Good Things Happen When Youre Naked.

20190919 CloudNineKollektiv

Good Things Happen When  You’re Naked.

Urban Decay x Influenster

The Experience:

     So I’ve had this review in my bag for a little over a month while figuring out whether it should actually be shared; now that I’m filming and working with Influenster, it’s taking a loooot of tinkering to find a process for filming, editing, writing, and testing that feels natural and genuine but with all the deliberation I've come to the conclusion that it’s better to learn by doing- seriously, I’m running a blog that where all I do essentially, is test products. The way I do that should be pretty much be expected to change with time and practice (especially by myself). That being said, Influenster sent over two shades of foundations from Urban Decay’s most recent launch. The two shades, named 60WY for and 61NN, both medium deep tones, were sent to me complimentarily for testing purposes and I’m required to tell you so I’ll also add that these are 39USD per one ounce and it’s my first time ever wearing an Urban Decay foundation! 

     This new foundation launch, fittingly titled ‘Stay Naked Weightless Foundation’, was released over a month ago and features a whopping fifty shades, each with its own undertone crafted to compliment the wearer’s natural features. Being that this complexion product is a medium coverage offering with upward mobility, . I have to stress that I am not someone who uses medium coverage foundations, like period. Thats just my choice as I prefer foundations with higher pigment saturation and coverage and I want to use as few pumps as possible. I’m also partially to two skin finishes (plastic and something that looks vaguely like skin), and it’s attainable with with a medium cover foundation but it take me way to much time. Like, a full face is a forty minute activity most days with with either finish, I can easily imagine spending twice that time if I tried to used a foundation that its suited to those types of looks.

     Amateur hour aside, I’ve used both of the shades sent to my, alone ad separate, and I’m unsurprised to find the warm one is more complimentary to my skin than the other. It could just be that I’ve knowingly been using the wrong undertone for years, it could be pigment mixing protocols improving drastically on a short period of time- it could be anything to be honest. Though I distinctly remember mentioning that the peachy hues in neutral foundations always look and feel safer than skewing pale gold, as many warm foundations tended to be,  the last three or four times I’ve used warm foundation this year yielded pleasing results, and this time too is included in that count.

     The foundation definitely lives up to it’s name of being weightless. Both in look and feel, it wears so light that and a few points throughout my testing days I just thought my skin looked that good. The only con for me is that it takes the skin finish at its range very seriously. I’m a girl with dry combination skin, so the foundation applies well and have good color, and the skin like finish isn't bad at all! It’s just not my taste. But it looked natural enough that strangers were complimenting my skin instead.

    Maybe I’m alone in this, but the packaging reminds me of L.A.M.B. from back in the day. It’s glam, sleek, shiny, and practical. The product amount you see is what you're getting; because it’s UD I figured the tune would be full, but because of my curiosity, I had to open it to find out how full. Each of the two tubes was filled to just below the threads, a surplus of product if you’re just testing things most of the time, but pleasant if it’s staple in tour routine- I also appreciated having a full size on hand just because it just looks better when I’m taking photos for social media :).

The Verdict:

Pretty good! I exclusively use full coverage non SPF foundations and have not previously been a fan of this brand’s complexion offerings but that might have just changed with the stay naked line. I got it complimentarily for testing purposes and It’s very light both right out of the pump and on the skin- dries down with a my skin but better finish that doesn’t mute facial features/detail, it just works with what you have going on naturally. I have been testing this product alongside 61NN for about two weeks, here’s the application I’ve been doing: one application with color correcting/concealer underneath, one application with just primer/powder. The photo above is the powder application, the one below is the concealer as plication. I personally like the concealer application best- I prefer a plastic finish but the latter was also nice because it was complimentary to what my skin already had going on. Overall, I was able to get a good 12 hours of wear from one pump of each shade before having to blot- they still looked good 24 hours later as well. Although I can not recommend wearing this medium coverage foundation that long as a dry skin girlie, you can technically do it. So for that I’m rating this item four of five stars. Excellent work!

Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So I Finally got my First Acryllic Mani.

After years of following aesthetic blogs on Tumblr for the... aesthetic, I finally bit the bullet and got what bf affectionately refers to as "Thot Nails". Not the pseudonym I would have opted for since they've got a proper name, but for humor's sake I'm gonna roll with it. SO, I've never had my nails maintained professionally; this all came about one morning when my girlfriend text me. She was on my side of town and invited me on her appointment with her. Normally I would have declined; when I hear the word 'Salon', I naturally don't dare to walk in unscheduled. It's just rude, or so I thought: she took me to a place that accepts walk ins (and is open twenty-four hours). There weren't more than two guests already seated so we didn't have to wait long before that magic happened.

