Mac PatentPoish Lip Pencil Review || Kittenish

So I splurged today....I went into Mac and the sales associate showed me these new lip pencils and I fell in love. They are the PatentPolish Lip Pencil. I swatched all of the colors and tried on the one that I ended up buying and fell in love. It is a great, fun, girly pink color. What is amazing about these pencils is that they are essentially a lip stick and lip gloss in one. They have an amazing glossy finish and are perfect for no-fuss lips. It is also great because the twist-up pencil allows for easy reapplication throughout the day if needed. I will say that I have only been wearing it for about two hours but so far it has stayed amazingly! Here are some pictures of it.

I absolutley recommend checking these out next time you are at Mac. At $20 each they are a bit of a splurge, but you also get a lot of amazing product. I am honestly thinking this will be my new go-to everyday lip stick! If you get one make sure to tweet me a pic, I would love to see them!

My Skincare Routine

Hello blog friends. Sorry I have been a tad MIA for a bit. I came home from Playlist Live with a terrible flu and this is the first day I haven't felt like death. 

I thought I would talk about something that has taken me a long time to find success with, Skincare. Now, I have played around with many combinations and have found one that works for me. Before you say it, yes, there are a lot of products but I honestly feel that this combo is the first to really work for me. I do this full combination every other day. On the off days I only wash my face with Cetaphil. 

The first product I use when I do my full routine is Cetaphil. It washes off all of my makeup and is very gentle. 

The next thing I do is exfoliate. I have found that this L'Oréal Go Clean 360 Deep Exfoliater works perfect for me. 

The next two products I use are acne cleansers. They each have different active ingredients. This one is Benzoyl Peroxide.    I have been using this specific cleanser for many years now and love it. 

This is a salicylic acid cleanser. I love it because it is moisturizing and is gentle on my skin. 

 

Once a week I use this peel off cucumber mask. It clears my pores and makes my face nice and soft. I use it directly after I get out of the shower and before my moisturizer. 

The final product I use is this moisturizer. It is the Olay Complete Sensitive Skin with SPF 15. In total honesty I am not completely thrilled with this and if anyone has any recommendations I would love to hear them. I am thinking about getting one from Lush next time I am there. 

I hope you liked this and if you are looking for any new skin products I hope this will help you. See you tomorrow!

Giant Youtube Party!!! || Playlist Live

As you may be aware, Playlist Live is a week from today! I went last year and it was the most amazing two days. This year I am also attending the business day and I am SO excited. Being that this is my second year I feel like a old pro. I am staying in the hotel where Playlist is held this year which, although a huge financial splurge, is great because you are right in the action. I am filming a video later today with some tips and tricks for Playlist Live so stay tuned for that. I though in honor of Playlist 2014, I would share some pictures from Playlist 2013!

The main entry

Me with Joey Graceffa

Catrific

iJustine

Smosh

Tanya Burr

Fleur De Force

Ingrid Nilsen

Zoe and Louise

Hannah Hart

Alfie, Jim and Caspar

As I am sure you can see, Playlist last year was AMAZING and I am sure this year is going to be just as fantastic!

Let me know if you are going to be there!

Abuse in the YouTube Community

Hi blog friends. I apologize for being offline for a while, things have been crazy. Today I wanted to talk about something different and rather intense. This is something I wrote on my tumblr and thought I should post here as well.

I have some feelings on a very touchy subject and I think I am going to express them. Please do not hate me, sometimes I just have to let the word bugs out of my head.

The topic I am talking about is the Tom Milsom. If you are unaware of what happened, a simple search will fill you in, that is not for me to summarize.

The thing I really wanted to talk about is the connection between content creator and audience. This is an extremely powerful connection. Viewers feel a personal connection to the creator that they are watching and investing their time in and hence begin to feel as though they know them. This is why there are many people now screaming out over the internet how upset and betrayed they feel.

Now, there are two sides to the argument that the fans have no right to be this hurt. First, I never, ever want to see someone comparing what they are feeling by finding out what an idol did be compared to what the person that went through it was feeling because that is just downright disrespectful to this incredible brave individual who had the strength and courage to speak up. On the other hand, there is some form of bond that we all form to those that we watch and love so it is natural to feel let down or lied too. Your emotions are valid.
The main thing that this all boils down to is respect for victims. I don’t actually like using the word victim because I feel like it still leaves it as the person victimizing them having the power. I prefer the word survivors because that is exactly what these people are. That is what Olga is. She is a beautiful, strong survivor that is making the world a better place by letting her story be told.
I never could, nor would I even try, imagine what she went through and I honestly want to commend her bravery. I also hope she knows that she has the entire YouTube community behind her.

