glitter obsession: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

11 Questions + I Love Your Blog

I was tagged by the lovely Shannara @ NailsAndStuff. If you don't follow her already, you should check her out. Great nails, great swatches, great frankens, great girl. What more could you ask for? =)

Rules:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.

2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

3. You have to choose 11 people and tell the. No tag backs.

11 things about me ... (ha! finally not 7. someone listened to me!)

1. I have a weakness for pizza.

2. I have poor self control when it comes to buying things.

3. I want to travel the world! I've only been to a handful of placed outside the US, but my list to visit keeps growing!

4. I don't have cable or watch current TV, but I watch TV through Netflix. I am currently watching Season 2 of Medium and when I work out, I watch the The Vampire Diaries. I'm on Episode 6. =)

5. I don't like to eat meat on a bone. It freaks me out. I have to have the meat de-boned and the bones hidden under a napkin. I'm getting better though!

6. I love chocolate and peanut butter together - Reese's Pieces are awesome!

7. I chew on my cuticles when I'm nervous.

8. I'd love to go white water rafting.

9. I drive a convertible. I love driving with the top down - so relaxing.

10. In high school, all I wore on my toes were Wet N Wild bright blue polish topped with silver glitter polish. Like, for two years straight.

11. I used to never get pedicures until 2 years ago because I was too ticklish and didn't like people touching my feet. Now it's a special treat!

Shannara's 11 Questions:

1. What is your favorite movie? Bring It On!

2. What is your dream? To do medical mission work in underserved areas.

3. Do you have brothers or sisters? Yep, three older brothers.

4. Are you religious? Yes, but I keep it close to me. I don't push my beliefs on others.

5. What are your hobbies? Buying makeup and nail polish :) Other than that, I really don't have time for any. I tried to pick up the guitar recently, but I gave up.

6. What would you change in your life? Oooh, tough one. I would change my lack of self-esteem. If affects almost every facet of my life. I wish I had more confidence in myself and my abilities. Otherwise, I love my life, even with all the disappointments and frustrations.

7. Which charity would you support? Humane Society. I have a weakness for animals.

8. What would you do if you were a millionaire tomorrow? Haha, my husband and I play this game all the time. I'd pay off my house, my school loans, pay off my parents place, and buy a ranch, put some money in retirement, and travel the world. You can tell I've given this a lot of thought! =)

9. Blind or deaf? Deaf. That way I can still paint my nails! I like colors and textures too much to never see them again.

10. What do you enjoy most? Spending time with loved ones.

11. Who would you want to be for a day? Angelina Jolie. haha I love me some Brad Pitt.

Nicole @ Nail Polish Wars was nice enough to send my blog some love.

The Rules:

1. Link back to the person who awarded you.

2. Answer the questions.

3. Award other blogs!!

The Questions:

1. What is your favorite fashion magazine? I don't read any magazines.

2. Favorite singer/band? Right now, Adele. Of all time, I don't know, The Beatles?

3. Favorite YouTube guru? The only one I really follow is xSparkage (Leesha). She's so pretty and upbeat and I love her makeup looks, even though I never wear bright colors.

4. Favorite make-up product? CoverFX Mattifying Primer. It makes my skin look smoother, more even, and my makeup stays on all day.

5. Where would you like to live? Beautiful mountains of Montana. It's a dream of mine. Hopefully I'll get there one day.

6. What is your favorite film? Bring It On! But Zombieland is getting to be a close second.

7. How many pairs of shoes do you own? Shoes - about 8 or 10. But flipflops/sandals - those I have about 15 of by themselves. Gotta love South Texas hot weather.

8. What is your favorite color? Purple. Definitely purple.

I'm double tagging these awesome people with these awards!

EDIT: Here are my 11 questions ... (Thanks Theodora, you always keep me on track!)

1. What is your favorite thing to splurge on?

2. What do you do when life gets you down?

3. What is your favorite way to celebrate an accomplishment?

4. Favorite day of the year?

5. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

6. What is your biggest polish lemming right now?

7. What is your weirdest habit?

8. Does anyone know about your online blog?

9. What is your favorite nickname?

10. What is your least favorite nickname?

11. If you could visit one place in the world, where would you go and why?

Milani Lip Flash Gloss Pencils - Revisited

Do you remember this post when I showed you a few Milani Lip Flash gloss pencils? Prob not. It's ok. I won't hold it against you.

I want to tell you all the things I love about these pencils. I was going to write a poem, but I was having trouble rhyming the word pencil.

