Ulta nail polish review!

Hello beautiful ladies! Happy Saturday! If you're anything like me, then a Saturday night in is long awaited and adored. I always look forward to just putting on lounge clothes and whipping out my lovely nail polish collection (seriously...my nails need help by Saturday).  

But first...FOOD! I love food (and tea,maybe some wine in there too).  After a long day at work with my lovely pharmacist and co-workers, I was not in the mood to cook, but instead I made my favorite salad ever - cobb. Yes, it may be generic, but it has everything I love: eggs, bacon, blue cheese, tomatoes, and onion.  But I also had a little something special on the side - garlic bread! Ahhhh so delicious!



Now - onto the GOODS: my ulta nail polish. They were on sale for 2 dollars when I went (and they still are on sale if you check out the website), I tried out the base-coat, the nail polish and the topcoat.  The shade is a lovely vibrant blue called "blue streak".  It goes on so smooth and opaque, and with two streaks it looks gorgeous! As far as the basecoat and the x-dry from ulta's salon polish line, the x-dry took a bit longer than I would have liked (I'm super impatient) but otherwise it did give a nice shine, smooth finish.  I am still a bit more impressed with sephora-x nail polishes than ulta's line of polishes, but this color is really vibrant and pretty!

Things I'm loving today!

As I sit here in my old man sweater, drinking the most amazing tea (ob-sessed, it's really a problem how much I love tea), I am just amazed at the support that I am receiving from you all! I just want to say huge thank you to those who have started following my blog!

Anyhoo, on to things that I am loving today! Number 1, obviously is this freakin' TEA! I just cannot get enough.  It is the cinnamon vanilla healthy skin tea by Yogi.  I bought it just at my local grocery store, but it is so amazing. It is a lighter tea, but the aroma is just perfect and it is so comforting after a long day!

Number 2 -  NYX stay matte lip cream - seen in above photo - this stuff ROCKS. It is literally amazing, I ate with it on, I drank with it on (tea, of course), I worked all day, and it STILL was there when I was done. What? for that price, I'll take it in every color, thanks!

Number 3 - Dailylook.com

I had placed my first order with dailylook.com a few weeks ago - they were having a sale that all the sale items were an additional 50% off.  They had some really adorable jewelry that I purchased (pictured left here), and I was really thrilled with the quality of it when it came in.  The packaging looked nice, and the jewelry seems sturdy.

The other awesome thing I got 50% off was this fabulous bag - It's big enough to hold my tablet and a few books for school, but still comfortable and cute enough to be carried around frequently. Plus this color! I'm a lover of pastels, they get me every time.  I highly recommend dailylook.com - they shipped fast, they were easy, and everything is of fabulous quality which I'm super thrilled with for the price! 

I hope you all had a fabulous day, and feel free to comment below with what you're loving today! I'm always looking for something unique & special to add to my collection! 

Ulta coupon - 20% off through 1/18!

Click here to get your coupon; good in-store or online!

Beauty haul / shopping day: part 2 of 2

Did I mention I love ulta? I don't have one close by...but when I go to ulta, I go to make a dent...in my wallet.  I surely did make a dent today, with a haul so big I don't even know how long it's going to take me to review all these items, but I surely will and it will be great - so let's dive right in!

Eyes

Well, this first thing is not really from ulta (I'm a liar!), my mom actually had this palette and she didn't feel that she could pull the shades off (not true, she totally can), but she wanted me to inherit it - and no girl in their right mind passes up a gorgeous palette like this! I am so looking forward to dipping into these lovely shades and giving you ladies a full review on them, I will have to put together a few looks as well so we can compare and contrast!

Alright, so since my mom gave me a higher end palette, I didn't dive in and buy another expensive palette when I went to ulta, instead, I opted to get a more affordable option for those of you who are on a budget (which I am as a college student, but I saved my pennies for this trip!) This lovely palette has such a creamy texture with matte and shimmery shades and it comes with 24 shades.  I can't wait to try and it out!

