Category: Nails
Ulta 21 Days of Beauty – Day 19
I think it was Day 19…whatever, the 21 Days of Beauty were September 3rd to 23rd and on the 21st, I found something to order.
I have a hard time passing up the chance to try new foundations for 50% off. I decided to try Laura Geller Balance-n-Brighten Baked Color Correcting Foundation in “Medium” for $16.50. It’s a swirly dome, with streak of gold. I feel like this foundation makes my face matte, but luminous at the same time. It’s really nice, actually.
I also picked up a full size China Glaze “Let Your Twilight Sparkle” ($7.50) for my daughter – she actually used up the entire mini bottle already! Oh, and a Zoya Remove+ ($10).
For freebies, I got Ulta Beauty Radiant Skin Collection Warming Charcoal Cleanser and Sleeping Cream, NARS Velvet Matte Skin Tint in “St. Mortiz/Medium 1”, and Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer.
I got free shipping with the day’s deal. I used $23.50 in Ulta points (I still have $50 left) and a $3.50 off coupon, so my order was only $7.58!
Lina
Julep “Lina” is a blinding white gold metallic. It would look so much better than someone not as pasty white as me. But it still looks pretty damn good, if I do say so myself…
I was afraid that it would be a sheer shimmer, but it ended up being full coverage. I love full coverage metallic polishes. This is two coats of “Lina” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
The polish was fairly long lasting, but it couldn’t stand up to planting 72 spinach plants this morning. We’re going to have spinach for daysssss…
September Ipsy Bag – Like. A. Boss.
Check out this bad ass, black leather spiked pouch. Don’t worry, no animals were harmed in the making of this pouch – it’s faux.
This month’s theme is “Like. A. Boss.” While the bag is BOSS, I’m not so sure about the contents. The products are ColourPop Cosmetics Ultra Glossy Lip in “ipsy VIP” (it’s weird shade of pink – I don’t know how to explain it – like tongue colored); NEOGEN Dermalogy Real Flower Cleansing Water – Calendula (weird); Eva NYC Zero Gravity Volume Powder (again, no idea what to do with this); Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Radiance Primer (Hmmm, this one might be good); and P.R.M.I.T BeautyGELlusion in “January (Capricorn)” (not a fan of gel polishes – they’re so squishy and weird).
Kind of a weird dud box this month…
If you’d like to try Ipsy – click here. I’ll earn 250 points if you sign up through my link.
Undead Red
Now THIS is a matte polish.
Or is it? It’s a bit shiny for a matte polish…but there’s a sticker on it that CLEARLY says “Vampy Matte”. Maybe “Vampy Matte” means not really that matte?
Regardless, Sinful Colors “Undead Red” is a helluva polish. It’s a matte-ish red glitter with black flakies. This is two coats over Sinful Colors Base Coat and NO top coat. It’s so deep and beautiful and I can’t stop looking at it. It was so much tougher than that Basketball polish. Yes, it did eventually chip after 3-4 days, but certainly not within 12 hours!
And look at my cuticle! It looks normal now…squeeeeee!
I Wish I Was a Baller
One time, in High School, I was skulking around one of the lame after-Football dances, and I was approached by an (obviously new) coach…she tried to draft me onto the Basketball team. Blissfully unaware of my 7th and 8th grade B-team failures, she gave me the whole spiel – as I imagine, my peers thrashed about to ‘The Humpty Dance’ or did ‘Da Butt’. I laughed it off and probably went behind the building to smoke or set anthills on fire or whatever it was that I did at school dances. I surely didn’t dance.
I don’t know what the point of this story is, except that my entire life, my height has attracted and repelled like some kind of magnetic north on a compass. Too tall for the boys, too majestically awkward for sports and DEFINITELY too tall for the stage. Once, I got mistaken for a Drag Queen at The Village. That was one of the fucking proudest moments of my life…so it’s not ALL bad.
I kind of got off course a little bit. ANYWAY, Formula X “Motivated” reminds me of a basketball. It’s a matte metallic orange and I don’t even hate the orange-ness. I do absolutely HATE this polish though, almost as much as I hated playing Basketball. Even though I started with Glisten & Glow Base Coat, this stuff did not want to stay on my nails. This is THREE thick coats and it still started cracking like a crackle polish. In less than 12 hours, it was chipping off my nails in chunks. What the fuck, Sephora?
