Review: sifting through my June haul

We're gonna get through this together guys, and I'm gonna take you on a detailed journey of all the stuff I've shown=]

So I've shown you guys my June haul pt. 1, now I'm going to review the stuff!  First up, the Clinique products!
My mom took me shopping, which is normally pretty fun, but on this particular day, twas a fucking blast.  We got my hair colored (not the red I wanted, but it worked for me until I fixed it) ate at Panera, and then went to the mall.  First up, we hit Trade Secret, which was a bad idea since we went insane in there and then had to carry heavy bags alllll the way to Belk, cause I was determined to finally go to a counter.  Yeah folks, I'm a drugstore kinda gal, and have never bought/worn any makeup more expensive than Neutrogena or Revlon.  I went up to the super nice lady, we went through the little computer filling out my skin type, and it told me what I needed.  She was a sweetie pie, and I couldn't not buy stuff from her.  she went through everything with the skin care regimen for my skin type, the cleanser, toner and moisturizer.  I do not remember how much all of this cost...but I do have the prices listed on everything, even the free stuff and samples.

The cleanser is Clinique's liquid facial soap ($16)
Clarifying lotion 3(toner) ($12.50-21)
Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel ($13-24.50)

I can honestly say I do notice a difference in my skin.  It's not even the fact that I'm now washing my face before I go to sleep instead of just when I wake up (I get tired!) but an actual difference.  I've been using it for almost two weeks now, twice a day and I gotta say my fave is the moisturizer.  I do however wish it had SPF in it, but it does not, so I gotta get my protection elsewhere.  I don't mind, because I love this moisturizer.  It's a gel-like lotion, it's soooo light and sinks in fast, without leaving any residue behind and I can wait a minute or two and go right on in with my regular beauty routine or just go to bed.  It doesn't clog my pores, and I love the fact I can get it really close to my eyes.  Not like I put it or any other moisturizer onto my eyelids, but it seems like every one I've tried I cannot get it within an inch of my eye area.  It could be the SPF since I normally get lotions with that in it, I don't know.  I can get this right up to my lower lids and I like that.  The toner is absolutely great, and putting all three together makes my skin so soft and pretty poreless (I'm still giving it time to make those completely disappear lol)

So on the day we went we saw the display that had the super cute retro bag o' goodies that you get FO' FREE with a $25 (I think) purchase.  Not completely free lol but it ain't hard to spend $25 in there either:
Blushing Blush Powder Blush in I wanna say Berry Delight, ($21)
High Impact Mascara ($15) in Black I THINK it could be black/brown
Take the day off makeup remover ($18 for 4.2 oz)
Chubby Stick in Whole Lotta honey ($16)
Lid Smoothie Antioxidant 8 Hour Eye Color in Bit O' Honey ($19.50)
Moisture Surge Intense Skin Fortifying Hydrator (full size $36)
I also got a sample of their Stay Matte Oil Free makeup, but I don't know which color it is in...I forgot! It matches me perfectly though, and it stays ALL DAY LONG and I don't even get oily!  And it's summer!  Granted I don't get out much during the day, and when I do it's because I'm going to do laundry and I am not wearing any makeup...full size for ($23)

I love this!  The bag is absolutely perfect, it's like Clinique knows I'm a freak for retro stuff.  And they wanna give me chubby sticks and great makeup removers?  Fuck yes, Clinique. 

All the stuff in this bag works perfectly with me and my skin, there was also a second option with I believe a deeper colored Chubby Stick and Eye Smoothie, for the ladies out there who are not so glow in the dark like myself.

My only complaint is the mascara...it really didn't do so much for me.  My Revlon Photoready is a lot better.  It didn't not work, so I'm not really complaining, but for me I'd use that instead.

The moisture surge is (to me) just as great as the moisturizer that I bought, but since it's especially for dryer skin, I use it a couple times a week.  I don't have much dry skin or anything, but moisturizing your skin is good when it doesn't feel like you're clogging all your pores up=]

The Makeup remover is too awesome, I don't have to wait for it to dissolve my thick liquid eyeliner, it just comes right off.  It works quickly, even for lipstick.  Of course I cleanse right after with the facial cleanser, but it doesn't feel like a race to get oily residue off my face and eyes, because...it just doesn't feel like there is any.

