2014 Beauty Favorites: Eyes

Hey Pretties! Hope your week is going well! Only one week until CHRISTMAS!!!!!! Can you tell I have been excited all month long? :)

This next post is my favorite eye products from 2014. The majority of these products I have been using for the whole year and have consistently stayed my favorite all year long. I have loved them for a while now and I wouldn't be surprised if they made my favorites next year as well! We will have to see :)

PALETTES:

Every palette that I own, I adore. I love eyeshadow palettes and prefer them over single shadows. I just like how I have everything in one spot and knowing I have several shades that will go well together. Even though I could list all of my palettes as my favorites, these would have to be my top three. And if you are looking for any last minute Christmas gifts for a sister, friend, cousin etc... these palettes would be great for anyone!

• Chocolate Bar Palette by Too Faced - This is my all time, number one, nothing can beat it palette! I absolutely LOVE this palette! It is the perfect palette as it has shadows that are matte, shimmery, sparkly, neutral, bold... it just has everything you need! The shadows blend amazingly and are so easy to work with. The colors are gorgeous and the palette smells like a cup of hot chocolate. YUMMM! And I am like a little kid in a candy store this past week since the new Semi-Sweet palette came out! Girl, you already know I ordered it and I can't wait to get it!!!

Chocolate Bar Palette by Too Faced

• Naked 3 by Urban Decay - I love this palette because it is so feminine and girly. It is gorgeous! I love all the pinky, rosy colors! You can do something light and flirty or you can do something more sultry and sexy. I just think this is the ultimate palette for a girly-girl! Urban Decay's shadows are amazing quality. The shadows are so blendable and have so much pigmentation. If you love makeup, this is a must-have!

Naked 3 by Urban Decay

• Pro Palette by Lorac - I love the Pro Palette because it has as many matte shadows as it does shimmery/sparkly shadows. In most palettes, there are only usually 2 or 3 matte shadows. This palette has 8! I usually always use a matte shadow for my crease/transition color so I like that with this palette, I have more matte shadows to choose from. The Pro Palette has an amazing range of shadow choices and the shadows feel so silky and smooth. This is a great staple palette to have in your collection!

Pro Palette by Lorac

PRIMERS:

I think that there are a lot primers out there that work great. A lot of them do their typical job of what they are supposed to do - prevent creasing, help the longevity of the shadow and make the pigment pop. But these are the two that I constantly use and think that they are the best!

• Shadow Insurance in Candlelight by Too Faced - I have used this primer for several years now and it has become a staple for me. I do own the regular Shadow Insurance version but I prefer the Candlelight one. I like that it creates a really soft shimmer (the original version has no shimmer). It is so subtle and pretty and I think it really helps the shadows stand out a little bit more - almost in a glow-like way! This is the primer that sold me on eyeshadow primers. I never knew how amazing your eyeshadow could look with a primer - no creasing, lasts so much longer and the colors look so much more pigmented! This is definitely my go-to for higher end primers and I absolutely love it! 

• Eyelid Primer by e.l.f. - I discovered this primer a few months ago. Not only is it a great primer but the most amazing part about it is that it is only $1! Yes, only ONE DOLLAR!!! Go ahead and splurge on something you have been wanting and pick this up for next to nothing! And don't let the cheap price fool you! It works great and I am constantly going back and forth between this one and my Too Faced one. I notice it works just as good as my higher end primer and I am still amazed how cheap it is for such a great product!

Eyelid Primer by e.l.f.
Shadow Insurance in Candlelight by Too Faced

MASCARA:

If you have been following me for a while, you know it is hard for me to find a mascara that I truly love. Over the past several months of blogging, I have sampled some mascaras that have started to impress me. I have narrowed down my "likes" into the top two that I am truly loving and I think these are the best out there!

• Le Volume de Chanel by CHANEL - This has been my most favorite mascara I have tried all year. It makes my lashes look truly amazing! I have really short, stubby, fine lashes and this mascara makes me look like I have long, voluminous lashes! The formula isn't messy and it is super black! It only takes a few swipes and my lashes are looking so long and voluminous! It really is amazing! For a luxury brand, I feel like the $30 price tag for this mascara is definitely worth it! This sample has lasted me quite a while and I am most definitely going to purchase a full size when I run out! 

