kat von d Archives - Curiously Carmen

Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick

March 16, 2016

I have been trying to use up more of my lipstick collection lately, instead of sticking with the couple I normally turn to. I actually forgot I had this Kat Von D everlasting liquid lipstick, until I found it in one of my makeup bags today. I thiiiiink I bought this on Black Friday, but haven’t really worn it.

The Kat Von D tattoo liner is my holy grail liner and probably the single product I use the most! This lipstick is also from Kat Von D, so naturally I had very high expectations. It is part of the everlasting liquid lipstick line.
I love the packaging of all of the Kat Von D products, and this one is no different. The tube features a pretty floral design, and is pretty sturdy.

I am pretty sure that I purchased the sample size. I vaguely remember purchasing a lipstick sample kit from KVD, and this size looks a bit small to be the full size. Nonetheless, I find sample sizes are better for me because it always takes me so long to finish up products, which is something I am working on!

This way, I can finish the product faster and it won’t keep long in my makeup storage (which is both sanitary and better for storage!).
The Kat Von D everlasting liquid lipstick is very pigmented. Pictured above is just one stroke of the product! When I initially tried this product, I was very shocked at how richly pigmented it was. I definitely don’t need more than one coat of this, as it looks very bright on my lips.
As you can tell, it is a pretty bright shade. It took some time for me to get used to, as I normally don’t wear shades this bright!

When you first apply this lipstick, it will look a bit shiny like gloss, but will dries with a smooth and matte finish within a matter of seconds.

Again, this is only with one coat, so I was quite impressed at how rich the pigmentation was!
Here is another picture in direct sunlight in the car. Don’t worry, I was the passenger so I was not engaging in some unsafe driving practices! Also, the sun and my hair cast a shadow on the right side of my face (left on the screen). I just wanted to point that out in case anyone thought I had bad photo shopping skills LOL.

Overall, I really like the matte finish and rich pigmentation of this lipstick. It is definitely long lasting as well. Even after drinking from my water bottle and having some snacks, the lipstick did not really smudge or come off. Very impressive!

The only thing I would note is that, as in a lot of cases with matte lipsticks, is that it can be a bit drying. So, make sure your lips are properly moisturized and hydrated before wearing this lipstick, or any matte lipsticks in general! I ended up dabbing a tiny bit of Vaseline after a hour as I felt my lips beginning to dry out a bit.

Yay!

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Valentines Day Makeup 2015

February 19, 2015

Hi everyone,

I apologize for the late post, I have been quite busy outside my blog. I’m really looking forward to having a night to myself where I can peacefully blog without having a million other things to do!

unnamed (1) — Drove to this beautiful viewpoint after Valentines dinner =)

What did you all do for Valentines Day? I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I spent the day with the boyfriend, we had a good day enjoying our city =) As the weather gets warmer and better, I always get amazed at how lovely and beautiful Vancouver is. It happens every single year and I’ve lived here my whole life, and wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s so much to see, explore, and eat in this beautiful city!

Anyways, since this is my makeup blog, I guess I should stop talking about Vancouver and move on to what you’re all here to read =)

Here is all the makeup I used that day. Usually, I only wear eyeliner and fill in my eyebrows. I like to let my skin breathe!

For my eyes, I wanted something a bit sparkly since I don’t normally wear sparkly eyes. I used my Urban Decay eyeshadow pot in Space Cowboy and Naked 3 palette. Space Cowboy came with my 2014 Sephora Glitz and Glam party bag, and indeed it is a great product to use on a night out!

I created a thicker, winged eyeliner look as well, but I filled in my eyebrows the usual way: Anastasia Brow Gel & the ELF eyebrow set!

Also, I wore contacts! I haven’t worn contacts for almost two months… my eyes get so uncomfortable with contacts after four hours. I envy those who can wear contacts for 12 hours straight.

For the face makeup, I primed my skin with The Face Shop’s pore balm that I just realized I forgot to take a picture of, sorry! But you can read my review of it here =) I have been loving it so far even though it smells a bit medicated, it really does smooth out the appearance of your face. My concealer is also from The Face Shop and you can also read a review here.

To set my foundation, I used the Maybelline Mineral Powder which is probably one of my drugstore favourites of all time. I recently re-discovered this foundation and haven’t looked back! The first time I bought this, it came with a really horrible and stiff brush which looked really cakey and gross on your skin. When using my own regular brush, it’s a really good finishing powder and makes your face look smoother.

SONY DSC — Should have worn lipstick before taking this picture >.< Just ignore my lips!

