Monday, June 30, 2014

Manicure Monday - CDB Lacquer - 6/30/14


http://cdblacquer.storenvy.com/

Today's Monday Manicure blog post/review is of "Mermaid Wishes" by CDB Lacquer.
I have been a fan of Cheyenne's nail art and polish swatches since I joined the nail community, and she was one of my first official swatchers, and one of my continuous favorites! Since the beginning of this year, she has developed her own line of sweet indie nail polishes!  
I bought several of her polishes a couple months ago, and have decided it is finally time to share one of them with you today! In this Manicure Monday post, I am going to review "Mermaid Wishes"! I will be publishing another blog post with the rest of the beautiful polishes that came in the mail from CDB Lacquer over the last couple months.


"Mermaid Wishes" is a dense glitter topper, with holographic silver and teal glitters, iridescent hexes, and holographic teal stars. The formula was a breeze to work with, using the dabbing method. I used two light coats over a teal undie.


All polishes made by Cheyenne at CDB Lacquer are vegan and 5-free.She ships to the U.S. and Canada.


Look how gorgeous the holographic glitters and stars are! My favorite part of this topper is the large iridescent hexes! You can see one clearly on my pinky nail!

Her polishes are reasonably priced, at $4 per mini bottle and $8 per full size bottle. Her packaging is so cute, too! She also sells complete sets of her collections, and has newly listed false nail spines with her art painted on! She is such a talented artist, so I am very excited to see this new addition to her line!

Follow her social media to find out about sales and new products!



Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed reading my review! Visit her Shop and comment on this blog post what your favorite CDB Lacquer polish is!


*This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. The products mentioned have been purchased with my own money.*

Monday, June 23, 2014

Manicure Monday - Disturbed Potions - 6/23/14



Today's Monday Manicure blog post/review is of DisturbedPotions "Menage-A-Trois," which I discovered via Instagram, when she posted this picture: http://instagram.com/p/mLeNLqQZVq/

According to her Storenvy shop, Annette's company is run out of Colorado. Her brand is known for the innuendo polish names, and she gives this warning on her front page: "Some of our Polish has inappropriate names for young-uns, please be warned!" 

I bought two of her polishes a couple months ago, and I have been so excited to share them with you! Today I am going to review the first one, and my favorite! I will be publishing another blog post with the rest of the goodies that came in the mail from Disturbed Potions, which included samples of her top coat, vinyls, and cuticle oil, as well as another wonderful polish!

Two generous coats of "Menage-A-Trois" by DisturbedPotions with no undie

"Menage-A-Trois" is best described as a magenta jelly with large holographic teal circles and medium hexes, metallic pink dots of two sizes, and scattered iridescent smaller glitters. I absolutely loved this polish on, and I just had to wear it for 3-4 days! It lasted a long time with minimal chips or peeling, too. I used the Disturbed Potions top coat sample to seal in this manicure, and maybe that is why is lasted so long without chipping!


The formula was easy to apply, because I used the swirl-the-brush-around-in-the-bottle method paired with the dabbing-glitter-placement method and the polish smoothed over my nail just fine.


Disturbed Potion's polishes are all Big-5-Free. She ships Internationally, and her polishes are all priced very reasonably, between $5.50 - $8.50 per full size bottle. Follow her social media or sign up for her newsletter to find out about her sales and new releases!

Here are her social media links:



Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed reading my review! Visit her Shop and comment on this blog post what your favorite Disturbed Potions polish is!



*This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. The products mentioned have been purchased with my own money.*
 

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Rainbow Honey: June Mystery Monthly Subscription Bag - mini

http://www.rainbowhoney.com/
 
Here is a cool Monthly Subscription Box that I found two months ago! It is from Rainbow Honey. If you are unfamiliar with this brand, this is what they say about themselves: "Our products are designed and made in the US at the Rainbow Honey Lab in Clifton, New Jersey. Always free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, and Dibutyl Phthalate (the “big 3”), 100% vegan and cruelty free."
You can order the monthly subscription in a mini or a full size. I subscribed to the mini size. I was unsure at first if that meant that I would receive less items, or if it would be smaller portions. However, to answer that question: I received all the same items as the full size subscribers but in smaller portions. 
I received the June Mystery Bag last Saturday, and I am going to be posting about it today!  
In the June bag, I got:

