Kylie Jenner Cosmetics Review

I talk a little bit about beauty on here and love sharing all of my recommendations. My favorite part of my morning routine is doing my makeup. It gets me ready for the day, calms me down and allows me to focus on something trivial that also makes me feel good! Now, I'll just say right now that I love the Kardashians. Love em' or hate em', you can't deny that all of them are highly successful business women. As soon as Kylie announced she was releasing a matte liquid lipstick line last year, I knew I had to have one. Since the start of Kylie Cosmetics, I've acquired two matte lip kits, the dark bronze Kyliner kit, and the bronze Kyshadow palette. I really enjoyed testing out all four products, so I thought I would tell you what I like and don't like about each item. 

1. LIPKITS 

Color: Kristin 

Formula: Matte

Availability: In-stock

What It Comes With: Matte liquid lipstick and matching lip liner

Price: $29

Rating out of 5 stars: 4.5/5 

As soon as I saw Kristin on Kylie in this picture, I knew I needed it. The strawberry pink color looked so good with her skin tone, and I only hoped it would look as good on me. I actually got Kristin the day it was released, so I was super excited. I anxiously awaited my package which took a good week since demand was so high for the product. When I first tried Kristin on, it definitely looked different on me than Kylie. However, I love it!!! The color is a little darker than how it photographs (I think you can get a more accurate swatch of the color on the line's Instagram page, but the editing on this photo that I saw definitely made it look a little pinker/brighter). The color is described by her website as "a warm brown berry." This is pretty accurate- a pink shade with brown/mauve undertones. The best part about the lip kits is that they stay on forever. I was able to get through three meals without the entire thing wiping off. There was a little that came off in the center of my lips, but I quickly just swiped another coat on without even looking in the mirror and I was good to go. You never have to re-line your lips or carefully reapply the lipstick ever during the time you're wearing it. The application is a little tricky- be careful because the color is highly pigmented. Any time you accidentally go outside of your lips, it's going to be hard to fix. With that said, the lipstick is difficult to take off. I used miscellar water on a cotton round to take off her lip kits after a long day, and it does the job after a solid minute of scrubbing. Maybe miscellar water isn't the best option to remove an intense lip color, but that's what I use! One little thing to note: while it's not a huge deal, the lipsticks do dry out your lips a little big because they are extremely matte. It's nothing crazy, just make sure you moisturize your lips before and after with some vaseline. 

Color: Candy K 

Formula: Matte

Availablitity: In-stock

What It Comes With: Matte liquid lipstick and matching lip liner

Price: $29 

Rating out of 5 stars: 3/5 

Candy K was the first ever Kylie product I purchased, so it's close to my heart. It looked like such a beautiful nude on Kylie, so I ordered Candy K for me and Dolce K for my sister as a little present. Maybe it's just because I have fair skin, but Candy K is most definitely not the neutral nude I thought it was. It looks very dark on my lighter skin and I tend to only wear it out at night, or when I have light makeup on the rest of my face. This is not to say that I don't love the color, because I do. It's just more of a statement lip than an every day color. I think they were marketing it as a really wearable nude (when in fact it's not), so that is the reason I gave it a 3/5. Other than that, my comments on formula and texture are pretty much the same as Kristin (the color of which I like better than Candy K). To my knowledge, all of her lip kits have the same ingredients but different pigmentation. 

2. KYLINER  

I swatched this in my bathroom in natural light

Color: Dark Bronze 

Formula: Creamy 

Availability: This particular color longer sold

What It Comes With: Eyeliner pencil, gel eyeliner pot, angled eyeliner brush 

Price: $36

Rating out of 5 stars: 4.5/5

I stopped wearing black pencil eyeliner a good three or four years ago because lining your waterline with black is very intense/not good for every day wear. Black on my waterline makes my eyes look very small and narrow- I don't like it! The only time I'll do black liner nowadays, is if I'm doing liquid liner on my upper lash line. I exclusively only do soft browns on my waterline now- it opens up my eyes and creates a softer, smokey eye. This eyeliner shade is gorgeous. It's a cool brown with little flecks of gold and bronze in it. I didn't actually realize what came with the Kyliner kit until I got mine in the mail (again, I also got this product the day it went on sale). It contains 3 products: a creamy eye pencil, a glass gel eyeliner pot, and a small angled eyeliner brush. I was pleasantly surprised! The $36 dollars made more sense to me, because you're essentially getting three things in one package (this would make each item in the kit around $12, which is still a little pricy). The texture of the pencil and gel liner is amazing. The pencil glides smoothly onto your lid and feels nice on your waterline too (many eyeliner pencils are too pointy and I end up poking my eye out, haha). The gel is amazing when applied carefully with a good brush. I used the brush that the kit came with to try it out for the first time, and it sucks. The bristles are prickly, not of good quality and don't smoothy apply the liner. It came up really choppy and messy when I tried to use it, and I'm actually pretty good at applying eyeliner. Once I switched over to a professional angled brush, the application was perfect and the liner looked amazing. Therefore, I don't think the $36 price tag is worth it. The brush that comes with the kit either needs to be eliminated in order to lower the price, or they need to upgrade the quality of their company's brushes! The brush is the only reason I gave this product a 4.5/5- other than that, the eyeliners themselves are stunning and they don't slide off your lid as the day/night goes on.