Finishing off, I used my Lancome Blush Subtil set lightly over my cheeks. I find that this blush, or this shade in particular, gives you a very youthful, rosy, and cute look. It’s also very light, so it might be a bit hard to see here.

Wow, I just noticed how colour-less my lips look…ugh. We had just finished eating dinner and I didn’t think to reapply lipstick for this picture, whoops. Anyways, I’m wore the Chanel Rouge Coco lipstick line in 80 – Etole. It’s a nice, neutral shade. I like it because it looks suitable with many makeup looks.

Anyways, my bunny Benji is going crazy, running and jumping around in circles so I should probably call it a post and play with him (You can probably see him over on the right, in my Instagram preview hehe). I had a fun time writing this post and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed putting it on! Happy late Valentines to all my readers once again =)

Hope to talk soon!

-Carmen

Black Friday Sephora Mini Haul!

December 1, 2014

It’s funny that I’m doing this post, because I wasn’t planning or even wanting to go Black Friday/Black Friday weekend shopping. My friend and I had planned a girls day out, and only on Thursday did we realize that we accidentally planned it on Black Friday weekend. Ahhh! I really did not want to step inside a mall during Black Friday weekend, dealing with crowds and swarms of people fighting each other to get the cheapest prices. Anyways, since we had been planning our shopping trip for a few weeks, we didn’t want to reschedule so decided to just suck it up, and pray for the best. If it got cray cray, we figured we would just leave and find something else to do LOL.
I am happy to say though, that it didn’t turn out as crazy as we thought it would be. We went shopping on Saturday instead of the actual Black Friday, which probably really helped. Most of the stuff I bought was at Sephora (no surprise there hah), so I’ll just be focusing on what I bought there. Please keep in mind that I didn’t try any of these products fully yet, I may write a detailed review on some of these products after I’ve used them for longer.

Walking into Sephora, the first thing that caught my eyes at on the Black Friday exclusive shelf was the Kat Von D Lip Love Set. Admittedly, I tried to buy this from the safety of my laptop on Friday but just as I was about to check out my purchases, all of the items I wanted were sold out! So you can imagine my happiness when I found this in store, I grabbed one right away! This set is a Sephora exclusive and limited edition. I’ve always wanted to try Kat Von D lip products because I absolutely love their tattoo liner. It came in a lip gloss and lip stick duo, with pre-selected shades. Right after we left Sephora, I tried on the lip gloss. My first impression was that it was very pigmented, and the shade was a lot brighter and lighter than it looked in the tube. For the first few seconds, my friend and I were absolutely horrified at how bright it was but after applying it all over my lips, it didn’t look as bad and I actually ended up really liking the colour on my skin LOL. It stayed on for a few hours until I took it off at dinner. At $12CA for both, the lip love set was an amazing deal and I’m glad I was able to pick one up.

Just like the KVD lip love set, I was also hoping to buy this online on Friday, but it was sold out by the time I went to the online check out. Lesson learned, do your online shopping quick during huge sales. I’ve been looking for a new face wash, and read pretty good reviews on this. This was the Bliss fabulous foaming face wash, a 2-in-1 cleanser & exfoliator. From first glance, the formula looked very thick and gel-like. A lot of reviews that I read said that this does an amazing job of removing face make up immediately, and that was exactly what I was looking for. An amazing cleanser that will remove foundation right away, because let’s face it- after a long night out, there is nothing better than changing into cozy pajamas and letting your skin breathe and be makeup free. I know that when you sleep with makeup on, or get makeup trapped in your pillow cases (so gross), it is really bad for your skin so I don’t take any chances when I’m already susceptible to breaking out. Which is why I also don’t wear foundation on a daily basis. This was half price for their Black Friday sale, I got it for $12CA!

As I was about to leave the Black Friday shelf, the Buxom Power Players set caught my eye. Darnit, haha! Considering that it came with a full sized Buxom sculpted lash mascara, which retailed for $24 Canadian, AND a waterproof eyeliner, for $12 Canadian, I knew that it was a sale opportunity that I could simply not pass up. My friend gave me a gel pot liner from Buxom last year, which I really liked. I’m hoping that I’ll like these two products as well.

Time just disappears when I’m in Sephora, and before us girls knew it, almost one hour had passed by… we decided to finally go and pay for our things, but we had another tempting obstacle to overcome… the last minute product shelves they have while you’re waiting in line to pay. I was really wanting a darker lip colour ever since my possibly haunted experience with the Too Faced melted lip stick, and the colour in the Make Up Forever Redefining Red caught my eye. The duo also came with a colourless lip liner, known as their lip line perfector and claimed to prevent lipstick from smudging. And at $17 for two MUFE products, I thought it was a good deal.

