Author: Lara
Target Beauty Box – May 2019
“Festival Beauty Headliners” – have I mentioned lately how much I hate the “Festival Beauty” label? Where are all these festivals that people are going to outside of Coachella? I mean, I was a regular attendee of Lollapalooza back in the 90s, but we didn’t wear crazy makeup and culturally appropriated Native American headdresses…we just drew on each other with sharpies, got really muddy and sunburned. That’s the REAL “Festival Beauty.”
ANYWAY, this “Festival Beauty” box isn’t bad, actually. I am pretty sure that my daughter will end up with a bunch of it – like the Dove Cool Essentials Dry Spray Antiperspirant and the Sincerely Jules Assorted Jewelry Hair Rings. She braids her hair a lot and these would actually look really cute on her. I’ll also give her the Hawaiian Tropic Antioxidant Sunscreen Mist.
Also included: Bliss Jelly Glow Peel (I am getting to love all the Bliss samples Target is sending), Masque Bar Holographic Mask Sachet (I already used this peel-off mask – I am not sure it made me glow, but it smelled nice); SGX NYC The Do-It-All 3-in-1 Dry Texture Spray; and Sinful Colors “Fool for Azul” (ohh sky blue).
I also added Pacifica Rose Water Sleek & Shiny Shampoo and Conditioner ($9.99) to my order. Target was running an offer for a $5 gift card with a $20 beauty purchase, plus I had another $5 gift card from a previous deal. I have no idea how they provide the gift cards on online orders though – I never got it. I put in a ticket to follow up and they just refunded the $7 for the box – not what I asked for, but whatever. Thanks, Target! Regarding the Pacifica Shampoo & Conditioner, it’s okay I guess. I was expecting a stronger smell for the price. The Love Beauty and Planet Rose products have a stronger, longer lasting scent.
The “Festival Beauty Headliners” box is a good value for $7. As usual, free shipping, 5% off with my Red Card and it came with a $3 off $15 coupon. I haven’t used it yet, but I did use one of the coupons from last month! I stocked up on St. Ives Cleansers – a few weeks ago, they were running a deal for a $5 gift card with the purchase of 4, which is the same gift card I used on this order.
Lit-Terally
Sinful Colors “Lit-Terally” was my first pick to try from the Neon Collection. It’s a bright kelly green, leprechaun green, grass green, the greenest of the green!
I am impressed that I was able to get this bright of a finish without starting with a layer of white first. This is just two coats of “Lit-Terally” over Sinful Colors Base Coat. I wanted to see matte and glossy, so I used Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat on the index, middle and pinky – and regular Glisten & Glow Top Coat on the thumb and ring fingers. Please do not ask me which one I like better – I cannot decide.
I was really impressed by the longevity of the polish – my nails looked flawless for 5+ days. I’m looking forward to trying the rest of the Neon polishes!
The Neon Collection
Oh guess what!
Sinful Colors is selling full collections of their polishes directly on Amazon (affiliate link below). What the hell – the price is $16.09 now…but I paid $17.76. Fucking Amazon and their ridiculous pricing algorithms.
This new Neon Collection is bright as hell and has some shimmer. It includes six polishes: “Popped” (a watermelon-esque reddish pink), “Juiced” (reminds me of mango juice), “Extra AF” (hot ass yellow), “Lit-Terally” (greener than Kermit’s ass), “Zzzapped” (so blue), and “Hella Bright” (planetary purple).
I cannot wait to see what application is like…
Tease
I’ve been so distracted by bright Spring colors – I’ve been neglecting my “Naughty Nudes”.
This beauty is Sinful Colors “Tease”, a sheer nude polish with a lot of shimmer – it reminds me of those shimmer tights that you wear for dance recitals. It’s very sophisticated – like lingerie for your fingers.
This is two thin coats of “Tease” over Sinful Colors Base Coat. I used Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat on my thumb and ring finger and I used regular Glisten & Glow Top Coat on the rest of my fingers.
“Tease” reminds me of “You Just Wait” , except without shifting green.
HEY ROUGE
All this “controlling my purchases” is making me tired.
A few weeks back, Sephora’s spring bonus event hit and I placed, the tiniest, most pitiful order. I’d been stalking Dolce Garden since I got a sample of it and used the whole thing. I was going to get the purse spray for $29, but then I saw the Dolce & Gabbana Dolce Travel Set ($45), which includes purse sprays of Dolce, Dolce Garden and Dolce Rosa Excelsa – fuck yeah, I’ll get that. I’ve been alternating between the three sprays for the past week or so. I smell rich.
