The Perfect Palette Tag

This tag came out in the YouTube world last year around this time and I love it. I love talking about palettes because eye shadows are my number one all time favorite makeup product. I just love eye shadows. This tag has 8 different questions and all to do with your favorite eye shadow palettes.

1) Best Packaging

It looks like a candy wrapper. The Two Faced Chocolate Bar palette. 

Seriously this has the cutest packaging. Not only does it look like chocolate it also smells like chocolate. Seriously, Too Faced wins on this one. All around it is a great palette and I highly recommend it.

2) Best Color Payoff

The Lorac Pro palettes, both 1 & 2 have great color pay off. The Lorac Pro 1 palette is the dark one, and the gray one is the number 2. I love these palettes, they are so pigmented, buttery and have the BEST color payoff of all my palettes, hands down. 

The color on the left is Rose from the Lorac Pro 2 palette and the one on the right is Garnet from the Lorac Pro palette, both beautiful and so pigmented. 

3) Most versatile 

Urban Decay Naked 1 palette. The original Naked palette. This palette you guys... I can't even. 

I love this. It's most versatile because you can pair it with so many different eye shadow bases (elf smudge pots, maybelline color tattoos) or eye shadow pigments (makeup geek, mac,) and this palette will turn it into a beautiful look for you. My favorite color in this palette is Sin. But secretly I love all of these colors. If you are a beginner with makeup and want to start getting into high end, purchase this palette. You wont regret it. 

4) Best for Traveling

Tarte Rainforest After Dark Amazonian Clay Palette. 

I chose this palette mostly because of its size. But also because it includes a blush, bronzer, and highlighter. 

With all three of those in addition to the six eye shadows I can get a lot of looks out of this. When we go to St. George for the weekend this is my go to travel palette and I am so happy with this purchase. 

Honorary mentions for best for travel the naked basics 1 and 2

These have great color payoff, are all matte and are compact. They are so small they wont take up any room in your makeup bag. 

The colors are also pretty neutral which makes it great to create versatile everyday looks you can wear with any outfit or for any activity. 

5) Biggest Regret 

Coastal Scents 28 neutral eye palette. I thought this would provide a good base start for shadows but really the formula of this product is so scratchy to me. Is that possible? Can an eyeshadow be scratchy? Yes I think it can. 

Great neutral colors. Just not for me. 

6) Best color names

Also could be used for best packaging, but the Cinderella palette by Sephora. This came out last year I believe but I just love the names. 

pumpkin coach, ball gown, glass slipper, fairy godmother 

jaq, gus gus, charming, midnight, cinders. I just love all these names. 

7) Least Used. 

This palette could also go into best names because I love the names of this palette, however one of the blushes broke and it got everywhere, as you can see. This makes me not want to use this palette as much but the names, so awesome. 

8) Most Used, Most Loved, Desert Island

If I was stuck on a desert island I would definitely want to have my custom made Zpalettes with Makeup Geek eye shadows in them. I love MakeupGeek eye shadows. They are so pigmented, creamy, high high quality (yes I even compared them to my MAC shadows I own and these surpass them by far), and they are cheap. They are 5.99 for a shadow, where MAC shadows are 10.99 for a shadow. You get better quality for less money, yes please. I almost have every single color. I am missing about 6 of the really bright colors but of the ones I have I love them. 

This is my neutral palette, all beautiful shades. 

This is my more colorful palette on days I want to add something fun to my look. 

So there you have it, my favorite eye shadow palettes. What are some of yours? 

XO

Caitlin

Whats in my Bag!

I love watching these videos on YouTube and reading blog posts about them. I don't know what it is about it, probably because I am nosy and like to know what other people carry with them. 

The reason for this post is because I am switching up my bags right now. I do this about every two months, I just get sick of using a particular bag after a while and I want to change it out. Up until this point I was using the above bag all the time. I love this bag! Its awesome. Its by Mark New York and I got it at Ross for about $45.00, which was a steal because I know this bag usually is about $200.00. Yay for a good find at Ross. I used this bag for about 3 months so it was worth my money. I figure if I spent $1.00 a day using the bag and I used it for 3 months, that means I surpassed my goal of using it at least 45 times to get my money worth. Anyway lets check it out. 

This is the inside of the above bag, everything fit nicely with extra room left over. 

The first thing in there is obviously my planner: 

It's an Erin Condren Life Planner which I have talked about here on my blog a bunch of times. If you are interested in purchasing one click this link HERE and sign up, once you do you receive a $10.00 off code to your email so that you can get your first order a little cheaper. 

The next thing is this pencil case from Staples. 

I got this last year and it holds my feminine products, you know for that time when Aunt Flow comes to visit. 

Next is this glasses case from Target:

This holds my glasses. I recently had to get some for driving at night and watching movies later during the day. I noticed my eyes were getting worse and worse over time and I am so glad I went into the doctor, these help me see great at night. During the day I don't have to wear them which is good. 

