Ipsy's December 2013 "Celebrate" Glam Bag

Hello Lovelies!

Long time, no blog. I know, I totally suck at consistency these days. But I just started a new job in cosmetic sales at Macy's (totally awesome, btw!) and my husband just started a new job, and I've got like a million and a half things to do to get ready for Christmas. Oh, and I recently started assisting a friend in getting her web page up and running, and I'm blogging for her as well. This one's a foodie site, and I'm typing up recipes and such. We are looking for someone to do videos for her site, so if you or someone you know has a great foodie vlog, let me know and maybe we can work something out.

But moving on to today's post! I received my Glam Bag from Ipsy yesterday, and I immediately tried out the products and got pictures for you guys. This month's bag was absolutely gorgeous! Of all the ipsy bags I've received so far, this is by far the nicest looking. It's simple in design, just glossy back without any print, but it's textured. This is something that I could actually see myself carrying out as a clutch, not just a makeup bag. I received 5 items in this month's bag; Be a Bombshell The One Stick in Flustered, Pop Beauty Bright Up Your Life Eye Shadow Trio in Smokin Hot!, Andrea Strip Lashes #33, NYX Round Lipstick in Goddess, and Starrily Nail Polish in Bzzz Bzzz. I'm going to give a bit of a mini review for each product based on my usage yesterday, so it's not going to be very in depth.

If you haven't heard of the Glam Bag before, it's a $10 a month subscription bag with various full and sample sized cosmetics. Usually there are 5-6 items in your bag, and the bag itself is usually super cute. Totally worth $10 in my opinion. If you'd like to sign up, please do use my link as it will get me Ipsy points that I can use to get additional items in my bag. KalamityJane's Ipsy Referral Link

December 2013 "Celebrate" Glam Bag

NYX Extra Creamy Round Lipstick in Goddess

I received a full size tube of the NYX Extra Creamy Round Lipstick in Goddess, and so far I really like it. It glides on extra creamy and feels really nice on the lips; it's feels somewhat moisturizing but it isn't greasy at all. Really really really love the texture of the lipstick! And the color is very nice, a not-quite-nude shade that actually works very well with my skin tone. It's not the most long wearing lipstick ever, but it applies like a dream, so I don't mind having to reapply every few hours. I'd guess the wear time on this at about 4 hours, I wasn't really clocking it.

be a.... Bombshell The One Stick in Flustered

I also received what has to be a full size tube of The One Stick in Flustered by be a .... Bombshell. The thing is seriously huge!! Now I'm not going to lie here, I was not excited to try this product. It's one of those 3 in 1 sticks that can be used as a blush, eye shadow, and lipstick, and I've never really had good luck with these things before. And when I saw the color I was a bit put off on using this as anything outside of a lipstick. So when I tried this bugger out I was very pleasantly surprised. The texture was creamy without being greasy, and the color is gorgeous! I used this as a blush and it looks fabulous, gives a very rosy and festive look to my cheeks. It blends out with ease and leaves a nice subtle wash of color. I also tried this out on my lips just to see how it looked, and it was very opaque (I applied it heavier than on my cheeks, to clarify lol) and it felt nice. Not cakey and weird like some of the other 3 in 1 sticks I've tried. I have yet to try this on my eyes as it's a very bold color choice, but when I do I'll be sure to let you guys know how I like it.

Andrea Strip Lashes #33

I received these Andrea Strip Lashes (I'm guessing that the style is 33, there was no other labeling on the package) and I was less than impressed. The lashes look super gorgeous when you put them on, but getting them on is a serious pain in the ass. The strip is super flimsy so you really have to work at getting them evenly on the lashes. I also had a couple of the little lashes fall off when I was getting them out of the packaging! So while these are super pretty and very soft, they're just more hassle than they're worth.

pop beauty Bright Up Your Life Eye Shadow Trio in Smokin' Hot!

