MAC Haul

Just a fast post for now, I keep getting side tracked/interrupted and now have zero focus. I did find a lovely little parcel at my door this afternoon though...

 

 What's better than sleeping 'til noon past noon, and waking up to find MAC goodies? Not too much in my book. My excitement was hindered a bit when I found that one of my lipsticks (Snob) was back-ordered, but I guess I'll survive. I had initially planned on getting more new items (from the three new collections) but there really wasn't much I was excited about other than the Blush Ombre .

I got:

- Studio Sculpt SPF 15 Foundation

- Modesty Lipstick- Creamsheen

- Azalea Blossom Blush Ombre  

Azalea Blossom Blush Ombre Preview

I'll have a review of the blush up soon. 

Have you bought anything from the new MAC collections?

NOTD: Audrey's Rainbow

Yes, another nail of the day, but I've been lazing about the house with plenty of time to "play" in my nail polish. I love nail blogs and tmblrs and am constantly jotting down notes for polish combinations and design ideas. Today's NOTD is a take on one I spotted a few months ago.

Before

The initial look was a base coat of China Glaze for Audrey with a topping of OPI Rainbow Connection. While I had liked this when I saw it online, it looked somewhat wrong in person, incomplete somehow.

After

After spending a few moments trying to decide what could be done to make things look "better" I opted to add a couple coats of Essie Sugar Daddy. The sheer milky pink adds a cloudy, dreamy cast over the existing look making it almost look like a glitter sandwich. I am quite happy with the look. It looks a bit spring-ish, but since we've yet to have any snow accumulate here, it matches the weather quite well.

What are you sporting on your nails?

NOTD: Minty Christmas Skittles

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's still Christmas Eve for me, as I've yet to head off to bed, but it is technically Christmas. I have one more Christmas themed mani.

I was originally planning on doing candy cane stripes, but it became obvious that the brush I had planned on using was too large. I had already committed to my theme, so I decided to try and do peppermint swirls instead. To make the swirls, I applied a thick coat of white polish and a drop of my colour. I then used a small dotting tool and dragged the colour around.

"Spearmint Swirl" thumb= Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, China Glaze Holly Day
"Red Tinsel" pointer finger= China Glaze Phat Santa, OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It
"Green Tinsel" middle finger= China Glaze Holly Day, OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air
"Peppermint Swirl" ring finger= Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, China Glaze Phat Santa

"Silver Bells" pinky= Julep Leighton, China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara


What are you sporting on your nails for Christmas?

Variations of a Theme- Christmas Nails

This year Christmas is not a big deal. No decorations, no turkey (well, I am going to cook turkey breast, but no full on, wings and giblets type deal), no out of town family, no wrapped gifts, no stress, no big deal. We had a shitty year, and for the most aren't feeling too festive. Grinch-y enough for you? All that aside, I do enjoy a themed nail every now and then, so maybe, just maybe my heart isn't two sizes too small.

 Look #1

Green= China Glaze Holly Day

Red= China Glaze Phat Santa 

Glitter= China Glaze Party Hearty

Essie Matte About You

Simple but festive. I knew I had to use Party Hearty at least once over the holidays because it just isn't appropriate any other time of year. It's elf barf in a bottle. I am currently digging my glitters matte, so I topped everything off with Matte About You. I was never a fan of the whole matte look, but I really dig Holly Day matte.

 Look #2

White= Revlon Matte Suede Powder Puff

Assorted Nail Art Stones

As you can see, I've been collecting nail art stones in every size I can find. I love the look of gem clusters but up until now, I never do them. I used Powder Puff instead of a normal white polish, because I like that it is just that bit softer and less harsh, and because it has a fine shimmer. Unlike the last look I wasn't feeling very matte like, so I topped this off with Seche Vite (killing off the suede finish that makes Powder Puff so unique.)

"I'll just sit back here..."

"wait, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Fish Face was my helper during the editing phase of this post. She wishes you all a Merry Christmas and all that jazz.

Swatches: L'Oreal Owl's Night

I don't know how it happened, but up until now, I have never had a L'Oreal nail polish. Why is that? Not that you've got an answer (you don't, do you?) but I must say that I am super impressed with Owl's Night.

Owl's Night has seen a lot of attention across the blog-o-sphere, and I can totally see why; this deep, green tinged taupe is gorgeous. It has a coppery shimmer that reflects gold that makes it really come alive. The formula is perfect and applies wonderfully in two coats. This is one of those shades that you just can't stop staring at.