I also picked up another Cocofloss in “Pure Strawberries” ($9). Best floss ever – just ask my work wife.
My husband was not impressed that I got him a Sephora Collection Shear Genius Eyebrow Trimmer ($11). I guess I’ll have to use it on him in his sleep.
For samples, I got a sample I chose – philosophy Purity Made Simple Cleanser and one I did not – belif The True Cream Aqua Bomb. I don’t mind about the belif though – I love it.
If I would’ve been smart, I would’ve ordered a birthday gift for my sister during the bonus period, but I forgot and did it Friday. Yes, I love her enough to pay full price. $794 to Rouge. Fuck.
Frightmare Nails, Version 2
This year’s Frightmare Nails didn’t turn out quite like I expected. I was going for bloody bathtub, a la Psycho, but they just look kinda pink.
These Transforming Top Coats are finicky! After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I painted one coat of Sinful Colors “Snow Me White” on each nail and immediately topped with Sinful Colors Hypnotic Transforming Top Coat in “Redrum”. I decided to top with Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat, to give it a different look. It turned out nice, but maybe a glossy top coat would’ve been spookier?
I had totally forgotten that I also used “Redrum” for last year’s Frightmare Nails. The white was more of a contrast than the gray – but maybe I need to try white on top next time? I just didn’t want to ruin the white polish with streaks of red, but maybe I can use a different brush?
April 2019 Ipsy Bag – Bloom
Oh ipsy, you give me months and months of great bags…and then you confuse me with a bag of bizarro products.
The only mainstream brand included is tarte – it’s a sample of tarte base tape hydrating primer. It must be a new product? I’ll give it a spin I guess.
Also in this month’s super cute lemon bag: Law Beauty Essentials 100% Vegan Nail Polish in “PURRRRPLICIOUS” (fooled me with a bottle that is an exact dupe of Butter London’s); Vasanti Contour Eyeshadow Brush; Jelly Pong Pong Cosmetics Lip Oil in “Watermelon” (it’s like a watermelon Jolly Rancher); and 111SKIN Y Theorem Repair Serum Nac Y2 (I do not understand the name on the tube – I am doing the best I can).
If you’d like to try Ipsy – click here. I’ll earn 250 points if you sign up through my link.
Mermaid Magic
Upon my friend Angie’s advice, I decided to try a few different L.A. Colors polishes. I must say, I may have hit the mermaid jackpot.
I picked up a bottle of L.A. Colors Mermaid Magic in “Mermaid” a few weeks ago. At $1.98 at Walmart, how can you go wrong? “Mermaid” is an iridescent blue green with a gold shimmer. It is PERFECT.
This is two coats of “Mermaid” over Glisten & Glow Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I think it would be outstanding mattified as well.
I used it on my toes, to – I am rather impressed with the staying power.
Sephora Play! April 2019 – Winning Beauty
April is spilling into May, BIG TIME. Oops.
April’s Sephora Play! theme is “Winning Beauty” – and I tend to agree, based on Urban Decay Perversion Mascara in “Black”, which is one of my favorite mascaras and happens to be the one I am using currently.
Also in “Winning Beauty”: Peter Thomas Roth Cucumber Gel Mask Extreme Detoxifying Hydrator (I feel like the product is over-named); Youth to the People Adaptogen Deep Moisture Cream (it’s made of fungus, hrmmmm…); It Cosmetics Brow Power Universal Brow Pencil in “Universal Taupe” (I feel like it is too light for me, but have not had a chance to try it); and Sephora Collection Triple Action Cleansing Water.
Instead of a fragrance, this month’s bonus is a card sample of Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm. Ugh, I don’t feel like cleansing balms work on my skin – but I’ll give Clinique a chance.
Sephora Play is a reliable subscription box with high-end products. Sephora Play is only $10/month. You can sign up at sephora.com/play.
Tranquil Taurus
Even though the Julep Maven program ended months ago, I still have a dozen…or maybe more…Julep polishes that I haven’t tried yet. Who knows – you could be still seeing “new” Julep polishes years from now.
This beautiful honey gold polish is Julep “Tranqil Taurus” from the Zodiac Collection. I’m not a Taurus, but my little sister is. I’m bummed that “Adventurous Aquarius” wasn’t an option when I picked my last box, but oh well.
This is two coats of “Tranquil Taurus” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. This was sadly the last use out of the Ridge Filling Base Coat – I like it more than the regular Glisten & Glow Base Coat and I will add some to my next order.