• Hypnose Drama by Lancome - Although Le Volume De Chanel has been my favorite mascara this year, Hypnose Drama is my second favorite. I just got this sample probably about a month ago but I have been really loving it. Like the CHANEL mascara, this is not messy at all. I absolutely hate thick, clumpy mascaras! I feel like it doesn't give me as much volume as Le Volume de Chanel but it definitely is comparable on the length I get with this mascara. I just like how clean this formula is and I like using this to apply a good base coat when wearing false lashes. It helps them blend easily into to the false lashes as they won't be clumpy. I am happy to have finally found some great mascaras that are working for me :)

Le Volume De Chanel by CHANEL
Hypnose Drama by Lancome

EYELINER:

90% of the time, I am wearing gel liner. I only use this same gel liner and rarely ever wear any other type of liner. I do not care for liquid eyeliner whatsoever. And if I by chance happen to wear anything other than my beloved gel liner, it will be the pencil eyeliner I mention below. And the best part is: they are both drugstore items!!

• Eye Studio Gel Liner in Blackest Black by Maybelline - When I started to experiment with gel liners, I was a little intimidated. But I quickly learned that applying gel liner is actually much easier than I thought! Once you practice a few times, you will get the hang of it easily! After trying out gel liners, I said goodbye to liquid! What I love about this gel liner from Maybelline is that it is so creamy and so pigmented. It just glides right on and makes your shadows POP! This liner stays put and I never have to worry about it smudging or feeling like it needs to be touched up. I love this gel liner and will forever continue to repurchase it!

• Silkissime Eyeliner in Black by L'Oreal - If I don't feel like taking the time do to gel liner, I will just quickly pop this liner on. It glides on so easily and effortlessly and that is what I love about it! But it is also so pigmented as well... and I love that even more! It will be just as bold as my gel liner and it will never smudge or wear away. I know that it is going to stay put and won't fade away throughout long day. This is the best pencil liner I have tried from the drugstore and if you use pencil liners, you should check this one out!

Silkissime Eyeliner by L'Oreal
Eye Studio Gel Liner by Maybelline

LASHES:

These are the two lash products I swear by. I haven't found anything better than these two, nor do I want to! They are awesome products and both so affordable!

• Sweet Romance by House of Lashes - If I ever could dream up a pair of perfect lashes, these would be it. I love these lashes and they are the only ones that I wear! I don't like wearing lashes that are too over the top. I don't want people to look at me and think "Those are the most obvious fake lashes I have ever seen in my life!" These lashes are perfect because they are SO natural looking but add just like right amount of length and volume. I get asked "What do you use to make your lashes look like that?" and girls are amazed when I tell them they are false lashes. They tell me they look so natural and that is exactly what I am going for! If you love false, natural-looking lashes you must try these out. And if you are a girl who is just getting into false lashes, I HIGHLY recommend these! It is amazing what a little bit of extra OOMPH to your lashes can do to make your eyes look even more amazing!

• Lash Grip Eyelash Adhesive by Ardell - I mentioned a while back that I have a love-hate relationship with this eyelash glue. It works AMAZING but it smells AWFUL! I never have to worry about my false lashes coming undone with this lash glue. They will make the lashes stay in place all day long with no worries about the corners coming off. But the smell of the glue is atrocious! It legit smells like manure mixed in chemicals. I know, I'm sorry that's disgusting. But it is so bad! I tried finding another glue but it did not work whatsoever. I have decided to just bear the smell when it comes out of the tube and once it dries you can't even smell it. If you can handle a couple of minutes of a very unpleasant smell, the result of not having to worry about lashes falling off is well worth it :o) 

Lash Grip by Ardell
Sweet Romance lashes by House of Lashes

BROWS:

• Brow Wiz by Anastasia Beverly Hills - I LOVE BROWS! This is the one and only brow product I use. And in my humble opinion, nothing out there is better than the Brow Wiz! There are so many color/shade choices offered for the Brow Wiz (I use "Taupe/formerly Ash Blonde") and the extra fine tip is perfect for filling in every sparse spot in your brows. Having shaped, filled in brows is SO important! It really defines your face and brings everything together when doing your makeup. If you don't fill in your brows, I suggest just giving it a try! What is awesome about the Brow Wiz is that it gives you perfect brows, yet it is so natural looking! I never filled in my brows before using this product and once I tried it out, I was hooked! It is amazing what having great brows can do for you!

Brow Wiz by Anastasia Beverly Hills

OK... That was a long post! :o)  Hope you got some good ideas and recommendations if you are in the market for some new eye products!

