Author: Lara
Cowabunga!
So I picked the cloudiest day in a month to try out another Funky Fingers solar polish…just my luck.
This is Funky Fingers “Cowabunga”. Indoors, it is bright ass hot pink. For a cheap polish, it went on like a dream. After the Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, the first coat went down smoothly and almost gave full coverage. I went with a second coat and it was still smooth and even – no pooling in the edges! I used Ulta “Pinata Yada” on my party nails. I finished up with Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat for super shine.
The sun came out for a few minutes and I ran into the back yard and raised my clenched fist up to the sun. I ran back to the porch and took a picture as quickly as I could.
I was hoping for a deeper red, but it looks more like a pinkish tomato. “Cowabunga” is much less impressive than “Gnarly, Dude”, but it still changed. I MUST return to Five Below for more!
Pink Flaming-toes
Ba DUM dum…
I know, I know, it’s a really bad pun.
I just wanted to show off Julep “Vicki” next to some REAL pink plastic flamingos. I used Sally Hansen “Fruit-Ta-Ta” as an accent on my middle toes. Pretty good match, huh?
I actually just took “Vicki” off my toenails. It was too thick around the edges and the Sally Hansen Diamond Flash left ragged edges. I couldn’t go on vacation with my toenails looking all raggedy. I went back to Zoya “Sooki”, my new favorite toenail polish.
Nudist Colony
I LOVE lip stain…it stays put all day. So why not a lip balm stain?
I had a $1 off wet n wild coupon, so when I was at Target I picked up a wet n wild megaslicks Balm Stain in “Nudist Colony”. The name alone pulled me in…
Why do my pink flamingo nails look orange? We replaced all the lights in our house with compact florescent lights. I love how much money I save on electricity, but the lights make every picture I take of my fingernails look orange. That’s why I take most of my pictures outside on my patio. I have a wrought iron fence and all my neighbors can see EVERYTHING. I bet they think I’m a loony, arranging tableus of fingernail polish on my patio table every other day. Eh…
Pink Flamingos
If Babs Johnson was going to pick a nail polish – it would be Julep “Vicki”!
Julep wasn’t kidding when they “Vicki” as pink flamingo crème – my fingers look like plastic yard flamingos! “Vicki” is a hard polish to work with. It is streaky in one coat, but two coats is too much and it pools in the cracks between my nail and finger. I was a good girl and started with Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat, but it is almost empty, so it was goopy. I’m going to try to get one last use out of it, but not sure I have enough for all 10 nails. After two coats, I topped with Sally Hansen Diamond Flash, which I needed, because my washing machine was in the process of breaking down while I was painting my nails and I unexpectedly had to get sopping jeans out of the machine shortly after I painted them.
I like the concept of plastic pink flamingo nails, but the color is too bright for me – my nails are almost neon. Next time, I’ll try “Vicki” with a glitter or other special effect top coat to tone it down a bit.
Red Sticker Fever
Yup…I went again. I picked a different location to see what goodies they had left from the massive Ulta clearance…I was not disappointed.
I decided to try Ulta “Citrus Rose” Rejuvenating Bath & Shower Gel ($2.97 down from $9.50). I’m gonna be pissed if I love it, because I’ll never find it again. I also got a compact folding brush for my purse. I’m tired of rushing out of the house and realizing that my children look like Little Orphan Annie.
The best deals were in nail polish. I found Sparitual “Improvisation” ($2.97 down from $12), China Glaze “Bling it on” ($.97 down from $8.50), 2 China Glaze “Scattered & Tattered” ($.97 down from $8.50) – 1 for me and 1 for my BFF because it appears to be a dupe of her favorite Sinful Colors polish, Sally Hansen “Fruit-Ta-Ta” ($1.49 down from $2.99) and Ulta “Pinata Yada” ($.47). Including my $3.50 off coupon, I spent $9.53 at Ulta.
I also stopped by Big Lots to take advantage of their 20% off for members day. Besides Pop-Tarts and Veggie Sticks, I found My Beauty Spot “Lux Velvet Effect Nail Art Kit”. It is supposed to make my nails look and feel like crushed velvet. I am skeptical, yet intrigued. For $2.80, I can take a chance…
July Birchbox – Power Up
I got my Birchbox so quick this month – I just got the shipping notice yesterday!