Next, also for the eyes, is the essence line I <3 stage eyeshadow base.  I am a primer lover, right now I rely on my tarte shadow primer but the more affordable base will always be a winner in my book (if this one works out).  Plus, I love the fact that it is tinted as well to even out my skin tone and hide the imperfections of my eyelid.  I will be curious to find out if it makes my lids oily, because with the tarte one I have found consistently that it PREVENTS the oiliness so well.  I will be sure to let you all know about this one! It only cost about 3.49 cents and it is on sale as well.   

Face

THIS IS MY HOLY GRAIL OF FOUNDATIONS: as someone with rosacea and acne-prone skin, I can not RAVE enough about this foundation.  I swear, my skin has never been better since I started using it.  I have the powder foundation and it has such a lightweight natural feel on the skin while still being full coverage.  I never have cakiness and it just is so perfect for my skin and I can't even deal. I shouldn't be reviewing this here, but I NEED TO TELL THE WORLD! I LOVE THIS STUFF! 

NYX HD concealers - I know, I know; I'm a little late to hop on this bandwagon, but I'm reaaaaaaally picky about concealers, mostly because my skin is so darn sensitive! Right now I'm using the hardcandy lite bright whipped concealer and it's working well for me, but it's a litttttle bit drying.  Hoping these inexpensive concealers can work for me as a brightening / concealing combo!  I will certainly give them a shot, and if I break out, well, I'll let you know! If these don't work out, then I'm going to dive in and go high end, but I need to explore these cheaper versions first!

Ahhhh, another addition to my brightening arsenal - the NYX liquid illuminator! NYX was having a great sale at ulta and I just couldn't resist, I am hoping a nice highlight on the cheeks, brow-bone and bridge of the nose will be a good use for this baby! It might also be a nice product to put a smidge on the bottom look for the pouty look (thought I am dying to try the E.L.F. pouty petal because I've heard rave reviews about it's pouty power!)  I don't know how my skin will react to it, but I'm so dry this time of year I should be okay!

I am so interested to find out if this urban decay all nighter make-up setting spray is worth it's weight in gold.  It comes in at a wopping 14 dollars but it may be worth it if it keeps my make-up looking and feeling fresh all day and night long.  We shall see, my friends, we shall see.

Lips 

Essence stay matte lip cream - this color is awesome! I can't wait to put it on (hoping that it will be as vibrant as it looks in the tube!) I'll be much more interested to see the staying power of it as I run around a pharmacy all day chatting with my customers.  It is such a pretty shade I couldn't resist picking it up, and for the price I'm glad I did! this one runs at 2.99 (not including their current sale) and it was the very last one at my ulta! 

Skincare

Yeah, this shouldn't really be a problem for me yet, but it is; I have bags and fine lines under my eyes.  I'm only 22, yeah, but I have genes that are just a beaut (thanks Kim & Gary!) and I have some serious stress (oh, just that whole pharmacy school thing).  I have been looking for a firming under-eye cream, I just didn't even know where to start.  So, I will be trying the RoC eye cream and the reviva eye firming serum.  I will do them separately so I can see which one I like better and I will review them for you!

Nails

The ulta line of nail products were all 2 dollars, so I got the basecoat, fastdry top coat and a gorgeous bright blue color that I cannot WAIT to try out.  I have so many things in my wardrobe that will go with this color it isn't even funny.  I will also be curious to see the durability of the color with this basecoat and topcoat.  I have a seriously hands-on job with lots of paper-peeling tasks and it takes a toll on my poor nails.  Here goes nothing!




Holy beejesus, that was a huge. freakin. haul. Stay tuned - I am gonna be trying these bad larrys out over the next few weeks and giving you the low-down (at least, my version of it!) Sorry again for the long post, but if you made it this far, thanks for stopping by! Peace & love - Kayla.

