January 2018 Favorites!

Happy New Year! January is almost done, so it's time to discuss my favorite products from this month! Four of these items this month are relatively new - bought either this month or the end of 2017 and I didn't start using them until January, so they count as "new." I bought so much at the end of 2017 that I haven't felt the need for "new" stuff, which is making my low buy a lot easier!

Nails of the Day - 3.8.16

Okay, I'll admit it - not the most perfect mani. But I'm really happy about how springy this looks! The glitter is loose glitter patted onto a layer of damp polish. A thick layer of top coat on top of the glitter seals it in! (Just be careful, it may stay smudgy longer, even with a quick dry top coat.)

Here's what I used:

• OPI Nail Envy (trying to strengthen!)
• Formula X Harmonics
• Lit Cosmetics glitter in Angel Eyes
• Seche Vite

I've been having super good luck with my nails for the most part - only one or two breaking on the edges. With the Nail Envy, I'm hoping to grow them out again.

Nails of the Day - 09.03.15

I've been having some trouble with my nails - breakage, peeling, just all around unpleasantness. Due to that, it's been a while since I've done my nails! Here's my latest mani, which is a bit worse for wear since I didn't photograph it right away!

Products Used:

• OPI Nail Envy
• Deborah Lippmann creme nail polish in You've Got A Friend
• Deborah Lippmann glitter nail polish in Some Enchanted Evening
• Seche Vite

I actually didn't use a makeup sponge for the glitter tips, I used the brush that came with the polish, and it came out quite nicely!

Not So Glamorous Ulta Haul

I was at Ulta the other day and I picked up a few things! Not too much, and nothing incredibly exciting, but hauls are fun!

I picked up another bottle of Nivea In Shower Body Lotion. This stuff has totally changed my shower experience, I love not having to worry about moisturizing my back after the shower since I can manage much better in the shower! I also don't have an issue with tub residue, though I know I have heard it from some. Some more mundane items - bobby pins and foam toe separators. I've been working with broken toe separators for what feels like a century, and it's always one of those things you never think to pick up. Thankfully, I spotted these right by the registers and they were a dollar.

I was in the market for a foot scrub. I normally pick up a Footsie Pumice Scrub from indie shop Savor, but they haven't had it listed lately, and the shop is currently closed for vacation. In its stead, I picked up Earth Therapeutics Purifying Foot Scrub. Hopefully it gets the job done, I need to keep my feet looking nice during sandal weather! (Like I wear sandals...more like constant flip flops.)

Also managed to snag my third repurchase of the NYX Cosmetics Micro Brow Pencil in Ash Brown. It's $10 and I love it - I'm sure you're tired of hearing about it from me. Also picked up my go to top coat, Seche Vite. I've tried other top coats, but I keep coming back.

I love hauls, even small, mostly boring ones! Hopefully the foot scrub works out, I really miss the Savor scrub (mine was chai tea scented!) but I needed something in a pinch.

Nails of the Day - 6.24.15

I'm super excited about my very first Femme Fatale nail polish! This one is from the new The White Witch collection, based off of the Chronicles of Narnia. I ordered mine via Shiro Cosmetics - and while this particular shade isn't available, there are still others. This shade is Heart's Desires. The official description is a rose-coral crelly with green-gold crystal flakies and copper-orange highlights. I used two coats here. It's a really pretty toned down summery shade.

Products Used:

• Formula X base coat
• Femme Fatale Cosmetics Heart's Desires
• Seche Vite

Nails of the Day - 6.15.15

Happy Mani Monday! About time I upload my nails on a Monday! I actually too this picture right before I took this polish off. I've really been into gradients lately, and my favorite addition to gradients is a glitter topping. I really wish I had a solid glitter for this, but I made due with the shimmer finish of Hunny Bunny.

Products Used:

• OPI Nail Envy
• OPI Bubble Bath
• China Glaze Rose Among Thorns
• Lit Cosmetics glitter in Hunny Bunny
• Seche Vite

Nails of the Day - 6.7.15

I really love doing ombre nails. I chose to do a peachy coral to mint gradient this time, using two creme polishes. Normally I'd top with a glitter (China Glaze Fairy Dust is the perfect glitter polish to top everything with!) but I decided to forgo it this time around. I really suck with creme finish polishes for whatever reason, I should work on that.

Here's what I used:

• OPI Nail Envy
• China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint
• OPI Toucan Do It If You Try
• Seche Vite

Nails of the Day - 5.30.15

Starting the week off with a fresh mani. Less summery, more icy this time. I love adding glitter on top of nail polish instead of using glitter polish, since it comes off much easier when it's time to remove everything! I put on a thin layer of top coat, let it dry for about 30 seconds, and then dab on loose glitter using a makeup wedge. I seal everything up with a nice layer of top coat.

Products Used:

• OPI Nail Envy
• OPI Go On Green!
• Glitter Injections in Mystic Butterfly
• Seche Vite

Nails of the Day - 5.28.15

It's been a while since I did a standalone Nails of the Day post, and I happened to like the mani I did last night!

This was a sponge ombre effect. I layered the champagne shade on first, added some pink to the tips, and then had both shades on a sponge to blend them together. This technique is super easy, yet comes out looking great.

Products used:

• OPI Nail Envy
• Kiko Nail Lacquer #303
• Zoya Kimber
• Seche Vite

Victoria, Victoria Beckham x Nails Inc. Bamboo White Collection nail polish - Review

A few weeks ago, Beauty.com was having their 20% off sale, so I picked up the Nails Inc. collaboration polish with Victoria Beckham. I hadn't even heard of it until I saw it on a couple of YouTube channels, but then I thought hey, you know what - 20% off, might as well.

