Wednesday, May 29, 2013

More Indie Goodness!

In the past few months, I have become increasingly more obsessed with indie polishes.  Prior to finding the amazing nail community on Instagram, I had no idea that such amazing handmade polishes existed!  I'm slowly building my indie polish army, some from the generosity of the makers who have trusted me to swatch and review these polishes, and some I purchased.  I wish I could purchase them all!!

Recently, one of my favorite indie makers, Polish Addict, had a Mother's Day sale where your order was 35% off.  And ever since she sent me Sweet Dreams to review, I need to get my hands on more of her Crelly Collection. So I instantly decided on Neon Nights and Standing in the Neon.  Those were the easy decisions to make.  And last I went with Pretty in Punk, which caught my eye because of the grey and pink mix that I love.

From R to L: Standing in the Neon, Pretty in Punk, and Neon Nights

Look at those glittery beauties!! You can see I've already made a decent dent in Pretty in Punk and Neon Nights; that's what I get for buying minis...

First is my swatch of Standing in the Neon.  


I love this white creamy "crelly" consistency.  The milkiness of it means a set of undies isn't needed, and it builds really well on the nail.  It's still slightly sheer after three coats, but in such a unique way that I love.  As you can see this polish is full of large pink and black hex glitters, as well as medium white and black hexes.  There are also small pink and black glitters mixed with white bar glitters.  It applies well, builds well, wears well.  Of course it looks great on!! 

I feel Standing in the Neon is slightly more opaque than Neon Nights, but we will get to that soon!

Second is Pretty in Punk (not from the "Crelly" collection).  It's got a jellyish grey base and it is *packed* with black, gold, and pale pink glitters. All the glitter is hex shaped and the black and gold are the same size, while the pink is slightly bigger.  It applies well and each swipe of the brush leaves behind such an amazing amount of glitter.  

I did choose to wear NYC Color in StreetWalkers under this one, since the grey is so sheer and there is so much glitter I wanted to make sure I could make the glitter stand out! The only downside to this color is that it leaves glitter all over my hands when I take it off.  And as far as downsides go, I can definitely deal with that one!


And last I have Neon Nights.  As soon as I saw this polish, I knew I had to have it!!  I waited to buy it since Laura as having a giveaway and the prize was a full sized Neon Nights.  Unfortunately I was not the winner of that giveaway.  So I knew I had to buy this ASAP!!
Again it's from the "crelly" collection that debuted earlier in May. And like I said earlier it seems slightly less opaque than Standing in the Neon, but more jelly than Standing. 


This polish is absolutely anything I could ever want!  The milky white crelly, tiny neon glitters, medium and large neon glitters in pink, blue, orange, green, yellow!!  And the skinny black bar glitter, thick black bar glitter,and those circles!!  I love the circles!  The only downside to this polish is that I don't see the black circles on my nails as much as I would like. But the upside is that I get really excited (probably too excited, but I don't care) when I find a circle on the brush!  


I always wonder how polish makers come up with so many different colors and creations, and I have seen some that just don't flow.  Not this one.  Everything works perfectly.  It all just clicks, and in my opinion makes the most perfect polish.  Everything I could want in one.
Now only if those neons were glow in the dark...


You can find Polish Addict here. The site is currently under maintenance while they get caught up on orders, and will reopen June 1st, with new collections that I can't wait to get my claws on!!

~Kat

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Textured Polish Comparison

Sorry if it seems like I've been neglecting you guys lately.  I've been spending my nights with Hubs, since he's been out of work on sick leave for his surgery, followed immediately with vacation time.  But his month off is now over, and I will be back to blogging more frequently now!!

Today I have a comparison of three different textured polishes today, China Glaze Texture, Orly Mega Pixel FX, and OPI Liquid Sand.  They are probably the three most popular textures out there right now, and they are all really different!!

First up is China Glaze Texture.  I got mine at Sally's a few weeks ago, and I got the pink, Unrefined.  It's a bright summer pink, that is going to look amazing on any skin tone!  It's a perfect summer color.
This is two coats, in a lightbox.  I didn't use a top coat, so I could have the true texture.  It covers well, with no balding; which I can't say about some of the other recent China Glaze collections (I'm looking at you, Holographic collection).  It also dries really quickly, especially the first coat. I smudged my first application but only because I'm used to my polish drying immediately with Seche Vite. The downside to this texture polish is that it is really rough!  I actually scratched my face with my nail polish the first time I wore it.  However, even without the top coat, there was minimal tip wear by the end of the following day!

