Influenster Jolly VoxBox

 promotional samples 

I'm lagging fiercely here!  Nichole reviewed her Jolly VoxBox two weeks ago.  We got almost the same stuff, but not quite.  This is my first Influenster box, so I was pretty excited when it arrived.  There wasn't any nail polish, but I love Rimmel's Show Off Lip Lacquers and was happy to get a free one.  Here's what I got:

(the chocolates were a box of 6, but this photographed better)

Octopus Party: New Glitters and Sneak Peeks

Today I have some new stuff from Octopus Party Nail Lacquer! I am really enjoying these polishes, but not as much as I'm enjoying being the first to try them! 

See all the swatches after the jump!

Accidentally Sporty Stamping

I'm taking a cue from Nichole today and also doing a quick post.  I have SO MUCH stuff that's almost ready, but nothing that's gonna be finished today.  Grr.  So today you get some stamping I did recently.  It's too loud to really fit in a post with anything else.  I stamped over Sinful Colors Pull Over with L'Oreal The Temptress' Touch and the result turned out a bit...sports equipment.

Tiny DIY, Cling Film, and Pre-Spring Nails

Today is the day for brevity. No particular reason, I'm just feeling less-than-verbose today. But I did make some polish, so I'm not completely un-nichole-ish today.

Colors Used:

OPI Alpine Snow

Octopus Party Ink or Swim

DIY Strumpet-Jelly

My Picks from Sinful Colors Boldacious

Sinful Colors' Boldacious display has been out at Walgreens for at least a month, but I'm still seeing it around and fairly full.  It's an assortment of eye-catching brights and bold colors.  There's also a new polish in it, a glitter mix called Pride.  Since most of the shades in this display are repromotes, my swatches are mostly reruns.  Aside from the swatches in today's post, the display also includes Decadent, Citrine, and Feeling Great.  Innocent, Feeling Great, Citrine, and Enchanted are core at Walgreens, Blue By You is core at Rite Aid, and the rest are returning LE's.


Pride has a clear base with a mix of purple, red, green, blue, gold, and silver hexagonal glitter in two sizes.

over Revlon Wild Violets

Butter London Knees Up vs Kleancolor Metallic Red

I semi-recently picked up a mini Butter London. It reminded me a bit of the failpolish from Color Club. I posted a picture of the Butter London on instagram, and it was suggested that it might be a dupe for Kleancolor's Metallic Red as well. Since I returned the stinky failpolish a long time ago, I decided I would compare it to the Kleancolor.

In the bottle:

look at the tiny bottles! Forgive the poor state of my
Kleancolor. It suffered collateral damage from an explosion

My Picks from Sally Hansen Satin Glam

I have my last two sets of swatches from Sally Hansen's new Satin Glam line to show you today, so I figured I might as well do a roundup.  I bought six of the eight new satin shades, skipping just Chic Pink and the orange Sun Sheen.  I added a few of the previous swatches to the end of this post, but you can see more and read my full reviews of Metal Iced and Teal Tulle or Taffeta and Crystalline by clicking through.  As much as I love Teal Tulle, I think I may have unintentionally saved the best two for last.


Go Gold is a soft gold satin foil.

Ipsy Bag January 2014

It's that time of the month again. (not that time, the "ooohstuff" time) When my Glamroom went live, I was less than thrilled. I think if I hadn't received the Beauty Blender (thanks, by the way, to whichever of you lovelies used my link.) then this month would have been a total wash. The products are OK, but nothing spectacular.

Revlon Parfumerie Wild Violets

I went a bit nuts for two of Revlon's Parfumerie shades when the line first came out last year.  Autumn Spice and Italian Leather are gorgeous, but what really stunned me is that they smelled good!  When Nichole posted her swatches of the enticingly vampy Wild Violets, a small lemming started growing.  My big worry was the scent.  Floral.  Hmm.  I forget exactly what deal tipped me into buying Wild Violets recently, but I finally did it.


Wild Violets is a very dark purple with fine, subtle blue and red shimmer.

