A Big Change.

I am not a risk taker. I much prefer to play it safe and blend in to a crowd. A few weeks back my friends and I got our nails done and it felt like a big deal for me to choose purple instead of pink! 

I only told a couple people I was doing this because I was sure I'd chicken out. But when my friend Micayla reassured me to trust her, I let go and trusted the process. Check out Micayla's Instagram and give her the love she deserves! She's so talented. 

The inspiration was Zoella. I think her hair is stunning. However, I was nervous about going SO blonde. Because Mic knows me, she assured me that it wouldn't be a big change. When I looked in the mirror I was stunned. It's a HUGE change! But I do love it.

After the bleach I was quite concerned. To see only this picture was quite jarring! I was throwing up a lot of prayers at this point.

Once the toner was on I felt a lot more at ease. It was already quite toned down from the brassy mess it was after bleach.

I LOVE IT! I can't get over how different I look still. Every time I catch a glimpse of myself I don't recognize it as me. But I really do like this change.

Be brave ladies & show your true colours.

What's In my Kate Spade Handbag?

"I think playing dress up begins at age five and never truly ends." -Kate Spade

I bought this Kate Spade bag from Winners about a month ago now. It was an absolute bargain at only $129.00! I couldn't resist. 

Now that I've been using this bag a month, it's gotten to the point where it needs a bit of a clear out. I thought while I did this I may as well share what I keep in my handbag!

As you can see, my handbag was in sure need of a clean out. I tend to shove receipts and papers into my bag and forget about them until they're piled up so much I can't seem to ever find what I'm looking for. The bag is a great size. It holds everything I need it to without being a tight squeeze or having tonnes of extra space.

To start: the trash. I've got a couple receipts and an old shopping list. Along side this I have the wrapping from my new Sears points card, last weeks church bulletin and the ticket stubs from the last three shows I went to (Rogue One, Logan, and Beauty and the Beast).

I would consider these items my necessities. I think every girl carries spare tampons in her handbag, if not for herself but to save a friend in need! My EpiPen is obviously a must with my plethora of food allergies. Lastly I always carry hand lotion as my hands tend to get so dry they crack if I'm not quite liberal with the lotion. I usually also have a pen and chapstick but I'm not sure where they've run off to.

I'd consider these items to be miscellaneous. I mean, you never truly know when you'll be in need of a USB stick so I carry one with me at all times. When I get change back from a cash transaction, I typically throw it in the bottom of my purse... whoops!

These items are not exactly necessary but I don't go anywhere without them. Wrigley's Doublemint is my all time favourite gum! I like to carry the Polaroid camera Josh bought me because I never know when I'm going to want to take a photo with it. I'd rather have it with me and not use it than wish I had brought it along. Finally, my sunglasses are a must. I have quite sun-sensitive eyes and I like to have my sunglasses for driving and spontaneous walks.

Lastly I, of course, carry my keys and wallet. I keep my keychain minimal with just my fob, car keys, and house key. Josh bought me this Matt & Nat wallet for my birthday and I'm obsessed with it! It holds everything I need and is absolutely stunning.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what's in my Kate Spade bag. Are there any other handbag necessities you have that I don't? Please do let me know!

RealTechniques Sponge First Impression.

"Foundation should unify tone, but it shouldn't take away from the individuality of the skin." -François Nars

I've been wanting to try the beauty blender for ages now but can't bring myself to spend $20+ shipping and handling and taxes just for a sponge! Our local drugstore finally got the Real Techniques miracle complexion sponge in stock and I snatched one up!

Upon first glance the sponge was nothing special what so ever. I was so afraid that I had wasted $10.99! Once I wet the sponge it became really soft and bouncy. It felt like a cloud when I was using it to pat my foundation into my skin.

I love the finish of the foundation on my skin from using the sponge! It left a natural look to my skin without any streaks or cakiness. 

Upon first impression I would highly rate this sponge! It blended my foundation beautifully, left a natural finish and provided great coverage. I would recommend this sponge to everyone and anyone!

All New to Me | Drugstore Haul

"Happiness is new cosmetics...Many of them."

Okay, so not 100% true in the title because I have used these three products for years. They're ones I repurchase every time I run out of them without fail. I would highly recommend all these products to anyone!  

I needed a new eyeliner since my NYX liquid eyeliner pen just ran out. I didn't absolutely love the NYX liner so trying something new seems like a good idea. I picked up both these e.l.f. liners and plan to compare them to (hopefully) find a new go-to. I've been really loving e.l.f. as a brand lately so I have a good feeling about these liquid liners! 

