Accutane Month 4

I just completed month 4 and I'm still alive! My skin is doing well, as is my general health.  Not to be gross, but I did have some umm... "bathroom troubles" from not drinking enough water. This is why it's SO important to drink enough water in life, as well as when you're on Accutane. My doctor said that the average human should be drinking 6-8 cups of water a day.  Since I've been taking this medication, I feel normal (read: not like I'm made of sand) when I'm drinking 9-11 cups, depending on the day. So when I was only drinking around 6 a day-- problems started happening.

Another complaint is one I spoke about before-- extremely dry lips. I'm only bringing it up again because they got even worse and cracked in the corners. The corners also were a tiny bit swollen and tender at times (this is probably partially due to my horrible habit of peeling my lips DON'T JUDGE ME!!). Something that has been helping is plain old Chapstick, probably because it's so thick.  I'm getting ahead of myself, BUT when I saw my dermatologist to start month 5, she suggested using 1% hydrocortisone cream (found at any drug store) to help with the cracked corners. So far, it works but I'll talk about that more in next month's post.

Like always, I'm not wearing the any makeup in these pictures. I'm a little shiny because I JUST applied my moisturizer.

I had one of the most stressful weeks in a while, so the guy on my chin came out to let me know. Gr.

Kat Von D Chrysalis Palette

New for summer/14 is the Kat von D Chrysalis palette.  Sephora describes this as "a cool-toned eyeshadow palette," but it's more of a well-rounded palette. Read on for more info!

Top: Lifelike
Bottom (L-R): Hybrid Moments, Mezzanine, Transition

Lifelike: Matte cream with slight pink undertone

Hybrid Moments: In pan, this looked like eggplant pearl. Swatched, this was a matte eggplant with a red undertone

Mezzanine: Metallic medium pinkish purple with purple and blue glitter

Transition: Shimmering Mauve

L-R: Lifelike, Hybrid Moments, Mezzanine, Transition

Top: Lunar Lights
Bottom (L-R): Glasswing, Melancholia, Black Milk

Lunar Lights: Frosty white gold

Glasswing: Matte butterscotch.

Melancholia: Metallic pewter.

Black Milk: Matte pale warm-toned grey. This was a surprise favorite for me-- just enough warmth, with a buttery texture and excellent color payoff.

L-R: Lunar Lights, Glasswing, Melancholia, Black Milk

Top: Lucid
Bottom: Graphic Nature, Entombed, Tornay

Lucid: Satin lilac pink with iridescent glitter

Graphic Nature: Pearl graphite grey

Entombed: Metallic medium blue

Tornay: Matte navy blue

L-R: Lucid, Graphic Nature, Entombed, Tornay

PIGMENTATION: No pigmentation issues in this palette.

PRODUCT: No issues with application for any of the shadows, and most of them had excellent textures. Hybrid Moments and Tornay had slightly drier textures.  The former had to be built up for the swatch, but I had no issues with application.

PACKAGING: Cardboard packaging with magnetic closure

PRICE: $46

All in all, Chrysalis is a mix of warm- and cool-toned shades, with great color payoff and excellent textures. If you love playing with color, but prefer warmer colors, you will not be disappointed with this palette!

As always, you don't have to take my word for it, Kat Von D's Chrysalis palette is available now on Sephora.

Bonus!! Here's a look I did recently using this palette.

Used on my lid: Glasswing, Melancholia, Graphic Nature, Tornay, Lunar Lights

Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick Vampira

This spring Kat von D for Sephora has re-launched the Everlasting Love liquid lipsticks with brand new colors and a new package design. Vampira was one of my favorite colours from the spellbinding lipstick set, but the product itself was disappointing. Knowing the Everlasting formula was pretty awesome,  I was curious to see if it would fare any better.

COLOR/PIGMENTATION: Vampira is a deep cool toned burgundy. It is lighter than KvD's Rosary, but the colors are comparable. The pigmentation was certainly not disappointing, even though it came out slightly lighter than what you see when you look at the tube.

PRODUCT: While the liquid version certainly applied better than the previous iteration of Vampira, it takes some work to get the product to apply evenly. I noticed that when I pressed my lips together (as many of us naturally do when applying lipstick), this totally shifted the product around my lips to create uneven color. Unlike other matte lip colors I have (be them in stick form or otherwise), this never felt like it "dried down". It remained creamy on my lips and was neither drying nor moisturizing. The texture made me feel like I could wear this even though my lips have been much drier lately due to Accutane. I got around 4 1/2 hours out of this before the color started to wear down on my bottom lip, and during this time it didn't bleed one bit.

PACKAGING: I do like the tube. It's slender and the doe foot applicator is the perfect size. The new artwork on the cap, however, is on the meh side for me.

Overall, if you like a dark lip but have had a world of trouble with the other dark shades in the KvD line, you may want to check Vampira Everlasting Liquid Lipstick. However If you are looking for a statement lip color that you can slap on in 2 seconds & look perfect, this is definitely not the product for you.

You don't have to take my word for it, Vampira is available now at Sephora.com.

Kat Von D Esperanza palette

Hi! Long time no talk! Before we start, just wanted to note I'm trying out the blogger app on my phone to post this review. I have so many reviews that are waiting in the wings, but it's always a process I rarely have time for. Hopefully this way I can get more reviews out to you guys! The photos aren't edited in this post, bc i forgot i could do that on my phone, but they will be in the future! I'd love to hear what you think!  Onto the review...

New for spring '14 from Kat Von D is the Esperanza palette. Housed within its no-frills cardboard packaging are eight shadows of varying textures. All are incredibly pigmented and most are buttery smooth.

Top to bottom: Placebo, Galore, Dayglo, Selena

Selena: Satin medium bright purple with larger iridescent glitter. Did have some glitter fall-out with this one.

Dayglo (transformer shade): shimmering white with pale yellow shift. 

Galore: pale peach with soft shimmer. Would be great as a highlight color!

Placebo: Matte bright orange-pink. This looks almost neon in daylight.

Top to bottom: Dog Roses, South, Archangel, Santeria

Santeria: Shimmery dark blue-grey with pale blue micro glitter. This one had a drier texture than the rest of the bunch.

Archangel: Satin super pale seafoam green with fine light pink, purple, and light blue glitter.

South: Matte pale beige.

Dog Roses: Metallic bronze with fine bronze glitter.

Something to note is that the Esperanza retails for $36 and doesn't come with an eyeliner or anything (unlike some of the past few palettes from the brand that have retailed for $35) and comes in cardboard packaging (unlike the metal packaging of the past few non-holiday palettes). For me, the only weak part of this palette is the packaging. Cardboard packaging just seems kind of cheap to me, and considering I normally carry palettes with me, this is probably going to get damaged pretty quickly. However, a plus is how big the mirror is in here. If the packaging suffered for the quality of the shadows, then I am willing to take whatever cardboard packaging comes my way, because the shadows are EXCELLENT!

You don't have to take my word for it. Kat Von D's Esperanza palette is available now from Sephora.