I love me some ColourPop, with their super affordable range and quality cosmetics. I've loved their Super Shock shadow formula that's like squishy meets powder, but sometimes you just want a standard pressed shadow. And ColourPop delivered with a range of pressed shadows that I can only assume will keep growing.

I picked up 7 of them, 3 singles in a custom kit (Secrets, Take a Break, Labyrinth) and 1 curated palette called Blow Me Away. How do these eye shadows stack up? Keep on reading! 

The weather here in the Bay Area has gone from rainy and a bit cold to the ever ubiquitous sunny overnight, and as we traverse more into Spring and the air is beginning to dry more so is my face. I don't have dry skin per se, more combo leaning midway, but enough where as I've entered my 30s I've learned to appreciate the need to treat dehydrated skin more and more. 

Is there anything more vexing as trying to attain perfect, flawless skin? Okay, maybe running out of coffee. That is up there in the realm of things being "the worst." But here's the thing I feel compelled to get out of the way off the bat- perfect and flawless skin that looks literally like porcelain is more the work of Photoshop than beauty products, and it's a standard that is nigh non-existent in reality. Nothing in a bottle will actually turn back time, despite how clever or catchy marketing is.

What you can attain, however, is improving what you have to work to a more reasonable standard, ie- giving dull skin more glow, finding ways to tackle acne, improving hydration, etc.

If you hang around the YouTube beauty community, you probably have heard the name Kathleen Lights. Kathleen is one of the most popular beauty gurus currently on the site, charming viewers with her bubbly nature, adorable dogs, and candid chats about her life and anxiety issues. I personally think she's great and has had a great track record curating collections and colors in her brand collaborations. And as things seem to go lately with the big name YouTubers, Kathleen launched her own brand in recent months, a nail polish brand called KL Polish.

For many of us with a job who like makeup, it would be great if said makeup lasted throughout the work day, wouldn't it? And some makeup sure likes to say it does but I'm here to put it to the test.

Hello world, it's me, I was wondering if Q1 would ever let me breathe. What was supposed to be a month off turned into two, such is life with a demanding day job. And what better to wipe away stress along with several coats of mascara than a good double cleanse?

What's the skinny on the L'Oreal Infallible Super Slim Liquid Eyeliner?

In the ongoing quest for perfect liquid eyeliner pen I move along to L'Oreal, who previous let me down with the awful Matte-matic eyeliner pencil. While that one sucked, I do love the Silkissime eyeliners and the Infallible gel eyeliner pencil that's super super pitch dark deep as pitch black. I was originally looking for their dupe of Lancome's Art Liner (since L'Oreal owns Lancome and YSL it's easy to find L'Oreal versions of a few things from each brand) but couldn't find it, and this one ended up catching my eye instead.

Is 29 by Lydia Mondavi an affordable Caudalie alternative?

Most Youtubers I watch seem to have one thing in common- a massive love for using MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot as an eyeshadow base. NikkieTutorials and Sharon Farrell in particular are two big fans who come to mind, and after not totally getting the ardent affection for it I decided to pick it up and try it for myself.

I understand now why it's so beloved.

The Ordinary, one the the skincare labels under the DECIUM umbrella, certainly has the beauty world talking over how it's disrupting the skincare market with quality ingredients at super affordable prices. A good retinol for shy of $10? Vitamin C for $5.80? Cold pressed rosehip oil at a price that doesn't press your wallet hard? Is it too good to be true?

Nuxe Paris Cleansing Milk with Rose Petals is a cleanser meant for normal to dry sensitive skin that might react poorly to harsher soaps and needs a gentler hand in getting clean without being too squeaky clean and stripping the natural oils of your face. Does everything come up roses with this cleanser?

In my last post about brands like Glossier and Milk, I mentioned that there were more affordable skin tint options out there that were also vegan and/or cruelty-free, and one such tint is the Pixi H20 Skin Tint. Luckily, this one is easily found at Target if you're feeling the need for instant gratification and not waiting for online shipping.

Are you a busy girl on the go ready to get out there and DO ALL THE THINGS! and can't be bothered sitting around putting on makeup? Well good news for you; NYC-based artsy powerhouse Milk is here to save the day...with their range of high-end makeup that, in their own words, is "for the girl on the go who spends less time getting done up, more time getting stuff done."

There's a popular NY-based beauty blogger who, while I don't always agree with her opinions, generally doesn't miss the mark much on reviewing products. So when she raved about the newer member of the Infallible eyeliner family, L'Oreal Infallible Matte-Matic Mechanical Eyeliner as being creamy and fitting in well with the new generation of drugstore eyeliners that aren't waxiness awfulness on a stick, I decided to give it a try.

$8, 5 minutes per eye, and sore lids later, I got to ask....what the actual hell do people see in this liner???

When I was younger, I loved colorful eyeshadow. A bright, satiny red from Urban Decay was my jam, borderline neon pinks, greens, it would be fair to say I was all about painting with the colors of the wind. But lately, I find I've grown drawn more to neutrals that technicolor.

So when I saw on Instagram that Makeup Geek had not one but two fall-themed eyeshadow bundles coming out, it was basically like dangling beauty catnip in my face. How fast could I toss my wallet at my computer to make these mine?

Real fast, my friends, real damn fast. 

September is coming to close, and boy is this year going fast! While doing some tidying up and throwing out a decent amount of makeup, I gathered up my empties for the month for my first Empties post. 