Sometimes, Only Walgreen’s Will Help
Sometimes, only a lunchtime trip to Walgreen’s will help you get through the day.
Last Friday, I decided that I couldn’t risk waiting for a sale to get Sinful Colors “Undead Red”, from this year’s Halloween Collection. I passed up the rest of the collection – I don’t need another red creme or another glow in the dark polish with impossible to retrieve glitter. $1.99 well spent.
I also finally tracked down Twix Dark…I’ve been searching for these, every time I check out at the grocery store or go to a gas station. Finally.
I also grabbed a new hairbrush for my son’s glorious locks. His sister wouldn’t let him borrow her brush (I gave her the Tangle Teezer), because he said he doesn’t have a brush. I dug around under his sink and found the EcoTools Brush I gave him and he said it doesn’t work – sorry Influenster. I had to prove him wrong, as I brushed his hair with it…as he scowled like the almost-teenager he is. Whatever, I can afford $3.99 for a plastic bristle brush.
Not pictured, the two Coca Colas I also picked up – “Patterson” and “Christina”.
Hana
Dupe Alert! Julep “Hana” is a pretty close dupe for Sinful Colors “Readie or Not”, which I tried out just a month ago. I’m not even mad though – I love purpley polishes.
Julep “Hana” was the first polish I’ve sampled from this month’s Julep box. I was under the impression that it would be lighter and more rosy from the bottle, but nope.
This is two coats over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I thought that the cuticle on my index finger was looking better, but it’s not. I need to put some oil on it or something.
Hot Magenta
After seeing Sally Hansen “Hot Magenta” on one nail, I had to see it on ALL my nails.
This is one of my oldest polishes, pre-dating this site and my current polish madness. It’s at least a decade old and the bottle is less than half full…but it’s still just as good as the day I brought it home. It’s a pearly hot pink, it matches everything.
I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat, then two coats of “Hot Magenta”, then Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I also did my toes.
I thought I fixed the cuticle on my index finger, but it’s still looking a bit sketchy. Argh.
Fuck You, Albert
As always, I’m a bit behind. Twin Peaks: The Return ended just a few weeks ago, but I can’t get the ending out of my head. It literally blew my mind – and yes, I am not incorrectly using the word “literally” instead of “metaphorically”. It’s a total mindfuck.
At the center of that mindfuck is my favorite new/old character in The Return, Diane Evans. Even though Diane was an integral part of the original series, as the unseen person on the other end of Coop’s trusty tape recorder, she was nothing like anyone expected. She was BETTER. Her answer to any line of inquiry was “Fuck you” – something that may be in my head, but she had the lady balls to say it. And then I saw her nails.
The first thing I did was chop them all to a demure, matching length. Then I dug DEEP into my polish stash to find matches…The thumb and pinky were easy – Sinful Colors “Black on Black”. The wine colored index was also easy – Pacifica “Red Red Wine”. I had the hardest time with my middle finger – after comparing half a dozen polishes, I finally decided on Color Club “Aquamarine Azulino” – it has a bit of a pearl to it, but not enough to make it distracting. I came across Sally Hansen “Hot Magenta” while digging – it’s an oldie, but goodie.
Two coats on each nail, sandwiched between Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and Top Coat.
Ignore the mangled cuticle on my index finger – ugh, I’ll fix it with Vanish before the next polish.
September Julep Maven Box – Flawless Without the Fuss
It’s been a while since I went all polish. This month’s “Flawless Without the Fuss” promoted beauty products were the Insta-Filter Powder and Cushion Complexion, which I got last month.
I picked three shiny, earthy polishes: Wonder Maven “Lina” – lunar gold metallic, Classic with a Twist “Kay” – warm taupe with gold microshimmer – and Boho Glam “Hana” – smoked plum multidimensional shimmer. Julep did a really good job with the warm fall tones for this collection. I cannot wait to dig into these. OH, I also got a sheet of black nail diamonds.
So what happened to the candy? I haven’t gotten candy in my box in MONTHS. Sometimes, it was shitty, but sometimes it was really good candy. Mostly, I just want the option to complain about the candy. Boo.
Not a Julep Maven? Click HERE to join – I’ll get a $15 credit and you’ll get your first box free!