Zoya Magical Pixie - Summer '14

 press samples 

Zoya released their first set of Magical Pixie textures in the spring and they're back for summer with three more.  Their other two summer collections, Tickled and Bubbly, are tropical brights but they toned the color palette down for these glittery textures.

Slightly Less-Tacky Neons

Loud colors are awesome, and nothing is louder (and therefore more awesome) than neon. They are so hard to do well, but when they are good...they are fabulous. OPI put out a "neon" collection for summer, but it isn't loud enough for me (plus I'm cheap). I decided I needed some real neons...and gradients.

How I Un-paint My Nails

You've seen how I put polish on, but that's only half of the process.  Like anything else, everyone's got a different opinion about removers and methods.  This is what I do and why I do it, but something else might work better for you.

I use a "scrub tub", which is a jar with a built-in brush.  I've used them off-and-on for years, but I always come back.  This is the one I have right now...

Swatch and Review: Sephora Favorites Summerstash

My birthday is this month and I since I like makeup and polish, I figured this would be a great gift for myself...and I wanted the Make Up For Ever Birthday gift. (At least I'm honest!) I have always eyed these little samplers from Sephora, and with my birthday coming I figured this was as good a time as any to buy one.

Sally Hansen Seasational and Archipela-Glow

There have been, what...eighteen new collections from Sally Hansen already this year?  It seems like almost every line has had new core or LE shades.  Their summer collections tie together in a theme called Color Destinations, inspired by vacation spots.  Triple Shine, a line that's only a few months old itself, has two!  Seasational and Archipela-Glow are from the Tahiti Sunset collection.  When I first saw it on Nouveau Cheap, I kinda shrugged it off.  As happens so often though, I kept seeing the display in stores and I kept looking.  Microglitter is one of my many weaknesses, after all.  Coupons are another.  After a lot of deliberation, and with a bunch of coupons, I bought these two at CVS.

DIY: Slightly Different Lightbox

Amanda has been posting a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff lately. Personally, I find stuff like that terribly interesting. I have an obsession with breaking that fourth wall. I want a peek behind the curtain, always. Christmas was a hard time for me as a kid, guys.

I have been using a wee pop-up lightbox for a while, but its small and awkward and I hate it a little. I decided, in the theme of "behind the scenes" I would build myself a lightbox, and share it with all of you!

Dance Legend Different View

When Dance Legend teased their Holodays collection on Instagram last month, one jumped right out at me.  That photo only gives the slightest hint of the magnitude of Different View's beauty.  The more swatches I saw, the more I needed it!  I finally bought it from Llarowe recently...and...and...  Well, brace yourself.  I took 276 photos of it and it took me days to whittle them down.  There are still a bunch, but something tells me you won't mind!

Different View is a purple/gold/green/blue multichrome with both linear and scattered holo effects.

Ipsy Bag May 2014

It's Ipsy time again. One of my favorite times of the month, because I love mail. This month was very polarizing. Some folks were stoked beyond words (there was a sample of Too Faced Chocolate Soleil in some bags) and some people were rather...unimpressed. I definitely was not blown away by the contents this month, but I wasn't exceedingly disappointed either.

Suit up!

When I reviewed Zoya's Tickled collection (which was sent for review), I said they made me feel unusually summery.  I took that feeling and ran with it, doing a few swimsuit-themed looks.  Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, seemed like the perfect time for them!


Rocha got stamped with scallop shells from Cheeky Tropical Holiday and Sally Hansen Whirlwind White.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics: Man by Man and Chlorophyll

Most people who know me realize by now that I have a tiny obsession with OCC. I love lip tars, and the polish I tried was amazing. I needed more, so many more. I got lucky, because a dear friend took a trip to NYC and went to the OCC store there...and brought me goodies!

Nail Pattern Boldness Boop-Oop-A-Dupe

If you've spent any amount of time in the online nail polish communities, you've probably heard of the fabled "unicorn pee", Clarins 230.  It's astronomically expensive on ebay.  Don't even look.  You'll get dizzy.  While I often prefer to have the real deal, it's one I'm more than happy to have dupes for.  I don't know of any exact dupes that aren't HTF now too, so for a long time I've been perfectly happy with Max Factor Fantasy Fire.  How could I not be?  Nichole has it now too and wants to put it over EVERYTHING.  I can't blame her at all!  The only stumbling block with Fantasy Fire is that it's got an indigo jelly base, so there's a lot it won't work with.  Someone asked about unicorn pee dupes on Nail Board again somewhat recently and it revived an old itch.  I started really wanting one of the non-indigo versions.  I wound up going with the easiest to get, Nail Pattern Boldness Boop-Oop-A-Dupe.  It's my very first indie polish and was part of my first purchase from Llarowe, since it's an exclusive.

When One Isn't Enough

One accent nails have been done. To death...well, not really. But everyone has done it. A friend recently showed up with a gel manicure featuring two accent nails. I was obsessed. I thought about it over and over. When I got the OPNL Sizzler, I knew I finally had everything I needed to do a non-gel version of my own.

