Rachel Knows...

Rachel Knows... Too Faced Natural Eye!

2013-05-13T20:53:00.002-05:00

I was actually impressed with this palette. I had been putting off reviewing this palette because there seemed to be more matte eye shadows than I'd like and I have never had luck with matte eye shadows before. I've never really tried a higher end matte eye shadow though and two of the three were really decent, which surprised me. I am pretty sure I compare everything to Urban Decay, but I just really, really love their eye shadows. These seemed right on par with them. They were smooth, soft, pigmented and applied very easily. I usually just swatch with a brush, but I bought some disposable, cheap foam tipped eye shadow applicators and these applied wonderfully using those crappy things, so I can only imagine how great these will look with a good brush. Of course there are always problem children and this palette is no different. The good news is that out of nine shadows only two were troublesome. They also have the dirtiest names. :-X The names make me blush! Anyway, Sexpresso and Erotica just weren't up to par in my book. Sexpresso was patchy and it wouldn't become opaque. It behaved the way most mattes do for me, so yeah; it bummed me out and brought back bad memories. Ha-ha! That last part is an exaggeration. Erotica was a very sheer, not very opaque shadow and just seemed like a weird almost matte shadow with some sparse glitter. I don't know. I just wasn't a fan of it really. I just expect very dark crease colors to be very opaque, but this one just wasn't. At $4 a shadow this is a pretty good deal. I feel good recommending this palette to you guys!

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Rachel Knows... She's Gonna Bitch Some More!

2013-04-27T17:35:00.001-05:00

          I know all of my blog readers and friends on Facebook are probably up to their ears with hearing me bitch and moan about my pregnancy, but here is a little more. I have never felt as low about myself as I have these past couple of months. I just feel awful pretty much all day long. There are maybe a couple of hours a day where I feel like maybe I can tolerate a trip to the grocery store or a walk around Target. When I come home from that though I always feel 10 times worse and end up puking like crazy, so even that isn't worth it. I'm on these horrible steroids that have made my face and neck swell up like crazy and I hate even looking at myself in the mirror. My self-esteem hit an all-time low about a week ago when I was feeling down and thought to myself, "I think a cute, little haircut will make me feel better!" That was the worst idea ever. I went to Great Clips. Definitely a place that is pretty much at the bottom of places I'd like to choose, but Mr. Cheapskate didn't want to go anywhere else. I should have just left my hair alone instead of going there. Long story short, I got the worst hair cut I've ever gotten. It has layers and is short as hell and I HATE IT! I would have told her to stop after she got it all even and a little bit above my collar bone, which looked nice, but I thought she was done because it is basically what I asked for. I never mentioned layers. I also need to add that I was nauseous from the moment I sat down. I think my subconscious knew that this was going to be a mistake. I also couldn't quit staring at my horribly swollen face and neck sticking up out of the apron they put on you when you get your haircut and I just wanted to sob. After the first layer was cut I knew I had to let her finish because I couldn't go out in public with just one layer. I guess that may have been better than how it ended up, but how was I to know.
           I have the Gestational Diabetes test on Monday at my appointment. I'm a nervous wreck about that because A. I hate eating or drinking new things. It makes my panic and anxiety go through the roof. So that will be a horrible panic attack experience. and B. I read that this crap makes women feel terrible and throw up who are perfectly healthy. This stuff is going to make me blow chunks faster than you can say, 'blow chunks." I don't want to feel horrible and then puke in a waiting room with other people around. I threw up in public once in the 3rd grade and it scarred me for life. I can only imagine being an adult and doing it. Plus, I don't want to have Gestational Diabetes. Who wants that? My Dr. said that the steroids increase the chance of Gestational Diabetes, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised if I do have it. I'm just 100% over being pregnant. I just want my precious little baby girl to be here and for this to be over.
          I'm trying to think if there is anything else for me to bitch about. Oh yeah, I had to go to the E.R. again. I thought I was having contractions, but they were Braxton Hicks. I was pretty sure that's what they were, but after talking back and forth with my doctor all day and him telling me that since they weren't getting any better to go to the E.R., I went. I'm glad I did go, because I ended up being dehydrated again and had to get I.V. fluids for the third time during this pregnancy. Lucy's heart rate was accelerated because of my dehydration. I can only imagine how bad my dehydration would have been had I not been drinking 2-3 mug fulls of my 34 oz. Bubba mug. I was astonished when they told me I was dehydrated again. I also had a low grade fever, which shocked me as well. I think all of this is just taking a huge toll on my body. I just hope Lucy is okay and that all of this and the medicine isn't harming her. None of the medicine is supposed to pass through the placenta to her. I just hope that is truly the case. It would be much more dangerous though for me to be throwing up everything and not getting any nutrients or staying chronically dehydrated than for some of this medicine to pass through. At least that is what I'm telling myself... I suppose I'm done bitching. Woe is me. Ha-ha!

