Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet

Sally Hansen's Red Carpet is a gorgeous, intense red with fine red shimmer. I am not a red girl, but this color screams sex appeal. I really have a thing for Sally Hansen nail polish. They tend to wear longer than most nail polishes and they always have good color payoff - two coats max usually for good coverage.

I think if this red as sexy, but if I remember correctly, the last time I wore this color someone at work asked if I had gotten it free with my Harley. I wonder what that was supposed to mean ...

Sally Hansen Red Carpet, two coats

Sally Hansen Red Carpet, two coats

Sally Hansen is available virtually everywhere, but I got mine on Ulta where they retail for $2.59.

China Glaze Caribbean Blue

China Glaze's Caribbean Blue is a bright, clear, medium blue with shimmer. I have no idea how to describe colors. I thought I was good, but now I just seem to get flustered. I need to buy a thesaurus. Is there a thesaurus for nail polish colors? That'd be cool.

Anyhow, on to the pictures. China Glaze's Caribbean Blue is from their Bahama Blues collection.

China Glaze Caribbean Blue, two coats, shade

China Glaze Caribbean Blue, two coats, shade

China Glaze Caribbean Blue, two coats

Eek! Ignore my cuticles. It got really cold here recently and I didn't realize they were so bad until the macro pictures came up on my computer. Geesh. No worries, oil and cuticle balm have been applied numerous times.

China Glaze Caribbean Blue is available anywhere China Glaze is sold. I got mine from Head2ToeBeauty for $3.00. They have a special going on - 5% off any purchase with code NOV11 (good until 11/30/2011). I stocked up with that code recently!

Influenster.com

Has anyone else tried Influenster? It's a cool site where you can load info about yourself (youtuber, twitter-er, smart phone user, green savvy, pet lover, etc) and it matches you up to certain VoxBoxes. If you "qualify" (whatever that means) for a VoxBox they contact you to confirm, and you receive a VoxBox full of goodies. You just have to test them and then tell people about your experience. Sounds great doesn't it? I do love getting things in the mail, and it's nice that it'll be a surprise. It's like Christmas!

Anyhow, I just received my first invitation for the Holiday VoxBox. Apparently I'll be getting more information soon and my box should arrive later. I'm excited. Almost makes me want to start making YouTube videos! Ha.

Anyone have any experience with this site? I'd love to hear if other people have enjoyed their boxes.

Benefit Posietint

I'm not much of a lipstick person, I prefer gloss and more neutral lip colors. I do, however, hate the stickiness that usually accompanies lip gloss so I stick with chapstick. I got this mini Benefit Posietint in a trio of Benefit products - along with a mini BeneTint and High Beam. At first I used this and thought it was too pink, but then I started using less, just one coat, and it's very natural. I love this product and use it daily. It can be a bit drying, however, so I always use something moisturizing on top (Aquaphor by Eucerin - love) and something at night to keep my lippies soft.

Natural Lips

Benefit Posietint

I used the BeneTint and thought it to be too dark, but now that I've fallen for PosieTint I will have to revisit that lip stain. I haven't used it for cheek stain since I'm so acne-prone, but I'm sure it would be great!

China Glaze Let It Snow Holiday 2011

I have a few quick previews of the China Glaze Let It Snow Holiday 2011 collection. I only purchased a few, as I'm not really a red/maroon/wine kind of gal. I'm not sure what you call these single finger colors - skittles? Anyhow, here are the ones I got!

China Glaze Let It Snow Holiday 2011 swatches

Thumb - Snow Globe

Forefinger - Blue Year's Eve

Middle - Tinsel Town

Ring - Twinkle Lights

Pinky - Glittering Garland

China Glaze Let It Snow 2011 swatches, three coats

Three coats for each, but only Snow Globe and Twinkle Lights needed it.

Blue Year's Eve-medium blue with fine blue glitter

Tinsel Town-deep gray glitter

Twinkle Lights-gold glitter with red and green glitter

Glittering Garland-deep emerald green with fine green glitter
Snow Globe-clear with holographic glitter

China Glaze Let It Snow Holiday 2011 swatches with Snow Globe topcoat

Snow Globe makes a great top coat. I like it over Blue Year's Eve the best. You can't see it over the two middle glitters and it barely shows up over the green. Boo. Thumb has Sally Hansen White On as a basecoat (two coats)

More pictures once I wear them as full sets! Twinkle Lights over Glittering Garland may be my Christmas manicure but my husband likes Snow Globe over white.

Any favorites out of the set?

