April Ipsy Glam Bag

Back in January, I learned about and signed up for the Ipsy Glam bag (sign up or learn more here).  Each month, they send you a beauty bag and it's filled with 4-5 deluxe sized samples.  And usually one item is full sized!  It's $10 a month with free shipping, and you receive your bag around the 10-15 of the month. Then they ask that you review the products and share the looks you've created.  

Unfortunately when I signed up, I was wait listed, due to popularity of the bag.  But this month I finally got my first bag!  

 How cute is the packaging it's shipped in?  I can't wait to continue to see this pink bag in my mail each month!!

How awesome is all this stuff?!  And I was so excited to get a nail polish!  Two of the products are full sized, the nail polish and the Be a Bombshell Blush.  The others are all deluxe sized samples, meaning you can use them all more than once.

The polish I got was Sation's Love at First Byte.  It's a pale, creamy pink.  I'm not a huge fan of the color, but it might be a nice muted pedicure color?

The blush is Be a Bombshell's Sweet Cheeks.  It's a shimmery pink, that looks bright in the container, but it's actually pretty tame and pale in real life, at least on my skin.

Sorry for the awkward hand pose, I'm new to swatching makeup ;)

This is MICA shimmer powder is Earth.  It's a mineral makeup line.  This is a great shimmery nude that I will be using quite frequently, I can tell you that already.  I love shimmery eye makeup, especially nudes.  One of the nice things about Ipsy, is that along with your bag and samples, you get coupon codes for each product, and usually the entire online store for that company!  So I feel I will be using the MICA coupon code!

This shimmer is pale on my skin, but noticable, and I can't wait to try it along my brow bone tomorrow, and maybe the inner corner of my eyes.

I'm excited about the Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Renewal!!  It's a styling treatment that has argon oil, which I love.  The directions on the bottle say to apply a small amount to damp hair to help speed up drying time or apply to dry hair to fight frizz and add shine.  The speedier drying time is why I'm so excited!  I have SUUUUPER thick hair, and sometimes I can stand under a blow dryer for close to 45 minutes. I could have done a cute mani in that time!  And, it smells amazing!  

Another thing about Ipsy, is that you may notice that some people received one or two different items than you did.  In my case, I noticed yesterday that one girl got a pinker Sation polish, an eye shadow by Two Cosmetics, and Big Sexy Hair volumizing powder.  When you signup, they have you fill out a beauty survey, similar to Julep or Shoe Fab, to make sure you receive products you would use the most. I'm so glad I didn't get the volumizing powder, because it's something I would never use, due to the fact I would never need to! 

I'm super excited about this whole bag, and I can't wait to use the products on my face tomorrow!  I have yet to decide on a mani for tonight/tomorrow, so I probably won't swatch the polish for a few days; but as soon as I do, you'll be the first to know!

~Kat

Gorgeous Glitter

How has everyone's week been? I've been exhausted each night after work, and by the time I get BeBe down for bed, I just have no motivation to do anything.  Of course, I've been doing my nails; that's a given.  But no motivation for anything beyond that.

So I do have a few pics and things for you tonight.  First I've been playing with all those China Glaze polishes I got last week. I have swatches of three of those, plus some amazing glitter I purchased on a whim after seeing it on Instgram.

So best things first, the glitter!  It's from a company called Nabi; and I found it on Amazon for $3.50 shipped.  I have heard of people finding it in random dollar stores, or unusual stores, like hidden gems.  The color I got is called Nabi Jumbo Purple Glitter.

And it's even more amazing in person.

I'll show you the swatches of the polish without the glitter first, and then with this insane glitter.

This is Flying Dragon from the China Glaze Ink collection.  All the colors are super bright, and centered around old school traditional tattoos.  It's a bright (BRIGHT!) purple matte polish with iridescent purple glitter and bright blue glitter.  It's one of the most unique colors I have.

And here is the polish with 2 coats of the Nabi glitter. Please excuse the chips.  I had a rough hand day at work, and I couldn't wait to test the Nabi once I opened it :)

This is Turned Up Turquoise, from the China Glaze Neon collection.  Again, a super bright polish that dries quickly, and matte.  Sorry these are messy, it was before clean up, and it's the only picture of this color I have.