OK, so they're technically called Milani Lip Flash Full Coverage Shimmer Gloss Pencils. Whatev. They're brilliant! What I love about these pencils is that they're full coverage like a lipstick, feel light like a gloss, and they apply (obviously) as a pencil so they're easy to use and very portable. No leaking lip gloss or goopy applicators or caps coming off in your pocket. Has that ever happened to you? No? Oh. Me either.

I have a few more to share today, so I went ahead and did them all together. Oh my gosh this post was a long time coming! I originally did the ones I had, then bought a few more and redid the post, then found the last one that was missing (Number 03!) and had to do the main pics AGAIN. Sheesh! I swatched them on my lips, which was kinda fun (but crazy time consuming). I hope this shows how much I love you guys! Please excuse the various tip lengths and usage, but since I slowly pieced together the entire collection and I've been using them a lot lately!

I kinda thought three of them looked pretty darn similar, so here is a hand swatch of them close together.

Close Up of 04 Photo Flash, 06 Flashy, 07 In A Flash

On to the fun swatches!!

Milani Lip Flash 01 Lip Flash

Milani Lip Flash in Lip Flash is a pretty one, though an unexpected color. The tube is a bronze brown, but on the lips, it's more of a muted mauve. Strange. My lips don't have a lot of color on their own, so I don't think my lips made it more pink/mauve. Either way I love this color.

Milani Lip Flash 02 News Flash

Milani Lip Flash in News Flash is a beautiful, dark, vampy plum. Applies very stark but has a beautiful gloss that keeps it multidimensional. This one started bleeding almost immediately and wears off unevenly. I redid this one like 5 times, but I could never get a nice even line. I think you'd def need a lip liner with this one. Great color though, sexy!

Milani Lip Flash in 03 Flash Light

Milani Lip Flash in Flash Light is a bright coral creme. Beautiful color, looks very orange, but it applies more peach/coral so it's very flattering. This one was super sheer and I kept having to go over my lips with the stick.

Milani Lip Flash 04 Photo Flash

Milani Lip Flash in Photo Flash is a bright pink with micro hot pink glitter. My camera freaked out with photographing this one, so you know it's bright! Def an attention seeking lip color, but so beautiful and very flattering. Leans purple slightly. I love how this makes my lips look smooth and full. Going on it glided without effort. LOVE. (p.s. I love this picture of my lips. Rawr.)

Milani Lip Flash in 05 Hot Flash

Milani Lip Flash in Hot Flash is a bright, true red. Covers well, went on nicely, very flattering. Blue leaning red, very cool toned. This one was the other bleeder. I think a little lipliner and concealer around the edges, and you'd have red lips all night.

Milani Lip Flash in 06 Flashy

Milani Lip Flash in Flashy is a sheer, light purple. Glittery even though my pictures didn't pick it up. The colors seem to go from creme to glitter as the numbers increase. Anyway, this one is pretty bright and attention seeking. When I wore this, I got lots of compliments.

Milani Lip Flash in 07 In A Flash

Milani Lip Flash in In A Flash is a glittery sheer medium purple with fine magenta glitter that builds nicely to an opaque color. Slightly rough, not quite gritty, but not as smooth as the the lower numbers. This one is definitely more purple, so maybe not work friendly, but totally pretty and fun to rock!

Milani Lip Flash 08 Star Flash

Milani Lip Flash in Star Flash is a light pink with fine purple glitter. Definitely the lightest of the set, I'm not sure who could wear this color. It was the most unflattering in terms of color and texture. It seemed to sink into the lines of my lips and exaggerate them. Not a fan of this one, but maybe over a lipcolor or lipstain? It reminds of of the 60s.

I really like these, and am glad I grabbed them! My only concern now is when I need to sharpen them, I think I may need to buy one, because I don't have anything that sharpens this size pencil, and I have no lip pencil sharpeners...

I bought mine at Walgreen's for $6.99 each (I think, that's what Google says they sell for there) but I'm sure you can find them cheaper or on sale (At CVS Milani is having a Buy One, Get One 50% off right now)

Monday, January 30, 2012

Finger Paints Haute Taupe

Finger Paints Haute Taupe is a medium chocolate brown that applies like a dream.

Finger Paints Haute Taupe

I almost got away with one coat but I had a few thin spots so I added a second coat and topped it with a single coat of Seche Vite.

I got a surprising amount of compliments for what I thought was a plain, dull brown. Many people found it lovely. It totally grew on me, and I wore it for TWO days.

I got this on sale at Sally's for $1.99 (wee!).

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Week 5: Newspaper Mani

I'm back with Week 5 of a 52 Week Challenge. I was excited to try this one. I had seen a few pictures and tutorials, but hadn't set out the time to do it - now it's mandatory!

Not too bad, although it was a trial of patience. And trouble shooting.

