Category: Nails
Rockstar Pink
I’ll always have a soft spot for the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear line of nail polish. For years, it was was the main polish in my collection! It’s cheap and available everywhere. There are colors and finishes for every mood – and every once and awhile, I’ll still grab one or two to add to my collection, when they’re on sale or clearance.
Sally Hansen “Rockstar Pink” is rockstar polish – it’s a nearly full coverage microglitter, full of pink, blue and fuchsia.
This is two coats of “Rockstar Pink” over Sally Hansen Double Duty Base & Top Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I feel like it was shinier without the top coat, almost like it reduced the surface of the glitter to reflect light. Interesting.
Also – this was a SONOFABITCH to get off – lots of scrubbing.
Julep Sales on Sales on Sales
Julep is still going with the nail polish sales – they sent out an email offering an additional 50% off all clearance polishes, which were already 50% to 70% off. Believe it or not, there are quite a few Julep polishes that I don’t have!
The first thing I grabbed was the Hypnotic Frenzy Set, which includes 6 mini polishes for $10. The polishes are Boho Glam “Agatha” – Gilded bronze multidimensional glitter, Bombshell “O’Neill” – Sleek copper chrome, It Girl “Vinsy” – Blooming pink multidimensional glitter, Classic with a Twist “Brita” – frozen raspberry chrome, Bombshell “Kirra” – Icy purple multidimensional glitter, and Boho Glam “Maryann” – Lilac mauve shimmer. The bottles are teensy!
A few were $3.50, like “Geena – Rose Quartz for January” – Rose quartz iridescent shimmer and Bombshell “Kaia” – Flaming red orange metallic. I actually got two of “Kaia” because I thought that was how my niece’s name was spelled….spoiler alert, it is not. Dammit.
The rest were $2.50 each. I got “Clarity” – Lucid azure duochrome , “Leo” – Golden honey duo metallic, “Betsey – Peridot for August” – Peridot birthstone iridescent shimmer, It Girl “Geneva” – Supernova Iridescent Microglitter, Boho Glam “Chira” – Rich Teal Microshimmer, and “Lucky Libra” – Prosperous teal iridescent .
Just $35.50 for all these polishes, 15 in all, plus free shipping.
Elsa in Blue Jeans
It’s December. Time for cliched seasonal manicures!
In honor of Frozen II, I figured I would pull out Funky Fingers “Elsa” and combine it with a new polish. I started with Glisten & Glow Base Coat and two coats of Layla Cosmetics LAYBA Nail Polish in “Sexy in Blue Jeans” from November’s ipsy bag. I’ve never heard of the brand before, but the polish is quite nice. It’s the perfect consistency and the brush is good quality. Everyone could use a nice indigo creme polish like this.
Remembering how hard it was to fish these damn snowflakes out of the bottle, I only used “Elsa” on my Thumb and ring fingers. I topped my thumb, index and middle fingers with Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I used Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat on my ring finger and pinky. I definitely like the matte better – it’s more sophisticated.
I really like how my nails turned out – they remind me of a festive holiday sweater. They also remind me of this look I did FIVE YEARS AGO with the similar Funky FIngers “Olaf”.
Buttered Popcorn
The Buttered Popcorn Jelly Belly is one of the most hotly contested flavors of jelly beans, even more so than the black licorice jelly beans. People have strong feelings about this particular jelly bean – mostly negative. I, for one, actually enjoy this buttery little jelly bean, especially eaten together with Peanut Butter Jelly Beans. I know – I’m an odd bird.
This is the nail polish inspired by that tasty little bean – Jelly Belly x Sally Hansen Insta Dri “Buttered Popcorn”. It’s a cream colored polish, filled with different colors of gold glitter. Even though the first coat was a bit streaky, the second coat gave really good coverage. This is two coats over Glisten & Glow Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat. I really like the matte finish with glitter polishes like this – it feels almost luxurious.
The only thing that could make this polish better is if is actually SMELLED like Buttered Popcorn.
More Ulta Friendsgiving
So I received my second Ulta Friendsgiving order right before Thanksgiving, but I’ve been sick AF since Monday…the whole damn house needs to be quarantined!
So many good sales before Black Friday and Cyber Monday! What could I pick up to get me to $65 for that 23 Piece Friendsgiving Beauty Besties Beauty Bag???
I had been drooling over the Hask Rose Oil & Peach Shampoo and Conditioner ($5.99 each) since I saw them at Walgreen’s a few months ago. I knew they would eventually show up at Ulta, so I waited. It sounds weird, but the shampoo is more rose scented and the conditioner is more peach scented – why? They are a more budget-friendly choice than the Redken and Nexxus products I’ve been buying lately and work just as well. They smell less salon-y, too.
