About
My name is Mikayla! I'm a 22 year old University Graduate with a passion for all things beauty. I stumbled into the online beauty community a year ago and have been obsessed with youtube videos and blogs ever since. After watching hundreds of videos over the past year I figured it was about time I joined the community and posted my own thoughts in my own little space. I'm also recently graduated, unemployed and headed for college in September.I really enjoy all things beauty, and I really like telling my friends what I think about products so writing them down just felt natural. To me, make up isn't something that you wear to make yourself look prettier, it's something you do on yourself for yourself. It has the power to give you strength to tackle a rough day, the courage to find your inner confidence and sparkle like every girl is meant too.
Other than beauty, I love fashion. Beauty and Fashion are the keys to my heart, along with a great deal. I'm all about a decent deal, and budget shopping is my favourite.
I can't wait to start this journey with the internet and all of you!
Disclaimer
Just a general disclaimer:I am not a professional makeup artist, I am completely self taught, any posts on beauty products are purely personal opinion and should not be taken as fact.
Beauty items shown on this blog are purchased by myself, or as a gift from family members.
Any and all reviews on products are based on my opinions alone.
Girls Wearing Makeup?
Recently my Facebook timeline experienced a little bit of a trend where a couple of guys had shared photos about girls who wear too much makeup, and how they felt that if you look like a different person with or without makeup, it was almost like lying. To which one of my girl friends was like "Gold eyelids are not normal" and I really felt like this is a discussion that is coming to be more popular, with things like the beauty community on youtube, or blogs and instagram.
I started wearing makeup because I competitively figured skated for a number of years, and like any artistic sport, the use of makeup is to help tell the story. I needed to have bold makeup that would be visible to the judges from the ice, but also that helped tell the story of the music I was skating too. (A girl I knew skated to Phantom of the Opera and wore the mask, we were cavemen for one number and used black eyeshadow to look like cavemen).
As I got older, I started wearing makeup for more of an extension of the features I liked, while taking away from features I didn't. For a while this consisted of wearing liquid foundation in an attempt to tone down my freckles. As I've continued to grow, not just in age but also in comfort with myself, I've stopped trying to hide my freckles, and instead where colours that bring out the colour of my eyes.
The whole argument that girls who wear full glam makeup are lying to the male population is frustrating to me, I think it is fairly common sense that a girl does not have a hunter green outter v, or sparkly lips. And she isn't lying by presenting this to the world either, personally I do my makeup based on how I am feeling, or the event, if I'm feeling really crappy one day maybe my makeup reflects that, but if I feel like a boss it surely represents that.
The point of makeup, in my opinion, is to apply some confidence right to your face, and the power makeup has on a persons self esteem, as well as the artistic ability that it requires, should not be considered lying, but instead a wonderful image.
What are your thoughts on this argument?
Irresistible Me Sapphire Curling Wand
Labels: 8 in 1, Curling Wand, Hair, Irresistible Menot easy to work with. I am a bit of a perfectionist and having hair that doesn't listen to me makes me really frustrated, enter heat styling, something I fell in love with years and years ago when I got my first straightener. It's not very often I go for a pin straight 'do anymore, as I do really like the casualness some messy curls but with curls I can control.
Irresistible Me reached out to me last month to try their Sapphire 8 in 1 Curling Wand. The option of 8 different sized barrels gives a lot of variety without having to deal with storing so many different wands. The wands are Tourmaline Barrels, with negative ions to help promote healthy hair with less heat damage. It also promises a fast heat up time, a lightweight tool, a 360 degree cord, and a max temperature of 250C or 450F.
To start my review, the packaging for the system is wonderful, a leather roll bag with 10 slots, 1 for the handle and 1 for the glove as well as a compartment for each barrel. I really like how the glove has its own compartment instead of trying to cram it into a small elastic space or not being sure what to do with it. In the box as well is a small silicone stand to rest the wand on so that it doesn't move or burn your countertop (or floor). I really like this extra mile item as I had to purchase a heat protectant matt years ago to protect my carpet when I would do my hair sitting on the floor.
With how fast the wand takes to heat up, I was expecting the curls to not last as long for some reason, and this is not the case, I use the 19mm wand most often and I can easily get 2 full days out of the curls with very little hairspray.
