Monday, May 30, 2011

Jaci Walker Sigma F80 giveaway!

I really hope I don't seem like the kind of person that just posts about giveaways. I have many tutorials, hauls, and tips I want to share with you all. But I'd also like to win free & useful items! LOL

I have another giveaway I have entered, and you should too!

Jaci Walker is giving away a Sigma F80 flat top kabuki brush. These kinds of brushes are great for application of foundation or powder. But I'm sure you can use it for any other kind of application you want!

You need to be a subscriber to her, tell her what excites you on the Sigma website(hah, that sounds funny!), and you can do optional entries like me.

Giveaway ends June 17th!

Link to her blogpost about giveaway:
http://jaciwalker.blogspot.com/2011/05/giveaway-sigma-f80-flat-top-kabuki.html

Friday, May 27, 2011

In Her Makeup Bag Giveaway!

I have yet another giveaway post to share with you! In Her Makeup Bag is a blog that I follow & I really enjoy keeping up with her! She always has useful information & seems to be incredibly down to earth and friendly.

She is celebrating her first year of blogging! I've only been blogging for a few months now, so I can tell how excited she must be! Keep in mind, this is NOT a sponsored giveaway! She is taking the money from her wallet to provide lots of goodies to one of her lucky followers.

Here are the prizes:
From Elf- little black beauty book in warm, eye primer, studio blush in fuchsia fusion & brush, contour brush, cherry pie lip balm.
revlon shadow in nude slip, wet n' wild palette in i'm getting sunburned, NYC lipstain in persistent pink

Guidelines:
-Be a follower! International lovelies may participate! woo!
-Have parental permission if you are under 18!
-Leave GFC name & email
-Optional: blog about it like me or link it in your side bar like me! doing both will double your chances!

Definitely check out In Her Makeup Bag!

=)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Glitter Nail Polish Removal Made Easy!

Question: Who doesn't love shiny, glitzy, and girly glitter nail polish?? Oooh, I know! Pick me, pick me! People that hate damaging their nails by scrubbing the life out of their them trying to scrape off every last bit of glitter.

Removing glitter polish is the biggest pain in the butt. Well, it was. I found online a few blogs that mentioned a crazy method to remove glitter polish easily. I wasn't convinced until I gave it a try myself. And boy am I happy to wear and remove glitter polish anytime I want!!

Here are the steps to remove glitter polish easily.

1)You need to have glitter nail polish on your nails that you are ready to take off! I have on Sinful Colors Nail Junkie.


2)You will need to gather some supplies. Acetone based polish remover, strips of tin foil, and 3 cotton pads.

3)Take a cotton pad and scissors. Cut the pad in half, then cut both halves in half. Was that confusing?? Do this to 2 of the 3 pads. You should have 8 triangles. Now take your 3rd pad and cut it in half. Then take just one of the halves and cut it in half. You should now have 2 triangles and one half circle. Now you have 10 triangles, one for each finger, and a half circle that you will use later! This is what you should have:

4)Work one hand at a time, or this will be difficult! It doesn't matter which hand first, just do one at a time. Soak a cotton triangle in polish remover & place it on top of your nail. Press the pad to your nail so it stays on.

5)Take a strip of tin foil and firmly wrap it around your nail.

6)Take the tip of the foil and twist it to seal off the nail from any air. This is the whole point of the tin foil. Keeping air from reaching the cotton pad will keep it moist so it can work at removing the glitter polish.

7)Leave the tin foil on for about 5 minutes, just to be sure your nail has soaked in enough. Your hands will look super funny, like some Lady Gaga costume accessory or something!


8)When you go to remove the foil, firmly twist the foil back and forth to help remove the glitter. When you take the foil off, you should see a nice, clean nail! Don't be surprised if you see a little bit of remaining glitter. That is what the half circle cotton pad is for, to clean off all of your nails to remove excess glitter!

I hope that this tin foil method will make your life a little bit easier! I found this tip on a couple of blogs, honestly don't remember where exactly. But I'm so glad I found it! Hope this was easy to follow!

Have a lovely day!

=)

NOTD: Revlon Not So Blueberry(it's scented!)

I don't really see the point of having scented nail polishes, but it is just so fun! I have purchased Revlon's scented nail polish in Not So Blueberry. It is a periwinkle shade, a duo chrome mix between blue and purple. It has a foil finish with fine silver shimmer. It applies pretty easily, but with all Revlon nail polishes, it is a bit streaky in one coat. I did 2 coats, but 3 might have looked even better!