I think this is a cute little trio by pop beauty. The colors were chosen very well, and they look really nice together. However, the lightest of the shades is kinda meh. It's not very pigmented and is a total glitter bomb. But the other two shades are really nice, they applied well, blended nicely, and are just, well, nice. The shadows lasted a decent amount of time, though nothing to write home to mom about. But if you are going out for the evening, with a little primer, these will stay nice all night. So I like this trio, but I don't love it.

Starrily Nail Polish in Bzzz Bzzz

I applied this glitter topper by Starilly over a random silver polish in my collection (can't remember which one, sorry!) and it is just too adorable! I love the color and texture variance in this polish! I applied two coats of Bzzz Bzzz by Starilly for massive amounts of mega fab glittery goodness on my nails. It applied with ease, no glitter clumpage or anything like that, and it dried super fast. I would highly recommend a clear coat to top this polish as it is very textured after it dries. But no chipping so far, so it's a win in my book.

And of course, I had to try out all of my products to see how well they worked together, and I'm loving it. These all worked together very well to make a lovely look. So, here's a quick selfie with all products listed below!

Look Using the December 2013 "Celebrate" Glam Bag

Face Products Used: NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Mont Blanc; Pixi Beauty Bronzer in Summertime; be a.... Bombshell The One Stick in Flustered; e.l.f. studio highlight in Glow; Mary Kay Mineral Powder Foundation in Ivory 2.
Eye Products Used: pop beauty Bright Up Your Life Eye Shadow Trio in Smokin Hot; Maybelline the Falsies Mascara in Very Black; Andrea Strip Lashes; e.l.f. pencil eyeliner in Black.
Lip Products Used: NYX Extra Creamy Round Lipstick in Goddess.

I think that this month's products worked really well together to make a great look. Perfect for holiday parties with lots of shimmer and drama on the eyes while still staying very rosy/natural on the rest of the face. And then the bag to go with it is ultra fab. Great job, Ipsy! This month's bag is amazing!

I hope that everyone is getting to spend some wonderful time with friends and family for the holidays and not totally spazzing out over the stressers that come about this time of year. I definitely get a little crazy this time of year, so you might not see too much of me over here on the blog until after New Year's. So in case you don't hear more from me until later, I hope everyone has a happy holiday season! Til next time!

DIY Sugar Scrub Lip Treatment

Hello Lovelies!

Sorry I've been so absent lately, my dog was sick and we had to make the super hard decision to have him out down. I know that it was the right thing to do, but I was pretty bummed out for a while and just needed some time to myself. But I'm out of my sad little funk and back in the game!

RIP Ziggy Marley Best Hughes 11/5/2013

I am working on some pretty cool stuff for you guys, but this one post is seriously taking some time. If you Like KalamityJaneKosmetics on Facebook you can get a sneak peak of what's going on.

But for today I have a quick DIY Sugar Scrub Lip Treatment to help get your lips through the upcoming harsh winter months. I tried this little recipe out today on both myself and my husband and it was amazing! Our lips are so smooth, and the ingredients are all natural and probably in your pantry right now. So let's get started!!

What You'll Need:

• Approximately 2 Tablespoons of sugar. You can use regular white sugar, brown sugar or raw sugar, but basically the coarser the sugar the better it will exfoliate. I used brown sugar as I have it in abundance.
•  Approximately 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil - This will leave your lips feeling super smooth and hydrated. 
• A dash of honey to bind it all together.

These measurements are not exact and there is most definitely some wiggle room. You can also add flavorings or dyes if you're into that, but I preferred to keep mine as simple and natural as possible.

To start this off, get a small container and put your sugar in it. Then add in the oil and mix it together with a fork or a little spatula. You want to make sure you mix it thoroughly so that it's all the same texture. Then just add in a glob of honey and mix it in. The honey is really just a binding agent though it is really pretty awesome for your lips. And you're done! I know, that was really flippin easy. Your mixture (assuming you used brown sugar) should look something like this:

Now all that's left to do is apply! Just take a bit of this on your finger or a spatula and rub it into your lips in a circular motion. Then you can wipe it off or just lick it off your lips, it is edible. I applied a balm afterwards, but you really don't need to. It just gives you some extra moisture on your lips, which is much needed in the winter months here in Michigan.

