Archive for October 2010

Crackle, Snapple, Pop- Barry M Instant Effects Polish

Sunday, October 31, 2010

2x Wet'n'Wild French White Creme, 1x Instant Effects

When nail bloggers from the UK first started to blog about this polish, I was blown away. I know crackle polish isn't exactly super new (BYS has been making some for a while) but I'd never seen anything so cool. Luckily, at the time I was in the midst of arranging a swap with Jess from Blogger Fae Glasgae and managed to get my hands on a bottle.
Barry M Instant Effects did not disappoint. It's fascinating to put on, and almost instantly the cracking begins. The whole process finishes pretty much within a minute.

Same mani, with one more coat of Instant Effects. Pre- cleanup!

Now, for the best crackle effect it's important to follow the directions- put one smooth coat on over another color (or clear base coat) and don't go back and retouch if you've missed a spot because that area will be thicker and not crackle as well. If you'd like to intensify the black crackle to under color ratio, wait a minute for the process to finish, and put on a second coat. The neat thing is that it cracks in the same areas, leading me to think that the lacquer pulls away from the places where the attachment to the surface underneath it is the weakest.
I haven't tried a whole lot of combinations of color with crackle pairings yet, but I think that bright, neon colors provide the most amount of contrast with the matte black crackle to provide the most interesting look. A girl in my class suggested I do neon pink next time underneath Instant Effects, and I think I'll definitely do that!
I don't remember exactly how much Barry M Instant Effects was (believe it was under £5) but if you're wondering where to get it on this side of the pound, have no fear. It's rumored that the Katy Perry OPI collection will feature a crackle polish. My cool crackle polished fingers are crossed in hope that it's true!

What do you think of crackle coats? Are you like me, thinking it's the coolest thing since sliced bread and can't wait to see it in more colors, or is this trend a pass for you?

Product was obtained in mutually beneficial swap.

FOTD: Fancy Feathered Halloween Eye

Saturday, October 30, 2010

I didn't really feel like dressing up this year for Halloween. This is mostly because when I went to the costume store, all I saw were skimpy women's outfits that weren't really creative. In fact, at first I thought I had wondered into an adult themed store by mistake (sexy nurse outfit, sexy cop outfit, sexy school girl outfit, gross Snooki outfit, etc). It really put a damper on any Halloween spirit I may have had. Buuuuut, I did feel like doing something a little special to school on Friday.

This was a pair of fancy feathered lashes I picked up at the Halloween store for about $6, I think. They're made by Fantasy Makers (aka Wet'n'Wild). The quality wasn't too great- when I first took them out of the package and was trying to peel off that gummy backing that keeps it attached to the box all the feathers came off of the right lash band. I had to glue them back. They wore pretty well though, with just DUO Lash Adhesive. I brought the tube to school just in case I'd need it for touch ups, but didn't end up needing it. I also used:
Brows: Maybelline Define-A-Brow
Eyes: LORAC Behind The Scenes Primer, Sleek iDivine Storm Palette, Rock & Republic Fatalistic, LORAC Beige

The lashes didn't really bother me, but maybe it's because I'm used to wearing falsies. All I noticed was that my lids were a little heavier (work those eye lid muscles) and that there was a bit off blue fuzz at the corner of my vision. I got a lot of comments all day, but the funniest was "You look like a pretty little bird that just flew into my life." (I didn't say it wasn't also cheesy).

What are your plans for Halloween? Are you dressing up? Can I see?

NARS Holiday 2010: Mélusine Duo

Friday, October 29, 2010

I remember when I first saw pictures of this duo leaked onto the internet- I wasn't sure if this duo would be for me since it looked just like an ordinary silver paired with a dark matte purple.
How foolish I was to think that the silver was ordinary! Melusine's shimmery side is as FAR from ordinary as you can possibly get. First off, it's not your typical silver shade- it's more of a soft pewter with a slight lavender-pink sheen. This opalescent effect is just so unbelievably beautiful (it'd be like if MAC Seedy Pearl had a baby with Bobbi Brown Chrome Pewter) and subtle.

Outdoors, direct sunlight, no flash. Picture taken late in the afternoon,
so the lighting is a bit on the warm side.