  • 'Pikake' (5mL) Nail Polish: "Take your nails to a tropical paradise with this fun glitter topper!"
  • 'Rose Macaron' (5mL) Nail Polish: "Another sweet treat waiting to coat your nails in pink and glitter"
  • 'Ichigo' (5mL) Nail Polish: "This bright fuschia jelly glows with blue and purple iridescent flakes!"
  • Cuticle Balm(.15oz.) in 'Tea Biscuit': "Our beloved cuticle balm, enriched with vitamin E, will protect your cuticles and nailbeds! Now in an amazing (and delicious) new scent, Tea Biscuit! (please do not eat!)"
  • Perfume Rollerball (2mL) in 'Nucifera': "A new perfume in the works; reminiscent of the tropics and sitting on the beach...let us know what you think!"
  • Exfoliating Sugar Soap (14 grams) in 'Tea Biscuit': "Gently exfoliate your hands and feet with this moisturizing soap!"
  I will mainly be posting pictures and talking about the nail polishes in this review post. 

"Ichigo" by Rainbow Honey
 Love at first sight!! I couldn't wait to use this nail polish after opening the package in the car, so I rolled the windows down and started applying it immediately while sitting shotgun on my way to a family reunion! I had about 10 minutes before we arrived, and hallelujah, this polish dries so quickly, I was able to get three coats on in that amount of time!! I apologize for the poor application, but its the best I could do with all of the Michigan potholes in our roads! 

At first, I thought maybe this hot neon pink jelly was named after the character in the Anime cartoon "Bleach", (my boyfriend watches it) because that is the only place I have ever heard the word from. I searched Google, and pictures from that show and that character was primarily the only search result. Then I narrowed the search by typing in "Translation of the word Ichigo" and I found out that it means Strawberry! That made much more sense!!

This beautiful, glowing neon pink jelly has iridescent blue and purple flakies!
Next up we have both "Rose Macaron" and "Pikake." I used chevron vinyls that I received from Disturbed Potions when I made a purchase with her to create this look. I used the chevrons to keep the little blank window on my nail between the two colors.

To create this look, I used a pink base color near the tips of my nails and topped them with the glitter topper, "Pikake." Then I used two coats of "Rose Macaron" on the other side of the chevron vinyl.

"Rose Macaron" and "Pikake" by Rainbow Honey
 "Rose Macaron" is a light pink crelly containing small red glitters, gold hexes, and magenta circles.

"Rose Macaron" and "Pikake" by Rainbow Honey
 "Pikake" is a dense shimmering glitter topper containing white, light pink, light lavender, hot pink, and yellow glitters.


I was so excited to receive another rollerball perfume, since I loved last month's scent so much! I pretty much used it up, so I was able to start using this one right away for this month! The scent is so nice and refreshing!

I have not used the cuticle balm or the soap yet, but I can't wait to! 


I paid $12.95 total ($10 + $2.95 to ship) for the 6 items, and I say it was totally worth it! They send new and upcoming items, instead of dumping old and clearance items into their subscription mystery bags. Click this link to subscribe for next month's bag! Or if you want to get your hands on the same exact products for June, click on this link!


Here are Rainbow Honey's other social media links:
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed reading my review! Let me know what you think!


*This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. The products mentioned have been purchased with my own money, as part of a monthly subscription box.*

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

4th of July Nail Polish Giveaway

4th of July at Super Nails

You're stocked up on fireworks and sparklers, now all you need is the glitter for your 4th of July manicures!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SuperNails/search?search_query=red+blue&order=date_desc&view_type=gallery&ref=shop_search

Introducing 5 NEW Handmade Polishes to help Spark the Summer and celebrate the Freedom!

Red, white and blue slices and micro-bar fiber shaped glitters and red and white diamonds.
Red, white, and blue dots
Red, white, and blue metallic and holographic dots of all sizes of hexes.
Red, white, and blue glitters, including stars, mini bars, hexes, squares, shred and diamonds.
Dense tiny matte red, white and blue hexes. Opaque in 3-4 coats. Textured without use of a top coat.

Visit www.supernails.etsy.com to order! 

So there you have it! Be sure to enter in the giveaway below to win the Full Size Bottle of your choice from this collection! I can't wait to read your comments! <3

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Monday, June 9, 2014

Manicure Monday - LynBDesigns - 6/9/14

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LynBDesigns
Tonight's Monday Manicure blog post/review is of LynBDesigns "Quite Interesting" from the 'They Say of the Acropolis' collection.

According to her Etsy shop, Jennalyn's company is run out of Michigan, which is also my home state, so I am pretty excited to be reviewing a fellow Michigander's polishes!

