China Glaze Poetic

Saturday, June 30, 2012




This color is a mystery to many in the nail world. It's copper, but pink at the same time. So weird. I also did a comparison with this and Maria a while back, which I also mentioned in the re-swatch of that color a few days ago. Out of the two, this one is my favorite.


This is the last swatch for Project Re-Swatch. Yaaay!!!! That was a successful journey, and I'm proud of myself for fighting through the dreaded "off color" phase I was going through. Hope all is well for everyone, and I hope your June was fantastic! See you guys in July =) I have a lot of posts lined up, and waiting to be published. So excited for July!





OPI Dulce De Leche

Friday, June 29, 2012




I love this dusty pinkish brown color. It almost boarders on the neutral side. I placed in both categories, just to be safe. I really like this color. It's one of those colors that goes with everything, so when I can't decide which color to wear, this is one that I can grab. Almost like a fail safe shade.





Beauty Blogazon Weekly Roundup





  • Mama Fashionista- In the on going quest to perfect her skin care routine, Mama Fashionista discovered a match made in heaven: LUSH's Angels on Bare Skin and the Clarisonic Mia!
  • My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog- Laura reviewed and swatched the Romantic Eye Shadow Collection from Too Faced.
  • Ishah x Beauty-What's on Ishah x Beauty's menu? A Glitter Sandwich! Lovely layers of shimmer, glitter and flakies.
  • Lucy's Stash-Parrot nail art manicure - Scarlet Macaw in the jungle painted with acrylic colours
  • Liquor, Lube and Lipstick- I See Rainbows Everywhere! - Would you go to work with bright eye makeup? I did!
  • Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom- Milani browns are in the spotlight.
  • Adore-a-Polish- A little Colorstay for your day with this Revlon Colorstay Top Coat review.
  • Captivating Claws- Shows you an amazing green sparkly Zoya gradient
  • Cosmetics Aficionado -This Minnie Mouse Manicure is not only super cute and super easy, but it is short nail friendly!
  • Phyrra -Phyrra is in love with the cult product inspired by beauty balm creams, Illamasqua Skin Base!
  • Dorothy's Little Wonderland - What I brought with me during my travel adventure
  • Beauty Product Review- A shiny face isn't pretty, check out what makeup product I used to get rid of shiny face!
  • Tolmu Rull tells all -Have you ever bought anything big and been insanely happy about it? Tolmu Rull's biggest beauty buy ever comes from Poland and weighs 12,5 kgs!
  • Shades of Beauty, Inc.- Klout Perk...Essie Mojito Madness
  • Emily Hudspeth, hair design and makeup artist - BB Cream. I found my favorite one and I want to share!
  • The Stepford Witch- Who doesn't love makeup that's meant to make our beauty routine simpler? Now let's see if Speed Brow is the right eyebrow product for the job!
  • The Polished Zombie -No need to call a medic, It's Just A Flesh Wound.
  • The Beauty Delicacy - Go Pastelle this Summer.
  • Beauty by Miss L -Do you want to know what was in this month´s Estonian monthly subscription box called Glambox?
  • Essie Raise Awareness

    Wednesday, June 27, 2012




    This color was a 2011 Breast Cancer exclusive, and is a lovely milky pink. There are many colors like it, I did a few swatch comparison of it and a few other colors like it here and here. Mainly French Affair, which I think is still available. Either way, this shade is not uncommon, and they'll probably dupe it later this year whent hey roll out their Breast Cancer Awareness campaign.





    Julep Maria

    Tuesday, June 26, 2012




    This was one of my first colors form Julep, and it was around the time I was obsessed with metallicy shades. I also did a comparison with this and Poetic a while back, and this one is more on the purple side. Very nice though, glad they're not similar.



    Revlon Colorstay Top Coat - Review

    Monday, June 25, 2012



    If I said that I didn't have high hopes for this polish, I'd be lying. With all of the hype it got, and not hearing any negative reviews, I was expecting a near perfect top coat.

    Were my expectations too high? Probably, it is a drugstore top coat. Were they met. Oh yeah!

    I can't help but compare this to the previous top coats I reviewed. This longer wearing than China Glaze, and less tip wear than Poshé.

    Pros
    Long Wearing and no chips - Lasted 4 days with minor tip wear. About a day without any tip wear except from my pointer fingers which are used to open things. They get abused.

    Cons
    Thin - It's a very thin top coat, and I find myself applying two coats to get that glossy shine that I get with other top coats. I also apply two coats onto glitter polish to get that smooth texture.
    Tip wear - Very minor, but it could also be due to the fact that I don't seal the edge of the nail with a top coat. Other than that, no major chipping even on the chippiest of nail polish: matte nail polish.


    I had this top coat on for four days, and in the above picture you can kind of see the level of shipping I had. Not a lot! I half hoped that I would be able to peal the nail polish off so I didn't have to use remover. =( It stayed put, a real bitter sweet moment. I use this with Revlon Liquid Quick Dry, which I have been using for YEARS. I plan on reviewing that one too, but it will be a quick review.

