REVIEW+SWATCH: Orly - R.I.P.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!  Today, I have for you Orly R.I.P., which I wore as my Halloween mani.  I saw it at my local nail supply store and thought it would be perfect for the occasion!  It's small round orange glitter and larger orange hex glitter in a black jelly base.  I used 2 thick coats for the photos below (no top coat).

in the shade

in the shade

in the shade

in the sun

close up of the glitter on my nail, in the shade

This applied okay.  It was a bit thick and I I had to stop and shake the bottle a couple times because the glitter kept settling to the bottom.  The hex glitter is abundant in the bottle but didn't want to stay on the nail, when I was applying, so I had to kind of just glob a dot and maneuver the brush around to cover the nail with the glitter.  But it was opaque in two coats, and I really like how it looks.  Very festive! 

REVIEW+SWATCH: Sinful Colors Faceted (Holiday 2012)

Sorry this is a bit late!  I didn't consider studying or napping into my equation for calculating when I would get time to swatch this, haha.  But here it is!

Sinful Colors Faceted is small purple round glitter and color-shifting bar glitter in a clear base.  I used 1 coat of Faceted over 3 coats of China Glaze Light As Air.

under natural light

under fluorescent light

I really like this combination!  But the bar glitter doesn't really show up on this lighter color, so I also swatched it over a darker polish.  The next picture shows 1 coat of Faceted over 2 coats of China Glaze VIII:

under natural light

As you can see the bar glitter shows up a lot more over a dark base.  You get to see color-shifting in the bar glitter a lot more, but the purple glitter is less obvious.  This combination is also nice, but I still prefer it over the lighter polish more.  I normally don't like bar glitter, but have to say, this one is really pretty.  I think it may be because of the color-shifting glitter, as I mentioned in my last post. :P

This was a little thick, but applied well.  I didn't use any special maneuvering to get the amount of glitter I have on the nail, though I don't think this is a glitter you can wear alone.  I tried 3 coats on its own, and it still showed a lot of my nail.  (I didn't take any pictures of that though :x)  Overall, I'm pleased with this polish and am happy to have it in my collection!

SPOTTED: Sinful Colors Holiday Shimmers (Holiday 2012)

I stopped by Rite Aid last week and look what I found!  It's the Sinful Colors Holiday collection!  This one is all sparkly goodness, I think.  I can't be too sure because the display was kind of picked over, so there are some shades that I'm not sure about, if they're supposed to be part of the collection or not.  But let's get to the pictures!

The display! It was next to the Sinful Colors Fall display, or at least what was left of it, haha.

The colors from left to right: Nova, Frenzy, Super Star, Winter Wonder, Queen of Beauty (behind a bottle of Winter Wonder), Ice Dream, Faceted, and Dazzle

I know Queen of Beauty is part of the permanent display, so I'm not really sure if that one was part of this collection or someone just decided to misplace it there.  And I think Frenzy might be permanent too.  But there's two here, so it's probably part of the collection.  I wouldn't be surprised since Sinful Colors has repromoted permanent colors in "new" collections before.  The rest are new and limited edition, I think.  All are pretty, but the one that really stood out to me was Faceted, even though I don't really like bar glitter.  Faceted just looked so pretty, and the bar glitter is multichrome glitter, so that kind of made up for it.  :P  You can probably guess, I left Rite Aid with Faceted in hand.  Swatches should be up either tomorrow or Friday, when I get time to photograph. :)

In addition to Faceted, I was also interested in Nova, Winter Wonder, and Dazzle.  I'm hoping to stop by Walgreens this week and see if they have this collection out yet, since they're having a $0.99 sale on Sinful Colors again.  

Of note: if you own China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara, you might want to skip Ice Dream.  When I saw it, I immediately thought it could be a dupe for Lorelei's Tiara.  But, if you're lemming Lorelai's Tiara and have had no luck finding it, you might want to check this one out!  

SPOTTED @ Target: Holiday 2012 ELF & Kardashian Kolors

So I spotted some Holiday displays over the weekend at one of the Targets near me.  First up is ELF!

