Review: Khroma Beauty, Kim's Kardazzle palette

     I was rather excited months back when news hit of the Kardashian's make up line, Khroma Beauty!! Like them or not, the girls always have flawless faces. I also figured that they wouldn't put their names on products that would make them look bad. Kim Kardashian's makeup is of my most requested looks as a makeup artist, so I picked up the Khroma Kim's Kardazzle palette to check it out.

     The palette is smaller in comparison to say ones by Urban Decay, I would compare it more to the size of a pack of cigarettes (sn: I do not smoke!!). Kim is known for her edgy smokey eye and precision contouring and highlighting. So, as you can see, the palette contains 8 shadows suitable for creating more dramatic looks. The pull out compartment additionally contains a blush shade, and shades for highlighting and contouring/bronzing. Below I have swatched all shades in the palette for you to see. Note: each shade was swatched with one swipe of the finger in natural light, no filters.

I was immediately drawn to the last 2 shades on the top row of shadows, as well as the 

middle 2 on the bottom. I also really liked the highlighting shade. The more gray matte colors I felt were so matte they came across as looking dull. The blush was okay for a soft sweep of color, but the bronze shade did not feel very pigmented to me, which I was a little surprised about given that this is Kim's palette.

     Well, I've worn a few of these shadows on occasion since I've had the palette, but today I did a full on eye look (just realized I lost the picture from my phone, laaaame!), using all the darker shades I mentioned before as being drawn to. I used potion primer as my base and topped everything off with a setting spray. 10 hours later everything was still in place and just as pigmented. That is definitely aces in my book!!

     Overall I would say that if you are looking for better quality makeup that doesn't come at a prestige line price, then Khroma is a great choice. I do wish all shades had amazing payout color wise, but the shadow is buildable and blends nicely. The price is affordable and you can find the line at Ulta. I can't wait to try their mascaras, since I am a proclaimed Lash addict. Another added bonus, at least for me anyway, is the packaging. It's well designed and a lot of thought was put into visual appeal, which I do appreciate.

Have you tried any of the Khroma line?? If you have I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Fourth of July weekend, and make sure to follow me on Twitter for expert makeup, fashion and hair tips, as well as my random musings. I'm also on Instagram: jacquelinecxo.

XO,

J <3.

Birchbox: Wanderlust.

    Is it really almost the end of June?! Wow. I'll be 5 weeks cancer free tomorrow!! Last weekend my best friend and I took a little time off for a girls day to celebrate the 1 month mark. We got manis/pedis, took a Target trip, ate some yummy food, did a little shopping and got tattoos (I got some Royal Teeth lyrics on side of my leg)... Talk about an amazingly rad day. Speaking of talking...lets talk about the June Birchbox!!

New Box packaging.

**Birchbox + Color Club Wanderlust Collection nail polish**

There were four neon pastel shades released. I received the pastel green one named London Calling...which I was pretty stoked about, one, because it's a lovely shade, and two, I have what you might call a mild obsession with British things. This shade is comparable to Essie's Absolutely Shore and comparable price wise as well since a full size bottle costs $8.

**LAQA & Co Lil' Lip Duo**

This is essentially a lip color that comes in jumbo pencil form. It has a creamy texture when applied and there is a little minty "taste" left behind as a sort of afterthought. The color is actually quite pigmented. I love mine, in a pretty bright rosy pink shade, especially paired with my NARS Easy Lover lip gloss. A full size is $16 for 2, so definitely worth checking out.

**ORIGINS Clear Improvement Active charcoal mask to clear pores**

ORIGINS is always a brand I love to see since I really love their products. I'm a big fan of masks right now so I can't wait to try this out this weekend! It's a white clay and charcoal based mask that tightens your pores and draws out impurities, all while making your skin appear less dull. It's supposed to be a great once a week mask and the full size product retails for $23.

**Oscar de la Renta Something Blue perfume sample**

This is a new scent from Oscar de la Renta, but it smelled really familiar. A lot of designer fragrances carry such similar notes. It starts with notes of mandarin and linden blossom and picks up to notes of bourbon vanilla and white musk. It's definitely a warmer scent, something I would find more wearable for an autumn date night or the like. With a price point ranging from $85-$115, there are other very similar scents at more affordable prices if you are looking for something more economical. 

**ORIGINS GinZing Energy-Boosting Moisturizer**

Another ORIGINS product!! This moisturizer contains ginseng and coffee to combat lack-lustre skin. It's also supposed to make your skin look energized and radiant. Now, I don't know what "energized" skin appears like, but, my skin did have a radiant, dewy gloe! It also felt good, no greasy residue or anything!! Very lightweight and great for everyday use. The full size is $26.50.