24 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge

I was perusing blogs and stumbled upon the greatness of paint that nail. Great nail art, I suggest you check her out. She had a post on 24 Days of Christmas announcement where she announced a 24 day nail challenge. She invited everyone to join in, and I figure, why not? =)

Here's the mission list:

Wish me luck! And join in if you'd like, the more the merrier! Let me know in the comments so I can make sure to follow along. I can't wait to see everyone's nails!

Color Club Beyond The Mistletoe Nail Polish Collection Swatches and Review

UPDATED POST: More hits are coming from this post, so I figured I'd jazz it up a bit and provide a few comments...

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe swatches,

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polishes were released in October 2011 (I believe) and it is a set of six polishes:

Holiday Splendor - green base with green and silver glitter (not pictured, sorry!) 

Sugarplum Fairy - clear base with light purple and holographic glitter 

Candy Cane - clear base with pink and holographic glitter

Beyond the Mistletoe - clear with blue, green, and holographic glitter

Gingerbread - clear base with gold and holographic glitter

Jingle Jangle - clear base with purple and muticolored glitter

Application was typical of glitter - sparse at first, but they all built nicely. Not very gritty, and smooth with one coat of topcoat (I used Seche Vite). Removal wasn't exactly horrific as they hadn't dried completely when I took them off, but I can imagine it being rough unless you use the acetone and foil method.

On to the good stuff:

Color Club Sugarplum Fairy

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe

Color Club Jingle Jangle

Color Club Candy Cane

Color Club Gingerbread

I can't remember why I didn't order Holiday Splendor... No matter, I love these polishes. Tons of glitter. Sugarplum Fairy is my favorite, it comes so alive in the sun!

While perusing the great world wide web, I found The Edge Of Insanity who did a post on this collection, and apparently these colors coincide nicely with the Color Club Foiled Collection, so they're great to layer together. I'll let you check out her post if you want to know which go best together. I do happen to have the Foiled Collection sitting and collecting dust. so I may have to break that out and see about this layering business.

Hope you like this preview and I hope it helps with shopping!

FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara

I LOVE this mascara! It's my favorite go to mascara for everything - casual, work, dancing - everything! I can't say enough good things about this mascara.

Here's the deal - this mascara does it all. I have short, stumpy lashes (as I'm sure you've noticed in my no mascara shots of my big ole eyeball) but this mascara makes me look like I've got great lashes! It's volumizing, thickening, lengthening, curling. It washes your dishes, puts away laundry, and cooks dinner. It's amazing. It does have fibers in it to lengthen lashes but in a very natural way, and it's a tube-like mascara so it doesn't flake or smudge (whether you have oily lids or watery eyes, which I have both!) and it lasts all day!

I'm really picky about mascara because I need it to do a lot to get my lashes looking great, and the fact that I prefer this over all other mascaras proves that it works! 

This is what it reports on Sephora:

A volumizing, water- and sweat-resistant mascara with a brush so unique it is patented in Japan. This do-it-all mascara is blended with fiber to give you lush, doll-like lashes. The unique brush catches even the tiniest lashes, defines, lengthens, and provides all-day curl.

I will admit the first time I used it, I was like, WTF? I hated it. But then I went back to it (don't ask me why, I don't remember) and now it's a daily staple.

On to the important stuff - pics!

FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara

FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara, close up of brush

Sorry for the blurry pictures, I didn't catch it until I was editing. But it gives you an idea of what it does!

No mascara

FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara, three coats on top, one on bottom

No mascara

FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara, three coats on top, one on bottom

And just to prove this is the best mascara EVER...

FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara, after 10 hours, look at that staying power!

Gah, I can't get enough of this mascara.

Anyway, hope you guys try it out if you haven't!

P.S. Sorry for the blurry photos, I didn't catch it until when I was editing them. And I can't figure out this editing to save my life. Sorry about the screwy formatting. Sigh. I should just stick to makeup.

Tokidoki Brilliante Glitter Eyeliners

I purchased these recently on sale from Sephora. I do love glitter, especially on eyes. I, of course, got a purple and two browns. I'm so predictable.