This one, obviously, isn't the clearest of pictures.  But out of focus you can see even more of the glitter, I think.

The one downside to the amazingness of the glitter, it stinks.  Terribly. I'm going to have to figure out a way to counteract that downside.

And this is on my nails currently, Swing Baby, from Vintage Vixen.  For those wondering, I found these in the permanent display at my local Sallys.  This is 3 coats of this gorgeous gold. I love how subtle the color is, yet so shiny and pretty.  I've debated about stamping over this with some dark zebra stripes, but I can't decide.  Maybe I'll sleep on it and decide in the morning?

~Kat

Two Obsessions Combined!

Well, we all know how much I love polish, and I've recently gotten into a indie polish craze.  But something you may not know; I'm obsessed with Gossip Girl. By obsessed, I mean, I watched the whole thing in about 3 months from start to finish (I didn't watch from the beginning).  I mean, I dreamt about Chuck Bass on a nightly basis, because I watched so much Gossip Girl before bed. And because he's so uh-mazing too (lets be honest).

But, enough about that. So I was screwing around on Facebook a few weeks ago, and an indie maker that I started following Polish Addict, had moved some older colors into retirement, and they were being marked down.  So I had a looksey.  And what did my Chuck Bass obsessed heart find!?

I don't even have to tell you that I didn't hesitate to buy this.  Look at all that glittery goodness!  And that doesn't even begin to show it all.  There are hearts in there!  Pink ones, and red too!!  And bar glitter, and different hexes, and squares; oh my. 

I also have been really lazy this last weekend, and haven't done a whole bunch with my nails; which explains the lack of posting this weekend.  But I couldn't wait to swatch this. Today I put it over one of the 6 new polishes I bought today (more on that later).  And fell in love all over again.

 Sick, right?  I love this.

I kind of want to use this over everything right now! But like I said, I bought 6 more new polishes today.  I have the best husband in the world, and he gave me some moola today and said to have at it.  So I did.  Sally's is having a huge polish sale right now; Buy two, get one free!  Plus I had a 15% off coupon, so 6 China Glaze polishes were $20.06.

 Well hello, pretties.  Welcome home.  From top we have, Japanese Koi (and I wish it showed how neon orange this color really is), Turned Up Turquoise, Flying Dragon (with bright blue glitter inside), No Plain Jane, Swing Baby, and Naked.  I'll swatch them all soon, with a corresponding blog post.  My mani tonight has a few of these, and here is what I did.

I started with the Japanese Koi, with an accent nail of Swing Baby.

And then added leopard spots with the Turned Up Turquoise on the accent nail, and the Swing Baby on my middle fingers.  For a quick tutorial on how I do my leopards, check out this link.

I like the way it turned out, with the contrasting colors.  The neon orange next to the gold is so pretty!  And the gold by itself is soo gorgeous.  I think my next mani will definitely use the Swing Baby.

This post seems really long tonight, so I'm going to wrap things up.  Before you start to think I'm a rambling idiot.  Probably going to go watch an episode of Gossip Girl and drool over the one and only Chuck Bass.

~Kat

Link to Stardust Polish's store

The new Stardust polish store is now live.  And as promised, here is the link to the new store.  As you remember, Stardust is the polish I reviewed last night, with Black Hole and White Dwarf.  And she posted on instagram this morning, that if you buy two full bottles, you can take 20% off your order with the code 20TWO through April 1st at 10 pm.  Go shop!  By lots of her pretty polish!!  And there are two White Dwarfs to choose from.  A new sheer version, and the opaque version I received.


And speaking of stores opening, ellagee, the polish I received for review earlier this week is now completely live and open!!  Here link is here. And she has a sale going on too!!  The first one is on a new glitter polish called "Party Like It's 1999" and it's 50% off right now ($2.50 for a mini, and $4.50 for a full sized bottle).  There's another sale, but you have to follow her on Facebook to find it :)

Go do some Easter shopping today! And show support to these (and all) wonderful indie brands!!

~Kat

Another Indie Review: Stardust Polish

I've recently discovered so many indie polish makers on Instagram.  And I want to BUY ALL THE POLISHES!!  Unfortunately, I'm not independently wealthy, or wealthy at all actually; so I can't buy them all.  But, I just couldn't pass on a few. And the most recent one to show up on my doorstep was Black Hole by Stardust Polish. 