The deep matte purple is actually the problem child in this duo. It's very finely milled, in fact- it almost feels liquid when you touch the pan. However, it's really, really dry feeling. Without a primer, it doesn't stick to skin at all (it even skipped like crazy when I took swatch pics) and is really hard to work with. But with a primer like UDPP or LORAC Behind The Scenes, it becomes blendable and a great matte shadow.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this 2010 Holiday Collection duo, NARS presents us with a unique shade, and both sides of the duo are quite pigmented. This duo is $32, but if you act fast- you can still order it from the Sephora Friends & Family 20% off sale (Code is FF2010).
I did a EOTD with it the other day, but it mostly shows off the purple side, not so much the pewter (click here if you missed it).

Product was purchased by me, for my own use.

Cargo Lumières du Monde Holiday Palette

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Cargo comes out with some awesome palettes (remember Hands of Hope and the Runway Palette?) and when I saw this palette at Macy's yesterday, I was thrilled.
My Macy's has a small section near the entrance that contains brands like Urban Decay, Sue Devitt, Stila, Cargo, etc. Anyways, I was walking by this section when I was ambushed- a sales associate proudly brandished the Lumières du Monde palette at me, and initially, I joined in her excitement.
I mean, the palette is beautiful! Eight large pans of shadows imprinted with this intricate design- I was overwhelmed. And in the center, a two layered bronzer/blush thing that just... called to me.

Indoors, under lightbox, flash. All swatched dry, over bare skin.

Left to right: a shimmery teal, a metallic yellow, a bright sparkly blue, a antiqued gold-olive shimmer, a periwinkle shimmer, a matte white, a matte tan, a matte brown with micro glitter. The three swatches on the very right are from top to bottom: the blush, the bronzer and the blush/bronzer mixed together.

However, once I brought it home it was kind of a different story.
The shadow I was looking forward the most- the olive shimmer was chunky and it just did NOT want to stick to my skin (not even wet, primer, base). Other than that- all the other colors were decent (I mean, they're not as finely milled as I like nor very creamy but... they're shadows) and the blush/bronzer pan was pretty. Also, I wish the palette also wasn't so bulky (it's almost as wide as the drawer in my Helmer in which it lives).
But... I mean it was only $29. Yeah! Not even thirty bucks. Hopefully in the next few days, I'll find a way to make this palette work for me.

So, what do you think about this palette? Are there any other holiday palettes that caught your eye?

Product was purchased by me, for my own use.

butter LONDON All Hail McQueen

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

3 coats, outdoors, no flash

It's raining again out so instead of taking swatch pics of Melusine like I had planned, I'm gonna show you a nail pic from last week.
Behold- butter LONDON All Hail McQueen. A subtle nude holographic polish that I wanted for four months or so, and finally talked myself into buying off of Zappos.com (free shipping and 1 year returns, whoot) a month ago. Since then, I've worn it a handful of times already because it's just THAT pretty.
Compared to other holos, it's not as bling-y. The holo effect is quite scattered and toned down, the particle size is very small. In fact, you might just get away with wearing it in a professional setting because indoors it just looks like a glossy grainy tan while outdoors the holo effect isn't THAT noticeable unless you draw attention to it. Relatively, I mean. other holos like China Glaze Kaleidoscopes are much likely to catch your bosses' eye.
Now, I do have a few other beige holos, and here's a comparison.

2 coats of each, outdoors, no flash

Color Club Love'Em Leave'Em is more of that fine, almost matte holo and is more orange than AHM. DS Classic has more golden hues to it.

This polish lasted a pretty long time on me on its own, it was easy to apply (on the sheer side, needed 3 full coats, possibly 4) and didn't dent that easily during its wear. All butter LONDON polishes are DBP, toluene and formaldehyde free.

What do you think of this mild(er) tan holo? Do you own All Hail McQueen or any other butter LONDON polishes?

Wet'n'Wild Lust Palette

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I'm a terrible, bad blogger. I bought this palette like six months ago (around the time I bought those singles) and completely forgot to blog about it. Argh! I finally remembered it today when I was talking about it with a friend on Twitter and realized, oh hey- I never showed you how awesome the pigmentation is.
Oh well! The chances are pretty good that you've already seen swatches and raves about this palette elsewhere. I wouldn't be surprised. This is such a great quality palette! Each shade is super pigmented, easy to blend and the packaging isn't like the previous Wet'n'Wild palettes (ugh, remember how ridiculously bulky those Ultimate Expressions palette were? I freaking loved Paradise Cove and Sand Castle, but they were the size of VCR tapes).
There's six colors- three mattes, three with some sort of sparkle/shimmer.