Rachel Knows... Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeshadow Stick!

2013-04-24T13:12:00.002-05:00

If anyone follows my Rachel Knows... Facebook page, then you might know that I have been looking for these everywhere for a while. I'd read that these rivaled Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-on Pencils. While I wouldn't go quite that far, these are nice pencils. They were smooth, creamy and just applied wonderfully. They were also awesomely pigmented. The price couldn't be beat either. I got them for around $4.50 apiece. Urban Decay's pencils are $20.00 apiece. These did smear when I ran my finger across them, but I did pretty heavy swatches. I think if I'd let them dry a little more they wouldn't have smeared as much. The Guilt Grey swatch stayed on my arm for several days. Not looking perfect, but there was a pretty noticeable mark left. I'd say that these are a pretty decent investment and addition to my makeup collection. As I said earlier, they aren't nearly as good as Urban Decay, but in terms of lasting without a primer, they beat NYX.

Rachel Knows... Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo Metal!

2013-04-23T21:51:00.001-05:00

Whenever I get my new makeup I always make snap decisions about which of the colors are going to perform the best. When I got these I thought the order that they would perform the best would be: 1. Blue 2. Silver 3. Gold 4. Pink 5. Beige. Boy was I wrong. Gold and blue were tied for the worst performing of the bunch. Silver was the 2nd worst. Then there was Pink and surprisingly Beige was the best in my opinion. It really took me by surprise. Unless you're just totally in love with the Silver, Gold and Blue or if you have really awesome powder shadows in similar colors that might look great over these, I'd say skip them. They just don't cover well enough to warrant almost $7.00 apiece. You'd have to do so many layers for this to become opaque that it would take forever and would probably feel uncomfortable on the eyes. The Silver isn't as bad as the Gold or Blue, but it still doesn't perform like the Pink or Beige. It is a shame though because the colors are really pretty.

All set up like the Olympic rings, unfortunately I don't think these would take home any medals.

Rachel Knows... This Pregnancy Thing is Rough!!!!!

2013-03-26T16:12:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I posted last. This month has brought a whole new host of pregnancy problems. I have been having lots of vascular issues. Very bad headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath, lots of pressure in my upper body, eye pain, my heart jumping around in my chest. Just about everything you can think of. All of those things mixed with my nausea have made for a very unpleasant month. My doctor also tried tapering me off of my steroids (which I can't remember if I wrote about the steroids or not) and that didn't go well at all. I went down just 5 mg one day and the next day I woke up miserable. I was so sick all morning and I ended up throwing up. I hadn't thrown up in over a month, so I was pretty bummed out about that. I went back up to the normal dosage of steroids, because I just CAN NOT handle going back to how I was. I've gained back 5 of the 25 pounds that I'd lost since I got on the steroids and I'm just not going to go back to how I felt. I've felt worse since that one day of tapering and I just can't believe that one day got me so out of whack. So swatching and taking pictures isn't really something I feel up to lately. I apologize and I want to get back to it. I've had to write too many of these posts and I'm just ready to feel good, have my baby here and get back to blogging!

Rachel Knows... Maybelline Color Tattoo!

2013-03-02T10:17:00.004-06:00

In the ever expanding world of makeup these are old news, but I have been wanting them forever and the price point was finally somewhat reasonable on these beauties. They've been either $7.99 or $6.99 every time I go to the store and see them and I just couldn't spend that much on them. When we were shopping at Target for Lucy, I managed to slip down the makeup aisle and see these for $4.99. I figured they wouldn't be getting much lower in price than this, so I snatched up all the ones they had. I was a little bummed they didn't have all of them, but this will do. All of that being said, I freakin' love these!!! They are so beautiful and pigmented. They really and truly don't budge or smudge at all, so I mean what more could you ask for. A tiny bit goes the longest way so these should last for quite a while. Of course there is a problem child of the bunch. There always is. I was bummed pretty hard by which color was the problem child because it is so pretty, but Painted Purple was patchy, took way more than the other colors to make show up and when it was said and done it still wasn't 100% opaque. I knew it was going to be different when I opened it because it had this shiny film on top and it just looked different than the others, but I was surprised at just how different it behaved. If the color isn't something you're completely in love with, I'd say skip it because it just doesn't act right. These are great because you can give yourself a subtle wash of color or you can go full on glam with an opaque eye. They're surprisingly versatile and I highly recommend them!

