Sunday, June 29, 2014

Rainbow Honey - Tea Biscuit Cuticle Balm

I'm still out of town!  Longest trip ever.  I'm excited to return but I might have enjoyed my trip to Houston more if I rented a car.  Trying to save a little cash though...eh.  I'm just grateful to miss a couple of work days, especially our ridiculous 7:30 meeting on Monday!

Today, I have a review of a stick cuticle balm available from Rainbow Honey.  Unfortunately, their store is closed for a restock and I'm unable to check inventory of this item.  

This is a lip balm like package, where you twist up and down to get product to appear.  I brought this with me, along with a container of Lemony Flutter (Lush) and that was pretty much it.  The smell of this is amazing, like sugar cookies!  It has a hint of wax smell as well but it's not bad. 

I think the product is ok.  In it's stick form, I found it hard to apply, because I really like to slather it on and it tends to go on in a very thin film.  What I tended to do was rub a bunch on my index finger and then apply to the opposite hand.  As a result, I used a lot of this stuff!  It has good staying power, and indeed helped to keep my cuticles moisturized.  I've not visited any dry climates, so I have no idea how well this will help someone living in Phoenix.  It's also not very greasy, so it absorbs into skin well.  I would probably not repurchase this, but would not mind if it came in another months bag.  This is something that I'll probably only use for travel though, since it doesn't count towards liquids and is not necessary to store in your quart sized container.  I have plenty left for future travels.  

I hope to be back late this week with some swatches, but my bad break is growing dreadfully slow and it still needs a bit of filing so I can't make any promises.  I've also decided to do a bit of a blog clean up, and MANY of my posts will be removed.  I may never reswatch some of these, but I'd rather have them gone and keep the things that I'm truly satisfied with.

Hope your Sunday is a great one.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Zoya Bubbly Collection - Part 1

I finally got this collection.  Ever since I first saw these, I knew I had to have them.  Zoya (as well as China Glaze, and I think OPI) are currently buy 2 get 1 free at Ulta (through 6/28).  I used two coupons and ended up getting these at a decent price, without having to wait for Zoya to put them on sale.

I tried them all together, but didn't really feel the results were picture worthy, and so they are all going to be swatched alone.  These are relatively sheer, but should be decent enough at three coats.  Formula wise they were all they same; a bit thick but otherwise fine.  These all have a good amount of shimmer and holographic glitters.  These are a little rough but are easy to cover and smooth out.  These are not a part of the pixie dust line.

I've separated the collection into two parts because my nails couldn't take the extreme swatching all at once. I hope to have the rest of them up around the 4th, but I have no idea how my hands will do in this weather.



Today, I'll be sharing pictures of Harper, Muse and Alma.  I'll let you know my must haves after all six are up.

First is Harper, a very bubble gum based pink.  I wasn't really drawn to this but everyone else seemed to be and so I thought I needed it too.






You can kind of see the golden-ness to it.  It's quite pretty.

Muse is next, which looks like a mermaids tail.  SO pretty.  Perfect green/blue ocean color and that glitta.  Mmm, mmm, mmm!








And last for today is Alma.  This is a really juicy looking orange.  I like this a lot more on than in the bottle.  It is orange so it's warm, just keep that in mind.






I hope y'all are having a great week.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Formula X for Sephora - The Twenty Two

Oh, Sephora...what were you thinking?

Recently, I noticed that the Twenty Two set by Formula X was finally clearanced at Sephora.  I had been wanting this set for the longest because I really wanted to try the brand but I don't really enjoy the price tag.  I debated whether or not to go in store, since I would have to pay shipping, but opted to order online since I wanted to avoid the trip to the mall and I could get a nice deluxe sample.

A mistake.

I was excited to receive it and pulled out each color one by one.  I'm glad I did this rather than dumping the whole shebang out on the bed.  I got to about half way through the first row, when I pulled one out and looked at the bottom to check out the name.  A shard of glass flew off into box.  I actually kind of laughed it off, since they all looked intact miraculously, despite the fact that all 22 bottles are just sort of in there banging against one another.  But, as I went through the rest, nearly every one of them in the second row had a big chip, and some of them were badly chipped, to where a whole layer of glass was breaking off (a couple were taking off the label with them).  Dark Matter looked to be in danger of breaking to where the polish was.  I was ticked!  What am I going to do with a bunch of bottles that are breaking and probably won't even stand level?! I decided not to risk taking pictures because I didn't want to get glass everywhere and ended up returning it in store.  This item is out of stock online at this time, but just be aware that Sephora only uses paper cushioning and that the Twenty Two set itself is not well packaged for a typical rough trip with UPS.  I guess I'm mildly grateful none broke to the polish itself.




I have mentioned that I am going away for a trip so I really didn't have time to swatch these, even on a wheel.  I took some pictures which I will include in this post and then try to get some swatches up when I return.  I've also broken two nails so my hand isn't presentable at this time.  I hope by the time I return everything will be all well with them.

Toppers


Metallics


Cremes


Neons


Moar cremes


Bottle close up with outer cap removed


Shot of brush.  Formula looks good.