Who doesn't love digging through someone else's trash?  :D

You know how everyone loves and raves about It Cosmetics CC Cream? I tried it, didn't like it, don't understand the hype. The Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream, however, did exactly what I wanted a CC Cream to do and did so beautifully. 

While shopping in Boots on my London trip earlier this month, I came cross this Sleek blush trio palette and fell instantly in love with the colors. And for only £9.99? Yes, please! 

I make it no secret how much I love Bourjois. How much it saddens me they have not yet made their way into the US drugstores. I saw through a couple of blogs that they had introduced a sheer matte lip color version of the Rouge Velvets, Souffle de Velvet, and I was intrigued. 

It suckers you in, that attractive and vibrantly pink Benefit airport kiosk full of promise and face powder. It has actually saved me on some occasions when I've forgotten something and know Hello Flawless works well for me, or that Fake Up concealer is one of the few concealers that works for me.

 Did I honestly need this travel set? No, I didn't, but at 10:55pm at night after the great Delta Computer Crisis my will power was weak. Also I wanted to try the Dandelion Glow because I hadn't seen it before and wasn't quite sure what it was. 

After lamenting the sadly discontinued Nuance by Salma Hayek Cleansing Oil, I've been hoping the drugstore could fill the hole it's left in my heart, and oh, it has! 

Palmer's Cocoa Butter has thrown its hat into the cleansing oil game with their Skin Therapy Cleansing Oil, devoid of mineral oil and instead full of nicer ones like soybean, grapeseed, rosehip, etc. It is so so good. 

As summer starts fading into autumn, so comes that brief transition period where you might start pairing shorts with a jacket, trading sandals for boots, and taking a lighter hand with your bronzer. How can you incorporate this shift in your makeup?

With Milani's Earthly Elements palette, it's so simple to have the best of both seasons until it's time to vamp it up more.

Confession time: I am somewhat lazy when it comes to my hair and haven't always been keen to blowdry it even though I tend to have better hair on second and third days than if I just let it air dry. I have a lot of hair that doesn't like to dry quickly, so it tends to be such a chore.

But now, no longer. 

In one of those "I heard it on Tumblr" sort of situations, I came across Meow Meow Tweet, a newer indie skincare brand, and originally was interested in the deodorants but decided to just go on a sample ordering spree.  

I got a small size of the facial care kit, face mask, and deodorants.

How does this brand size up?

I told myself, "Self, don't buy any more makeup for a while. You have enough." But then I saw pictures of the newest Pixi Beauty 2016 Collection on Instagram, specifically their new MultiBalm sticks for lip and cheek and the Glow Tonic To Go pads, and I folded like a lawn chair. So it goes. 

Sometimes the best products don't need to cost an obscene amount, they can be as cheap as $5 or under. There's a wealth of great makeup out there that won't break the bank, do the job, and sometimes even better than the high end stuff. So if you're looking for some cheap and cheerful products that just might be your new favorites, read on. 

I'm a bit of a cleansing balm addict. When you find a great one, it really feels like it can do anything: take makeup off, cleanse, treat, double duty as a mask, maybe pay off my taxes? Okay, that last one is reaching just a wee bit but hey, a girl can dream! 

The Trilogy brand from New Zealand is slightly newer to the US skincare market, but every product I've tried so far I've ended up loving and gave the brand a nod in my winter skincare favorites. The Cream Cleanser, Hydrating Mist Toner, and Certified Organic Rosehip Oil Antioxidant+ are all incredibly lovely and constantly rotate their way into my routine. So when I saw they had released a cleansing balm when I was at Whole Foods recently, I had to try it.

From the BB craze to multi-step skincare layering, it's safe to say Asian beauty is one of, if not, the leading trendsetter in the commercial beauty industry right now. Products and concepts that become big there eventually wind up on our shores and in our stores a couple years later.

I'm pretty sure by now it's no secret I love MUJI, especially for travel accessories. They have some of the best travel-sized bottles and containers, toiletries essentials, packing cubes and more. One of my favorite things they also carry are their Nylon Hanging Travel Case.

It goes without saying you're working with limited real estate when traveling with a backpack, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your makeup entirely to make room for your shoes. With a few tips, you'll have what you need without taking up too much space.

You know when you can barely walk into your closet and you're at the point of critical clothing mass where you just want to set things on fire?

Okay, you probably shouldn't actually do that, but you can wrangle your wardrobe down to something easier and more manageable, using a method the Internet has dubbed as the "French Five Piece Wardrobe."

Last weekend in my last bit of makeup shopping for a good while, I stopped by Nordstrom's because finally, blessedly, there was a Charlotte Tilbury counter. I could finally swatch this highly coveted brand in person, pick up a few things, and see if it's really worth all the hype it's getting by everyone from pro makeup artist to the online beauty community.

Nuance by Salma Hayek at CVS is, to me, an underdog brand that doesn't get as much love as it should. Some of that is the weirdly small to non-existent marketing behind it, were I to guess. The color cosmetics line is pretty straight forward, but there's some real gems in the skin and haircare range worth grabbing. 

Today, I'm talking about a pretty awesome cleansing oil that's both drugstore and less than $11. But, like all goods things such as Firefly, it's too good to be true as CVS has apparently discontinued it. You might still be able to find bottles of it, though, and I highly suggest stocking up.