Pixi - Happy Thoughts Pink

Happy Friday everyone! Can you believe tomorrow is the first day of September? Holy crap.
I'm about 85% packed for my trip tomorrow, and I have to remember to check in today so I don't forget!

One of the products I'll be taking on my trip is this wonderful tinted balm that I picked up at Target last week.

This is the Magic Tink Tint from Pixi in Happy Thoughts Pink. This is one of those pH reactive balms that changes color as it reacts to your skin. How beautiful is the packaging? I was never a fan of Tinkerbell, but I think that they did a great job in making this feminine without being cloyingly sweet or childish. Also, the tube is a twist-up which I love. None of that sharpening business here!

Top: 1 minute after application
Bottom: immediately after application

The balm starts to react and change color very soon after I apply it to my lips. It transforms from a very light balmy sheen to a lovely shade of pink, and becomes the perfect pink for my lips. Now, it's not super moisturizing, but it's not drying either. I typically will layer a colorless lip balm or a pink gloss on top of this but you could totally get away with wearing it alone.

Now, I thought that this was limited edition, but I first heard about these in April and they're still available in Target stores or online and retail for $16.

What do you guys think? Have you tried any other products from Pixi? I've got my eye on the Lip Blushes and the Fake Awake kit, but I think they're a little expensive for a drugstore/retail store product. I will probably repurchase the Tink Tint when I run out (if its still available then) but I think they're asking a little too much for what's offered. I typically turn down buying their products because of the price, and only purchased this because I had a coupon.

Tomorrow I'll be jumping on a plane, so the next time you'll hear from me I'll be in Ohio!
Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Orly - Androgynie

Hey everyone!! I hope you are all having a great day so far!

I'm getting really excited because this Saturday I'm flying to Ohio to visit my extended family for two weeks! I haven't seen them in over a year now, so I'm very eager to start my trip. I'm a little nervous though because I've never flown by myself. I've flown with my parents and with Craig before, but this will be my first solo trip (for the first leg anyways). I'm also packing extremely light, which I'm finding is a much more stressful situation than I had initially thought.

For trips, I normally pack more than I need (who doesn't?). But this time around I'm experimenting with taking only the essentials, and it is so difficult. "Do I need this skirt? Probably not, you almost never wear skirts. But what if we go somewhere fancy and I need a skirt?! Hmm, maybe a dress would be better. How many dresses should I take? If I only take one I might get spaghetti stains on it, and then I won't be able to wear it at all!"

#firstworldproblems

Seriously, who worries about spaghetti stains?
ME.
When you live with a large Italian family, you make these things a priority.

In other news, I'm currently wearing Orly's Androgynie, a black jelly with gold glitter and large multi-colored hexagonal shaped glitter. Please excuse the baby nails:

This polish is so pretty. I went through a goth phase in my teen years and my mother forbade me from leaving the house with black nail polish, but I rebelled furiously. Ever since, I've tended to avoid black on my nails because I know she hates it, but every once and a while I'll pick out a shockingly dark color and feel super chic. This was one of those times.

Black polish just doesn't carry the same stigma as it used to. Look at the runway and designers, and you'll see black nails peppered all over. For goodness sake, Chanel released a black polish years ago.

Concerning Androgynie, this is a really pretty polish, but I'll have to admit I was slightly disappointed at first. Do you see the amount of hexagonal glitter on the side of the bottle?! I was so hoping that it would translate to the nail, but the glitter seems to get a little lost in the black base. I have found that you can get a much better effect if you use a flat black polish first, and then one coat of Androgynie. This allows the gold glitter to stand out, and the hexagons aren't buried. However, this eliminates the jellyish nature of the polish, so you'll have to decide which effect you want to go for. 

Sheesh, long post! That's all for now guys, see you on Friday!

Nicole by OPI - Iceberg Lotus

Hello friends! I hope you all had a great weekend :) My birthday was wonderful, and I woke up to Craig trying to figure out the food processor to make a carrot cake. Adorable.

This is a polish from Nicole by OPI, Iceberg Lotus. It took me longer than I'd like to admit before I got the pun in the name, and for a while I sat there thinking, what? Lotus? This looks nothing like the color of an iceberg!

Ah me. 

I wish the duochrome element was more apparent in my photos than it appears to be. This is such a bright, vibrant, insane color and my camera just absolutely hated it. The base color is a bright teal-green, but at the edges it flashes blue and purple and unfortunately my photos just don't do it justice. The formula was on the thin side, so these swatches required about 3 coats to bring out the vibrant green but that seemed perfectly fine to me. 

My only problem with this is that it has the most ridiculous brush. I know this is a sore spot for a lot of people, but this was my first Nicole by OPI so I was really surprised. The brush is slightly wider than the new-ish OPI Pro-wide brush, but thinner than the Sally Hansen brushes (which are on whole other level of terrible), and it just makes for sloppy application. It was not pleasant.

(On a side-note, I also find the bottle shape to be silly.)

