Hey guys,

Welcome back to the project pan updates.  I wanted to share my updates for some of the products I shared a few weeks ago because the Lorac Pro palette has had some major changes.  The photo to the right is where I was at the last update.   You can see Cream and Taupe were completely gone.  Mauve was nearly finished and I had repressed it.  I was close to pan in Sable, Champagne, Gold, and Deep Purple.   My goals for last month were to hit pan in Gold, and Deep Purple and get some use on Slate.  Below you will see where I am now, and let me tell you it blows my mind how much use I got out of this palette!

As you can see White has major pan.  I have repressed this shadow once already this month, and I have hit major pan once again.  There is only a very thin layer left in the pan, so that will be gone soon.  I use white combined with other cream shadows to set my base.  Light Pink has pan now as well.  I have been mixing Light Pink with Birch from the ABH Sultry palette this week since that is the palette I drew from my spinner app for the week.  Light Pink has quite a bit of a thin layer so I should be able to expand the pan here easily.  Once I finish out white I will start using it to set my base because it doesn't have a ton of color to it.  Mauve is completely gone.  Sable has pan now and I have just been using this to deepen the crease.  Espresso I have expanded the pan by using it as a liner.  Black I have finally hit side pan because I use it to set my waterline.  Nude and Champagne I have been using as a highlight.  Neither one I enjoy for this but I want them gone.  Champagne is very glittery and I don't like it at all.  Gold is by far the best progress I have made this month.  I have been mixing Deep Purple, Gold, and Light Bronze with a ColourPop shadow to use all of them up and make a bit of an interesting gold shade.  I do the same thing with Slate, so I have only used slate a few times because I'm seeing more progress on Deep Purple.  Slate also seems to be more densely packed in the pan.

As you can see, I have repressed Pewter and I have only used it one or two times using the Beauty For Real Shadow Stx in Midnight Marathon.  I haven't had much progress on either of those because I have been focused on some other shades.  Garnet I have used several times and I have a pretty big dip in it.  Deep Purple has a very small pan in it now, and as I mentioned I have used Slate a few times.

Let me also touch on the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit.  I stand by my previous statement.  These powders are pressed so incredibly hard that it is going to take forever to get through them.  I have the most use out of the light peach powder even though I mix that shade and the banana shade every single day and use them under my eyes.  I have found that I really don't like yellow toned powders for under my eyes because my skin is a bit more of a pink tone and I tend to stick to neutral to pink toned foundations.  The two bronzers on the bottom left of the palette I use every single day with a fluffy brush and I haven't seen much progress in the pans, but they are being used.  I haven't touched the bronzer on the far right, and I haven't used the highlighter much because I have been working on my Becca mini that I will talk about in just a minute and I have been using Nude and Champagne from the Lorac Pro palette.

The Maybelline Color Tattoo in Just Beige is by far one of my more impressive updates for this month.  If you remember I had pan showing for the product right in the middle.  Now I have product cleared out all the way to the side.  I cannot wait for this stuff to be gone!  I feel like my transition shades are all oxidizing a bit and I think it has to do with this product.  As I mentioned above I always set my base down with shadows; however, I can't remember some of the shadows I was using in my transitions ever oxidizing like they have lately.  I also want to mention that this stuff is so thick that I have found it is not very fun to blend out.  I have been applying it from the container to my eye using various brushes; however, I have found that none of them are useful when it comes to blending this out nicely.  No matter what I do this is so thick that it sticks in one spot and when I blend it it completely goes away in others.

I am putting my mini Becca Moonstone highlighter away at this moment.  As I mentioned above I stopped using this one within the last week and I have been working on finishing Nude and Champagne from the Lorac Pro palette.  Let me mention that this is the first highlighter I have ever hit pan on, so I am really proud of myself.  If you remember at the last update I had stuck a pin in the center of the pan to see how deep the pan was.  It turned out that I was very close to hitting pan at that update, and I managed to hit pan with my brush a few days later.  My goal had originally been to just hit pan; however, I decided to see how far I could expand the pan this month.

Stay tuned because I'm going to be sharing the start of my project pan soon.  If you watch Kat and Hailey from Beauty News on YouTube, you know that they shared the #TeamProjectPan project yesterday I believe.  This project is a rolling project, so it will be happening all year long.  I am also pulling out the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette to pan this year with the Pan as Old as Time collab with the Pantastic Ladies so wish me luck.