Overall, this is a great value at clearance price.  While none of the colors particularly blow me away, it's a beautiful collection of a little bit of everything.  Plus, it's a wonderful way to try (and own) a lot of the Formula X line, which is not cheap.  Once I try these, I'll let you know what I think of the handle/brush and of course, the formula.


Saturday, June 14, 2014

Color Club - For You

Another milky glitter!

I recently ordered from Head2Toe Beauty to slay a long time lemming (China Glaze's Champagne Kisses) and decided to make the order worth my while.  This was the only non-China Glaze I purchased.

I want to mention the redesign first.  Color Clubs now come with a rubberized white cap, with a CC logo.  The design of the name has changed as well, and looks a little disco-y.  Despite this, it looks great and feels upscale.  



This is a milky white glitter with the SAME glitter mix as both the Urban Outfitters polishes I showed yesterday.  The formula was the same as well, with a thin base.  It required two and a half coats to build to good opacity (the third coat is near the cuticle and then dry brushed the rest of the way up to avoid it looking thick and ducky at the tips).  These polishes are all made by the same company, Forsythe Cosmetics, so it stands to reason that everything would be the same.  I'm just disappointed they only seem to have one glitter mix, but they're all pretty and they all do end up looking different because of the base.







I also wanted to mention that this and the UO polishes has some curling glitter.  It's not terrible, but it's there.  It is more noticeable in the UO polishes than the CC and I'm guessing it has to do with age.  I know sometimes curling glitter can get better (I've heard this about an infamous OPI), but I imagine it can also get worse in some cases too. I'm not sure which is newer to be honest.  Time might answer this question.

Color Clubs retail for slightly more than UO polishes, however, you can get them at a discounted price more easily.  I'm likely going to place an order soon for more from Enospring, as I've loved every CC I've tried to date.  I'm not entirely sure the colors overlap across the two brands however, so I'll still check out UO polishes.

What's next?  Who knows...I'm going to be out of town for a little while and I am flying with no checked bags so I won't be able to take much polish with me.  I'm hoping to get some Sally Hansen tints up and the new Zoya Bubbly collection as well.  Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Urban Outfitters swatches

Wooooo!  My first ever UO polishes.  We don't have an Urban Outfitters here, and whenever I'm in a place with one, I never seem to remember to go by and check it out.  In college, we used to have one in walking distance from my dorm.  Long ago are those days.

Today, I've got a couple of milky glitters to show.  I ordered these online, as well as some other household items.  These helped me to get to the free shipping marker.  I really need to order from them again so I have reason to get more of these.



First is Violet Sugar, a purple-ish color.  It really reminds me of smashed blueberries, but whatever.




My camera pulled this way blue, so I did color correct the last photo as closely as I could. This is two coats.

Next is Blue Raspberry, which is really more minty.




This is three coats.  First coat was applied way too thin, so I had to do a third.  I recommend doing two slightly thicker coats to minimize the lumpy thickness.

I'll talk about formula first since they were both the same.  Fantastic.  Despite being chocked full of glitter, they were nice and thin (something I enjoy for something so densely full of glitter).  The glitters appear to be identical in both colors, which I was mildly disappointing.

I've got to admit that while I love square bottles, I don't care for these much.  The handles are short for a full size, and they're so...squat.  They'll end up taking up a bit more room than a bottle that is a bit taller.  But, these are really great polishes.  Tomorrow, a Color Club.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Rainbow Honey - June Mystery Bag polish swatches

I'm on a roll.  Got these done before work but it ate up a lot of spare time.  Oh well,  it was worth it!



Let's start with Ichigo, which is a fuschia jelly with a lot of flakies (I think they're partially shards).  This...is...stunning.  It's incredibly juicy.  At three coats, the opacity was ok, but it was no where near as dark as the bottle color.  This is fine on it's on, but would probably be a pretty good topper.

(note the color difference from the bottle)





This is three coats, with a coat of Gelous and a coat of NYC GCS.

Formula wise, a bit thick, but not bad.  I will need to thin it but got by on this application without doing so.

Next is Rose Macaron, a gorgeous milky pink base with a good amount of different pinkish glitters.  This is amazing on.  A little lumpy, because of all the glitter and the formula, but if you're more careful than I, it shouldn't be much of an issue.





This is three (I think?, gah!) coats.  This is a bit thick and clung to the handle a bunch.  I did manage to get through application by turning it over each time it gummed up too much.  A thinning would not hurt it but I don't think it needs it at this time.  One coat of Gelous and one coat of NYC GCS.  Another winner.

Finally, Pikake, a complex glitter topper.  I decided to layer this over Zoya's Dot, which has a bad formula.  I did two coats of Dot and it was still a streaky mess but I went with it anyway.  One coat of Pikake, dabbed totally saves this color and they look great together.





Formula wasn't bad, but like I mentioned, you need to dab this one on.  There is a lot of glitter in this so it's easy to handle and get good coverage.  The iridescent glitters really make this pop and shimmer.  One coat of Gelous was applied to give it a smoother finish.

I am REALLY loving these this month.  These are all really unique and beautiful.

Gonna try to get more done this afternoon.  We'll see.