SOCIAL MEDIA

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Swatch Saturday: Deborah Lippmann You've Got Me Started


This polish is a nice light grey color, opaque in two coats. I got it as part of a three polish Valentine's day collection at Nordstrom's.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Too Faced Natural Matte Palette


So I got this palette on the day it released because I'd been eyeing the Natural Eyes palette for a long time. Lately, I haven't been into shimmery shadows as much so this was perfect for me. Also this spring has seen a more natural, "no makeup" makeup look and matte shadows just look more natural. I have been wearing it everyday since I got it! The colors are so creamy and buttery and apply flawlessly onto the eyes. The palette comes with a mirror and a little booklet with three eye looks that correspond to each of the three rows in the palette. Here are my swatches below:


This is the top row of "Day" shadows. I'm not a fan of Heaven on brown skin, but the other two colors are beautiful.


This is the second row or "Classic" shades.  Again, not a fan of Lace Teddy on my skintone, but Strapless and Risque are amazing!


This is the last row or "Fashion" row, my favorite row in the entire palette. I get a great everyday eye from all three shades. I pretty much just copy the little insert that shows you how to put together an eye look from the last row.


What do you think? Will you be trying out this palette?

Monday, March 23, 2015

Mani Monday: Half Moon Triangles with Butter London Royal Navy and Serum No 5 Snow in Love


I used Butter London's Royal Navy and  the indie brand Serum No 5's Snow In Love (it glows in the dark!)

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Essie Spring 2015 Nail Polish Collection: Flowerista, Blosson Dandy, Garden Variety, Picked Perfect and Perennial Chic


I picked up five of the six polishes from the Essie Spring Collection while at a wedding in Texas. My boyfriend was not thrilled about the fact that we had to hit up more than a few Walgreens to find the complete collection. The things he puts up with to date a girl obsessed with polish. :) I didn't pick up the grey polish in this collection since 1) I have multiple similar grey polishes and 2) I hate the way grey polish looks on me. These colors are the first collection that are a collaboration with Rebecca Minkoff who is closely working with Essie to come out with some new colors. If you are a fan of her purses, you will notice that the purple and green/blue shades match some of her purses very well. I know some people have been hating Essie polishes lately since they feel the application hasn't been that great. So if you've stopped buying Essie because of this, stop what you are doing and go out and buy the new collection. It has amazing application and opacity in two coats for all the colors.  All the colors are high shine with the Essie Good To Go top coat. I had no issues with staining except a bit with Flowerista. I wore all of them with no basecoat and removed each one with 100% acetone. Now on to the individual colors...


This is Perennial Chic. I find that it is a nice nude on all skin tones (for reference mine is NC45/NW40 in MAC). I wore this particular polish for two days before it started to chip. I noticed that this one smelled a bit funny in the bottle. None of the others did, so maybe my bottle was a bit off? 


Picked Perfect


Blosson Dandy with dots in Garden Variety


Garden Variety with Blosson Dandy on ring and middle finger


Essie Flowerista on the solid colored nails; the glitter is Julep's Queen Anne. I did an "acid wash" nail on my ring finger with Flowerista and Blossom Dandy. I'll be filming a tutorial for this one and hope to post it on Instagram soon!

What are your favorite colors from this new collection?



Friday, March 20, 2015

Whim 3 Step Polish System Review


So Ulta became the exclusive seller of a new 3 step polish system called Whim. Whim claims to give a high gel like shine without a UV or LED light. I've never tried any at home "gel" polish systems and I decided to test this one out. They have a small color selection when compared to other brands right now, but I am sure that will change in the future. Also the bottle shape is pretty neat. It's square like Butter London but has a curve in the back.

I followed the application protocol perfectly. I applied their base coat and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then I applied my color polish (Burning Up). The basecoat has a mesh-like technology that allows it to bond to both the nail bed and the color polish. 5 minutes later, I applied my top coat from Whim. The brushes on the polish bottles remind me a lot of YSL polishes. The brush is nice and wide (not quite as big as YSL) and makes for easy application. That being said however, it does take a bit to get the polish strokes down if you are used to the OPI or Essie brushes.  The cap on the top of the bottles is a little hard to unscrew so I recommend unscrewing all the bottles before the manicure or you will ruin your manicure trying to open each of the three bottles. The color applies evenly and is opaque in two coats. Now for the down side...

Each  polish definitely has high shine after application. However, this is no better than my Good To Go from Essie and that bottle is $2 cheaper (all Whim polishes are $10, a bit pricey). The shine doesn't last long. I noticed mine was dull the next day (same as a regular polish). I sealed the edges of each coat as I applied it so I was REALLY disappointed when the polish chipped TWO HOURS after I had applied it when I got out of the shower (see pic below). Keep in mind that I had also decided to not use my hands for two hours before this to insure proper application.


I wore the polish for 7 days. Despite the initial chipping, the polish held up better than my normal polishes. It seems that when Whim polish chips, the nail doesn't continue to chip like regular polish, helping it last a bit longer. I also don't pick at my nails so they tend to last when I do them. The polishes come of very easily with standard remover (I used the CVS non-acetone remover). Here is the final photo before I removed them after the 7 days:


Conclusions:
Overall, this system seemed a bit unsatisfying in terms of results especially when priced at $10 a bottle. I'll be sticking to my non-gel-like Essies and OPIs, thank you. 

If you want other reviewers views, check out MissJenFabulous on Youtube and the blogger/Instagramer @makeupbyaundi.

Have you tried this system? What did you think?