SquareHue May 2013: Madonna Collection Swatches

I Bought This 

Sorry about the delay!  I'm still getting used to the camera I'm borrowing.  I meant to get this post up around the time I received my SquareHue box, but the first swatch photos I took with the new camera came out crappy.  So I'm adjusting and playing with some settings, and I'm hoping the photos come out alright from now on!

Today I have swatches of May's SquareHue box.  Now I know why there wasn't any pink in the Bloom Collection...they were saving it for this month!  The Madonna Collection consists of 3 different shades of pink with 3 different finishes.

Okay, I'm not sure if this month's polishes really have names or not.  As you can see, the first line of each polish spells out Happy Mother's Day!  But they also have a second word that I thought was the finish of the polish, because it matched.  But maybe it's part of the name?  So they would be: Happy creme, Mother's pearl, and Day glow...?

First up is Happy [creme], which is a Barbie pink creme.  It reminds me of OPI Pink Friday, and I may do a comparison post later.  The formula on this one was a bit thick and application was a bit streaky.  I used 3 coats of polish and 1 coat of Seche Vite for the swatches below.

Mother's [pearl] is a pretty color, but it's my least favorite this month, mostly due to the fact that it's a pearl/frost.  I am not a fan of polishes with this type of finish because they usually end up a brushstroke-y mess.  This one was not too bad, but there were definitely visible brushstrokes.  I tried to use Seche Vite to smooth it out and cover up the brushstokes, and that kind of worked.  But still doesn't look great to me.  Other than that, the formula was not bad and I used 2 coats of polish and 1 coat of Seche Vite for the swatches below.

Last, but not least, is Day [glow], a raspberry crelly with a waxy finish.  I think the "glow" is because this a bit bright and would be great for summer!  This is my favorite of the three!  The formula was great and it was a dream to apply!  I applied two coats for the swatches below, no top coat.

This was my second box from SquareHue, and I'm still testing out the waters.  I haven't completely liked either of the boxes I received, so I'm still on the fence about keeping this subscription...especially since you don't know what you're getting until you get it.  Can't wait for June's box!

 

Julep Maven: April 2013 Classic with a Twist (Avery, Jackie) Swatches

I Bought This

I veered away from It Girl this month because I only liked 2 out of 3 of the colors.  Instead, I opted for Classic with a Twist, because I liked both colors and I wanted to try the cuticle serum.  And then I added on the 2 colors from It Girl that I did like, haha.  I'm quite happy with these colors because I don't really have brights and these will be great for the summer season. 

Classic with a Twist came with 2 polishes and the Nail and Cuticle Serum, plus a rock candy lollipop as an extra little something.  The 2 polishes in my box are Avery and Jackie, both cremes and both seem perfect for the upcoming summer!

Click for swatches.

REVIEW + SKITTLE SWATCHES: Blue Cross Holiday Lights Polishes & Candy Shop Polish Set

I stopped at Rite Aid at the end of my Black Friday run and while I was there, I noticed that they had put out a new Holiday Lights nail polish display and it had the two colors I couldn't find before (I had previously picked up the 3 Nouveau Cheap posted about here).  So I picked up those two colors and it turned out they were buy 1 get 1 50% off!  That was pretty cool.  Always nice to save money unexpectedly, haha.  And in addition, I also found the Candy Shop set also mentioned in that Nouveau Cheap post, and I decided to get that too because I'm loving milky glitter polishes a lot lately and I wanted to compare them for you.  Warning: picture heavy post ahead!  :)

bought the middle polish and right end polish this time around!

So as you can see the five full size polishes I have look almost exactly like the set, with the exception of the last polish on the right and the fact that the glitter in the full size hot pink polish (middle) is not multi-colored.  Now for some comparisons of the three that do look like dupes!

this is the one that's supposed to be a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Candy Shop, I think

The pinks are the same for the most part, but I did feel like the glitter was denser in Lollipop than in its full size counterpart.  Now the blue is a different story.  They're not the exact same polish, at least in my set the blues are different.  I feel like Blueberry Swirl leans more green than its full-size counterpart, and the glitter is denser and easier to apply, though still quite sparse compared to the pinks.  As you can see in the swatch below, the glitter from the full-size blue polish did not want to come out at all.

