Too Faced HSN Makeup Bundle

Happy April everyone! I thought that I should make yet another makeup haul/review post today. I recently bought the Too Faced makeup bundle from the HSN online as a birthday present to myself! I absolutely love Too Faced and I'v been a fan of their cosmetic brand since I was 15. Their packaging has always been so cute and feminine and doesn't irritate my sensitive skin. The best thing about Too Faced is that their entire line is cruelty-free and have a wide variety of vegan products as well!! How cool is that?!
I just took some swatches so you guys can see the color pigmentation and how the colors contrast on tan skin.

I first have to say that their "Eye Shadow Insurance" is not very thick and it drys clear. I wish that it would color my eyelids a bit, so the eye shadow colors would stand out more, but it does keep the eye shadows on for a long time regardless. I wore this to work, where I sweat in a warm environment and my eye shadow didn't come off. I have naturally oily eyelids, so it was beginning to show at the end of the night, but other than that it was pretty good. Not my favorite eye shadow primer, but it works!!

The Love Flush 16-Hour Blush in Justify My Love is absolutely amazing. The pigmentation is off the charts, a little of this blush can go a long way!! I also tested out the blush by wearing it at work and when I went out with some friends. This blush stayed on for my entire shift and for the entire night I was out. I would definitely recommend this blush, I mean just look at the incredibly cute heart shaped case also!

If you are a big makeup buff then I'm pretty sure you have heard of the very popular Better Than Sex Mascara. This mascara truly does live up to its name. It creates amazing volume and length without having to use a lot of product. I have very short and straight eyelashes and this mascara does wonders for me. Too Faced came out with a waterproof version which will definitely come in handy over the summer.

Last but not least.... the "Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar Eye Shadow Palette". When you open up the palette it smells so sweet like candy which is enough to get you hooked, if you have a sweet tooth like me. Some shadows are obviously not that vibrant on very tan skin tones like mine, that's why I do depend on eye shadow primers to help make some colors look more vibrant on my eyes. These colors are actually very pigmented and you don't need much when applying them to your eyes. My favorite colors so far has been "Peanut Butter" and "Puddin".

 

("Pink Sugar" is basically non-existent on my skin tone)

Overall I would recommend these products. I absolutely love Too Faced and I hope you guys would consider shopping from cruelty free makeup brands in the future!

Much love and until next time,

Kianna Monique

Vlogging at a Vegan Street Food Fair

Good morning (or evening/night/afternoon, depending what part of the world you're reading this from). 

A couple of weeks ago I went to a vegan street food fair in North Hollywood, California with my friend and I vlogged about it. I really enjoyed being surrounded by other vegans or other people just interested in veganism. Since becoming vegan, I've often felt alone in my journey, but I've been engaging myself in the vegan community on Youtube and I've been feeling more and more encouraged. I want to try to make some vegan videos and vlogs on Youtube myself, so I began by posting my first vegan vlog. I do apologize for being so awkward in my vlog. Hopefully my vlogging and editing skills will improve in the future.

Enjoy!

                                                         

Silencing Yourself

I have this bad habit of silencing myself when I interact with other people and it has to stop.
It could be from keeping in my feelings and thoughts, because I feel like they don't matter, to not speaking up in a conversation with others.
I've been learning that silencing myself is very harmful, not just to myself, but to others as well. It can and has damaged some relationships because I wasn't verbal enough of what I was thinking. I believed that I would sound whiny or unreasonable (and any other negative adjective I could think of), so I silenced myself. Over and over again.
This is something that I am looking on improving in my everyday life and if you have this problem or something similar, then I hope you can learn to improve your life along side me.
We have to remember that it's okay to speak our minds, that we have to ask for what we want instead of silencing ourselves. We are worthy enough and we should tell ourselves that, so we won't be afraid anymore.

Have a lovely day!

Aesthica Cream Contour Kit and Double Ended Contour Brush Review

Good afternoon everyone! I am back and ready to share with you this amazing contour kit that I got for Christmas.