****BONUS JONAS****:

Check out my new tattoo!! ((Royal Teeth lyrics))...and make sure to pick up the band's full-length album, "Glow", out this August!!

Check out my Instagram for more pics: jacquelinecxo

Hope everyone has awesome weekend plans in store!!

XO,

J <3.

Review: Victoria's Secret Hold Please Volume Shine Hairspray.

    Every now and then I come across a product that I, sadly, just don't like. I'm not a fan of writing bad reviews anyway,its more so of a let down when the product comes from a company I otherwise adore!! Today I'm reviewing the Hold Please Volume Shine Hairspray from Victoria's Secret. 

     I have actually had this hairspray on hand for several months, using it on and off when my favorite sprays were not accessible for whatever reason. I'll put it out there now, I am a hairspray junkie!! Now on the front of the bottle it says "Get bedroom romp hair, extreme body and lift"...well, we shall see about that!!

     WHAT THE HAIRSPRAY CLAIMS:

*brilliant shine

*incredible volume

*superior flexible hold

*anti-humidity complex

*UV protectant

     WHAT I EXPERIENCED:

*My hair didn't look at all shiny!! Even when 

I used just a little bit of the product my color seemed more dull if anything!! If the greasy feel was meant to appear as shine then someone in product development sure missed the mark.

*Incredible volume. Oh, I laugh. Yes, my hair did have amazing volume...before I used the hairspray. The minute the spray made contact with my hair it weighed it down, thus flattening out all of the volume I had achieved prior.

*I didn't experience any great hold with this product. My hair actually had a "mushy", almost "gummy" sort of feel to it...not exactly the feel of bombshell hair. So, i guess in regards to being humidity resistant it was okay at best. I mean, it was so mushed down that a little bit of humidity just might have helped things out.

*Now, I can't really speak to the UV protectant nature of this hairspray, but any product offering a UV protecting agent automatically gets at least one gold star from me.

     So, as you can see, my review for this product wasn't so hot. Did I get that bedroom romp ready hair?? No. Nor would i want anyone  I was climbing into bed with to touch my hair with this hairspray in it. Did I get the extreme body and lift as promised?? Again, as you read, no I didn't. So sorry VS!! I am otherwise quite smitten with you and all the other beauty products you retail!! My hair just didn't have that VS angel runway hair look.

XO,

J <3.

Fight Like A Girl, Part I.

     I have been wanting to put this out for a while now...as in earlier posts I alluded, I actually had quite the legitimate reason for being more absent minded with posts, other than my usual "was just too busy" excuse(s). On April 23, 2013 I found out I had melanoma skin cancer. Yes, cancer... And the most serious of skin cancers at that. I'm 28. I'm young. Yet, I, with youth on my side, was not immune to cancer.
     Let's back up a little... I had been tanning in tanning beds for like 12 years. This, although vain on my part, was not an everyday thing, but it was a part of my usual routine. For like the last 4 or 5 years I even had the actual membership that automatically withdrewv money from my bank account every month. Well, this past January I had a hold put on my membership because I thought I was pregnant and I didn't want to risk roasting a little embryo. Turns out I wasn't pregnant, which actually turned out to be a positive thing since I was about to endure so much. Anyway, as I began to get paler and paler from lack of tanning, I began noticing more and more patches of freckles and little moles here and there. There was one mole I noticed on my left side, sort of near my back. It was no bigger than the diameter of a pencil eraser, if that, and certainly wasn't immediately alarming in color or anything to my naked eye. My ocd self wouldn't let me forget it was there so I showed it to my sister who works at a dermatologist office. She didn't really think it was anything but told me she would get me set up with an appointment to have things looked over.
     I was at the dermatologist withina few days and they of course checked the spot out more closely. She decided to punch biopsy (you can google that for procedure details... Ouch!). She also told me I shouldn't lose any sleep over things, which is pretty hard to tell a severe anxiety sufferer to do!! A few days later, while I was getting ready to leave work, I get a phone call from the head doctor telling me not to panic but I needed to see a surgical oncologist because I had melanoma cancer. How can you use the words "don't panic" and "cancer" in the same sentence?! I hear the word cancer and panic ensues. I don't even remember how the rest of that conversation went, I just remember calling my mom and my husband crying"I have cancer, I have cancer!!". How I made it home that day crying like I was, I have no idea!! Thanks be to God... For everything.
     After medication induced calmnessv set in I was able to get more information/clarification. The melanoma was caught very early (thank you God...and never have I been so glad to have ocd) but yes, surgery was still necessary. The margins were clear depth wise but surgery was necessary to remove the width, plus an additional perimeter amount as precaution. I heard back from the doctor the next day (thank God my sister and friends work at this office, they really helped my treatment get expedited and took great care of me... They are amazing and I am truly blessed/forever grateful)... She had talked to the surgical oncologist and he agreed that my doctor was just as capable to perform the excision procedure as a 2 day procedure, under local anesthesia, as he was doing the same thing under general anesthesia in one day. I was so relieved to hear this, as anesthesia scares me. So, my surgery was scheduled for a Thursday and Friday last month, in May.