I have been wanting a chubby stick since I keep seeing the commercials.  Let me just say, that I know how bad that sounds, and I can't help but giggle when I think  of chubby sticks=]  This color goes perfectly with me, it basically goes on nude, but my lips are moisturized and soft, never loaded down=]

The eye smoothie is basically a very nude shade, and I use it as my base for all my eye makeup, everything seems to blend better on top of it, and I like the feeling of using a creamy base instead of a powder.  I feel like that is going to help it stay better, instead of just blending a lot of powders together.

So I have a few ideas floating around, and I think I'm going to do a few different posts about my makeup (my stash and storage) my purse (I'm officially a bag lady, and I wanna show you why) and even an everyday look.  Of course I'll be the 58008349859340th person on the internet to do a makeup look, and it's not hard to recreate what you see on youtube, and I don't have any MAC products.  But I would like to throw it out there that you don't exactly have to spend an assload to get a great look that doesn't fade/smear/fall off during the day.  You do have to spend a little bit lol but I can't do MAC, I'm sorry.  I want to so badly, but I'll have to get it at a counter to get out of shipping costs.  Good luck with that, since there isn't one near me!  My makeup stays all day long, and looks just as great as when I applied it. If anyone out there is interested in this, lemme know!  Of course, I'll be doing my nails still as often as possible, but I'd still like to write about the products that I use on a daily basis besides my nails since I can't always do awesome nail art, and I definitely still put makeup on almost every single day.  I'm throwing it out there, that means it's gonna happen, y'all!

Summer challenge, a couple days late! & review

God, I have been so MIA this past week!  Sorry y'all =/

It really would be easier if I had my own computer, that's definitely a goal for the nearish future, so for now I have to find some spare time between work, school and sleep to not only do my nails daily (which I have actually usually been keeping up with on most days) but uploading gets put on the backburner til I absolutely have no clothes to wear and my poor boyfriend just suffers and tries to find a cleanish t shirt to wear to work.

So anyway, onto the mani!  I did this one a few days ago for the Summer Challenge that I've been slacking on, for Friday's theme was: Swimming Pool!

First let me say that I did enjoy this ombre mani, and wanted it to definitely be more swimming poolish.  My first thought was to stamp over it with a lovely design in alternating colors.  My second idea was to do a marble.

What the eff do you know, I tried to marble and failed miserably..luckily I got these shots before I messed it all up!

Thumb: Pure Ice French Kiss
Index: Kleancolor Neon Aqua
Middle: Maurices no name aqua color
Ring: China Glaze For Audrey
Pinky: Revlon Blue Lagoon

I love it! All based with Sally Hansen Double Duty, and topped with Seche Vite (In case you couldn't tell by the shrinkage on the thumb..)

Onto more business:
My makeup haul for school!  I've got good news about everything=]
I researched the shit out of makeupalley.com before going shopping, I wanted to know what would most likely work for me, my fair freckled combination complexion.  I have an oily-ish T zone, visible pores on and around my nose (and chin)  I don't have a complete need for full coverage, but that really would help on the days I wanna go full on rockabilly, so I chose medium since this would also be my everyday makeup and any rockabilly critics out there can suck it. I do recommend trolling makeupalley.com as well as any other review sites you choose, but be smart about it.  For one girl's bad review there are five good ones, and vise verse.  You have to know and understand your own skin type before you go along with someone else's review of a product if you haven't tried it, as well as factoring in little details, like did this girl start with a fresh, clean face?  Did she use primer?  You don't know her life!

WARNING:  This is a makeup haul AND review.  You can see from the photo directly below that it is a pretty freakin sweet haul.  You already know I can get wordy with my reviews.  Stick around if you're up for it, but don't go crying saying I didn't warn you, sweetheart.

