Thursday, September 29, 2011

I'm Sick... so here, have a Haul Post

   I have had no energy for the last two days.  My cold came back with a vengeance.  A horrible, wrathful vengeance.  I even left work early yesterday, which I do pretty much never.  =(

   Anyway, I'm way too gross for make-up, and couldn't see trying to do my nails while I'm constantly reaching for tissues, so lets just enjoy my Drugstore&Beauty.com orders, shall we?  They had great sales recently, so I couldn't pass them up:

Drugstore.com items:
   GNC Hair, Skin & Nails Formula
   GNC Biotin 5000
   Nailene Ultra Quik Glue
Beauty.com items:
   BE Flawless Definition Mascara in Black and Espresso
   Too Faced Glamour Gloss in First Time and Flirt
   Lavanila Deluxe Mini Roller-Ball Set

   The Drugstore and Beauty sites have such a huge array of products!  I bought the GNC supplements to see if there would be any improvements in my nails from taking them.  Ever since late this winter I can't get my nails to grow long like I used to.  I don't know if it's from the harsh chemicals and cleansers at work, from lack of moisture, or just some major shift in my chemistry, but it's annoying!  The nailene glue is also for trying to hold my poor nails together, and I figure I'll use it for nail art rhinestone later on.

   My favorite mascara has turned out to be Bare Escentuals Flawless Definition.  Not the volumizing version.  I still use and try other new mascaras, but this is the one for me.  And lately I've had a hankering for a good old brown mascara.  Black is awesome and it has it's place, but I've been wishing for a dark brown again.  It's a nostalgic feeling, since I started wearing brown mascara before getting hooked on black.  Every new mascara that comes out is...black!  So finally I got smart and just went for my favorite in Espresso.  Thank you Beauty.com for having this harder-to-find color. ♥

   I love Too Faced Glamour Gloss.  (It's true - see here!)  It's a major addiction and a good thing that they aren't available in more colors or I would be a less wealthy girl.  I was planning to wait to buy the rest of the colors on my wishlist from Too Faced's site, but... I think I got impatient.  I now have all the colors my heart desires!  But I have to wait until I'm less germ-infested before I will try these pretties, because I don't like contaminating my make-up.

   I have not tried Lavanila before, but I love natural products, and these are about as natural as perfumes get!  I will have to get my sense of smell back before I try to see what I think of these.  Hopefully I'll be better soon!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

NotD/Swatch: China Glaze Sugar High

   Hello everyone.  Here is a color that I wasn't sure was really right for me, but I picked it up because it looked so pretty and bright in swatches Online.  I was afraid this color would be too warm for my skin tone.  The camera did not want to get an accurate shot of this no-way, no-how.  It is more vibrant and a tad warmer in real life.  I'd call it a bright coral-pink.  It dries deeper and brighter on the nail than it looks in the bottle.  The formula seemed just a tad thick.


   Two coats, no top coat, indirect sunlight and flash:

Monday, September 26, 2011

EotD, Haul, and Review of KittenGoesMew

   Sorry for the lack of updates, I have had a cold over the weekend and real-life comes first when I have little energy to spend.  Fortunately I got lots of sleep last night so I do feel a lot better today.  Despite how sick I was yesterday I had the ambition to do a pastel rainbow of eyeshadow to go with my rainbow nails.  It did not come out as nicely as it has in the past, but I'll attribute that to being sick and my eyes being all puffy and scratchy.


Friday, September 23, 2011

FotD & NotD! Rainbow Nails, Pink and Yellow Make-Up

   Hey all!  I need to get back into the habit of taking pictures of my eyeshadow creations and what-not.  Finally I am bringing you a Face of the Day post.  This is actually yesterdays news, but of course the mani made it through the night and I'm rocking it today, as well.  I was in a good mood yesterday and the sun was out for most of the day, so I celebrated that with colorful pastel nails topped with glitter, and my outfit was yellow, pink, and white - you can't get much cheerier than that!  It seems like it has been awhile since I had the time to play with my eyeshadows so it was nice to be all pretty~

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Review: Peter Thomas Roth Lashes To Die For

  Earlier this summer I earned a deluxe sample of the super-pricey Peter Thomas Roth Lashes To Die For Night Time Eyelash Conditioning Treatment.  What a mouthful that is!  Other products in the line include a mascara and an eyeliner.  Once I began using the Night Time Eyelash Conditioning Treatment I let my applications continue for approximately 40 days since I would occasionally forget a night's use.  I figure giving this stuff over a month should show results if there are any to be had.


