NOTD: OPI Unfor-greta-bly Blue

OPI Unfor-greta-bly Blue- indoors

Today's nail of the day is a polish from OPI's Germany collection, Unfor-greta-bly Blue. 

To some, this may look similar to a polish from their Spiderman collection, Into the Night, which I initially thought too. But this polish is darker and has more teal in it. I own Into the Night, and it is on my toenails right now while this is on my fingernails.

This is a really pretty nail polish, and when I saw swatches of it online, I knew it would be something that I would quite a bit. I love blue nail polishes, but I don't have very many.

This was opaque in two coats, but I used thin ones. You could probably get away with one thick coat, or two thin ones. 

Anyway, that's all for today, so thanks for reading!!!

Melissa

Monday Questionaire: August 14, 2012

Yes, I am aware that it is a Tuesday while I'm doing a Monday Questionaire, but I only saw this morning that Amarixe had posted another one. So I'm doing it now :)

Let's hop in!

1) Current Mood:
Kind of low actually. I have no idea why, but I'm feeling a bit down. It might be the letdown after a great vacation (I'm home now), but I think it's a bit because of the weather (it's raining). But ah well. Can't really complain.

2) If you had to guess, how many beauty products would you say you use in a day? 
I would say somewhere between 20-30. I know that sounds like a lot, but you have to take into account all the little things- primer, eyeshadow primer, eyebrow pencil etc.

3) Are you a good swimmer?
I can swim, but not exceptionally. Plus I haven't been in a pool for about two-three years, so I really can't say.

4) Current nail polish:
Still China Glaze Smoke and Ashes, but I'm changing it tonight. I'll probably post a NOTD tomorrow.

5) What is your favourite dinner dish? 
I would have to say steak. I LOVE steak. I don't have it very often, which is probably why I like it so much. It's a novelty.

6) Current outfit:
My pajamas. I just woke up :)

7) Do you like to dance? 
I LOVE to dance. It always makes me happy, whether it's a choreographed routine, or just a spontaneous outbreak.

8) Can you drive a manual transmission/stick shift car? 
I have yet to drive any type of car! I am taking my test soon, though.

9) What is the last beauty product you purchased?
Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer.

10) Weekly goals: 
To remain positive, no matter what happens.

Thanks for reading!!!! 

Essence Eyeliner in Think Khaki! Review

Today's post will be of an Essence eyeliner, in Think Khaki!

Essence Long Lasting Liner in Think Khaki!

I was walking around in Sephora a while back, and I spotted a Stila eyeliner in the prettiest green colour. You have no idea how tempted I was to get it, but it was just too pricey. So I left it.

Then maybe a week later, I was browsing my local drugstore and came across the Essence display. I spotted this immediately, as it was the exact same colour/style as the Stila one!! And about a tenth of the price!

Needless to say, I bought it (well, obviously...I'm not just taking pictures of this in the store).

It has a nice slim design, easy to throw in a makeup bag for on the go or travel. 

It does have a twist up top, so you don't have to worry about sharpening this. This is useful, because you never know when you need to touch up your eyeliner, and heaven forbid that we use a dull point!

swatch

This is such a beautiful colour, a shimmering moss/forest green. It draws on pigmented and stays on quite a while (I only use it on my upper lashline, so I can not vouch for the staying power on the bottom lashline). 

My rating: 9.5/10

It's a pretty colour, amazingly priced, pigmented and stays on well! What more can you ask for?? This will definitely be a staple item for me in the fall!!!

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

My Traveling Nail Polish Collection!

So since I'm traveling, I obviously can't drag around my entire nail polish collection. So today I thought I would show you what nail polishes I brought on vacation with me!

From L-R: Revlon Colorstay Base Coat, China Glaze Make Some Noise

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard, China Glaze Smoke and Ashes, OPI Top Coat

I think three nail polishes is appropriate for three weeks, right? (I painted my nails right before I left, and left that on for the first week- it's a month long vacation).

So this isn't really going to be a review of each separate nail polish, but I will talk about it for a bit, but no in depth reviews :)

Ok, let's get started!

Revlon Colorstay Base Coat

Ah, every good manicure has to start with a base coat, right? Actually, that's not true; I didn't use basecoat until maybe a month ago. But this is an excellent basecoat to use as a first one (or second, or third...). 