I noticed that Mamonde Petal Spa Oil to Foam Cleanser was half off ($10.50, down from $21) AND came with a free gift! I’ve gotten several samples in beauty boxes and really like the scent, so I splurged. The free gift was three samples: Mamonde Petal Spa Oil to Foam Cleanser, Mamonde Rose Water Toner, and Mamonde Plum Blossom Lip Sleeping Mask. Since I cannot resist anything rose, I also picked up the new Biore Rose Quartz + Charcoal Pore Refining Scrub ($7.99) – it’s very gentle.
I hadn’t gotten my first Friendsgiving order yet when I placed this one, so I ended up adding two more Zoya Remove+ ($10 each) to my cart – oops!
Inside that hot pink sequined Beauty Besties Bag: ANOTHER Mamonde Petal Spa Oil to Foam Cleanser (happy to have it for travel); Redken Color Extend Magnetics Shampoo & Conditioner (I just used up a full size of the conditioner, but still have some of the shampoo left); Maybelline The Colossal Mascara; Yves Saint Laurent L’Homme; Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss in “Moon Jelly”; Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia; Prada Candy (2 of these, so Lily got one); bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Sample Card; it Cosmetics Blurring Foundation No 101; Benefit The POREfessional; Philosophy Purity Made Simple 3-in-1 Cleanser for Face and Eyes; Peach & Lily Glass Skin Refining Serum (looking forward to trying this); Paradoxx Secret Weapon Conditioner (why is this hair conditioner in a little metal tin that will immediately rust in my shower?); Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara; Ulta Beauty Sugared Vanilla Moisturizing Body Lotion; Moschino Toy 2; Ulta Beauty Charcoal Nose Strips; La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Moisturizer; Bed Head Small Talk; Love Wellness Lights Out Dietary Supplements (ooooh, sleeping pills that probably won’t work on me!); John Varvatos Eau de Toilette; Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Capsules; and Hempz Pink Pomelo & Himalyan Sea Salt Herbal Body Moisturizer. Phew – my fingers are tired. These are really good samples – I will use at least 75% of them!
In case you are noticing that the math doesn’t add up, there were a few other items that I added to my cart that will be Xmas gifts. Shhhh…don’t tell!
I got to use a $10 off coupon, in addition to the many sales. Just $319 to Diamond…
Diamond in the Raw
Words cannot describe the magic of Sinful Colors Sinful Shine “Diamond in the Raw”. It’s so shiny that it looks black and white at the same time! It’s literally like ground up diamonds in polish-form.
This is two coats of “Diamond in the Raw” over Sinful Colors Base Coat (almost empty) and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I was disappointed in how quickly the polish chipped, but I blame it on washing all of my makeup brushes the other day. My hand were all pruny and a few tips had chipped.
November 2019 Ipsy Bag – Wild Side
Ipsy wants me to take a walk on the “Wild Side” this month. I used to be 100% leopard print everything in the 90s – this little bag would’ve matched everything I owned in the 90s.
The only product in this month’s bag that I’ve tried so far is the La Chloris Urban Botanics Ultra Glow Moroccan Rose Mask. It’s a 15 minute pink clay mask that smells like roses. It was a GREAT exfoliator.
Also inside this month’s “Wild Side” bag: MURAD Essential-C Day Moisture Broad Spectrum SPF 30; Layla Cosmetics Layba Nail Polish in “1012” (an odd blue-gray polish); Hola Neon Tinted Lip Balm in “Call Me”; and Gigi Gorgeous Living Lip Balm in “Natalia” (Gigi is an influencer, but I don’t know much about her).
An super cool bag with less coll contents this month.
I subscribe to the basic ipsy bag for $12/month. If you’d like to try Ipsy – click here. I’ll earn 250 points if you sign up through my referral link.
Ulta Friendsgiving
Ulta is luring me in with their Friendsgiving sales and coupons and gifts with purchase…it’s not even Black Friday yet and they’ve got me placing three orders within a week or so!
After the purple shampoo sample I picked up for my son in my last order, he asked me for more. I decided to get him a full size bottle, but I chose a cheaper brand – Clairol Shimmer Lights Purple Shampoo for Blonde & Silver Hair ($9.99). I don’t feel like it worked as well as the Joico – his hair almost seemed to have a pinkish tint – I accused him of using my Overtone Conditioner, but he said it was the Shimmer Lights. I’ll continue to monitor his hair situation.
