Tag: China Glaze
Ulta Makes Me So Happy
I can’t pass up a gift with purchase…I’ll tell myself that it’s virtually the same as the last gift with purchase, but it does no good.
Ulta’s purchase requirements are go strange – $19.50 of Ulta products to get the gift. I got Ulta Oil-Free Makeup Remover, Ulta Precision Liquid Liner in “Plum” (I know, weird), and Ulta Double Duty Lipstain & Blam in “Romance”. The gift is a makeup bag filled with the usual stuff – but DIFFERENT usual stuff. I am most excited to try the Ulta Super Stretch Fiber Mascara and the eye shadow topper…which was unfortunately shattered during shipping…fuck.
I also got the two 97 cent polishes I saw on Nouveau Cheap – China Glaze Halloween 2013 Monsters Ball “Bat My Eyes” and “Boo-gie Down”.
Since I used my $3.50 off coupon, I had to find one more thing to qualify for $25 free shipping. I picked Pixel Lip Tint in “Addictive”, which also came with the choice of a free nail polish – I chose Pixel “The Midas Touch”.
Finally…my free samples. I picked the Variety Sampler again, because I am scared of the perfume samples. I got three little foil packets – Smashbox Photo Finish More Than Primer Blemish Control Salicyclic Acid Acne Treatment, The Body Shop Nutriganics “Drops of Youth” and Dermelect Cosmecuticals Timeless Anti-Aging Daily Hand Treatment. Meh.
The most exciting thing in the box was the new Ulta Catalog – for the 21 Days of Beauty that starts 9/7! So many good deals! Ulta makes me so happy…
Bling It On
Sometimes I feel like nail polish namers aren’t even trying. China Glaze “Bling It On” is a lovely, sparkly polish, but it hardly qualifies as “bling”. You can’t have “bling” without gold or silver or diamonds or something you would find inside of Lil Wayne’s mouth. Instead, it looks like crazy cool bathroom graffiti.
I didn’t swatch the polish before putting it on my fingers, so I wasn’t expecting a clear base. Oops…I guess you get to enjoy my yellow nail tips. This polish would look really nice with a light blue polish like Sinful Colors “Cinderella” or over a black polish.
Again, I used Sally Hansen Diamond Shine as the base coat and NYC “Grand Central Station” as a top coat. Good news – no curtaining!
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…
20 Polishes
The other day, I told my husband that I wish I had 10 more fingers. He laughed and said, “You do – they’re called toes.” Painting my toenails is just not the same as painting my fingernails. They’re hard to reach and all different shapes. Plus, I hardly ever have a chance to show off my toes. I have so many ideas for polish combinations, plus – I’ve bought or been gifted about 25 polishes JUST in the month of May (which isn’t over yet.) Sure, I can practice on my junk mail, but it’s just not the same…what do I do? I stay up late and do a different combination on each finger!
Let’s start with my left hand…
Left Thumb – China Glaze “Four Leaf Clover” and Maybelline Color Show “Emerald City”
Left Pointer – Orly “Purple Poodle” and Sparitual Luminary Matte Top Effect in “Opaline”
Left Middle – Nina “Blue La La” and Sally Hansen Gem Crush “Lady Luck”
Left Ring – Julep “Tatum” and Julep “Rosa”
Left Pinky – Sinful Colors “Sugar Sugar” and Nina “Gold Flake Topcoat”
My right hand was a little bit more difficult, both to paint AND to photograph…
Right Thumb – Orly “Bubbly Bombshell” and Sinful Colors “Nail Junkie”
Right Pointer – Zoya “Dillon” and Sinful Colors “Bombshell”
Right Middle – Sinful Colors “Inkwell” and essie Luxeffects “Set in Stones”
Right Ring – Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Magenta Motion” and Sinful Colors “Call You Later”
Right Pinky – Sinful Colors “Nova” and Nicole by OPI “Rainbow in the S-Kylie”
Which one do you like best? Vote in the poll below and let me know what you think!
[yop_poll id=”2″ float=”center”]
Mother’s Day
Oh, Mother’s Day.
I have a love/hate relationship with Mother’s Day. The hate has faded a bit in recent years. Mostly love now, but the twinges of hate since I lost my mother are still there. I can’t imagine how people without children or mothers can tolerate Mother’s Day. My first Mother’s Day as a mother was also my last Mother’s Day with my mother – I never had a gap where I was alone on the holiday. Even then, the first few years were difficult, even with my kids and husband rallying around me. I’m able to love it now because my husband goes the extra mile in facilitating how my kids show their appreciation. I’m not talking flowers and chocolate necessarily, but the true expression of what my children think that I will enjoy.
The true expression of what my son thought I would enjoy was my very own Zebco fishing pole. He had been planning this gift since Spring Break, when I caught my first fish – and fishing fever – using Lily’s ‘Dora the Explorer’ fishing pole. It’s hot pink and awesome, but he was very disappointed that he couldn’t find one that exactly matched my car. He told me that he knows how important it is that everything match my car.
He also cooked me breakfast – red velvet waffles and scrambled eggs. It was DAMN good.
The true expression of what my daughter thought I would enjoy was…of course…fingernail polish. I had my suspicions when she and my husband snuck away while I was at Target yesterday. She picked out 7 polishes for me: 3 China Glaze Crinkled Chrome – “Crush, Crush Baby”, “Don’t Be Foiled” & “Wrinkling the Sheets” (I already have the first 2, but so what), Nina “Blue La La” & “Gold Flake Topcoat”, Orly “Bubbly Bombshell” and Sally Girl “Red Glitter”.
