Showing posts with label Sephora. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sephora. Show all posts

Monday, December 31, 2012

December 2012 Hauls

   Here is my last haul post for 2012!  I'm looking forward to the content I have planned for next month, some of which has to do with what I found this month.  Not very much to show in this Haul post, so here we go...


   I managed to snag some more of the Pure Ice limited edition colors, which sold out at our local Walmart very quickly.  Last month I picked up Treasure Hunt, and I should have grabbed a few more of the pretties that were on the shelf then...  Oh well!
   Top Row: Vintage Glam, Internationally Known, Monte Carlo
   Bottom Row: Blue Midnight, Ruffled Sheets, Get Low, After Hours
   Of course I also snagged a few of these polishes for my giveaway, which will be running until January 11th; did you see that post?



   I picked up Sinful Colors Hazard and Mint Apple, and Salon Perfect Silver Sparkler.



   My Sephora haul was made possible by a coupon given to VIBs.  I picked up Dior Crème Abricot and two of Sephora's glitter liner-and-mascara combos.  I started using the Crème Abricot right away, and will be officially trialling it next year!



   And of course there was my special CosmoVoxBox from Influenster, which I've been having fun with testing and reviewing.  So far I've gotten to post about the Gillette razor and Forever Red perfume.


   Finally, I wrapped up my expenditures at Sally Beauty, where I grabbed a container of Bubble White and Orly polishes Green With Envy and Miss Conduct.  Green Wtih Envy seems to be one of those polishes that doesn't want to photograph accurately.

   With all the awesome end-of-year sales that are happening now I'll probably have a more exciting haul post next month, though for budget's sake I'm trying to resist!  As always thanks for reading and I'll blog to you all next year!  ;P

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Nails Inc. Whitehall & Houses of Parliament FAIL + Haul

   My last Sephora order included the new Nails Inc. color Whitehall, which is probably the least logical color name to give to a polish that is not white in any way.  I also picked up Houses of Parliament.  (Two days later the set of all 3 colors was available and I wanted to scream.  >_<)  Anyway I was really looking forward to what I've heard are great polishes and the easiest-to-use wave-creating magnets.  I fought with them and this is all I got:





   Somehow this photo actually makes them look better (yes, better) than they did in real life.  They barely responded to the magnet.  It's not like I don't know how to use them - I have LCN and Layla magnetics and do just fine with them.  The formula on these was really weird.  Not opaque in one coat because they went on so patchily, self-destroying and prone to unpaintable bald patches if you tried to even things out.  After a couple fingers I changed tactics and went for one thin coat to be followed by a thicker coat, and then create my design...

   That didn't work either!  As soon as a second coat hit these it was like it became instantly tacky and non-magnetic.  My thumb was a very sorry case, I should have took a photo - only one small stripe down the middle had any magnetic design at all.  I did throw a top coat on these which had no effect on the polish design, but realized after two minutes that I was not going to wear this out in public looking like such a sorry mess.  I took it off.

   As for the magnet caps themselves, they just seem okay to me.  They are easy to place over your nails but nothing ground-breaking in my opinion.  With my LCN magnets I often rest the end of the magnet on my cuticle in the same way; likewise the Layla cap magnets are very friendly to being used the same way.  If anything I'm wondering if I got dud magnets and plan to test them with my other polishes.  Or it could be dud polish, as it barely reacts to a magnet being held directly against the bottle, regardless of what brand it's from.

   So I'm thinking this polish isn't the greatest.  Sad, considering how great magnetics should be.  Hopefully it was just a bad first run of it.  The other swatches I've seen Online of this Nails Inc. line are really beautiful and that's why I jumped on these colors.  I plan to try using these again and if they work any better for me I will post an update.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Sephora Haul - Fragrance Goodies!

   When Sephora had their Friends & Family sale of 20% off I snagged several fragrance gift sets.  Horray for good deals!  And I earned VIB status with Sephora, eep!


   The Kat Von D Sinner set was on clearance for just $25 - it includes the full-size fragrance, a rollerball, and a lotion!  This is probably the biggest steal.  The description Online sounded wearable and happily I have have found it to be so.  I don't think it smells heavy or overly dark, just nice.  Ha!
   LAVANILA sets for both Pure Vanilla and Vanilla Passion Fruit!  I can't wait to try their natural deodorant, thus I bought the set.  Vanilla Passion Fruit is Limited Edition and I decided I wanted to get the full-size bottle - for just $2 more you can buy the set which includes the matching body butter.  So I got the set!  Oh, and that little roller-ball is LAVANILA, too.  It's the also-limited-edition scent Vanilla Blackberry.
   And then my Pink Sugar gift set from Aquolina.  It's not as good as the big set offered from Sephora in the past, but I lost out on that one.  I love the hair perfume and just got to try the original fragrance yesterday.  I was told I smelt like gingerbread or s'mores - yum!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

FotD: A trip back in tiiime!

   So I was sorting through my photos to upload and I found these sitting around from August!  Yes, August!  I was planning to post this up but never did - shame on me!  Shame on me because now I don't remember 100% of what I used to create this look.  =(  But I will share the pictures with you, at least.  I will always remember taking these pictures because it is the day that huge earthquake happened in Virginia.  As I was taking them I felt the house swaying from the shockwaves reaching all the way up to NE Pennsylvania.  =O


  This picture was taken without flash, just indirect sunlight.  The colors came out really well.  A couple more pictures (using flash) and what I think I used after the jump!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Swatch & Review: Sephora by OPI - Blasted Nail Color

   Blasted.  Crackle.  Shatter.  I told myself that all the fracturing topcoats were too trendy to bother with, and a fad that I'd kick myself for falling into.  Sometimes they just looked so cool, though!  With the right colors they could be very catchy, maybe edgy, or even sweet and pretty.  And finally, when I saw that Sephora had their own version done by OPI, I chucked a bottle in my basket for the sake of trying it out.

   I bought the "safe" color option of Blasted Black, I've used it a few times and have tried applying it different ways to find that sweet spot of perfect application.  So, onto my pictures and review!