Next up is my wallet:

Its a Kate Spade Wellesley wallet, and I love it. It serves as a finance tracker as well/has extra note pages in the rings so that I can jot down notes without having to pull out my planner. 

Here are all the card slots that it comes with, I just love using it for a wallet. 

Next I have some lip products and a library card and a random Harry Potter charm from Etsy that was on my planner. 

This lip gloss is NYX butter gloss in Tiramisu. It's basically a MLBB (My lips but better) shade and it's perfect for days I forget to put lip products on. And the egg shaped thing is an EOS lip balm in sweet mint, my favorite. In fact I'm going to pause for a minute and put some on. It feels so good on my lips and its important to keep them moisturized during these dry months. 

My library card, also did you know that most libraries offer an online system so you can check out books and read them on your iPad/Kindle etc. Make sure and check out your local library so you can take advantage of that awesome feature. 

Everything that is in my bag on a daily basis:

My new bag. This is from www.markkit.com and it's from Belinda Selene's collection. She is a YouTuber and I love her videos and I love this bag, it was totally worth it. 

Here is the inside, and everything fit nicely, I was actually surprised. I was worried that the glasses case wouldn't fit but it does and it doesn't make it look bulky from the side. In the front pocket I have my phone in there. 

INSIDE VIEW:

SIDE VIEW: 

FRONT VIEW:

There you have it. Hope you liked this post and let me know what you carry in your bag. 

XO 

Caitlin

Multi-Level Marketing Companies: What they are and why I avoid them

A few months ago I was mentioning to a friend that I strongly dislike (hate is such a strong word) MLM companies. She asked what is that? I went on to describe it and later she said "Oh I'm involved with several of those companies." I didn't really know what to say after that since I was so adamant with my opinion on them. Later I was talking to a different friend who was trying to sell me membership into her program, I told her I don't join MLM's and she also asked "what is that?" After I described it to her she said "Oh well you can still make money if you join", I just smiled and said no thanks and ended the conversation.
After considerable thought about these two scenarios I decided I should write a blog post on exactly what Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies are. If you are involved in one that's great! Especially if it works for you, please leave me a comment below about that. I know they wouldn't work for me, I'm a terrible sales person.

First lets define what exactly makes an MLM an MLM.
Wikipedia defines MLMs as: a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they generate, but also for sales of the other salespeople they recruit.
Dictionary.com defines MLMs as: a marketing strategy in which sales representatives of a company recruit other salespeople and earn commissions on their own sales and on the sales made by their team: Use your personal relationships to be successful in network marketing.

Basically it's network marketing. You sign up and get other people to buy your product. If they continue to be interested and want to sign up they sign up under you. Now any sales they make to family or friends will benefit you (the original seller) and you both get commissions off those sales. Some people refer to this as "growing my team". If you look at the image above its clear that one person at the top, now has 9 people under him, making his commissions high if each of those recruits continue to sell the product they are offering. Please note if you draw a solid line from the bottom all the way around the image you will eventually get a triangle, or a pyramid.

Now pyramid schemes in the US are illegal. Because MLM companies have a product they sale, that alone makes the company legal, even if the main income from the company comes from the overall pyramid of recruiting salespeople. It may be legal but it is still touch and go. The FTC (federal trade commission) monitors MLM companies very closely to make sure they are in compliance with business laws.

MLMs are legal and different then pyramid schemes for the following reasons:
1) you can make income still with out singing up new members. Say you are that bottom person in the image above, and you decide not to recruit any more members can you still make money? Absolutely. That is one of the things that can make an MLM appealing, you can buy into the business and get the product at the distributor price without having to have people join you. You can still make an income based off of your sales alone, it may not get you far but you can do it.

2) Members of any level can earn money, they also have the ability to earn more than the people who signed them up. In the image below you have three levels, the top (single guy), middle (three guys) and bottom (six guys). The guys in the bottom level do have the ability to make as much as the single guy, if they are successful and take a bottle of Felix Felicis to help them with sales.

3) As already mentioned MLMs are marketing a product which makes them legal compared to pyramid schemes. (source for the above referenced points can be found HERE)

A major PRO for MLMs is that the cost of advertising is significantly reduced for a business because the primary way of letting people learn about your product is through word of mouth and networking. (A.K.A. Facebook) This allows the business to be spread quickly and have a trusted face for the product, I am much more likely to purchase something from a friend or family member then I am for a sales guy who knocks on my door. In face I don't even answer the door when I see them on my porch.

So here's why I avoid MLM's and why I wont be joining yours anytime soon.
1) Difficult to purchase
I know this seems odd, but I like to buy things online. Amazon Prime is my best friend. I love being able to have the convenience of buying something without getting pressured into something else buy a sales man. Buying online with MLM's is available. However, its a little difficult to purchase something without having to sign up under a consultant, distributor, sales person (all the same thing). For example, say I want a SCENTSY candle. I go to scentsy.com find a warmer I completely fall in love with and add it to my cart. I go click check out but wait its saying I have to enter my zip code to find a consultant near me. I enter the zip code and several names pop up, no one I know and I am forced to choose one in order to buy my warmer. Next thing I know they are sending me an email asking if I would like to come to a party near buy to look at more items in person. This creates an awkward situation as I come up with excuses on why I can't do it and I was just interested in that ONE product. Why did buying one product turn into a sales pitch? Because that is what happens with MLMs all the time.