Indoors, flash, under a lightbox.

From left to right: a light matte peach, a matte violet, a dark matte black-plum. A cream matte with sparkles, a shimmery graphite and my favorite- a blackened purple with violet micro glitter. Unlike a lot of blackened shadows, where once you start to blend it becomes this dark mess with a ton of fallout and the glitters buff away completely. Not this one, it stays beautiful!
Now that Halloween is coming up, I wanted to bring up that if you happen to be looking for some bright, pigmented shadows you might not own but need to completely your costume- try these Wet'n'Wild palettes! They're $4.99 each (but frequently 40% off) and these palettes contain a lot of shades that have been said to be dupes of MAC shades (like Shimmermoss!).
I had kind of given up on drugstore makeup (am I guilty of makeup snobbery? I think I might be) but this is an absolute gem.

Have you tried any of the Wet'n'Wild ColorIcon palettes?

Product was purchased by me, for my own use.

NARS Melusine Duo EOTD

I bought this in a moment of weakness yesterday (really, when your school is across the street from a mall, this sort of thing can only be expected). The weather is really horrid, so no swatches yet- but I did do a quick EOTD with it. This look mostly shows off the matte violet, but I really think that the pewtery shade is the star of this duo.
Brows: Maybelline Define A Brow
Eyes: UDPP, MAC Blacktrack, Rimmel Soft Kohl black pencil, Kiss Me Heroine Make Long + Curl mascara, NARS Melusine duo, Rock & Republic Veil shadow, Rock & Republic Fatalistic shadow

As soon as there's some sunlight to take glorious swatch pictures, I'll write a full review about this duo!

Have you seen Melusine at your NARS counter yet?

All products were purchased by me, for my own use.

MAC Bad Fairy Winner!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

I wanted to thank all of the readers who entered my last giveaway- a new bottle of MAC Bad Fairy. Congratulations to #6 who was an international reader- Alicia! Don't worry- there will be another giveaway soon for all of you who didn't win.

How to Spot a Fake MAC Eyeshadow

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Notice the second ring on the clear plastic on the fake MAC? Also, the
opening mechanism is not shaped the same, and the edges of the legit
MAC are more curved.

It's hard to admit when I've been had, so know that it is with great difficulty when I say that I've been fooled by fake MAC. It was a long time ago, I ordered fake shadows from eBay and now I want you to know exactly what to look out for because I know it is tempting to want to get a good deal on makeup. I'm sharing with you observations I've made, to the best of my knowledge.
First off, I want to point out that there are only a FEW places to get legitimate MAC cosmetics. Your local MAC store (and MAC Pro store), any MAC counter at department stores like Nordstrom, MAC's online website (and previously, MAC Pro website) and Estee Lauder Company (who owns MAC) outlet stores which are sometimes called The Cosmetics Company Outlet or The Cosmetic Company Store (CCO for short). There are a handful of online sites that sell MAC but they are quite hard to find- on eBay there will sometimes be some authentic products, but it is also flooded with outright counterfeits. Places that claim to sell MAC at wholesale prices ARE selling counterfeit products. Another place that you'll frequently find fake MAC are swap meets or flea markets.

Notice how the fake MAC doesn't have a layer upon which the pan rests?
With legit MAC shadows, this is how depotting is possible.

Note the lighter colored label on the fake MAC, as well as the lack of
shade name, and the "001" sticker. Fake MAC also lacks a notch on the
back of the package.

The bottom of the fake MAC has a second flip chamber, containing a sponge.
No legit MAC shadow has a sponge applicator inside.

Here are some comparison pictures of fake MAC compared to legit MAC eyeshadow. Be advised that NOT all fake MAC looks the same, there seems to be different manufacturers and some of them make really good fakes. When in doubt, bring it in to a MAC counter (heck, I'd say when it doubt, just don't buy it).

Now, over the years MAC has changed their labels a bit- mostly font size and adding a small Back 2 MAC logo. Sometimes the rotation of the label has change too (the newer ones I have seem to be a quarter turned to the right).