Gwen Stefani for OPI: Love.Angel.Music.Baby

Finally, I got something new-ish! Today's polish is from the Gwen Stefani/OPI collaboration. Honestly, when I saw swatches, I wasn't too enthused to go in search of these. The chrome looked a little...weird to me. (plus I read iffy reviews) I also tend not to buy matte polishes, as I have several matte topcoats and prefer to use them. 

I saw a few polishes from this collection on an endcap display at my local Ulta. There was this one, the satin black, the chrome, and the pink. Overall, meh. But Layla had a softtouch collection last year, and I have lamented not picking up the gold color they offered. So I grabbed this one, and I'm actually really happy that I did.

I used three coats here, but only because I had a little bit of bubbling. (it was really humid, and I think that was why) It applies nice and evenly, with little-to-no cleanup required. It sets up pretty quickly, though if you are used to using Seche Vite, "quickly" may mean something different to you. Once dry, it feels super smooth...beware of the desire to pet your nails.

Slimdown Saturday: Food With Friends

Note- This feature touches on a lot of issues for me and may include what you consider TMI, whether physical or emotional.  Harassing comments will be deleted.

So...I forgot to post one of these last week!  Derp!  I would have reported two pounds lost and shown you a bad photo of some fruit.  We didn't miss much, did we?  This week I've lost another two pounds!  That makes 11 pounds down so far!  I also have actual cooking to show you.  My topic for this week is a quick look at how to tweak a recipe so you can eat with your non-dieting friends or family.

Merry xmas to me!

My xmas present "from my partner" finally arrived on Wednesday!  His present was letting me order directly from Russian brand Dance Legend.  He even let me pay for them.  (He pays the rent, so I did most of our xmas shopping.)  I don't mean to make him sound bad at all though.  He felt disappointed that they hadn't gotten here in time for xmas, so he gave me a couple of NYX polishes.  He'd gotten me one for my birthday once and he remembered that only one shop in the area carries them.  Really sweet of him!  Anyway...it took two months, but six outstanding Chameleon multichromes are now mine!  They were out of Roz, but I didn't want to wait because Knight is LE, so I'll have to place another order to get Roz.  A couple of US sites have had it, but they sell out instantly.  I don't mind.  It's a good excuse to possibly order more of the Tops For Dark Polish line, among other tempting things on their site.

For today I'm just gonna throw a teaser of a couple of photos at you.  This is Knight...

Zoya Pixie Dust: Carter

I know that textured polish is on the decline. I'm rather ambivalent about that fact, for the most part. The only thing that really makes me giddy about the dying trend is that all the colors I oogled for the last year are now going on clearance! I picked this one up at Ulta for $4.99. I saw this color, and had to have it. 2014 is definitely the year of purple.

Like most Pixie Dust polishes, I needed two coats. It dried quickly, and was pretty easy to apply. I wanted to try layering a topcoat over, so that it would be smooth and shiny, but I could not abandon the matte-tacular color that it is in it's intended form. I wish that even my fancy-pants camera would capture the subtle shimmeriness here. It is far more spectacular in person than any swatch I have seen would lead me to believe. If you love the textured polishes, start scouring your local Ulta's clearance racks!

still trying to learn my new camera. I know I will
cringe in a few months when I look back to today.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Retro Stamping

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes have a reputation as great for stamping, and it's well earned.  I can't vouch for all of them, but any time I've tried one it's worked beautifully.  When I found the new core shades I was especially excited about the vibrant In-prompt Blue.  It's along the same lines as Pacific Blue from their Xtreme Wear line and the idea of having a version to stamp with was thrilling!  It's especially tough to find good creams for stamping, so I had to put the new three to the test...and the foil and shimmer while I was at it.  Like I need and excuse to stamp!  It wasn't intentional, but all of the results remind me more than a little of polyester shirts.


I stamped a geometrical honeycomb pattern from Bundle Monster's BM-422 plate with Chartreuse Chase and Grease Lightning over Sephora by OPI Dance Til Fawn.

NYC Tudor City Teal

This is a color that I have been eyeing for months. It's only a dollar, but I couldn't seem to pull the trigger. Then two things happened: Amanda swatched it a while back, and CVS had a buy one/get one 50% off sale on NYC. Fine, Universe. I will buy it. I can't ignore 45 cents. I also finally got ahold of NYC Grand Central Station, and I reallyreallyreally like it. I can see a topcoat post on the horizon.