Revlon says that you have to use it with it's corresponding top coat to work well, but I don't, and it works amazingly. It makes my nail polish stay on longer (I am not kidding, I can make it ten days with no chips- more on that later), it dries quickly, and it strengthens my nails even though that isn't one of its claims.

China Glaze Make Some Noise

Make Some Noise is from China Glaze's Spring 2012 collection, Electropop. It was the only colour that really stood out to me, so the only one I purchased. It goes on your nails much brighter than in the bottle, but it is still a beautiful colour. In fact, this is the colour that is on my nails here: 

It still looks a little bit brighter in real life than it does in both pictures- the camera isn't picking it up for some reason.

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

This lovely colour is from OPI's summer collection 2012, The Amazing Spiderman, to coincide with the release of the movie. This particular polish got a lot of buzz for being a dupe of Chanel's popular duochrome polish, Peridot. You can see this here:

source: www.http://www.polishinsomniac.net/2012/04/chanel-peridot-vs-opi-just-spotted.html

As you can see, this is a stunning colour. I was going to pass on this, until one of my friends bought it. When she wore it, I just had to get it too!!!

China Glaze Smoke and Ashes

This was a polish from China Glaze's Hunger Games collection, Colours from the Capitol. Each of the 12 polishes in the collection represented one of the 12 districts; this particular polish represents Distrcit 12, the district where Katniss comes from.

This polish is blue/black based, with green and blue flecks of shimmer, as you can see in the bottle.

You can see swatches of this in my most recent Nail of the Day post.

OPI Top Coat

And of course, no manicure is complete without a top coat (that one I'm allowed to say; I use top coat all the time). I got this top coat for Christmas and have been using this ever since.

Earlier I mentioned that I can get ten days of wear with no chips. I didn't want you to think that was all from the base coat, so I thought I would tell you my nail polish "routine" very quickly.

I use one coat of base coat, then I wait for that to dry. Then I paint two-three coats of nail polish, depending on the opacity of the specific polish, waiting for each coat to dry in between. Then I add two coats of top coat. All of this is why I can go so long without chips!!

So I hope you enjoyed my "traveling nail polish collection"! Maybe some day I'll do a post on my entire nail polish collection, although I would have to split it into a lot of parts!! :D

Thanks for reading!!!

Melissa

Review of ELF Makeup Mist and Set

ELF Makeup Mist and Set

Really quick post today; a review on a makeup setting spray from ELF, or eyelipsface. 

ELF's website says:

"Wish you could have a product for your makeup like Hairspray is for your hair? Well…keep your makeup staying in place all day with a radiance boosting invisible hold with our new Makeup Mist & Set. The invigorating mist moisturizes and soothes the skin with key ingredients Aloe, Green Tea, Cucumber and Vitamins A, C & E. The lightweight, comfortable and alcohol free formula improves makeup wearability and prevents color from running or fading."

The reason I bought this is not because I wanted my makeup to stay on longer, or prevent it running or fading, although it does do a pretty good job of. But there is the unavoidable fact that no matter what you put on your face, your makeup will fade. It's a fact of life. But I digress.

The original reason I bought this is because I read some reviews on ELF's website that said this spray helped their makeup look less cakey and more dewy. I'm always looking for something to do that, as my skin is fairly dry.

So I eagerly waited for my ELF order to come in the mail, and used this the next morning on my makeup. Disappointment. I didn't see any difference, except for the fact that my face looked wet (more  on that later). 

So I set this aside.

But then...

I was watching another one of my favourite Youtubers, Nikki Phillippi, review some other makeup setting spray. She mentioned that it also did nothing for her, until she learned a helpful little tip from another Youtuber- spray before and after you apply your makeup. 

So I tried that, and it worked really well!! It does help my makeup stay even longer, but best of all, my makeup doesn't look super dry on me anymore!!! 

So now that I'm satisfied with the performance of this product, let's take a look at the technical aspects, shall we?

As you can see from the above picture, this comes in a spray bottle. Since this product is called "Makeup Mist and Set", you would expect it to come out in a mist, right? Wrong. 

Part of the spray is mist, the other part is just big droplets. It's really not the worst thing ever, but I do have to wait for it dry because I can put on my makeup. And it gets more product on certain parts of my face than others. But a small complaint.