I bought quite a few of her polishes over the last few months, and I have been so excited to share these with you! Today I am going to review the first one, and my favorite out of them all. I will be publishing another blog post with the rest of the polishes I bought, but I am only talking about "Quite Interesting" tonight.

"Quite Interesting" by LynBDesigns over black and white on the accent nail

"Quite Interesting" is best described as a scattered holographic glitter topper with metallic purple and teal glitter of all shapes and sizes, and large holographic silver hexes.


The formula was as easy as pie to apply and went on smoothly and evenly. I am wearing one coat over black and white base on the accent nail with a clear topcoat. I dipped the brush and plenty of glitters got onto the brush without fishing, and I used light even strokes and the glitters were easily applied without even using the dabbing method!

Out of focus to show the holographic nature! How beautiful!

I am in love with this polish! It has definitely been placed on my shelf of favorites!

LynBDesign's polishes are all Big-3-Free. She ships Internationally, and her polishes are all priced very reasonably, between $5 - $12 per full size bottle. Follow her social media to find out about her sales and new releases!

Here are her social media links:

Shop
Twitter
Blog
Facebook
Instagram

Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed reading my review! Visit her Shop and comment on this blog post what your favorite LynBDesigns polish is!



*This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. The products mentioned have been purchased with my own money.*

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Ipsy Glam Bag May 2014 Review

I know... this post is about a month late! Sorry! I wanted to post a review after I had the chance to try all of the products out first. I knew it would take a while, because I got two lotion products and a makeup brush. One was a sunscreen, so that is why this post was so late in the game.

Included in the May Ipsy Glam Bag was:

  • Hang Ten Classic Sport SPF 50 Sunscreen Lotion 
  • Pur~lisse "pur~moist hydra balance moisturizer"
  • Pacifica Mineral Eye Shadow Duo in "Moonbeam and Unicorn"
  • Nailtini Straight Up Color Nail Lacquer in "Champagne"
  • Crown Brush Pro Blending Fluff Brush
I will talk about the nail polish first, for obvious reasons ;) Because, let's be honest, it's the only item I really look forward to receiving every month... and also why I didn't even bother reviewing the April glam bag on my blog after I didn't get the nail polish in my bag last month. *tear*
 

Anyways, the "Nailtini" polish I received is in the color named "Champagne". It's a good name for it, because it seems like it could be the color of champagne and bubbly with it's pearly sheer finish.
Here is one coat of Nailtini "Champagne" on my thumb without flash





Three coats of Nailtini "Champagne" with flash on camera
I am happy they sent a full size bottle ($13 value), because it seems like a nice nude polish that you can wear to a formal event without being too showy.The only negative is that the streaks still appear even after three coats, and it highlighted the imperfections on the surface of my ring-finger nail. But if that sort of thing doesn't bother you, then this is a nice color.

Something cool about Nailtini ('tini Beauty - they sell other products than just nail polish) is that all of their polishes are named after alcoholic drinks and other beverage terms! According to their website, they are also "Cruelty-free, vegan and 5-free: no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, toulene, dibutyl phthalate or camphor. Made in the USA."

Here is the ingredients label on the box that was in my glam bag:
Notice the "Vodka:", "Simple Syrup:", and "Dry Gin:" ingredients?
 

 Next I will talk about my second favorite item I got: the eyeshadow! This is from the company called "Pacifica" and the eyeshadow duo I received was in the colors of "Unicorn" and "Moonbeam."

The online store for Pacifica does not have the same eyeshadow duo, but instead are sold in larger eyeshadow sets from $14-$32 range with recyclable packaging.

"Moonbeam" is the darker color, which is hard for me to explain. To me, it is a dark dark purple-grey. I swatched it in the picture above on my hand next to "Unicorn." It reminded me of a bruise-color after I swatched it. It washed out my blue eyes when applied to my lids, but it would look nicer on someone with a darker complexion than mine. I am too pale for such a dark color.

"Unicorn" is the lighter golden-white color. I like this one better out of the two, because it can be used as a great highlighter shadow. It is so shimmery, and really a beautiful shade.

Pacifica's website states their eyeshadow is: "Coconut infused for a longer lasting eye shadow that applies easily with a velvety finish. Natural mineral color. 100% vegan. No animal ingredients or testing."








