Kiehls Ultra Facial Cleanser Review

Hello guys! Welcome back to our blog. It is time for another skincare review, on this face wash I have been trying the past couple of months:

Overview:

• Price: $20
• For all skin types
• Not cruelty free! (Unfortunately)

Promise: A foaming cleanser formulated to help remove excess oil, dirt, and debris. Ph balanced and cleanses skin without overstripping. (From the Kiehls website)

This cleanser is a thin gel like consistency and it does lather up when it touches your skin. Personally I prefer cream cleansers since my skin is pretty dry, and this definitely does leave my skin feeling a little bit dry when I use it.

However, it does not irritate my eyes, which is a big bonus because I can get all my eye makeup off, as well as all my face makeup. This cleanser leaves my skin feeling incredibly clean, I definitely think that it works. If you have really dry skin, then it might not be your favorite because it might dry your skin out more than a cream cleanser.

It definitely lives up to its promises for me and I would recommend it if you have sensitive skin, if you have oily to normal skin and only slightly dry skin. If you have very dry skin then I would steer clear of this in favor of a cream cleanser because that will leave your skin more hydrated.

This is what the texture looks like!

Pros: 

• leaves your skin clean
• won’t irritate your skin or eyes
• removes makeup well
• nice gel texture
• isn’t super expensive for a cleanser
• leaves your skin clean but not dry

Cons:

• not cruelty free

That is it for this review! I hope you guys liked it, face wash is kind of hard to review since it is personal but I wanted to share my thoughts on this product. Let me know what face cleanser you use in your routine in the comments down below!

Summer Skincare Routine for Dry Skin

Hey guys! Welcome back to our blog! Today I want to share with you my summer skincare routine! Since the weather is now getting warmer, I have to change up my skincare when it gets warmer since my super hydrating products get way too heavy.

Here are some of my favorite products that are hydrating and also really light on the face:

1. Vapor Beauty oil cleanser

I’m almost out of this oil cleanser! I love it, it works really well with me and my skin. This  is what I use to take off my makeup, and I never skip it because I love to oil cleanse and make sure I get all the heavy spf and makeup off my face.

2. Kiehls Ultra Facial Cleanser

This face wash is so nice and doesn’t strip my skin. I always feel like it leaves my skin really clean and takes all my makeup off, and the oily layer that my oil cleanser left. I definitely like and would recommend this product but unfortunately it isn’t cruelty free.

3. Pixi Glow Tonic

I’m sure you guys have heard about this toner! I really love it, it leaves my face feeling fresh and balanced and glowy, but it isn’t heavy and it feels so refreshing to use! Definitely recommend you guys try it out.

4. Valjean Labs Glow Serum

This is a serum that I love, it is super moisturizing but it feels like a gel and is cooling on your skin instead of being thick, oily and heavy. I love what this serum does for my skin, it feels nice and moisturizing and in the morning my skin feels hydrated.

5. Derma e Hydrating Night Cream

This is a great night cream, it is the one I use in winter as well, it is very moisturizing and I love using it to set in all my serum and other skincare products. It is pretty thick still so I would not recommend it if you don’t have pretty dry skin like I do!

6. Derma e Hydrating Eye Cream

This eye cream is the best one I’ve ever tried! I just pat this into my undereyes and they look so much better in the morning and are way more moisturized. When I don’t use this I definitely notice a difference.

and for daytime, my favorite sunscreen is the Supergoop sunscreen and it goes lovely underneath my makeup.

That’s it for today’s blog post! I hope you enjoyed. Do you change up your skincare routine based on the seasons?

 

Milani Retouch and Erase Concealer Review

Hello guys! Welcome back to our blog. Today I want to share a review on a concealer that I really love from the drugstore that I haven’t heard anyone talk about in a while. For me this is a drugstore gem and I want to share it:

Overview:

• $8.99
• comes in 3 shades
• cruelty free

Promise: Milani’s Retouch + Erase Light-Lifting Concealer is designed to instantly hide dark circles, spots, blemishes and imperfections with a brightening effect. (From Ulta’s website)

So I really love this concealer because it blends out really easily with your fingers, or a sponge. It gives a nice sheer-medium coverage on me and the really yellow tone of the concealer makes it nice for covering my undereye circles.

