Author: Lara
Matte Mexico
Work was HORRIBLE today. My work wife is in Mexico on vacation and I had no one to coordinate playlists with…
…but before she left, she sent a pic of her nail plans. I had to be a total copycat, so my nails could be there in spirit. I decided to pull out Frida Kahlo “FKN.37”. This is two coats of Frida 37 over Glisten & Glow Top Coat and under Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat. I LOOOOOVE it.
This color never fails to remind me of my parents’ old house. They don’t live there anymore – my dad and sis moved to the Finger Lakes last year – but I drove by the old house last week and it was like an out of body experience. I couldn’t help thinking about how much I laughed when my dad painted the house this color. I think it was his way of trying to cheer my mom up, as she was getting sicker and sicker. It’s such a ridiculous color for a house…so you know I loved it. Even if I don’t get to hang out at the turquoise house anymore, I can always have home on my nails.
Break Dance, Not Hearts
Oh purple, I cain’t quit you.
Yes, this is my third purple polish in a row. I’ve just been feeling purple lately.
This lovely purple/silver metallic is Sinful Colors “Break Dance Not Hearts” from last year’s Valentine’s Day Collection. yes, it’s been sitting in my basket over a year. What is even wrong with me? The past few weeks – no, longer than that – I’ve only been painting my nails every 5-6 days. What? That’s not like me at all. I admit, I’ve been kind of busy, but also bummed about the end of my Julep boxes. Even if I don’t have a steady stream of new polishes every month, I’ve got plenty of untried polishes waiting for me.
This is two coats of “Break Dance Not Hearts” over Sinful Colors Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat. She was a shiny one before the matte top coat, but I wanted to see how she looked. Quite nice, if I say so myself.
Rebel Rose
I waited and waited and WAITED for the new wet n wild beauty Rebel Rose Limited Edition Collection to hit Ulta, but only the individual products are carried, not the box sets. I cannot figure out how Ulta decides which boxes to carry. They did not get the Midnight Mermaid or Goth-o-Graphic boxes, but did get the Fire & Ice Dragon box and the Flights of Fancy box. I added all of the products to my basket and it was around $90. Ew, no. A week later, WnW was BOGO 50% off and it went down to $60-something, which was only slightly more than the full box set. I had heartburn about it, so I let my cart sit…and the very next day, the wet n wild website had a 40% off everything sale – that clinched it. I was able to get the full box set for $35.99, down from $59.99 – and free shipping!
There are two layers of products in the Full Rebel Rose box. The first layer is skincare: Photo Focus Rose Multi-Use Oil (smells divine and light on the face), Photo Focus Rose Toner, Photo Focus Rose Primer Serum (reminds me of the Farsali Unicorn Serum, but FAR more affordable), Perfect Pout Jelly Balm (another black gloss that turns into your own perfect pink – I like this one on me better than the essence ones), and Perfect Pout Lip Scrub (this is NOT even comparable to Jeffree’s scrubs – not tasty and very greasy, very disappointing).
I have been LOVING the products in the makeup layer of the box: 3 Color Icon Eyeshadow Quads – “Bed of Roses” (my favorite, with rose gold shimmer), “Secret Garden Rendezvous”, and “House of Thorns” (I tried with the dark green eyeshadow and looked like my husband slugged me); Color Icon Cream Blush (remember your mom’s cream rouge? This is like the black color change version); 2 MegaLast Liquid Catsuit Matte Lipsticks – “Kiss of Death”, a dark maroon, and “Deviant Damsel”, a dark navy; and 2 MegaLast Liquid Catsuit High-Shine Liquid Lipstick – “Petal Poison”, a dusky pink and “Bud Romance” a dusty purple. I am shocked to REALLY like the high-Shine lipstick – they stay on until about lunchtime, which isn’t bad. Oh, and I cannot forget about the brushes – a Rose Eyeshadow Brush and a Rose Blush Brush. Honestly, the Eyeshadow Brush is poorly designed. Every time I use it, I stab myself in the eyelid with the leaves on the rosebud. It’s a shame, because the brush itself is wonderful.
