Category: Nails
BFF Shopping, Part 2
We tried to be good parents – spending a school holiday on educational activities like going to the Houston Zoo. It was cold and rainy, but we bundled up with umbrellas, so we could educate our children with “The Scoop on Poop.” After a few hours, we were ALL like “Fuck this, let’s go shopping instead.” This time, it was my BFF’s daughter who brought up going to Ulta.
We HAD to get Ulta’s Spring Gift with Purchase. The super cute bag came with Ulta Amped Mascara in “Jet Black”, 3 Eye Shadow Quads, Brow Compact (I’m curious about the brow wax), Bronzer/Blush in “Splendor”, Dual-ended Eye Liner, Lip Crayon in “Oh!”, Mini Nail Lacquer in “Peach Parfait”, Butter Balm Lip Gloss in “Thumblina”, Color Pure Loose Eye Shadow in “Yolo” (gross name) and 3 makeup brushes.
I had to spend $19.50 on Ulta products to get it, so I got a Retractable Kabuki Brush ($8.99 – I’ve got a lot of traveling planned the next few months), Ulta Matte Lip Cream in “Stirring” ($9) and Ulta Brilliant Color Lip Gloss in “Berry” ($8). The coupon I had was for 20% off one item. Lame.
Pixel Cosmetics are on extreme clearance, so I picked up Pixel Lip Tint in “Joyous” ($1.49) and I let Lily pick a nail polish for $.69 – she picked “Turquoise the Noise”.
I checked my account – only $221 until Platinum status in 2016.
February Ipsy Bag – #ipsyLove
My ipsy bag is getting better and better.
“#ipsyLove” is February’s theme. I am most excited about the polish in this bag – China Glaze “Marry a Millionaire”. The picture doesn’t do it justice – lavender and silver glitter, with green bar glitter. I also got JOYA Compostion No. 1 Parfum Oil, Medusa’s Makeup Safari Eye Shadow in “Headhunter”, Mitchell and Peach Fine Radiance Face Oil (I just started using face oil this week to try to combat winter dryness – I’ve been using nyakio Hydrating Face Oil with Kola Nut, but that sample is almost gone) and ModelCo BLUSH Cheek Powder in “Peach Bellini”.
I also used my ipsy points to get Figs & Rouge Nourishing & Soothing Hand Cream in “Rose Berry”. It is in the same tube as their lip gloss, so I hope I don’t get the two confused…
The bag is super cute and matches my purse – I’m already using my bag from last month for makeup, so I wonder what else I can put in a makeup bag in my purse?
If you’d like to try Ipsy – click here. I’ll earn 250 points if you sign up through my link.
The Titular Polish
Okay, I guess technically Zoya “Lara” isn’t named after me, but it might as well be – it’s the perfect pink.
I have a love/hate relationship with creme polishes. They look really good – if I can manage to keep them out of the crevices between my fingernail and finger skin – which I absolutely have not figured out how to do. The polish pools in the crevices and forms gross, crispy edges. I’ve definitely gotten better at it than I was a year ago, but I still struggle with the crevices. I cannot stand how some of the big time polish swatcher bloggers meticulously refuse to paint their entire nail – that’s cheating! A few millimeters of naked nail looks worse to me than a bad paint job. I don’t ever want to see naked nail!
Off my soapbox…I used Zoya Anchor and Armor – it’s not a Quick Dry, so I had to lay in bed, absolutely still, for an extra hour watching TV – oh, the horror!
Ch Ch Ch, Ah Ah Ah
I was gonna do another Valentine’s Mani, but then I was like naw – it’s Friday the 13th!
After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors “Tokyo Pearl”. I used my nifty chinese dotting tools to make little hockey masks. The black is Zoya “Willa” and the red is Sinful Colors “No Text Red”. I should have used a different red, like Zoya “Sooki”, because the Sinful Colors was too thin. I topped it with Glisten & Glow “HK Girl”. They turned out a heck of a lot better than my Freddy Krueger Nails!
How about those dia de los Muertes Converse? They’re my favorite shoes right now…
On a side note, when I finished my nails last night, I grabbed my socks to show my husband while he was brushing his teeth…he nearly choked to death – because he laughed at me. Apparently, matching fingernails and socks was too much for him to handle.
