KACKIE (REVIEWS BEAUTY) MADE ME BUY IT in 2021 (PART 3)

Kackie has one of my favorite beauty channels to watch – so much so that it’s part of my morning routine Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays when she posts new videos, and I can’t imagine it any other way. What makes her stand out for me is that she actually reviews products rather than fawning over new releases. She covers textures, colors, formulation, packaging, etc. in depth, usually with comparisons to similar products you might already have. She has what she refers to as an encyclopedic knowledge of products, and I think that’s why I find her reviews so helpful. Kackie goes out of her way to give the most pertinent information to help viewers decide why something might or might not work for them and what they should know about the product when making a purchasing decision. For that reason, almost everything I’ve gotten because of her recommending it has become a fast favorite and something I wish I had bought sooner. Because I’m on a no-buy in 2022, I rounded up all the products Kackie made me buy in 2021 since my last “Kackie made me buy it” post. As always, thank you so much for being here, and it would mean so much to me if you subscribe here or on Instagram @liftbakelove for new posts!

Lisa Eldridge Liquid Lurex Eyeshadow in Angelica and Bianca – I absolutely love this eyeshadow. This formula is so quick and easy to use. It’s almost like a mousse and feels halfway between a cream and a liquid. I’ve tried using a brush and fingers, with and without a primer, and applying directly from the doe-foot and from my hand – nothing I tried didn’t work out amazingly. The formula doesn’t crease and looks exactly the same all day. I tested it on a 17-hour makeup day, and it honestly could have just been applied. I’ve used it as one sheer layer, a thicker application, and layered on top of itself, and it looked great all three ways. I love how I have enough time to play with it and blend it out however I want before it sets down. They’re also some of the more spangly eyeshadows I’ve ever used, which may be the thing I love about them the most. Angelica is a rosy bronze that is the absolute perfect shade for me – I feel like I’ve been hunting for this color for years, and here it is. Bianca is a warm, purply-pink that really makes my brown eyes pop.

Angelica (left) and Bianca (right)

Tower 28 Beauty BeachPlease Lip + Cheek Cream Blush in Happy Hour – This is one of the dewiest blushes I own – it’s super pretty on dry skin. The formula of these is incredibly easy to use and blends out super quickly. It does leave a slight stickiness that isn’t always my favorite, especially if I know I’m going to be wearing a mask. This is described as a warm toned pink, but I find it pulls very peachy-orange on me. Because of that, I haven’t used it that much since we’ve been in the winter months, and I’m excited to use it more in the summer. Of all the blushes Kackie has “made me buy,” I think this is my least favorite, but that’s just because she sets the bar so high with all the other blush recommendations.

Pat Mcgrath Divine Blush in Fleurtatious – The formula is incredibly smoothing and blurring, and it looks so beautiful on my skin. It is one of my most flattering powder blushes, and it’s the one I use when I don’t want to think about how I’m applying my blush. It lasts incredibly well, and it works great to set a cream blush if I want my look to last all day. Fleurtatious is a warm-toned light pink that works so well with the tones that I love to use, and as you can see in the swatch below, it’s just pigmented enough to show up but not too pigmented to take over a look.

 Em Cosmetics So Soft Blush – I knew I would love these the first time Kackie described the texture of these – they’re everything I look for in a cream blush. The So Soft formula is incredibly soft and creamy (like the name implies), and that makes it so easy and quick to apply. It blends so seamlessly into the skin without disappearing. It’s actually one of the longest wearing cream blushes I own despite being so blendable. I have the shades Lychee (warm melon), Venetian Rose (vinatge rose), and Pearl Tea (brownish nude), and I get lots of use out of all the shades.

ABH Dewy Set Setting Spray – The Cover FX Dewy Finish Setting Spray had been my favorite for years, but I like this even better. It does just the right amount of dewiness and sets my makeup while still leaving everything skin-like and flexible. I love how this makes my makeup look after everything is said and done and how it provides great lasting power without drying out my skin (in fact, I think it adds another layer of hydration). It’s also less expensive than similar options, like the Hourglass Setting Spray Kackie says it’s a dupe of, so I’m very excited this has come into my makeup routine.

Tower 28 SunnyDays SPF 30 Tinted Sunscreen Foundation in Melrose – I honestly think this might be my favorite foundation of all time. I’m surprised I haven’t written about it yet! The formula is so incredibly smoothing and glowy. It makes my skin look both perfected and hydrated while feeling super comfortable on the skin. I can put it on with a brush, sponge, or fingers, and it looks great. The wear time is amazing considering how lightweight it is, and it absolutely wears in instead of off. I’m so happy I decided to grab this!

