Long Awaited Update (& a Video?!)

Hello y'all!

I know it's been a minute, in fact, it's been more than just a minute.

I went off to school and forgot about everything that wasn't my sorority or my classes.

I do have some summer goals in mind however:

a. Post on here more often, I know I definitely shouldn't ignore this little baby anymore
b. Get over my feat of public speaking (surprise at the end).
c. Go to a state I've never been to before, I have Ohio in mind for this one.
d. Lose all my college weight. I've got a cool 18lbs. to lose from my first two years as an undergrad.
e. Wake up at 7:30 everyday and make my ass go to the gym at least 3 times a week, I miss being in shape and tan and energetic.

Now, yesterday I made my first youtube video. This is to get over my fear of speaking publicly/presenting. It's not even that I'm 'scared.' I just trip and stumble over my words alot, so hopefully I can become more eloquent through this.

I'll embed the video here in case y'all are interested or something. I hope y'all enjoy! I'm sorry I forgot about le blog for 6+ months!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9EFdOxi4-VQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Review: L'Oreal Eye Make-up Remover

When I slather on the waterproof mascara, my make-up wipes, as much as I love them, don't do the trick.

A few weeks ago I was in Ulta picking up liter Shampoo & Conditioner during that awesome sale they were having on liter bottles of hair care. I wandered over to the skin care aisle to look for a make-up remover that can get all my waterproof make-up off without me rubbing my eyeballs for a few years. I found the L'Oreal eye make-up remover. It promises to get all eye make-up off with no oil!

Sounded like a good eye-dea at the time. HA, I made a funny.

What I didn't know, was that it would be a tremendous waste of my $6.99.

This junk is awful. It barely takes off normal mascara, much less waterproof mascara, which was my entire reason for purchasing it. After not taking my eye make-up off, it irritates my eyes.

I definitely don't recommend this to anyone who needs an eye make-up remover. Skip it and try another one! (Lancome Bi-Facial).

Who can suggest more eye make-up removers to me, that actually work this time please!.

Empties #1: Summer Edition

There comes a time in every girls beauty routine where you realize having 6 open body washes and shampoos is kind of goo hoarding. This summer I embarked on a quest. A quest in which I try to finish as many products as I can before I  move back up to North Carolina for the coming school year.

I managed to get an impressive stash even though I accidentally threw a couple things away (oops!). Here we are with final impressions on everything I managed to use up before it all goes to the dump!

Boots Expert Sensitive Cleansing and Toning Facial Wipes:
 I picked these up one day at Target, mainly because they were cheap (around $6) unlike the ones I normally get (around $12). Now, I have sensitive skin, it breaks out at any given switch up in my skincare routine. which makes me weary to try things, but these, these are great! They got my make-up off fabulously and without irritating my eyes or skin! I would definitely get these or the make-up wipes by Burt's Bees if you're looking to try a new facial wipe!

St. Ives Apricot Scrub:
I have had this stupid face wash for so long I'm quite sick of the scent at this point. I used to think I had oily acne prone skin and would wash it with this like 500 times a day. Alas, I don't have oily acne prone skin like this is recommended for, I, instead, have dry sensitive skin. I've been using this on and off to finish it up. I like this as a scrub in the shower first thing in the morning. Would I go running out to buy this again? I'll probably pick it up one day again, but, at the moment, I'm happy with the skin products I'm using.

Proactiv Refining Mask:
Another product I've had for ages. When my skin is giving me trouble I'll leave this on for about 10 minutes and my skin will be much improved the next morning. I don't think you can get this without being on Proactiv, but it's nice for what it is.

Mane 'n Tail Shampoo:
I got this in hopes of making my hair grow super speed fast and be really soft! This shampoo has a mild scent which you can barely smell after you get out of the shower, but it's still kind of there. This shampoo never gave me issues with product build up and it's dirt cheap! I would definitely go out and buy this when I run out of shampoo!

Biolage Matrix Deep Conditioner:
I've had this for about 3 years. I never really liked this deep conditioner, it worked about as well as a normal conditioner did in my hair (which is why it took me so damned long to use). I wouldn't recommend this or buy it again. I've heard great things about other deep conditioners so I would prefer to look into that over this.

Nice 'n Easy Color Condioner:
This came with my hair color and I like these little conditioners that they give you! They always make my hair nice and silky looking after I use them. I definitely use each one up when I color my hair!

Bath and Body Works Cherry Blossom Body Splash:
I got this for my birthday a year or two ago and had no issues with using this constantly. I feel like scents last me an obnoxious amount of time, but I'm more than okay with it! This is a light floral scent that I would typically wear on a lazy day where I went to class in norts and a t-shirt.

Bodycology Sunkissed Citrus Body Wash:
I picked this giant bottle of body wash up at Target last summer because it is a dupe for my favorite B&BW scent (Tropical Passionfruit). It lathers up quite nicely and makes me smell like awesome! I would definitely buy this again if I saw it.

Skintimate Shaving Gel in Tropical Splash:
This smells like basically all of the Skintimate shaving products I've tried. it works nicely when I'm shaving my legs. That's all I really have to report on this.

Jaqua Body Butter in Marshmallow Cream:
This was a thick stiffer body butter which smelled like frosting to me. It took alot of work to make it sink into the skin, so I got down to the bottom and basically gave up on it because I didn't like the texture or feel of this lotion. (At least I finished a lotion, which I'm sure I've never ever done before).

