Hair, Makeup and Outfit of the Night for the Opening Night of the Second 300 ❤️

Get Ready With Me To See That Special Someone And For The Opening Night of The Second 300! ❤️

Hair:

Let's talk about the hair first, since it's the easiest! To achieve my hair today, I washed my hair with the Clear Strong Length Shampoo, rinsed immediately to condition my hair with Clear's Intense Hydration Conditioner since I do have bleached hair and let it set in my hair until I was done with my shower routine and then completely rinsed it out with COOL water, leaving my hair silky, smooth and smelling great! After, I towel dried my hair for about ten minutes, let it down and then putting my CHI Silk Infusion on the ends of my hair and spraying all of my hair with my It's a 10 Spray! Letting all the products set in after doing my makeup, I blow dried my hair UPSIDE DOWN to get some extra volume. Here is my end result!

I love having texture to my hair so I don't brush it out too much and tease the crown of my head and front fringe so my hair doesn't fall completely flat! 

I don't take a ton of time on my hair, just because I'm lazy, but I do believe in putting great products in your hair to keep it healthy! 

Let's Talk Makeup, My Favorite Part of this look:

Today, my makeup was based around flawless looking skin, easy eye makeup and a bold lip!  

Flawless Looking Skin:

Now, today my skin was NOT in the best of shape, it's had it's better days let's put it that way, I have a small breakout along the lower right side of my cheek due to that awful time of the month! My main focus was to feel confident about my skin and not worry about the breakout as a focal point on my face because that ain't cute! To achieve better looking skin, I started off with my Clean and Clear Daily Moisturizer (it's not my favorite but it does the job,) I prepped my skin with my Garnier BB Skin Renew Cream in the color light/medium since I did have some redness and a breakout, it evened out my skin tone and covered up a little bit of the breakout, I then went in with my Holy Grail Foundation, MAC's Studio Fix Foundation in NW15 using one full pump on the back of my hand, then dotting the product all over my face and blending it with my Sephora Prestige Luxe Stippling Brush using dabbing motions to avoid sheering out the product and then going in with a tad bit of the foundation on my CLEAN finger and patting it over my breakout. After, I set my foundation in place with my current favorite setting powder, the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Translucent, I get oily on my nose and chin so I absolutely have to set my foundation. In general I love having a matte face because it photographs well and I don't like being an oil monster! When my whole face is set, I go in and countour the hollows of my cheeks, temples and jaw line and then my face looks flawless! 

Eyebrows and Eyes:

Besides having flawless looking skin, doing my eyebrows has to come in second to really transforming my face! For today, I kept my brows looking natural and filling them in with my Anastasia Brow Duo in Brunette and using the lighter side to fill in the body of the brow then using the darker side to fill the tails of my brows in and defining the bottom of the brows for a cleaner edge, then setting it with my Anastasia Brow Gel in Clear!

The eyes tonight, I kept very simple, I don't think guys like a dark intense smokey eye for just hanging out and going to a movie!

It's honestly so easy to achieve this look it hurts! All I did was use my Rimmel Stay Matte Powder on my eyelids to prevent getting oily and doing a basic winged eyeliner in black using my Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Eyeliner in Black on my top lid making sure the wing, lined up perfectly with my bottom lash line! After the gel liner was done, I switched to my trusty old Avon Waterproof Glimmer Stick in Blackest Black connecting the wing to my lash line, stopping halfway because black can really close my eyes off especially having almond shaped eyelids! After, I set all the black liner with a black eyeshadow from Cover Girl on a crappy ELF Eyeliner Brush just to have a little more precision versus a pencil shaped smudger! The eyeshadow also intensified and mattified the black liner for both the top and bottom liner, which is what I love! When all the blackness was all done and over with I really needed to brighten up the inner half of my eye because it was looking a little lifeless, I must say. So, I used a yellow based nude Avon Glimmer Stick on the inner part of my bottom lash line and on my inner tear duct as a base for where I wanted to my Victoria's Sevret white with gold shimmer in it so it wouldn't budge and it automatically brought some light into my eyes!