The scent is basically that of blue berry muffins. Literally. I smell this polish and I immediately picture mini blueberry muffins. Yummmmm. DISCLAIMER: do not smell the polish straight from the bottle. You will only smell blueberries once the polish has dried on your nails. The scent isn't totally obnoxiously "loud", but it is noticeable. It lasts until you remove the polish, but does become fainter the longer your wear it.

Here are some pictures of what the polish looks like on my nails!
1 coat, sunlight

1 coat, sunlight

1 coat, sunlight
2 coats, sunlight

2 coats, sunlight

2 coats, sunlight

2 coats, indirect sunlight

Well, I hope that you like what you see and possibly pick up this polish! Have a lovely day!

=)


Friday, May 20, 2011

My Everyday Drugstore Lipstick Swatches

I actually don't wear lipstick everyday....I just meant that these are lipsticks that I feel are appropriate for any day wear. These are all drugstore brands and very affordable. In the pictures below, they all look quite the same. However in the swatch images, you can see the differences. I should have nuded out my lips with concealer, but I didn't want my lips to completely dry out on me!!
Make sure you click on the images to enlarge them if you want to get a closer look!!

Here is what the tubes all look like from L-R: Avon Ultra Color Rich in Sparkling Warm Rose, NYC Ultra Moist in Cafe & Petal, Maybelline Colorsensational in Born With It, and L'Oreal Color Riche in Honey Peach



*Note that there are two of each following image. The top photo will be in natural sunlight, and the photo on under that will be in artificial florescent light.

Here are some hand swatches:
L-R: Sparkling Warm Rose, Honey Peach, Born With It, Petal, and Cafe

L-R: Cafe, Petal, Born With It, Honey Peach, and Sparkling Warm Rose

Here are swatches on my lips:

My natural lips with nothing on them. About 99.9% of the time, I'm wearing some sort of lip balm.

NYC Ultra Moist "Cafe" applies very smoothly and is a very pretty caramel bronze shade! However, both NYC lipsticks smell like they cost...CHEAP! For only .98 cents though, these have pretty good pigmentation.

NYC Ultra Moist "Petal" is a brilliant shade for spring! It is a bright pale pink. (bright pale sounds like an oxymoron...right?) Again, this smells cheap and doesn't wear for long, but is a beautiful color! Goes on really smoothly.


Maybelline Colorsensational "Born With It" is my FAVORITE lipstick of all time. It is a lovely pale pink. It's my "my lips but better" lipstick. It applies and wears pretty well. It is so creamy! I'm almost out of this shade, but I know i'll be picking up a new one soon!

L'Oreal Color Riche "Honey Peach" smells lovely. Has a fruity scent that I like, but some women might not enjoy it so much. This is a really pretty peachy summer color. In person it is a bit more orange on my lips, but not in a wonky way. This is a nice and creamy formula. I don't believe this is sold anymore because I got it on clearance for $2.14 at Walgreens about a year ago. But they have a very similar shade called Peach Fuzz that might still be around!

Avon "Sparkling Warm Rose"is a very pretty lippie indeed! It is a warm pinky rose color with really pretty shimmer in it. I love wearing this when i do a more natural eye. I use it to play up my lips a bit, as it is brighter than I'm used to wearing. I'm so sad because mine snapped & i lost ALOT of product from that. :( I tried to save it by melting it with a lighter and refrigerating it, but that was no use. Now I just use a brush or clean finger, which actually looks better to me.

I hope that these swatches were okay! I've never really swatched anything before and was bored. So I figured I'd share some cheap but lovely lipsticks! These were all WAY under $10 at Walmart, Walgreens, Target, K-Mart, or any drugstore. The Avon lipstick was ordered form a friend.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
=)

Deauce Beauties Giveaways!!

It is Deuce Beauties....not Deauce! LOL

I have entered 2 giveaways provided by Deuce Beauties!
One is her 200 Followers Giveaway-it is from now until June 20th, before midnight!
The prizes are:
-China Glaze Crackle Glazes in Black Mesh, Cracked Concrete, Broken Hearted, and Crushed Candy
-Mac Lippies in Cherish and Vegas Volt
In order to win, make sure you are subscribed to her & leave your follower name, and for additional chances to win: comment telling her when you started using cosmetics, blog about the giveaway(like me!), or add her to your blogroll!
Link to blog: http://deucebeauties.blogspot.com/2011/05/opengiveaway-200-followers.html

The other giveaway is a CVS Giveaway!
It also ends June 20th, at midnight.
The prizes are:
-2 Rimmel Mascaras, Lash Flirt & Sexy Curves
-Sally Hansen HD Nail Polishes in Lite, HI-DEF, Digital, BLU, and Cyber
Same rules apply as the other giveaway, but you must instead comment on what your favorite drugstore brands are!
Link to blog: http://deucebeauties.blogspot.com/2011/05/open-cvs-giveaway.html

You should enter these giveaways & keep up with her blog!