She's about to release the first half of her Space collection, and had a pre-order about a week ago.  As soon as I saw Black Hole, I KNEW I needed at least a mini. It's a gorgeous black holo, packed with holographic glitter.  So I did it. It was completely an impulse buy; I barely breathed between seeing the picture and entering my PayPal information.  And then impatiently waited the week or so it took for me to receive it.

And finally on Wednesday it was waiting for me when I got home from work. And to make things even better, she gave me a mini of another color White Dwarf.  It's a sheer white packed with tons of glitter. 

And since Hubs was still off Wednesday night, I didn't have to wait for BeBe to go to bed before I started playing!! While they were playing whatever crazy monster games fathers play with their daughters, I did this:

P.S. that nail envy was found for $7.99 at Marshalls. Love.

So since there were two polishes, and I couldn't decide which to use first, I decided on a mani that used both of them, duh.

Picture taken in lightbox with flash.

The Black Hole is a great formula.  It applies really well, there was some slight balding on one nail.  And it really was jammmm packed with glitter.  As for the White Dwarf, I really liked it in the bottle.  When I told Drema (the polish creator) that I received the polishes, she wanted to know specifically what I thought about White Dwarf, because she thought she may have made it too opaque. My middle finger has Sally Hansen White On under the White Dwarf, and my ring finger is just 2 coats of White Dwarf.  It's difficult to see the glitter in the pictures.  It's easier in real life, but I told Drema I agreed with the idea of making it less opaque.  But I do love both of these polishes, and they are unlike any other polishes I have.  I actually think Black Hole is my favorite polish in my collection. 

 Taken in lightbox with no flash

 Taken in lightbox with no flash

 

Please ignore the chip, this was the following day, and soley my fault for being so hard on my nails at work that day. This is (obviously) taken in the sun.  This color is seriously amazing in the sun!!

Stardust Polish's space collection will be available for purchase starting tomorrow, March 30th, at stardustpolish.bigcartel.com.  She's in the middle of a last minute switch from Store Envy, so I'm unable to link that site for you, sorry!  Once it's live, I will update the blog with the link.  She's also currently got some thermal polishes that look uh-mazing, as well as plenty of other colors to choose from.  So check her out.  You can also find her on Instagram @stardustpolish.  

~Kat

ellagee Polish Review

All products in this review were sent to me, free of charge from the creator, in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have something so so so so exciting for you today!! My very first indie polish review!!

 I found ellagee polish on facebook through the page of another nail blogger.  She was looking for bloggers to review her debut collection, and I jumped at the chance.  Her first collection is called Sparkling Spring Wildflowers and they are gorgeous bright, springy glitters!!

*Photo courtesy of ellagee polish*

So when I got home from work yesterday, my ellagee package was waiting for me!!  I couldn't wait to tear into it and put the polish on.

I got three mini polishes, two from this collection and one from an even newer collection that will be releasing later this spring.  

From the Wildflower collection I received Fluttery Meadow (green) and Prairie Clover (purple), plus Fly Me to the Moon from her upcoming You're The Top collection.  She also sent a cute little file and a pack of Smarties, that BeBe promptly declared hers and ate before I could even say anything.  

First Impressions:

*These were my two favorites from the collection, and I was super stoked to get them as my review!

*What a cute bag they are in!

*Awww, a mini file (BeBe named it Aurora)

*Fly Me to the Moon!!  Frank Sinatra.  (My dad is a huge Frank Sinatra fan, and we danced to a Frank song at my wedding)

*Can I get away with sneaking away to do my nails without Hubs and BeBe realizing I'm gone?

I was able to sneak off into our bedroom while Hubs worked on some homework, and BeBe watched TV and played princesses; just as soon as I made them dinner.  I did a quick test of the polish on three fingers right away, and that picture can be found on the ellagee facebook page.  And then I did the colors over coats of a matching polish.  First up is Fluttery Meadow:

 

Please forgive my macros today, my camera didn't want to cooperate with me. 

