Hey guys. So it has been quite a while. Again. I know, I know, I'm terrible at being consistent with blog updates, but my life has been pretty hectic the last few days, and because of that I haven't really had the time or energy to come up with new blog post ideas.

That being said, I couldn't miss an August monthly favorites post! Although I was mostly working this month and didn't have too much time to play around with makeup, I still have quite a few faves, as you can see.

I picked up the Kiss Flirty lashes back in May during the CVS clearance sale, but never really got around to wearing them. A mistake on my part, because THEY ARE GORGEOUS. I really hope they weren't on sale because Kiss is planning to discontinue them, because in that case I'm going to have to scramble to stock up on them. Either way, they have tapered ends and the super full, mink lashes look.

I found quite a few e.l.f. Sunkissed bronzers at my local Dollar Tree, much to my delight, and I picked up a couple. These are less of a bronzer than they are a pretty, subtle golden highlight. I'm totally obsessed with them, as well as the price! I've noticed that this shade is a little hard to find nowadays on the e.l.f. website since it's being recognized for its highlighting powers.

My fave eyeshadow palette for the month was the City Color Spice Me Up palette, which I picked up at a local shop in the mall I worked at over the summer. It's definitely a very warm-toned palette, full of spicy-looking shades, and I'm super excited to use it more, especially going into fall. The eyeshadows are pigmented without being chalky, and they blend very nicely. The palette was also only $4--how can you beat that?

My two favorite lippies of the month were the LA Girl matte liquid lipstick in Fleur (beautiful orange-brown shade), and the Milani Color Statement lipstick in Matte Naked. I've been leaning more and more towards neutral nude lipsticks lately, for some reason.

I found the Milani Liquid Eyes Aqua liner at the Dollar Tree over the summer, and I was so excited! Unfortunately, it was the last one left and it had been sneakily hidden behind a stack of LA Colors products, but I am super happy to have it, nonetheless. I love using this in my waterline for a pop of color. I can't wear black in my waterline because it closes my eye too much and creates the appearance of really small eyes, so this is a cute alternative.

And finally, my last August favorite is an eyeshadow pigment from Jesse's Girl in Kiwi Rose. Alone, this pigment isn't very opaque, but layered over a NYX jumbo pencil in Milk (or any sort of light base) it looks phenomenal. It appears white in the jar, but it really has a yellow-green shimmer/duochrome to it. I used this in my recent makeup tutorial up on my Youtube channel (shown below).




And... that's all for my August favorites! Thank you so much for reading, and for all the support I have gotten this far. Be sure to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you all. In the meantime, I will be working on putting up more content soon. I've already had some outfits styled and planned...

Hi guys!

Long time no post. I've been super busy lately, and I also caught a cold (still have a bit of a gross cough), so I decided to go on a hiatus from blogging. During that time, I've accumulated quite a few things to review, so you will definitely be seeing many new posts soon! I'm also hopefully going to balance reviews with my usual outfit posts, once I get a schedule established again.


Today I thought I'd share my thoughts on Pura d'Or, an organic beauty company.



Pura d'Or sells hair and skin care on Amazon, with quite a bit of their products made from argan oil. I tried their Argan Oil Shampoo and Conditioner, as well as their little 1 fl. oz. bottle of pure argan oil.

The shampoo has an herbal scent, rather than a floral scent, which surprised me. It smells very strongly of lavender, and it's not a very sweet scent, which I don't mind at all. It doesn't lather as well as a commercial shampoos, but it does lather and it does quite a good job at getting my scalp clean, even without sulfates. The shampoo is not drying at all, but I'm not so sure that I can feel the benefits of the argan oil in the shampoo. It's also supposed to support healthy hair growth, but I cannot honestly attest to that because I already have very long, thick hair!

The conditioner has more of a sweet scent, and it pumps out a normal white color--what you'd expect from any conditioner. It does a pretty standard job of conditioning my hair, but it doesn't seem to de-tangle my hair too much (I'm a lazy person that wants to be able to de-tangle her long hair in the shower instead of brushing it…). Other than that, I like the ingredients in this conditioner, as well as in the shampoo.

The argan oil is your standard, high-quality pure argan oil. I LOVE argan oil. I use it in my hair as well as on my skin, so I was thrilled to have this. It also came in the recycled bag, pictured on the right.


Final verdict: I think I like the shampoo more than the conditioner, because I don't think I get exactly what I'm looking for in a conditioner in Pura d'Or's conditioner. That being said, I think both are great products for those looking for a more natural/organic beauty route. Both come in quite a big bottle (with a glorious pump!) and are easily purchasable on Amazon. The argan oil is great because argan oil in general is a miracle beauty product. The 1 fl. oz. size is perfect for travel, and I will definitely keep using it.