The ELF collection looks to have some new stuff and their palettes have had a bit of a makeover.  I was pretty interested in the nail polish set on the fourth shelf, to the right.  I haven't tried any ELF polishes yet, and this look like it had a good mixture:

Sorry for the blurry pic!  Took this in a rush with my phone.  But anyway, this set is called Necessary Nails and comes with 15 nail polishes (that are supposed to be essential, I guess).  They have light and dark colors; something for everyone.  This set retails for $15. 

Next up is the Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolors Holiday 2012 collection:

They had this on a back endcap, by the rest of the nail polish.  I think some of the colors are pretty, but I don't get too much of a holiday vibe from this.  There's a bit of a mix in the finishes, with a couple cremes, some frosty ones, glitters, and even maybe a duochrome!  But mostly these are glitters, which isn't a bad things.  Here are some close ups of the bottles:

l-r: Kardashing Through the Snow, Here We Kome A-Karoling, All is Glam, All is Bright, Keeping Up with Santa

l-r: A Gold Winter's Night, Deck the Dolls, Nicole's Nickel, Mer-Maid for Each Other

l-r: Mer-Maid for Each Other, Just Busta Mauve, I Love You Cherry Much

I'm unsure whether they're all Kardashian Kolors, because the Kardashian related names stop after Deck the Dolls (the blue one), and actually A Gold Winter's Night isn't really Kardashian related either.  So some of these might be just be part of the regular Nicole by OPI line's holiday collection.  But anyway, yeah...the ones that interested me most were All is Glam, All is Bright and A Gold Winter's Night.  They look really pretty!  And also Kardashian Through the Snow, because I don't have a multi-colored glitter yet and this looks like it might be a good one.  Here's even more of a close up of these bottles:

look at all the sparkles! :P

The Nicole by OPI polishes retail for $7.04 at Target.  I've only spotted these at one Target, which is the one further from me.  The Target closer to me doesn't have any Holiday stuff yet.  (I feel like it's always the last one to get stuff.)  So not all Targets have this yet, but be on the lookout if you're interested in any of these, especially if you want some of the ELF stuff.  As you can see from the picture, it's already been picked over quite a bit!  Let me know if you get anything~ :)

I'm so excited to have spotted these.  Holiday collections are some of my favorites!  Can't wait for the rest to start showing up! ^^

FIRST IMPRESSION: Influenster Beauty Blogger VoxBox 2012

Yay!!  I got my Influenster Beauty Blogger VoxBox this past Thursday!  This is only my second box since I joined last September, and I'm really excited I got picked for this one.  :)  So let's see what's in the box!

This box came with:

1. NYC New York Color Eye Shadow Palette in Dark Shadows (limited edition) - $4.99
2. Goody Simple Styles Spin Pin for Light Hair - $7.29
3. Kiss Ever Pro Lashes Starter Kit - $5.99
4. Slatkin & Co. 1.3 oz Candle in Cider Lane (from Bath & Body Works) - $3.50
5. Not Your Mother's Smooth Moves Frizz Control Hair Cream - $6.00 for full sized 4-oz. bottle
6. EBoost Daily Health Booster in Orange - $28 for a box of 20 effervescent powders
7. Coupon for $10 3-wick candles from Bath & Body Works

I can't wait to get started on testing everything!  The eye shadows look like they will make a great smoky eye, and the lashes will add to the effect.  I've never used lashes before, since I just use mascara for my everyday to keep it simple.  It's great that this is a starter kit, so I can finally try my hand at it. :)  

The Not Your Mother's smells quite coconutty, and the Cider Lane candle smells delicious.  Confession: I already used the coupon to buy the 3-wick version of Cider Lane!  But I will still be doing a post just for this candle to review it and because I just love it so much!  

EBoost reminds me of Emergen-C, which I usually take when I feel like I'm getting sick.  I'll have to see if it is when I try it.  And the Spin Pins are in the wrong color!  I have dark hair, and I stated that on my survey, so I'm confuzzled on why I would get ones for light hair.  Anyway, hopefully they don't stand out too much when I use them. 

Stay tuned for more in depth reviews of this product.

Note: This voxbox was sent to me for review through Influenster.  If you don't know what Influenster is, check out my post here.