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I had to take a short break to play Peak-a-Boo with Max!

Rachel Knows... It's a Girl! It's a Girl! Oh and a new car! :-D

2013-02-27T01:47:00.005-06:00

We found out on February 18th, that we will be having a little girl and I couldn't be any happier about it! I have been having such a terribly rough time with this pregnancy that I have almost decided that this will be my only child. So the gender of this child was especially important to me. I didn't realize just how important it was until I heard the ultrasound technician say, "It's a girl!" I burst into tears of joy because my dream of having a daughter was actually going to come true. Don't get me wrong, if I'd had a son I would have been extremely happy and he would have been loved more than words could say, but having a daughter means more to me than you'll ever know. My mother is amazing and is my best friend. We've had an amazing bond from the moment I was born. I've never much wanted to be with anyone but her. She has taught me so much about life and has been there for me with such unconditional love and support that I want to be able to share everything I've learned from her with my daughter. Who knows though? My daughter could hate me and be a little hellion, but I truly believe in my heart that when a child is given unconditional love, support, care, education and communication that they will turn out fine.
     I have gone a little nutty buying baby supplies since we found out that we're having a girl. I'd looked at some things online, but everything nowadays is either completely boyish or completely girly. There weren't too many gender neutral things that you could buy. Since I'd been so sick and since I didn't know what the gender was I didn't really embrace my pregnancy with much planning or buying. Once we found out it was a girl we immediately went out and bought practically a whole closet full of clothes. Then we got her a crib, stroller, car seat, a Breathable Baby crib bumper, (I may explain more about that in another post) a Boppy and even more clothes. We got me and Jeremy a glider to put in the nursery because we're going to be spending a lot of time feeding the baby and we'll need a place to sit. We still have to order her dresser, changing table and a rug to put over the hardwood floor in her nursery. I think that's all of the big things but I'm sure I'm forgetting something.
     We have also decided on a name. Well we'd decided on a name long before I even got pregnant. We've been planning and discussing this for a long time. Her name is Lucy Loraine! Loraine is my grandmother's name and other than my mother she was the best woman I've ever known. She was killed in a car wreck with my grandfather when I was 13. I decided when I was 13 that if I ever had a daughter that her middle name was going to be Loraine. It was the least I could do to honor her memory. Lucy is just a cute name that I thought went well with Loraine and one that I feel will grow and change with her as she gets older.
     Another exciting thing happened today. We got a brand new car!!! (You have to say the brand new car part like Bob Barker) Our old jalopy broke down yesterday and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. We've known for a long time that our car wouldn't be safe for Lucy, so when it broke down yesterday and we were stranded on the side of the road we knew it was time to bite the bullet and get a new one. Jeremy's credit isn't very established so we weren't too optimistic when we went to the dealership. It turns out the dealership was awesome and really jumped through hoops to get us into a car. I never thought in a million years we'd get a brand new 2013 car, but we did! We got a 2013 Nissan Versa Sedan SV. It isn't the biggest or the nicest model in their lineup, but it is safe and clean for a new baby and I couldn't ask for any more.
     I have tons of makeup to swatch and I went out and got a few more things the other day. I don't know why I keep getting makeup?!?!?!?! I have got to get this stuff swatched and reviewed for you guys. Several of the things are limited edition things that I don't think they're even selling anymore. Should I bother with swatching that stuff or no? I can't decide about it. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see that stuff or not. Okay I've rambled WAY more than I ever have so if you've read this far I really appreciate it. See you later! :-D

Rachel Knows... e.l.f. HD Blush!

2013-02-16T21:06:00.001-06:00

I don't like these for me. I just don't like bold blush. That being said, if you do love bold blush then you'll appreciate these. The pump bottle is very easy to work with and once you sheer these out they last and last. They're awesomely pigmented, which is hard to come across if that is something you really love in a blush. When I look at these colors I think lip products. I wish e.l.f. would turn these into lip colors because they are just beautiful! The problem child of the bunch for me was Showstopper. As you might be able to tell from the pictures it just wouldn't apply as smoothly and beautifully as the other colors. It wouldn't sheer down well either. I'm not sure if I got a bum bottle or if that is just how that color behaves. In my opinion, I think these blushes are best suited for woman of color. These would show up amazingly on their skin. On my pale, pale skin it just makes me look like a clown. I startled my husband when I was swatching Showstopper because it literally looked like I had a huge, horrible bruised, bloody, carpet burn type thing on my arm. He thought I'd injured myself and that isn't usually a reaction you want to get when you're applying makeup. Ha-ha! I had trouble making these sheer out. I used my finger, so that may have been the problem. I couldn't find my stippling brush, but the blushes just didn't look quite right to me. They looked sort-of patchy and just not smooth. I rubbed and rubbed and even went over them with a tissue to see if that would make it smooth out some and it still just didn't look right in person. I used the teeniest, tiniest dot when I applied it, so I know I didn't use too much. I don't know. In the right hands and on the right skin I can see these looking awesome, but on me it just ain't cutting it.