All purchased directly from MAC or CCO. Left to Right with the year they
were released: Smoke & Diamonds (2008), Henna (2009), Prepped for Glamour (2010)

Sorry I don't have the boxes any more to show you! But I do remember that the fake MAC (that green shadow shown above) came in a box with a sticker labeled "Juxt 1" and no batch number (which starts with A and ends in a 2 digit number).
Now, fake MAC eyeshadow can be hard to distinguish for the average person- sometimes the quality is really great. Indeed, the shadow I showed you above has fantastic pigmentation for a matte shadow. But with fake products, the consumer has NO idea what truly went into the product, no quality control with the manufacturing and no company liable should the product cause some sort of horrific reaction on your face.
Therefor, I beg of you- if you or anyone you know is using questionable MAC- bring it in to your closest counter and have it checked out. Another great resource is Specktra.net - the very knowledgeable ladies and gents over there even have a thread discussing fake MAC.

Hope you have a wonderful evening and weekend!

Products were purchased by me, for my own use.

OPI Burlesque Collection - The Show Must Go On vs MAC Bad Fairy

Friday, October 22, 2010

1x Essie First Base 2x The Show Must Go On

So yesterday I went into Cosmo Prof- which is a pro beauty supply store located right by my school. The first thing that caught my eye was OPI's new Burlesque Collection display. I'll be honest- the glitters really turned me off (they were so dense that I found it rather tacky, I'm not a glitter loving gal) but the shimmers looked ok. In particular, I was pretty interested in The Show Must Go on, which I remembered reading as a possible dupe for MAC Bad Fairy (but not really, people said that Bad Fairy was much more duochrome).
The Show Must Go On looked so vibrant in the bottle that I decided to buy it to compare to Bad Fairy.

1x Essie First Base, 3x MAC Bad Fairy, 2x The Show Must Go On

After comparing the two, I must say that I really prefer The Show Must Go On! It's more of a fine foil than Bad Fairy and overall superior- few coats required, dried faster, applied better. MAC Fairy is more duochrome(by far), but it really needs like 4 coats to get the effect of TSMGO as far as color clarity. Plus, Bad Fairy did not wear well for me- even with Seche Vite on, it only lasted a few hours before tip wear.

Pictures taken outside, direct sunlight, no flash.

Bad Fairy has a darker, magenta cast while TSMGO is a more vibrant crimson- and even though the color change to orange isn't as noticeable, I'm glad that I picked up a bottle!

So, did you get anything from this collection? Have you seen it in stores yet? Which one do you like better, MAC Bad Fairy or OPI The Show Must Go On?

Product was purchased by me, for my own use.

What Are You Getting From Sephora's Friends and Family Sale?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Image from Sephora.com

F&F time! The sale is online for 20% off with the code FF2010. Free shipping over $50 too! You can only use the discount in-store if you manage to sweet talk a sales associate into giving you one of their precious, special cards that they get to hand out.
I myself am not picking anything up (saving for a new SLR camera to take better pics for you, dear reader!) but are you treating yourself, or a loved one?
How 'bout some ideas as to what to get?
You could get...

Something with a fantastic value like Smashbox Holiday Wish Palette with a wide array of eyeshadow shades ($45)

Image from Sephora.com

Something luxurious like Guerlain Meteorites Powder For The Face ($56).

Image from NARScosmetics.com

Something new and beautiful like the NARS Holiday 2010 eyeshadow duo- Melusine ($32).

Image from Sephora.com

Something for you to express your every mood like the LORAC Box Office Sensation Kit ($56).

Image from Sephora.com

Or perhaps some skincare staples like the Boscia Luminizing Black Mask! ($34)

What ever you end up getting, you should let me know so that I can live vicariously through your purchases. Seriously. Keep me alive with all the gory details of your hauls!

Rock & Republic Sale!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Hey all! Just to let you know, one of my favorite brands is having a 50% off sale on their cosmetics with the code ROCKCOSMETICS. The quality of their products is extraordinary and being a high end brand- they usually retail for quite a bit.
However, it gets even better! There's a referral program - if I refer you, we both get $25 off any purchase over $75 (before the code). And as always, the shipping is $.99.
So here's an example:

3 eyeshadows (retail $28 each) = $84

$84 - 50% off = $42

Then $42 - $25 credit = 17

And plus $.99 for shipping means that you get THREE shadows for $17.99, less than the price of one shadow at full retail, including shipping. This works on ANY cosmetics.