Anyway:

Woo, okay let's roll this off:
32 cosmetic sponges from I don't remember what brand but I bought ALL of this at Walmart.  I bought the kind that says Latex Free. Revlon Photoready 3D Volume Mascara, Colorstay 24hr Creme Gel Eyeliner, Colorstay 16 hr eyeshadow quad in Precocious, Lip Butter in Creme Brulee, Colorstay foundation with softplex SPF 15 in Buff, Photoready Color Correcting Primer, Cover Girl Classic Color Blush in Rose Silk, Coty Airspun loose face powder in translucent, the brushes I think are Paris Presents Limited Edition, but don't quote me on that I have since forgotten and can't really find anything to match it online...hmm..

Here we go!
 I bought the latex free makeup sponges, because I'm pretty sure I've read that the kind with latex are harder to clean I think?  Anyway, you can use these wet or dry (I prefer wet) and use em a few times, clean them with a makeup brush cleanser, and re-use them.  I do wish they sold Beauty Blenders at walmart, but we can't have everything.

Revlon Photoready Color Correcting Primer! I think. I can't remember if I got the Color Correcting or Perfecting.  Why the eff would you make two Revlon?? Such a hard decision.. Anyway, This stuff works awwwessoooome.  I actually have no idea if the foundation even lasts 24 hrs like it says, at least not without this stuff.  I haven't used anything without this stuff yet. It's verrrrry smooth. Goes on smooth, glides over your skin.  It doesn't pill up in little white gross looking bits all over your face like I've had some primers do (ahem, talkin' to you, Hard Candy!) I'm no expert, I've definitely never ventured outside of the drugstore world of brands for makeup.  I'm cheap!  This stuff works great though, and it's not gonna break your wallet to do the job of holding that makeup in place! My mom has the receipt for everything so I'm googling prices here (walmart sucks and doesn't have this on the website) $10.39 is the price for this baby.

Above that in the photo is the Revlon Colorstay foundation with Softplex SPF15.  The claim on the cap of the foundation is that this will last you 24hrs.  I have not tried that one out yet lol, but I have however gone about 16 hrs with this on top of the primer.  I use a wet sponge to apply and blend, and I love it!  There was a lighter shade than Buff, and normally I go for the ivoryest of ivories, but almost all of the fair skinned reviewers on makeupalley.com said that this was the one to go for, that the lighter shade was just way too weird looking.  This shade works perfectly on my light skin, so they were right!  I did get the normal/dry skin formula, as they have that and an oily/combo skin formula.  A lot of the reviews also said that the oily/combo kind had a weird smell to it, and was pretty gloopy to boot, and that the normal/dry was the one to go for and worked a lot better.  I must say, again, they were right.  This does not make my skin more oily, I think it actually does help with the oil a bit.  I think I touched this up with a compact powder after about 8 hours of wear?  And I literally just dabbed a little powder on my nose.  It wasn't a noticeable oiliness, like it normally is.  I did it purely out of the sake of habit.  This was $9.98.

Revlon Colorstay Gel eyeliner.  I thought this was so neat!  The packaging is really cool, and smart!  I hate buying gel eyeliners, and having to keep up with the tiny little brush that gets black gel everywhere in my makeup bag, also getting dirty in the process of storing it in my makeup bag.. Not so anymore!  The swatch is just a quick little swipe, not really trying for any precision or boldness. This can definitely be built up and made darker simply by applying it normally instead of swiping this on your arm...Overall, i do love this product, and it definitely does stay until you take it off! It won't fade or smear into your crease, or mess with your shadow. Note, I don't use the Revlon primer on my eyes, I do however use Mineralogie Natural Cream Concealer in N1 (from Birchbox $16.00) as a primer on my lids.  Works wonderfully with this! $7.99

I will say that I don't recommend this for the cat eye look, which I'm trying to perfect right now..I'm on the lookout for a liquid with a precision tip.  I'm terrible with regular liquid eyeliner, but I so want to perfect this look!  It really is a must.