 

Rosetta - Lilac with gold glitter


Carina - Pink beige with gold glitter


Savana - Bronzed chocolate with gold glitter

 

Carina, Savana, Rosetta on Bare skin, no primer, no flash

I love the glitter. It's so pretty. My only complaint is that they're slightly dry and there is tugging involved when applying. You also have to do a couple strokes to get good color payoff - you can tell between 1-2 strokes for thin line and multiple for bigger swatch so you can see the colors. Also, you can't really see the glitter unless you're doing a fairly thick line. Unfortunately for me and my small eyes, I can't do a thick line, so the glitter is somewhat lost on my eyes. But the colors are nice. Overall, they're pretty but I'm glad I got them on sale, otherwise they wouldn't be worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there! I hope you're surrounded by family and friends.

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiners - Brown Eyes

I've heard a lot of good things about the gel cream eyeliners from Physicians Formula, so I decided to pick up a set. I really had to stop myself from buying all of them, but I picked the one for Brown Eyes given that's what I have!

There are three stackable liners and a small brush. Brown Eyes comes with a brown liner, medium purple, and black with purple sparkle.

Brown Eyes containers...

Opened containers

Blurry shot showing glitter in darkest color

Swatches on hand without primer with flash

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiners in Brown Eyes
Swatches on hand, no primer, with flash

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiners in Brown Eyes
Swatches on hand, no primer, no flash

They have some good staying power so all in all they're good. I wish the sparkle on the darkest color was a bit more noticeable, but that's what I have glitter eyeliner for!

Anyone picked these up? Do you like them?

Maybelline The Falsies Flared

I recently picked up Maybelline The Falsies Black Drama and Maybelline The Falsies Flared. I thought I'd share my experience of each and compare the two, as people seem to favor one over the other. I'm not a big fan of drugstore mascara, but these have carried such hype I thought I'd check them out.

I do buy regular mascara - not waterproof - because my lids/face are oily and waterproof mascara runs on me. It stands to reason - waterproof = oil based - so my oily face causes it to run. I have better luck with non-waterproof mascara. I know the difference between waterproof and regular is big, even within the same brand/type, so I thought I'd mention that.

The tube, very pretty, love the color.

Eye without mascara, not curled (I think this is when I tried the Caffeine Rush set)

Curled x 1, three coats of Maybelline The Falsies Flared on top, one coat on bottom

Without mascara, again

With Maybelline The Falsies Flared, curled x 1, three coats on top, one on bottom

I was impressed with this mascara. I liked that it darkened my lashes and made them more noticeable and it held the curl very well. It didn't run or flake and my lashes were very defined. Obviously I don't look like I'm wearing false lashes, but it gave me the dark definition I like when using mascara. 

I like it. How about ya'll? Love it, like it, or hate it?

Sally Hansen Shimmer Strips - Waikiki Strip/Peachy Glow Bronzer

Some of you may have noticed my other review on a similar product, Rosy Glow, and here is the counterpart. This one is similar - 5 shimmery shades - made to be a bronzer. This one also is super shimmery, so the name is, well, appropriate. On to pics!

I don't use a lot of bronzer, but I do sometimes mix it with blush to tone down the color or contour if I'm going out. I don't feel I can contour with this as it's too shimmery. I also can't mix it with a blush unless it's matte, and even then I can only use small amounts. I have, however, used it as eyeshadow and that went very well. 

Unfortunately, both of these products have been lost in my Mary Poppin''s-esque makeup bag. But they're so cute I pull them out occasionally to use and remind myself why I don't use them.

Anyone have this one? Any suggestions for other uses?

Maybelline EyeStudio Color Explosion - Caffeine Rush

This is part of my Target purchasing spree, and I got it basically for the glitter. After reading Scrangie's reviews, I was kinda meh about the whole set, but then I kept looking at her posts and after she said it was worth it just for the glitter, I caved. I did hold back and just purchased the brown set, instead of all of them, so that was a personal triumph for me!

Behold the beauty of Maybelline EyeStudio Color Explosion in Caffeine Rush ...

Swatches on bare skin (top) and over UDPP (bottom), light to dark with glitter at end (obs hehe), no flash

Swatches on bare skin (top) and over UDPP (bottom), flash

Quick EOTD using palette - lightest color as inner highlight and on browbone, 2nd color on lid, medium brown in crease, darkest in outer V. glitter over inner third of eyelid, topped with mascara, all over UDPP.

The colors are neat, and they go together well (obviously with any palette). I was expecting more from the glitter, but it's a nice subtle glitter instead of in your face, so it makes it more work/school appropriate. I've worn it 2-3 times and I've enjoyed it each time, but the colors don't have as much color payoff as I'd like. I'm not sure if that's Maybelline in general or this palette, but I'm not that impressed. I'll have to try it over a different primer.

Anyone used these? Thoughts?