All of the colors below are sheered down like they would be if you applied it to your cheeks.

Rachel Knows... e.l.f. Jumbo Lip Gloss Stick!

2013-02-15T23:45:00.001-06:00

I really, really liked these. Easy to apply. Nicely pigmented. Smelled nice. Beautiful colors. Not too much more you could ask for. The smell of these remind of the way my purse always smells. I always have a pack of Orbit Spearmint gum in my purse and since that gum is fairly strong it always leaves a faint spearmint smell in my purse. It just is one of those familiar smells that you grow to love. These remind me of the e.l.f. Mineral Lip Glosses that I like. The stick form is just much easier to deal with in my opinion. Not as messy and easier to apply it exactly where you want to on your lips. Flirty and Girly is such a beautiful color and sort of unexpected when you compare it to the rest of the colors in this line. Sangria Starters or Movie Star would probably be my two go to shades though. For $2 I think everyone should pick up all of these plus some backups! I just don't think you can go wrong with these. :-D I'm sorry my writing seems to be lacking here lately. I need to get back in the swing of things when it comes to my writing. I'm just feeling not as descriptive as usual. Hopefully I can get back on track.

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Rachel Knows... e.l.f. Primer Eyeshadow!

2013-02-14T22:01:00.002-06:00

I don't know why with e.l.f. I keep the attitude that I am going to be disappointed every time I get a new product and try it, but I do. I don't know why I doubt them. I have rarely been let down. I just knew this product was going to be a disaster, but I ended up really, really liking it. I could actually rub on the swatches with some force and the eyeshadow didn't smear, crumble up or rub off all together. The colors were beautiful and it applied very easily with the doe foot applicator. One thing I noticed though was that this stuff smelled strong. It smelled kind of like plastic or a chemical smell. The other thing with this product is that you have to work fast because it dries very quickly. You won't be able to do very elaborate eye looks with this product. You will have to stick to simple looks that you want to last all day long. I've said it a ton in the past, but this product really would be your, "I have 2 Minutes to Get Out of the Door and I Don't Want to look like a Zombie" make up look. Since it lasts and works like an eyeshadow would, that you put over your separate eyeshadow primer, it cuts out that extra step and gives you those few extra seconds or minutes. If e.l.f. could work on the smell of this product and if they came out with more colors I'd definitely buy them because I think this is a good product to have in your arsenal for those days when you have no time or for any day you just want to know your eyeshadow is going to stay in place.

Rachel Knows... e.l.f. Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow!

2013-02-13T19:10:00.001-06:00

These eyeshadows surprised me with how much pigmentation they actually had. I was expecting a sheer little wash of color, but they performed exceptionally well. The base colors of these eyeshadows were long-lasting. I had to scrub and scrub to get the base color off. The glitter in the eyeshadows wiped away fairly easily though. The colors are gorgeous. They do have a luster to them, but don't get too attached to it because like I said it wipes away fairly easily. The consistency of these is fantastic. I want a huge bucket full of this stuff to play with. e.l.f. keeps releasing makeup with the most fun consistencies! Confetti is a shade that I would dab in the corner of my eye as a highlight because, in my opinion, I think it is too glittery and shimmery to use as a brow bone highlight. Confetti and Celebration performed about the way I thought all of them would perform. They are still pretty; they just aren't as pigmented as the other colors. The only complaints I have about these are that there is a little bit too much glitter that doesn't stick around and the tiny little jars hardly have any product in them. I applied these with a brush and I hit the bottom of the jar while I was getting product on the brush. I don't think I've hit the bottom of the jar on a makeup product, ever. I had a long day of doctor's appointments and looking for a pregnancy pillow that won't make me nauseous or my back feel like it is going to break in two, so I'm worn out and that that is about all I can think to say about these eyeshadows. I feel confident in recommending these to people who won't be concerned by the two tiny complaints that I had, because they really are beautiful and the base color is long-lasting like the name claims to be! :-D

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Rachel Knows... Hyperemesis Gravidarum and My Birthday!