For my eyelashes, I didn't to anything crazy, I just curled them and put two coats of my Benefit's They're Real Mascara in Black on my top lashes and one coat of The Falsies Big Eyes in Blackest Black lower lash side for my bottom lashes and that's all! 

Lips: 

I absolutely LOVE a bold lip, but sometimes it can get a little tricky! To achieve the perfect dark lip, I started off by putting some very hydrating lip balm on as soon as I started my makeup so my lips would be nice and moisturized and prepped! After doing my whole face of makeup and hair, I always do my lips! After I knew I wouldn't be drinking anything or eating and felt like my lips were moisturized enough, I lined my lips with a Cover Girl lip liner in natural and then began to do my lips that took the longest out of this look because precision is key to a dark lip! For my dark lip, I chose my favorite dark plum color which is Mary Kay's True Dimensions Lipstick in Mystic Plum and I love it because it's dark, edgy and compliments my skin tone! Anyways, I always start off with using a brush when I'm working with a dark lip, it ensures precise lines and an even application, the brush I use is a lip brush I got in a random Victoria's Secret Brush Kit for Christmas a couple years ago, it's easy to work with and the brush tip is little and narrow which is perfect for me since I do have smaller lips! I first line my lips with my brush the desired color, go back in with the same brush to fill it in evenly and then use the tube for application to build up my desired opaqueness and show the true color! After, I'm at my desires look, I take a square of toilet paper split it in half if it's two plied, set it over my lips and use my Rimmel Stay Matte powder with my powder brush and dab it over my lips to ensure a longer wear! :) 

Beauty Pointer: From what I've heard, everything matte is totally on trend this Spring season! :)

Here's The Final Look ❤️ 

My Outfit I Wore For The Night:

Brandy Melville's FANCY AS FUCK Crop Tee

Victoria's Secret Basic Black Leggings

Gilly Hicks Burgundy Hoodie

Vans Leopard/Black Sk8Hi Wedges

Love you guys!

XOXO

Smack down Monday! Benefit's They're Real?! Mascara vs. Maybelline's The Falsies Big Eyes Mascara Review!

Top Picture: My Eyelashes with Benefit's They're Real Mascara

Bottom Picture: My Eyelashes with Maybelline's The Falsies Big Eyes Mascara (it doesn't even look like I have mascara on!) :(

Hello Loves! ❤️ 

Welcome to my new series "Smack Down Mondays" where I compare a higher end product to a drugstore product and see which one holds up better! 

The Back Story: 

Benefit's They're Real Mascara is one of my Holy Grail products for sure and have been using it for over a year now! I have seen a lot of raving over Maybelline's The Falsies Big Eyes Mascara and was being compared to the Benefit mascara, so I wanted to see if it was worth all the hype and a good cheaper dupe for Benefit's They're Real?! Mascara since it is a higher end product and sometimes you don't want to use your expensive mascara every single day! 

Let's dive into the Smack Down of these two products!👋

First Impressions: I'm not going to lie, I am a HUGE sucker for packaging, I love for a product to feel luxurious, good in my hands and also durable! With Benefit's They're Real Mascara in Black (Non-Waterproof Formula), that's exactly how I feel when I pick it up, it has a nice weight from the tube and overall I think it's really just pretty! I like that it comes in a box with the statistics of the overall difference it makes on lashes, the matte black back drop is sleek and the pop of orange and white writing makes it appealing to look at and is definitely an attention grabber! With Maybelline's The Falsies Big Eyes Mascara in Blackest Black (Waterproof Formula,) it is different! I like the purple and black color theme that also carries onto the mascara tube! I mean I'm a sucker for anything purple! But, the weight of the mascara feels kind of "cheap" compared to the Benefit mascara, it is a drugstore product so I feel like you get what you pay for sometimes! 