NEW Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Shades

More new core stuff!  I love LE's, don't get me wrong, but I also love trying out stuff I know will be sticking around.  Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri is a line that people seem to either love or hate, especially their wide brushes.  I don't mind the brush, and Zeus loves it.  I know a lot of people love Insta-Dri's for doing children's nails too, since the wide brush and quick dry formula make for easy application on fidgety fingers and toes.  They've been doing LE shades fairly regularly over the past couple of years, but these are the first new core shades I remember them adding since I got back into polish.  There are eight new shades, though I only bought six.  I stood there with all eight of them in CVS when I found the massive "I Heart Nail Art" display (see smaller ones on Nouveau Cheap) back in November, but I wound up putting a nude called Sand Storm and the minty Jade Jump back.  The nude seemed a bit too cool-toned and minty shades look weird on me.  The six I did buy are a great range of colors and finishes.


Chartreuse Chase is a pastel yellow-toned green with a subtle blue shimmer.

Maybelline Brocades in Lavishly Lilac

I've been hauling lately, so prepare for a metric buttload of swatches from me in the next week or so. My first offering is the Color Show Brocade in Lavishly Lilac. It is so unbelievably shiny. 

holy reflection, batman

Duochrome Damask

It's stamping week over at the MakeupAlley Nail Board and I barely need an excuse to stamp, especially if I don't quite like my current mani.  If I hate something outright, I'll usually just take it off.  When I almost like something, I get a strong urge to dress it up until I love it.  Stamping has become my go-to way to do this.  I felt ho-hum about Color Club Sugar Rays, but because it stamped well it wound up being part of one of my favorite manis.  I did the opposite this time.  It was the base that I didn't love.  First off...the name...Layla....Mudhattan.  Bleh!  I found it on steep clearance at Ulta last week and snagged it because I'm on a satin finish kick.  The color's ok, but the "Softouch" finish makes it look like unglazed clay.  There's a photo of it on its own after all of the stamping.  Stamping comes first though...

Octopus Party Star Tar and Plums the Word

*this is a press sample. I was not asked to review these, and the opinions are 100% my own*

It's a veritable octopus hoedown in here lately! I know, I know...a little spammy. But these are some pretty fabulous polishes and I haven't shared the whole collection! Today we have the final two in my collection: Star Tar and Plums the Word.

First up, Star Tar. It is a superdy-duper dense glitter. There are silver, black, and holo bits all floating in there. The sizes range from ultra teeny tiny to medium-large. I wish I had a camera attached to my face, because sitting in the low-light of my living room last night, this polish was reflecting like diamonds all over the place. It was amazing. (Maybe I should look into making gifs?) I used 4 thin coats here...and again no topcoat. It was really smooth to the touch. If I were wearing this out-and-about, I would definitely topcoat it, just to protect it. But unlike some glitters, it doesn't require a topcoat to keep it from the "almost textured" territory.

Tutorial: Galaxy Nails

This is what I call "the gateway drug" of nail art. It was one of the first semi-complex things I tried, and I instantly fell in love. It appeals to my imprecise nature. You can't mess this up. If it doesn't look right, just go over it again!

Lacquistry Amazeballz

I have the most amazing houseguest right now.  My buddy McGee moved recently and sent her bottle of Lacquistry Amazeballz to me for safe keeping while she settles in.  I get to keep a decant too, since that was what she'd originally planned to send.  I remember how giddy she was when she got it.  A full ounce!  This thing is a wonder to even just look at.  Huge and glowing!  Jenna, Lacquistry's owner, has placed her Etsy shop on vacation, so Amazeballz isn't currently available and I'm unsure of the price.  It's a really tough one to photograph, since it's so...well...amazing.  I got a blurry-ish phone video of it that shows how crazy reflective it can be.  You can kinda see yourself in it, it's that shiny, and I spent way too much time over the past couple of days watching it reflect various things and just wiggling my fingers around in front of myself and others.


