Zoya Bubbly Collection Part 2

Yep.  I took my sweet sweet time doing this.  Sorry about that.  I actually have been dealing with headaches/migranes for the past couple of days.  A real stressful work week, but I decided to try to get these done today and done they were!

Jesy is first, another orange in this collection.  This one is a bit deeper and woah man, is she pretty.  I wouldn't have thought much of her, but she really shines (heh, literally) on the nail.  Three coats.

Stassi is next, an almost wintery green.  My intial thought was "ooooooooh...pretty" but that was quickly replaced with "too Christmas-y".  Three coats.

Lastly is what I decided to wear today.  Binx is a deeper pink, whereas Harper is more Barbie, this more toned down in a way.  It's really gorgeous on.  I'm not convinced I needed three coats for this one, but this is three coats.

My picks are Binx, Muse and a surprise favorite of Jesy.  Congrats to the three.

I have no plans currently for what's next.  I hope I can accomplish something in the next month.

Rainbow Honey July Mystery Bag Swatches!

You ever have those days, where you just can't do anything anymore?  Yeah, that was me the day I got this bag.  So happy to get it and rip it open, but that was about all that I could do.  Swatches are a bit delayed, but whatcha gonna do?

Lets start with Chemical Plant, a magenta-y pink foil.  This admittedly isn't my color, but it actually looks good on.  Formula was ok, but needed three coats.  It was typically thick but otherwise nothing remarkable about it.  I did immediately thin this upon receiving because my bottle wasn't screwed shut and it did appear to be thick.  That likely helped the formula.

Next, Deep Heart Sea.  I was excited about this one on sight, but it is rather disappointing on the nail.  This is three coats and it's just not right.  It really would probably serve wonderfully as a topper at one coat, over a blue or green, but it's lacking on it's own.  True to its name, it does have hearts (along with squares and hexes of various colors and sizes) but I only managed to get one heart out during swatching.  This also has an amazing purple shimmer in it, which adds something.  Formula wise, this was thick but not bad.  I did immediately thin this upon arrival, because a substantial amount was already evaporated.  This likely helped the formula.

And last is Viridis, a multi glitter mix in a lightly tinted clear green base.  This is meant as a topper, as the green really does nothing for it.  This turned out to be the visual winner of the bunch for me.  This has an amazing mix and looks great on.  There are stars, circles, hexes, as well as an iridescent small glitter.  The problem lies in the formula.  This is...easily...the. worst. formula. I've ever worked with.  I mean, I'm a little appalled they sent this out to their customers.  In it's current state, it's nearly unusable.  Doing my swatch fingers was an exercise.  I have since thinned (unlike the previous two, I left this one alone before using), so I'm hoping it's rescued.  I'm fairly sure I would have thrown this away if I didn't know about polish thinner. Ugh.

I decided to include these last two pictures because I really wanted you to see what I was working with.  I took both of these pictures without worrying if the brush would drip.  I never had to return to the bottle or anything.  It is like someone threw in a ton of glitter into glue and shook it up.  Awful.

That's it for this bag.  I do wanna say that all the Midori items smell great!  Like watermelon candies, yum.  Stay tuned for more Zoyas (I promise they're coming since I've already done them!).

Rainbow Honey July 2014 Mystery Bag

I'm talking bout nail polish.  Here's what's in the bag.  I will be posting swatches despite my want to not to.  Stay tuned.

The Memebox transported by mule

OK...maybe that's not fair. Then again, this one took forever. I actually had to abandon the makeup talk thread since everyone moved on from hiding their spoilers to outright talking about it. It must have come via mule.

Today is box 12. I've got mixed feelings on this. Let's take a look.

Item 1: Ryo Anti-Hair Loss Treatment (50 ml, full size: 200 ml, $12)

It doesn't explain what this is. You apply to wet hair, keep it on for a few minutes and rinse. I assume it's more like a conditioner.  I'll try it but I'm sure it does nothing. Smells minty.

Item 2: Banila Co. Claypatra Mineral Salt Clay Pack (12g, full size: 100g, $21)

This immediately reminded me of the Glam Glow product.  Price is right, and packaging is quite frankly, lovely. I'll happily buy this if it's good.

Item 3: Plagentra White Mark Cream (15g, full size: 100g, $38)

I'm confused. Card says for stretch marks, but packaging says nothing about that (at least in English). I have absolutely no stretch marks (knock wood) so I have no clue what to do with this. If I ever get pregnant, I guess I'll have something to try!