May Beauty Favorites!

Hello guys! Welcome back to our blog. Today I want to share my makeup favorites as well as some other beauty favorites so lets jump into it:

Makeup

NYX Worth The Hype waterproof mascara

As you guys know I love  the regular version of this mascara, but I accidentally bought the waterproof version this time when I repurchased it, and I love it. It keeps my lashes curled all day, it is super black, it definitely is officially waterproof (It lasted through a good cry), and it never leaves smudge rings under my eyes!

Smashbox Hydrating Undereye Primer

This is a product that I just shopped my stash for this past month. It is really nice at hydrating my undereye area and my concealer goes on so much smoother when I use it! I also find that this makes a nice primer for my face underneath foundation as well, so I absolutely love it.

Itcosmetics Hello Light Creme Illuminator Review

Hello guys! Welcome back to our blog. Today I want to review a lovely product that I have been using for years and have not heard that many people talk about! For me this is one of my holy grails and I always repurchase it, so let’s get into the review:

Overview: 

• Price: $24
• Cream highlighter
• One shade
• Cruelty free!

Promise: An anti-aging powerhouse for naturally pretty, lit from within skin! The IT Cosmetics Hello Light Anti-Aging Creme Illuminizer is all about the look of light, natural radiance and illumination. The formula is infused with skin-loving anti-aging and hydrating ingredients including peptides, hyaluronic acid, hydrolyzed collagen, silk and vitamins A, C, & E (From the Ulta website)

So that is a lot of promises! But this product really lives up to its claims and I really enjoy it. It does make your skin look lit from within, it is a highlight that will give you a natural wet look rather than being super sparkly or glittery. For me this is the highlighter I wear every day, it looks gorgeous, natural and it is everything I need in a highlighter. It doesn’t emphasize texture on my skin as much as powder highlighters do.

I also love the texture of this product because it is very soft and creamy and it blends in well with just your fingers. It’s just a quick and easy to apply highlighter that looks great in any lighting. I think that this highlight wakes my skin up and makes me look much healthier and like my skin is really lit from within. I don’t think that this product lives up to its anti-aging claims because I would have no idea how to measure that, but it definitely does look great!

Swatch: 

Pros: 

• not glittery, very natural and pretty
• cruelty free!
• applies easily with fingers or a brush
• gives you a wet look
• decent price

Cons: 

• only comes in one shade
• some gimmicky claims

That is my review on this highlighter! I hope you guys enjoyed this post. Let me know if you guys have ever tried this product in the comments, or let me know what your favorite highlighter is!

My Bullet Journal Setup for June!

Hello guys! Welcome back to our blog! Today’s post is a little bit different, not beauty related. I want to share something I have done the past couple of months that has really made me much happier. This is a peek inside my bullet journal setup for June. Some of you guys requested this so I hope you enjoy this post!

On Instagram, everyone has such artsy colorful bullet journals and I just am not that artsy and I can’t draw and I wanted it to be more functional and to serve as a daily journal for me and as a non-academic planner for my hobbies and my life. I want to share it with you guys because I love it, and to put an example of a ‘not perfect’ journal out there.

So these are all the little spreads that I do for each month.

Page one is a title page: 

This just says June 2019 and one of my favorite quotes that inspires me to  take care of myself. If you are like me and can’t draw this is a cute option for your cover spread!

Page two has a little calendar and four weekly to do lists:

On the calendar I circle the days that I have track meets, events, vacations etc like the big things for this month that I need to not forget! I then have four big boxes that are my ‘weekly to do lists’ where I put adult stuff like ‘refill prescription’, ‘make doctor appointment’ etc. It really keeps me organized and I will forget anything I don’t write down.

Urban Decay Primer Potion Review

Hey guys! Welcome back to our blog! Today I am going to review the famous Urban Decay eye primer and let you know if it is worth the hype. Let’s get into it:

Overview:

• Cruelty free
• Price: $24

Promise: our legendary Eyeshadow Primer Potion delivers everything you could possibly want in an eye primer: No creasing. More vibrant color. Smoother application. (Urban Decay’s website)

Pixi T-zone Peel Off Mask Review

Hello guys! Welcome back to our blog. Today I am doing a skincare review of a product I’ve been testing out for a while.