Amazeballz has very large metallic flecks in a clear base.

over OPI Glitzerland

My Picks from Maybelline Street Art

I think I can officially declare another polish sub-addiction.  I kinda need ALL of the "splatter" glitters.  I lusted after them when they were only done by indies.  I pined when Europe (I can't) and Walmart (I won't) got them.  I bemoaned the price when Sephora came out with some.  I pounced when one showed up at Claire's.  Since then, they've just gotten more and more accessible and I couldn't be happier about it!  The new Street Art line isn't even Maybelline's first foray into this style of glitter.  Their Polka Dots line (here too) brought this look to drugstores last summer and now they're back with more!  This time there's bar glitter, a splash of color, and no jelly bases.  All five have clear bases with hexagonal glitter in two colors (black and a featured color) and four/five sizes (tiny, small, medium, large for both and huge black too) and small bar glitter in the featured color.  When I found them at CVS I bought four of the five shades, skipping only Pink Splatter.


Wild At Heart features pinkish-red and black glitter.

over Sally Hansen Cherry, Cherry, Bang, Bang

Ultra Girly Galaxy Nails...and a Bit More

I might be the tiniest bit obsessed with these new Octopus Party polishes. Tiny bit. Maybe. I had to do some art with them somehow, but with me being away from home for the last two months...the house is in major disarray. I had just enough energy tonight for a quick-and-dirty galaxy...I didn't even really pick the colors, these were just the ones left out on my desk.

I posted this on Instagram the night I did it, but I figured it needed a post all it's own. I was feeling so lethargic that I didn't even break out proper tools. I did this with cotton swabs and a pencil, rather than the usual sponges and dotting tools. Ugh. I feel so dirty. (OK not really. But I should.)

Butter London Hen Party and Cult Nails Nevermore

Throwing something at you and dashing off again...but this time it's untrieds and stamping.  I stamped once last night and that always makes me want to stamp everything all day, every day.  I sorta got carried away and finishing my "next" post didn't happen.  You get this one instead!  Both of the polishes in today's post were gifts.


Hen Party is a milky nude with an intense blue/purple shimmer.

Influenster Jolly Vox Box

*this is a sponsored post. I was sent this box of goodies for the purposes of review. The opinions, I promise, are all mine. It takes slightly more than expired chocolates to buy me. Maybe diamonds?*


It's that time of year again, where Influenster sends out their boxes of samples and tries to get us to pimp the products. This is my second Influenster box, and it isn't as great as the last one...mostly because it didn't contain nail polish. It did contain some awesome lip gloss, so I guess I can let that slide...this time.

The Goods:

A Couple of U̶n̶trieds

My polish-related new year's resolution is to wear more of my untrieds.  I'm coming along, but I'm still buying more than I swatch.  Gotta work on that!  I'm working on another post that's not quite ready (MUA'ers can see the swatches though), so I'm tossing a couple of my former untrieds at you today.


Hedy's Purple Nurple is a dark purple with blue and fuchsia shimmer.

My Last Purchase as an Employed Person

So as most of you know, I had a job for the holidays. It was fun, and I learned some things, and now its over. (Hooray!) The second best thing about it was the employee discount on cosmetics and clothing that is usually out of my price range. I bought a lot of stuff for myself, friends, and my kids. It was a good Christmas at the PGS West headquarters this year.

The very last thing I bought, on my very last day, was this little set. "Deluxe Sample" sizes of some products I had been dying to try, plus a couple that I knew I wanted anyway. And they all fit in an adorable little bag!

The packaging was big, but square and probably easy
to wrap at Christmas.

Sally Hansen Satin Glam - Metal Iced and Teal Tulle

Sally Hansen's been a drugstore trendsetter for years, so it's no surprise that they're the first in their tier to have satins.  If you missed it, I'm splitting my Satin Glam swatches up in pairs.  Last week I showed you Crystalline and Taffeta, and now on to Metal Iced and Teal Tulle.  I bought them at CVS, but they've started showing up really widely since.  If you haven't found them yet, I'm sure you will soon...and I know you'll want to!


Metal Iced is a blue-toned silver satin-finish foil.