** part II will go up soon!!**

DID YOU KNOW that using a tanning bed can increase your risk of melanoma by up to 80%?!!!
I was so naive about my tanning habits, I cannot even believe I brought this on myself. Its amazing how we, as a society, can put vanity before our health. I, of course, will never use a tanning bed again, and I'm very careful about being in the sun in general. I'm amazed at how many people have reached out to me to say that my story has made them quit tanning too!! I feel touched that I can affect others through sharing my story; I'm very big on skin cancer advocacy now. We need to take care of ourselves and look out for each other whenever we can.

XO,
J <3.

Birchbox: Beauty Diaries

     When I got home just now my June Birchbox was waiting at the door!! Then I realized I still never posted my May box!! I'm telling you, my personal and work lives have been insane the past few months, and I can only give thanks to God for getting me through every trial and tribulation. I hope to expand in all areas of my life, but I also need to learn when to say "no", as I tend to take on more than I should at times...about this much-delayed May box though...

**The Contents**

May box contents!!

*BEAUTY PROTECTER
PROTECT & DETANGLE... A detangling elixir for all hair types. It locks in shine while instantly detangling and locking in color. I love the packaging of this little guy!! The product itself is okay, I typically use Unite's leave in conditioner. It's like $22 for a full size bottle, so it's definitely at a higher price point.

How cute is this packaging?!!

*CARGO LIPGLOSS... I love Cargo products so I was glad to see this gloss in my box, and its a pretty big trial size item too. I like this gloss because it's hydrating, not sticky and can be easily layered over any base lip color. A full size tube is $14, which is in the median price range for prestige cosmetics. (You can buy Cargo at Ulta). The shade I received is called "Route 66" and its a pretty, pink-watermelon color (see swatch below).

*CoTZ 

NATURAL SKIN TONE SPF 40... Let me just say, first and foremost, always, ALWAYS, say yes to SPF!! SPF 40 is pretty much my new best friend these days so this product is probably my #1 pick from the May box. Not only is this SPF non-greasy, it also has a tint to it so you are left with a natural looking glow, but with a matte finish. The full size product will run you about $20.

*LA FRESH

ECO-BEAUTY OIL-FREE FACE CLEANSER... I haven't tried this yet, but I've used their moisturizing wipes in the past and really loved them (I do love a good face wipe!!). These are biodegradable if you're environment friendly, as we should all pretty much be. They remove dirt, makeup and other impurities with jojoba oil to be extra moisturizing. 30 wipes is $10, so that's a really good selling point aside from all the good these bad boys are slated to do.

**BONUS JONAS**

An ink pen!! I'm a pen fiend, so I certainly wasn't hating this little extra!!

Hope everyone is having a great week. Its only getting hotter out there so stay cool, literally!!

XO,

J <3.

Birchbox: Women's Health

Birchbox + Women's Health = tiny tweaks, big results.
The last day of May and I am on my phone typing a blog post about the April Birchbox. I know I'm not the most punctual person as far as blogging goes (I haven't even opened May's box), but this type I have a highly legitimate reason for putting all this on the backburner, which I will be doing a series of posts about and I encourage everyone to read them when they're up and really think about things. This is one of the review posts I hate because I don't have my pictures to go along with... The other day, out of no where, all the pictures from my camera disappeared... Gone!! Now you see me (want to see that movie, sn), now you don't. I was emotionally distraught and livid... There were nearly 300 pictures from like 2 years. The best that verizon could conclude was that my sd card went bad and my phone wasn't reading it, therefore my backup assistant wasn't backing up the images. ::sigh:: I wanted to throw up, maybe I did. Pictures are quite the big deal to me, but moving on from that.

Let me just talk about this April Birchbox before it falls completely to the wayside...
***THE CONTENTS***

*NEXXUS HYDRA-LIGHT LEAVE-IN
CONDITIONING FOAM... This one came in my box as a full-size product,
which normally retails for about $17, so that's rather exciting. On the flip side, like I always say, I'm super picky about my hair products, especially since I have extensions and color treated hair. These sorts of things I usually pass on to family members (hey, Mom), or I use them in different giveaways. About the product... It's a glycerin infused styling foam, and I am loving foam hair products lately actually, that aims to tame frizz and reflect light to give hair a boost of shine. The science behind the hydra-light formula is a blend of deep sea minerals, antioxidants and hydrating
polymers, which work to nourish hair without weighing it down. Not sure how this would bode for color treated hair, but it sounds promising.