The Blob from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics' Samhain/Halloween Collection

Hello Lovelies!

Today I have a review of another lovely polish from the Carpe Noctem Cosmetics Samhain/Halloween Collection: The Blob!! Being that this is a part of her Samhain/Halloween Collection it is Limited Edition, so if you love this you'd better scoop some up quick! As with all her polishes, this is hand made and is 3-FREE as well as Cruelty Free. It comes in three sizes, small is 6 mL and sells for $3, medium is 12 mL and sells for $6, full size is 15 mL and sells for $9.
Her shop has a FREESHIP15 coupon code which qualifies any order over $15 in the United States for free shipping. She does offer international shipping, but the free shipping code does NOT apply on international orders.

Her shop description of this polish says,

"The blob is a magenta "crelly" with .118 holographic violet dots, 3 colors of purple/fuscia dots size.020, and a WHOLE mix of all my purple mattes/holos/and metallics.

ANYTHING resembling a purple, went in :)"

I applied 3 coats of The Blob over my natural nail, no base coat, no top coat, and it looks fabulous! I really love the big circle chunks of glitter! And to make this even better, the glitter lays pretty smooth. After wearing this for a couple days I received my second order from her shop which included Glitter Slayer, which is a top coat specifically designed to go over glitter polishes. I tried it out over this polish (after I took this picture) and it made my nails totally smooth.
I wore this polish for about 4 days, maybe 5, and I had no chipping whatsoever. None of the glitter had broken off, there was no cracking. The polish removed easily and did not stain my nails.

Overall, this is a great polish. The formula is perfect, it dries quickly, the base is thick enough to keep the glitter from protruding off the nail like crazy, it doesn't chip or crack and it lasts a really long time. Oh, and it looks super friggin awesome!!!

I should let you guys know that I do post pictures of the stuff I try out on my Facebook page before I post them here, so if you want to see the cool little pretties I find as I get them you should go ahead and like KalamityJaneKosmetics on Facebook. But I'm off to finish up another post as well as make my kiddo's Halloween costume (yes I will have pics up on Facebook of her in her costume!!) so I hope you're all having a great week and do let me know if you decide to try out any of the awesome polishes from this shop! I've got my eye on a few more that are just gorgeous, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to go broke if I keep lusting after her polishes lol. Til next time!

Karaoke Night FOTD and a New Fringe!!

Hello Lovelies!!

So this is my second post tonight, which I know, it's been ages since I've done 2 in one night, but I was glancing at my posts and realized that I never finished this one!! Major oopsies on my part, I started writing this one like a week or 2 ago and just spaced on it. But this is a FOTD from a while back, my cousin and I were going to do karaoke and have a fun girls night out, AND I had just trimmed my hair, so I figured I'd put together a pretty little look for you guys to show off my awesome new fringe. That's right, I went back to the fringe. And it's totally awesome.

I'm going to keep this post brief as I did already get a post up today, but I will list all the products used with the pics as usual.

Face Products Used: e.l.f. Essentials Cover All Stick in Apricot Beige; Pacifica ALIGHT Multi-Mineral BB Cream; e.l.f. Studio Contouring Blush & Bronzing Cream (both blush and bronzer); Benefit Watt's Up!; and Cover Girl Professional Loose Powder in translucent light.

Lip Product Used: Sephora Collection Color Lip Last in Elegant in Brown. I did blot the lipstick quite a bit for a more muted color.

Eye Products Used: e.l.f. Essentials Eyelid Primer in Sheer; a light taupe-ish color and a dark purple eyeshadow from BH Cosmetics San Francisco Makeup Palette; Benefit Watt's Up!; Rimmel Kajal Eye Liner Pencil in Pure White; and Benefit They're Real! Mascara.

