Why a Fake Pregnancy Announcement on April Fool's Is Not Ok

That one day that I cannot stand is come up, and much faster than I thought. In just two days, it will be April 1st. People play jokes on others for fun that day, then there are some that take it to an extreme. 

April 1st is when alot of people do fake pregnancy announcements. Usually they don't bother me too much, but this year it does. In July of 2015, I suffered a missed miscarriage. I ended up needing a D&C in August and it was one of the worst times of my and my husband's life. 

The fact that so many people still do these fake pregnancy announcements on April Fool's is childish and an insult to all the women out there who have suffered through miscarriage, the loss of a child, or are battling infertility. Seeing that "we're pregnant!" announcement, I always feel a twinge of jealousy because that should've been me. Then come to find out that it was all a joke makes me feel relieved, but also very upset. Why do people say that when so many women are struggling to have a family? I'm sure they mean well, but they need to use their brain and realize what their actions are doing to us. 

Call me sensitive or say that I'm being unreasonable, I don't care. All I know is I wish with all my heart that my child was here, and everyday I think about what it would be like had our son made it to the world. Seeing those fake announcements will make me feel jealous and sad, and I'm not afraid to admit that. To those of you reading this and are thinking about doing a fake pregnancy announcement, I urge you not to. Countless women are struggling to have a child while you're poking fun at something that should not be taken lightly. 

Be kind, and have a heart. 

Photo credit: Kit4na via Foter.com / CC BY

Review: Valentia Royal Rose Hydrating Serum

*Disclosure* Product mentioned was provided for review thanks to BrandBacker. All opinions are 100% honest and my own, like always!

Hey guys! I have, yet again, another review on a Valentia product. I hope you aren't getting tired of me talking about Valentia, because their products are just that good! Today's review is on their Royal Rose Hydrating Serum, and it has definitely been a staple in my morning routine lately!

According to Valentia, this serum will:

- Deeply moisturize skin
- Provide antioxidant protection
- Soothe & nourish dry skin
- Smooth skin tone & texture
- Boost skin radiance

Some of the key ingredients are:

- Rose Damascena: One of the most nourishing and skin friendly natural oils, providing balance, moisture, and a variety of vitamins and minerals to the skin.  
- Niacinamide (Vitamin B): This potent vitamin has been clinically proven to fade away hyperpigmentation, sun spots, and acne..  
- Rosehip Seed Oil: Naturally rich in Vitamins C & A, these essential fatty acids work quickly to lock in skin's moisture.  
- Evening Primrose Oil: Provides light, non-oily moisture to the skin, never clogging or irritating the skin.  
- Bearberry: Reduces melanin production, thereby lightening the skin, revealing a brighter complexion.  
- Lavender: Heals the skin, treating pimples, wounds, and sores. 

What I first love about this serum is that it doesn't smell overly like roses. I'm not the biggest fan of rose scented products, to be honest, because they normally give me a headache. This smells like a combination of rose and lavender, which I so appreciate. Now I've mentioned on here before that my skin has been going crazy lately. With the weather being warm one day, then freezing the next, my skin doesn't know whether it should be its normal oily self, or drier than the Sahara Desert. Most days, it's more on the dry side and this serum has helped tremendously in balancing it out! In the morning after cleansing and toning, I apply two pumps of this serum all over my face and neck. I finish off my routine, and I feel like my skin is so much more balanced throughout the day when using this, versus something else. I can't say how well this helps with pimples, as my skin has been surprisingly clear lately. Hydration-wise, I absolutely love this and find it well worth the $35 price tag. 

You can find this product here on Amazon or on their website. I really think this serum is fantastic if you need that extra hydration in your skin. It hasn't clogged my pores or made me break out either, which is a plus!

What are some serums you enjoy?

Review: Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lipcolor - Devotion, Addiction, Obsession

Hey guys! A few weeks back I posted an Ulta haul where I purchased these Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lip Colors. I picked up three because they were buy 2, get 1 free and I was pretty intrigued with these as I had heard mixed reviews. After trying them a few times, it' safe to say that I do like them!

According to Revlon:

Revlon's Ultra HD Matte Lip Color is a lightweight, high definition, matte color with a moisturizing velvety feel.