Product Comparison: I honestly do not like The Falsies Big Eyes Mascara, the product weighs heavy on my eyelashes, uncurls my lashes and tends to clump together with two coats and with one coat, it's not noticeable at all. With the formula, I find that it's kind of sticky and sticks to my bottom lashes and I find myself throughout the day tugging on my lashes just to get the mascara off because it drives me nuts! To me, this mascara is just kind of okay, it doesn't do a lot for me. That being said, I really like the smaller applicator side because it really makes my bottom lashes look like I have a little something going on down there! I think if you are blessed with naturally long, thick and curly lashes, this product could really enhance your beautiful lashes! With my Benefit's They're Real?! Mascara, the formula really works for my lashes since they're thinner lashes, not very long and grow straight out! When I curl them, the product isn't heavy and doesn't uncurl my lashes. The formula is a little on the wetter, moussey consistency which is probably why it performs and executes the way I want my lashes to look. I go for the super black, long, thick and curly lash look because I wasn't blessed with those traits! 

Final Conclusion: Now, I'm not hating on Maybelline in any way, I think they have some really awesome products and other great mascaras, just this particular product did not benefit me in anyway, it didn't perform the way I wanted it too, but maybe I had too high of hopes for this mascara! Overall, I do not like The Falsies Big Eyes Mascara. With my Benefit's They're Real Mascara, I really believe that it's totally worth the splurge instead of wasting $6-7 on a drugstore mascara that will end up being thrown away.

Ratings:

Maybelline's The Falsies Big Eyes Mascara

4.5⭐️ out of 10⭐️

(Ten being the best mascara I've ever used) 

Benefit's They're Real Mascara

9.5⭐️ out of 10⭐️

I hope you all like this series I'm starting! Tell me what you all want me to smack down next Monday!

XOXO

How To Get My Signature Eye look

This is my all time go to eye look for when I have let's say a date, an event or anytime that I want to just feel pretty! It's all about flawless skin and sexy eyes! It doesn't take too long to do either! All you need is a tinted moisturizer, your favorite medium-full coverage foundation, a bronzer for contouring, a face highlighter, a setting powder, eye primer, eyebrow powder, black gel eyeliner, a black retractable black eyeliner, a champagne colored eyeshadow, an eye shadow that is closest to your skin color and black mascara! Now, I prefer to use brushes and the brushes that I'm absolutely loving and use everyday are the SEPHORA COLLECTION Prestige Luxe Brush Set and use all of these to achieve my look! 

Okay, now that you know what you need, let's jump into it! 

Step one: Make sure you're working on a clean canvas! 

Your skin needs to be squeaky clean and moisturized! Before I start, I always make sure my skin is exfoliated with the St. Ives Apricot Scrub, toned with the Neutrogena Anti- Acne Stress toner to prevent my breakouts and follow up with my Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream in light/medium to even out my skin tone since I do have some scarring from when I had acne when I was younger.

Step two: Flawless Looking Skin Time! 

This is my favorite part! Making my skin look absolutely flawless gives me that extra boost like a good bra! I go in with ONE pump of my MAC Studio Fix in NW15 on the back of my hand, dot the foundation all over my face to ensure an even application, dip my Sephora Stippling Brush from the Prestige Luxe Set in what's left on the back of my hand and start from the center of my face blending out with a stippling motion until it's completely blended down to my neck!

Step Three: Contouring and Highlighting!

Since I do have higher cheekbones I like to enhance it with contouring, giving me that really sunken in hollows of my cheeks! I don't do a ton of contouring since I want the focus point to be my eyes. All I do is dip my Sephora Angled Brush into my Marbalized Bronzer in Peach Bronze from Avon and apply it to the hollows of my cheeks aligned with where my pupil is, dragging it back to my ears, making sure it's blended very well! I also contour my jaw bone and under my chin to have a very defined face! Now, using my MAC Mineralized Skinfinish in Porcelain Pink with the Sephora Buffing Brush patting it right on top of my cheeks. This brush picks up just the amount of product and gives me precise precision of where I want my highlighter placed. 