Of course I've tried the Bioré nose strips before and they work amazingly! I've never tried the face strips though. I'm hoping they hope to reduce the whiteheads and blackheads I have on my chin and forehead. 

Everyone seems to rave about Micellar waters lately so I thought I'd give it a go. I've been using (and loving) a few Garnier skin products lately which made the Garnier brand Micellar water my first choice. 

I'm excited to try all the new products I've picked up! I'll post again in a few weeks with an update on all the products! If you have any more product recommendations please do let me know.

All the Colours of the Rainbow | e.l.f Palette Review

"When I die press my ashes into a smoky eyeshadow palette." 

If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you'll know that my ride or die eyeshadow has always been the Smashbox Full Exposure palette. It was the first palette I ever bought and I used it (conservatively) 90% of the time over the last three years. 

About a week before Christmas I was walking through Wal-Mart when I spotted this e.l.f. palette and immediately had to have it. It was only $19.99 for 64 amazing shades. I had heard so many positive things about e.l.f. as a brand that there wasn't a doubt in my mind that I would be going home with a new palette. 

This has become my new go-to palette, sorry Smashbox. 

I'm obsessed with the shade selection to start- there is every colour I could ever want and then some. Beyond that I love how many options there are when it comes to shimmer vs. matte. 

The colour payoff is pretty good for such a modestly priced eyeshadow palette. The shimmers tend to be more pigmented than the mattes but both are easily build able. Fallout definitely occurs with the majority of the colours in this palette (tapping off the brush helps significantly) so I would recommend waiting to do face makeup until your eyes are finished. 

The rose gold shade (with the deep indent in it) is probably my favourite out of the whole palette. It does a great job of making my blue eyes look extra blue!

If you can get your hands on this palette I would highly recommend it! It's a drugstore standout for sure. If you have any other drugstore palettes to recommend please do let me know!

Back to Beauty | October Beauty Favs!

Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the World 
-Marilyn Monroe 

A one month hiatus from this blog was far too long, but much needed. I was (obviously) in a really bad place toward the end of September and I needed the time to myself to press pause and reset. 

During that time I got back into makeup, hair & all things beauty which is a joy of mine that I had forgotten. Making the time to do my hair and makeup in the morning has become my norm again. I find it calming, enjoyable, fun, and it helps me to feel a little more confident in my own skin stepping out in to the world. 

Since taking this hiatus from beauty, I have jumped in head first and have some lovely products to share with you all today! 

Starting with skin care, I've been really enjoying the Garnier Pure Active 3in1 face wash. I use it every morning and the scent really wakes me up. I tend to shy away from products containing salicylic acid despite my acne prone skin because I find it to be really drying. However, this face wash also includes eucalyptus oil and aloe vera which make it a really hydrating and effective cleanser. Not to mention it's super affordable!

I'm not sure if deodorant really fits into a beauty product but I'm going to include it anyways! The Lady Speed Stick Unstoppable deodorant in the scent Charismatic smells absolutely amazing to start! It also keeps my underarms sweat free all day keeping me from having wet patches under my arms. What I like most about this deodorant is that it has aloe vera in it which keeps my underarms from being irritated or dry. 

Please ignore the slight chip on the tip of my index finger. I've actually been wearing this Sally Hansen Miracle Gel polish on my nails for eight days in a row now and that's the only chip I have! I think that speaks for itself on why I've been loving this polish. The whole line is fantastic but this shade, Wine Stock, has been my go to recently. Make sure you buy the top coat and use it together with the colour coat or else the polish doesn't really work how it's supposed to! The top coat is what makes the real difference. 

Anytime I've worn foundation in the past two months it has been the Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless foundation. I've recently had to drop a shade from 120 to 112 as my tan slowly disappears (tear). I love this foundation! It's super affordable, covers well, lasts for ages, and doesn't break me out. It's a winner all around in my books! This is a great foundation and I'd recommend it to anyone who has normal, combination, or oily skin (may want to avoid if your skin is quite dry). There is a wide selection of shades for lighter skin tones, some with pink undertones, some with more yellow undertones, and some with neutral undertones. If you are a darker skinned person looking to use this foundation, however, you may find the shade selection to be seriously lacking.

I've been really enjoying using different lip colours to change up my everyday makeup look lately. My choice is the NYX mechanical lip liner; not just to line my lips but as an overall colour! I think they're so smooth and buttery and glide onto the lip like an absolute dream. They last all day and don't smudge or wear away while I'm eating or drinking. The five above have been my favourite shades coming into fall; 12 Dark Red, 06 Nude Pink, 02 Nectar, 08 Sand Beige, and 10 Nude. I'm sure now that November is here and continuing on into December, I will be reaching more toward the darker colours and berry tones. 