13MM, 25MM, 25/13MM, Pearl Pearl, 25/13MM, 25MM, 13MM
I really like all of the wands for a different reason, but the one thing that doesn't change is the quality of the wand themselves. The very end of the wands are not heated which is wonderful for the strange contortion you have to get into to use a curling wand hello not burning my shoulders. 
19MM, 13/25MM, 18/9MM, 32MM 19MM, 13/25MM, 18/9MM, 32MM
I also recently cut like 5 inches off my hair and I'm really excited to continue to play with this and see what looks I can come up with with my new short 'do.
Monthly Pinspiration #2
I really love Pinterest, I spend a lot of my down time scrolling the app, I love the DIY inspiration, as well as the hair and beauty side, and the home decor drool. I also really like sharing some of the things that are inspiring me every month. Search Fall in Pinterest and I could scroll for days.
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Everyday Essentials Drawers
Labels: beauty, benefit, covergirl, ELF, everyday essentials, garner, lush, nix, Pixi, rimmel, too faced, urban decay
What are some of your everyday essentials? I would love to hear about them!
September Instagram Lookback
Labels: instagram update, what i've been up too
September Favourites!
Labels: Chloe, ELF, Elizabeth Mott, Irresistible Me, lush, maybelline, Midi Rings, monthly favourites, Pearl Earrings, urban decay
This month, I've been working a lot, so having a routine for my skincare as well as a pretty basic daily routine for my makeup has helped me not only be efficient in the morning but still have room for some creativity. I've found that most mornings I've been reaching for my Urban Decay Naked Palette as it is flexible in terms of colour range and I can really do a lot with it, and that the neutral colours are appropriate for an office. I've also been dealing with a bit of acne and some dark spots under my eyes great eh? and I've been reaching for my Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 10 Light I absolutely love this concealer, and I kept the package around just for this picture, I love the consistency and the coverage and the durability of it, all around I <3 it! For my inner corner and my brow highlight I've been reaching for my Elizabeth Mott All Over Shadow Brush that I got in my ipsy bag months ago when I still had it. I was doing my makeup one morning and wanted a clean brush to do my inner corner and grabbed it by chance- and I've used it every day since. I've also been obsessed with subtle highlighting no strobbing for me and I've been reaching for my ELF Baked Blush it's not really a blush and at first I was quite disappointed with it, but then I reimagined it as a highlighter and I really like the effect, especially on top of powder (because then I'm not putting a cream on top of powder)
Sitting at my desk every morning doing my makeup, I always look at this cute little notebook just sitting there I haven't written in it, but I do love it it really matches the decor of my room which is very London themed and I've always loved the message of "Keep Calm and Carry On" as a massive history lover. I've finally replaced my beloved Lush Vanillary Solid Perfume after it melted in the summer heat- seriously it happened, they have changed the packaging for their solid perfumes into a tin that I might seriously think is a lip balm at one point, but it smells the same and it's just absolutely amazing. When I haven't been wearing my Lush perfume I've been wearing this Chloe sample. I used 250 of my points at Sephora on this honestly because the bottle is ADORABLE but I wear it because I love the scent.
Finally my daily staples this month have been midi rings I got mine from LC by Lauren Conrad at Khols in America, and they are the only ones I have been able to find that fit my super skinny fingers the way they are supposed to. I've been wearing at least one of them pretty much every day. I've also been trying to wear earrings more often to really complete an outfit, I've had my ears pierced my entire life but I've never really been in the habit of wearing earrings. My go to ones are small pearl earrings I have no idea where or when I got these ones, but I love them because they are small and don't weigh a lot. Last but not least, I've been using this Irresistible Me 8 in 1 Curling Wand with the medium width wand every time I have curled my hair- this is an incredible wand, and you can expect a full review coming next week!
What have you been loving last month? I'm doing blogtober this year with a post every day for the month of October and I have lots of posts planned, so be sure to check back tomorrow!
What's on my nails?
Labels: adrenes, bblogger, polish, whats on my nails
I took a lot of the summer off from painting my nails, I just really wasn't in to the upkeep of having painted nails- but now, I'm back into full swing of it. I picked this colour up at a store called Ardenes in Canada (I don't know if it is in other countries as well). It's called Peace & Love and it's a really pigmented blue, I only used one coat of this on my nails and it really did not need a second coat- it doesn't have a whole lot of staying power, even with a top coat.