=)

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Kiss Catwalk Glue On Nails: Designs From NY Fashion Shows

Hello! This is going to be extremely hard to type as I have on glue on nails that are longer than what I'm used to! I'm just going to cut to the chase and review these glue on nails from Kiss that I picked up from Walmart for only $5.49!
This is what the packaging looks like. It has a different appearance from the regular Kiss nails.
This is what you get: pink nail glue, 24 nails, nail file, and a cuticle stick(not pictured).
Sunlight

Fluorescent light
The design of these nails is a purple tip french manicure with green, pink, purple, and silver glitter swishy stripes. These are very chic and cute! These are a tad bit to big for my tiny hands. I usually get Petite short sized nails, but they didn't have these in short or petite sizes. Only medium length. That is why they look a bit off on my little fingers. LOL
That is how long they are on my nails. I am not used to long nails at all! I can hardly type or function at all! But I really love how these look.
These were easy to apply; just size your nails to the fake nails, lay them out in order, apply drop of glue to natural nail, then push fake nail back to cuticle and down on to nail & press for about 30 seconds. Without fail, I always get air bubbles! If anyone knows how to avoid this, please tell me! 

The next set of nails I want to try are the Broadway Fashion Diva Mismatch Harujuku Style Nails. They are so bright & perfect for summer! Expect to see those here soon!

Have a lovely Sunday!

=)

Friday, May 13, 2011

GABY'S Beauty Blog Giveaway!

Gaby is having a giveaway for the Sigma Naugty In Black Travel Kit! I don't own sigma brushes, so I am super excited to partake in this giveaway! The giveaway ends May 25th at Midnight. It is open internationally, for followers only!

I just want to thank Gaby for being one of my 4 followers, and quite possibly the only person that will read this post. But at least it will be read by someone!

Thanks Gaby for the giveaway & for following my new blog!

=)

Sunday, May 8, 2011

NOTD: China Glaze Strawberry Fields

Today I have a beautiful summer perfect nail polish to show you! I present to you(though I'm sure you've seen it before!) China Glaze's Strawberry Fields!

China Glaze Strawberry Fields is $5.99 at Sally Beauty Supply!

This polish applies like a dream! I love the application of China Glaze polishes, but I only own 2, so I'm not sure if application is consistent with this brand or not. But I'm sure it is. 




This is a bright pink, almost raspberry-ish. The name definitely fits this polish well! I hope that you can see the pretty gold shimmer in this polish. It really helps to warm up this pretty color.

This image is blurry, but I think you can get a better look at the pretty gold shimmer in this.


 This is one of my favorite pink nail polishes. I love it on my fingers & my toes! So pretty!

I hope you get a chance to pick this beauty up. It isn't the most amazing polish ever, but it sure is pretty to me!
 Have a lovely day!

=)

Monday, May 2, 2011

NOTD: Sinful Colors Soul Mate

Sinful Colors Soul Mate is $1.99 at Walgreens!

I have had this polish for almost a year, and this is only the 2nd time I've worn it. I thought it was so pretty in the bottle. Then I applied it to my nails, and didn't like how it looked against my skin. But now, I LOVE this shade! And the name Soul Mate is too cute. 

Indoors, fluorescent lighting, 2 coats
As you can see, I have some bumps and bubbles. The application of this polish was smooth. But as it dried I guess I used my hands too much and ruined it. I don't think I can blame the formula, but my impatience with nail polish drying looks like a good suspect!

sunlight from window
sunlight from window

Isn't this such a pretty color? Looks perfect for the spring and summer months! I need to try this on my toes. I'm sure it'll look great! I don't think I'll be wearing this much longer with all of the bubbles and bumps. Plus my thumb chipped. I actually think all these problems are from my base/top coat. I've been using the LA Colors top/base coat. A $1 top/base coat probably isn't the best to use. I need to invest in a nice top coat like Seche Vite or something. But until then, the LA Colors will have to do!!

Hope you have a lovely day!
=)