 For the past couple of months, I have used and bought only makeup products that are "Cruelty-Free" ONLY.  I am very against animal testing and I don't want to give my money to companies whose ethics I don't agree with. Also by using cruelty free makeup, you are also choosing a "healthier" option for your skin. These cosmetic brands use natural and safe ingredients and often times are chemical free as well, so there really isn't any point or need to test on animals.
That being said, all the makeup products that I will be reviewing on my blog for now on will be cruelty-free.
Aesthica is a makeup brand located in Miami, Florida that is completely cruelty-free with some products that are vegan as well. I've always wanted a contour kit, so I was ecstatic when I opened a little box on Christmas Eve and found this beauty inside.

If you have oily skin like me, then you will love this kit. The ingredients don't gloss over your skin like other cream products at all. It has a very matte finish to it which looks lovely with setting powder over it as well.

I am very sorry for the makeup stains on my kit. I tried wiping them off, but sadly it just stayed like that.

I love how rich each of the highlighting and bronzing colors are. I used absolutely no editing in the pictures below so you can see the true colors of the palette.

The brush is perfect for the cream contour kit (or even powder kits) and it's great for application and blending. No complaints about it yet!

 Here is a low quality selfie. I used this contour kit to help create this look. 

 

Quality: 10/10

I have spent quite a few days/hours (since I am really bad at coding), completely redesigning my blog. I am happy to say that it is almost complete for the new year. You know what they say "New Year, New Blog" ;)

OOTD: Forever 21 Blue Spring Floral

It's finally spring!!
I went crazy with all of the online sales and deals for spring last month.
I was especially excited when I found these white platform strap sandals on Forever21.com at an affordable price. These shoes are going to be my fashion staple this season.

                                                      "Faux Leather Flatform Sandals" from Forever21.com

My dress is also from Forever21.com

"Ditsy Floral Cami Dress" in a size Small

Another amazing event that happened this spring besides all the amazing sales, is that Marina and The Diamonds dropped her new album a couple of weeks earlier than the original release date. I've been listening to her album "Froot" nonstop since she released it and if you never heard of her or listened to her music before, then I recommend looking her up right now! I even made a formal blog post about my experience when I saw her concert about 2 years ago (click here).

Have an amazing day everyone!

           

Winter 2015 Makeup ~ NARS/Tarte Haul

Happy New Year everyone!!! 

I can't believe it's 2015 already! So much has happened to me since the beginning of the year, but I won't let all the drama stop me from having an awesome time this year!

I went to the mall just to pick up my regular tarte eyebrow crayon, but I ended up buying a NARS velvet lip crayon and tarte waterproof concealer as well.

Left: Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12-Hour Concealer

Middle: NARS Bahama Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

Right: Tarte The Brow Architect in Medium-Tan

Top swatch: Tarte concealer,

Middle swatch: NARS Bahama 

Bottom swatch: Tarte eyebrow crayon and the brow concealer

I've been obsessed with these products and use them almost every single day! I would definitely recommend them!

Till next time my loves!

   

The (Anti) Barbie Trend

In Meghan Trainor's hit single "All About That Bass", she emphases the goodness and beauty towards curves and her dismissal against the "Barbie" look.

 In Nicki Minaj's hit song "Anaconda" she also raps about almost the same concept as Meghan Trainor, but more explicitly. Both of these songs are and seem to be "anti-barbie" themed, putting curvy woman more into the light of the media with their songs. This seems to be a common trend in the music industry at the moment.

WARNING: EXPLICT

Now, in the fashion industry, the opposite has occurred. In Wild Fox's 2014 Barbie Collection : Dreamhouse, their theme and inspiration is well...Barbie! They had Merethe Hopland (@merethehopland) and Kirby Griffin (@kirbygriffin21) pose as real life barbies in their 2014 lookbook on their site.

 Even in Moschino Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear Collection, their theme and inspiration was Barbie as well.

It's interesting how the fashion and the music industry are currently representing opposite sides of this trend.

Did you recognize this trend before now?
*None of the photos in this post belong to me*