As a bonus, I also received my birthday gift from Sephora! It was also MUFE, but with their mascara and other lipstick instead. I forgot to pick my gift up last year, which I’m still mad at myself for, so I’m glad that the cashier was able to give it to me even though my birthday isn’t for awhile. Since I’m a late December baby, did anyone pick this up already? How did you like it?

I am quite happy that I bought all these products on sale. And before you judge, let me just say this. If there wasn’t a sale, I probably wouldn’t have bought anything. Most the time I go into Sephora, I browse and end up walking out without anything. It may not look like it because my blog focuses on a lot of purchased beauty products, but I only buy products that are on sale and know are a good value for what you receive. You only see half the picture, and don’t know what else goes on which is completely okay because I like to keep some things personal. I usually don’t buy this much in one visit, but I wanted to take advantage of their sale because deals this great don’t come around often. I don’t want you guys to think that I have a habit of consistently blowing money for no apparent reason, because I am quite the opposite. I think carefully about my choices before I buy and am conscious of how much I spend (which is one of the reasons why I spend so long in Sephora, debating if I should actually get the products or not haha!). I know, and can distinguish when I can or should spend money, versus times that I shouldn’t. Okay that’s all, thanks for reading that blurb 🙂

-Carmen

Benefit – They’re Real! Mascara Review

February 6, 2014

I have been quite busy with school this past week so I haven’t been able to post much. I finally finished my last midterm today before reading break so I’ll be posting more frequently this next week, so stay tuned! Today, I will be reviewing Benefit’s They’re Real! Mascara.

Background: Even though I love makeup, I would say mascara is the one makeup product that I do not really invest in. I hardly wear mascara unless I am going to a fancy event. I wish I was like every other girl who lives on mascara…but sadly, I do not. I much rather prefer eyeliner if I had to choose just one product.

Anyways, let’s move on. I received this product as a present from my cousin last month. It was a part of Benefit’s Matthew Williamson: The Rich is Back make up kit. Since I’m not a mascara girl, I was not really expecting much, but WOW, this product really blew me away (and for good reasons too)!

Packaging: I am a really big fan of Benefit’s unique packaging, and it is one of the things that has always intrigued me. This is the set that it came with, notice all the details put into the packaging of the kit. The packaging of the mascara itself is really pretty as the salmony/orange/pink colour contrasts well with the otherwise monotone grey.

cute packaging of the makeup kit

Wand: This mascara comes with a rubber brush. There are also bristles on the top end of the brush, making it easy to apply mascara vertically for those super short lashes at the corners of your eyes. The bristles also come in varying lengths, so that probably helps lengthen the look of your lashes as well.

close-up of the mascara wand

Application: I really do not like applying mascara. I’ve tried so many different brands which all just clump or don’t even look like I applied it. However, I noticed that this one is really easy and smooth to apply which I really liked. In total, I applied two coats (about as many as I apply before I get frustrated with mascara) with no clumps.

There was no negative impact after using my eyelash curler as well, sometimes curling your lashes can ruin the look of your mascara (Or maybe I’m the only one with bad mascara luck!) I could tell that this mascara is friendly to layering since it does not dry instantly (which is good, because if it dries instantly and you try to layer another coat, it will clump >:( ).

Outcome: Here is the best part! After I finished applying all my eye makeup, I had a bit of time to kill before I had to leave my house, so I decided to take some pictures of it. When I looked at the pictures, I was SHOCKED seeing my eyelashes.

I had to do a double take and think if I was really false eyelashes, because I’ve never seen my own lashes look that long before. This mascara truly does make your own eyelashes look as if they’re falsies which I loved. It also still looks completely natural!

Cons: This mascara is pricey compared to drug store brands. Other than that, I don’t really have anything to complain about. Some reviews online mentioned that it was unfortunate how they didn’t carry a waterproof version of this, but I hate waterproof mascara because it’s so hard to remove.

Conclusion: In my opinion, this mascara really does make your own eyelashes look like falsies. You really have to do a double take and think “they’re real!” so I now understand the meaning behind their name. The wand is great because there are bristles on the top, which make it easier to accentuate shorter lashes that would otherwise go unnoticed. I would highly recommend trying Benefit’s- They’re Real! mascara!

two coats of benefit’s they’re real! mascara, (also pictured- naked 3 palette, kat von d tattoo liner)

Thank you for reading!

-Carmen