I've said it before, but you can't fully appreciate satin finishes in photos.  That goes double for satin foils like this.  The effect is matte and shiny at the same time and absolutely stunning.  There's also a faint blue tone to the silver of Metal Iced, which is cool.  This is two coats.  The only trouble I had with the formula was a few odd white chunks.  You can see them just a little at the upper left of my ring finger nail.

I top coated it, but it's just an ordinary foil this way.  It's much better with its satin finish.

I bought Metal Iced partly to compare it to OPI This Gown Needs A Crown.  Side-by-side you can see what I mean about the blue-ish-ness of Metal Iced.

OPI This Gown Needs A Crown on ring

For completion's sake here they both are with top coat too.

OPI This Gown Needs A Crown on ring

With top coat it's got that foily dazzle, but not as much as the OPI.

OPI This Gown Needs A Crown on ring

Teal Tulle is a bright teal satin shimmer.

Two coats for this one too and it doesn't have any white lumps.  The color's outstanding, but my camera turned me a bit yellow in contrast.  It's more flattering in person than it looks here.  At least the satin finish showed up really well in these photos.  I'm still gonna say you need to track one down and see for yourself to really get what the fuss is about.

There's a ton of shimmer to Teal Tulle too, and in sunlight it bursts out through the satin finish.

Top coat makes a much stronger difference on satin shimmers.  I'm almost tempted to say that Teal Tulle is even better with top coat because....that shimmer!  I can't quite decide though.

I'll happily just say that it's gorgeous either way.  Of the four Satin Glam shades I've worn so far, Teal Tulle is absolutely my favorite.

...satin or otherwise...just....wow!

Bottom line: Teal Tulle is exactly what a satin should be and I love it!  Metal Iced has some odd white lumps in it that I'm confused by.  It's got a blue tone that sets it apart from other silver satins though.


So...own any satins yet?  Are you as eager for this finish to take off as I am?

DIY: Semi-Homemade Cream Blush

A long while ago, I promised to figure out how to make cream blush. I like to keep my promises. It really isn't that much harder than making a generic lip balm, you just need more pigment and oil. (and no flavoring. Unless people lick your face. I don't judge) But I only have one color of pigment at the moment, and not a whole lot of it. Enter in a broken ELF blush that I had been putting off repairing! I think this is a great way to re-purpose and reinvent products that you are ready to toss!

Supplies:

Heat Source (I used a glass ramekin and a candle)

Jojoba Oil (or another skin friendly oil. Even coconut if it doesn't irritate)

Broken blusher/pigment/old eyeshadow

Cleaned, empty palette with a lid

Beeswax

Something to stir with (I used Popsicle sticks)

Something to crush with (I used a marble pestle)

Step One: Crush & Mix

Carefully scrape the remnants of your blush from the compact. Add them too a bowl and crush them to a fine powder.

The blush I had was matte, so I decided to add a little sparkle to it.

Add them together and mix. In retrospect, I would definitely add more of the sparkle. It didn't really show up in the final product.

Step Two: Wax and Oil

I used about a teaspoon of wax, more or less. I didn't really measure it. I have a giant block of wax, so measuring is kind-of a pain. Less wax just means creamier blush. This step takes a little while, and random stirring is recommended.

Once the wax is mostly melted, add about a teaspoon or so of oil. It's really up to you. More oil means creamier blush that is easier to blend out.

Step Three: Mix it all Together

Dump your bowl of pigment into your wax and stir. You want to make sure that it is completely mixed, with no lumps at all.

Step Four: Pour and Chill

Pour your mixture back into your cleaned palette. I used a pipette (only because I have them handy), so my surface isn't pretty and smooth. Don't fill it up to the very top like I did here. I had to scrape some off to close the lid. You will definitely have some left over, so if you have an extra palette or little tub, you can make a travel size.

Carefully transfer your palette to the fridge and leave it for about half an hour. You don't have to chill it, but it speeds up the setting process. I wanted to play with this ASAP, so into the fridge it went!

Step Five: Wear It!

