Category: Nails
I Put a Spell on You
…and now you’re mine!
I’ll admit it, Deborah Lippmann “I Put a Spell on You” is nowhere near as pretty on my nails as it is in the bottle. I was expecting it to be a swirly purple/pink pearl duochrome, but the effect is much more muted on the nail. It’s more of a pearlized baby pink and very, very sheer. It is still very pretty though – like the inside of an oyster, except without all the poo.
This is two coats of “I Put a Spell on You”, over Glisten & Glow Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I don’t think the polish formula is at all compatible with the top coat – can you see all the bubbles that formed, especially on my index finger? At least it’s very aquatic looking.
I feel like the polish is similar to Sinful Colors “Bali Mist”. I swear I thought I had that polish, but I cannot find it searching my site…very weird. I’ll have to look in my bins later.
YESROUGE, 1 & 2
Sephora’s huge VIB event came a little early this year. From August 24th through September 3rd, with the code YESROUGE, Rouge members are eligible for 20% off anything and everything at Sephora. (VIB get 15% and Beauty Insiders get 10% off.) They changed it up a little bit this year. The code can be used multiple times in store, but only once online. Boooooooo!
Since I could only use the code online once, I tried to fill my cart as full as I possible could. Of course, the thing I wanted most (a limited edition Flamingo print Tangle Teezer for $16) was sold out. I consoled myself by buying a bunch of other stuff that I didn’t need.
It’s a HUGE risk to buy fragrances, scent unsmelled. I’ve been jonesing to try more Jo Malone fragrances, so after flip flopping between Peony and Blush Suede and Red Roses, I decided to go a different direction. Sephora also carries Jo Loves, which is the line that Jo Malone launched in 2011 after she sold her original brand. I chose Jo Loves White Roses & Lemon Leaves – A Fragrance Paintbrush Gel ($55, $44 after discount). This scent is like an avalanche of memories. The scent of white roses brings me back to the courtyard outside the church I attended as a child. Besides my grandmother, those roses were literally the only fond memory I have of attending church. This is the scent of a real rose – NOT rose perfume. My only concern is that the gel won’t last very long – it’s hard to gauge how much product is inside the white plastic tube. Fingers crossed…
I am kicking myself for ordering Kat Von D Everlasting Glimmer Veil Liquid Lipstick in “Wizard” ($22, $17.60 after discount). The price went down to $15 the day after I placed my order. Fuuuuuuuck.
I also added a few nail polish sets from the Sale bin: Nails Inc. Unicorn Nail Polish Duo ($10.50, $8.40 after discount), which includes “Sparkle Like a Unicorn in Dream Dust” (3D high sparkle) and “Rainbow Wishes” (soft rainbow sheen) AND Deborah Lippman The World is Your Oyster Nail Polish Duo ($10.50, $8.40 after discount), which includes “Chantilly Lace” and “I Put a Spell on You”.
For samples, I actually got the ones I selected when I ordered: Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation (4 shades to try!); COOLA Mineral Face SPF 30 in Matte Tint; and Guerlain Mon Guerlain Eua Florale (too much musk with the jasmine – gave me a headache when I wore it yesterday.)
Of course, I did manage to forget something I actually needed for my online order – replacement heads for my Clarisonic.
I headed to Sephora yesterday and quickly picked up a two pack of Clarisonic Acne Facial Cleansing Brush Heads ($44, $35.20 after discount). I looked all around the store and nothing caught my eye (I am biding my time on the Urban Decay Born to Run palette and the Anastasia Norvina Palette.) I was in the checkout maze and something caught my eye…I ended up bringing home the Amika Polished Perfection Mini Straightening Brush ($35, $28 after discount). I wasn’t sure what it would do, but I was looking for something that would give the front of my hair some OOMPH when I skip a day washing. I am just a little bit in love with this device. It heats up quickly and does what it says it does. It made my hair really shiny and smooth, too. Both my kids did their hair with it too and I have to say, I am super jealous of how smooth and shiny is made my son’s long, luscious hair. But then Lily wanted to use it on the cat…Um, noooooo.
I even remembered to bring in the 50 point card from this month’s Play! box. Now that I can get $100 for 2,500 points, I am gonna take advantage!
So after all this shopping, I just have $241 left until ROUGE. That’s just $60/per month, for the next four months. Hallelujah!
Blazing
So I found this gem, digging around in my basket of untried polishes…how did I pass this one by? It’s gorgeous!
This is Formula X “Blazing” – one of the polishes I picked up for $2 each last summer when Sephora discontinued the Formula X polishes. A blue-leaning burgundy, with a firey shimmer, I got full coverage in a single coat! Of course, I did two coats – just to make sure. I used Glisten & Glow Base Coat and Top Coat.
The lasting power is impressive – I painted my nails several days ago, but they still look fresh…and it is still going strong. It looks so good, that the guy at the oil change place asked if I had just gotten them done. (I am not sure if he was flirting or just really appreciated my nails…Lily says flirting.)
“Blazing” is a close cousin…or even sister…to Julep “Laurie”. Man, I should keep better track of dupes…but I am too goddamn lazy.
Neon Rainbow
My cousin Kelley wanted rainbow nails, so she got rainbow nails! Neon rainbow nails.
After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I started with two coats of each neon color on each nail. I then used a dotting tool to dot them up with color of an adjoining nail. (I did a different order on each hand, swipe right to see the right hand.) I finished with Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
The pink is a shimmery Barbie pink, named “Safari Not Sorry”.
The neon mango polish is growing on me – it’s called “Off Tropic”.
“Palm Down” is by far my favorite polish, a pearly, Kermit green. I also used this polish on my toes, no dots though.
Or is “Poison Arrow” my favorite polish, also named for the very dangerous frog.