Overview:

• Cruelty free!
• Price: $22
• 1.25 fl. Oz of product

Promises:

• Instantly detoxifies by drawing out impurities & removing excess oil
• Helps firm & refine
• Contains natural ingredients rich in antioxidants (From the Target website)

This peel off mask is nice, it does exfoliate my skin where I use it on my face. I do think it helped unclog my pores a little bit, but by no means does it do that much for my face, it doesn’t get rid of blackheads or anything drastic.

Life Update: First Year of College!

Hello guys! Welcome back to our blog! Unfortunately, neither of us have been able to blog lately, but now that it is summer we are back! I recently just finished my first year of college and I wanted to share how I felt about it:

First semester life update: here!

*My first semester was lovely, I truly enjoyed it! If you haven’t read that post then it might make sense to read it first before this one!*

My second semester of college started in mid-January and it ended just last week after finals. This semester I felt like I had a better handle on my coursework and that I could take on some side projects, I also felt like I was happier, I was less lonely, less homesick and like I was finally starting to make a lot of good friends.

My grades are still good, the classes I am taking are so interesting, and I love what I’m studying. I always make sure that schoolwork is my first priority, I want to keep my good gpa, and I am proud of myself for the work that I did this semester.

As you guys know, I also run cross country and track for my college!

Day In My Life: College Athlete, Student + Blogger

Hey guys! Welcome back to our blog. I thought it would be fun to share some more personal stuff on here. This is a little day in my life blog of what I do on Mondays since that is the day I’m writing this (but this post has been in my drafts for ages!)

Last semester I did cross country, this semester, (spring semester) is when track and field starts!

5:15 am – I wake up, eat something and head to the locker room, all of the girls on the team and I chill out in there and stretch before practice.

6:00 am – Practice starts! (it’s a real struggle for me, I’m a night owl and I would prefer to run at midnight than get up at 5.) We do different workouts depending on the day, Mondays are our easy days. Today’s workout was a 7 mile progression run, it wasn’t ‘easy’ but it is easier than our workout days.

8:00 am – Done with practice! Tuesdays and Thursdays we do weights from 8:00-9:00, but since it is not required on Mondays, I skip it in favor of eating breakfast.

9:00 am – I shower and get ready for my first class at 11:00 am. I usually also squeeze in a few minutes of liking people’s Instagram photos and blog posts before class!

OOTD:

Christine is definitely the girlier one of us, she’s always wearing dresses and heels, but I’ll stay comfy in my leggings and sneakers over here!

11:00 am – My first class is a seminar called Music as Protest, basically we just learn about how music has been used throughout history to spark social revolutions and I actually love it, it is super interesting.

12:30 pm – Time for lunch! I never skip any meals, I eat about as much as small horse. While I eat, I always am on Instagram or WordPress or something. Basically I fit in blogging whenever I can during my day, otherwise I’d have no time for it!

After that I have a break until my second class, so I usually do my homework for that class right now. On Mondays in particular I always plan out my week with my planner, that is the only way that I won’t forget to turn in assignments I swear. Highly recommend that you use a planner if you don’t already!

3:30 pm – I go to my second class (honestly my game plan for succeeding at college is to show up to all the classes and turn everything in on time, it hasn’t failed me so far!) This class is called Music of the World’s people and it is a music history class based around the traditions of a lot of different cultures.

5:00 – 9:00 pm – Then I relax and finish up any other homework I have. This is the time when I write posts, practice piano, be with friends etc. And I eat dinner of course! This is also when I work on my work stuff, I manage 2 artists at my college and I do transcription work for one of my professors so I try to squeeze that in when I get time.

9:00 pm – I start getting ready for bed around now, doing my skincare (my skincare routine is here) and brushing my teeth, the usual. I also roll out and stretch in the evenings (that helps me stay un-injured since I run roughly 40 miles a week during the season). Then I aim to go to bed by 10 so I can do it all over again tomorrow.

(Needless to say, I do absolutely nothing on the weekends unless I truly have to, I don’t know how some people are this busy all the time. I need like, two full days of sleeping in order to stay on top of my week)

Anyway thank you guys for reading! That was my daily routine, I don’t know if it contained any tips for helping you guys manage your time, but I hope so!