 So what do you think? I believe this is from the Something about Spring 2011 collection, and I picked mine up at Target about a month ago so I'm sure you can still find it there. I don't pay any attention to Nicole brand polishes, but they appear to be coming out with some interesting colors that look worthwhile. If only I could get over that silly brush...

See you on Wednesday!

TGIF

Hey guys, guess what? IT'S FRIDAY.
Thank goodness.

This is Navy, a polish from Love and Beauty, the Forever21 brand. I've also seen this called Sunlit Waves, but my label says Navy. I remember seeing this one the Forever21 website, and needing it. When I finally got my hands on it, it sat in my box for ages. (Did I forget about it or something??)

The gold and green shimmer is unfortunately not as apparent as it is in the bottle, but it comes out in sunlight. Normally it looks like a glossy, dark slate blue and it's lovely.

I don't have anything else to say, other than I'm ready for the weekend, my birthday, and an upcoming trip to Ohio to visit my family. :D

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

E.L.F. Eyeshadow Compact - Natural

As my Plastic Wrap mani from Monday is still going strong, I refuse to remove it. It's just too pretty! So today I have an eyeshadow compact to show you!

This eyeshadow set is technically called the Essential Beauty School Eyeshadow Compact in Neutral. (My compact says Natural)

This is quite frustrating; e.l.f. changes the naming on their packaging so often it's hard to keep track of exactly what product you have in your hands. That, coupled with the poor color accuracy of their online photos, can make for some unexpected surprises when you get your package in the mail. 

However, I was quite pleased with this compact. It contains 3 matte shades and 3 shimmery shades. The two colors that don't appear to show up on my skin are relatively pigmented, but my skin-tone makes them disappear. The 2nd to last bronze shade is very soft and buttery, but I experienced a lot of fall-out on that particular one. It comes with an applicator that was surprisingly OK, but I probably won't end up using.

These shadows are perfect for a neutral eye that is appropriate for pretty much anywhere. I'm not very adventurous when it comes to eye makeup, I like to keep things simple and understated and this compact is perfect for that. In terms of size, the compact sits at 3" x 3" which is a great size to throw into a purse or travel bag. I will definitely take this on my trip to Ohio, which is coming up at the end of the month!

On a side note, my birthday is coming up this Sunday. :D I'm super excited! We don't have anything particular planned, but I did tell Craig that I wanted pizza for dinner. Can you believe that the last time I had pizza was in May?! I've been craving it ever since.

That's all for today, see you guys on Friday!



Disclaimer: This product was purchased by myself, and my opinions are (as always) my own. You can purchase the compact here but I believe they are also available in Target stores.

Plastic Wrap Nails

Hey guys! I hope you are all having a great Monday, and to start off the week I have some nail art that I'm really excited to show you!

I got the idea from a tutorial that Anna from Glitter She Wrote posted here. The idea is that you use crumpled plastic wrap to blot wet polish over a contrasting color to create a marbled effect, and I love it! For my attempt, I tried to recreate the look Anna made by layering a navy blue over white. Specifically, China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway for the blue and Essie Bone Chilling from the Morticia's Nails collection as the undercoat color.

Now, I  love blue patterned anything. If I could, my entire house would be covered in blue-patterned china, tablecloths, cookware, you name it. So you can understand that when Anna's photos showed up on my Pinterest I had to try it out right then and there. I experimented with one nail last night, and then finished up the rest this morning. 

The tutorial suggests waiting until the bottom coat color has dried completely, but I was able to get away with using a coat of Seche Vite over the white and waiting a few minutes. I was also pretty gentle with the plastic wrap. I found that the design got muddied easily if I went over the color too many times with the plastic, so try to keep to blotting once or twice only. 

What do you think? Is this fantastic or what!? I'm loving it, and I can't stop looking at my nails. I've tried my hand at nail art before and I'm a little clumsy with it, but I found this to be really easy! To follow Anna's tutorial, visit her website and let me know how it goes!

China Glaze Rare and Radiant

Guess what, it's Friday!! As promised, I have my last polish from China Glaze Bohemian Luster Chrome collection. Rare and Radiant. Soo many brands have been putting out their version of this color, a yellow gold duochrome that flashes green, but I hadn't been able to get my hands on any of the previous polishes until now.

The duochrome is pretty evident in this polish, but (and you may whack me over the head for saying this) I was not impressed with this polish. The formula was fine, the color is pretty, but it doesn't work on my skin and I found it boring. Mayhaps I'm a little jaded with all the green-yellow duochromes coming out as everyone tries to get their fingers in the Chanel Peridot pie. All I know is, this was the polish I was most excited to get my hands on, and my least favorite in the bunch. And that's disappointing. 

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people who really like this polish, and that's fantastic. I'm just really not feeling it today. I think on another day, I might actually be fond of it! Perhaps the problem is I scheduled this polish for today specifically to complete the week, when I normally grab whatever suits my fancy for the day. So the moral of the story is: don't let this whinging grouch spoil your fun on this polish!