You need a referral to get the $25, so if you need one - let me know! I'll need to enter your email address and that's it!

Simple EOTD

Today I used the one eyeshadow from Shiro Cosmetics that survived my dog Sir Nigel's rampage (I'll tell you about it when my new order of Shiro comes in, I promise).
It was a really nice soft neutral look that went great with my vivid crimson Rock & Republic Cougar gloss. I would have taken pictures of the whole face, only I had forgotten to put on lip primer and lip liner and it bled like CRAZY.

Brows: Maybelline Define A Brow
Eyes: UDPP, Shiro Cosmetics SS Anne shadow, MAC Style Snob, MAC Blacktrack, Kiss Me Heroine Make Long + Curl mascara

Not Just Another Black Polish: LA Girl Rockstar - Rockstar

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Outdoors, 2x Rockstar over 1x Essie First Base. No flash.

Lately I've amassed so many blackish enamels that I've decided to start a series - Not Just Another Black Polish - so that I can explain the subtle nuances (something that gives me great pleasure, I admit) to you.
Today I have a polish from the LA Girl Rockstar set, in fact the lacquer by the very same name, Rockstar.
Rockstar is a black based polish with duochrome flecks.
Awesome, right? It is! The specks aren't glitter exactly, but like micro duochrome flecks that flash from magenta to light green (and stop briefly at gold in between). But they're subtle, not something that screams "Look at ME!" but sparkly bits that wink at you in the sun and invite you to examine them further. It's really one that you should look at in person, because pictures don't let you turn the nail and be in awe of flashing flecks.
I also really like the formula, it's pigmented enough to be a two coater but also very easy to manipulate and apply to the nail. The finish is also ultra glossy, making for a very gorgeous polish all around!
I picked this polish up at Five Below and they were 3 for $5.

Product was purchased by me for my own use.

Color Club Untamed Luxury Collection: Covered in Diamonds

Monday, October 18, 2010

2x Orly La Playa, 1x Covered in Diamonds, 2x Seche Vite
Indoors, under natural light box, flash

I'm so sorry, this post is way late since this collection has been out for quite a while already! But I -had- to blog about this particular polish (or fancy topcoat, rather) since I think it is the most unique lacquer of the whole collection.
Color Club's Covered in Diamonds is this awesome enamel that is jelly like in consistency with these amazing prismatic shards. They vary in size and shape but are really quite opalescent and reflective! My classmates oohed and ahhed over my nails when I wore Covered in Diamonds over a dark navy colored base (Orly La Playa) because they had never seen anything like it.
There's only one slight downside to this polish, and that is the shards don't quite lie flat on the nail and tend to catch on fabric and snag a bit. The first time I wore it, I didn't put a top coat over it and the little bits caught on the upholstery of my vehicle and ruined my manicure. I learned from that experience though, and now put two coats of Seche Vite (or any thick top coat, really) over Covered in Diamonds which really smooths out the surface and keeps it snag free.
In short, I'm absolutely dazzled by this polish and really urge you to get it to try it out. I bought mine at my local beauty shop for about $3 and it is definitely one of my favorite fall buys.

Product was purchased by me, for my own use.

Chanel Irreelle Ombre No. 23 Sphinx

Sunday, October 17, 2010

I can't say no to a duochrome shadow, especially not when one is dangled in front of me - and Chanel Irreelle Ombre Sphinx is no exception. When my friend Erika from Duhast Makeup couldn't get this shadow to work for her, that sounded like a challenge to me!

Close up to see the hint of duochrome green.

When I first laid eyes on this warm brown shadow, I could barely see the green duochrome. I had to take it outside in the bright daylight to see the glint of slightly iridescent green. When I swatched it, I immediately understood Erika's unhappiness with the shadow. Despite the interesting color, this shadow doesn't really want to stick to your skin and doesn't really show up too well.
I really had to try many methods to get the best of the color. First I tried my regular eyeshadow primer- Urban Decay Primer Potion, and allowed the primer to dry completely before brushing on Sphinx. No luck. I tried it wet, but then the green sparkling sheen was lost. Then I utilized a few bases like L'oreal HiP Shadow Paints and also the NYX Jumbo Eye pencil in Milk, but both didn't really do much. Finally I tried applying Sphinx on damp Urban Decay Primer Potion and that really did the trick! It captured the true color of this shadow.