Some of the benefits of these lip colors are:

- 100% wax-free, gel formula
- Plush velvety applicator
- Creamy mango and whipped vanilla fragrance
- Many high definition shades to love

What I absolutely love about the Ultra HD Matte Lip Colors is the applicator. It's thicker towards the base, and tapers to a point which makes it super easy to apply. The formula of these lip colors are very soft, and they definitely are a gel formula as stated above. The color selection could be a little better in my opinion. 

I picked up the shades Devotion, Addiction and Obsession. Devotion is a medium pink-y mauve shade, Devotion is a pretty berry fuchsia, and Obsession is a hot pink that kinda scares me, and I still have yet to try it honestly. 

I absolutely adore the shade Devotion! For me and my skin tone, it's the perfect everyday nude shade. It goes on smoothly and isn't patchy. The first time I tried Addiction, I had some issues. It was very streaky and clung on to all my dry patches. One tip I have with these is to make sure your lips are exfoliated and prepped with a waxy lip balm, like EOS or the Jack Black balms in the blue tube. I tried Addiction another day when I wasn't so frustrated and my lips were less dry, and it went on so much better. The color is beyond gorgeous and is perfect for Fall and Winter, but you can of course rock it any time of year! These aren't a true matte as others have said, but over time, they do dry down. Work in very thin layers, and it goes completely matte on me within about 30 minutes. Since they don't go completely matte for a little while, it makes this formula feel very hydrating on the lips, and they stay hydrated throughout the day, unlike other brands that make my lips super dry. They aren't transfer resistant either, but I'm not so bothered by that.

Now for the scent. I've seen reviews where people cannot stand it and unfortunately, I'm also one of those people. If they took out the mango and just left it as straight vanilla, I'd be happier. That being said, once applied, you can't smell it. 

Overall, I really do like these! You can go overboard with applying too much at once, but like any liquid lipstick, it takes practice and patience to get it right. These retail for $8.99, and I find that to be a fair price considering you really need a small amount to get an opaque finish. If you can get past the weird scent, are willing to be patient while applying, and don't mind it being not completely matte, I think you would like these alot!

Have you tried the Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lipcolors? What do you think of them?

YouTube Video: What's In My Purse?

Hi guys! I just wanted to let everyone here know that there is finally a new video up on my YouTube channel! I did the What's in my Purse tag, so I hope you go check it out! Definitely give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed and subscribe if you want to see more videos from me :)

I'm still an odd duck on camera, I know. It's a work in progress!

Makeup Declutter: Eyeliner

Hi everyone! If you remember, towards the end of January I did a declutter of my lip products. I cleared out nearly half of my collection, which made me feel pretty darn proud. I thought about what I wanted to declutter next, and after realizing that I hardly ever wear eyeliner, yet have a ton of different ones, that would be my next mission. 

This is my whole collection of eyeliners. There are pencil liners, cream liners, liquid liners and powder liners. In this pile, there are a whopping 54 different liners! Now, like I said above, I very rarely wear eyeliner, so most of these are just sitting around. I currently am using 4 different liners that are in my everyday makeup drawers, and they are not included in this total. It wasn't very hard going through these because most of them are so old, I've had them for longer than I've known my husband. We'll be together 6 years this June, if that tells you anything. After deciding what to get rid of, the next picture shows what I'm keeping and throwing out. 

The pile on the left is what I'm throwing away, and the right is what I'm keeping. I've said many times before that 2016 is the year of decluttering and using up what I have. I'm going to try and make it a priority and use eyeliner more, as much as I don't like wearing it. The grand total of everything I got rid of is 21. That's not terrible, if you ask me. I finally am getting rid of the mini Urban Decay 24/7 liner pencils that I've had for years and years, as well as all of the cream liners I had and the E.L.F liquid liners. The E.L.F. liners are just awful so those were the first ones picked to get rid of. 

I'm not sure how I'm going to go through all this eyeliner, and I'll probably end up doing another declutter at some point in the future. I said in my previous declutter how good it feels getting rid of so much stuff. As silly as it may sound, I'm proud of myself for being able to throw out products that I don't like, and are just bad from being so old. I've even been able to sell some of my makeupto help make a little extra money as well, but don't worry, everything in my blog sale is still good and sanitized! If you want to check out my blog sale, you can do so here. I still have a bunch of stuff I'd like to see have a good home :) 

What have you decluttered lately?