2013-02-01T15:56:00.002-06:00

As I sit here on my third birthday in a row where I've been sicker than a dog, I can't help but start to dread or fear my birthday a little each year. I mean what are the odds of being very sick for three birthdays in a row. This year my sickness is totally worth it, because I'll have a child at the end of it, but it doesn't make it any less hard being sick. The first of the three years, I had the flu that turned into bronchitis. The second year I had the flu that turned into bronchitis that turned into a month long allergic reaction to Amoxicillin. This year I'm pregnant and I have Hyperemesis Gravidarum. What in the world is that? HG is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting with potential adverse consequences for the newborn(s). That explanation is from the HER Foundation, the Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation. I'm very glad that I found that website for many reasons. It has a lot of helpful information that I printed out for myself, my parents and my husband. It really helped them understand what was going on with me and it gave them some good information on how to help me without wearing themselves out over it. I also visited their Facebook page which helped me tremendously because I realized just how horrible this disease could be. Ever since I visited the Facebook page I've been thanking the Lord that I was "lucky" enough to have only had the nausea so far. There are some women who have been vomiting up to fifty times a day and had to have feeding tubes inserted. Some women throw up so much that their lives are in danger and they have to terminate the pregnancy or she and the baby wouldn't survive. I've been vomiting, just not much at all thank goodness. I don't think there is much more in the world I dislike more than vomiting. Not to say the nauseous and some vomiting version aren't without consequences. I've had to go to the Emergency Room twice in the thirteen weeks that I've been pregnant. I have had such debilitating nausea that I haven't been able to eat hardly anything at all. Most women are gaining small amounts of weight by their 13th week, but I have lost twenty two pounds. I've gotten dehydrated twice which is what merited the Emergency Room visits. The second time I went to the E.R. my blood pressure and blood sugar were so low I was in a semi-conscious state. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital. I was also found to be dehydrated again. I'm not sure if I weren't on two different medicines for the nausea and vomiting and if I subconsciously didn't have the ability to keep myself from vomiting that I wouldn't be vomiting several times a day and in a much worse condition. I know that as sick as I feel sometimes that I could "blow" at any minute, but I am pretty sure I keep myself from it because I just hate to vomit! This isn't normal morning sickness and it isn't something that is just in women's heads. The uncertain part about the disease is that it could be over by the twentieth week of pregnancy or it could last throughout the entire thing. I try to just live one day at a time and not think about that because it is quite depressing to think that I might feel like this for 40 weeks. The other depressing part of the disease is that that chances of a woman having this during all of her pregnancies is great. The chance of it being worse during the next pregnancy is also great. I just don't think my body can handle the vomiting version of this disease. I also know that I would be heartbroken if I had to end a pregnancy and that it would haunt me the rest of my life. I'm so torn though because I have always wanted at least two children. I just feel sad for children that don't have siblings. This is just a rough thing and I am just going to really have to think about it for a long time and speak to my husband about it so we can decide what we want to do. Anyway, the point of this blog is to help people learn a little about Hyperemesis Gravidarum and to let you know why my posts have been so few and far between. I just wanted to say that I'm not just having normal morning sickness and being a huge baby about it. I have this brutal, draining disease that is rough as hell to go through. I love my blog, but taking pictures and swatching just makes me far too sick to do much. I have my good days and bad days, so maybe in the future I'll start having more good days than bad days and I can get back to blogging.

I think I'm going to order this shirt after the baby is born:

Rachel Knows... Urban Decay Smoked Palette!