P.S. You can no longer get this product because it was from her exclusive birthday collection, however I'm sure the new brown and black eyeliners are just as fabulous! 

3. KYSHADOW

Color: Bronze palette

Formula: Mostly matte powders, with a couple of shimmery colors 

Availability: Currently sold-out

What It Comes With: 9 pressed powders 

Price: $42

Rating out of 5 stars: 5/5!

Ah, I saved the best for last! I don't think I've ever been so in love with an eyeshadow palette, ever. I'm very picky about the eyeshadows that go on my lids. I used to be crazy and experiment with hundreds of different colors (blues, pinks, reds, purples...) and looked insane. Now that I've refined my makeup skills, I know what works for me and what doesn't. I have really blue eyes, so bronzy/orangey browns make them pop! I've searched long and hard for a palette that has literally every color I need and also has the perfect shades for my eyes. I found those things in this palette. I feel like it was made just for me! Seriously though, getting my hands on this thing was a real process. I went online right as it went on sale every week and finally got one on the fourth week I tried. This s*** sells out really fast! But, it was totally worth the wait and stress of buying it. Every single color in it looks amazing on me AND every other person I've used the palette on. There is a really out-there orange, but if you use it right (and with a light touch), it creates the most beautiful subtle halo of light around your eyes. I also love that since there are nine colors, the number of looks you could create are endless. I do the lighter colors during the day for subtle enhancement, and use all nine at night for an intense smokey eye. My favorite colors from the palette are: Quartz (a shimmery champagne), Citrine (a matte bright orange), Bronzite (a matte chocolate brown), and Topaz (the perfect matte taupe). After I got the palette, I followed the steps in this video to achieve the same look as Kylie and it turned out looking really good. I recommend watching it if you're not sure where to start with the palette. Her makeup artist's recommendation for which colors to use where is how I normally do my eyes with it, but I've also started branching out and creating my own color combinations too. Last thing about this palette: the pigmentation is freaking unreal. All you have to do is literally dab your brush for one second onto a color, and already you have too much. What's good about that, is you can build the color up to be as intense or as light as you like! I've never seen anything so pigmented in my life... even the Naked palettes don't hold up to this standard (I said it). This is officially my favorite palette I've ever purchased, and I know I'll be hitting pan on this one way before all my other eyeshadows. This product deserves a 5/5 and I will continue to recommend it for anybody looking to buy a great neutral palette.

Below are some photos I took of A) the colors swatched on my arm and B) close ups of all the colors (there are only nine colors so don't get confused by seeing sixteen different powders... I did repeats in each photo so you can compare them!). 

Clockwise from top left: Jasper, Quartz, Citrine, Goldstone

Clockwise from top left: Quartz, Topaz, Tiger Eye, Citrine

Clockwise from top left: Goldstone, Citrine, Bronzite, Hematite

Clockwise from top left: Citrine, Tiger Eye, Obsidian, Bronzite

Pros of the brand overall: 

-great pigmentation

-beautiful packaging 

-long lasting 

-good quality

-it's Kylie Jenner, duh 

Cons overall: 

-no returns or refunds

-$8.95 shipping every time you order

-high price 

Some things I hope to purchase next: 

1. Mary Jo K lip kit (the perfect matte red!)

2. Rose Gold Creme Shadow 

3. Brown Kyliner Kit 

Phew! I hope you enjoyed this very extensive review of the Kylie Cosmetics makeup line. I hope to try more products in the future! 

Thanks for reading!

-Ashley Ann 

How To: Survive Your First Week At College

So I’ve officially finished my first week of college and I already love it. Being in college is like being in a different world. You are now responsible for each and every thing you do! It’s frightening, exciting, and overwhelming all at the same time. This week has been absolutely insane in the best way possible. I never thought that I would be having this much fun so far! Yes, the school work is a lot heavier than high school, but so far I feel alright about it. In the past year, I’ve read hundreds of articles about various study tips for college, along with a few guides to making it through syllabus week. As a freshman coming right out of syllabus week, I thought I would share my personal tips for staying calm, cool and collected during your first big milestone at school. These things all worked perfectly for me! I’m proud to say that syllabus week went off without a hitch… I only lost my keys twice, accidentally threw my wallet in the trash, and tripped over a step in front of twenty people. Although the week wasn’t perfect, I still managed to get through it and came out feeling more confident about my abilities to succeed in school and in life. So without further ado, here are my top five tips for syllabus week: 