Both shampoo and conditioner come in a 16 fl. oz. pump container.
The shampoo retails for $20.99 on Amazon Prime http://www.amazon.com/Pura-dor-Prevention-Premium-Organic/dp/B0079R6BD2/ref=sr_1_1?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1430037701&sr=1-1
Conditioner retails for $19.99 on Amazon Prime http://www.amazon.com/Pura-dor-Premium-Organic-Conditioner/dp/B00OA0LVX6/ref=pd_sim_bt_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0SMF5G7W7V8WW3K24XEF
4 fl. oz. Argan Oil (great deal for the price!) $19.99 on Amazon Prime http://www.amazon.com/Pura-dor-Organic-Argan-Nails/dp/B004Z209HS/ref=sr_1_2?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1430038442&sr=1-2

Disclaimer: Products sent for review purposes. All opinions are mine.

1. JCat Beauty Shimmer Powder Eyeshadow I got these three at a store in the mall for $2 each! The metallic eyeshadows are so pigmented. I have Earth Mango (bronze gold), Rose Sienna (pictured above in swatch, burnt orange), and a violet glitter. I'm super obsessed with them, and I have to stop myself from buying too many!

2. NYC Liquid Eyeliner It feels like I've been using N.Y.C.'s cheap drugstore products for the longest time--ever since I was 11! My holy grail eyeliner is the Wet N' Wild MegaEyes liner in black, but I think I may have found a second HG eyeliner! Honestly, I think this one is pretty much the same as my Wet N' Wild one, and both are so inexpensive! Love this, and I'm so glad I learned about it. Thanks, Youtube!

3. e.l.f. Cosmetics Creme Liner in Coffee and Kleancolor angled brow brush
I was looking for a dupe of the Anastasia Brow Pomade, and what do you know? I found a pic on Pinterest (I normally don't trust things on Pinterest… but…) comparing these two! I decided to give it a try, and now I'm hooked! There's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to using gel liner as your eyebrow product, because it comes off so pigmented, but with a bit of patience, a spoolie, and this $1 Kleancolor angled brow brush (Shop Miss A), I have never been happier with my own brows. I actually purchased 2 more brow brushes as backup, just because I liked them so much!

4. Wet n' Wild Contouring Palette in Caramel Toffee Wet n' Wild is hands-down my favorite makeup brand. Their eyeshadows are amazing (try the Comfort Zone palette), and their eyeliner is so cheap and so pigmented! I've been using the Reserve Your Cabana bronzer (it's actually a beautiful, matte highlighter shade) for my everyday highlight shade. This contouring palette lacks in the pigmentation department, but it is very finely-milled.
Above, I've swatched it (you can barely see the highlighter shade because I am quite pale, sorry!) and I've placed the N.Y.C. Sunny bronzer (the bronzer I use--it's super affordable and quite common among the beauty community) next to it for comparison. As you can see, the Sunny bronzer is definitely more orange/warm in tone. The contour shade in the palette is also a warm-toned brown, but it's less orange and more muted in color, giving a much more natural contour shade. Even though the highlighter doesn't really show up on my fair skin, I do use it to subtly brighten up the under eye and set my concealer, and it is perfect for that! You're definitely going to need to build up the contour shade, but I can live with that. Did I mention that this palette is freaking huge in size?

5. Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Teddy Bare Attention, Kylie Jenner-lip color seekers!!! Haha, just kidding. This is the perfect 90s brown lip color, and it's a more brown than my regular e.l.f. $1 lipstick in the color "Fantasy." In fact, I've been wearing this lipstick almost everyday. I'm really impressed by the Milani lipsticks, and I'm hoping to try Naturally Chic the next time I make a CVS run!  You'll definitely be seeing this shade again in my next blog post *hint hint.*

6. Moonriver Beauty Brushes I have been using the small contour brush and the tapered highlighter brush everyday for my contouring and highlighting! I was also very pleasantly surprised by the flat top kabuki--it works perfectly with my mineral foundation. I had been using the e.l.f. Powder flat top kabuki before, but I actually prefer my Moonriver one! It's dense enough to buff out the product, but not too dense and too big to really pack on the powder.

7. And, finally, as a bonus--my newest addition to my makeup storage! You've probably started to notice this, as it was in my last post with the Moonriver brushes.This acrylic storage container came from Marshalls, and cost me only $17. It has three mini drawers, and a detachable lipstick/product holder on top. It looks so so cute, and I'm absolutely obsessed with it!

Sorry this post is so picture and text-heavy! I've been a little sluggish lately with the posts, but I'm working to change that. Hopefully you've also noticed the increase in the quality of my posts… hopefuly!

Hi guys!