SPOTTED: NEW Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipsticks & a Coupon

So when I was at Ulta yesterday, buying my Butter London polishes, I spotted a new display from Revlon.  I could tell it was new because it was still full, lol.  But also because I hadn't heard much about this product before and hadn't seen any swatches, unlike when the lip butters came out.

Doesn't Oliva Wilde look gorgeous?  The color she's wearing is so perfect for fall!  I really love it and was so tempted to buy it!   But these are $9.99 each at Ulta, which is kinda pricey to me for a drugstore lipstick. I'm going to wait on reviews and swatches (and a good sale) before I decide to buy any.  But the ones I kept reaching for were Backstage, which is the one Olivia is wearing, Socialite, Fashionista, and Front Row.  I also liked Couture, Runway and Muse.

Also, I spotted a coupon at Ulta for Revlon:

There was a display of Revlon Lip Butters and Kissable Balm Stains up by the registers that had this $1 off coupon.  I think it's good only on those items, which unfortunately Ulta is not having a sale on this week.  But it doesn't expire until January, so you can save it for a week when Ulta does have Revlon on sale. :)

DEAL ALERT!! Butter London for $7.47 @ Ulta

Just wanted to do a quick post on this deal! TODAY (10/20) ONLY, you can get Butter London polish for as low as $7.47. Almost as good as buy 1 get 1 free. The catch? You have to buy 3 BL polishes.

If you are an Ulta member, you should have received a 20% off coupon which is good to use starting today and expires next Saturday. This coupon can be used in conjunction with Ulta's current promo of buy 2 get 1 free for the BL polishes (which ends today, hence the deal is only good today only). The total should come out to $22.40 and divided by 3 equals $7.47 each (+tax). Yay!! Good deal?

Here's what I got today:

l-r: scuppered, tart with a heart, scallywag

Scuppered and Scallywag are from Butter London's Holiday 2012 collection, and I was tempted to get more but I stopped myself, lol.  This deal should be good both in-store and online, though it wasn't ringing up buy 2 get 1 free in store for me.  But it's in the ad, so the cashier should price override it if it happens to you! Let me know if you take advantage of this deal~  

And look out for swatches of these soon-ish.  I've got lots of things I want to post about, so there should be lots of posts to come! ^^

Let Me Tell You About Influenster

In anticipation of my coming Beauty Blogger VoxBox, I thought I'd do a little post explaining Influenster and letting you know how my experience has been so far. :)

Influenster is a sample box program, but it's different from the other ones (like Birchbox, Glossybox, etc.) out there in a couple major different ways. The first is that being a member and receiving boxes is completely free. Yes, I said FREE! Second, Influenster has more than just beauty boxes.  Since I joined, I've seen beauty boxes, a Latina box, a Mom box, and an eco-friendly box.

So how it works is you unlock badges that are relevant to you.  For instance, I have unlocked the Beauty one, the Fashion one, and the Pop Culture one.  You then try to improve your score in these badges.  Influenster will then choose whether to send you a VoxBox based on your badges.  And that's another major difference.  These are NOT monthly boxes, and you will NOT be getting one every time Influenster releases a new one.  Influenster will choose participants for a certain box based on whatever criteria they use.

Since I've started with Influenster, I have received one VoxBox, the Love VoxBox.  But there have been at least 4 other boxes, since I've joined, that I have not received.  Sure it's disappointing when you see everyone else getting one, but Influenster is working to have more boxes available so that more people can participate.

I have enjoyed being a part of Influenster, and I highly recommend joining.  What do you have to lose? :)

DEAL ALERT! Revlon Moon Candy Duos On Clearance!

Hello!  I just wanted to do a quick post to let you know that I spotted the Revlon Moon Candy Duos on CLEARANCE at my local Target yesterday! They were all in a bin on a back end cap, and they still had a pretty big selection of them.

They were all priced at $5.24, which is only 30% clearance, so it may go down more if the stock doesn't move fast enough.  I was tempted to pick up another one, but I still have a couple that I need to swatch, so I shouldn't really get another, lol.  Plus, I pretty much got the colors I really wanted through the CVS deal a while back, from when I swatched the Supernova duo.