Have you picked up this shade? 

Review: Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter pt. 2- Gumdrop

 As the title suggests, this is part two of my Revlon Colour Burst review, and is really just a stub. To see part one (with full details) see here. If you've already read that, you'll know that there was on last shade that I wanted to pick up: Gumdrop. 

Obviously I found it! It is a pretty lilac shade that is pretty perfect in my opinion.

 Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter Gumdrop

 Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter Gumdrop

 Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter Gumdrop

Top: Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter Gumdrop

Bottom: MAC Lavender Whip

As I mentioned above, Gumdrop is a creamy, pale lilac shade. This butter does have shimmer in it, but it is not detectable on the lip. I posted a comparison of MAC's Lavender Whip because they look almost identical in the tube. Obviously, Lavender Whip is more pigmented than Gumdrop, but it is also a bit darker and has less of a pink lean.

I have been wearing Gumdrop steady since I picked it up. I would say that it is one of my top three out of the eight I have.

Review: Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Eyeshadow Pt. 2

I previously reviewed/swatched Tough as Taupe and Bad to the Bronze here, so this won't really be a full review, just a continuation. I happened to see a few more shades on a recent shopping trip, so I picked up two more: Audacious Asphalt and Too Cool.

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Eyeshadow Audacious Asphalt

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Eyeshadow Audacious Asphalt

 

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Eyeshadow Audacious Asphalt

 

Audacious Asphalt is a charcoal gray shade with shimmer and a fine smattering (yes, smattering) of micro glitter, but there is no texture to it. This shade would be great as a base for smoky looks or even just smudges on its own, for a smoldering deep look. 

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Eyeshadow Too Cool

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Eyeshadow Too Cool

 

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Eyeshadow Too Cool

 

Too Cool is a frosty, shimmery white. It is a bit sheer than the other shades I have, but it would be great as a base as it would give coloured eyeshadows a boost. 

 

These are great alternatives to MAC Paint Pots if you aren't keen on MAC prices or tend to miss the boat when new ones come out (me!), and totally worth trying if you haven't already.

While on the eyeshadow topic, I thought I'd share my new little storage unit (hello early Christmas!). I store my paint pots and various cream shadows in the top drawer (a few in the bottom as well) and my loose shadows (I don't have many) are on the bottom as well. The top has a little tray that fits on (it's removable as well) that I keep some of my current daily/heavy rotation products. I must say that it is a bit smaller than I was expecting, but I am quite happy with it. If anyone is interested it is from this seller on ebay.

 

How do you store individual and cream shadows?

"I don't think I have that colour..."

click for full size

I totally didn't get do any of the posts I wanted to get to last night and I have all your awesome comments to reply to. I should switch to Disqus, I love talking typing with everyone, but I'm so slow getting responses posted (you can't hear me answering you when I read your comments can you? It would totally save me some time if you could.) I started organizing and time totally got away from me. Today, I started into my nail polish stash...

A) When did I get sooo much? This isn't even including treatments (top/base coats, effects, and what not), nail stickers (think Sally Hansen Salon Effects) and the bulk of my minis.

B) Which method works best for storage: by brand or by colour?

 I went with brand just because I was too lazy to start dividing them up by colour. How do you store your polish; by brand or by colour or by polish stew (aka all in one pile)?

Baby Haul

I had to stop in at Shopper's Drug Mart to pick up a few parcels today ( I got a super awesome early Christmas gift, but you'll have to wait to see it) and of course that lead me through the cosmetics section.

I finally saw the Revlon Lip Butter display in store, so I grabbed Gum Drop (the shade I was missing.) I meandered a bit, I noticed that the Maybelline displays had been changed since the last time I was in. I foun two more Colour Tattoo eyeshadow shades that weren't out before: Audacious Asphalt and Too Cool. Last to spot my eye was a tiny, little L'Oreal display. I spotted Owl's Night, so I opted to snatch one for myself. I'll be busy adding reviews of these items tonight, so be sure to check back if you're interested.

The new Revlon ColourStay Long Wear polishes were on display was well, which when used with their top coat. have a "gel like" finish and "up to 11 days of shatterproof colour" . I was intrigued, but the colours all seemed like shades I already have. Anyone tried these yet?