Kosas AirBrow – Kackie convinced me to try this over, and I’m so glad I did! It finally unseated Glossier Boy Browhich I had been using for years. It tints and fills in the brows so quickly and easily without overdoing it or over applying the gel. It doesn’t get crunchy or hard and stays in place all day. I prefer it to the Boy Brow because it’s a bit thicker so it lasts longer and keeps my brows exactly where I want them all day. 

Glow-All Super Powder Face Palette – I really struggle with powder products because they tend to stamp on vs deposit color and blend out so it’s super easy for me to overdo. I knew based on Kackie’s description I would have no issues with this formula, and she was right! It’s so easy to work with and you don’t have to think about what you’re doing because it’s so hard to overdo it. The formula is also incredibly creamy and blurring as you can hopefully see in the swatches below. I’m so happy to have this for travel and for quick and easy looks at home. I brought it with me when we visited family for Thanksgiving, and it was great to have everything in one palette, including such different blush colors. You can still get a pretty big brush in the pans, which I really appreciate. The palette is $17.13, and I’m loving it so much more than my Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit – Sculpture Unlocked palette which was $58.

highlighter, bronzer, and blushes from the face palette

Beauty Pie Triple Beauty Luminizing Wand – This blends so easily and quickly and creates a sophisticated glow without glitter. It’s a perfect wash of light-catching pigment and is also blurring. It looks great as a finishing touch to any look I’ve used it in, and I love that it looks great on the cheeks, brow bone, inner corner, or anywhere else I want it to go. I can apply it straight from the wand or use my fingers or a brush and it works great. It only comes in one shade but I think this shade would work for a lot of people because it’s so sheer. Compared to $38 for the Charlotte Tilbury version of this, it’s incredible that this only costs $9.18. I honestly would’ve thought this was a luxury product down to the packaging, and I can’t believe it’s less than $10.

Beauty Pie Seamless Foundation Buffing Brush – This brush is really densely packed which ensures it maintains the level of coverage of any product I’m using it with. It also never creates any streaks and cleans really well even with consistently using it with liquid products. While this brush is amazing for foundation, I actually love it even more for cream blush. It blends every formula so seamlessly and quickly and is my go-to for when I’ve overdone my blush and need to blend everything together quickly because of its size. This brush is under $10 and feels similar to my much more expensive synthetic brushes. I now totally understand why Kackie said in her review that she wanted tons of these in her collection.

Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see here on LiftBakeLove, and thanks for reading! As always, some links may be affiliate links that support the blog, but all reviews/opinions are completely my own and unsponsored.

State of Kait Made Me Buy These Lip Products

Next up in my “they made me buy it” series is Kait from State of Kait! I really trust her opinion on shades and formulas of lip products in particular, so I wanted to do a run down of all the lip products that I can think of that she inspired me to buy. As always, thank you so much for being here, and it would mean so much to me if you subscribe here or on Instagram @liftbakelove for new posts!

I discovered Kait through her Finding Ferdinand blog post. I’m a Finding Ferdinand affiliate (if you’re a regular here, you’ll know how much I love my Finding Ferdinand products and the company), so I was super excited to see who their first ambassador was. I loved every shade Kait came up with, but especially Girl Crush, and So, I worked with the folks at Finding Ferdinand to make a version of Girl Crush just for me (this lipstick was gifted to me in full transparency). I love this shade so much – it’s the perfect neutral warm brown that looks right at home on my face. Like all my reviews, everything written is my completely unbiased opinion, and I would definitely be talking about this shade even without being an affiliate, and I was absolutely planning on buying it myself because it looked so great on Kait. If you’d like to support Kait, she also has an affiliate code with them: stateofkait10.

My version of Girl Crush from Finding Ferdinand

I couldn’t talk about Kait without mentioning all of the FitGlow Lip Serums I have now. Starting with the, FitGlow Beauty Mini Lip Trio of travel sizes. After hearing Kait rave about this formula, I needed to try them, and $22.4 including shipping (I used Kait’s code Kait20 for 20% off) seemed worth it for this sample set. Unsurprisingly, I fell in love with the nourishing, thick, hydrating, long-lasting formula, and all three shades I got are super flattering. Note: while the one I purchased included the shades Nudie, Halo, and Regal, the set at the time of this post publishing includes Juice, Kind, and Night Lip Serums.

FitGlow Lip Serums in Halo, Nudie, and Regal

When the FitGlow Beauty State of Kait Edit was announced, it was the opportunity I needed to grab some full sizes (it’s an amazing value vs buying them separately especially if you use her code!). The kit comes with Night Lip Serum, Beach Glow, Gospel, and Root. Starting with the Night Lip Serum, I’m not sure I can ever go back to another night time lip treatment again after experiencing it. I have never woken up consistently to such hydrated and nourished lips that lasted for hours into the morning. Compared to every other lip balm and night treatment, this is so much more effective, and I’m so glad I have such a giant tube of it now.