Oh, and a Foundation Sample bag – 6 shades of wet n wild PhotoFocus Foundation to try out, plus MegaLast Liquid Catsuit Matte Lipstick in “Sea Seduction”, which I already have, but oh well.
The Rebel Rose Full Collection Box is still available on wetnwildbeauty.com for $59.99, no longer on sale. You can also buy the Rebel Rose Skincare Collection Box for $24.99 or the Rebel Rose Makeup Collection Box for $39.99. Even though I wasn’t able to get Ulta points from the purchase itself, I was able to put the purchase on my Ulta card, which will get me a few points.
1/21 Days of Beauty
It’s that time at Ulta again – their 21 Days of Beauty Sale. It’s rare that I find deal that interest me during the 21 Days of Beauty, but I wanted to give Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz a try at half price ($10.50, down from $21). This time, I got “Chocolate”, a darker shade than my previous “Soft Brown”. It’s been a few years since I’ve used Brow WIz and my base hair color is a biot darker than it was then. Now that I’ve gotten used to the richer, thicker Ulta Brow Pencils, I actually like them better than the ABH. Who knew that a cheaper product would be better?
The Essence Lipsticks were an impulse buy, but at $3.49 each, they were a steal. Not even that much – they were BOGO 50% off. Essence Kiss the Black Sheep is a black lipstick that turns baby pink and Essence Kiss the Flamingo is a pink lipstick that turns…more pink? Kiss the Flamingo does have a more coral tone and I feel like it lasts longer on my face than the Black Sheep.
Still no free samples with online orders. I’m waiting.
$122 to Platinum status for 2020.
Sephora Play! March 2019 – Beauty in Bloom
What a weird ass box from Sephora this month. Why do I need 2 Dry Shampoos? They sent me Drybar Triple Sec 3-in-1 and Amika Perk Up Dry Shampoo. Do they think my hair is dirty?
Also in this month’s “Beauty in Bloom” box: NARS Bronzing Powder in “Laguna”; Sephora Collection LashCraft Big Volume Mascara, Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40; and Versace Bright Crystal (one of my little sister’s scents).
The assortment of products seems kind of random, but whatever.
Sephora Play is usually a really good subscription box with high-end products. Sephora Play is only $10/month. You can sign up at sephora.com/play.
March 2019 Allure Beauty Box – All-Star Lineup
Oh shit, I was wrong – this month’s clutch is WHITE, not BLUE as I predicted. Boo.
Oh, so Mamonde again? This shit is gonna be in every box, huh? (Like Sunday Riley?) That’s fine, I love rose. I don’t use toner as much as I should, but I will use Mamonde Rose Water Toner.
Also in this month’s box: Au Naturale The Anywhere Creme Multistick in “Grapefruit”; Biossance Squalane Vitamin C Rose Oil (ooooh, roses again); Acure Seriously Soothing Night Oil; Derma E Microderm Abrasion Scrub (Oh, they changed their packaging); Ren Evercalm Overnight Recovery Balm; and Vichy Mineral 89 Fortifying Daily Booster.
Except for the Blush Stick, it’s an all skin box – I used to hate getting skin products and preferred makeup, but now I am happy to get the high dollar skin products.
The Allure Beauty Box is $15/month, but they give you $5 off your first box. They also offer an option for $150/year – a savings of $30. Sign up via my referral link.
So Amazon
I’m sure it’s not shocking that one of my nicknames during high school was ‘Amazon’. When I first started hearing it, it was meant pejoratively, started by a few jerky guys. Obviously, little Richard did not do his homework – Amazons are pretty badass!
I’m still feeling the purple, so I decided to recreate the same mani, but with a better purple. The better purple is Sinful Colors “Amazon Woman”, which is just outstanding. I had forgotten that it’s rather matte on it’s own – but of course, I topped with Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat for extra matte-ening.