So, it's been quite a while since I've last posted! Today I just wanted to share a few more cool products from InstaNatural! Sorry for the lag in the blog posts--I've been incredibly busy and I actually just went to the Pierce the Veil Sleeping with Sirens concert over the weekend (when I usually write my blog posts… see what's happening here?). Pierce the Veil is one of my favorite bands, and they definitely did not disappoint. The other three bands, including Sleeping With Sirens also put on a great show!

But anyway, enough of my rambling… let's get on to the products.


First up is the exciting Superior Hydration Argan Oil Hair Mask. I was actually surprised by the size of this one, it's a good 8 fl oz, and I've used it three or so times on my long, thick hair, and I've barely made a dent in it! As you can see, this hair mask is of the thicker, creamy consistency, and it's less like "white conditioner" than some other hair masks from the drugstore that I've tried.

I'm thrilled that this conditioner is made with natural products, as are most InstaNatural products, and I think you get a good amount for the price. However, as a forever drugstore beauty product user, I can't help but compare it to my beloved Aussie 3-minute miracle hair treatment (which retails for around $3 most drugstores), and it just doesn't leave my hair with the same soft, frizz-free feeling.

Definitely go for this if you love Argan Oil/natural products, but if you're like me and you have a whole head of long, dead, thick, coarse hair, then go for Aussie 3-Minute Miracle (seriously my favorite hair product ever).

It retails for $17.95 on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MNK9R5Y/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1422326122&sr=1&keywords=argan+oil+hair+mask

I was probably most excited to try Insta Natural's 100% Argan Oil, because I've never tried Argan Oil up to this point! I found it really interesting--the fact that you have to only use the smallest drop to apply to your skin/hair always confuses me haha. It has a really interesting nutty smell, and though it smoothes out my hair, I haven't seen much change in the overall quality of my hair. Perhaps I'm using too little?

InstaNatural's Argan Oil currently retails for $17.97
http://www.amazon.com/InstaNatural-Organic-Argan-Fluid-Ounce/dp/B00H93NJLS/ref=sr_1_4?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1422332284&sr=1-4&keywords=argan+oil

And finally, we have the Vitamin C moisturizer! This one I was actually the least excited to try, but now I think I will get the most use out of this! I just ran out of my favorite Aveeno moisturizer, so this was perfect. It's the same pump packaging as the other moisturizers I own from InstaNatural, and so far I'm really loving it! It doesn't dry out my skin or make it burn like some other Vitamin C-infused moisturizers tend to do!

This retails for $19.95

http://www.amazon.com/InstaNatural-Youth-Express-Vitamin-Moisturizer/dp/B00QL1ZJK8/ref=sr_1_2?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1422332581&sr=1-2&keywords=vitamin+c+moisturizer


If you've made it this far, thanks so much for reading! I'm working/planning more blog posts for the future, so definitely keep a lookout for them! I'm hoping to make my next posts a "Monthly Beauty Favorites" as well as some more style posts (which is what everyone seems to enjoy)!

Please don't forget to check out my youtube, which is https://www.youtube.com/user/WeareCatEyes. I love making videos when I'm not writing blog posts, and I've been working on building up my channel, as well!

I also have a twitter, which is @Morganwolfx and a instagram (which I'm actually trying to get the hang of using) @convoluteddreams. Connect with me--I'd love to hear from all of you.

Disclaimer: Products were sent for review purposes. All opinions and writing are my own.

Hello!

Today I wanted to review two, inexpensive brush sets from Amazon! These are both from the seller Beyondtrade. First off, I wanted to start off by saying that I had a very positive experience working with Beyondtrade. Their costumer service is very helpful and responsive. Shipping for me took only a few days!

The first set is a gorgeous, cream-colored 18 brush set. These brushes retail for $27.98 with free shipping. To start off, the packaging is absolutely gorgeous! The "leather" material does have a bit of an odor when first opened, but it's nothing that a day or two of airing out can't cure.

My favorite brushes from this set is definitely the two crease/blending brushes. They are absolutely perfect for getting right in the crease--they definitely take all the work away from getting a perfect contour. The two angled eyeshadow brushes are also very, very nice, and firm enough to be used for both eyeliner and eyebrows. This set doesn't include any standard fluffy eyeshadow brushes, but it does have a lot of flat shaders that are perfect for packing on color (or you can use them as concealer brushes).

My least favorite thing about this set are the face brushes. Though they are SUPER soft, I found them a little too flimsy for my liking, especially the fan brush. However, the foundation brush out of the four face brushes works fine.

If you'd like to check out this product on Amazon, you can do so here!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KV9O4K2


To conclude: Both sets are terrific! I did enjoy the black brush set a little bit more due to the wonderful face brushes, but I love that the cream-colored set had some crease brushes that are harder to find in cheaper brush sets. Both are fabulous deals, and you can't go wrong with either if you are looking to invest in lots of makeup brushes for only a little bit of money.

Disclaimer: I received both sets from Beyondtrade to review. This post was not paid. All opinions are mine.