Outside, direct sunlight, no flash. As you can see, damp
primer was the clear winner!

Texture wise, this shadow is a little crumbly. Though I don't have other Chanel shadows to compare it to, since it is my first! But I can see why Erika was willing to give up on this shadow- who wants to pay $30 for a shadow and have to work hard for good payoff? Nobody! That's just not what you expect from Chanel.
So while I find this shadow very interesting and very unique in my collection of duochromes- it's definitely not something I'd recommend as far as value goes!

Do you have a product that you have to work really hard for? Is it worth it?

Product was purchased by me, for my own use.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Concrete

Friday, October 15, 2010

2x Concrete. Indoors, lightbox + flash

Dear Reader,
You have, absolutely no idea how long it took me to hunt this polish down. When a friend in Texas told me she spotted had purchased Concrete, I rushed out and searched every drugstore within a 10 mile radius for the Sally Hansen display with all the new Xtreme Wears. Didn't find any.
Three or four weeks went by, and FINALLY one of the Rite Aids in my area put up a display. Why is it that the distribution of limited edition Sally Hansen polishes so weird? I have no clue. Well I snatched Concrete right up and it is absolutely gorgeous and I'm happy to have it.
Concrete is a soft, mauvey grey creme. The application is nice- a two coater. Xtremes actually wear quite well for me, especially if I don't wear anything else with it (like basecoat, flash dry top coat, glitters, flakes etc). This was one of the enamels I got at Rite Aid for BOGO50%, plus a $1 coupon for every bottle purchased. Great deal, since I was going to purchase them anyway!
That's all for now!
I hope you all have a good weekend, got any plans?

Product was purchased by me, for my own use.

A Few MAC Pigment Samples

Thursday, October 14, 2010

A while ago, I ordered again from TheBeautySampler.com because there was a 30% off code, so I got four samples to play with. I had heard a lot about a few pigments, so I wanted to try them before I bought full sized versions.

It was raining out, so I did these under a natural light box with flash indoors.

Swatched medium pressure, over bare skin.

My favorites are Heritage Rouge and Museum Bronze, they really are as rich and beautiful as everyone says!
I was really disappointed with Mauvement- it just wasn't as smooth as the others and I guess doesn't have the same 'binding' properties as the rest. It just did -not- want to stick to my skin, despite trying it wet, over primer, over a creamy base, over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Difficult to work with, but pretty in the jar.
The other shades are great staple MAC pigments- smooth and creamy and very very pigmented (as the name might suggest).

How about you? What is your favorite MAC Pigment that I should try next?

Products were purchased by me, for my own use.

Sally Hansen Sequin Scandal

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

1x Essie First Base, 2x Sequin Scandal, 1x Seche Vite

I have to warn you in advance- there's going to be a lot of posts about Sally Hansen in the near future!
I stopped at Rite Aid yesterday and they had BOGO1/2 off of polishes, plus a $1 Wellness UP (basically a coupon for a $1 off your next purchase) for every enamel that you buy. So I may have gone overboard.
It's not my fault! I have been looking for all of the new LE Sally Hansen polishes everywhere, and finally found them. This one is probably my favorite- Sequin Scandel. It's a very dark swampy green shimmer- with sparkle bits that aren't uniform in size so that it's very interesting to look at.
Now, I don't know if I mentioned this before but I LOVE the Complete Salon Manicure bottles/brushes. They look snazzy and I actually prefer the shiny handle and sleek glass bottles to those of OPI or Orly. And the brush is so great, big and thick yet flexible and slightly tapered. I can usually cover my nail in one or two swipes.
Have you seen this LE collection around? It contained a lot of brownish-khaki looking shades.

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Amber Ruby

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Flash, indoors so that you can see the red.

When I first took a look at this polish's name, I thought that who ever dubbed it over at Sally Hansen's creative department wasn't earning their pay. In the bottle, Amber Ruby looks like a dark oil slick- in fact, I thought it was a blackish duochrome at first when I found it in the fluorescent lighted aisles of the Dollar Tree (yup, that's right!) where it came in a pack of two nail enamels.
But, when I brought it home and applied it, it actually does go from a rich red to a vibrant orange (and even a little further into the yellow-green glow range) but I was a little disappointed because I had hoped it'd be super dark in color. See, I'm just a complainer by nature, I can't even just admire a nice duochrome. Actually, this is the nicest of all the Nail Prisms I've tried, formula wise. Some of them can be quite runny and sheer, but this one is very opaque and the application is great.