I am not sure how I feel about “Amazon Woman”, the purple polish. It’s almost fuchsia, but it’s not. I forgive you, “Amazon Woman”.
Even though I’ve technically tried all of these polishes, I still want to try each of them alone on my nails, so keep an eye out for them – you ‘ll be seeing them again soon.
About Dang Time!
6 months…6 months I’d been waiting for Sinful Colors to go on sale at Walgreens! The last sale was in February!
Finally, they went on sale this past week – 5/$5. I took this opportunity to get the whole Limited Edition Neon Collection: the pink is “Safari No Sorry”, the tangerine one is “Off Tropic”, the green one is “Palm Down”, the blue one is “Poison Arrow” (just like the frog!), and the violet one is “Amazon Woman”.
I found these on Monday. I also wanted to pick up some Halloween polishes, but the location by my work didn’t have many – I needed another 5! I stopped by two more on the way home from work – no Halloween displays.
On Wednesday, I had to stop by the Walgreens by my surgeon’s office for waterproof bandages, and again – no new polish displays.
On Friday, my son had a headache after Schlitterbahn, so we stopped at a Walgreen’s in Seguin. No new displays there either.
I swear, it’s a fucking conspiracy.
Petra
I saved the prettiest for last. This is Julep “Petra” – cranberry magenta shimmer – the last of the three polishes I received in my August Julep box.
I don’t know about magenta – all I see is FUCHSIA!
This was a difficult polish to work with. I thought it would be a similar formula to the others, but it was thicker and more viscous. It seemed to pull back from the edges as it dried – so annoying! It also left some weird edges around my cuticles – it didn’t clean up nicely. I felt personally victimized by this nail polish.
This is two coats over Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat (uh oh, my bottle is almost empty) and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. Despite all my whining about application – I ended up wearing a good six days – and it still looks pretty good, even after a trip to the waterpark.
Rose Gold Haul
Sometimes, it is more satisfying to go shopping in person than placing an online order. Especially when it’s Friday, and work is pissing you off…off to Ulta for stress shopping!
The main product I’d been coveting is the new Ulta Beauty 24k Magic Metallic Peel Off Mask ($14). Of course I picked the rose gold version, instead of the regular gold. I tried it out that night and the mask was really nice – results similar to the GlamGlow GravityMud ($59), at a much cheaper price!
Since Ulta was offering a loaded makeup bag as a gift with $19.50 purchase, I rounded up my purchase with 2 additional single use $3 Ulta Beauty Masks (also on promo for Buy 2, Get 1 free) – “Detoxifying Charcoal” Deep Cleansing Clay Mask and “Strawberries & Champagne” Hydrating Glitter Peel Off Mask. I also added a pack of Exfoliating Cotton Pads and a 6-way Nail Buffer. I even got to use a $3.50 off coupon and still get the freebie.
Of course, I picked the Rose Gold version of the Makeup Bag. Inside this suspiciously familiar bag (which looks to be the same one as a gift with purchase I got in June 2017): On-the-Go Makeup Remover Facial Towelettes; a 6 shade eyeshadow palette; a bronzer/illuminator palette; Limitless Lashes Lengthening + Volumizing Mascara; Gel Eye Liner in “Black Out”; Lipstick in “Stay Fierce”; Brow Tint in “Medium”; Tinted Eye Primer in “Satin Blush”; Matte Metallic Liquid Lipstick (no shade name, but I LOVE the color on me); Matte Makeup Setting Spray; a blush brush, an eye shadow brush and a $5 off $15 Ulta Beauty Coupon. The colors in the shadow and lippies are sunset-y fall colors – I am SO ready for fall colors!
All this…for about $23 – not bad. Just $532.50 to Diamond Status…not likely!
Cozette
“Cozette” is NOT “Cosette”, the character is Les Miz. I couldn’t find any famous Cozettes, but it is French for “little thing.”
Julep “Cozette” is no little thing – this is a BIG polish. It’s a peacock teal shimmer, but there is a bold hint of purple underneath that teal.
This is is two coats of “Cozette”, over Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. It’s lasting well so far, but the formula was a bit thick, so the polish pooled around the edges, combining with the top coat to make a few jagged edges. I hate it when that happens!
Texas Sunset
Doesn’t this polish remind you of a Texas Sunset?
WHAT? You’ve never seen a Texas Sunset? They are RED and AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and UNIQUE…and intensified by dust and pollution. Yeah…all those crazy colors are due to red/orange wavelengths of light traveling more easily over the gas molecules (and dust and smog) than blue/violet wavelengths. And that’s your science lesson for today…
This beautiful polish is Julep “Saryn” – coral sunset iridescent shimmer – from this month’s Julep box. I am loving the gold/orange shimmer underneath the coral. This is two coats of “Saryn” over Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
“Saryn” is a unique name. I googled it and the only stuff that came up was about a character from a video game called Warframe. I’ve never ever heard of it – I am OLD.
August 2018 Julep Maven Box – Light & Luster
Is it me, or are the Julep boxes getting slimmer and slimmer? They used to be filled to the brim with shredded paper and candy and an insert describing the month’s collection. No shreds, no candy and no insert this month. Am I spoiled, or what?
I didn’t skip the Beauty Product this month – perk it Under-Eye Treatment Brightener in “light”. It’s a little bit concealer, a little bit corrector. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but I am optimistic that it will hide the face that I never, ever sleep.
For polishes, I chose Classic with a Twist “Saryn” – coral sunset iridescent shimmer – and Boho Glam “Petra” – cranberry magenta shimmer. I used Jules to add another polish to my box – It Girl “Cozette” – peacock teal shimmer. I gotta have all the shimmers!
Not a Julep Maven? Click HERE to join – I’ll get a $15 credit and you’ll get your first box free!