My Rating: 8.5/10 I'm pretty satisfied with this product, all except for the so called "mist". But it's not a deal breaker, so I will continue to use this.

Thanks for reading!!!

Melissa

Beauty Wishlist: August 2012

So as we all know, there are some beauty items that we desperately want but we know we don't actually need, or can afford.

So I'm going to do a Beauty Wishlist for today's post, which is basically a list of some products I'm eyeing right now, but I won't probably end up getting most of them.

With all the fall collections and products being released lately, there are quite a few products I'm drooling over, so I figured my blog was a good place to share them, instead of boring the people around me :)

So let's get started, shall we?

1) Urban Decay Smoked Palette

source: www.urbandecay.com

This is the biggest (and most expensive product) that I've been eyeing. A few weeks back, one of my favourite Youtubers, emilynoel83, put out a review of this palette. I listened to her glowing review, and thought, "Oh, I don't really need that, they're all dark neutrals and a couple colours, and I don't wear those." Then I thought about it some more, and realized that I had in fact been wearing lots of dark colours lately, and I had been wanting a blue and plum eyeshadow. So now it's on my list. 

This palette comes with 10 eyeshadows, a full sized 24/7 eyeliner in Perversion, a squeeze tube of Urban Decay Primer Potion, and a comprehensive look book.

2) OPI Germany Collection: I've also been looking at pictures of OPI's fall collection, Germany. I have my eye on four polishes, but I think I'll only end up getting two.

Danke-Shiny Red

source: OPI's Facebook Page

Unfor-greta-bly Blue

source: http://ommorphiabeautybar.com/2012/06/18/opi-the-germany-collection-fall-2012-part-2-swatches-review/

German-icure by OPI 

source: http://ommorphiabeautybar.com/2012/06/18/opi-the-germany-collection-fall-2012-part-2-swatches-review/

Every Month is Oktoberfest

source: http://ommorphiabeautybar.com/2012/06/15/opi-the-germany-collection-fall-2012-part-1-swatches-review/

I think that the two I'm going to end up getting are "Unfor-greta-bly Blue" and "German-icure by OPI", because the last two are so similar and the red clashes with the colours I wear a lot.

3) Maybelline EyeStudio Color Explosion Luminizing Eyeshadow in Caffeine Rush

source:www.freebeautyevents.com

I wear neutral eyeshadows a lot, so this palette seems like sort of a no brainer for me. But I kid you not, I've been eyeing this palette for over year, and I just can't bring myself to buy it! And it's not even that expensive (it is drugstore), so maybe this will be the time :)

4) Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Color 

source: Sally Hansen's Website

I'm not really looking at any specific color right now, but the magnetic nails have always kind of intrigued me, so when Sally Hansen released a line, I thought it might be a good time to try it.

Anyway, that's all I've really been eyeing lately!!!

I probably won't end up buying half of this stuff, but it's always fun to fantasize!!

Thanks for reading!!!

Melissa

Review of LUSH Lip Scrub in Sweet Lips

LUSH Lip Scrub in Sweet Lips

Today's post is of LUSH's Lip Scrub in Sweet Lips, a sugar based lip scrub. 

How it works:

Take a swipe of the scrub and apply it all over your lips. Start scrubbing either with your finger, or by moving your lips together. Then you can either lick it off (it has all natural ingredients, so it is perfectly safe to eat the entire thing if you want...I wouldn't recommend it, but each to their own) or use a tissue.

I make sure to use a lip balm right before I apply it because it helps it to stay on your lips better and not just fall all over your sink or makeup table. I also use a lip balm right after to help bring out the results better. And voila! Delightfully soft lips.

As you can see from the picture above, I've barely made a dent in a pot filled with product. It will last you a long time, but if you don't think you're going to use it a lot, I would be wary because it does have a best before date (usually about a little over a year). 

Lip Scrub Particles

This picture shows the scrub particles. As you can see, they are rather small, and they will not be too harsh or abrasive on your lips.

The scent of this is lovely. It smells like chocolate, with some sugary, cake like tones underneath. It really does smell good enough to eat (which, like I mentioned before, is possible).

My rating: 9/10 I took away one point because sometimes I feel like it doesn't do as good of a job as it could, but those are only on days that my lips are especially dry.

Thanks for reading!!!

Melissa