To update you guys, my no buy is starting in a few days.  I recently ordered the Give Me Glow Cosmetics Grunge Palette at the restock because I had been eyeing it for a long time.  I am also waiting on an order to come in from Bleach London that I made back on black Friday, so who knows when that will get here. 

How are your projects going so far?  Are you joining any project pans this year?  Let me know below!

Hey loves!

I'm back with a review for you guys.  I have been meaning to work on this one for quite some time now, and I'm finally getting around to it.  I have put myself right on a low buy list, so pretty much everything I'm going to be reviewing on here will be things that are already in my collection.  My plan is to get back into project panning that way I can work through my massive stash (only to go on another spree around Christmas).  I know I can't resist all the releases that happen around Christmas, but until then I'm going to shop my stash as much as I can.  Of course I'll still be keeping up with new releases, and if something really catches my eye I might just go for it.



Like I mentioned above, I have had this post on my list for quite some time.  I actually placed my order from Bleach London last summer, in June I believe, when the brand launched their makeup line.  I heard about the brand launching the makeup line prior to the launch since I follow Lou Teasdale, the celebrity hair and makeup artist, behind the launch of the makeup side of Bleach.  If that name sounds familiar, the you may be a fan of One Direction.  Lou was the hair and makeup artist for the boys through the entirety of the band, and she will occasionally work with Harry Styles these days.  Her sister Sam Teasdale, and friend Alex Brownsell founded Bleach London with their focus on hair color, and if you check out their website you will definitely see their adventurous color line. 

Quickly I'm going to mention a few things I remember about the launch of the makeup line.  I definitely recall the website taking quite a bit to load, but once I was able to get through things ran fine until I went to check out.  I was able to add everything I wanted to my cart; however, once I got to the point where I would need to put in my card information nothing would load so I just quit trying after a few attempts.  At the time, international shipping from the UK to the states £20, so I went ahead and added a bunch of different items so I would be able to get a good handle on the brand.  Not to mention their prices are rather affordable.  I was able to get through on the check out the next day without any issues.  The other thing I remember about the website was how confusing it was to order their eyeshadows.  Since the website was being rather glitchy, and images and descriptions weren't quite showing up correctly I was having to guess on colors I wanted which isn't exactly the worst thing in the world.  In the end I ordered two matte shadows, one metallic eyeshadow, three highlighters, and two lip kits.

Remember how I mentioned that I ordered in the summer?  I knew shipping would take a bit since the items were coming from London, and since the brand was new; however, I never imagined how long it was actually going to take.  I received the two lip kits in August after I received an email from the brand needing my address because of a system error.  After that, I had to wait around another month for the rest of my order to arrive; however, I am happy to state that everything I ordered arrived in once piece.

Let's talk about the lip kits first, shall we?  You can see the packaging of both of the kits above.  I have to say that I love this packaging the most from the brand.  Each box has an image of lips that are wearing the color of the kit.  The lip kits are currently available in 8 colors for £12 each, and each of those kits come with a small lip pencil and a liquid lipstick which match.

As you can see to the left, the two kits I purchased were "I Saw Red", and "Rosé".  "I Saw Red" is a vibrant warm red that I saw on Lou Teasdale and immediately wanted it on my lips.  That is such a strange statement for me since I really don't reach for bright reds very often, but when I do I want one that is going to stay in place.  As for Rosé, I was expecting to be a little less pink, but regardless I wanted to try out a color I would be more likely to reach for on the daily.  The formula is far from the worst I have tried; however, the pencil is definitely on the stiff side and the liquid lipstick can lean a bit on the dry side.  I wasn't really surprised by any of these things, since liquid lipsticks always dry my lips out.  I'm also terrible about exfoliating my lips before wearing them so they will definitely show every flaky bit on my lips.  One thing I realized while I was looking around the website to write this post is that Bleach London also offers hair dyes in some of the same shades, such as "I See Red".


As I mentioned above, I also grabbed three of the four highlighters offered by Bleach London.  The highlighters, or "Legal High Lights", from left to right in the above photo are Blullini, Rose, and Berwick Street Floor.  As you can see Blullini looks white in the pan, but when it is applied to the skin it is actually a pink highlighter.  Of the three highlighters Blullini is definitely my favorite because the other two are full of a chunkier glitter.  I believe the fourth highlighter offered is a gold version that is similar to the other two I purchased, and Blullini is the only one offered by the brand that is a finer powder.