1. Write down everything. If your professor mentions an important exam date, write it down. If you hear about a cool event for a club you want to join, write it down. When you inevitably receive all of the freshmen “welcome week” activity dates, write them all down! Seriously, I’ve only been here for a week and already my planner is filled to the brim with stuff I have to remember to do. Trust me when I say that you are absolutely, positively NOT going to remember every little detail. If you write it down, the thought will automatically leave your brain. Remembering things in your head stresses you out because you'll simply have too much in there to remember it all! I highly recommend investing in a cute planner. I love this one that I got from Target… it has everything I need: to-do lists, monthly spreads, and weekly spreads. After I received a new syllabus in each class, I sat down at my desk and went through the entire thing. I carefully read and wrote down important contact information, office hours, and the attendance policy of each professor. Also, I went through my monthly calendars and wrote down every. single. assignment. Now, I can look through my planner and know exactly what’s coming up that week in each class! Way easier than finding out down the road that a midterm is in two days... and you had no idea.

2. Remember to call home. Here is why syllabus week is crazy: you are attending every single class and learning what each professor is like, you’re going to school-sponsored events, you’re trying not be awkward and to make friends, you’re being forced to develop a brand new routine and learn to do things for yourself, you’re probably doing a little bit of work, and you’re having meetings upon meetings for various different things (RA meetings, required sexual harassment courses, school-specific introductory events and more). Things can definitely get stressful really quickly. It was so nice to FaceTime my family that first night and hear everyone’s voices when I was feeling very alone. Don’t get me wrong, I was so excited to start college, but the first night is really hard. I didn’t sleep well and felt sick to my stomach the next day. I can happily say those feelings only lasted a short 24 hours, and I quickly was able to forget about my homesickness because of how busy I was! However, checking in with your parents once (or twice or three times) a day can make you feel so much better. I’ve also talked on the blog before about how close I am with my friends. Senior year and this summer we spent literally every single day together. And if we weren’t together, we FaceTimed or put together a Skype call. My first night, I called my best friends to chat with everyone, give a little dorm room tour, and have them meet my roommates. It felt like they were there with me and made me feel more at home. Staying connected with people is really important. If you don’t want to lose your high school friendships, make the effort to reach out and talk a couple of times a week. 

3. Go to as many events as you can! It’s going to feel so awkward, but that’s the best way to meet people/get involved. You should not hole up in your dorm room because you’re afraid of going out and encountering complete strangers. Get your roommate(s) to come to everything with you- they are the ones who are going to be your go-to people! I absolutely love my roommates (I have two in my bedroom and three others in the suite with us)! I’ve gotten really close with them already because we drag each other out to different school-sponsored activities. Having someone with you is key to not feeling awkward because you can always talk to them if you feel uncomfortable around strangers. Which leads me to my next point…

4. Everyone is new. I actually think that your freshman year of college is the easiest time to make friends. All you have to do is literally go up to someone and introduce yourself. “Hi, I’m ____! I live in (this building), what about you?” Your first week of college is a blur of names, hometowns, majors, and residence halls. It’s so easy to start a conversation with anyone. I've met so many people in the elevator for my building, as well as just randomly sitting down next to people in lecture halls. I know it seems scary to put yourself out there, but the other person will feel so grateful and excited that someone else (you) is talking to them! Try leaving your door open and welcoming people in. Our floor just had an “open-door night,” where you could go into anyone’s room on the floor and meet them. My roommates and I baked cookies and handed them out to people as they came by! I now know everyone who lives in my hall and became friends with a bunch of them!

5. This might be vain, but put an effort into your appearance. I don’t mean full hair and makeup every day (but also, if that’s what you do, amazing!). Rather, simply wearing what makes you feel the most confident and comfortable. Since you are going to be meeting a lot of new people, you don’t want to be stressing about how you look. Don’t let the stress of whether your hair looks good or not overshadow your awesome personality. For me, I feel the most confident when I’m dressed up, my hair is straightened, and my makeup is fresh. So that’s what I’ve been doing this whole week: taking the extra time in the morning to sit down and do my makeup has been really therapeutic for me and takes away a lot of my stress (i.e. can everyone tell my face is breaking out because of the water here?)

Quick Pieces of Advice: 

• Bring your school ID and room key everywhere with you 
• Be open-minded about everything 
• Get the free food! 
• Spend time getting to know your roommates 
• Keep your room somewhat clean 
• Leave for every class ten minutes earlier than you think you need to 
• Walk around campus just for fun 
• Participate in the ice-breakers 
• Don't be afraid to ask for help 
• Pick up the phone when your mom calls you 
• Don't be that girl at the first party of the year 
• Be respectful to everyone you meet; you never know who you could be talking to 

And my final, quick tip might seem like a no-brainer, but just TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. Try to eat right, take care of your skin, and get on a good sleep schedule. You’ll thank me later. 

Any other college posts you want to see?  

Thanks for reading! 

-Ashley Ann