Amber Ruby, indoors- no flash, closer to natural light bulb.

And on a side note, I really need to find a richer hand cream. I've been trying to hide my dry cuticles behind my watermark in my pictures, have you noticed? :( Sephora by OPI's hand moisturizer is a no go as well, it absorbs well but just doesn't nourish!

Product was purchased by me, for my own use.

NOTD Magenta Jelly Franken + FOTD

Monday, October 11, 2010

I made this franken last night with multi colored hexagonal glitters, NYC Clear, some old Ulta seasonal red creme, a bit of Funky Fingers 220 Volts (which is a blue neon) and some Sally Girl magenta glitter.
I absolutely LOVED it. It was this glassy jelly and the glitter suspended in it was quite pretty (and I'm not even the biggest fan of glitter). However... the wear was terrible. What ever it was that made it so glassy also made it hard and inflexible (much like, you guessed it- glass). It actually shattered and fell off my nails in chunks.
Oh well! Hopefully better luck next time.
FOTD time! I'm trying a new foundation, and I really like how it photographs. I think it might be a little bit less olive than my neck, but I think I'll live.

Face: Graftobian Hi Def foundation, LORAC AquaPrime, Smashbox Masterpiece blush, Lacura powder foundation.
Eyes: L'oreal HiP Cream Paint in Secretive, LA Colors Purple shadow, Revlon Aubergine shadow, Urban Decay Gunmetal 24/7, Rimmel Soft Kohl in black, Kiss Me Heroine Make Long and Curl
Lips: Smashbox Artist gloss

What did you do for your FOTD today?

Be On the Lookout For: Dollar Tree Sally Hansen Polishes!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

I was really excited when people on the Nail Board on MakeupAlley and my friend AlexisAdella started to report that Sally Hansen polishes were trickling in double packs at the Dollar Tree! When I found out that some people were finding Sally Hansen Nail Prisms as well as the Salon formulas, I immediately ran out to two Dollar Trees to see for myself.
One Dollar Tree didn't have anything at all, while the other had quite a few of the double packs. I snagged four packs, three with Nail Prisms and one with a 10 Day No Chip formula.
This is definitely something to be on the lookout for! Especially since a lot of the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms are holographic (not all, some are merely duochromes). I'll post pictures of the polishes and swatches in the upcoming days.
Let me know if you find anything good! :)

Rock & Republic Veil Eyeshadow

Yet another Rock & Republic shadow! This is the only one that I'm not a super big fan of, and I'll tell you why. It's a matte bone white and I'd say that the pigmentation is on the lower side- not the super rich pigmentation that I'm a big fan of.

Swatched VERY heavily. Outdoors, direct sunlight- no flash.

When I apply this, it really seems to disappear on my lids (even with primer or a base). I figured it'd make for a really good matte brow highlight, but I can't seem to see it - only the tiniest hint of a whitish cast! It isn't really chalky or anything, it is very finely milled but it just doesn't show up on me (between about NC20-25). However, I have found a good use for this off white shadow. I've found it to be a good "uh oh" corrector shadow- meaning when I over apply a dark shadow, I take a fluffy blending brush and work Veil in and it lessens the dark color. I also use Veil to dust lightly under my lower lash line to brighten up the eye area.
So while I don't use R&R Veil as a regular shadow, I'm glad to have it around to use when I mess up my eyeshadow application or need under-eye brightening!
What's your favorite white or off white shadow?

Product was purchased by me, for my own use.

NOTD: Gold Holo Stamping over Sinful Rich At Heart

Friday, October 8, 2010

Ok, so these aren't actually -my- nails. A friend of mine asked me to do hers today and to incorporate some stamping into it. So I used three coats of Sinful Rich At Heart as a base color and used China Glaze GR8 with a BundleMonster plate (forgot which one, sorry).
Pictures are on the poorer quality side, I used my cell phone to take them!

I know it's hard to see Rich At Heart- which is this blacked burgundy shimmer, really beautiful and vampy. The kind of ornate gold stamping goes well with it, it looks kinda fancy!

Have you done any sort of nail art lately?