FitGlow Lip Serums in Night Lip Serum, Beach Glow, Gospel, and Root

Beach Glow is a sheer coppery bronze that is so much subtler than it looks in the tube. I love wearing it over Kackie’s Thrive Lip Liner for that my lips but way better look. Gospel is described as a warm berry, and it’s super in my comfort zone for fall. It’s so easy to slap on with any of my usual makeup looks and is the perfect amount of pigmented for me. Root might be my favorite though – it’s a gorgeous brown plum shade that just really pulls a look together. I love how pigmented it is with one swipe and how much it just screams “fall, but make it sexy.”

I knew I needed to get the Glossier Ultralips once I heard Kait’s YouTube review. I have been loving all of the shades I got – you can see more swatches and comparisons of all of them here. The Ultralips are a pretty pigmented tinted lip balm that has a touch more glossiness than your average balm. I love how moisturizing it is and how long lasting it is (for a lip balm texture). You can also build up the color without anything weird happening like pilling or patching. Everything Kait said about the formula is true!

Ultralip in Portrait, Villa, Trench, and Cachet

I already had the Em Cosmetics Lip Cushion in Magic Hour, but I was really inspired to pick up the shade Venetian Rose when Kait was talking about it in her Glossier Ultralip Review video. I was reminded of how lovely the formula is (pigmented, nourishing, balmy, glossy finish, all with a much easier to apply applicator than the Ultralips) and could tell the shade would be great for me. It’s a “vintage rose” shade that is so much easier for me to wear consistently than Magic Hour (which is much brighter), and I’m so happy I picked it up.

Em Cosmetics Lip Cushion in Venetian Rose

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading, and thank you to Kait for all of your amazing recommendations! What would you like to see next on LiftBakeLove? Let me know in the comments below, and thanks as always for being here!

Kackie (Reviews Beauty) Made Me Buy It

Kackie has one of my favorite beauty channels to watch – so much so that I now start my day every weekday morning watching her newest video with my coffee, and I can’t imagine it any other way. What makes her stand out for me is that she actually reviews products rather than fawning over new releases. She covers textures, colors, formulation, packaging, etc. in depth, usually with comparisons to similar products you might already have. Kackie goes out of her way to give the most pertinent information to help viewers decide why something might or might not work for them and what they should know about the product when making a purchasing decision. For that reason, almost everything I’ve gotten because of her recommending it has become a fast favorite and something I wish I had bought sooner. There are, of course, a couple of things I wouldn’t buy again, and you’ll have to read on to find out which ones. With that incredibly long intro, let’s get into the products!

All of the products I’ve bought because of Kackie

Aesop Rind Concentrate Body Balm – I mentioned this in my 2020 body care favorites, and I’m still obsessed (and I really try not to use that word too much). This is the most amazing smelling product I own, hands down. My husband also loves it both because of the scent and how moisturizing and quickly absorbing it is. Because it’s 17oz, I feel like it’s going to last forever, and it’s totally worth the price to me.

Supergoop Zincscreen – My HG sunscreen, Krave Beauty The Beet Shield, was out of stock (as usual) when I saw Kackie recommend it. This sounded great because it’s meant for sensitive skin and supposed to work well under makeup as a glowy base. I used it every day as my primary sunscreen and have loved it under makeup or by itself. It has no white cast, blends super quickly, and isn’t too heavy on the skin. The only thing I don’t love about it is the way it smells – I can’t describe it but I just don’t like it. I decided not to repurchase it so I could try the Josie Maran sunscreen I talked about in my post last week, but I did really like it while I used it.

W3ll People Bio Baked Brightener Powder – I use this powder as a last step before my setting spray to clean up and brighten any areas that might need it. It’s perfect for that, and I’m surprised I didn’t have something like this in my routine. Kackie mentions this all the time as a way to correct going too far with blush or bronzer, and it really works for that purpose without adding coverage or mattifying your skin. It is one of the only brightening products I’ve ever used that actually works, and I’m so glad I picked it up.

Daniel Sandler Watercolour Liquid Set for Cheeks – I mentioned this highlighter in my 2020 favorites, and it’s still a favorite. I’ve also fallen in love with the bronzer! They both give an ethereal, natural, glowy effect while actually drying down so they last all day. I really love them both, and I’m pretty sure you can’t get them separately so I’m totally happy to have bought the set to get them. This blush formula is not my favorite – it’s pretty hard to control, and I’d rather use any of my cream blushes instead (like the ones I’ll talk about next). That said, if you’re a liquid blush person, I think you’d love these, and I do like them a lot better than the Glossier Cloud Paints which tend to disappear on my skin extremely quickly.