Covergirl Classic Blush in Rose Silk.  I was looking for something natural, and they were out of the lighter shades =/ so I got this, and I don't mind that it isn't what I originally wanted =]  It looks nice against my skin tone, and though it is a powder (I wanted to try a cream) it does not fade on my cheeks!  This is the best makeup haul ever, seriously..no problems! $4.84

Revlon Lip butter in Creme Brulee.  This is the perfect nude!  I've never tried nude shades on my lips, I'm always the girl who has to wear bolder shades if I wear color on my lips.  But sometimes I do feel like I should play up my eyes more, and I don't want to seem overpowered by my makeup.  As I said before, I will definitely be buying more lip butters!

Coty Airspun loose powder.  If you have not tried this stuff, for fear it looks and smells like something your grandma wore years ago, seriously don't let that stop you!  This powder is AMAZING! Controls shine like a boss, and has been around since the 30s.  A lot of people on makeupalley.com couldn't stand the smell.  I happen to not mind it so much, it smells like flowers and sweet candy...like I'm covering my face in crushed smartees with a hint of old lady smell.  But not musky and gross like old lady smell can be. No offense to any old ladies, you smell like a freaking bed of roses!  The smell doesn't even linger, it's gone by the time you're out the door.  If you're more sensitive to smells than I am and you hate me for reviewing this in such a way, uhh don't care.  This product is freaking awesome. $6.99.

The Revlon Photoready 3D volume mascara is up next, I got this in blackened brown.  I'm gonna be honest, I do like mascara, and I do like this mascara.  Probably more than any other mascara I have tried.  My lashes don't necessarily NEED mascara, but it's part of beauty you know?  I definitely hate putting on fake lashes, I have yet to perfect doing that in a way that doesn't leave me a blinking teary eyed makeup everywhere mess.  I can say that I do recommend this for your lashes, it does seem to coat all of them uniformly, and lengthen and volumize the way it's supposed to.  $7.19

I forgot to swatch the eyeshadow!  Review on that later.

More on life and school and most importantly, nails here soon=]  Thanks for sticking around!

Everybody cut footloose=]

Today I have some nice haulage for ya!

I just cannot contain myself, and a no-buy is practically impossible once I get paid.

The other day I went to Wal Mart and got these lovelies:

Revlon Fearless, Not so Blueberry (scented), NYC Water Street Blue

In the check out lane there were these little sport card organizer books that I just KNEW would keep my Cheeky plates in order, and I was right!  This book is only halfway full, so uhh...my shopping days are far from over =]

Also from Revlon, I bought one of the new lip butters! I bought Lollipop, which is a brighter pink/fuschia color.  It applies like butter=]  I always put on balm or some sort of lip moisturizer before I apply any kind of lip color, even gloss if it's more sticky (God, why can't you be smoother Victoria's Secret lip glosses??) And I didn't make an exception for this.  It does last for a while, and you can build the color to your desire.  I've found that after it's been on for a while and my balm has dried and even this isn't very buttery anymore, it doesn't feel dry and it leaves a nice stain on your lips.  I loooove lip stains.  I'm not certain it would be appropriate for everywhere, but if you like bolder pink shades, you'll like this one.  Definitely something you could pull off for night time going out, but if you're like me you'll wear this to the grocery store in the middle of the day.  I will definitely be picking up more shades!

Then I made a stop at the dollar store, and I think I bought out their LA Colors clearance section lol yeah...

Here is LA Colors Nectar, Topaz, Jewel Tone, Sally Hansen Ivy League And then LA Colors Art Deco in Bright Green, Teal Glitter, and Black.  All with two coats on the nail wheel, except the nail arts cause...just cause.

And yesterday I got some awesome nail mail that I have been too excited about all week!  First up, my Ulta haul!  Ulta had some sales going on, I was going to get in on the Revlon one, buy 2 get one free, but Ulta's was buy 2 get 2 free on their own polish!  They're six bucks a pop so four polishes for 12 bucks? Yes, please!  I could've just gotten the Revlon sale too, but I was trying to keep it light..ha!

Ulta Envy, The Jungle Look, Plum Perfect, Pinata Yada-Yada, all two coats.

I also got sent a nifty Ulta catalog with a nifty 20% off coupon on the cover...that ends today.  I'm just lame.

But I also got three perfume samples, since they give you a choice of three free samples with every order.