Now, when I say I've never had my nails professionally maintained, what I really mean is that aside from the NOTD posts you all get to see almost bi-weekly, I've never had any professional help to get my nails to look like they do; not even to get them shaped, which I heard is like, a big deal. Anyway,  our appointments took less than an hour even with all the extra stuff we got done: acrylics, gel, shaping, and then my friend got stencils over her last coat, which didn't last long but it looked good the first day so we didn't think much of it, since the design wasn't extra. Over time, I think I had consistent problems with the middle and index finger on both hands; the rest of them pretty much held up for three months.

      I know, I know. You're not supposed to keep acrylics that long. Not only did I have an obvious amount of space between my new growth and the color, but the nails started to grow out from underneath. So I caved and got them redone at the same place with a regular lacquer. Gel is nice and doesn't chip (very easily) but it cost more and my nails basically grew out eleven minutes after my appointment ended, every time. So standard varnish quite literally saved me.

I had the color redone that morning. The space between my install/cuticles = mani meltdown.

     Would it have been easier to just have the nails removed? Yes (and no), for one thing even getting them removed cost money; aside from that, my nails grew out as they normally do underneath the acrylics and I didn't want to cut them... Until I went to get one or two nails refitted. My technician clipped the nail off too close to my skin and lifted the rest off with her bare hands. Painful and had I known better at the time, my cue to leave. once they were on I paid and left. One nail salon didn't sour the magic of the whole, entire ordeal for me, but it was enough of a wake up call so that I went on to maintain the nails on my own so that no more would break until I was ready to take them off. 

     Don't get me wrong; having nice, 400 likes-worthy nails was nice, and having someone else do it all for me was even nicer. But it was a habit I couldn't really keep up with considering the fields I work in (and not sanitary probably. My boss would have a fit). I think I was able to throw on about four different shades in between all the maintenance, not that I remember what their called. None of them were me, but when you're trying something new, it's gonna be a little uncomfortable. A little wiggle room and voila, suddenly if felt fresh as hell. I'm not gonna lie, they did make me feel like everything I wore for those three month was gram-worthy. In the future though, I'm gonna stick with gel over my natural nails, and that's assuming they ever grow in the same.

This is what I like to call 'PSL'. I'm sure that's what it's actually called, OPI churned this one out.

20150518 FOTW

   Guess who just got a contouring palette. I'm gonna be completely honest: there isn't a whole lot of differences between a contour palette and a matte eyeshadow.. Which I usually use to contour instead. The one I got was ULTA brand and created for light to medium skin with a neutral/cool tones. What I liked the most was the size of the pans, and the handy little shading guide that came with it.. That, I also didn't use. I just didn't need it, looking at the diagram and then looking at my bare face, I probably would have looked like pennywise in drag.. maybe. Anyway, I just want to point out that adding contour extended my routine by an hour! Blending everything and correcting the tone? Not a fan of it, but I'll take the teachable moment with a grain of salt, gotta remember not everything in store is made *just for me* haha. Here's what I'm working with:

• ULTA CONTOUR PALETTE
• ESSENCE SUPERFINE EYELINER PEN
• ESSENCE EYELASH FIBRES
• WET N' WILD EYELINER PENCIL, GREY
• Rimmel ScandalEyes Rockin' Curves Mascara, Carbon Black
• NICKA COSMETICS LIP COLOR, BLACK
• RIMMEL LIP LINER, CLEAR
• IMAN COSMETICS FOUNDATION STICK, CLAY 3
• SEPHORA MATTIFYING COMPACT, D55
• MAYBELLINE THE NUDES EYESHADOW PALETTE
• FLOWER BEAUTY SKIN PRIMER BY DREW BARRYMORE

   I felt like I had a wet blanket on my face, but you know what they say about beauty being a pain. Anyway, I'm pretty satisfied with this look, I feel like I properly channeled the late nineties grunge aesthetic I grew up on. It's funny how little things like that make their way back into your life, I had no idea how affected I was, and it feels like it just crept over me while I was working on this look. This is definitely going into my look book, I am so with it.

Shany Cosmetics Vibraint 120 color Palette Pictoral

   This is my favorite palette so far. It's Shany cosmetics 120 color vibrant palette, I bought it specifically for the row of reds when I was on my red kick. Actually, I haven't even touched the other half of the palette (pictured last, on the right). I like eyeshadow trays with an array of color that stay the matte course, but this is good because each pan is tone specific and the concentrated pigment shows up well on deeper tones of skin without the use of primer ( which I don't recommend). It was nineteen dollars via the wish app, regular retail varies. 

This is one of the looks I created with this palette; I'm working up the gumption to use the greens this summer with some copper shimmer. So far I like every color I've used, and I'm looking forward to exploring the other products That Shany has to offer, including the lipstick collections!

Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Underage Red

Okay so this is my first ever liquid lipstick. I was trying to hold off on buying one until Jeffree Star's line took off, but it took like a year and my patience wore extra thin so, I bought this as an interim. It's not bad, in fact I even like the other colors this line comes in, but since I don't frequent sephora anymore, that means I'm gonna have to kiss this line goodbye. But first, a review: