cruelty-free beauty

Barbie Girl

August 6, 2020BeautyKristenComment

My amazing perfect wonderful beautiful talented cousin just started an Etsy shop! This is a HUGE deal, guys. She’s been wearing the sickest handmade earrings to family events for years and finally decided to start selling them. All her designs are so unique and kitschy. I bought two pairs (so far): a pair of mismatched purple gems, and the cutest Barbie shoe earrings in the world!

I’ve literally always been a Barbie girl. And a Bratz girl. And a Polly Pocket girl. And an American Girl girl (I just really like dolls, okay?). So I decided to create a hot pink look to go with these hot pink earrings, and I love the way it turned out!

I used white liquid eyeliner by Danessa Myricks Beauty as a base, then colored it in with a hot pink shade from James Charles’ Morphe palette (both things that I’ll be reviewing soon!). To match, I wore some hot pink lipgloss by Almay. I felt like a literal Barbie, and I loved every second of it. I was about to cry while taking this makeup off before I went to bed.

So, if you’re in the market for some new earrings (or even if you’re not), check out SweetCreatureShoppe on Etsy! And check out my other cousin’s shop on Instagram, the Thrift Gift Shoppe! She just made some tie-dye and bleach masks and I’m obsessed. My cousins are just kicking ass, and I am so here for it.

Fenty Beauty's Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation

May 17, 2020Beauty, Beauty Review, Cruelty-FreeKristenComment

What’s up gang? I hope everyone’s doing well. I’m currently being yelled at by a horde of angry Jeffree Star fans because I don’t like his new makeup palette. Isn’t life grand? So here I am writing a review about a product I really love because I like to replace the negativity in my life with positivity. Rihanna is the best medicine.

Yup, it’s a Fenty review, babes! Sometime last year, I wandered into Sephora looking for a new foundation when I spotted the Fenty fixture. I messed around with the shades a bit and finally found it: my perfect shade. I was honestly amazed at how well it matched my wrist and had to buy it immediately.

According to Fenty’s website, my shade, 110, is “for very fair skin with cool pink undertones,” which is probably the best way to describe my skin. I know the Fenty 40 is kind of old news by now, but I’ll never stop talking about it. They really did that! Accurate shades for every inch of the skin spectrum. It’s legendary.

Aside from the shade itself, I really love the formula. I’m not a full-coverage fan because those formulas tend to cover up my freckles too much and make me look unnatural. I can use just a bit of Pro Filt’r and get the exact amount of coverage that I want. And like I said before, since the shade matches my face so perfectly, I always get that barely-there look.

My only complaint about this foundation is that it’s not very buildable. If I use a bit too much, it tends to get very cakey and makes my skin look super dry. It’s definitely something to watch out for, but won’t deter me from purchasing this again at all.

I just bought some Fenty Matchstix during the Sephora Spring Sale, so I’ll let you guys know how that works out for me! I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.

my ride or die haircare products

April 21, 2020Beauty, Beauty Review, Cruelty-FreeKristenComment

I’ve always loved taking care of my hair. Part of my fascination is figuring out which products work for me, and which just don’t. My hair is pretty thick and tends to get wavy and frizzy. I know there are soooo many different types of hair out there, so these products may not work for you, but here are the products I couldn’t live without!

Not Your Mother’s All Eyes On Me 10-in-1 Hair Perfector, $7

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I got this product in an Influenster VoxBox two years ago and I’ve been obsessed ever since! It claims to add body, strengthen, detangle, moisturize, add shine, control frizz, repair dry hair, act as a heat protectant, mend split ends, and seal cuticles, which all sounds way too good to be true, but I’m telling you, this is a miracle product.

I usually towel dry my hair when I get out of the shower, brush it out, spray some of this in my hair, brush it through, then towel dry some more. I’ve noticed a serious difference in my hair since I started using it. It makes my hair so ridiculously soft. I even got my mom to start using it!

Check out my full review here!

Buy here

T3 Micro Singlepass Compact Straightener, $89

I straighten my hair quite a bit, so when a couple years ago I learned that ceramic straighteners are better for your hair, I did my research and T3 came very highly recommended. So, I jumped on the bandwagon, and never turned back! This is the best straightener I’ve ever used. Ever.

The first time I used it, I was legitimately in shock. My hair looked amazing. I was upset I hadn’t bought it sooner! For years, it would take me at least an hour and a half to straighten my hair. Now it takes maybe fifteen minutes. I don’t need to pull my hair or keep running over parts because it gets the job done perfectly. I recommend this straightener to literally everyone. All of T3’s products are great, but this one right here is magic.