I picked Viva La Juicy and Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck because I just love those perfumes=] and the Versace men sample for my boyfriend because well, he supports me fully in this crazy batshit obsession and he deserves stuff sometimes too!

And now, for the one I was really really waiting for!

I had read on twitter from Megan @apolishproblem that HSN had all four of Deborah Lippman's Footloose collection from last year on sale, two for $9.95!! As of right now that's still going on, here is Almost Paradise & Footloose and here is Dancing in the Sheets & Let's hear it for the boy.

Pardon me for being so excited, but I've never experienced a DL polish before, it wasn't even a thought in my head since they go for $18.  For me, that is just so unrealistic, I mean I can have so much more polish for $18!  I know that they came out last year and they've already been reviewed and swatched, but do you care?  I don't!

I am in love.  Footloose is my new favorite red.  I know I said Revlon Fearless was a true red, and I still say it is, but Footloose is just omg..it's a tad more orange than Fearless is, which I was wondering before it got here if I was gonna be dealing with some dupes.  It would not have pissed me off in the slightest if they were, I'm happy to have them =] I am not completely sure if this is a jelly or not, I still have VNL after three coats, and it is really shiny, but it seems more like a creme..Application is perfection, I can't believe how awesome the brush is!  There was barely any clean up at all!

Almost Paradise is such a beautiful pistacchio creme.  I have seriously been on the lookout for the perfect pistacchio color, and all I can find is mint or seafoam.  This collection really knocks out a few things on my list =] This is two coats, and it's almost completely opaque.  Application: just dreamy=]

Dancing in the Sheets has been classified as a blurple, and it truly is just that.  A nice deep blurple that is a little bit shimmery.  This is two coats, and of course the application was just to die for.  So shiny! This one is without top coat.

I haven't swatched Let's Hear it For The Boy yet, but I have used it in some upcoming nail art=]

I can die happy now=]  My stash has made it past 100!  Do you remember that it wasn't even a month ago my stash was about 75?  I'm gonna have to bust out some more Birchbox boxes, tissue paper and scotch tape pretty soon to make more room.  Don't know what I'm talking about?  Go here to see my post of upcycling those babies! (scroll to the bottom of the post)

What about you guys?  Done any nice hauling lately?  Have you tried lip butter yet? Do you like polishes with quirky names and movie themes? Do you have any Deborah Lippman polishes?  Did you pay full price? Do you know that I'm in awe of you?  I just might have to purchase more now =]  Okay, not right now, I'm pretty much done spending money on polish for a few weeks.  Sad=/

tri-colored stamping, and another small haul!

For today's post, I tried stamping with different colors!  I saw a picture on fuckyeahnailart and thought about what I could do..


So maybe I should've used neons lol I like the way it turned out, even if it was slightly hard to tell exactly what was going on from far off:

Sorry, it's so hard to tell what this mani actually looked like from these photos!

I used Gelous as my base coat, Sally Hansen French White-2 coats, then using a floral all-over Cheeky plate, I alternated the combo of China Glaze For Audrey, Secret Periwinkle, and Sweet Hook.  I mattified it with Hard Candy's matte top coat, and called it a freakin' day =]


I must say my stamping skills are coming along! For this one I did not scrape off enough Secret Periwinkle before I stamped my thumb, and did not have enough polish on the stamper for my ring finger at the tip.  I like this design =]


And now, because I absolutely can't be on any sort of no-buy..
Another Sally's and wal mart haul!  Oh payday..

First up:Sally's.  I actually almost got two Hunger Games polishes because they're $1 off right now, but my mission was for more glitter.  Mission: accomplished.  For now..


I picked up China Glaze Fairy Dust, I'd been eyeing this baby for a bit, and heard many great things, like that it turns any mani into magic. We'll see =]


Also, CG Liquid Crystal from the Prismatic collection.  This is the only one that I have from it, and I really like it.  The color shifts from a light blue to a light purple with lots of different colored glitter and shimmers.  Very pretty =]

I got two Sally Girls, a gold and a pink glitter.  I like these, and I think that someday my Sally Girls will come in handy should I choose to start franken-ing =]


I also bought a huge thing of acetone, which was like three bucks I think with my Sally's card, and another nail file!