   The instructions are to apply nightly, just along the upper lash line.  Also, it says to use sparingly because you don't need much.  Of course the benefits are longer, fuller, stronger, thicker, softer, healthier lashes.  A full sized tube of the product I'm reviewing retails around $75-$125 currently.  (Prices are dropping all over the web because it is being replaced by the "Platinum" version.)  Before and after pictures & my thoughts after the jump!

Monday, September 19, 2011

NotD: LCN Ferromagnetic Blue (also a Review)

   So, I finally got a chance to play with my new magnetic polish last night.  First off, there is a learning curve.  I am definitely not a professional yet.  I worked on my nails with the assistance my my boyfriend who picked out the Ferromagnetic Blue color.  I tried holding the magnet on one hand, he did it for the other.  In truth neither of us seemed to have a better results with what we were doing.  He was wonderful for wiping off the nail polish when I'd stick the magnet right into it, though.  ^-^'

   Because my nail swatching abilities are nothing to get excited about and several other bloggers are putting up wonderful swatches of the polish I'm not going to bother trying to do that.  Instead I want to highlight something that I have not heard in any other posts - that these nail polishes have a hologram effect.  No, they don't spew rainbows, but they have a 3D depth to them because of how the metal particles in the nail polish line up under the force of the magnets.  I have tried to capture this in my cell-phone photos:


   Can you see what is going on there?  Depending on the angle you see your nails from it looks like the design in your nails is moving!!  Yes, amazing!  Sure my first attempt at doing this is full of mistakes but it does not take away from the fact that it is a totally awesome effect.  More thoughts after the jump!

Friday, September 16, 2011

NotD: Nfu-Oh with Black Tips

   Tried prolonging the life of my holographic mani with creme tips.  I did them freehand so they aren't very neat!  A stripe of silver was added to the ring finger and thumb, as well.
   I keep rotating my picture but Blogger doesn't care.  I prefer posting from my laptop for sure.  >_<'

   Edit:  Ugh, I simply had to go in and rotate this later, as well as host it from Flickr - blogger ruined my picture quality as well!

Monday, September 12, 2011

NotD: Mobile post - Nfu-Oh 61 & 65

   Testing out the Blogger app for Android.  My current manicure.  Edited later because it wouldn't do a jump break.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

New Disqus Commenting System! Also, follow me!

   Hey all, I'm working on improving my blog whenever possible.  I'm really frustrated with the default Blogger commenting because I can't actually *reply* to anybody!  So, I went on a search and have decided to try out Disqus for my blog.  If you see this post, please, just leave me a message to let me know if you like it.  =D

   Also, I've been fighting with the Google Friends Connect widget.  Half the time it doesn't want to load.  I notice this on other blogs, too.  Does anyone know why it does this?  If it is or isn't working, please let me know, and consider following...  This blog is still in it's beginning stages so feel free to offer advice on what I could improve upon.  =D

   Speaking of following, a couple bloggers are doing giveaways right now.  Maria at Nails Made Simple! has 2 different wonderful prizes up for grabs.  And Amy at I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous has a 3 effect nail polishes available - even to International fans!

   Oh, and I hacked off 's Blog from my title.  I love keeping things short and sweet, and never did come up with a catchy name...  Maybe I'll think of something eventually.

Friday, September 9, 2011

NotD: Nfu-Oh #63 Victorian Polish - Hologram!

   So I figured I'd get around to playing with the new LCN polishes first... but then something amazing happened yesterday - the sun came out!  I hurried to get my new holographic pink polish on my tips and toes~  While I was out today I had to snap a few more pictures, and my HTC Incredible did a great job at capturing this prismatic beauty.  Even better than the family camera I usually grab!


   I'll do more of a review in the future, but I could not resist sharing these shots for now!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Haul: Lots of Polish In the Mail!

   There isn't much good about a postal holiday.  Your packages get delayed, you forget that you shouldn't be checking the mail and look like an idiot...  But, on the upside, maybe everything will arrive *all at once* the next day.  That's what happened to me!  On Sept 6th I got all kinds of goodness in the mail:


   Yes, it's all nail polish, I guess you could say that I have a bit of an obsession right now, but even for being just polish, that's big variety!

   I have Nfu-Oh: 61, 63, 65 and the Aqua Base for those holographic colors.  I snagged the China Glaze Spring mini set off of Amazon.com for a steal - the baby CG bottles are adorable!  Three "big" China Glazes: Blue Iguana, 108 Degrees, and Senorita Bonita from the Island Escape collection, and... the complete LCN magnetic polish set!  I am really happy to have all of these, and I think it will be fun playing with my new colors.  I really hope the sun comes out tomorrow so I can test some new colors to the full extent!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Not(Yester)D: Cheapie Purple

   Just a quick look at my sad post-work nails.  A bit of tip wear going on.  Two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Deep Purple.  This is a really pretty color with teeny pink and blue shimmers in it.  Then a coat of Pure Ice "Busted" overtop.  Busted is full of iridescent shimmer-glitter that mainly shows up as pink in this combination.  I've realized that I am drawn to purple polish in pictures, but hardly ever reach for it.  Strange!