Crest 3D White Luxe Toothpaste:
This toothpaste doesn't really whiten my teeth, but I like the taste and feeling it leaves my teeth with.

Toothbrush Pack:
I'm only putting this in because I feel like i have about a hundred toothbrush packs under my sink and have never emptied one before. BRUSHING YOUR TEETH WITH A NEW TOOTHBRUSH IS AWESOME, OKAYY?

Listerine Whitening Strips:
These dissolve on your teeth and hurt and are disgusting like icky, no, I hate you, good riddance.

Rembrant Whitening Rinse:
This stuff tastes like hydrogren peroxide, but it's nice if you can stand the taste of that nonsense.

Bath and Body Works Coconut Leaves Candle:
This was a nice mild summery candle that made my room smell nice. It was a typical coconut scent!

B&BW Island Margarita Candle:
Holy, I love this scent. If everything I owned could smell like this all the time! (I have the car smelly thing in this scent in my car). I love love loved this candle and was quite sad when it died!


OOFFFF. I finished up a lot of crap, I'm proud if you made it to the end of this post.

Time for this Panda to go work on packing!

Review: Maybelline Fit Me Liquid Foundation

I'm here to talk to y'all about my new favorite drugstore find. A foundation fit for the gods!

Maybelline Fit Me foundation is marketed as a light to medium coverage foundation that allows your skin to breathe. It comes in 18 shades and has SPF 18.

This foundation comes in a slender square glass bottle with a black lid, similar style to Nars Sheer Glow Foundation.

My post-beach shade is 220 Natural Beige. Online it says for best results, apply with fingers. I have applied this with a buffing brush, a foundation brush, a make-up sponge, and my fingers. My favorite way to apply this is with my fingertips and blend it in to the skin using a damp make-up sponge. The shade range is pretty fantastic and the formula just melts and blends into your skin perfectly leaving behind a natural finish

The wear on this foundation is pretty great! after applying I set it with a powder, and it lasts all day on me! Yesterday I worked a double and then hung out with some friends after work. When I got home, I still had most of it on after 12+ hours of wear. (Foundation lasts quite well on me without a primer though)

Do I recommend? Absolutely. I don't want to lost my tan and have to move back to my other pre-tan foundations!

The Glory in a Purge. A Variation of Project 10 Pan

This summer I've been working to purge my under bathroom counter of various bits and pieces of products that have been living there and my dorm bathroom for quite some time.

I haven't been restricting myself (clearly) from buying other bobs and bits. However, the feeling of seeing a bathroom storage container being filled up with products that I've been staring at for much longer than necessary is quite nice.

We all have those products that just won't finish (Mane & Tail conditioner!) and you are really sick of looking at them. I highly highly recommend doing a bathroom or make-up products purge. If you set your mind to using up products, it is much more exciting when you finally get through them as opposed to mindlessly tossing the empty container into the trash can.

At the end of the summer, right before I head back up the mountain for college, I will be doing a (hopefully massive) post of everything I managed to finish up this summer (that I didn't accidentally throw away).

Has anyone else every gone on a purging of their bathroom or make-up set up? Whether it was cleaning out older products that had no business being there or working to use some stuff up.

Review: Hourglass Liquid Lipstick In Raven

Holy Mother of Matte! After trying just one of these babes, I need to go buy them all, every single one, I don't even care if I like the color or not.

At $28 a tube, it took me awhile to find myself able to shell out the money for this product. After much inner debate (I love the shade Riviera, but it is a bright ass orange) I settled on Raven, which is a nice orange red, which suits my skin tone quite nicely.

When I was viewing all the lipsticks that Sephora has come out with, and swatched every single one on my hand, I could not  get these particular swatches off of my hands with the make-up remover that Sephora has out in the store.

So a month later I went on a Sephora binge and picked this baby up to test out on my lips in a real life and to love forever.

Oh my goodness. This is such a nice (matte) formula that I wish all of my matte lipsticks were this creamy when I apply them. This goes on slightly shiny then dries to the perfect matte lip. With matte finishes being my favorite, I was sold right then and there.

At the end of the day, this lip product would NOT come off. My lips were nice and stained without fading through out the day. So nice to not have to touch my lipstick up constantly.

A little warning with this particular lip product, when  you apply, apply in a very thin layer to the lips or it will dry unevenly and you will have patchy shitty looking lips before you even leave the  house.

Final Say So? I would definitely go pick one up in every shade, especially if you love matte lipsticks. This product is a bit on the pricey side, but definitely well worth it.

Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer: A Review

Let's talk about the perfect bronzer to contour with shall we?! I picked this up when I was quite a bit paler, too light for my skin tone during the summer, which makes me want to go get the original Too Faced Chocolate Bronzer.

I love love love to contour my face, this is the perfect matte bronzer to do so with. The Milk Chocolate Bronzer has never made my face look muddy or orange. The other great thing about this bronzer is the smell. Holy me oh my, I'm not a fan of chocolate or the smell of chocolate, but I could sniff this chocolately perfection all day.

This bronzer is available at Sephora and Sephora.com for $30 (.35 oz). Worth the price? Definitely, I use this almost every day to contour, and I am no where near close to hitting pan.

Amanda Kathryn's final score : 8.5