As you can see I gave myself some very dramatic and blunt bangs that are totally bitchin. I hit the rest of my hair with a flattening iron, curling the hair under as I went. Can't wait to try out curls with my new fringe!! I'll look like a little porcelain doll! (If you haven't noticed yet, I'm super friggin stoked about my haircut!!)

Well, I'm for real done for the night, might play the Sims 3 for a little bit, but then I'm off to bed. Til next time!!

Candy Corn from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics Samhain/Halloween Collection

Hello Lovelies!!

So for today I have a review of another polish from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics, this time a glitter polish from their Samhain/Halloween Collection called Candy Corn. This is a Limited Edition polish, so if you love it as much as I do hurry and order some!! I ordered a small bottle of this, which is 6 mL and sells for $3, she also has a medium sized polish, 12 mL, for $6, and a full size bottle, 15 mL, for $9. Candy Corn is a glitter polish with orange, white, and yellow glitters in clear base, all matte hexes from sizes ranging .008 to .060. And all of her polishes are 3-FREE and Cruelty FREE, which is super awesome.
Also her shop does have a FREESHIP15 coupon code that qualifies orders in the United States that are over $15 for free shipping!! Totally bitchin, right? She does ship her products internationally, but this coupon code is for people in the US only. She has some other deals listed on her page, as well as her Facebook page: Carpe Noctem Cosmetics on Facebook She posts on her Facebook regularly with all her new polishes and deals, so you should check her out to stay up to speed on what's going on with her shop.

Candy Corn over Gorgeous Gourd by Carpe Noctem Cosmetics

Okay, when I applied this I used one coat of base coat, 2 coats of Gorgeous Gourd (also from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics, you can see my review here: Gorgeous Gourd Review,) and then 3 coats of Candy Corn. Now, candy Corn looks just great with fewer coats, but I seriously LOVE the way this glitter looks so I loaded it up.
The base for this polish is thick enough to support the glitter, so you don't get a ton of settling. You still have to give it a good shake and roll to make sure it distributes all perfect like, but it hold up better than a lot of other glitter polishes.
This is a really fun glitter, it adds a really neat visual texture with very little tactile texture, which is amazing. I really like Candy Corn over orange and red, but it does look cute over other colors as well. My daughter was wearing a green polish from Zoya and she wanted some of the "pretty sparklies" so I put a coat over her green nails and it was adorable.
I wore this polish for 4 or 5 days without any chipping or discoloration or any other weirdness happening to my nails. It was not difficult to remove and it did not stain my nails. To me, that is pretty friggin amazing. I almost never have polish last on my nails that long without them getting jacked up one way or another. And I was wearing 6 coats of polish total!!!

Overall, this is an amazing polish. The glitter is really cute and looks great with a variety of colors, it's super chip resistant and long lasting, the glitter doesn't settle too much, and it's being sold for a very fair price. I already went back to her shop and bought the full size bottle of this glitter so I won't have to worry about running out after she discontinues the Samhain/Halloween Collection. I would highly recommend this polish for those of you that love really fun glitter and the color orange. Orange is my favorite color, so it was a pretty easy sell for me lol.

I hope you guys liked this review, I'm so in love with indie polish right now it's insane. Leave me some love in the comments and let me know how you feel about Candy Corn, or if you've ever ordered from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics, and make sure to leave me links to your fave indie polish distributor, I would love getting to find some more awesome companies to check out! Til next time!!

Gorgeous Gourd from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics

Hello Lovelies!!

So, like so many others, I have totally fallen in love with the Indie nail polish scene. There are so many awesome small/local distributors with some totally bitchin and just amazingly creative polishes. I know a girl who started a company on Etsy, Carpe Noctem Cosmetics, making polishes last year, and when she released her Samhain/Halloween Collection this year I was just like, "Yes... I must have these...." So I placed an order with her and got 3 of her Samhain/Halloween Collection polishes, as well as a medium size bottle of Gorgeous Gourd from her Autumnal Secrets Collection.
A medium sized bottle of Gorgeous Gourd sells for $6 at her Etsy shop, and it's a 12 mL bottle so it's a very reasonable price. She does have a FREESHIP15 coupon code listed on her Facebook page (Carpe Noctem Cosmetics on Facebook) which is good for free shipping on orders over $15 in the United States. She does offer international shipping, but she can't do free shipping over seas.
All of her polishes are 3-FREE (Yay!!) and cruelty free (double Yay!!) and she ALSO hand blends/grinds in small batches, which is pretty dope.
So now that we've hit the basics of the polish, let's move on to the pictures!!