    Will I purchase again?
    Yes, I may also pick up a base coat, and a few other polish in the Colorstay line. I have one, but I want more! This line is amazing, the hype is well deserved in my opinion. I need to post a swatch, I have one sitting in my folders. Anyways, this top coat will probably be replacing my quick dries.



    Essie Cute As A Button

    Sunday, June 24, 2012



    This color was so annoying to swatch. I was literally dreading swatching this color. It did not want to show up right on camera both times I tried to swatch it. As usual with this type of color. I originally had a video swatch, but I realized that it's not as accurate as the pictures.





    Beauty Blogazons Weekly Roundup



    My first round up, so exciting!

    • Pink Sparklz- On Wednesday's we wear pink! Pink NOTD! Sinful Colors & O.P.I.
    • Mama Fashionista- Allow Mama Fashionista to introduce you to Evie Evan and the last concealer you will ever need (it's HG status)!
    • Ishah x Beauty- It's Girl's Night at Ishah x Beauty! Check out some good eats, drinks and my FOTD.
    • Phyrra- Wanna steal the spotlight? Phyrra tells you to break out the Anastasia See and Be Seen Kit.
    • Midnight Manicures- Water Marbling with Patricia, see this nail art technique at it's best.
    • Beauty Product Review- Discover the mask that has completely changed my complexion and made every night a spa night!
    • Cosmetics Aficionado- Hourglass Femme Rouge Velvet Creme Lipstick in Ballet might be your perfect Barbie pink.
    • Creatively Yours by Ro- Smooth out your edges with Carols Daughter Macadamia Hold & Control Smoother
    • Adore-a-polish- Get scrubalicious with this yummy grapefruit sugar scrub from Qtica.
    • Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom- Check out four lovely Zoya shades at Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom
    • Sincerely Stephanie- Looking for an easy way to do nail art? Check out how you can create art using your own fingerprints!
    • Shades of Beauty, Inc.  It Works!  BZZAGENT REVIEW: Smooth 'n Shine® Keratin Power Semi-Permanent Hair Tamer
    • Mani Curiously- The First 50 Giveaway Celebration! Come celebrate Dom & E's first follower milestone with this great giveaway!
    • Laura from My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog checked out the Hey, Sailor! collection from MAC and shared her review on the limited edition Fleet Fast blush!
    • Beyond Beauty Lounge- Easy Ombre with The New Black
    • The Beauty Delicacy- The sweetest shade of red gloss perfect for Summer
    • Beauty by Miss L- Check out Miss L´s bright summer eye makeup look
    • Emily Hudspeth, hair design & makeup artist- The Big Reveal is here! Part 3 or the "After" of the makeover series for this soon to be new mom, is on the blog. Next up, the makeup lesson.
    • Liquor, Lube and Lipstick- My latest hair adventure, combining my two favorite loves, neons and ombrĂ© hair.
    • Cosmetically Challenged- Cosmetically Challenged shows you what Orange Neon nail polish is all about with Sations "One & Only Orange" from the California Gleamin' Collection
    • Nails Beautiqued- It's summertime! Want some nailart ideas?  How about some Wispy Flowers.
    • Dorothy's little wonderland- What should I do if I would like to change the skincare routine. Tips and tricks to minimize the irritations
    • The Polished Zombie- Star Wars and Nail polish? The Polished Zombie proudly lets her geek flag fly with an out of this world polish from Amy's Nail Boutique.

    NOTD - Blue Glitter Gradient

    Saturday, June 23, 2012




    Another Glitter Nail of the Day for you gals. This time I went for a darker blue with a gold glitter. I don't like this one quite as much as the other one, but it's all about trial and error. I do want to say that I have plans on picking up some more glitter next month. I love the way it looks, and I feel like the pictures don't capture the amount of glitter that is really on m nails. I will say that it took 20 minutes to remove the one I had on prior. 20 whole minutes! Oh my gosh that's a long time. 3 cotton balls too.

    Colors
    OPI Ogre The Top Blue
    Avon Unnamed Gold Glitter 



    OPI Honk If You Love OPI

    Friday, June 22, 2012



    I have been busy swatching today! All of the colors for Project Re-Swatch have now ben swatched, and I will sporadically post them throughout the weekend and the week. I wanted to get it all done because there is talk of a tropical storm forming in the Gulf. Oh joy! Being on the west coast of Florida, we are right in the way of the outer storms, and it's supposed to rain later today, and over the weekend. They have no idea what will happen with the storm, but I wanted to be sure just in case it gets really dark, and most of the colors I swatched didn't show up well with my lights when I tried to swatch them a while ago.

    On to the swatches!





    Oh my Julep!

    Wednesday, June 20, 2012


    For July Julep is adding on a FREE nail polish to every one's Maven box. Depending on your location, you will get one of the above. If you're in the US, you get America the Beautiful. The great thing is, if you're in love with O Canada (I know I am!) you can opt to use the Add On feature that Julep has been using for the past few months. All of the products that are included in the boxes, lip & nail polish, are able to be "added on". Up to two products for $4.99 each.