Swatches: Revlon Facets of Fuchsia & Starry Pink

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia and Starry Pink

Hopefully no one is sick of polish posts yet, I realized that most of my "planned" (I use that term lightly) posts are polish related. I had a few other items planned, but I think I need to retake some photos. Anyhow, today I've got swatches of two of the newer Revlon polishes from the Expressionists Collction. I say newer because these weren't available here when they first came out, and because Revlon seems to have had a boat load of new polishes come out the last while.

While there are four shades in this collection, there are three that blew up in the blogsophere: Facets of Fuchsia- a blackened jelly base with fuchsia micro and hex glitter, Starry Pink- a milky pink base with silver micro and hex glitter, and Blue Mosaic, which I didn't pick up because when I spotted these I was just coming down off an OPI Muppet glitter high and didn't think I needed it.

 Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

 Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

Revlon Starry Pink

 

Revlon Starry Pink

For glitters, and polish in general, these applied pretty easily. Both went on in two coats; one thin, one a bit thicker ( I was in a hurry.) The glitter was pretty easy to work with and distributed itself along the nail with no issues (a major plus.) I love the look of both, but was surprised by just how great Facets of Fuchsia looked on. It is said to be a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance, which I don't have, and from what I've seen online, it truly is. $6 compared to $20? I'll take the Revlon any day.

Do you have either of these polishes? What do think of them?

NOTD: OPI Road House Blues & Essie Shine of the Times

I've been redoing my makeup storage (a work in progress) and have slowly been rearranging my polish collection as well. I think I have a polish problem... I have realized just how many polishes I have that I've only used once (many not at all) and all the combinations I've wanted to try. I originally bought Road House Blues to wear with I Lily Love You, but go figure, never got around to wearing it. I was tempted to go with that combo, but since I recently got Essie's Shine of the Times I opted for that instead. 

OPI Road House Blues

Road House Blues is a deep blue that is part navy part indigo. In person you get more of the indigo undertones than in the photo. To those thinking it ( I did too) no it is not just another deep blue, it has that "something" to it. Blue lovers get it. I don't know when OPI changed their brush... but whoa! The brush on this is big, and flat. It was almost too big for my smaller nails, but it did make applying polish super fast and I got used to it quickly. The formula on RHB is fan-fricken'-tastic, except switch out "fricken'" for the real word. What you see above is, wait for it... one coat! LOVE.

Essie Shine of the Times over OPI Road House Blues

First off, ugh. This was so hard to photograph. I took 57 photos (not kidding) and they all sucked. You get these two and you'll like it. Shine of the Times is my first flakie ( I bought I Lily Love You first, but never used it) and I wasn't even sure what I thought of the effect. I know a lot of nail freaks go bat crap crazy over flakies, but I'm not sold on this look. Over RHB the flakes shift from coppery red, gold, blue and green, the later two in certain lighting only. For the most part the flakes stay in the copper to gold range. I'm just "meh" about the look. I think I'll have to try Shine of the Times (which makes me think of this every time I type it, must listen to On Call and Arizona now) over a lighter colour polish and report back.

What's your take on flakies? Have you tried Shine of the Times (or any of the dupes)?

December Topbox

If you read my blog very often, you'll know that I lurve me some subscription service. The newest one on my list is Topbox. It is pretty much like all the others: for $10 each month you receive a sampling of products, but their spin is that you only get "luxury" brands. Interesting... I missed out on last month's box by mere days and was totally bummed as it contained a full size Cake hand cream and a full size Deborah Lippman nail polish. Not too shabby at all.

While this month's box tube did not contain those items, it did have a nice assortment and one full size item.  I must say, the tube is cute and a nice way to stand out from the boxes.

The items:
- Cargo Classic Lip Gloss with Timestrip Technology in "Dusseldorf" (full size)
- Cover FX Skinprep FX Primer
- Skinceuticals Hydrating B5 Gel
- Dr. Brandt Collagen Eye Serum

Cargo Classic Lip Gloss with Timestrip Technology in "Dusseldorf"

I was pretty excited to see the Cargo gloss. I remember seeing it in every magazine when it came out, but I never got around to getting one. The "timestrip technology" is a little card that fits into the cap and turns red over the lifespan of the gloss. After nine months, when the strip is completely red, you're supposed to toss your gloss. The shade "Dusseldorf' (say it, it's almost as fun as saying "schnapps") was custom selected for me, based on my Topbox profile. They sure are spot on, the colour is perfect; a shimmery neutral plummy pink. It is not a fully opaque gloss, but it does have a fair bit of colour. It isn't overly sticky but lasts quite well.

Overall, I am pretty happy with Topbox. Have you tried it?