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

Meep! A Terrifyingly Busy Time Coming Up.

In mid-August I may be moving back to Boone, but I've already done a job of getting incredibly busy before any of AOII or school related activities have started.

I'm working on planning my best friend from high school and her husband's baby shower. It is set for August 10, but there is a lot of planning to be done between then and now. I'm so blessed to have been named the God Mother to her child. I'm actually going to go with her to look at food options as well as decorations once we get ahold of each other!

I recently accepted a position as a Campus Rep for Little Problems (you can find them at littleproblems.weebly.com). They sell items such as koozies, stickers, bows, and group items that are targeted towards girls with Big or Little Sisters in a sorority. I've never been a campus rep, but I'm excited for the experience!

Once I move back to Boone, it's straight into my position as Risk Management Chair for AOII and the 17 (possibly 20) hours of classes I'm taking. I'll put my schedule below for those curious! I'm also working on getting a job for "gas money" (food and make-up). So I'm definitely going to have my hands full this semester.

I'm clearly going to be strapped for a lot of time this semester, but I sure am excited by the challenges that will come forth from this in how well I can manage my time, my to-do lists are definitely going to be brought back and used religiously. 

A Collective Summer Haul

I've been on a bit of a product binge this summer, trying to use up various bits of my bath and make-up stashes. However, since my trip to the beach, it has prompted me on a bit of a splurge in the cosmetics department. My various splurge locations included CVS, Sephora, and Ulta. So let's jump into what I have recently purchased and why!

After my week at the beach, I needed to drop a prescription off at the CVS and decided it would be a great time to get a new foundation to test out. (I had deemed this necessary because my regular foundation was two shades lighter than my skin-tone before I went to the beach for a week. I picked up the Fit Me Maybelline foundation in the shade 220 which matches my post beach skin perfectly. This foundation sits on my skin really nicely while lasting all day on me!

There was a deal for CVS Extra-Care card holders on the cosmetics so I ended up picked up The Falsies mascara by Maybelline, which is a tried and true product for me, as well as the Master Shape eyebrow pencil in Blonde (I've noticed that lighter eyebrow pencil shades work just as well on people with darker hair, but just produces a lighter filled in look as opposed to any brunette shades I've tried). I chose the lightest shade because I do light my eyebrows to be filled in, but not too dark or dramatic.

The final thing I purchased at CVS is a Revlon Just Bitten Kissable in the shade Honey. I purchased this after hearing beauty blogger and Youtuber Essiebutton talk about what a fantastic product it is. After the first time I applied this I was in love!

Yesterday while out with a friend, we ended up in Ulta for her to search for a particular nail polish and for me to stare at make-up brushes. I didn't have any liquid foundation brushes and was also curious to try the Real Techniques brushes. I picked up the EcoTools buffing brush and a Real Techniques Trio that include a Foundation Brush, a Powder Brush, and an Eyeshadow Brush. I'm very excited to try all of these and will review them all on here!

My final purchase was from Sephora. The first thing I got, and the thing I was most excited about was the Hourglass Liquid Lipstick in Raven, This is a warm toned red that is perfect for summer and doesn't budge from your lips once it sets. I had been wanted one of these for awhile but couldn't decide which shade. I know I'll be buying more of these in the future, big thumbs up to Hourglass!

The second thing I bought is a face mist from Ole Henriksen. The African Red Tea Face Mist is supposed to work wonders for all skin types with providing antioxidants when spritzed on the face after cleanser. This facial mist smells citrusy and is a perfect wake-up after my morning showers! I haven't been using it long enough to say much about it, but so far so good!

This is all of my recent purchases that doesn't help my make-up buying problem! I hope everyone enjoyed it and maybe got some new ideas of what looks good out in the beauty world!

Face of the Day: Work Friendly Beauty!

Greetings from planet Earth! I am a Panda Kat who likes to play with makeup!

I know it can be tricky to figure out how to do your make-up for work depending on your job. I work at a pizzeria, so I'm near a hot oven, doing dishes, but I'm still taking orders and talking to customers, so I need to look not like a zombie! However, it is scary when a person on the job is wearing enough cosmetics to give everyone a full face worth of make-up to go around.

There is a tricky line to walk when working a job like my where you should not have the make-up caked on, but you need to look somewhat presentable.

I have managed to figure out a great, and easy, make-up look that one can use for almost any job! You look put together, but not like you're going out for a night on the town! This is a light look that you won't be sweating off during work!

Let's get is started in hereeeeeeeeeee:

 First, after getting out of the shower with a freshly washed face, I moisturize using Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream. I do my hair and let the moisturizer sink in to my skin and fully dry(?).