July’s box is a collaboration with Women’s Health Magazine called “Power Up”. Look how cute the box is – no plain brown box this month! There’s even a card in my box for a free subscription to Women’s Health Magazine. I’ll probably go ahead and send it in, even though I’ll probably never read it. My kids constantly need pictures for collages at school and the only magazines I get are Consumer Reports and IKEA catalogs. Their collages have been pretty lame.
Also inside my box: Cynthia Rowley Beauty Creamy Lip Stain in “Sugar” (I got to pick the color – I love it when Birchbox does this!), Harvey Prince Singular Scentsations “Imperial Gardenia” (It smells SUPER old lady), NAOBAY Body Radiance Lotion (very mild smell, thank GAWD), Number 4 “Super Comb Prep & Protect” (yes! more tiny spray bottles of stuff for my hair), and Real Chemistry “Luminous 3 Minute Peel” (looking forward to trying it).
If you would like to try Birchbox, click on my referral link – https://www.birchbox.com/invite/5453f – I’ll get 50 points if you join.
Lady Deathstrike
I’ve decided that these fingernails make me Lady Deathstrike. Oh, you didn’t know that in addition to being an amateur manicurist, soap hoarder and makeup junkie…that I’m also a nerd? And a giant dork.
Julep “Braiden” is one of the new polishes that I received in July’s box – The Poolside Collection. Julep describes it as graphite stardust (textured matte glitter), but I guess adamantium is probably trademarked or something.
No base coat or top coat – just 2 coats of “Braiden”. It dried within seconds and only has minimal edge wear after 24 hours. Great formula!
Between Julep’s Stardust and Zoya’s Pixie Dust, I’m starting to really like these textured polishes.
July Julep Maven Box – The Poolside Collection
Finally…GOSH! At least Julep was nice enough to send me an email letting me know that my box had shipped late…
July brings us “The Poolside Collection”. It turns out that I did sign up for My Maven Customized boxes last month, so I chose the “Classic with a Twist” box, so I could get “Bare Body Milk”. It smells great and is cooling to the skin. I kept “Vicki” – Pink flamingo crème – but swapped out “Kelsey” for “It Girl” “Braiden” – Graphite stardust (textured matte glitter). The “treat” was a few tootsie rolls. Come on, Julep – at least Pixi Stix are REAL candy!
No add-ons or mystery items this month…
I’m so excited to try the flamingo polish!
Not a Julep Maven? CLICK HERE to join! Get a special 5 piece Welcome Box with code SHIPSHAPE!
The Perfect Nude
Say hello to RUFFIAN “Sahara” from the Endless Summer Collection….the perfect nude.
Well, the perfect nude for ME anyway. It’s almost a perfect match for my skin. It’s almost freaky looking – like I don’t have any fingernails at all. It’s like that nude patent pump trend from last year – to me, it looked like the illusion of no feet. Now I have no fingernails!
After starting with Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, I did just one coat of “Sahara”. It was a bit streakier than “Blue Lagoon”, but since I cut my nails, I didn’t have to worry about peeling ridges. I topped with Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat. These Revlons are quickly becoming my favorites!
Ipsy Redemption
The squeaky wheel gets the grease…
Actually, the saying should be that the “polite” wheel gets the grease. See, there was a bit of a debacle with last month’s Ipsy bag. The Be A Bombshell “Lash Out Mascara” was stinky. It smelled like a diaper full of burning tires. I tried it once and it didn’t make me go blind, but the smell put me off and I trashed it. Instead of posting a barrage of complaints on every social media platform (I literally saw HUNDREDS), I sent a polite note to IpsyCare through their website. Within a few days, I got a polite response and a notice that they were sending me 2 Be A Bombshell products! Now THAT’S how you do customer service.
I received a deluxe sample of “It’s So Big” Volumizing Mascara to replace the stinky mascara. It smells fine! I also received a full size tube of “Last Call Girl” lip gloss – it’s bright ass pink!
Kudos, Ipsy!