When I opened my package, I was wondering what the hell the big white box was - I had ordered a nail polish and a cream eyeshadow stick, nothing huge! Then I noticed the lid.Very Posh Spice, indeed.

All of this packaging for one little nail polish! There are two in the collection, Bamboo White and Judo Red. I picked up Bamboo White, as I currently don't have anything like that in my collection, while I have a few orangey red shades. For $25, I don't need to be buying more than I need.

Here's the bottle! The large top pops off to reveal a smaller top you screw off that's attached the the brush. The bottle is pretty heavy and feels nice, the face is concave. I like the clear glass on the sides to see the shade. I really dig the brush, its more of a paddle shape than a straight cut, helping you to get an even coat on your nails more easily. 

The polish itself was a little difficult to work with, maybe it's because I'm not the best with creme polishes. It was a little streaky, and I needed 2-3 coats on some nails to get it to look solid, with a few gaps. The shade is gorgeous though, a very chic off white almost baby pink but not quite, but possibly kind of gray? A sort of je ne sais quoi nude nail polish, if you will.

I wore this for about four days without any major chips. I have a feeling it would have lasted longer, but I did do some cleaning and dish washing without gloves (I'm the worst...) so four days it pretty good to take a chemical beating like that.

The VVB x Nails Inc. collab is of course, limited edition. You can pick up each shade individually, or as as set, if you can still find those floating around. I have Judo Red in my cart right now, waffling on whether or not to snag it from Sephora. I also have that huge box sitting around, because I sort of dig it. Totally wasteful, but still kind of cool. 

Victoria, Victoria Beckham x Nails Inc. Bamboo White Collection nail polish (Limited Edition) - $25.00 for 0.47 oz

Review - 3.5/5

Here's a quick mani I did using Bamboo White. Excuse my trash cuticles. I'm happy to report that after about three weeks to a month of having a few nails break, I'm back to being able to do my nails again!

• OPI Nail Envy
• VVB x Nails Inc Bamboo White Collection
• Seche Vite

Cirque Colors Spring Release - Love Stone and New Moon

I love new nail polish collections almost as much as new makeup collections, and I fell in love with the new Cirque Colors Awakening Collection for Spring. I picked up two of the shades, Love Stone and New Moon.

Love Stone (left) and New Moon (right

Love Stone is a beautiful petal pink with gold sparkles. The base is a pink cream, and it took two coats to build to full opacity, and it comes to a shimmery finish with the glitter building up and overtaking the cream base.

New Moon is a stormy grey with silver shimmer mixed in. The base is a grey cream, and two coats was enough to build to full opacity. The finish comes to a nice shimmer.

I like Cirque polishes, and they have yet to disappoint me. I am happy with the spring colors I decided to pick up. They're a little pricey, but they do occasionally run sales, so keep an eye out!

Love Stone topped with Lit Cosmetics Oprah glitter in size 3

Here's a quick mani I put together for Love Stone. I topped it with Lit Cosmetics glitter in Oprah, size 3. It comes together to create a lovely shimmery pink look that reminds me of sakura petals.

The Awakening Collection is Limited Edition from Cirque Colors. Each nail polish is $13 for 0.45 oz.

Haul and NOTD - ILNP

So after my good friend Nicole posted some nail looks with ILNP nail polishes, I had to pick some up for myself. I picked up two polishes - Fall Semester and Supernova.

ILNP Supernova (left) and Fall Semester (right)

The thing that drew me in were the ILNP Ultra Chrome Flakies. I am a sucker for glitter polishes, and the range that these had was unreal. I picked Supernova because it has a deep purple shift in it, and it seems like it would be great over black. ILNP claims that in a few coats the flakies will be opaque, which I have yet to try.

I also picked up Fall Semester, a blue shimmer polish. I felt it would pair nicely with the teal end of Supernova - I didn't want to get a mismatched set of polishes for my first purchase.

Shipping was quick - the polishes were enroute to me by the evening on the day I placed my order.

Nail look using Fall Semester and Supernova

For the nail look, I used Fall Semester on every nail, and then loaded up Supernova on the ring finger. The flakies were indeed opaque with a few coats, and unlike other glitter polishes, they were not uneven and chunky. I did need an extra layer of top coat for smoothness. I loved how Supernova would catch the light and change colors at different angles, you can see a bit of that in the photos with the purple shift.

The polish lasted about a week on me, including my very hard on nail polish days of typing at work. The polish went on smooth and was easy to apply. I will definitely be purchasing from ILNP again - I need more flakies!

Nails of the Day - 1.26.15

I wanted to share another manicure I was sporting this week! I'm really enjoying using Lit glitters to decorate my nails, it's SO much easier than glitter nail polish!

Here's a list of the products I used:

• Orly Bonder base coat
• Deborah Lippmann "You've Got A Friend"
• Sephora by OPI "Wardrobe Change"
• Lit Cosmetics glitter in Sugar & Spice
• Seche Vite top coat

Nails of the Day - 1.20.15

I'm calling this nails of the day, since sometimes I paint my nails more than once a week! I wanted to showcase my nail art here as well, since I have quite a collection of nail polish in addition to makeup. I'm also learning to use the Macro setting on my camera, so what better thing to practice with!

Here is a list of what I used for this manicure:

• Orly Bonder base coat
• Cirque Colors Memento Mori
• Lit Cosmetics glitter in Seeing Stars
• Seche Vite top coat

For the glitter, I took a dry makeup sponge and dabbed dry glitter lightly onto slightly tacky polish, and then went over with a top coat. This loose glitter was MUCH less chunky and rough than a glitter nail polish! I am really pleased with how this turned out.

I can't wait to share more nail looks!