Fluttery Meadow is a gorgeous spring green jelly base with silver bar glitter, and green hex glitter and circle glitter, as well as silver circles.  And the best part, silver butterflies!!  So cute, and such a nice touch. This color went on nicely, but out of the three it had the least glitter per swipe on the nail.  Does that make sense?  Of course, as with all larger glitter, you have to fish for the butterflies most of the time, but that is expected.  The color is rich from the first application and builds nicely.  It was mostly opaque in two coats by itself, but three would be perfectly opaque.  This really is a perfect green for spring!

 One coat of Fluttery Meadow over one coat of Sinful Exotic Green

Two coats of Fluttery Meadow alone

Next is Prairie Clover, a pretty purple jelly with a ton of glitter packed in!  

There is medium purple/pink/red glitter, with a variety of sizes of silver glitters, with silver square glitter. Or is it pale purple?  Either way, it's gorgeous! It goes on the nail so so well, and there is a great amount of glitter with each application.  It goes on the nail well, and the glitter tends to stay put; it doesn't seem to gravitate towards the tip of name like some glitters will.  This is my favorite of the three.  The formula is wonderfully jelly and easy to work with. Like Fluttery Meadow this builds nicely on the nail and takes about three coats to be fully opaque.

 Two coats of Prairie Clover over one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Grey Area

Two coats of Prairie Clover alone

And finally, is Fly Me to the Moon.  It's a clear base with loads of silver glitter.

I wish my camera had cooperated, especially with this one, because the glitter is so amazing.  The glitter in the picture that is picking up purple or grey or green are actually holographic glitters.  ANd there are about 3 or 4 different sized glitters in here.  Again, each application of this polish puts an amazing amount of glitter on the nail, and it stays put.  This is the perfect glitter for a glitter gradient design, and I can't wait to try that out with Fly Me to the Moon.  Like I said in my first impressions, my dad's favorite musician is Frank Sinatra, so anything Frank reminds me of him.  And since my parents currently live in Germany, I don't get to see him as much as I would like.  So that gives this polish even more points in my book :)  I also think the name is really fitting for the color.  

Two coats of Fly Me to the Moon over one coat of Orly Dazzle

Two coats of Fly Me to the Moon alone (sorry about the blur)

Over all, I'm really impressed with this collection.  The colors are bright and perfect for spring, and the formulas are really nice. I think the names fit well with the colors, and the colors all work for the collection.  ellagee polish is available for sale on etsy here. Currently she is having a preorder, and the store will officially open March 30th.  The Sparkling Spring Wildflowers is the only collection that will be available, and again that collection includes the Fluttery Meadow and Prairie Clover.  The collection with Fly Me to the Moon will be released in April.  To check out reviews of some other colors from these two collections, check out Rambles of a Polish Addict.  You can find ellagee on facebook as well here.  Go show her some love!!

 ~Kat

*Again, all products were sent to me free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion and a review.

Fairy Tales

For weeks now, I've been seeing swatches and hearing (well, reading) people talk about Sinful's Cinderella.  I was afraid it was a part of a limited time collection; why else would I not have seen this and bought it? 
Well at Target today, I found it.  Right in the permanent collection that Target seems to have recently expanded.  It's kind of a bummer though, because it's impossible to capture all it's beauty in a picture!  I've done my best:

 

It's a gorgeous sheer baby blue, with a duochrome shimmer that changes from gold, to amber, to pink.

So I did a quick(ish) base. It took 4 coats to get it opaque, so I think it would be a good idea to put a coat of white on before the blue.  And then I had the genius idea to stamp with my Essie Good as Gold.  And I used my bundle monster crown stamps.  I used both on each nail, and I was having some serious stamping issues today.  I couldn't get the stamper to pick up the whole image.  It took 3 or 4 times to get it right.  But I had a grand idea, and didn't stop.  I kinda wish I did!  It's busy, and the entire image didn't always transfer onto the nail right or fully.  But it also kind of looks tarnished, and broken and old; much like I feel an old crown/tiara might.

 I'm also watching somewhat of a fairy tale on TV.  Well more like a love story, The Vow.  Does this movie piss anyone else off?!  Rachel McAdam's character really pisses me off.  And who would question Channing Tatum when they woke up from a coma and he said "I'm your husband"?  So it's almost over, and I'm pretty sure I remember crying at the end, so I'm going to end this post with another shot of my mani tonight, before I become a blubbering idiot.

~Kat