I used 3 coats for the colored glitters and 2 coats for the holo and flakie

some close ups:

You can better see what I mean about Blueberry Swirl (left) being more green in this swatch!

I wonder why they decided to make this smell like a chocolate cupcake?

I did not have the same problem with the flakie eating my base color, like Nouveau Cheap did here.  I wonder if it could be that there are batches that were mixed differently? Or maybe it could be the polish used as a base.  Who knows?  I used 2 coats of the flakie over 2 coats of China Glaze VIII.  The flakies are sparse, but the small multi-chrome round glitter still gives it a pretty effect.  I think this is best layered over dark polish, so that the colors in the flakie and glitter can show up more.  The holographic glitter on the other hand looks good over light or dark polish.

The brushes are not much different.  The handle on the mini polishes are obviously smaller, but the brush is a little longer and a little thinner.  That difference didn't really affect application for me, though.

Overall, these applied pretty well and had nice glitter payoff, with the exception of the blue.  I've only seen these at Rite Aid, with the full-size polishes priced at $4.99 each and the Candy Shop set, which is scented, retailing for $5.99.  The Candy Shop ones kinda do smell like what they are labeled as...very sweet smelling!  I definitely recommend the Candy Shop set over the full-size polishes because you get more colors for less and Blueberry Swirl performs better than full-size blue (I wish the full-size ones had names!  It would sound less awkward when writing about them, lol.)  Blueberry Swirl is actually probably one of my faves from the set!  As for that flakie, I think you could pass due to the sparseness of the flakes.  You really have to fish them out and dab them on the nail if you want more coverage.  I think there are better ones out there!

SWATCH: Revlon Moon Candy - Supernova

Hello~ It's been so hot for at least the past two weeks!  It makes a person not want to do anything but sit in front of the fan/air conditioner, haha.  Anyway, today I have a polish from the Revlon Moon Candy collection.  This is my first time trying any of these Revlon duos.

I originally wasn't going to buy anything from this collection because it just didn't seem worth it.  They're quite pricey for the amount of polish you get.  But this week, CVS is having a pretty good deal on Revlon polish, so I decided to give it a try.

This particular duo is called Supernova.  It has a dark gray base with pink/peach flakies that also flash green and yellow.

The above swatches were done with 2 coats of the base color and 1 thick coat of the flakies.  I knew there could be some problems getting the flakies from bottle to nail, since I read some reviews before buying, so I just didn't wipe the brush at all before applying.  Whatever was on the brush went on the nail.  I had  no problems with application for the base color, and the flakies didn't give me much of a problem either, as can be seen from the pictures.  I didn't use a base coat for these photos.

If you're interested in this polish or any of the other Moon Candy collection, CVS is having a sale on Revlon polishes.  It's currently $4.99, which is a deal in itself since these are regularly priced at $8.29.  But you also get $3 ExtraCare bucks, which is like getting this polish for $1.99.  

Do you have any of the Moon Candy polishes?

Swatch: China Glaze - Dress Me Up & Luxe and Lush (Colours from the Capitol)

Tonight (well technically tomorrow morning) is the premiere of The Hunger Games movie.  Who's excited?  I am!  Unfortunately, I am not going to be a part of the midnight screening.  I have class tomorrow, bright and early.  BOO!  But hopefully I'll get to watch it soon...maybe even this opening weekend?  Who knows...I didn't buy my ticket early, so I'm not even sure if there's any left for this weekend, lol.

Anyway, to celebrate, I have swatches of 2 of the polishes from China Glaze's Colours from the Capitol (or Capitol Colors)!  Here are Dress Me Up and Luxe and Lush.

please excuse the boo-boo on my ring finger

Dress Me Up is a dusty brownish rose creme polish.  I hadn't originally thought to get this one.  But after seeing swatches, I thought it looked pretty.  Though nothing too special, it's still a nice nude color and perfect for work!  This color is meant to represent District 8 from The Hunger Games, which specializes in textiles.  The formula was great on this one, and it applied really well!  This is two coats.

And then I decided to try adding Luxe and Lush, to try and jazz it up!