2013-01-25T18:44:00.001-06:00

The packaging of this palette is awesome. I love the fabric-covered, zippered palette. The colors are gorgeous! You can do classic smoky eyes, dramatic multi-colored smoky eyes, subtle smoky eyes, nude smoky eyes and the list goes on. There is so much that you can do with this palette. An added bonus, that I didn't take any pictures of, is the book that comes with it. It has tons and tons of eye looks that you can create. It tells you step by step how to make any sort of look you want. It is a must have for people who don't really know too much about applying eyeshadow, because you can learn so much from it. The thing about this palette that I'm not sure about is the application of each eyeshadow. I don't know if I had trouble with the eyeshadow because of my brush I was using or because the eyeshadow themselves are slightly problematic. I'm leaning more towards my brush because I haven't really come across any Urban Decay eyeshadow that is problematic. I need to use a different brush and update you guys on whether the shadows behaved the same or differently. Kinky is non-existent on my skin tone. I don't really feel that pale, but when I see how light Kinky is and how is completely disappears into my skin it makes me realize I'm a ghost. That's fine though. I don't mind being pale. I've never been worried about having a tan. I have enough self-confidence that I don't let being tan or not affect how I feel about myself. Plus, a lot of skin cancer runs in my family and Homie don't play dat! The most amazing and beautiful shade of this palette was Evidence. It looks exactly like the sapphires that were in my class ring. It is just a stunning color. Blonde haired girls would look absolutely amazing in that color. I wasn't exactly thrilled with how the matte colors in this palette behaved. They applied blotchy and seemed extra dry. I felt like they weren't even Urban Decay shadows. I felt like it was a different brand it was acting up so much. I stupidly forgot to take a picture of Perversion, the eyeliner in the palette. It is supposed to be their blackest black eyeliner ever. It is perfect for a smoky eye because it really pulls everything together and is bold enough to stand out on the dark colors of a smoky eye.

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Rachel Knows... No nonsense Tights and Leggings!

2013-01-23T16:00:00.001-06:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of No nonsense. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have always been obsessed with color. It was always important to me when I was little what color my room was or what color cup I was drinking out of. I just love color! It is always fun for me as an adult to find ways to incorporate color into my outfits or makeup. Lately I've been incorporating color with my makeup, but when I received these tights from No nonsense I knew I was going to have fun finding ways to use them in my outfits. I have what I would classify as classic style. I like to buy pieces that I'm going to be able to use for years. That's why colored tights or statement necklaces are so fun because you can have a classic piece and punch it up with modern purple tights or a modern statement necklace.
I was really excited when I saw that I'd received purple tights. It is one of my favorite colors! I also knew that it would look amazing with 2013's Pantone color of the year Emerald. Purple and green has always been one of my favorite color combinations.

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Rachel Knows... e.l.f. Waterproof Eyeliner Crayon!

2013-01-23T12:18:00.001-06:00

Shucks!!! I was really, really, really excited for these. I thought I'd finally found a waterproof, inexpensive alternative to Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencils. That being said, I think these are great as eyeliners, as their name implies they should be used. I was just hoping I could use them all over my lids. The problem with that is that the product itself is very dry and waxy. I'm not sure if waxy would be the appropriate word, but I can't think of another way to describe it. To get the swatches to look the way they do, I had to go only in one direction. I drew medium length lines and I didn't overlap them. I went right beside the previous line that I drew. I let that set and then I went back over them in the same direction. While the colors are gorgeous and the swatches look pretty opaque you can see that they aren't perfect. It wasn't easy to get them to look like that. That totally defeats the purpose of a crayon or pencil product in my opinion. I just view those as an easy street product. Another downside was when I was testing whether they had the lasting power of the Urban Decay pencils by rubbing my finger across them they crumbled and wadded up like that grey stuff on scratch off tickets. Total bummer. I was really excited for Champagne because I was going to use it as a lid color with Brown in my crease, but Champagne behaved the absolute worst. It was the driest. It bunched up to make clumpy parts and it wouldn't add color to some parts of my skin no matter how many times I went over it. The best behaving crayon was Gunmetal. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it didn't make me want to rip my hair out when I was applying it. When I feel better I'm going to try and warm them for several seconds under my high wattage light bulb to see if that helps them apply better. At this point in time, until they tweak the formula and for the $3.00 price that these have, I have to say that I would skip these. They are waterproof though! Ha-ha!

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Rachel Knows... She's having a baby!!!

2013-01-14T15:19:00.001-06:00

What a wonderful 100th post! I didn't even plan it this way! So I let the cat out of the bag last night. I couldn't keep it in any longer. I've been miserably sick with "morning" sickness for 8 weeks straight now from the moment I opened my eyes in the morning to the time I closed them at night. I was tired of only being able to tell people about the sad, sick part of things. I was ready to start talking about the joyous, wonderful part of things. I'll admit I was really, really taken by surprise on Thanksgiving when we found out. A very fitting holiday to find out that you're having a little baby! Jeremy and I only tried for one month before we got pregnant. I was expecting it to take much more time. When you're in a great situation and a great state of mind I guess things that are meant to be just happen naturally and quickly. I'm a little nervous that I may have told too early, but I'm only a week away from being 3 months pregnant and knowing me I'd be nervous to tell people up until the time the baby is here. I'm not very superstitious, but when it comes to this baby I've been so worried because I don't want anything to happen. This baby has so much love around her or him already, that it just makes me so dang filled with joy every time I think about it. So this little Sweet Pea is the reason I've been so sick and the reason I've been very behind on getting posts out. I have tons of stuff to review and swatch, so I'll be keeping you guys up to date with makeup and my little sweetie.