Wal-mart:

Sally Hansen Double Duty base and top coat.  My nails are getting longer, I need some more protection!  Revlon Blue Lagoon, Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal and Porcelain Pretty.


All together now:

All of these are two coats.


Whew. Okay I gotta stop now!  Next month, I plan on beginning the indie section of my stash!


What's your favorite indie polish brand?

Zoya True Spring Collection! (super teeny tiny haul)

The other day I realized I had accumulated about 240 Birchbox points and decided I would use them to grab some full-sized Zoyas!  I have two minis that have been sent to me in my Birchboxes over the past year, and recently I received Bevin, which is an opaque sort of teal color, it's not dark but it isn't very bright.  It's dusty!  It really is very pretty=] No pictures of Bevin yet, because to me it's a kind of color that I just haven't been in the mood for lately.. no offense, Bevin!

So I was super excited when the mail ran a couple days ago, and I got my lovelies!  

This is Tru, which is a grape-colored purple, but it's deeper than that.  Not only is it saturated, it has shimmer to it!  The website says the shimmer reflects gold, orange and red, and from what I can tell that's probably pretty accurate, though I see more red than anything. I tried blurring the pictures some, but really I guess you can only tell the shimmer from the bottle pic in that last shot, which actually shows all of the shimmer!  I just loved taking pictures with this one.

Then there's Cho.  Now, I seem to keep collecting nude polishes, but they're always pink toned.  Cho is an opaque nude.  I was shocked!  this is completely opaque in two coats, how cool is that?  Cho basically looks like my skin on my nails.  Now, let me just say that I don't tan.  Not like I haven't tried or that I won't or that I'm a freak about sunblock, (I am) but my whole lifetime of trying to tan has just left me sore and befreckled.  This color is my nude =] I love it so.  It has really fine silvery shimmer in it, I love that added bonus.  Not only is it a super awesome nude, it's got super awesome shimmer!  I have no idea why I love nudes soooo much, but after Cho, I am definitely diving deeper into the nudey pool on the nudey beach =] (kidding) But I will be grabbing up some more beige colors from now on, just to have the variety. =]

Of course I couldn't just leave those manis be!

for my Cho, I left it as is for the most part, only accenting my ring fingers with China Glaze Fast Track from the Hunger Games collection.  I love that color!  You can't really see all of the shimmery goodness that Fast Track has to offer in this photo, and for that I am sorry.. but it's packed with gold shimmers and looks very much like liquid sparkly shimmery gold when you lift the brush out of the bottle.  God, I love it.

For my Tru, I did the same thing, only changing up the ring fingers.  I sponged some CG Fast Track onto the tips, and then Maybelline Bold Gold (I think that's what it was..) on top of that.  Then I used my cheeky plate with a little star design, and stamped twice using the gold color, so that it would fill up the rest of the nail space.  

For my second Tru mani, I went over my ring finger with NYC Starry Silver Glitter with a sponge.  I don't remember but I think I did two layers of sponging on that.  I doubt I will ever use a polish brush to apply glitters ever again! This glitter is freaking awesome!  I did not realize the glitter was holographic until I saw the pics.  It just looks like a light lavender purple and the darker blue circular glitter pieces (as well as super full of fine silver glittery goodness!)  But here you can see more, a darker purple, a lighter blue, and a green.  I also found another picture that shows red and yellow. Again, i tried to blur that pic so that everything could get caught up in the light.  I fail.

All of these manis and swatches are done with a coat of Gelous as base coat, then Topped off with Poshe.

I love these colors! I think if I had to I would pick up Skylar also from this collection, but I would much rather explore other collections since I am still verrrry new to Zoya.  One thing I know for sure, I NEED Zoya Zuza.  soo pretty!

My Birchbox should be here soon!  A few days ago I got an e-mail saying it was shipped, which I thought was weird since they normally go out on the 10th of every month, and that was like the 6th or something when I got that...and there still isn't any tracking info up yet!  Yes, I track my packages, I track them ferociously. Gotta know when my babies are comin' home!


Have a great day =]