Review: Catrice Cosmetics Liquid Metal Eyeshadow in What Do You Sea?

Hey guys! If you read about my most recent Ulta haul, you know I picked up the Catrice Liquid Metal Eyeshadow in the shade What Do You Sea?. It's such a gorgeous color and I couldn't wait to try it out. I do have some opinions on it, so lets see what I thought.

On the Ulta website:

Catrice Liquid Metal Eyeshadow dazzles eyes with high pigmentation and extraordinary metallic shine. Reminiscent of liquid metal, this silky powder is sure to make your eyes shine instantly. The unique 3D embossment turns this eyeshadow into an absolute highlight. The texture is smooth, easy to blend, and long-lasting. Mix and match to create brilliant metallic looks. Not tested on animals.

Each eyeshadow costs $4.99, and you can find them only at Ulta!

I absolutely adore this deeper green shade with a hint of blue in it. It looks so beautiful in the pan, but unfortunately, that's where my love for this stops. The metallic sheen you see is an overspray, and once swatched, it becomes this deep teal shade with a hint of shimmer, which is still a beautiful color. 



The swatch is decent, but it is a bit powdery. It's a little hard to apply with a brush, and gets patchy if you're not careful. I tried correcting that by dampening my brush after picking up some color, thinking it would make it look better, but that made it ten times worse. It became even more patchy and I couldn't correct it by that point, so I had to remove it completely with makeup remover. It's not all that metallic and provides a good bit of fallout no matter what I did to prevent it. Even after using an eyeshadow primer and setting it with powder, the Liquid Metal Eyeshadow creases on me within about 4 hours. 

I'm a bit sad that this eyeshadow didn't work for me because the color is truly gorgeous. It just doesn't translate well to the eyes. Maybe this shade is just off, so I'd be willing to try one of the more neutral ones and see if that works better, since they are just $5. 

Have you tried these eyeshadows? What do you think of them?

Do You Believe in Karma?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of AmazingKarma.com for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hey guys! I have a bit of a different post today, as it has to do with Karma. I don't know about you, but I truly believe the saying, "What goes around, comes around". There's been alot of stuff I notice in my own life, as well as noticing it within the beauty community, where people just aren't honest about things, or they steal other people's work, and take credit. Thanks to my sponsor for this post, Amazing Karma Social Network, I'll be sharing with you a cool website you can go to and get some free Karma Cards for a limited time.

180 Americans (110 being women) believe in the non-religious concept of Karma as "what goes around, comes around." On Amazing Karma, there are green or red Karma Cards. When a user receives either one, you register it on the website and earn 1 Karma Point which is worth 1 penny in Karma Cash. As the card keeps being passed around the world, it is tracked and mapped at www.AmazingKarma.com. As long as the cards keep being passed on, users earn unlimited Karma Points and Karma Cash which may be donated to any registered charity or for any consumer gift card.

This is Darlene and Ken, the creators of Amazing Karma. Darlene says that AmazingKarma.com is based on a Karma Point credit and debit game their family plays.  The game was an innovative way to teach common courtesies as well as good and bad consequences for our individual actions.

I said in the first paragraph that I've witnessed first hand what Karma can do. I'm not going into detail for personal reasons, but Karma has definitely come to bite him in the butt! It sure took a while, but I always say Karma will happen when its supposed to.

Now, if you're a part of the beauty community as well, I'm sure you know all about how hardcore some people can be when it comes to videos, blog posts and sponsorships or collaborations. It's like it's one big competition which it shouldn't be. Very recently, I found out a very popular Instagrammer stole photos from another blogger, posted them to her Instagram, and didn't give the proper credit to the blogger. That truly boils my blood when we as bloggers work so hard writing up posts and taking good photos. It can take many hours of hard work, and when someone else steals your work and takes the credit for it, it's very defeating. I 100% believe that the Instagrammer will get what is coming to her. What she does won't get brushed under the rug for very long and she will most likely be exposed eventually.

What do you feel about the concept of Karma? Do you believe "what goes around, comes around?"