Beauty haul / shopping day: part 1 of 2

Good evening lovelies! Today was a balmy 30 degrees up here in the northeast, but I ventured out anyway to enjoy a "beauty day" and visit my mom in Providence, RI! We truly love our "girls days" and meeting up for lunch; I was up bright and early with anticipation (and getting pretty to head over there!) I moved out on my own in recent months, and I sometimes miss having access to just go into Providence and shop, go out to eat, and enjoy the nightlife.  I do really hope to go back soon for a night out on the town - and if any of you are ever up in Providence area and need recommendations let me know!

A nice cup of (chai - the love of my life) tea and delicious sandwiches (chicken pesto..umm, YUM) at an awesome little shop called Gourmet Heaven to kick off the day was perfect.  This place has the odds and ends of the world in terms of cooking and drinking, so stopping by here every once in a while can really inspire you to whip up something delish when you get home. Over lunch, we decided that like any good ole' fashion shopping trip, a plan need to be devised.  It just so happened that on our walk over to Gourmet Heaven we passed by some adorable boutique shops (and I am ALL about supporting our small businesses!) so naturally I was dying to step inside and explore.  On the list for the second part of the day: ULTA! 

Modern Love & Queen of Hearts

Their website: http://queenofheartsri.com/

Their blog: http://queenofheartsprovidence.com/

I fell in love today...again.  I think they might be considering this a problem at some point, but until then, I'm just going to roll with it.  I walked into these lovely stores and was literally wow'd by everything I saw.  Totally unique, totally on trend, totally AMAZING. The jewelry - I wanted it all; if ulta wasn't in the near future, I probably would have bought it all, too.  I was good though, and instead picked up an ADORABLE dress for 50% off the discounted price.  WHAT? yup, I paid 15 bucks for a 70 dollar dress.  It rocks, it rolls, I'm loving it, I will model it all for you someday, for now, just enjoy this picture of it.  Then I continued....onto the fragrances.  My nose loves to smell things, it just can't stop sometimes, I smelled every single perfume and settled on my FAVORITE thing in the WORLD that I have every single day, the chai tea scent.  


Oh. My. Word. This smells like the cafe that I want to live in for the rest of my life.  I am in LOVE, I've already put it on (maybe or maybe not numerous times) because I just want to keep smelling it!  They had various other scents, fruity, flower, simple, pretty much whatever type of person you are, they had a scent to fit you AND they are made with the natural extracts...does it get any better? Nope, I'm going to say it doesn't...until you get to Ulta...because, it's Ulta.

Ultimately, if you're anything like me and you just HAVE to have that unique thing that nobody else has, then you should check out this shop online! They are having a semi-annual sale through tomorrow (1/17) and all their sale items online are another 50% off! Peace & love - Kayla

Review: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable lip balm stains!

Some of my favorite shades of 2013!

• Left to right:
• Precious - this color is a super light pinky nude, this is definitely not an everyday look for me; it takes a certain eyeshadow color combination and contour to pull it off, but when it works, it works really well!
• Smitten - this is by far my most used color of all time, it works with almost all my daily looks, it meshes with my wardrobe well, it is just simple, girlie, and perfect for this girl.
• Crush - this color is a bit more sultry, it is perfect with a neutral eye and cheek. When you are trying to achieve a more sultry look, this could be the shade to use
• Rendezvous - while this color may appear orange to the eye, on the lip it takes on a much more coral shade and it really works well with the right outfit!

Review: Revlon Photoready Bronzer in Bronzed & Chic

Swatch: darkest to lightest shades from left to right

Okay, I used this as part of my tutorial for my "5 minute face" and I have continuously been going back to this bronzer for a variety of looks.  they are matte shades, and there are four different shades to choose from.  I consistently go back to the darkest shade for contouring and I will swirl my kabuki in the entire palette to get a warm glow all over my face. Definitely a versatile product to have in the arsenal! Peace & love - Kayla