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YSL Tatouage Couture Velvet Cream Matte Lip Stain “01” | Review

Karissa

Hello friends!

Sorry for my little hiatus, as mentioned in my goals post I tend to have phases of obsessing over beauty and then phases where I want nothing to do with it. I’m excited to get back into sharing my thoughts on beauty, but spoiler alert, we’re starting with quite the doozy.

Color: The 01 shade is a classic YSL shade; bright red as described by the Sephora website. Normally I would add a little more of my own thoughts but honestly, I think bright red is about as descriptive as you’d need! It’s got a pinky/orange base to create the incredible vibrance.

Finish: On application, due to the way the formula is (more on that later), it is high shine but dries down to a completely matte finish.

Packaging: The sample packaging I have varies from the full size packaging, unfortunately! My product is a clear tube with a shiny gold lid and a black YSL sticker on it. The full size tatouage product is a square shape, with a gold metal lid and “YSL” engraved into it. I will admit it does have a beautiful and luxurious look to it!

Applicator: The applicator is another huge difference between sample and full size, which I can’t help but wonder might be why application was so different and uncomfortable. The sample size product is a regular fluffy doefoot, which absorbs a lot of product and I think applied way too much. The full size applicator looks to be flat and mostly plastic, with just a small bit of fluff for comfort on application; I imagine this also regulates how much product will apply onto your lips.

Continue reading “YSL Tatouage Couture Velvet Cream Matte Lip Stain “01” | Review” →
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2023 Goals For the Blog & My Beauty Collection!

Karissa

Hello friends!

Today I have a wordy one for you all! I want to share all of the goals I have for this blog and my other social media platforms, as well as my personal makeup goals for 2023! I hope that by telling everyone what my goals are, it’ll help keep me more accountable to them! I might do quarterly updates sharing where I’m at, depending on if people are interested in hearing about it.

Instead of rambling on, let’s get into the goals, because there are a LOT of them to go through!

Continue reading “2023 Goals For the Blog & My Beauty Collection!” →
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Too Faced Melted Matte Liquid Lipstick “Queen B” | Review

Karissa

Hello friends!

I’m back today with another liquid lipstick review! Would you be surprised to know that when I was in my wild buy-everything phase it was during the height of liquid lip popularity? You would not believe the amount of liquid lipsticks I still have left to share with you all.

A little caveat for this review, I believe this particular lipstick is starting to go off and the formula is changing. I don’t think that it’s going to change the review too dramatically, but it’s important to point out that my experience with this lipstick and formula may not be the norm.

Color: Queen B is a cool toned pink, and when dried down it has an almost purple-grey look to it. While I do enjoy cool toned lipsticks, pinks are not up there for my favorite shades.

Finish: This liquid lipstick formula is one that, unsurprisingly, dries down to a completely matte finish.

Packaging: The packaging on this lipstick is definitely unique compared to most liquid lipsticks! It’s an acrylic tube, but starts in a cylinder shape and then changes into a rectangle at the bottom. The cap is a satin gold color, and the printing of the product name/information is a metallic gold. Even the wand is acrylic!

Applicator: The applicator for this liquid lipstick is a standard doefoot; nothing special to report here!

Continue reading “Too Faced Melted Matte Liquid Lipstick “Queen B” | Review” →
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I’m Still Here!

Karissa

Hello friends!

Long time no chat! Sorry for going MIA – I think we can all agree this year has been trying, to say the least. Unfortunately it got the best of me and I disappeared for a bit!

I just wanted to share this post and let you all know that I’ll be back to my regular reviews in 2021 and already have some posts planned!

Until then, stay safe and healthy! See you in 2021!

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New at Ulta | January 13 – February 2, 2020

Karissa

Hello friends!

I’m back once again with some of the standout products from Ulta recently!

Of course the brand new ABH palette drew my attention because it’s beautiful, but there were a lot of Colourpop palettes released as well! It also looks like Ulta is getting some products that have been out for a while, like the Persona Cosmetics glosses and Colourpop Just a Tint Lip Crayons.

New at Ulta | January 13 - February 2, 2020 - A Midwest Belle

Continue reading “New at Ulta | January 13 – February 2, 2020” →

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Friday Favorites | Jan. 23 – 29, 2020

Karissa

Hello friends!

I’m here to share this week’s favorites! A lot of YouTube videos made me laugh or were especially interesting this week – and Jenna Marbles was a very common theme as well!

1. Come Watch More Of My Favorite Tik Toks With Me – Jenna Marbles: I’m not a Tik Tok person, but Jenna Marbles always knows how to make me laugh!  She shares some of the funniest, weirdest Tik Toks she’s found and has me giggling alongside her! I think my favorite is the one in the thumbnail of the man and the plastic fork.

2. I Took My Guide Dog On A Cruise Ship For A Week! – Molly Burke: The thing I love about Molly is that she’s not shy to share what being blind is like.  I thought showing how having a guide dog on the cruise worked, as well as just being blind in general was fascinating. Additionally, I learned a lot about cruise ships from the captain!

3. Emma’s Theme – Jennifer Morrison: There’s always some sort of song that I love to listen to, and this week is no different! This song is from the TV show Once Upon a Time, and is very powerful.  I always adore a good piano and strong female voice.