I also want to address the fellow YouTube viewers or blogger that are slamming their fellow fans for being very upset about this. Yes, it needs to be widely understood that people need to be conscious of their words and understand that the person that had to deal with this awful abuse deserves to have her story and emotions undiluted by upset fans. When things like this happen, however, it send shockwaves through the community. There is fear and anger and sadness and in some cases, feelings of guilt for not seeing that something is wrong. The amazing thing about social media is the ability to instantly share what you are feeling. That is what is being seen. We are seeing the reaction as the shockwaves travel through our community. Telling people that they are not allowed to feel anything about this because they were not the one who went through it is shutting down the human emotion of empathy. We are wired to feel and to feel for those who have been hurt and I honestly think that is what we are seeing a lot of, with the exception of the jerks that are just trying to make it about them.

Finally, to those who say we need to hear Tom’s side of the story. When it comes to rape and abuse, there is no other side to the story. Whatever twisted reasons he had for his behavior, it does not matter. What he did is despicable and I wish there was something I could do to reach out to Olga and let her know just how many people are here to support her and stand with her. Because of strong people like her, the world is safer. There is more awareness and more safety precautions taken to help keep this from happening to others.
I understand that to a survivor going through the process that probably is little to no comfort but please accept my deepest thank you for having the courage to speak up.

Olga, if you ever were to see this, thank you for being brave. I am not going to say the awful things I think about him because I am sure you have enough for all of us. Just know that none of us are going to let this go away. He will get what he deserves. And although none of us can give you back the life he took from you, we can work and fight along with you to make sure you have the most amazing future you can have.

I sincerely hope that i didn’t offend anyone, I have just spent hours with words running around in my head and had to say something for my own sanity.

Work Craziness and Splurge Toys

Oh my goodness gracious has this been a busy week! The Demi Lovato concert was amazing. I am going to do a full post on it in the next few days but today we are going to have a short one.

I have recently been taking on more jobs and it has made life CRAZY HECTIC! I am now doing three different paid writing jobs (YAY) plus working as an assistant, tutoring, school full time, youtube, this blog and I applied for a job at Macy's in the cosmetics department. Plus I have to find time to sleep. I am actually in the middle of a tutoring session while I am writing this but she is working on FCAT practice so there is nothing for me to do until she is done. I am also quite possibly going to be shooting and editing a commercial for my choir starting tomorrow, I have a meeting in the afternoon and will know more then.
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As you can see things have been a little nuts. I thought seeing as I am working my fingers off I would make a list of a few high end dream items as a motivator for every time I don't feel like getting up at 7 am to check in with my editors. Without further ado, let's jump right in.

By far the biggest wishlist item is ironically becoming a need. I have a Sony Vaio laptop that I have had for about 4 years and has  lasted well. The thing is, all of the work that I do is on the computer and this one is starting to go downhill. What I want more than anything is a Macbook Pro. As of today I am actively saving for the model I want and hope to have it sooner rather than later.

The second thing has also become needed. I have been relegated to vlogging on my iPhone and although convenient to only have to carry one thing, it is a bit of a pain in every other sense. I know which camera I want and hope to be able to get it before Playlist Live, sidenote it is less than three weeks away stay tuned for a Playlist 2013 recap coming this week. The camera I want is the Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS. It is compact and shoots in 1080p. Also I know the quality for sound and picture is good because this is the camera that CTFxC vlogs with.

The last thing is a replacement for something that broke. I had a nice HD 19 inch TV in my room for a few years. About 6 months ago the picture died. I have had a giant old CRT tv in there since and I would love to be able to take back the space that it is using. I have looked at tvs for a while and I think the one I am gonig to get is the Insignia 24 inch 1080 TV. The amount of space this will free up in my already cramped room will be fantastic.

What are some high end, splurge products you have had your eye on? I would love to know so make sure you tell me in the comments. Hope you are having a wonderful day and I will see you tomorrow!

Crossroads

Hi blog friends. I don't know if any of you are the same age as me but I am 18 years old and am at the point in my life where I am trying to figure out my next step and it is TERRIFYING! I have had a few positive things happen and am looking at applying for something big but trying to figure out what is right for me is hard.

Weather or not you are going the college route, there are a lot of choices to come up at this time. Am I ready to move out? How am I going to make money? Should I move out of state? Should I be going to college? Can I afford college? Can I survive in an expensive city? Just know that you are not alone in this. Me and many others just like me are going through the same thing. I think there are a few questions you should ask yourself before considering any big changes.

1. Is this something I really want? This is the most important. Before you uproute the life you have had for you entire life, make sure you really want it. Ask yourself if the desire to do this is coming from you or an outside source. Only do it if it is what you want.

2. What big changes would this entail? Will you have to move for this? Do you need to have reliable transportation? An apartment? All of these are things you need to figure out before you make your choice.

3. Can I handle these changes? You need to ask yourself if you are ready for all of the changes that come with it. If you don't feel that you can handle cooking and cleaning and doing your own laundry, maybe you aren't ready for something this big.

4. Can you financially support this? If you do not have a job lined up, you probably want to look into that. Even if it is a job that you are looking to uproute your life for, will the job support a life in the place you are living? Do you need to pick up extra work? This is incredibly important. Wanting to do it and feeling you are ready are important, but if you can not financially support it, it doesn't matter.