Monday, September 5, 2011

New Nail Polish Types & Finishes Tags

   In the interest of organizing my blog better I'm creating more specific tags, or labels.  These are so you can find a certain type of polish quickly.  Brand name tags have already been put in use.  All nail polish tags will begin with "np-", and the types will be defined as follows:
   ~ Finishes ~
Creme - also known as cream, but hey, that's a color!  Creme polishes are pigmented, opaque, shiny colors.  True cremes contain no shimmer or glitter.  Think of shiny enamel paint.
Effect - what I'm dubbing the crackle, shatter, and graffiti colors.  Also includes color-changing, glowing, and magnetic polishes.
Flake - contain larger, odd-shaped and usually iridescent reflective pieces.  Think of fish scales.
Frost - or pearl, these polishes can usually be identified by their brush-stroked look.
Glitter - polish containing glitter!  Often meant for use as a topcoat.  Sparkly!
Iridescent - polishes that change color in different lighting, or have "flashes" of a color in them.  Other terms can be lustre or duochrome.  Think of soap bubbles, insect wings and oil slicks.
Jelly - these polishes are sheer, yet have depth and look almost squishy or wet.  Very shiny, good for layering.
Matte - flat color with no shine after it dries, which is quickly.
Metals - polishes with a metallic, mirror, foil or chrome quality.
Prism - or holographic nail polishes contain special glitters that reflect a whole rainbow of color.
Satin - polishes that dry to a sheen somewhere between a creme and a matte.
Shimmer - these have smaller, fine microglitters or "glass fleck" particles that sparkle faintly.  May only show in strong light.
   ~ Colors ~
Bright -  vibrant colors, and neons.
Dark - deep, dark colors of any hue.
Light - all pale or pastel shades.
Mid - any mid-range color that doesn't fall in with bright, dark or light.
   ~ Other ~
B3F - stands for "Big 3 Free".  Polishes that do not contain Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde, or Toluene.  Besides those chemicals posing potential health risks, polishes that do and don't contain them often don't work together well.
B3+ - my term "Big 3 Plus".  Not only are they b3f, they also exclude other risky ingredients.
   This is my list, made up according to how I describe things myself and usually see things described as.  It may be updated or added to from time to time.  I do try to be accurate, so if anyone would like to offer corrections, suggestions or refinement please comment below.  I really hope that these tags can be of benefit in the future for anyone searching for specific types of polish I have posted about.  If anyone else wants to use a similar tagging post on their blog go right ahead, but if I inspired you a link back here would be great!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Magnetic Nail Polishes Released in US

   We have another trend coming our way.  Nail polish with metal particles that respond to a magnet being held close to them, thus creating beautiful effects on your nails.  These aren't entirely new - people on the other side of the globe have had them on their fingertips back in 2007 with the brand Le Magnetique, and then in 2010 with Alessandro and Essence polishes.

   I had heard of these polishes before but passed them by as unattainable.  Finally they are being sent to the Americas in 2011.  LCN is a German brand, and Layla comes from Italy.  I want to share a quick overview of what the brands are offering, and how this stuff works.  First off, both of these brands are claiming to be Big-3-free.  Their formulas don't contain DBP, Formaldehyde or Toluene.  I say claim because I have not seen an official list of what they do contain, but I'm sure these high-end brands aren't going to mess with their customers.  So, this is great news for people (like me!) who are avoiding these ingredients.  Of course, if you have allergies to metals, these polishes have a whole different reason to be skipped.

Each Brand has put up a video on how to apply their polishes:
Cool, right?  A few more pics, details and my own thoughts after the jump!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Review: S. Cute Love Berry Red fragrance

   Released in 2008 by the UK-based Modern Art under their label S. Cute, "Love Berry Red" is the only fragrance I managed to snag out of their hard-to-find collections.  Searching for strawberry-smelling perfume, I was drawn in by the adorable bottle.  There are other Love Berries in the line, with a color name and appropriately blinged-out bottle separating them from one another.

   This stock image was picked up from the S. Cute website.  Their site doesn't provide much information, but you can learn that S. Cute stands for things like "super cute", "so cute", "shinning cute" or "splendid cute" ...yes, every page has a littering of Engrish.  That or the company wants us to "Climb quickly up or down by gripping with one's arms and legs", and do it cutely.

   Unhelpful but amusing websites aside, here's my take on Love Berry Red!  (And a bonus nails-of-the-day shot.)