2) Pressure to hold parties
As mentioned before if I buy something its a key into the world of persistent sales people. The terrible part about it is that all of these sales people are dear friends who I care about. They call me all the time, only to see if I will buy more products, or invite me to events, or give me a free nail set to be a model. It all starts there but ends up going into wanting me to sign up, etc. Here's the thing I am an Introvert. And I am an extreme Introvert at that, so for me to host a party well that ain't gonna happen.

3) Exploitation of relationships just to get you to purchase something
I have a few friends involved in MLMs who I feel ONLY contact me to SELL me their product. That makes me feel terrible about myself. I mean really you can't call just because you want to catch up? You can't Facebook chat just because you wanted to really know how I was doing? You just want my money do you? Well great that makes me feel awesome :)

Now if you are involved in an MLM that is awesome!!! Especially if it works for you. If it does and you have a neat experience to share please comment, I am truly writing this so everyone knows what an MLM is and why I wont join yours, even if you keep asking me a million times. I still love you even if you try to sell me something.

Popular MLM's:

NuSkin
DoTerra
Young Living Essential Oils
Stampin Up
It Works
Mary Kay
Jamberry
Younique
Paparazzi
Park Lane
Scentsy
Avon
USANA health
The Pampered Chef
Tupperware Brands
Thirty-One Gifts
Stella & Dot
Lia Sophia

Hope you found this information helpful!
XO
Caitlin

Erin Condren Life Planner: Interchangeable Covers

You guys all know I am in love with my planner. I did an entire post about it HERE and HERE. I still use mine on a daily basis. Today I left mine home and I was not a happy camper. It has all my information in it for work, and home life. I love that I have found a system that finally works for me. I am going to do an updated Erin Condren Planner post in December on how I use it and I will also talk about the supplies I use on a daily basis. All my supplies have become an addiction #planneraddict and I love to share about it with others.

I tried to get all my covers into one photo and as you can see I failed. I have 9 covers and I just ordered 2 more today! They are such a fun addiction. What I love about it is that I often get bored with my planner cover, so its nice to be able to change it out and it feels like I suddenly have an entirely new planner. It keeps me motivated to use it and I must say I have used it every single day since I bought the planner so to me it is very worth the money. I know they are expensive, luckily for me my birthday is in January so I'm able to get one for my birthday every year and its the best gift ever!

How interchangeable covers work. Basically they punched holes into the cover and added slits so that you can take off the old one and put the new one on. Erin herself has done a video about it and I will link that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-TCZ6ATGho

It really is so easy to change them out and in and I warn you it can be an addiction. However I have gotten most of mine at a discounted price, she had a sale in October for a Free Cover so I was able to get one free then. I also had a couple of coupon codes from previous purchases that were unique to me because customer service made a mistake on one of my orders. Then recently I got a $25.00 off coupon for placing my 5th order with the company so I got 2 more covers, why not! I love it and I get my moneys worth because I can use them year after year. I don't put the 2014 date on them, just my name as you see above and as long as the covers are holding up I am able to have them last a while.

Two of the covers you see above are from etsy shops that make covers for the life planner. We'll get to that in a minute. Here is a close up of all the covers I own now.

This one is the gold edition that came with my planner in the color spearmint.
The striped one with the gold bow is a cover I made myself and then uploaded it into the picture this cover on the site.
My actual planner cover I have on now is from an etsy shop called Evelyn Lane.

The cover on the left is fleur feliz in the splash pattern, I love this cover with a silver hold it together band, such a pretty combo.
The middle cover is the scales cover in Aquamarine and gold.
The cover on the right is the roses cover in pink, cause I love pink roses those are my absolute favorite of all time.

No we are to my Christmas covers. I love them both!
The first one is from an etsy shop and its called the Nutcracker cover. I have my name and then the saying is "May your days be merry and bright"
The second one with the triangles is called the jolly jester-Christmas cover and its sold at the Erin Condren site, isn't that Christmas tree so cute? I am in love with this one!

And last but not least I have the initial cover, this is in the color aquamarine and I chose it to say Holladay instead of my first name and I love it.

So there you have it, I will of course show you my two other covers I ordered today when they come in but for now I'll keep them a surprise.
Happy Friday!
XO
Caitlin

I forgot something very important! If you would like to receive $10 off your first order with Erin Condren use this referral link: https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/caitlinholladay0127-8974
It will take you to the site where you will sign up, once you are signed up you will receive your coupon code in your email address (it only takes about 15 minutes for the code to appear in your email), you can then use that code for your first purchase.  XO