Steps four-ten: It's all about the eyes right?!

Alright it's time for the most time consuming part of this look! We gotta prime those eyes so you don't look like a raccoon and get greasy so use your favorite eye primer! I use Urban Decay's Primer Potion in original! Now since, your eyes are primed it's time to work some magic on your eyebrows! The Anastasia Brow Kit in Brunette is my favorite eyebrow powder and gel I've ever used! For my brows, I like to keep them fairly bold when I have a dramatic eye and fill them in with an old ELF Eyeliner Brush, brush them out with a spoolie and set them in place with the Anastasia Brow Gel in clear! 

Now we're ready to move onto my signature cateye look! I use Maybelline's Eye Shadow in Champagne patting it all over my lid with Sephora's Flat Shader Brush, blending it out a little bit with my finger and placing MACs Brule with any blending brush I have that's clean into my crease to tone the shimmer down, I don't like looking like a disco ball ;)

The hardest part is the eyeliner and that's what it's time for. I start with my Sephora Angled Eyeliner Brush with a tiny amount of my Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Eyeliner in black, marking where I want it to end on my top lid, making sure that both eyes are even! Once I'm happy with each eye, I pick up more product and with highest point of the brush I place it where the very end of my tick mark is and start to drag the brush into my inner tear duct stopping about half way, pick up more product, turn my brush the opposite way starting in the inner part of my eye connecting it to my established line, then touching up where I feel is needed. When I'm satisfied, I go in with a regular retractable black eyeliner on my lower lash line connecting it with the winged liner on top! Then going in with a smudger pencil brush and smudging it out to give me a smokier look! When all the black eyeliner is done, it's time to come back in highlighting the inner tear duct with the Maybelline Eyeshadow in Champagne and this is what ties the whole look together! After I take a step back, look at myself making sure it's all even, it's time to curl and coat my eyelashes two times with Benefit Cosmetic's They're Real Mascara in Black making my eyelashes look perfect! 

Step eleven: Don't let your hardwork slide off your face!

Sliding makeup isn't cute for anyone so let's set it all in place with powder! I use Rimmel's Stay Matte Powder in Translucent to keep me from getting oily and my foundation from transferring! 

Step twelve: Add a little bit of color back into you!

This is optional, but I love pink lips so I put some color back into my face with NYXs Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Beige to add a little bit of girlyness into the darker eye look!

Now you're all done loves! Tell me what kind of an event you'd wear this look too!

XOXO 

Holy Grail Product: Benefit Cosmetic's They're Real?! Mascara Review!!

I'm going to be real honest here, I've NEVER in my life have tried a mascara so life changing! I've tried Maybelline's The Falsies and pretty much every mascara on the drugstore market and they have always made my lashes droop and clump which is not my desired look or style. I'm a regular at Sephora and Ulta and I finally gave in about a year ago and have tested this mascara out for an entire year to give my personal review of it. Now, let's start from the beginning about my lashes. I was not born with long, thick, curly and beautiful lashes. My eyelashes are thin and grow straight down, which is so annoying, but it is very typical for Asians. I wouldn't say they're sparse... but they are fragile so, I definitely don't curl them everyday. In fact, Benefit's They're Real Mascara in black, does everything for me with two coats. It curls, lengthens and makes my lashes way more voluminous which is PERFECT. In this picture my eyebrows are only filled in and all I have is mascara on. Looking put together in a minimal amount of time for everyday is my kind of deal. I hope to review way more of Benefit Cosmetic's products on here and be 100% honest with all of you! I hope you guys have a great day! Don't forget to follow my Instagram @callmeekatiee it's my favorite social media site! :D