Sally Hansen products were 40% off! I grabbed a few Hard as Nails Xtreme nail polishes for $1.79 – “Heart of Sass” and “Rockstar Pink”. I also got one of the Jelly Belly x Insta Dri polishes – “Hot Buttered Popcorn” – for $2.99. My daughter actually BROKE her last nail clippers with here thick ass nails, so I got her another nail clipper ($1.79). Almost out of habit, I added a Zoya Remove+ Nail Polish Remover ($10).
I cannot pass up a 50% off lippie – I limited it to one – NYX Soft Matte Metallic Lip Cream in “Rome” ($3.50, down from $7).
So Ulta was giving a gift with purchase for a $17.50 purchase, so I looked around to see what I could find…I immediately put a Lash Separator in my cart ($9). I hate the tarantula mascara look and this little gadget is great at separating the clumps. I cannot believe that I’ve gone 30+ years of using mascara without it. I grabbed a Matte Metallic Liquid Lipstick in “Golden Age”, rose bronze with pearl shimmer, ($4, down from $9). I also got Juice Infused Lip Oil in “Sweet Rose” ($9) – this stuff is GREAT for removing liquid lipstick. The oil does NOT smell like roses though – it smells more like olive oil – why?
The gift with purchase came in a very nice black patent vinyl bag and included these Ulta products: Luxe Lipstick in “Mischevious”; Pack of 5 Pre-Moistened Makeup Remover Facial Towelettes; Hydrating Face Primer; Jelly Gloss Lip Gel; Tinted Eye Primer in “Champagne”; Bold Ambition Mascara in “Jet Black”; an eyeshadow brush and a cheek brush. The bag didn’t come with an Ulta coupon!
Oh hey, I don’t even really like MAC products, but this Beauty Break was super cute because of the HUGE lipstick-shaped carrying case. It also came with 3 minis – Matte Lipstick in “Sin” and two lipglasses in “Wildchild” and “Oyster Girl”.
No special coupons, but I was able to use old faithful – $3.50 off $15.
$376 to Diamond status…
Beautiful Bri
After my disappointing experience with “Disco Baby”, I wanted a sure thing. Julep polishes are almost always a pure pleasure, so I pulled one of the polishes from my most recent order – Julep It Girl “Bri”, purple ember holographic shimmer.
This is two coats of “Bri” over Glisten & Glow Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. Application was a dream – It was the perfect consistency and self-leveling.
This combination is lasting well – there’s a bit of edge wear, but no major chips. Ugh, I wish Julep was still putting out new polishes!
Liquid Chrome Disco Baby
Fuck. This. Nail Polish.
Not since essie “Belugaria” have I hated a nail polish formula this much. But Sinful Colors Liquid Chrome “Disco Baby” broke me. It had so much potential, but I couldn’t get it right, even after trying a second time.
I was super excited to find the 3 piece set at HEB for $6.99. In addition to the Liquid Chrome polish in “Disco Baby”, it comes with a base coat and Sinful Colors Mirror Shine Top Coat. (HEB also had 3/$5 coupons for Sinful Colors – I squealed and grabbed 3 Sinful Shines – “Diamond in the Raw”, “Wine Not” and “Galaxy” – HEB spoils me rotten).
I followed the instructions to the letter. After the base coat, I painted one coat of “Disco Baby”. The polish dragged a bit, but I expected that. There were a few thin spots, but nothing too egregious. I then finished with the Mirror Shine Top Coat. What the fuck, why the polish start swirling as soon as I applied the top coat? It even got a few bubbles.
Fuck. I know I am spoiled by Glisten & Glow, but the time it took this top coat to dry was totally unacceptable. I sat through a whole episode of The Walking Dead and it was still a tad tacky. Even they next day, it had an almost sticky feel. I hated the way it felt and hated the way it looked – see left picture. Oh – and it started peeling away from the edges of my nails. Not chipping – this shitty polish peeled down from my cuticles.
No one likes a quitter, so I decided to try again. The very next day, I took off the polish and tried again. Again I started with the base coat and a single, albeit slightly thicker coat of “Disco Baby”. This time, I finished with Glisten & Glow Top Coat. Well, THAT was a mistake. The top coat literally made the polish start to swirl and dissolve. It was an effect similar to the Transforming Top Coats. Have you ever balled up a piece of aluminum foil and then tried to smooth it again? THAT is what my nails looked like. At least they weren’t sticky.
I don’t know if my nails are too bumpy, or if I am just not patient enough or if this formula is just stupid, but I gave up on this polish. Not one to be selfish with my misery, I promptly boxed up the Liquid Chrome set and sent to my nail buddy, Angie. She is not blessed with HEB up in Plano, and I am hoping that she can prove me wrong by making this nail polish her bitch!