Here it is, blended onto my pale-ass hand. It has a decent life span, but not a lot of punch. I think that is because I used ELF blush for my pigment. The original blush was pretty light, so my finished product is only slightly more pigmented. I'd love to try this with some super pigmented shadows next time. Imagine all the fun colors you can make!

If you use lip-safe pigments, then this can absolutely be a multi-tasking product. I tried this on my lips (do this at your own risk. I'm only assuming that the blush was lip-safe) and it made for a pretty tinted balm. Multi-taskers are among my favorite things, so this is definitely going to happen again. Next time, I might try using lipstick as my coloring...though I imagine I would need to back down on the oil and wax for that.

I also think this could be adapted to make a creamy highlighting product too. If I can find a nice palette (why are these so hard to find!) then I may try to make a solid cream version of my DIY High Beam. I'd love to have a goldy-pearl shade for highlighting.

If you have any suggestions, comments, etc...leave them below!

an updated version of this post is available at BedlamBeauty.com

NYC Mint'ed On Broadway and Top Of The Gold

Keeping the ball rolling with more new stuff, NYC axed a few of its In A New York Minute quick dry shades at the end of last year, and you know what that usually means.  I was happy to see seven new shades at CVS just before xmas.  (I've seen them at Rite Aid since.)  One of the seven is the Disco Inferno glitter topper from last fall's Disco Inferno collection.  There's another topper called Top Of The Gold that immediately reminded me of something.  I snatched a bottle of Top Of The Gold right up and (since they were BOGO50 that week) took a long look at the five pastel-ish creams.  Pastels aren't really my thing (most look pretty awful on me), but Mint'ed On Broadway looked like it might work, so it came home with me too.  I'm kicking myself a bit for not getting the names of the other shades.  Sorry!  I think they've been posted on Nouveau Cheap by now.


Mint'ed On Broadway is a soft aqua cream.

I hate snow, but it does make for good lighting.  I wasn't sure about the color in the bottle, but I found it really flattering once I put it on.  The formula was just ok.  It flooded a bit, which you can tell from my photos.  It was opaque enough at two coats, but I added a third when the second coat bubbled.  The third stayed smooth, thankfully.

When I added Mint'ed On Broadway to my spreadsheet, it went in under an older NYC shade called Mint Macaroon, from the '12 City Sweets spring collection.  It dawned on me that the colors might be kinda close.  I had no idea just how close they'd turn out to be!

Mint Macaroon on ring

They're not exact dupes, since Mint Macaroon is a touch brighter and a bit bluer, but...wow close!



Top of The Gold has gold flakes in a clear base.

When I bought these two polishes, I toyed with the idea of layering Top Of  The Gold over Mint'ed On Broadway, but I wasn't sure it'd work.  I was even wronger about that than I was when I had doubts about Mint'ed in general.  I love how the combo turned out!  Top Of The Gold applies really well and the flakes are thin and well-behaved.  It took more top coat than a shimmer would have, but less than a glitter.  I've been going heavy on the top coat lately anyway.  The gold flakes are so dynamic and play with the light beautifully.

The tone of the gold changes as the light hits it and it's really striking.

I can't wear a flakie without wanting to mattify it, so there was no way I was gonna skip it this time.

I know it's early to make a call like this, but this combo is absolutely going to be one of my favorites of the year!

I knew when I saw it that Top Of The Gold would be at least dupe-ish for Zoya Maria-Luisa, so I had to check them out side-by-side.

Maria-Luisa * Top Of The Gold * Maria-Luisa * Top Of The Gold
-over Cult Nails Ms. Conduct

Oh yeah.  Dupes!  There's pretty much no difference at all.  Application is about the same and so are density and flake size.

Maria-Luisa * Top Of The Gold * Maria-Luisa * Top Of The Gold
-over Cult Nails Ms. Conduct

Bottom line: Top Of The Gold is a perfect dupe of Zoya Maria-Luisa, one of my favorite polishes of last year.  It's got a shelf price of $2 instead of Zoya's $9, though it is about 2/3 the size and is "3-free" instead of "5-free".  Mint'ed On Broadway is pretty, but the formula's a little floody and it bubbled slightly on me.


I'm kinda blanking on what to write here, so have a preview of an upcoming post.