Have you seen these on clearance at your Target?  Planning to get any?

Julep Maven: October 2012

I'm back with my October Julep Maven box.  I almost skipped this month, because most of the boxes came with crackle, and I didn't like the 1 box that didn't have crackle.   The crackle trend is pretty much dead, IMO, and I think many people felt the same way because Julep came out with another option this month and that is the Maven's Choice box.  It came with 3 creme polishes from the October boxes, but no drops.  I really wanted to try the drops, so I debated whether to get the American Beauty box or the Maven's Choice box.  The American Beauty box came with a dusty indigo creme polish named Eloise and an orange crackle named Sabrina, which I thought was a pretty unique color for a crackle and was the reason I was thinking of getting it.  But then I decided it would be better to just get Maven's Choice and add on the drops, since I was also going to add on Sofia anyway.  And ta-da:

l-r: lisa, eloise, keira, sofia, quick dry drops

Julep included several extras this month.  As you can see in the last picture, there's glitter!  I got orange and black, which is perfectly fine with me because it's October and those will be great for Halloween.  But I know some people got white and silver, which would have been nice and more versatile.  The other extra was candy corn, which is a Halloween staple, but I'm not a fan of it.  I'll probably give it away.  Anyway, I hope to do swatches soon!  At the very least, I will do skittle swatches if I can't do full hand swatches right away.

Also, I was playing with lighting and angles and stuff today, so that I can try to be better about swatching and photographing for this little blog.  (Maybe you can tell, by some of the over-brightness of the photos, lol.)  That's one of the main reasons my blogging schedule is so wonky.  By the time I get home from school and/or interning, it's already dark.  And that'll be even more so with winter coming up.  Can't believe it's already October!!

Until next time~

First Impression: September Glossybox USA

As you know, I am already subscribed to Birchbox, ipsy (formerly known as myglam), and Julep Maven.  When Glossybox came to the U.S., I debated joining.  The products looked pretty good, but it is a little pricier than other subscription services.  After August's awesome box, I seriously considered it and then I got an email from Refinery29 about a limited edition box curated by them.  So, I decided to sign up.  The deal was 2 regular Glossyboxes and 1 Refinery29 box.

So, here's my first Glossybox:

I got this on September 26, but was waiting for a reply from Glossybox before posting my first impression.  I have received a response and can now say that this box was almost a TOTAL MISS for me.  I was super excited for the BB Cream, but also a little hesitant.  I don't think it's a good idea for these sample boxes to give out samples of concealer, foundation, etc. because they can't know if it will match the person it's going to.  But BB Creams tend to oxidize and usually end up matching Asian skin tones nicely.  So I was thinking it would be okay, since most BB Creams only come in 1 or 2 shades.  Unfortunately, this Missha one comes in like 4 shades and they gave me the lightest color, #13, which is way too light for me.  I emailed them and asked if it was possible to exchange it for #21, which would fit me better, and this is what they responded with:

No, it didn't help.  Okay, I understand they can't give me a different one.  But this response just sounds like they didn't read my email at all!  I said it was TOO LIGHT and they're telling me to mix it with a foundation that may be too light for me or use it as bronzer.  WHAT?!

I don't know what I'm going to do with the Missha BB Cream.  I can't even review it properly because it's too light!  I might try to find a way to make it work, but for now, it's a miss.  Then there's the Professional Mattifying Gel.  I don't have a problem with oil, so I'm not sure what this will do for me or if it will help me at all.  Another miss.  The Global Keratin Balancing Shampoo and Conditioner is supposed to keep hair and smooth free for up to 5 months.  But my hair is pretty flat, so I'd rather have volume.  I'll have to test this out.  At least it smells good!  And finally, the lipstick.  It's a nice pink color and looks like the only thing in this box that I will for sure get use out of!

Really, I don't know what the point of that survey/quiz was if they're not going to take it into account when sending products that need specific color choices.  The only nice thing about this box was that 3 of the 5 items were full-size.

Strike 1, Glossybox.  2 more to go.  Let's hope it gets better!