That's the baby's hand by its mouth. It looks like it is making a duck face.

Everyone was surprised at how much Sweet Pea was moving around. I wonder if that is why I'm so, so sick? I can't wait to keep everyone updated on the little one. I'm so excited!

Rachel Knows... LORAC Unzipped!

2013-01-03T18:30:00.006-06:00

I'm not going to type a whole lot because I felt a lot better for a few days, which is how I got these pictures done, but then I started puking and feeling horrible again. This palette was a really good palette. All of the colors were gorgeous and very pigmented. The only color that was useless, and I mean useless, was Undercover. Appropriate name as you couldn't even tell it was on your skin, no matter how much of it you applied. So I just think of this as a 9 color palette. This palette is also very warm toned, so if warm neutrals don't look so hot on your skin tone then I'd say skip this palette. That's about all I can sit here for to type. I'm gonna go puke now. Blech! :(

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Rachel Knows... Eeee! I'm excited!!! Big, big haul!

2012-12-26T21:41:00.003-06:00

I drug my sick, nauseous, exhausted ass out of the house and to Sephora today! I am paying for it now, but I got some amazing things. I can't wait until I can get back to my work table and start doing my blog like I used to. Tonight I just got my husband to lay everything out on the bed for me and I took some pictures of what I got because I was so excited. I would have gotten about 4 more palettes, but they were sold out of the main ones I wanted to get at Sephora. I may get those for my birthday in February or I may order them online tomorrow. Who knows with me? Tee hee. :-D I wanted to get Urban Decay's Naked, Naked 2 and Naked Basics palettes and the LORAC Pro palette. So here are pictures of my latest purchases... actually I should have waited to do this post because I have two more e.l.f. orders coming in the mail. Those might take another week or so to get here, so I'll just post those some other time. Here are all of the awesome palettes I got!!!

LORAC Eye Candy Full Face Collection

Urban Decay Smoked Palette

LORAC Unzipped Palette

Too Faced Natural Eye Palette

Too Faced Naked Eye Palette

Bare Minerals Ready Eyeshadow 8.0 The Star Treatment Palette (Like my turquoise camera?! :-X)

A bunch o' e.l.f. products!

Rachel Knows... She's Down for the Count.

2012-12-20T23:18:00.002-06:00

Y'all I think about my blog everyday and I have so many new things to swatch and review for you. I am just so sick I can't even fathom sitting there for as long as I usually do to swatch and take pictures. I'm sure I've lost some followers over this long hiatus, but I just have no choice. Hopefully I'll be over this in the next month or so. So if you can stick around until then, I promise I'll have new content up and I'll be back and better than ever. I'll talk to you soon.

Rachel Knows... It's time to Primp and Prep with Hpnotiq!

2012-12-13T22:00:00.001-06:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hpnotiq. All opinions are 100% mine.

My favorite thing from back in the day would be when I'd get ready to go out. I loved picking out my clothes, putting on my makeup, doing on my hair and occasionally get a little bit of pre-drinking on. I've always loved listening to music while getting ready and Hpnotiq's Primp & Prep website makes it sooooo easy to listen to the latest hits to get you pumped up and ready to party! Just click their Pandora internet radio button at the top of their page and get ready to get your hair down music up! That's my favorite part of the site because it is just awesome music at the click of the button with no thinking about anything! The point of the Primp & Prep website is to be a local place on the internet that you can go with your girlfriends and get the latest information about beauty, fashion, guys, celebs, cocktails and LOL's! They have tons of recipes for awesome Hpnotiq cocktails. Basically it is just the absolute perfect place to create the perfect girl's night

How fun does this Stiletto Sangria look?

http://www.hpnotiq.com/recipes/5854/stiletto-sangria.

Don't forget to check out their Boutique. You can get couture lollipops, glow sticks, panties, rock candy, lip glosses, t-shirts, beach towels, plus a lot more! I mean this place is basically just a female adult's heaven.

You must be 21 or older to drink alcoholic beverages, such as Hpnotiq, and as always, please remember to drink responsibly.

Rachel Knows... She's Been Miserably Sick!!!