Have a wonderful weekend, loves!

xoxo Kayla

Friday Five: 9/12/14

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend, pretties!! :)

I have been trying to get this post up all day but my computer is not letting me access my photos :( I am sorry! I don't know what the deal is. So for this post, instead of having pictures of everything, I am just going to link each product to their corresponding websites after my thoughts. Hopefully I can figure out what the deal is before my next post!!

Anyways....I am so excited once again to share the products I have been loving this week! These past couple of weeks I have been loving some amazing products and I can't wait to share five more awesome items with you!

1. Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Taupe/Ash Blonde
     To be honest, this is something that is a favorite every week. I use it every single day and it is, without a doubt, a holy grail product. I am OBSESSED with brows. The bolder and thicker, the better in my eyes! I wish I had Sofia Vergara's brows (as I posted on Insta recently) but unfortunately, my brows are not as amazing. I still do love my brows and the Anastasia Brow Wiz is the perfect tool to help me enhance them to make them look natural, perfectly shaped and filled. The Brow Wiz is just pure amazingness and might just be one of the best makeup products ever invented. FOR REAL. I love how fine the pencil is and lets you get in between all of your brow hairs to fill it in so your brows look perfect and uniform throughout. It doesn't wear away and I never have to worry about re-filling them in throughout the day. This product has definitely changed my brow game and I could not live without it! If you haven't checked it out, you need to ASAP!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz

2. Sweet Romance lashes by House of Lashes
     These are also something I use weekly and a holy grail product. (I just felt like including a couple HG products this week, because hey.. they really are "Friday Five's"!) I am again, OBSESSED, with these lashes and they are the loves of my life. One of my first blog posts was on these lashes and I stated that I loved them so much because they are so natural looking. I am not one to wear big, bold lashes and love that no one can tell that these are false. They really do look real and I feel like my makeup is "naked" without them. Even though they are completely natural looking, they give you that extra little "oomph" and makes your eyes look so pretty! They are also so affordable ($9!) and such great quality that I can use them several times before needing to toss them. I just can't say enough great things about these lashes!

Sweet Romance lashes by House of Lashes


3. Lorac Pro To Go Eye/Cheek palette
     I picked this up not too long after I had gotten The Nudes eyeshadow palette by Maybelline. I loved how convenient it was to travel with The Nudes palette because it is smaller and makes it easy to toss in a small makeup bag. What's awesome about the Lorac Pro To Go is that it not only has eyeshadows, but blushes and a bronzer as well! This palette has 6 eyeshadows, 2 blushes, and 1 bronzer. It is so great how they made this palette so compact and made it the ultimate travel palette by including all of the shadows, blushes and bronzer in one! This palette includes so many things that I need to travel with creating less clutter in my bag because I don't need a separate bronzer, a separate blush, and a separate eyeshadow palatte. And I don't only just use it for something easy to travel with! Everything is so beautiful and pigmented and I reach for it at home over my larger palettes! Which is exactly what I have been doing this week :)

Lorac Pro To Go Eye/Cheek palette

4. Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black
     I have heard really good things about this eyeliner and decided I needed to check it out for myself. I prefer gel eyeliners over pencil or liquid and this gel liner definitely did not disappoint me. The formula of this eyeliner is awesome. It is super creamy and just glides right on. It stays in place all day and doesn't smudge or smear. And it really is a "blackest black". It is super pigmented and I never feel the need to add more to make it look darker. I know that I will keep re-purchasing this. I love when I find drugstore items that I will use on a regular basis. Just because something is drugstore and not high end doesn't mean it isn't an amazing product!

Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner


5. Chance Eau Tendre Sheer Moisture Mist by CHANEL
     O! M! G!!!!!! I discovered CHANEL's Chance Eau Tendre a couple of months ago and fell absolute, head over heels, in love with it! It is definitely competing with my favorite scent Daisy by Marc Jacobs as my number one perfume. I was just randomly smelling different perfumes at Macy's one day and came across this one and I was blown away by it. (And I am definitely not a perfume junkie!) It is a fruity, feminine, absolutely gorgeous scent. I was so tempted to purchase it but wasn't ready to spend the $90 on it. Then last week, I was doing some online shopping and I don't even know how, but I ended up on CHANEL's website... Funny how that happens :) I saw that they offered more of like a body spray in this moisture mist that I did not see in the store. As soon as I saw it was half the price of the perfume, I felt that gave me reason to finally buy it :) After I purchased it, I already knew this would be in my Friday Five this week! I anxiously awaited for its arrival and have been using it every day since I received it. I just can't get enough! If you're looking for a new perfume, I would HIGHLY recommend checking this one out!!!