Carpe Noctem Cosmetics - Gorgeous Gourd - No Flash

Carpe Noctem Cosmetics - Gorgeous Gourd - With Flash

Gorgeous Gourd is an orange shimmer nail polish, and the color is absolutely stunning. The finely milled shimmer gives this color so much depth, making the shadows seem so much more intense and the highlights pop in sharp contrast.
I applied 2 coats of Gorgeous Gourd over a base coat and it was fully opaque, though the color was quite vibrant after only one coat. I did not apply a top coat, though after a day of wearing this color alone I did apply one of her glitter polishes over this. But that's a whole different post... :)
I wore this polish with the glitter polish for about 5 days without any chipping or fading or anything. I was really surprised just how well this polish stayed on, I'm particularly hard on nail polishes and I don't usually have them last more than 3 days. There was also no staining of my nails from this polish, which I also seem to have a problem with.

Overall, this is an amazing polish/color. The price is very fair, the color is amazing, it's long wearing, chip resistant, and 3-FREE & cruelty free. I would highly recommend this polish to anyone, it's friggin awesome.
If you want to give her shop a look-see, here's her link: Carpe Noctem Cosmetics Or you could just check out her Facebook page where she posts all of her new colors as well as specials going on at her shop, Carpe Noctem Cosmetics on Facebook.

Hope you all had a great weekend!! I went out with my family and my cousin and her daughter to go and get pumpkins for Halloween, and it was a total blast. I got to pet a cow!!! Speaking of Halloween, I will have a couple Halloween themed posts out this week that are going to be super fun. But I have a Halloween costume to make for the kiddo (I'll post a tutorial if you guys are interested) and I've got to get some sleep. Til next time!!

Super Fresh FOTD

Hello lovelies!!

I've got a quick FOTD for you guys today. Last night I was drying my hair after my shower and I was like, "Damn my hair is getting long." And I was staring in the mirror for a minute and decided it was time. Time to curl my hair. This probably doesn't sound like much of anything to you guys, but I have NEVER curled my hair before. I've worn my hair short since I was about 15 and never really let it grow out again. So this was kind of a big deal for me. And I only burnt my fingers 4 times, and only one of those times removed skin. I'm pretty proud of myself. I was so proud that I did my makeup at 3am just so I could take pictures for this post. I love me with curly hair!!!

Face Products Used: NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Mont Blanc; Mary Kay Mineral Powder Foundation in Ivory 2; e.l.f. Studio Cream Blush & Bronzer Duo; NYX Mosaic Powder Blush in Paradise; Benefit Watt's Up!

Eye Products Used: Matte Light Brown and Matte Dark Brown eyeshadows from BH Cosmetics Malibu Palette; Watt's Up from Benefit; Benefit Cosmetics They're Real! Mascara; Rimmel Kohl Kajal Liner in Pure White.

Lip Products Used: e.l.f. Lip Tint in Nude Nectar; Collection Lock N Hold Lipgloss in Beat Box.

I decided to go for a really fresh look with my makeup because I feel like the curls were a very innocent and young look. I also opted to not do my brows to add to the youthful look. I've found that light, undefined brows make you look younger and more innocent. Which is just what I was looking for with this look.

So what do you think? Do you love the curls? I totally do. I am going to be rocking the curls this fall for sure. I know I'm totally rambling about my hair, but I'm just SO stoked about how awesome it looks!!! But it's late and I'm rambling, so I'm going to wrap this up. Hope you all have a great weekend!! Til next time!!