2012-12-12T11:44:00.002-06:00

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been so sick with stomach issues. I went to the Emergency Room on Saturday night because I'd gotten so dehydrated and weak. I'm on 4 prescriptions for my stomach. Zofran, Pepcid, Reglan and Phenergan. I'm only taking the 1st two though. It might be a while before I feel well again, so the blog may take a slight backburner while I'm fighting through all of this. Also, my e.l.f. order that I made on 12/2 just shipped yesterday. I have no freakin' clue why it took 9 days to ship out. Pretty frustrating. That's another reason I haven't been blogging, because my stuff still isn't here. So stick with me everyone! I'm just going through a rough spot right now, but I'll be back as soon as I can. I love doing my blog! In case I don't get back on here before Christmas, Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy Hannukah! Happy Kwanza!

Rachel Knows... NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils Part 2!

2012-12-04T18:13:00.000-06:00

I freakin' love these Jumbo Eye Pencils. I knew I wanted to get the whole collection and I'm so thrilled to say that I now have each one! When I went on my honeymoon I was so excited to see that there was an Ulta near the resort I was staying at. Jeremy was so sweet to let me stay in there for way too long even though it was our honeymoon. I finally saw all of these pencils in person and I knew I had to have them. I waited until I got back home to find a good coupon to get them. Ulta has had a sale on NYX Cosmetics for several weeks now. It is buy one, get one 50%. That was good enough of a deal for me! They are so creamy, soft, pigmented and easy to apply. These colors are so pretty! There really aren't many neutral colors in this set of pencils because I bought most of them in my first order. I suppose I shouldn't call it a set because it isn't a set that you can buy just these colors, but these are just the remaining colors that I hadn't bought in my first purchase.There are mostly blues and greens in this half, but they really are beautiful. Lime really surprised me. I wasn't expecting to like it much at all. In person it looks almost like a Gold Vermeil piece of jewelry. It reminds me of a piece of old jewelry who's gold has been worn off and you can see the tarnished silver peaking through underneath. It was really unique and beautiful. Lavender was pretty much a very light pink. There wasn't too much purple that showed through. Electric Blue and Peacock look a lot less similar in real life as well. Peacock has much more green in it. If you love beautiful eyeshadow colors and an extremely easy application then pick up all of these! You must! Here is the first half of the Jumbo Eye Pencils.

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Rachel Knows... Wet 'n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio in Don't Steal My Thunder

2012-12-02T14:41:00.001-06:00

I will say about this palette that it had much less fallout than the last few I've worked with. It also was a smidge bit more pigmented. Other than that it behaved and performed just like the other palettes I've reviewed. I'd honestly recommend all of them. They're lots of fun and they’re easy on the pocketbook! If you'd like to see a more in depth review of these palettes you can go here, here, here, here, here, here and here. The freakin' end of this series!!!

I followed the stamped directions on the eyeshadow itself and then I took the crease color and used it as my upper and lower eyeliner. I lined my water line with e.l.f. Brightening eyeliner in Black.

Rachel Knows... Wet 'n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio in Knock On Wood!

2012-12-01T20:18:00.001-06:00

Not too much more that I'd add about this palette that I haven't said on my other posts. They're pigmented and nice. This palette really is nice. I'll just be honest, this "series" has just gone on way too long and I'm just so sick of it. Ha-ha! I finally am done with it. This post and the very next one are the last. I have all of the pictures and eye looks done and I just have to post them. If you want to see everything I've had to say about the other palettes you can see them here, here, here, here, here and here.

I used the eyelid color on my eyelid. I used the crease color on my crease and brought it down as my upper eyeliner and lower eyeliner. I used the browbone color on my browbone. I used e.l.f. Brightening Eyeliner in Coffee on my lower waterline.

Rachel Knows... Wet 'n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio in Cool as a Cucumber!

2012-11-29T19:16:00.001-06:00

This was a good palette. The only color that was just a disaster was the Browbone color, but I suppose it did its job in adding a subtle highlight color and blending everything together well. I would never use it on its own. It was so crumbly and so unpigmented that there just wasn't much to it. The other two colors were really pigmented and behaved very well. There was hardly any fallout. When I looked at this palette I was thinking that it was going to be the ultimate Christmas palette, but the crease color on the skin just didn't really look quite like I thought it would. In real life it looked very purple. I was thinking it was going to be a pretty deep cranberry color, but it wasn't at all. This is kind of like a hazel eyes palette on steroids. The green and purple in this palette are just really deep and strong, not like normal hazel eye palettes. I like it though! There isn't much more I'd add to this review that I didn't say in my 5 previous reviews that you can see here, here, here, here and here. :-D