4. Podcast #262 – Playing Incohearent – Jenna & Julien Podcast: This podcast episode is about playing a game called Incohearent, where you get a series of words and syllables and have to guess the phrase by saying the syllables out loud together. I was absolutely cackling when I could tell what they were saying but they couldn’t – especially when they were sharing the “kinky” phrases!

5. Playing Episode: Love Life – Jenna Marbles: As you can tell, Jenna is one of my absolute favorite YouTubers and she makes me laugh in every video.  I wanted to share this one because it had me giggling with the absolute ridiculousness of the game and their responses!

What did you love this week?

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Friday Favorites | Jan. 16 – 22, 2020

Karissa

Hello friends!

I’ve decided that instead of having a monthly wrap up of my favorite things, I’d rather share a weekly wrap up that is smaller and more focused on what I’ve really been enjoying for the week!  I tend to forget things as the month goes on, so having to think in terms of weeks will hopefully make me remember those things that I’ve been loving so much!

1. Being ‘the disabled one’ in university – One thing that I really love about Jessica’s channel is that she’s incredibly honest and upfront about her disabilities. Her stories are always so fascinating, but she makes it difficult to feel bad due to her cheery attitude. This is a bit more of a downer than usual, but it’s something I think is important to discuss and understand.

2. Finding ABH Riviera at Marshall’s – I have been in love with the Riviera color story for forever, but could never bite the bullet and pay full price. Well, I didn’t have to! Shopping at Marshall’s last weekend, I found this palette on sale for $24.99!  I was so unbelievably excited that I had to share it here as well – a definite favorite moment of the week!

3. This quote:

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4. Lauren DellaFera’s 2020 Declutter Series – Lauren has been a favorite YouTuber of mine since she started her YouTube channel, and her declutter series are always my favorite of them all!  She’s got videos going up for the entire week – the video linked below is the first of five.

What did you love this week?

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New at Ulta | December 23, 2019 – January 12, 2020

Karissa

Hello friends!

I know I just posted one of these – but there were so many amazing new releases that I had to share this one as well!

The drugstore has really been knocking it out of the park with releases lately!  I have a ton of different lipsticks, concealers & foundations that looked interesting. Lipsticks in general this time around really drew me in – plus, as always, I love a good eyeshadow palette!

New at Ulta | December 23, 2019 - January 12, 2020 - A Midwest Belle

Continue reading “New at Ulta | December 23, 2019 – January 12, 2020” →

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New At Ulta | November 25 – December 22, 2019

Karissa

Hello friends!

It’s time for yet another installment of my New at Ulta series!  I’m definitely a bit delayed in getting this one out to y’all, but I ended up taking a break over the holidays. Rest assured, the new year has reinvigorated me and I hope you’re all excited for what 2020 has to offer!

There were a lot of new palettes & lipsticks that drew my attention this time around – especially from Milani and the drugstore in general.  There were also a few base products that sound interesting!

New At Ulta | November 25 - December 22, 2019 - A Midwest Belle

Continue reading “New At Ulta | November 25 – December 22, 2019” →

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Monthly Favorites | November 2019

Karissa

Hello friends!

November has been quite the roller coaster month for me.  I was incredibly busy and had some personal things come up that really threw a wrench in my life. Still, I found quite a few things that really stood out to me as favorites that I wanted to share with you all!

Music:

Halocene: I accidentally stumbled across Halocene from their video about The Masked Singer stealing a cover of “Bad Guy” that they did, and I’ve been addicted to their music since then!  They do a lot of popular song covers, and have their own songs as well.  They’re a rock band, so if that’s your type of music I highly recommend!

What is Love? by Frances: I’ve heard Frances before and really enjoy her voice, so I wasn’t surprised that I fell in love with this song and had it on repeat for the month.  It’s from the 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack, and has a gorgeous melancholy sound that I just adore in my music.

Videos:

Fast Beauty Is the New Fast Fashion & It Isn’t Sustainable: If you want to have your eyes opened to what the mass amounts of makeup being produced is doing to our planet, watch this!  I definitely felt uncomfortable thinking about the way that fast makeup has taken over and that we as consumers don’t realize what the cost of it really is.

I’m Making a Magical Shrine for this Huge Crystal!: I’m always a sucker for some nerdy crafting, and this video is no exception!  NerdForge makes some epic masterpieces, and I just love watching her vision come to life.  She’s pretty handy; being able to use various power tools, create lighting, and turn Styrofoam into a landscape that looks real.

I Gained Weight. Let’s Talk About It!: If you’ve never seen Pixielocks, her videos are usually very fun, upbeat, and pink.  This time, she shares a lot of personal things about her life including mental health and weight gain.  I thought this was an incredibly body positive video that really made me feel good about myself – if you’re looking to feel better about your own body, I’d recommend checking this out!

How to Reject the Diet Mentality & Does Losing Weight Improve Health?: Apparently I was on a roll for body positive videos this month!  Abbey Sharp is a dietitian who talks a lot about the benefits of intuitive eating and how diet culture affects people.  She’s doing a series on intuitive eating, and this is the first episode – it definitely made me think about what I’m surrounded with in terms of diets & food, but also listening to my body.

What did you love in November?

Monthly Favorites | November 2019 - A Midwest Belle