In order to show my daughter how much I love her, I let her paint my fingernails. I have NEVER let her paint my fingernails before. For my left hand, she chose Nina “Blue La La” and “Gold Flake Topcoat”. It looking amazing together! For my right hand, she chose “Crush, Crush Baby” and “Bubbly Bombshell”. Again, an impressive combination. I topped both hands with Sally Hansen Diamond Flash.
I’m thinking this could be a new Mother’s Day tradition, because once a year is probably as often as I could handle someone else painting my nails…
Gymnast Nails
Lily had her first Gymnastics Show today, so I decided to get all Pinterest-y and paint her nails to match her leotard. She usually paints her nails herself, so I was afraid that I would have to tie her to a chair to let me paint her nails. Turns out that all I had to do is bribe her with Hotel Transylvania and candy.
I put on one coat of Ulta “Fuchsiamania” and topped with China Glaze “It’s a Trap-eze”. They dried relatively quickly, so I didn’t have to get out the quick dry drops.
“It’s a Trap-eze” has a milky white base. It’s really an odd formula, but I like how it muted the fuchsia to create a lighter pink. Even so, I don’t know how I feel about actually trying it on my own nails…
Oh…and despite what the picture shows, my daughter does have 5 fingers. I don’t know what the hell happened to her pinkie.
I got Issues
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I forgot to go to the bathroom after my son’s allergist appointment and Ulta had the closest bathroom. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
I knew I couldn’t make it to my next stop – in 5 o’clock traffic – so I HAD to stop…and use my $5 off $15 coupon. I picked up Zoya “Faye” and China Glaze “It’s a Trap-eze”. I was going to get 2 Zoyas, but Lily BEGGED for the China Glaze because RAINBOW GLITTER, so I went ahead and got it “for her”. (I still have one more $5 off coupon.) You can’t really tell from the picture, but “Faye” is a chameleon purple/copper shimmer – it’s hot.
After Ulta, I had to get a prescription from Target. I live for the clearance endcaps at Target. It just so happens that the endcap right by the pharmacy had hundreds of 50% off nail polishes. I showed considerable restraint in only getting one today – Sally Hansen Gem Crush “Glitz Gal”.
I had planned to paint my nails tonight, but Zoya polish doesn’t chip – my Disco “Bobbi” nails still look good! I’m thinking slamming my hand in the car door tomorrow, to ensure I need a repaint…
Big Lots is Cheap as Shit
I didn’t really expect to find anything good at Big Lots when I went looking for cheap gift bags…but of course I did.
I’m continuing to be an amateur and bought a tube of Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream for $5. I also picked up some Monster High Shampoo/Conditioner for my daughter. I hope it doesn’t give her a rash.
My best find was the lip balm I found for the kids – Bacon and Mac & Cheese. The Bacon lip balm smells like dog treats – but the Mac & Cheese lip balm is even worse…it smells like FEET. Straight up, dirty feet like my daughter’s gymnastics school. Yeah, my kids put that shit on their mouth. Ick.
I controlled myself from buying any fingernail polish. Mostly they had cheap, no-name shit…but they did have a bin of China Glaze, Revlon, Sinful Colors and stuff for $1-$2. All the colors were ugly though…
Velcro
“Lindy” chipped really quickly for a Julep polish…so I was happy to try out one of my new birthday polishes from my husband. China Glaze‘s new line of polishes is called Crinkled Chrome and I figured it would simply be a smooth metallic finish polish…was I ever wrong!
The Crinkled Chrome polish IS a metallic finish, but as soon as I put it on, I thought it was bubbling…but it wasn’t bubbles. As the polish dried, I figured out that Crinkled Chrome is an opaque polish, full of glitter – micro glitter and bar glitter. The glitter makes the metallic finish look like crumpled aluminum foil…or is it “crinkled” aluminum foil?
The big problem with this polish is the texture. Originally, I was going to say that the texture was like sandpaper, but it’s not quite that rough. More than anything, it feels like Velcro. When I touch fabric – it sticks to my fingernails. When I run my fingers through my hair, it yanks my hair out. China Glaze managed to invent the first Velcro nail polish!
It’s a damn shame – I love the color, “Don’t Be Foiled”. It’s not quite teal and not quite baby blue. It’s a perfect mellow blue. Maybe it will be less Velcro-y on my toes?
VD can mean a lot of things…
My husband did so good for Valentine’s Day this year…almost as good as the year of the Chocolate-covered Bacon…
1. Godiva Chocolate is my only requirement on Valentine’s Day. Fuck flowers, jewelry and fine dining, just hand over the chocolate.
2. “Loveswept” eau de toilette by Philosophy. This marks the first time EVER that he’s actually bought me perfume that I didn’t specifically tell him to go get because I needed more (Rapture and Beautiful). Technically, I did drop him a major, major hint by making him smell the sample that came in my Ulta catalog a few weeks ago, but I had totally forgotten about it. He had to go to 4 different stores to find it. Wow.
3. 2 China Glaze Crinkled Chrome polishes – “Don’t be Foiled” and “Crush, Crush, Baby”. Given my recent obsession, I can see why he added those to the gift.
All I got him was $30 worth of Cadbury Creme Eggs and some other shit in a bucket. I hope he keeps me.