Buy here

R+Co Death Valley Dry Shampoo, $32

I’ve been using different dry shampoos for years, but I haven’t been able to find one that’s perfect for me, until now! I had heard of R+Co before, but learned a lot more about it when we started selling them at Naked Retail. Since everyone was raving about their products, I decided to give the dry shampoo a try, and I’m so happy I did!

Other dry shampoos I’ve used have left a weird powder film on my hair. I even tried a tinted dry shampoo spray, which was just horrible. Death Valley sprays on clear and leaves no residue at all. It also smells so yummy! Not all of your hair products have to smell like chemicals, I promise.

R+Co is also cruelty-free, vegan, color-safe, sulfate-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free… I could go on. Basically full of the good stuff and none of the bad.

Buy here

What are your ride or die hair products? Let me know in the comments!

Renpure's Keratin and Argan Restorative Shampoo

September 7, 2019Cruelty-Free, Beauty, Beauty ReviewKristenComment

Hello, my angels! I’m coming at you live from Long Island, New York, where I’m surrounded by boxes and piles of my belongings. Things are coming together slowly but surely, but I’m still overwhelmed!

Today, I’m writing about Renpure’s Keratin and Argan Restorative Shampoo. I found it in Target earlier this year and decided to buy it because it had great ingredients and my hair needed some serious restoring at the time. Since then, I’ve chopped a chunk of my mane off (which you’d know if you were following me on Instagram ;) ). My hair feels so happy and healthy!

Anyway, I’ve been trying to use more natural, clean beauty products lately. Renpure stood out to me in the beauty aisle because of this shampoo’s two main ingredients: argan and keratin. I knew that keratin makes hair straighter and smoother, and that argan oil has a ton of healing properties. I’ve learned from Renpure’s website that argan has lots of vitamin E, antioxidants, and fatty acids, which hydrate and refresh your hair. This shampoo was made with berries, apples, and desert lily, so it smells super yummy, which is really important to me all the time, but especially in the shower.

All of Renpure’s products are free of sulfates, phthalates, dyes, parabens, gluten, propylene glycol, and, my favorite, “bad vibes” :) Renpure donates personal care products to homeless shelters and people affected by natural disasters as well.

As much as I love Renpure’s mission and practices, I wasn’t the biggest fan of this shampoo. There was nothing wrong with it, but it definitely fell short of my expectations. I’ve been using it for a while, and I saw no difference in the smoothness of my hair or in my split ends, which I had lots of before I chopped them off. With such great ingredients and mission, I really expected more. I wouldn’t be against trying them in the future, but I probably wouldn’t go nuts to buy them again.

Have you tried Renpure’s products? Let me know what you think in the comments!

glossier's milky jelly cleanser

August 6, 2019Beauty, Beauty Review, Cruelty-FreeKristenComment

Hello, beautifuls! I hope you’re enjoying these reviews, because I love writing them so much. I have a lot more coming for you, so stay tuned!

I’ve been paying attention to Glossier for a while now (you know, like everyone else on the planet), and have been wanting to give them a try, but I wasn’t sure which product I wanted to get. Then, I watched an Instagram story that compared a regular makeup remover to Glossier’s Milky Jelly Cleanser, and I was so amazed. I knew I needed to get my hands on a bottle right away.

Basically, I’m famous for getting my makeup… everywhere. I’ve been using the same cold cream cleanser to take my makeup off since I started wearing it (just like my mom!) and even though I think I’m getting all my makeup off my face, I soon find tan blotches all over my towels and boyfriends’ shirts. Obviously, this plan has not been going well.

Then, I met Milky Jelly, and it was love at first cleanse. I use this to wash my face every night before bed, whether I’m wearing makeup or not. I’ve never found a face wash that makes me feel so, well, cleansed! My skin just feels so squeaky clean and silky soft. This cleanser makes me look forward to washing my face!

It also does a phenomenal job of taking off my copious eye makeup. I usually pump a little onto a wet tissue and rub it on my eye. It takes my makeup right off. I feel like it actually slides off my eyes. I don’t have to rub as much, so my precious baby lashes can live. And my eyes feel cleansed too. Did you know that your eyes could feel cleansed?

Since I saw the Instagram story advertising Milky Jelly, I’ve wanted to try the same experiment. So, I put on a ridiculous amount of makeup and took off one half of my face using Pond’s Cold Cream Cleanser, and the other using Glossier’s Milky Jelly Cleanser. I used two white towels to take my eye makeup off, and another two towels to wipe my face after I was done washing it.

The towels that I used on my eyes looked relatively similar. Though the cold cream towel looked darker, I found that I had more left on my eye than the Glossier side. The difference between the face towels, however, was pretty staggering. It’s nice to remind myself how much better, cleaner products are really helping me and my skin.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m Milky Jelly’s number one fan. I’m looking forward to trying more of Glossier’s products!