Problem #1. No pale polish to use as a back ground. Really? How is that possible?!? So I mixed Sephora by OPI Break A Leg Warmer and Sally Hansen White On and made my first franken (sorta).

Problem #2. No newspaper. I had to go buy an entire newspaper just for this challenge. Sigh.

Problem #3. Newspaper ink wouldn't transfer. So I don't know if anyone else had this same problem, but I couldn't get that dang ink to transfer. I realized an hour into it that it was probably because I used a coat of SV to help speed things along, and newspaper ink doesn't like smooth topcoat. So I made another batch of franken gray and no topcoat this time, and it transferred much better.

Anyone else have these problems or am I the only dud? =)

I hope you guys like my nails! Thanks for reading. Please don't forget to check out everyone else's nails to see their version of the challenge!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Rimmel Rags to Riches

This is my first Rimmel polish! There is an orchid polish of theirs that has been floating around the net that I actually went to purchase, but then I saw this beauty and thought "I have nothing like this!" and got it instead.

Rimmel Rags to Riches

I also had a neat idea of daisy french tips. Didn't work out well, the particular yellow I used (of my Migi Nail Art pens) was watery and bubbly. Darn. But some of them came out well...

Friday, January 27, 2012

Tony Moly Nail Polish Galaxy GT Line Collection

TonyMoly Galaxy GT Collection is a total glitterfest! I saw these on Gladys @ Nail Fanatic and had to get them! You can check out the website at Tony Moly but there are a ton of sellers online (ebay, etc) that likely offer them cheaper (considering shipping charges).

TonyMoly has a list of products, including face and nail care, and they're polishes are 10mL and look like Cult Nails bottles. The website says it "does not contain harmful ingredients so it is safe to use" so read into that as you will.

Tony Moly Galaxy GT Collection

Tony Moly Galaxy GT01 Mercury

Tony Moly GT01 Mercury. Dark gray base with tons of silver glitter and a small amount of red and green glitter.

Tony Moly GT02 Earth

Tony Moly GT02 Earth. Charcoal gray glitter with blue, green, and red glitter. Mine dried almost like a matte. I like this finish, pretty cool, but not how other swatches turned out for other people. Strange.

Tony Moly GT03 Mars

Tony Moly GT03 Mars is a dark brown base with bronze, orange, and red glitter. Not your usual colors but I like it - definitely different.

Tony Moly GT04 Neptune

Tony Moly GT04 Neptune is a gorgeous dark green base with small green and silver glitter with medium bright green glitter. I like this one - it reminds me of Christmas for some reason.

Tony Moly GT05 Jupiter

Tony Moly GT05 Jupiter is a dark purple base with small light purple glitter and medium blue glitter. I really like this one just because it's so bright. And it's purple.

All the polishes were a good consistency to work with, applied opaque in two coats, and were just a wee bit gritty. I didn't put a topcoat for picture purposes but I'm sure it would even things out. Removal was the same for all glitters - hard - unless you use the foil method.

I got mine on eBay for $34.99 with free shipping from seller babieslinx, although from a google search a lot of people have had good success with HSCimports on eBay. My shipping was quick and my package arrived in excellent condition.

Any other foreign brands/collections I should check out?

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Urban Decay X

I love Urban Decay. Period. I love their packaging, their colors, their names. You name it, I like it.

I generally buy their palettes, as I get a variety of shadows. I never use enough to use them up, so I figure, might as well go for quantity!

I thought I'd try something new and go for a single eyeshadow this time around ... So I got X.

Urban Decay X on bare skin

Urban Decay X over UDPP

Urban Decay X reminds me of Nars Orgasm - it's a light peachy pink that looks more pink in low light and shines golden in the light. It's a very versatile shade, great for a soft wash of color or a highlight.

Urban Decay shadows are always richly pigmented and have great color payoff. I use this one a lot when I'm in a hurry and just need a sweep of lid color. I'm working on some other looks using this color. Any ideas?

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Revlon Snow Bunny

What's with the weather? We were all set to have a high of 77 and sunny, and it's rainy drab and dreary. Don't get me wrong, I <3 the rain, but when it just mists all day and it's cold, it does not make for a happy nail polish fiend who is trying to enjoy some holo polishes! Come on sun!

So in reverence of the dreary weather, I'm trying out a new Revlon polish!

Revlon Snow Bunny is a great frosty off white that covers great in three coats. It's not so stark white that it looks crazy bright against any skin tone, but it's white enough to be seen.

Revlon Snow Bunny

Just for kicks, some pretty layering...

Revlon Snow Bunny under Essie Set In Stones

What do you think about white polish? Do you prefer a stark white creme or a frostier version?