5. Ask yourself again, are you ready for this? If you are anything like me this is the first huge life choice you have had to make and it will be scary. Make sure you are ready for it. There is no shame in admitting that you aren't ready and waiting a year. In that time you can save up and live at home, assuming that is an option, and give yourself a year to warm up to the idea.

I hope this was helpful to some of you. If you are going through something like this feel free to contact me and we can figure it out together, hehehe. Also, if you have any tips, please leave them in the comments, I know I could use them and I am sure others could too.

Nashville Trip 2014

As many of you already know, this month I went to Nashville for a week. I have wanted to go there since I was 6 years old and to finally get the opportunity to visit a place with such a strong emphasis on music was amazing.

On the first day we drove from Florida to Roswell, Georgia, a town about an hour north of Atlanta. My dad dropped me off at the amazing mall that was right near our hotel and I spent a few hours shopping. I had an amazing time and got lots of fun clothes that will be in a video coming out soon! Then we went out to dinner and went back to the hotel early to get some rest before heading out early the next morning.

Friday morning we left bright and early to head out on the 4 hour journey from Roswell to Nashville. After my dad navigated the rush hour traffic through the Atlanta area, I took over the driving. I drove to Chattanooga and the roads were absolutely beautiful. There were huge mountains covered in snow and frozen waterfalls that looked like crystals. As we got close to Nashville we drove past a town called Franklin, TN. One thing that you may or may not know is that is where my favorite band, Paramore, is from. I took about 100 pictures of the signs and was so excited. The next big excitement came as we drove to our hotel. We were staying about a mile from the Grand Ole Opry. As a singer, the Opry is an iconic and very important place to me. Being able to see it and really feel that we were in Nashville was a very surreal moment for me.

After relaxing in the room for a while we headed down to Broadway. In case you aren't familiar, Broadway is the strip of downtown Nashville where all of the music is. We knew a lot of the places by name but being able to go into them was amazing. We were complete tourists and didn't know where to park so we ended up paying $10 for 1 hour so we didn't have long. There was this band that I really enjoyed in Legend's Corner. We spent an hour popping in and out of places and getting a good taste for what was in store for the rest of the week.

Now, I am one of those singers that has certain superstitions. Every time I have traveled for an audition I have had Cracker Barrel for dinner the night before so, on Friday night, my dad and I had dinner there. We stopped at the mall quickly on our way back to the hotel so I could get a pair of leggings and then went back to the room. I tried to get to sleep early but it was to no avail. I had to be up at 7 to get ready for my audition for the Voice.

The next morning I ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and then started to get ready. The outfit I had planned on wear was not the outfit I ended up wearing and after changing like three times I felt ready to go. I am going to do a whole separate post on the audition process because it would make this way too long.

After my audition I was meeting up with my best friend that moved to TN a few years ago. We went to a very cool music store called Grimeys and then ate at this amazing place called the Pharmacy, it is not a drug store. After this me and Amanda went to the mall for about 45 minutes before it closed and then went back to our hotels. Then my dad bought me chocolate because I was sad.

Sunday I slept in and then dad and I went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast (it was walking distance from the hotel). After a quick breakfast we headed down to Broadway. We found good parking this time and had 7 hours on out meter. We went into a bunch of shops first because it was 10:45 am on a Sunday. After a few hours we went into one of the biggest places on Broadway called The Stage. I was still a little sad from my audition but I was enjoying the day. Long story short, the band playing asked me to come up and sing and I ended up singing Walking After Midnight in a place in Nashville!! It was amazing.

After hitting a few more places we headed to the mall to return some clothes I had bought the day before and to have some dinner. After that we met up with Amanda again for about an hour before she had to head back home.

Monday the weather was awful. It was about 35 degrees and raining nonstop. This didn't stop us! We went back down to Broadway where we shopped and I ended up singing onstage with another band at a different place! It was very cool. I also got to go into the Hard Rock and see Hayley Williams microphone from the crushcrushcrush music video. After many hours of braving the weather we headed to get some dinner. Since the time I was about 4 years old I have loved the Olive Garden. When my nana was sick and my mom was having to fly up to New Jersey a lot, my dad would bring me there when she left and it would be our special night out. We found an Olive Garden near where we were staying and went and had an amazing dinner.

Tuesday we were planning on heading back downtown but the weather was just awful. I did a little research and found this very cool restaurant called Monells. It was in this old mansion and had the best fried chicken I have ever tasted. Everything is served family style and you can have as much as you want. It is a good thing that we don't have a place like that near where I live because I would be there all the time.

I hadn't slept much the night before and the weather was still too bad to go out so we went back to the hotel and I took a nap. We were supposed to leave at about 8am Wednesday to drive home but when I woke up at 5pm my dad told me that there was another winter storm headed into Nashville and that if we didn't head out soon, the roads would be awful. Considering we couldn't go out and do anything because of the weather there was nothing to lose so we packed up the car and headed home. 13 hours later, about the time we were supposed to be leaving, we got back home.

It was an amazing trip and I look forward to going back to Nashville with both of my parents some time soon!

PS I have a post filled with pictures of the trip coming up in the next few days.