Petal Poppin and Rosé Latte in natural light

Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush – I just wrote about these in my February 2021 Favorites, so I won’t repeat myself too much. This is one of my favorite cream blush formulas, and I don’t think I would have chosen the Rosé Latte shade if Kackie hadn’t shown it on camera. I figured if it worked for her, it would work for me, and I was right! I’m so glad I ventured out of my comfort zone a bit with that color because it’s now one of my favorite shades in my collection.

Westman Atelier Baby Cheeks Blush Stick in Petal – This continues to be my the perfect “natural but makes me look way healthier and hydrated than I am” shade. It’s just so easy to use and blend, and it’s my go to for when I’m running late or don’t have as much time to do a full “blush look.” I also continue to love the packaging, which just makes it a joy to use. I’ve written about this a few times on the blog because it’s been a favorite since I bought it.

Roen 52° Cool, 11:11, and 75° Warm Eyeshadow Quads

Roen Eyeshadow Palettes – Every time Kackie used these, they looked incredible. She described them as having no compromises in formula, fun and easy to use, and something she wanted to reach for everyday. And I totally agree! I have really fallen in love with the formula and every look I’ve gotten with these. I love that I can do a one or two shadow look in seconds, and it has a ton of impact that lasts all day. The 11:11 quad is definitely my favorite, but I have no regrets getting all three.

Swatches of the 75° Warm , 11:11, and 52° Cool Roen Quads

Vesca Moonlit Dream Cream Eyeshadows – I will admit that I bought these eyeshadows right after I saw Kackie’s reaction the first time she used the shade Lyra. I have absolutely no regrets! These eyeshadows are by far the easiest cream shadows I’ve ever worked with, and I still love the packaging – it’s super easy to only get what you need, and I don’t have to worry about them drying out. It’s so hard to choose between these or the Roen shadows if I had to only choose one sparkly/wet/creamy formula because they are all so beautiful, and I’m glad I have them all.

Thrive Causemetics Eye Brightener, Mascara, and Lip Liner – The mascara and lip liner are both now my standby HGs. I haven’t used any other mascara since I got this one (don’t worry – I switched to a new tube since then!). I can’t see myself switching any time soon.  It makes my lashes look amazing, doesn’t smudge, and washes off so easily. The lip liner I got is actually in the shade Kackie as it is Kackie’s collaboration shade. This is my favorite lip liner shade, and I can put any gloss or lipstick over top of it and it will look perfect. The formula also manages to be creamy, not drying, and have great staying power. The eye brightener is the only thing I didn’t love – the formula is great, but the shade I got is both too light for an all over color and too dark for an inner corner shade. I don’t reach for it very often for that reason and wouldn’t buy it again if I could go back in time.

Finding Ferdinand Custom Lipstick – I still can’t over being able to literally make any color that has a hex code for only $30. And the formula is incredible – it’s somehow sheer, impactful, moisturizing, and long-lasting all at the same time. The packaging is also so well thought out and truly feels like a luxury product. If I ever need another lipstick, even though it will definitely be awhile,

Vesca Lush Glow Creamy Lip Oil – I’ve already talked about this product on my blog twice because I love it so much. it’s like a lip balm meets lip oil meets lip gloss, and it’s one of my favorite lip product formulas I’ve ever tried. It’s super moisturizing, stays glossy for so much longer than I would have expected, and the color is just the right level of sheerness for me. Kackie showed all of the shades in a recent video, and it turns out that the shade I have (Ginger Lily) is likely the perfect shade for me so not only did she influence me to buy one of my favorite lip products of all time, but she saved me from buying a ton of other shades that wouldn’t have looked great on me.

Glossier Berry Balm Dotcom – I’ve written about how much I can’t stand the birthday shade of the balm dotcom and was pretty sure I would never get another one. Then Kackie included it in a best + worst lip balms video raving about them a few months ago, and I realized I could get one for essentially free while buying replacements for two of my favorite products of all time, Futuredew and Boy Brow since they come in a set. The berry shade is so much better than the birthday, and I can actually say I really do like it. It’s not in my all time favorites because I have a few balms I reach for more, but I absolutely don’t regret getting it, and it’s still getting a lot of use.

Acure Radically Rejuvenating Whipped Night Cream – I have super dry skin, and Kackie recommended this for someone who really need a lot of moisture in their night time routine. I really like this cream – it’s super nourishing without feeling super heavy (just like Kackie said it would be). It’s much more inexpensive than comparable creams I’ve tried. That said, my HG is still the Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Dream Night Cream, and I’ll be switching back to that once I finish this. I’m super excited to have found a less expensive alternative though if I ever need it!

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading! What would you like to see next?