Luxe and Lush, as you can see, is a flakie.  White iridescent flakes that flashes orange, green, blue, pink, you name it...the color depends on the polish underneath.  This was one of the ones I was excited about when I first heard that a Hunger Games collection was coming out.  But when I saw swatches, I was underwhelmed.  I decided to get it anyway, after seeing a pretty good swatch somewhere (can't remember now).  Though I love flakies, I'm not as much in love with this one.  I still like it, but it's more work.  This is one coat, but I had to maneuver the flakies to get a good scattering of them.  I think it looks nice with Dress Me Up, though.  This polish is supposed to represent District 1, which specializes in Luxury.

I have 3 more polishes from this collection, so hopefully I'll get to swatch them all this weekend, and post one every day in celebration of opening weekend. :]  But for now, I leave you with this:

I wore this ring today without thinking anything other than it would go with my outfit.  But then, when I got bored in class and started fiddling with it, I realized that it reminded me of the Mockingjay on the cover of the book, on Katniss' pin.  I'm definitely gonna wear this when I go watch it, now! :]

HAPPY HUNGER GAMES!

Wet N Wild Ice Baby Skittles

Ugh, just had midterms last week.  I'm not sure how I did, but I didn't feel too good about it.  For one of them, I studied more extensively on a part that I didn't really need to know and not enough on the part that ended up as a majority of the test. -sigh-

Anyway, today I took a trip to Walgreens, as I was on the lookout for the Wet N Wild limited edition holiday collections.  Nouveau Cheap has been reporting more and more sightings, so I thought I'd go look.  Good thing I did!  The Beauty Bar, with the limited edition palettes, wasn't out yet, but I was so excited to spot the display for the Ice Baby collection.  And it was completely full!

I picked up 5 of them:

I don't have time to swatch them individually yet, but soon!  I was just so excited that I wanted to share it right away.  Here are some skittle swatches though, so you can get a look at them:

From thumb to pinky: 1 coat each of It's All in the Cut, Back Alley Deals, Cost is No Issue, Believe Me It's Real, and Rockin' Rubies

From thumb to pinky: 2 coats each of It's All in the Cut, Back Alley Deals, Cost is No Issue, Believe Me It's Real, and Rockin' Rubies

More bottle and skittle pics after the cut...

Julep Maven: October 2011

I'm back with another Julep Maven box!  If you don't know what Julep Maven is, you can check out my other post on it, from when I got my first box.  It's basically a nail polish version of Birchbox.

I skipped last month's box because it didn't appeal to me...the polish color looked too much like Miranda, which I had gotten in my first box.  This month's box came with 2 polishes and a hand care product, and oh yeah, it was free!  Julep decided to comp this month's box for those who signed up during a certain period due to a mistake on their part during that time.  It was very generous of them!  Thank you Julep!  Now onto the unboxing:

it came in a bag again, though a smaller one this time...

with a cute maroon bow tied on top...

the polishes still all wrapped up...

the 2 polishes: gayle & malin and age defying hand brightener

top: gayle (eggplant purple), bottom: malin (frosty light pink)

I was really excited for Gayle!  It's definitely my kind of color and a perfect color for fall.  I have yet to try Olivia from my last box, as I was saving it for fall (should be swatching it soon ;]), but can't wait to try Gayle too!  Malin is not really my color...I like light pinks, but am not a fan of frosty polishes.  I'll have to see how I like it after I swatch it...

Speaking of swatches, no new ones just yet.  That manicure I got with the red polish?  It stained my nails, even though she used a base coat. =.=;;  I'm waiting for the stain to disappear before swatching again...probably another day or so.

P.S. If you're interested in signing up for Julep Maven, please consider using my link.  I get $15 in referral credit if you do. ^^

SWATCH+REVIEW: OPI - My Address is Hollywood

When I first saw OPI's fall collection, Touring America, the colors didn't really appeal to me.  The only one I wanted was My Address is Hollywood, and I mostly wanted it for the name, lol.  I don't really wear pinks, and if I do, it would be pale pinks (that are work appropriate) or hot pinks.  But this pink is really pretty.  It's a dusty rose color with subtle shimmer.

Of course now, after looking at swatches, I want several other colors.  It also doesn't hurt that I love the names of the colors in this collection!  Be on the lookout for more swatches for this collection, as soon as I can pick up the others that I want... :P