So Cute I Could Puke
My nails are so cute…they make me wanna puke. Look at those hearts – gross!
After Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, I used two different polishes – Julep “Lindy” on my thumb and ring finger and Julep “Carol”. I thought you would be able to tell the difference between “Lindy” and “Carol” – “Lindy” has shimmery flakies and “Carol” is a sheer jelly – but they look almost exactly the same when topped with Julep “Hartleigh”.
Julep got it right with “Hartleigh”. I had no problem getting the hearts on my nails – the bottle was packed! I got eat least two hearts on each nail and three on a few of them. It also wasn’t all goopy like “America”.
I topped with “HK Girl” to give those hearts extra security. Those suckers aren’t coming off unless I use sandpaper.
At least this Valentine’s Day is preceded by a Friday the 13th…I have that to look forward to.
Violet Candy
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Zoya “Leslie” looks like candy to me – like a dusty violet conversation heart or maybe even a grape sweet tart. It’s hard to see in the picture, but there’s a subtle blue shimmer.
Zoya describes “Leslie” as a soft spring lavender metallic with an energizing turquoise flash.
I started with Zoya Anchor, then two coats of “Leslie” and topped with Zoya Armor. I got a little bit of crispiness around my cuticles again. Blech.
Genius Idea
So…I LOVE the “Swatch Me” stickers that come on top of Julep polishes. Those stickers make it a snap to find the polish in seconds, instead of having to dump my Color Caddy to find what I’m looking for. True – Julep does sell those stickers, but they’re hella expensive. What’s a girl to do?
A girl goes to Office Depot and spends $6.99 for a pack of 1,100 5/16 x 1/2 inch labels instead!
I really tried to find round labels, but they didn’t have any white ones that were small enough. I kind of like the rectangular ones though – they give the polish enough room to spread. They work great on the flat tops of bottles, but they don’t work so well on bottles that have a slight rounding to the top (Rimmel London). They also aren’t working great on bottles that have a raised imprint on the top of the bottle (OPI, Nicole by OPI, China Glaze, Sinful Colors), because the stickers are not sticky enough. I might have to use clear tape to keep them on.
I’ve gotten through about 200 polishes so far – a little over 2/3 done. I’ve actually never counted my polishes, so I guess that means I have 350+. I’m not stopping til I hit at least 1,000.
The Knockouts of the Double R
Another outstanding polish from Hare Polish called “The Knockouts of the Double R”. This Twin Peaks inspired polish was created to match Norma and Shelly’s uniforms at the Double R Diner.
I started with Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat and then two coats of “Double R”. I then got to try out my new Glisten & Glow “HK Girl” Top Coat! For the last few months, I have been seeing this top coat over and over again on Instagram. I would see hands rocking the same polishes I had, but they looked so much better. Almost invariably, they would be using “HK Girl” – so I finally ordered it. It’s $6.99 + $2.50 shipping, so not too terribly pricey. I’m going to try it out for a while before giving a full review, but so far – I love it!
New Year, New Hue
I finally got my “New Year, New Hue” $15 Zoya deal in! Any three polishes for “free” with $15 shipping, plus 3 mystery minis that have never been available Retail. Zoya sure does have odd sales, but I’ll take it.
I picked out “Binx” – spicy orchid purple dappled with gold metallic and holo sparkles, “Lara” (finally, a polish with my name) – medium magenta-rose pink with subtle yellow undertone and a soft cream finish, and “Paloma” – sheer deep fuchsia-berry with a buildable jelly gloss finish. I totally pink-ed out.
My mystery minis were the Peter Som Collection from New York Fashion Week 2014 – “Anais” – black with a vein of the same warm pewter pigment running through it for a unique oil slick effect, “Severine” – warm pewter metallic, and “Charlotte” – nude.
I’m gonna have some fun!
Flakies!
Look at those flakies! Iridescent flakies AND glitter.
This is Sally Hansen Triple Shine “Scale Up” over 2 days old Julep “Elise”. The flakies seem to take on the color of the polish underneath – I should try it over a red or a pink…
One note about Julep “Elise” – it’s a staining son of a bitch. I used Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, so my nails were protected for the most part – except the edges and my cuticles. I managed to get most of it off with Julep Vanish, but I’ll be wearing blue and green polishes until it wears off.