*SUMITA EYE SHADOW PENCIL... Another full size product!! Retails for $11. It's a glide-on eyeshadow pencil that can create versatile looks. The color I received was a deep Lilac color, which doesn't suit me with my red hair right now. I love eye shadow pencils as bases though, and this one by Sumita seems highly comparable to a NYX jumbo pencil.

*SUPERGOOP! ADVANCED SPF 37 ANTI-AGING EYE CREAM...I am a skin care lunatic now so I'm super excited to try this little gem out.  They just sent me the sample size but the full size retails for $45. This is an eye cream with some serious SPF in it...I love already!! The product's formula has an oat peptide complex cream to firm skin. I will be trying this out really soon, as I am more readily getting back into my daily skin/makeup routines.

*YES TO CUCUMBERS FACIAL TOWELETTES...I love all the YES TO lines and these towelettes are great. The cucumber acts as a skin brightening agent, and the wipes themselves also gently exfoliate and detoxify. And for all you eco-friendly folks, they are 100% biodegradable. They make my skin feel refreshed, even more so after I've washed my face at night. The full-size towelettes retail for like $5.99, and you can get them at Walgreens or Ulta, to name a few places.

*YES TO GRAPEFRUIT DAILY FACIAL SCRUB AND DARK SPOT CORRECTING SERUM... I actually haven't tried these, they were two little bonus jonases in the box. THE SCRUB is a milder one as far as exfoliators go, so it is gentle enough should you want to use it for everyday use. It contains lemon balm and grapefruit, which clarify the skin. THE SERUM (and I do love a good serum) works to reverse spots caused by acne, aging and sun damage, and let me just say you can totally have sun damage and not be able to see it just by looking in the mirror. Everyone should get an annual check at the dermatologist, after all our skin is our largest organ!! These products retail
between $10-$20, and you can pick them up wherever YES TO products are sold!!

Hope everyone is well!! Make sure to follow this blog for upcoming posts. You can also check out my facebook page (pretty & clever by Jacqueline Clark), my Twitter (@JalinMarieC) and my instagram (jacquelinecxo).

XO,
J.

Review: Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo.

This is the time of year when dry shampoo is a must have for me. In the summer, especially, I like to go as long as I can without washing my hair, so I need a good dry shampoo to keep everything looking fresh until I really get in there with shampoo and conditioner. I still don't get why some people think they have to wash their hair everyday; in fact, sometimes doing so can actually work against your hair, depriving it of natural oils because you are constantly shampooing. That being said, I've tried several different dry shampoos over time, both salon and drugstore, and the Not Your Mother's brand is the closest drugstore one I've found to be comparable to salon quality brands. Actually, it's my favorite right now of all brands.

If you are not familiar with how dry shampoo works, you spray it on your roots and basically all throughout your hair. It will show up white on your hair (like a powder) and as your brush it through the white color dissipates as it absorbs any excess oils. Now, I have dark hair so I really have to brush thoroughly so my hair isn't left looking gray!! BUT, with the NYM brand I don't have to go so hardcore working it through because there isn't a gray cast like with others. It does leave a matte finish to your hair, so I always make sure to follow up with with a hairspray that adds shine, after I've finished styling.

PROS:

* COST EFFECTIVE.

    I paid under $6 for mine at CVS, so it's definitely an affordable product.

* REFRESHES

    It not only smells refreshing, but it gives my hair a refreshed look and feel between washes.

* NO GRAY CAST

   Like other dry shampoo products I've tried, this one doesn't leave my hair looking gray after combing the

   product through.

*STYLE FRIENDLY

    After you've used the dry shampoo you can go on and style your hair as your would normally.

Like any review I have to throw in the "cons"...

CONS:

*MATTE FINISH

    This may not even be a con to everyone, but I should mention again that this does leave a light matte finish

    to your hair. I like shine to my hair, so that's why I always follow up with hairspray that also has a shine

    effect.

*OVERUSE CAN BE MESSY

     Like with any product, overuse can have a downside. If you are really pushing it and constantly using the

     dry shampoo when it probably is time to go ahead and wash it, then you'll start to notice your hair

     looking a little greasy, especially on top. At this point, Wash your hair!!

Hope this little review was helpful/informational/what have you...If you have any review suggestions or have opinions on this or other dry shampoos comment below!!

If you are reading this make sure you are following me on Blogspot, and my other social sites too!!

Twitter: JalinMarieC

Instagram: jacquelinecxo

XO,

J.