Second, is Orly MegaPixel FX.  I also got this at Sally's during their May polish sale where I got a free Orly Argan Oil cuticle oil. The color I picked up was Rose Pixel.  It's supposed to be a Rose Gold color, which is a really big color trend at the moment.

This is three coats, with no top coat again.  In pictures with flash this color is really pretty and exactly what I wanted it to look like. However in real life, the color is really plain, almost like there isn't any pigment in it.  I chose this color because in the promotional swatches it looked the most unique.  So I was highly disappointed with the color of this polish.  As for the texture, it was much softer than the China Glaze texture, but there was a lot of tip wear and chipping within the first day.  And that is highly unusual for Orly polish!  

And last but not least is the OPI Liquid Sand.  I went back to the nail polish supply store in my city yesterday, and they had a few of the Bond Girls collection!  I really wanted Pussy Galore, which is a gorgeous pale pink with what looks like a golden glitter hidden in it.  Unfortunately, they only had Tiffany Case and Solitaire.  Tiffany Case is a nice bright blue which is pretty, but I have been on a blue streak lately so I passed on that one.  Instead I bought Solitaire.

I wish I could get an accurate representation of this color with a photo.  Because this does NOT do it justice.  It's a beautiful white shimmer with nice sized silver glitter that reflects on everything!  I always forget how much I love OPI.  And then I use it again and fall in love all over.  They have the best brush, hands down.  This color covered so well, and I used two coats in this mani again with no top coat.  Not only does OPI have the best brush, but they have the least gritty textured polish. It's obviously textured when you see it, and it's actually soft and not scratchy at all.  

Out of the three, the OPI Liquid Sand is my favorite.  It covers well and has the best feeling to the texture. And the brush is really important.  The China Glaze came in second place, and it's only because it wore better than the Orly.  Had the Orly not chipped by the end of the first day of wear, it would have been second. Especially because the texture of the China Glaze is so gritty, compared to the other two brands.  

But don't just take my word for it, go check out these collections and all the others available. Currently I know that Sally Hansen has a textured collection called Sugar Coat, and Milani also had a textured line, but I was never able to find it.  I saw the Sally Hansen at Target this week.  China Glaze only has the one textured line right now, as does Orly.  But OPI seems to be incorporating at least one Liquid Sand color into each collection.

Have you tried any of the texures?  What did you think about them?  Let me know in the comments.

~Kat

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Ipsy May "Spring Fling" Bag

As you know, I subscribe to Ipsy and I get a beauty bag full of deluxe makeup samples.  Last month was my first month, and I loved that bag.  So when I started seeing sneak peeks of May's bag, I was even more excited.  

The first one I figured out quickly, was a Zoya nail polish! How exciting.  I ordered 3 Zoyas during their Three Free promotion at the beginning of the year, where you paid $10 shipping and got any three polishes you wanted.  And I loved the formula, but two of the colors I chose looked completely different than what I saw online. So I gave those two away.  And I was really excited to try it again. 

The second sneak peek was a picture of either a lip stick or lip gloss, and I was really hoping for a lipstick, because I haven't really experimented too much with actual lipstick, just gloss. And the whole reason I signed up for Ipsy was to try new products and companies!

I had been reading that we would be receiving 5 items in this months bag. Usually you get four items and one or two is full sized, with the others being deluxe samples (can be used more than once).  It was sounding like this was going to be one of the best bags they have put together thus far.  I finally got my tracking email, meaning it was sent out, and it said I was getting a free bonus item!!  I was going to be getting an Urban Decay Moondust eyeshadow!

I finally received my bag today!  Of course I wasnt home all day and had to wait till I got home to tear it open.  It was one of the best parts of my day. 
I love seeing this pink bag in my mail!!

Everything I found in my bag was exactly what I was hoping I would get (of course I had been stalking #ipsy on Instagram to see what everyone was getting!).  


First of all, how adorbs is the bag this month? I feel it's somewhat appropriate, since Ottavio Missoni just died recently, so it seems a bit of an homage to him.  For those who don't know him, he co-founded the Missoni fashion line, famous for their signature zigzag pattern
Example of Missoni Print from a Google search

But back to the bag...

...First of all, the Zoya nail polish.  It's Zoya Blu, and it's a beautiful pale blue, perfect on its own or in nail art.  I will be swatching this for you all in the near future.