What do you think? Are you tired of the Peridot dupes?

Have a great weekend everyone! 

China Glaze Unpredictable

Hi guys! I hope you are all having a bearable Wednesday. I have a few things on my to-do list today, so I need to get cracking!

To continue the China Glaze theme from Monday, I have another polish from the Bohemian collection, Unpredictable. 

This is a yellowish-green duochrome with hints of blue. As I tried to capture in the below photo, the duochrome element is much stronger in this polish than in Deviantly Daring. This is also relatively sheer in comparison, requiring 2-3 coats. The one downside is that it took absolutely ages to dry.  Maybe it was my application, but I spent an absurd amount of time trying to work with this polish. I think with a good quick dry topcoat you'd normally be fine though. 

My thoughts? I hemmed and hahhed over this at the display at Sally's and I'm pleased that I grabbed it in the end.  I haven't tried a lot of chrome-y polishes, and this collection is quite satisfactory. A couple of collections already released and/or coming out for fall are chrome (Essie anyone?) so this collection doesn't seem groundbreaking. I'd still pick it up though, there are a few Chanel and Deborah Lippmann dupes to be found and the colors really are lovely.  

That's all for today! On Friday I'll wrap up the week with another China Glaze so check back!

China Glaze Deviantly Daring

Hello friends, did you all have a great weekend? I spent my weekend repotting some poor root-bound houseplants of mine, and we had friends over for dinner last night which was a lot of fun.

To start off the week, I have a polish from China Glaze's Bohemian Luster Chrome collection for Fall 2012 to show you! Deviantly Daring.

This is a bold, turquoise blue that flashes green and deeper blue in certain angles. It's very thick and so pigmented I only needed 1-2 coats to get full coverage. The duochrome isn't as strong as it could be, but what the polish lacks on that department it makes up for in vibrancy. My camera freaked out a little over the color.

The bottle flashes purple at the edges, and I was really hoping that this would translate onto the polish, but it doesn't unfortunately. I tried to capture the color shift, but it's much more noticeable in person.

So what do you think about Deviantly Daring? I also picked up Rare and Radiant and Unpredictable and I'll be posting them soon!

I was able to pick my bottle up at Sally Beauty Supply for about $7.00, but they're also available online for purchase here and here.

Have a good Monday everyone!

Milani Baked Blush - Dolce Pink

Happy Friday everyone! Are you all excited for the weekend? We don't have anything special planned, but I've been on the lookout for carry-on luggage as I'm traveling to Ohio at the end of the month, so we may go out shopping. Most of my extended family lives in Ohio so I'm very excited to get to visit them!

As for today's beauty product of the day, I recently picked up the Milani Baked Blush in Dolce Pink.

This is a very pink blush with champagne shimmer throughout. This is actually quite glittery, so I would avoid this if you prefer more matte blushes. I wasn't expecting the crazy amount of glitter this had, and it nearly put me off. You can buff out the majority of the glitter, but there's a significant amount of sheen left over. 

Also, I find this to be really sheer. I have to apply it about 3 times to get any noticeable color on my cheeks, and by then it's shimmer overload and I have to buff it all out. As much as I like the color, I find this to be a pain. I could easily find a more matte blush for the same price. However, I will say that the packaging is quite lovely, I'm a fan of the gold mirror finish and it really stands out in my makeup bag.

Underneath the blush pan is a small compartment for a small brush that's included. I normally toss these, but this one is actually a pretty nice quality for being so tiny. I don't use the brush on a normal basis, but it might be nice when you're traveling and can't bring all your brushes.

So what do you think of the Milani Baked Blushes? Are these old-hat by now? I figured as much, since I'm quite late to every party. These retail for about $8 and are available on the Milani website. 

See you next week!

OPI Mermaid's Tears

Hello my friends!

Way back in January I showed you OPI's Steady as She Rose here, and today I have another polish from that collection, Mermaid's Tears. 

This is a beautiful dusty turquoise-green cream, and it applied really well. This flattered my skin-tone much better than Steady as She Rose, and as a side note, my mother loved this color on her toes. 

Not much else to say today. I hope you are all having a great week so far and I'll be back on Friday with another post!

RBL Bikini Bottom

The last time I ordered from Rescue Beauty Lounge (which was a long time ago), I purchased two super special polishes, IKB:2012 and Bikini Bottom. This is the latter:

Bikini Bottom is a sheer, blue jelly with a drop of something murky. This is 3 coats, and you can still see VNL, but I actually think it looks best that way. It has a watery, ethereal quality to it that makes everything look fresh and breezy to me. 

When I ordered this I wasn't entirely sure I wanted it, but I purchased it anyway and I'm sooo glad that I did. I really wanted to purchase Starfish Patrick as well, but unfortunately it's sold out. Bikini Bottom is still available so if you're on the fence about it, I would probably snatch it up if you can spring for the $18 price tag. 

Happy Monday everyone!