    Also new this month, Julep has put a lip product (lip gloss) into every box. I had a feeling they would add a lip product. On their Facebook page they asked how everyone would feel about that, something they like to do every month, and I'm sure a lot of people said they would. I love Julep for their ability to listen to their customers. I was skeptical about lip products, but I think they did really well. I love the colors this month too, so much variety. This is the month to get a golden box, in my opinion!



    I am excited! I have intentions to switch my style from American Beauty to Classic With A Twist, and add on at least O Canada. I am so excited for this box!!!





    All logos and images in this post are property of Julep™

    It's Scrubalicious!

    Tuesday, June 19, 2012



     Before I get into the review I want to mention that I did not pay for this product, nor was it sent to me by the company. How did I manage that? Coupons? Points? Nope, I'm not as lucky as all that. A while back I participated in the Zoya Earth Day promotion. If you don't know what that is, go ahead and read up on it. When you add the polish and the promo to the basket, it automatically removed whatever free product was in there. I believe there were two. I added 6, and then I went back the next day to add a seventh bottle, and when I did they put the scrub in there at no charge. It's a full sized bottle, too, which I wasn't expecting. Could this method work for future promotions? Perhaps. It wasn't intentional so I didn't really fiddle around with it. I just wanted to order my nail polish, as I heard about some beginning to be back ordered.

    Screenshot from website

    About the product:
    Retails for $18 for 7oz on Zoya.com
    Scent: Grapefruit
    Sugar scrub

    Let's tackle the claims, shall we?
    Goes on like honey: It is smooth, regardless of the grainy sugar bits, and has a think consistency which is similar to honey.
    Sugar dissolves completely: Yes! After scrubbing, and exfoliating, they do dissolve.
    Doesn't clog drains or jets: It's a sugar scrub, so all the sugar dissolves as it should. There also isn't any extra stuff that can't dissolve when water is applied.
    Non irritating: Nope, I did not notice any irritation.

    Directions (from website site):
    After soaking hands or feet, apply a conservative amount to skin and massage, letting the sugar crystals remove dead skin.




    Thoughts:
    It's a nice little scrub. The scent is a pleasant grapefruit one, no other smells added, purely grapefruit. It certainly lingers for a bit, which is refreshing. The consistency is rather thick, so a little goes a long way. The sugar take a bit longer to dissolve than I would prefer, but that's what water is for. =)

    After I rinse the rest of the scrub off of my hands, I instantly noticed how soft my hands felt. They did not feel greasy, nor dry afterwards even without a lotion or hand cream. I recommend applying some sort of cream to your hands regardless. It makes them even softer.



    After using this, I definitely see a difference in how soft my hands feel. I rub the scrub into the cuticles, and the area around my nails/tips of the fingers. I noticed that after using it, I'm starting to loose the dead skin that's hanging around. It's not a cure all for dead skin there, but it is helping slightly. 

    I don't have any complaints about the product itself. It doesn't dry out my skin, the smell is great if you love citrusy scents, and it makes my hands feeling super soft. At $18, it is a little steep in my opinion.

    Will I buy it [again]?
    No. While I do like it, and it is a great product over all, for the price I just can't justify it. I typically go toward sea salt scrubs, and the ones that I buy are more for the money. This does smell better though, which is a plus. The price is a bit much for what it does, and I hate paying shipping any ways. Worth a try though, if you've been looking at it. Personally, it's not in the budget for myself at the moment.



    NOTD - Glitter Gradient

    Monday, June 18, 2012

    An Avon gold glitter (holiday unnamed mini collection) over Essie Off The Shoulder

    Good day lovelies, today I have for you a nail of the day! I love this look, I actually got the idea from a blogger/youtuber Louise from Sprinkle Of Glitter. Not sure why I never thought of this, I've tried to do a gradient effect in the past without the glitter, but it failed if you're wondering. Creating a gradient effect with glitter just never crossed my mind until I watched the video. I like this combination the best. Unfortunately my glitter stash is incredibly lacking, so I was only able to try the effect with gold and silver glitters at the moment.

    It's pretty simple, and if you want to try it you can read her blog, or watch her video on the subject. Let me know if you try it! I would love to see more combinations. I'm obsessing over this, and it makes me want to get Project Re-swatch over with already.

    That's all I have for today, and I may be back tomorrow with a review. Depends on if I'm completely happy with it or not (I'm picky). I'll give you a hint: Grapefruit sugar scrub. Yummy!

    Toodles ❤

    China Glaze Holly-Day



    I want to point out that the color is slightly darker on the nail than it is in the bottle, just as the pictures show. Not a huge difference, though.




    China Glaze Poinsettia



    Please excuse the glitter. I had glitter on my nails prior to swatching, and the boogers wouldn't get off my hands. There is no glitter in this polish.



    China Glaze Champagne Bubbles

    Sunday, June 17, 2012