You can see the swatches of the three "Legal High Lights" I purchased to the right, and yes I know I spelled Blullini wrong in the photo.  As you can see in the swatches, and like I mentioned above, Blullini is a color shifting highlighter that appears white in the pan, and pink when the light hits it.  Rosé is by far the most wearable shade for me since it is a beautiful rose shade that has a golden shift with the glitter, and Berwick Street Floor is an orange tone with a golden shift with the glitter in it.  I love to use Berwick Street Floor as an eyeshadow for myself; however, I feel that if you have deeper skin than me I think that it would look fantastic as a highlighter.  All three of these highlighters along with one other shade, Golden Shower (appears to be a gold highlighter similar in texture to Berwick Street Floor, and Rosé) are all available on the Bleach London website for £4.50 each.


Above you can see the three eyeshadows or "Louder Powders" I ended up purchasing in my little haul from Bleach.  Two matte shadows, and one metallic.  Overall I'm incredibly happy with the three shades I ended up with considering I was essentially shooting blind on what I was going to end up with.  The matte brown eyeshadow on the far left is "B 3ma" which is a shade I personally love to use as a transition shadow, or even by itself when I am having a particularly lazy day.  The second shadow is "ISR4sh" which is a color I don't have a ton of in my collection.  I don't really wear red eyeshadows very often, but I do like to have a pigmented red when I go for it and this one definitely fits that bill.  This shadow, and all other products from Bleach London, is a vegan eyeshadow.  Now if you know anything about red eyeshadows, typically the red pigment comes from carmine which is not a vegan product.  Sometimes it is hard to find a pigmented, vegan red eyeshadow so it is great that this is an option on the market. 

The last eyeshadow I purchased was "GP4me" which is a metallic "Louder Powder".  You cans see in the swatch to the side that it is a deep taupe-grey that has a multicolored shimmer through the shadow.  I love the look of this shadow all over the lid with just a bit of the brown shade through my crease for a quick look that really looks like I tried harder than I did.  The fallout from this shadow is really just upon initial application for me, so I pack a little bit more powder under my eyes before I apply the shadow and wipe away the fallout with the excess powder.  As for the other two shadows, they are densely packed in the pan and don't have much fallout, or powder kickup when you run your brush around the pan but pick up just fine and apply well and blend easily.

Bleach London Small BYO Palette £8 holds 9 eyeshadows (photo: Bleach London's website)

The "Louder Powders" are available in 33 different shades for £3 each, and the "Metallic Louder Powders" are available in 6 shades for £5 each.  You can purchase a magnetic palette from Bleach London's website as well, and fill it with the shadows.  The large BYO Palette is £10 and fits 28 eyeshadows, or the small BYO Palette is £8 and fits 9 shadows. 

Overall I love my products from Bleach London, and love the branding of the company.  Even with the crazy shipping time, and wondering if my order had gotten lost I completely understand since it was an initial launch of this branch of the brand and there had been a ton of build up and excitement leading up to the launch.  I eventually received all of my products and they were all in one piece so I am completely happy.  Bleach London sent out the products as they were available, so I received my products in two different shipments a few months apart.  Be sure to check out Bleach London's website for some really great, affordable products for hair and makeup.  If you are in the UK you can book an appointment right from their website, and check to see if their products are in a shop near you. 

I hope you guys found this useful.  Like I mentioned above, I have placed myself on a low buy for this year because I went so crazy buying things around Christmas last year, so many of my reviews on this blog are going to be of products I have hanging around (if I'm honest it's products I have been meaning to review for a long time).  Have you tried anything from Bleach London?  If so let me know your favorites! 

Hello again loves!


I ordered the Fall 2016 bundle of nine shadows to try out the brand Feather River Body (now Sydney Grace) back in the summer, so I have had the shadows in my collection for quite some time now.  As I write this post, I am waiting on another order of two of their bundles to arrive in my mail, so I will have another post coming soon on those.

So let's talk a little about the company.  I discovered Feather River Body on Instagram.  I was scrolling through my feed, and someone had posted some very nice looking swatches and I proceeded to try to find the brand.  According to their Instagram post announcing the new brand name, Sydney Grace, the brand began by selling girl's accessories. The owners had made soaps with their mom while they were growing up, so to expand the brand they began making soaps and other bath products.  Steadily by playing with colorants in the soaps they began to develop and interest in making makeup.  They began selling on Etsy, and eventually opened their own website.  Like I mentioned above the brand changed their name in the last few months to Sydney Grace, apparently a nod to the owner's children and in the transition you may be receiving the old packaging as the new is phased in.