Chance Eau Tendre Sheer Moisture Mist by CHANEL

HAVE A FABULOUS WEEKEND!


xoxo Kayla

Lash Love

Happy Monday!

It is time to give a shout out to falsies!! I just love putting my lashes on at the end doing my makeup! I feel like it ties everything together and makes my makeup look ten times better! It is amazing what a pair of lashes can do to change the look of your makeup. I feel so confident when I wear them and really makes the eyes pop!

Even though I do wear falsies, I prefer wearing natural looking ones. I want people to look at my lashes and think that they look real and can't tell that I am wearing false lashes. I have found the best natural looking lashes... HANDS DOWN!

House of Lashes "Sweet Romance" are my holy grail lashes! I get so many compliments when I wear them! I am constantly asked "How do you get your eyelashes to look like that?" or "Wow, your eyelashes are amazing!" I don't ever try to claim them as my own and girls are shocked when I tell them that they are false lashes. They tell me they look so natural and they would have never guessed they were fake. That is exactly what I want for my lashes to look like!

House of Lashes has amazing lashes! I have used a few different lashes from their collections and they are truly incredible! The quality of the lashes are amazing and if you take good care of the lashes, they can easily be reused several times! And guess what??? They are SO INEXPENSIVE!! The majority of their lashes range from $7-$9! Also, if you spend $25, you get free shipping and they ship incredibly fast! (How many more positive remarks can I make about this company :) Are you convinced yet?!)

I love that "Sweet Romance" by House of Lashes are naturally dramatic!

Whether you like something more natural like me or love bolder lashes, House of Lashes has it all! You must check them out! www.houseoflashes.com

xoxo Kayla

Makeup Tag!

Hi loves! Hope you all had a fabulous 4th!!

So...Is it ok to do a makeup tag if someone doesn't technically tag you?? Hahaha! Well, I am going to do it anyways! I saw these questions and I decided I should fill them out so you all can get to know me just a little bit more!

20 Makeup Facts About Me!!

What foundation do you use?

My current favorites are (drugstore) Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 foundation and (high-end) Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour foundation

How about concealer?

Drugstore - Maybelline Age Rewind

High-end - MAC Pro Longwear 

What do you think of fake eyelashes?

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Even the most natural looking ones can change the look of your makeup dramatically!

What brand of mascara do you use?

I am always looking for a good mascara!! My current favorites are YSL Babydoll and Dior Diorshow

Sephora or MAC?

Both! Duh :)

What makeup tools do you use in makeup application?

Beauty blender, eyelash curler, and brushes... Mostly Sigma... AMAZING BRUSHES!

Do you use makeup base/primer for the eyes?

Of course! 95 percent of the time I use Too Faced Shadow Insurance. All time fave!

For the face?

Right now I am loving Rimmel's Stay Matte primer

What is your favorite eyeshadow (color or shade)?

This is a toughy because I am an eyeshadow palette hoarder! If I had to pick just one color, it would be Salted Caramel from the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette. Soooo pretty as a transition color!

Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner?

I use both! Just depends on what I am feeling for the day!

What is your favorite lipstick?

MAC Creme Cup. I'm in love!

How about lipgloss?

I would have to go with any of the NYX Butter Glosses!

What is your favorite blush to use?

Oh boy. Another toughy. I am obsessed with blush as well. Kat Von D Bellissima is a beautiful peachy-coral color. NARS Orgasm is a must have! And don't even get me started on MAC blushes...best blushes ever!

Do you like drugstore makeup?

Yes! The drugstore has great products!

Did you ever consider taking make-up classes?

I would really love to! But right now everything I know is from me doing my own makeup and getting tips from other beauty lovers!

Are you clumsy in putting on makeup?

I am TERRIBLE at winged eyeliner! I can't master it for the life of me! If I attempt it, I have to go extremely slow and I always feel like it looks a little off!

Do you like colorful shades of makeup (lipstick,eyeshadow) or neutral ones?

I do like both but I am definitely more of a neutral girl!

If you had to choose just ONE makeup item, what would it be?

Yeah right! That is impossible to answer! Don't ever ask a beauty lover that ;)

In your opinion, what is the BEST makeup line?

I love so many products from so many different lines! I would have to say though that I am partial to Too Faced and MAC! And NOTHING beats Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products. Do not know what I would do without my brow wiz!!

What do you think of Makeup??

Obviously I love it! I love trying new products and learning new things about makeup! It's so much fun and I love sharing the love with you all :)

Share with me some of your makeup facts!!

xoxo Kayla