Item 4: Plagentra White Mark Lotion, Cream, Massage Gel (1 foil pack each, full size: 100g, $38)

Again, confusion. The cream is the same stuff as item three, but now the card says to apply to your face. Hmm.  Massage gel is supposed to go on legs. Not sure what to make of their descriptions.

Item 5: L.vida Nail Polish (full size, $7)

Lots of color options. I can barely make out "fashion blue" on the bottom of the bottle, but that is not an option listed on the card.  My guess is they confused it with "passion blue". It's a straight creme. Don't need it, but I have to try it. Small for a full size at 10 ml. Comes with a flower elastic ring.

Item 6: Inter-cos Smooth Sensitive Removal Cream (full size, $43)

First, I refuse to beleive this costs $43, but whatever. I want to try it. It has a pretty strong chemical smell.

Item 7: Palan Crysence Organic Essence (full size, $72)

SO pricey. I'm skeptical it costs this much. I think this is equivalent to a leave in conditioner. I have some bad hair and I really don't want do weigh it down, but I'll try it on my ends.

Overall, not a bad box. I'm getting annoyed at their weird descriptions which I'm guessing are inaccurate. I should also note that the card states this is both box 10 and 12. It's such a little thing but it's really annoying. I'm sort of relying on them to translate well since I don't know a single word of Korean. I've got more boxes to come so let's see how it goes from here.

Memebox - Minibox #3

Hey everyone! I've finally made it back home! I'm glad to be back but I do like being out there in the world. I can't wait until I get back to Tejas to get some Vietnamese food. Maybe I'll swing by Austin next time.

Anyway, I'm back with another memebox. Here's the deal.  At this point, my nails are decent enough, but they are growing slooooooow.  I don't know what the deal is, but it's pretty unusual for them to go this slow.  One nail is just too short, and it's a bit uneven so that even when it gets a bit longer, I'm going to file it off.  I would use my other hand but I badly broke the pinkie nail lifting a carry on...so there you go.  No swatches, and I really want to swatch.

Today is my first Minibox from Memebox, and it's their 3rd.  I haven't been keeping up with Meme so much anymore because they're schemes are a bit confusing.  I've decided not to really worry about it anymore, as I'm loaded on products, and I have prepaid for several numbered editions so I'm going to still get stuff periodically.  Should be enough for a long time.  Maybe I'll show some interest again in the future but I've got plenty to go through as it is.

The minis retail for $15 but I had a lot of points for some reason so I ended up paying $2 or so for this.  At $5 or under, I feel this is a worthwhile box, but at $15, the price point is too high.  Here's what it looks like and what was inside.

This box is a little smaller in size than regular boxes

Product 1: Illi Cleansing Oil and Foam Set (15 ml packs and foils)

I was a bit confused with this box.  This was one of the things that threw me for a loop because they included foils along with real bottles.  I guess that's nice...but they also could have put foils for something entirely different...right?  This is a two step regimen for cleansing the skin, first with an oil and then a foam cleanser.  Decent size and enough to get plenty of use out and to see if it's worthwhile or not.

All other items came in the red tin can, which was odd but whatever.  The can is nice...I guess.  It reminds me of loose tea cans.  I'm sure I could use it for something, but I'm not sure what that something would be.

Product 2: A. True Real Black Tea True Active Essence

Ok.  Talk about confusing.  I must have looked at this damn bottle, the included card and the foils below (you'll see in a second) for about ten minutes and am still lost.  The card says one thing, the bottle says another, the foils are the same as the bottle, but the picture for the 2nd product matches the actual contents of the box...This is an essence of some sort.  It's thick looking.  Scary.  Not sure I can actually work up the courage to try this.

Product 3: A. True Darjeeling First Anti-Wrinkle Cream

Smells good.  Great sample size.  

 Product 4: A. True Darjeeling Black Tea First Anti-Wrinkle Essence

The problem with this set is that all items are supposed to be used in conjunction and one piece is missing or was accidentally replicated.  Oh well.

Product 5: Compagnie Coloniale Earl Grey Superieur

Two tea bags.  They look nice quality (not paper bags) and they smell good.  I will use these but it's a little odd.

That's it.  Maybe next weekend will have longer nails and paint.  Wish me luck.