When I decided that I wanted to try the brand, I came across the Fall 2016 bundle of eyeshadows and immediately put it in my cart.  I wanted to gather a decent amount of their eyeshadows to swatch and play with before sharing my opinion.  This bundle contains four pressed pigments, three mattes, and two shimmers.  All of the nine shadows come in the sleeves pictured above, but they come as just the pan.  You will need to buy a palette for these to stick in, otherwise you can leave them in their sleeves.  Sydney Grace offers an extra large palette that you can fill with shadows; however, there are plenty of other places across the internet offering these same magnetic palettes.  All of the shadows are hand pressed, so there are some slight imperfections from pan to pan, but that doesn't bother me.

According to the Sydney Grace website, the Fall 2016 bundle is still available; however, you will have to pre-order it.  The bundle is $34 for nine shadows making each shadow approximately $3.78.  The matte and shimmer shadows are regularly $5 each on the website, and the pressed pigments are $6.  Each shadow is 1.8 grams which works out to this bundle weighing approximately 16.2 grams.


The first four shadows in the bundle are below:

• Sunset - Matte - "Red Orange" shadow in a 26mm pan.  This shadow is really pigmented and blends out nicely, but I found it works best when using only a small amount at a time.  If you try to blend out too much of it at once, it tends to be a bit difficult to blend.  
• Blushed - Pressed Pigment - Rose Gold shadow in a 26mm pan.  The finish of this shadow is absolutely gorgeous.  Highly metallic and applies best with a wet brush, a finger, or a foam applicator to keep that foiled finish.  
• Saturn - Shimmer - "Purple base with a pink shimmer" shadow in a 26mm pan - Purple shadows are so hard to press, so it's not all that surprising that this one will require a bit of building and patience.  This particular shade is a gorgeous purple that doesn't end up being so dark that it looks black like many other purples of this tone.  The color in the pan on this purple is the shade that you can build this shadow to.  
• Chocolate - Pressed Pigment - This is a warm toned rich brown color in a 26mm pan.  This shadow is listed on the website, and in the bundle on the site as "Chocolate Bar" so I was a little confused trying to find more information on this shade, but if you are looking for it search "Chocolate Bar".  This shade is a staple shadow that I use on the outer half of my lid to deepen that area.  This shadow is not as metallic as the Blushed pressed pigment, so you won't have to worry about using a damp brush or your fingers with this one.  The sheen in this particular shadow is more along the lines of the brand's "shimmer shadows". 

The next five shadows from the collection are below:

• Dark Chocolate - Matte - this is a dark matte brown eyeshadow in a 26mm pan.  This is the type of shadow that I like to use as a liner, to set my liner, or just in the outer corner of the eye.  This particular shade, like the others in the collection, only requires a little product.  It's easiest to take just a small amount of the shadow on a brush and build up the color to your desired pigmentation for an easier time blending.  
• Peach Crush - Matte - I actually couldn't find this on the website; however, it is listed in their Etsy shop in a single 26mm pan and in one other bundle (the "bundle similar to the Just Peachy Matte Palette").  This peach is light enough that I can use it as a very warm transition shade.  I just have to use a small amount on a fluffy blending brush and build the color slowly, but the shade blends out smoothly.  
• Queen of Hearts - Pressed Pigment - This shade is a gorgeous metallic ruby red shadow in a 26mm pan, and it was the one that caught my eye the most when I opened the package.  The name is absolutely fitting for this shadow, and it is such a smooth formula.  It will blend out smoothly and evenly if you wish to have a less intense shade.  If you want the intensity of the shadow you should apply the color with your fingertip, a foam applicator, or a wet brush.  However, if you are like me and like less intense red shades, you can blend this shade out easily.  
• Elegance - Shimmer - This shade is a gorgeous cream that is incredibly smooth and silky.  The shadow comes in a 26mm pan, and makes the perfect subtle highlight for the brow or inner corner. 
• Laura's Memory - Pressed Pigment - "Orange Bronze" shadow in a 26mm pan.  This is such a gorgeous metallic amber color that I reach for often.  The shade really works well on my blue eye, and I really love the metallic sheen this particular shadow gives.  If you want the intense metallic finish it is best used with a wet brush, a finger, or a foam applicator.  If you want a less intense finish, this shadow does blend out nicely.  