I also received a sample of SPF 50 sunscreen lotion from "Hang Ten." They sell this on their website in a 6 oz. bottle for $12.99. I received a 1 oz. sample in my Ipsy Glam Bag.
It applied smoothly, and rubbed in nicely.

Funny story: I had bought some generic brand natural, paraben-free sunscreen from Meijer the other day but it did not rub in at all. I was walking around with a weird pale-white tone of skin, and greasy white lotion getting everywhere because it wouldn't rub in at all. Not good with a black swimsuit! I thought that maybe it was because it was natural and didn't have the harmful chemicals in it, and that it was just going to have to be this way. BUT!
...I am glad I was sent this sample because it proved that good, paraben-free sunscreen can also be good quality and rub in nicely! I love the smell too! It is a lighter version of the classic sunscreen lotion smell. LOVE that smell!

According to the website, this sunscreen is:
• Oxybenzone Free
• Paraben Free
• Retinyl Palmitate Free
• Non-Greasy
• Non-Nano
• Synthetic Fragrance Free

I will definitely be ordering some Hang Ten sunscreen to replace my nasty generic brand of sunscreen lotion very soon!


Next up, is the anti-aging cream from "Pur-lisse." I received "pur-moist" which is supposed to be a hydrating moisturizer. The sample size I received was .5 oz size, and the full size is 1.7 oz. for $55 on their website.
I only used it once and I could tell that I wasn't ever going to use it again. It left me kind of sticky. The website says that it leaves your skin with a "dewy and supple" texture, but all I got from it was an akward ...sticky feeling.


Lastly, I received a makeup brush. This is from the company "Crown Brush" and is called a "Pro Blending Fluff." It retails for 60% off right now on their website for $5.49.
Now, I know that this isn't just an ordinary makeup brush. But I don't know enough about makeup brushes for me to be able to tell you much about it. Like lipstick, I also do not use makeup brushes, but instead I use my fingers to apply my makeup, (except for blush, which comes with a mini application brush on the side of it.)

From the description on the website, it looks like this is for applying eyeshadow. It is a great quality brush, the bristles are nice and fluffy, and soft. 



Overall, I would say that this Ipsy Glam Bag was a success! I paid $10 total for the month, including shipping, and after I visited each brand's website and added the proportionate product costs up, I think I received over $30 in merchandise in my May Glam Bag. 

I would highly recommend this monthly beauty subscription, especially if you like to experiment around with new brands, new colors, and different products.

If you are unfamiliar, Ipsy has you fill out a beauty profiling quiz, and they choose which products they think fits you best each month. It is the cheapest monthly subscription box that I could find, and even if you're like me and subscribe just for the nail polish, it still pays for itself because this month I got a nail polish that retails for $13! Along with that I got some makeup, lotion, makeup brush and free shipping! Not to mention, the makeup pouch with a different print that you get each month. This month's was a canvas bag with Springy green design.

If you think you would like to try the Ipsy Glam Bag and receive your own 4-5 beauty products each month, follow this link to give me referral points: http://www.ipsy.com/r/7v8m 

Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed reading my review! ❤




*This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. The products mentioned have been purchased with my own money, as part of a monthly subscription box.*

Monday, June 2, 2014

Manicure Monday - Let It Glitter - 6/2/14

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Letitglitter

Today's Monday Manicure blog post/review is of two polishes that I won a couple of months ago in a Nail Polish Giveaway on "Love Life Lacquer" blog! I found this giveaway from visiting "Color Me So Crazy" blog's Giveaways from Around the Polish World list!

These polishes are from "Let It Glitter", an indie company from Rotterdam, Netherlands! She ships internationally, which is awesome!

The two polishes that I won were: "Pinky Promise" and "I Heart Neon".

"Pinky Promise" & "I Heart Neon" by Let It Glitter
"Pinky Promise" is a pink cream polish with dark pink metallic hexes and smaller holographic silver hex glitters suspended in it.

"I Heart Neon" is a white cream polish with dark pink metallic hexes, bright neon pink matte hexes, and little light pink metallic hex glitters suspended in it. 

The formulas were easy to work with. I applied two thin coats over a clear base coat, but could probably have gotten away with adding one more coat of the polish to even out the thin spots on my pinky and pointer nails. It was easy to get the glitter onto the brush and onto the nail, without fishing. I used the dabbing method on the second coat.

Her social media links include:


Blog
Facebook
Instagram

Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed reading my review! Visit her shop and comment on this blog post what your favorite Let It Glitter Polish is!




*This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. The products mentioned were won in a giveaway.*