasted good and made me remember to take them. I know, I know, I'm not a kid but I do like chewable vitamins because it helps me remember to take them. Vitamins taste nasty and I can only take them with coffee or milk. The only other multivitamin I'll take is one from Nature Made. That's really the only non-chewable vitamin I'll buy.

That's everything I used up! Not a whole bunch of stuff, but definitely more than I thought. Hopefully I'll have enough empties for February! I do foresee a bit of skincare getting used up this month.