May '13 Birchbox!

I've had my May Birchbox ready to post and review on here since last Friday but... well, I don't want to say I haven't because I wasn't excited but... erm... I kind of sort of think that that was the reason.

Regardless, I'm here today with the contents of my box so take the jump if you want to see what was inside!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Before I do my May Birchbox post (it'll be up tomorrow!) I just wanted to take a little time to congratulate and celebrate all of the wonderful, beautiful mothers out there who have made us who we all are today. 

Since I have already done things for my mom in ways more personal than a blog post, this one is dedicated to my baby boy Galileo... 

because he's not about to bake his mom a cake any time soon.

So here's to my silly...

...fluffy...

...sleep-anywhere-anytime-anyhow...

....toe-loving...

...beautiful Siberian boy; I love you honey!!

You've gotten so big so fast *sniffle sniff*

Here's to many (many many) more happy years together <3

xoxo - Cassie

Revlon ColorStay 16 Hour Eye Shadow Quad "Addictive": Swatches + Review

I mentioned in my previous eye shadow review that I would do a proper post on the new Revlon ColorStay quad that I own in "Addictive" so you all can compare and contrast; new to old; bad to good. I know I only own one of these quads so to say the whole line is crap would seem a little facetious however I have trusted make up friends who say others in this range are utter poo as well.

What first attracted me to this palette was, apart from my previously wonderful experience with the old ColorStay eye shadow formula, was the color assortment in "Addictive". I can't deny how absolutely lovely these shadows look and how perfect they would be for an everyday look. Would be... if the formula wasn't absolute crap. Crud. Feces. The worst. 

Seriously.

THE WORST I have experienced, probably since the Sonia Kashuk "Simmering Sands" palette fiasco.

The two photos above are very, VERY heavily done swatches; the first after one application and the second with two layers. When I say I swatched these you have to know that I rubbed those stupid eye shadow pans ferociously for at least 20 seconds before swiping across the back of my hand. 

Also, it must be noted that not all shadows in this quad were created equal. The top two shimmer shades are extremely dry, chalky, and not even slightly pigmented. The bottom two shadows, a satin and matte shade, are actually really soft and quite nice to work with apart from the fact that their pigmentation is also extremely lacking; they can, however, be built up decently and the taupe-y bronze satin shadow is probably the only reason I don't throw this quad straight into the dumpster.

When all is said and done though I would save your $8 and get a couple tubs of Ben & Jerry's instead. These are just far too hard to work with (especially when waking up in the morning; who wants to wake up to a hassle??) and even if you do get them on your lids the color wipes away so easily that I can't imagine these lasting more than an hour or two.

Have you tried any of the 'new' (they were reformulated and released about a year and a half ago) Revlon ColorStay eye shadow quads?

Love 'em? Hate 'em?

What's your favorite drugstore brand of eye shadows?

Do share!!

xoxo - Cassie 

Weekly Outfits Are Back!!

Arm on the hip was apparently SUPER in style for this week... #don'tworry #ijudgemyselftoo

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've uploaded an OOTW video for you all but alas!! It was the end of the semester and I had to prioritize. 

So, without further ado, here's the video for those of you who haven't seen it yet and are interested in some fairly lazy (albeit comfortable) fashion haha:

As always, I hope you enjoy!!

xoxo - Cassie

Revlon ColorStay 12 Hour Eye Shadow Quad "Blushed Wines": Swatches + Review!!

You all may or may not know this about me but I have a bit of a thing for nostalgia.

I also have adopted the habit of switching up my blushes and eyeshadows each month in order to not get stuck in any ruts as well as to show all of my makeup some love.

So, when May rolled on in last week, I couldn't help but choose this eyeshadow quad from Revlon as my May eyeshadow palette; the colors scream Spring (especially now that it has finally sprung #propsmothernature #tookyoulongenough) but most importantly this was my everyday eyeshadow palette throughout high school. I dabbled in a few other (regrettable) looks but this was always my fallback, my go-to, my beloved (ugh shut up self... just take the jump if you want more makeup mush).

organix nourishing coconut oil

I had no idea how to do a blog review on hair oil.

I HAVE no idea how to do a blog review on hair oil.

How do you show its effects? Its benefits? Its etcetera?

Alas, I've been getting SO many compliments about my hair in the past month or so (which, I assure you, was probably my least complimented feature of all throughout my life; fine/thin hair that's often dry isn't something you tend to see on the cover of InStyle [unless it's for an article on how to fix it]) that I decided it was time to at least give a proper review of organix's nourishing coconut oil a chance. 

How I Style: Bright Lipstick!

Just a quick update before I hop off to work; I uploaded a new video on YouTube on how I style bright lipsticks!! Perfect for this time of year and kind of correlates with the Spring lipsticks post I did not too long ago :) 

As always, I hope you enjoy!!

xoxo - Cassie