After I make my hair not a hot mess, I sweep a bit of a nice peachy shimmery eyeshadow on my lid. I put MAC's Naked Lunch in my photo, but I used a similar color from a discontinued brand that is an almost exact dupe for Naked Lunch.

Let's get on dem lashes~ I used Maybelline's The Rocket waterproof mascara in Brownish Black on my top and bottom lashes I use a waterproof mascara for work just to make sure it stays on regardless of how hot it gets or if I'm doing dishes and splash myself in the face(which happens a couple times a week). I used brownish black to make my lashes still look semi-natural, we want to accentuate that natural beauty.

Lastly, I sweep a powder over my nose and t-zone area to keep it shine free through my work shift. I used Neutrogena's Healthy Skin Pressed Powder in 30 Buff.

There you guys go! A lovely natural beauty look specifically for the workplace, if you work in a fine dining establishment such as myself! Now don't forget, no nail polish and keep that lion's mane of hair out of your face!

Recently Used Up Products: Impressions

Since about the last month or so of the semester rolled around, I had a mission: use up as many products as possible to avoid having to bring as much stuff back to South Carolina when I came back down.

While I didn't use up as much as I had wanted to, I used up quite a bit of shower products and a few make-up products.

So here lies my final thoughts on the products after I had been using them for a good length of time. Off we go!

1. Maybelline's The Mega Plush Volume Express Mascara: This product, unfortunately, is a love or hate mascara. I hate it. It took me a lot of effort to not throw it away and actually finish it. Mascara is my favorite kind of make-up, I can look at different kinds of mascara for hours on end. I'm usually quite impressed with the Maybelline mascaras though. This felt like(and looked) as though I wasn't wearing any mascara, but still managed to flake (first mascara to ever flake on me) while wearing it. I usually threw this on a day where it was the only make-up I had on and was spending my day or night in the library. I was able to use it with some success as a layering mascara, but I honestly didn't care for it and will not be repurchasing it.

2. Bath and Body Works, Aruba Coconut Shower Gel: I love fruity shower gels more that a normal person probably should. This electric blue soap made me excited the first time I saw it and did not disappoint me. I loved the coconut scent that, in my mind, had some sort of berry intermingling in the scent. I enjoyed every second that I used it. Being a typical Bath and Body Works Shower gel, I was not disappointed, or left with any nasty residue on my skin after using it, I felt fresh and clean.

3. Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Conditioner: Another let down. Another brand I usually really enjoy. I have extremely dry hair and damaged ends, so the more moisturizing a conditioner is, the better. After using this conditioner, not matter how long or little I left it in my hair, did nothing to make it feel moisturized or conditioned. I struggled to finish this product instead of just throwing it away.

4. Benefit's Boi-ing Concealer: This is definitely not my first finished Boi-ing and definitely not my last. Benefit was one of the first 'nice' make-up brands that I bought when I first started wearing make-up, which was about six or seven years ago. I have problems with getting enough sleep or falling asleep and have constant under-eye circles. My face also gets blemishes when I become stressed, so concealer is a must in my daily routine. Between this concealer and the Benefit Erase Paste, my skin looks like I sleep eight hours every night and never break out ever. Benefit has the best concealers that I have ever used, and a little goes a long way, so you definitely get your money's worth out of it! Boi-ing is on my shopping list to get more at the moment.


Welp! That's all I've used up at the moment, and once I start wearing make-up again, actually I already have, I can review more products for you guys! I just forgot what make-up was the entire last two months of this semester!

A New Glory (For Me): A Discovery and Review

Hey everyone, oh-kay, I know it's been awhile, a long while. I've just been having a hard time keeping myself in check when it comes to posting, obviously, my workload this semester hasn't helped either, but I plan on writing whenever I have a free night from now on! ONWARD!

I have NEVER been good about applying lotion, ever, it's been a 'meh' on my getting ready list to be honest. One of my resolutions this year has been to remember to apply body lotion, and I've actually mostly kept up with it.

Last time I went to Bath & Body works I decided to grab a body lotion to put my moisturizing remembering to the test. I grabbed a bottle of the Rio Rumberry Triple Moisture Body Cream, and wow.

This scent and lotion are my absolute favorites at the moment, I didn't realize that I could enjoy putting a lotion on enough to actually remember to do so!

This lotion goes right into my skin without leaving it greasy or that nasty lotion residue-y feeling that I hate in my lotions. I would definitely recommend the Triple Moisture Body Lotion to anyone who hates the feeling of lotion but needs it desperately such as myself!