Of course, I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat (which I still cannot find in a store – eek). This is three coats of “Amazon Woman”, again using Nicole by OPI “Rainbow in the Sky-lie” on accent nails. The matte top coat is SO important for a long lasting manicure. Matte polishes are very delicate and chip within minutes it seems. Unless you are planning to paint every day, a matte top coat is absolutely necessary.
One-Step
I’ve found it. I’ve finally found the single hair tool for a perfect blow-out. I’ve had a love-hate relationship with blow-outs for well over 20 years. Around the time I graduated college, I ended up with a hair cut that necessitated a blow-out with round brush (it may or may not have rhymed with ‘the Bachel’). It happened probably 3 times before I was like ‘FUCK this’. I’ve tried everything from ionic dryers to diffusers, but everything takes too damn long – and makes my hair frizzy. About 10 years ago, I picked up a Conair Wet-to-Dry Styler, which works okay, but again – it take forever. Several years ago, I stepped up to a Revlon Paddle Style Dryer Brush, but there was still something lacking…
…until I tried the Revlon Pro Collection Salon One-Step Hair Dryer and Volumizer ($59.99). I can literally give myself a salon quality blow-out in about 5 minutes. 5 fucking minutes. I feel like I’ve suffered through decades of bad hair before this tool was invented. Run, don’t walk, to buy this tool. One exception, I give you permission to wait until you get a 20% off coupon like I did.
Oh and pro-tip – definitely use a blow-out spray or primer before you use it. I am using Redken Pillow Proof Blow Dry Express Primer Spray and it protects my hair while making it dry faster.
I also threw in a Revlon Nail Buffer ($3.49) because the 99 cent Diamond Brand ones I bought last time are SHIT. You get what you pay for!
My purchase qualified for a “Skinfatuation” gift with purchase, which included Exuviance Super Retinol Complex; Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Anti-Wrinkle Moisturizer; Murad Resurgence Retinol Youth Renewal Serum (fancy); Mario Badescu Vitamin C Serum; StriVectin Advanced Retinol Intensive Night Moisturizer; and Yes to Grapefruit Brightening Vitamin C Glow Boosting Paper Mask. That’s a lot of fucking retinol!
$138 to Platinum. It’s looking like I might have a chance to hit Diamond with Ulta this year, instead of Rouge with Sephora this year…
March 2019 Ipsy Bag – SHEro
When I first started with ipsy, I felt like the brands were amazing, but as the years went on, there were more and more weird brands and less prestige brands…but now ipsy is getting better again! The last few months have had better brands and better products overall – good job, ipsy!
This month’s “SHEro” bag is rose gold (my current fave metallic), embossed with “and off she went to change the world” – I love it. So, I have at least half a dozen samples of Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream and I STILL have not tried it. I’ll try it, I promise.
Also in this month’s bag: Tarte Maneater Voluptuous Mascara (will probably get sold on Poshmark); Ciate London Mini Lip Lustre in “Wildfire” (this color is fire); PUR Afterglow Mini Highlighting Skin Perfecting Powder; and Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Meltaway Cleansing Balm (I am not all in on cleansing balms, BUT I found that they are GREAT for melting longwearing liquid lipstick).
If you’d like to try Ipsy – click here. I’ll earn 250 points if you sign up through my link.
For My Work Wife…
I did these purple nails for my work wife – she loves purple!
Easter is coming and the stores are filled with pastels. I decided to mix up my pastels with some glitter. I started with Makeup Revolution “Adore” – two coats over Glisten & Glow Base Coat. The first coat was very streaky, but I got it to smooth out a bit with the second coat. There were weird fibers or hairs in the polish – I couldn’t tell if they were coming from the brush or what. This is the first time I’ve used this polish, so I don’t know what the fuck was going on with it – is hair nail polish a thing in the UK?
I used Nicole by OPI “Rainbow in the S-Kylie” on my accent nails. It’s a very versatile glitter, despite the fact that it is Kardashian-related.
I finished with Glisten & Glow Top Coat – I wasn’t brave enough to try the matte top coat , the polish is too lumpy. I do like the look quite a bit, although it’s starting to chip.