As I mentioned at the end of my previous post I have so many new posts planned, and I am really excited to share them all with you!  As I write this I am waiting on several packages to arrive in the mail, and believe me I will be swatching, playing, and reviewing all of them in the coming months!  I am also planning on doing a weekly, or bi-weekly post of the upcoming releases in the beauty world.  With it being close to Christmas, there are so many things releasing that the posts could get rather lengthy.

Hey loves!


Today I am going to write about my experience using the Tea Tree shampoo from Maple Holistics, and a little about the company itself.   I don't know if I have ever mentioned my specific hair type on this blog, but if you have seen any photos I have posted of myself, you probably have a pretty good idea.  I have the most unruly thick hair imaginable.  To make matters even worse, my hair is thick, wavy, and I am prone to dandruff.  What a combination!  All of these things run in my family, so it's not surprising that I have the same problems.

Hey guys!  

Sorry I have been rather absent lately, I am hoping to get better about posting again since I have several posts planned.  However to get back into the routine of posting, I am going to do a quick review of the VII Code T2 Oxygen Eye Cream.  I was lucky enough to receive the eye cream roughly a month ago, and I have been using it every morning and every evening.  If you have been around my blog for any period of time, you will know that I have reviewed a few other eye creams, but I have to say that this is one of my favorites.  


Prior to using the T2 Oxygen Eye Cream, I had been using the Garnier Nutritioniste Ultra-Lift Anti-Wrinkle Firming Eye Cream, which honestly felt more like a regular moisturizer put into a smaller pot.   In comparison, the T2 Eye Cream feels slightly thicker and overall I found that I only needed the smallest amount for my eyes.  As you can see in the photo above, the actual eye cream pot is rather small, only about 5ml of product is in the package which equals roughly one third of the amount in the Garnier package for comparison.  Even though there is less product in this package, I still have more than half of the product left even after using it morning and night for a complete month.  

As you can see in the photo above, the eye cream comes packaged in a beautiful leather drawstring pouch with an activation strip.  I was confused by the activation strip because the instructions on the package are located on a tab on the pouch and I couldn't find any information about the activation strip.  According to the company's website,  this component called the 'activation strip' is to be used to massage the eye area moistened with the cream to remove dead skin buildup and help the skin to absorb the nutrients in the cream.  After massaging the eye area with the activation strip VII Code suggests using a dotting method to make sure the remaining cream is evenly spread on the eye area.  I personally found that the cream absorbed quickly into the skin, and left no film on the skin which made it ideal for morning application.


The cream is said to minimize the look of fine lines, wrinkles, and crow's feet much like any other eye cream.  I currently don't have a severe case of fine lines and wrinkles, but preventing those are fairly high on my list for a skin care routine.  VII Code also states that the cream is supposed to prevent and correct the look of dark circles and bags under the eyes.  Dark circles and bags under the eyes are definitely huge problems for me these days.  I have so many things going on that I have found that I end up getting less sleep than I really should be.  I have noticed that the area under my eyes has been less puffy, and the dark blue bags have definitely lightened.     

According to VII Code, the cream is infused with evening primrose which is said to boost blood circulation and smooth wrinkles, avocado which delivers antioxidants to the skin, elderberry which contains antioxidants that maintain glowing younger looking skin, and chamomilla recutita which is said to reduce dry flaking and restore suppleness to the skin.  


In short, this eye cream is pretty pricy at $99 for 5ml of product; however, you really don't need to use much in each application so the small pot will last you much longer than expected.  I really have enjoyed using this cream since it absorbs quickly and leaves no obvious residue on the skin.  I honestly feel that the cream has helped with the dark circles that were forming under my eyes before I started using the product.  If you are interested in purchasing the VII Code T2 Oxygen Eye Cream for yourself, you can find it on the VII Code website, or on Amazon (if you have a Prime membership I suggest using Amazon) for the same price.   

 









*I received the product mentioned above in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.  All opinions are 100% my own.  

Hey guys!

I have another review of a Valentia product to share with you guys today!  If you have been around for any period of time, you know that I have reviewed several other Valentia products which I will provide links to at the end of this post.  Overall I have had a really great experience with the brand, and my experience with this particular mask was no different!  I was extremely excited to have the opportunity to review the new Skin Detoxifying Clay Mask from the brand since I have particularly oily skin.  I also have quite large pores due to the excess oil my face naturally produces so I really like masks like this one.