I've always stuck by my eyebrow pencils and tended to shy away from waxes as it seemed so daunting! However, I am obsessed with the e.l.f. Gel & Powder Eyebrow Kit. I got mine in the shade medium. I also picked up the dual ended brow brush. This has become my new favourite method of filling in my brows! I think it looks so natural and the colour match is perfect for my hair colour. I start by using the spoolie end of the brush to comb out my brows. I then used the angled end of the brush with the gel to shape and fill my brows, followed by the lighter powder to set the gel using the fluffy end of the brush the duo came with. This product has been a game changer!

I've been on the hunt for a good drugstore liquid eyeliner for ages. I've tried endless products by many brands and all were falling short of my expectations. In a liquid eyeliner I look for it to be a deep, opaque black, easy to use, not irritating to my eyes, waterproof, and precise. All of my boxes were finally ticked by the NYX Super Skinny Eye Marker in Carbon Black. I have fallen in love with this eyeliner pen!

Which brings me to my next favourite; winged liner! If you want a tutorial on this look do let me know as it's been my everyday makeup for about a month now!

Thanks as always for reading & thank you even MORE for being so patient with me and my lack of blog posts. Hopefully I will be able to stick with once per week. 

What beauty products have you been loving this month? Do let me know in a comment!

Maybelline Fit Me | First Impression

I've been meaning to find a new foundation for ages... probably about two years now- ever since the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation started breaking me out like crazy! I read so many reviews about the Maybelline Fit Me foundations but never really payed much mind to them. When I saw my local drug store had them on special for 50% off I decided I'd give the foundation a go.

I chose to try the Matte and Poreless formula designed for normal to oily skin as this is my skin type. The shade selection was pretty good ranging from really fair to deeper brown skin tones. Having slightly more yellow undertones and hint of a tan, I went for the third shade in from the lighter end of the range; 120 Classic Ivory.

Upon first glance, the packaging isn't much. It's easy to overlook it in the drug store as it's not an in your face colour or design. The glass bottle makes it a touch impractical for travel purposes, however it looks nice mixed in with other products on a dressing table. I so wish this foundation had a pump! The formula leans more toward the watery side and so pouring it out from the bottle can be a little messy. I can see myself wasting quite a bit of this product from over pouring onto the back of my hand.

Right now my skin is in a bit of a state. I'm coming off the end of a fairly bad hormonal breakout. I have no active breakouts to cover, but there's redness where the spots once were. I've also had a terrible lack of sleep and my under eye circles are utterly horrendous.

I haven't worn foundation in absolutely ages so I have no idea where my beauty blender ended up. Blending foundation with a brush isn't my favourite method of application, but it ended up looking quite natural- I was so surprised. It didn't get streaky at all! The coverage is light to medium but definitely buildable. I'm sure this foundation could be built up to be full coverage. The colour choice ended up being a seamless match with the skin tone of my neck- my perfect shade! The foundation definitely did a good job at making my skin one even tone as well as making my dark circles and acne spots less visible. 

The foundation blended nicely with my Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer, creating a really great base. It also set really well with my NYX stay matte powder. I wasn't getting any caking or patchiness what so ever!

The Fit Me foundation created the perfect base for this everyday neutral makeup look. 

After an hour of wear I didn't notice any oxidization or movement of the product. It still looked the exact same as when I applied it an hour prior. 

I chose this day to test the foundation because I knew it would be extremely hot and I would be outside a lot. I wanted to see if the foundation could withstand the sun and the heat. Even after working outside and sweating quite a bit, I was six hours in and it still looked great! There was no real difference from when I first applied it. 

I spent an hour laying in the sun, catching some rays. After ward my face was obviously sweaty and so I blotted with a tissue. I was surprised to see that there was very little product transfer- mostly powder! The stay power really proves itself to be amazing!

I decided when my friends and I hit the outdoor patio bar to go dancing that night that I was not going to redo my makeup. I was going to put this foundation to the ultimate test! It stood up to my dancing outside for three hours despite already being on my face all day! 

After 17 hours, my face was still matte, poreless, and the coverage was still definitely there! In fact, when I went to wash my face that night I was surprised by just how much product came off on my flannel cloth. It all stayed all day long! I've got a little hunch that this foundation could stand up to a waterproof makeup test. 

All in all, I'm so impressed by this foundation. I think the poor packaging is a very small sacrifice for an otherwise amazing product. I can't wait to keep using the Fit Me foundation so I can report back with a full review!

Have you tried the Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless foundation? What did you think of it? Do let me know in a comment!

Thanks for reading & check back again to see what KatieDidd, xo