Second, I got a lipstick!!  Mirabella colour sheer in Daydream.  It's a really pretty sheer pink, that seems to build well.  I was hoping for something I little more on the red side, something more outside of my comfort zone.  But I might have to order some, because I really think I am going to like this lipstick.

Third, Pacifica purfume roll-on in Island Vanilla.  The box describes it as "Tahitian vanilla, anchored with rich boubon vanilla notes".  I'm obsessed.  I need more.  NOW.  I need one for work, one for my purse, like 6 for home (just in case).  Good thing I have the Ipsy 20% off code for Pacifica products!  It's so light, yet I can smell it on myself.  And not in a way that makes my head hurt or makes me nauseous.  I'm sure Hubs will love it too.

Fourth I received St. Tropez Instant Glow tanning lotion. This makes me slightly nervous, as tanning lotions and I don't mix well.  They tend to be streaky, or too dark, or they smell terrible and leave marks all over my clothes.  But they claim that this is a "one day" self tanner, and will wash off in the shower that night.  It's worth a shot, while I wait to get some summer color.

The last item I received, not including the bonus item, was a Yaby concealer refill. It's a small disk of concealer that fits in a small compact.  I think the color I got is slightly too dark for me, but I'll give it a shot once my concealer brush dries.

And the bonus item was Urban Decay Moonshine eyeshadow in Glitter Rock.  It's a gorgeous purple glitter shimmer.  It's a nice warm purplish magenta, full of shimmer. It went on my hand sheer, but super shimmery. And from there it blended well.  This will look insane if used wet, which I can't wait to try.  I really couldn't have gone wrong with any of the Moonshine colors, as they were all gorgeous.

I will be swatching the items of color I have received, and letting you know how the self tanner works, as soon as I use it.  I just wanted to let you know how awesome this months bag was. And to tell you if you don't subscribe to Ipsy, you need to.  The bag is $10 a month including shipping, and the bag I just received was worth close to $80, including the eyeshadow, which not everyone received.  If you're interested in signing up, go here.  There may be a slight waitlist, but it's worth it!!

~Kat

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Product Review: Ivory 2 in 1 Bodywash and Shampoo

I have been gone for so long! I'm sorry!!  Hubs had his second surgery, resulting from an accident he had this past fall, so I've been nursing him back to health.  And I've done such a fine job, so tonight he's off at his last grad school class EVER!!  And I finally get to blog again.

And I have an awesome product review for you tonight!  As you can see from above, it was my first Vox Box from Influenster.  I was selected to try Ivory's new 2 in 1 Body Wash. It's a body wash and shampoo in one, to make shower and bath time that much easier.



I'm not a 2 in 1 kinda girl, especially when it comes to my hair.  This messy mane requires a LOT of conditioner.  So while this wasn't something I was excited to use on myself, I thought it would be perfect for Bebe.  And I was right!  It works great in her hair, although I do follow up with conditioner because she has my coarse hair, and it leaves her skin so soft.  And of course she smells great.  Is there anything better smelling than a clean baby, err, three year old?  And she loves it because she gets to play with her bath toys that much sooner.  I also discovered it makes an awesome bubble bath.  I can't let her use the fun Disney character bubble bath she wants from the stores, because it gives her a slight rash, so I love that this makes such a great bubble.  Now I can give her the fun bath time she likes, and not a rash to go along with it!

Of course, I had to try this myself; just not as a shampoo.  I already knew how that would turn out, and it wasn't going to be good.  But, I did use it both as a soap in the shower, and while shaving.  As a soap, it was slightly drying on my skin, which I wasn't expecting since it didn't leave Bebe dry.  However, as a shaving cream, it didn't seem as drying.  Maybe it was the moisturizing strip in my razor, or maybe my legs don't get as dry as my arms?  But either way, it will be a nice backup for those occasions when I run out mid shave, or forget to buy more!

I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars, due to how awesome it works during the baby bath. It's not all the great for me, as I predicted, but like I said, I love it for kids.  Hubs used it once or twice during his recovery, and said it was something he would be interested in trying again, but that was all the review I could get out of him.


You can find more information on Ivory's Facebook page, and check out this funny video they posted here.

~Kat

Disclaimer: I received this product free from Ivory and Influenster, in exchange for my honest review.  This review is in no way influenced by Ivory or Influenster.