Zoya Bubbly

 press samples 

When the press release for Zoya's summer collections hit the blog's email and I saw the Bubbly shades, I literally gasped.  I saw good things in Tickled too, but Bubbly was a scene stealer.  When they came in the mail I gasped again.  They're stunners, even if they're not exactly what I expected.  Zoya describes them as an "exclusive liquid-metal holographic jelly formula with 2 coat coverage" and I have two bones to pick with that.  First off, they're not holographic.  I always wince a little when a big company describes anything as holographic, because it so often isn't.  It's happened more times than I can count.  Zoya's been pretty good about the use of that word though.  After all, their Magical Pixie collections have silver holo glitter.  The glitter in these Bubbly shades is iridescent.  I'm more than ok with that, because I love anything iridescent.  They're also not two-coaters for me.  My nails are long-ish and I wound up using a third coat with all six shades.  I'll give them the use of "exclusive" though, since I've never seen anything exactly like these.  Imagine Sinful Colors Hottie mixed with China Glaze White Cap or Sally Hansen Debu-Tint or one of those, but in a jelly base and completely wearable without undies.  Anything that takes that much explaining is pretty unique!

Bringing Up Old Sh*t: My First China Glaze Polishes

I've always been into nail polish, but for a very long time I only bought polish at drugstores. I didn't really think about beauty supply stores, and I assumed that they only had "weird" brands that weren't as good. 

Yes, I was an idiot.

The very first China Glaze polishes I ever bought were these three. I think I got them in 2008 or so. Maybe before. I know it was before offspring #2 was born...but beyond that I don't remember. They're old. They need a good shaking prior to use.

Bundle Monster Creative Art Polish - Part 1

Bundle Monster's already known for some of the best bargain stamping plates.  Now they've branched out into stamping polish too!  Their Creative Art Polish line features twelve shades meant for stamping.  I've been eager to try them since they were first announced, so I ordered all twelve the moment I knew they were available.  They arrived just as quickly as every Bundle Monster order I've ever placed, and with their usual free shipping.  They've got an introductory sale going on, so I got all twelve for just over $18.  I couldn't wait to try them out!  Since there are so many, I'll be breaking the review into parts.  I'm kicking things off with the four I was most interested in testing.  If Angelic White and Noir Black stamp at all, they're already a step ahead of most white and black creams.  In exactly the opposite direction, metallic polishes usually stamp well, so Liquid Gold and Iced Silver should be a sure thing...right?


Liquid Gold and BM-410

over Sally Hansen Clay

Swatched: Beautifully Addictive Brights Sampler

With my new found love of indie polish, I'm trying to explore indie makeup companies as well. It's a daunting task, because there are so many out there. Thankfully, I have some internet-acquaintances that I can bug for info...otherwise I'd have probably given up before I started.

The first one I was able to try was Beautifully Addictive, which I stumbled upon accidentally while looking for affordable alternatives to that damnable Urban Decay Electrics Palette (neeed those brights). The set I chose was shimmers and satins, though they do have mattes as well. I am pretty thrilled with my first steps into indie makeup.

how cute is this card? I need a sticker.

Sally Hansen & Rodarte Spring '14 - Clay and Cinnamon

Considering my track record with past Sally Hansen Designer Collections, I feel like I've barely gotten anything from the new spring batch.  Out of ten shades, I've only gotten three.  I showed you guys the Tracy Reese collaboration, Batbano Blue, a few weeks ago.  I skipped Prabal Gurung's trio of super-pale pastels entirely.  Rodarte was the one that caught my eye this time, but it took me a while to find one of the shades I wanted.  As much as I love my favorite CVS location, they're...odd.  They have one of the nail bars and for some reason they only put out part of some collections.  The rest eventually wind up on this nameless rack way down at the end of the aisle.  That's where I finally found Cinnamon, after previously only seeing it at my rinky-dink local store on a day when I didn't have coupons.  I was thrilled to find it at a store with a better selection and when I had several coupons to use!  Some day I should explain my love of CVS.  Some day, but for now...we have swatches to check out.  These rich earth tones aren't your typical spring shades.  Nichole thinks both Clay and Cinnamon look like barbecue sauce, but I love them!

Dance Legend Grey Britain

I've only known about them for a year, but Dance Legend has quickly become one of my favorite brands.  They do blazing holos, surreal multichromes, fascinating thermals, gorgeous toppers...some of the absolute best of my favorite finishes.  There isn't a lot that really feels new to someone who's loved polish since the 80's, but they've come up with something I don't think I've ever seen before.  I honestly don't even know how to describe their Smoky collection's finish.  It's like anti-shimmer.  They're...dusty?  Static-y?  They look kinda like formica.  I've been ogling three of the six shades for weeks and when I finally placed my first Llarowe order, I knew it had to include something from this collection.  Somehow I managed to limit myself to just Grey Britain.  For now.

Grey Britain is a light, cool gray with a generous dusting of distinctive black specks.

Have you ever seen anything like this?  I don't think I have and I can't get over it!  A while ago I'd toyed with the idea of frankening something along these lines with Pearl-Ex Carbon Black, so when I saw that Dance Legend had done it...thrilled isn't a big enough word!  Nichole says there's a similar effect to Octopus Party Peach Buzz, though the "dust" in that doesn't seem as dark.  I was worried that the pigment specks might make it gloppy or draggy, but it's not at all.  It applied without any difficulty.  The base is a little on the milky side, so I used three coats just to be sure.

This is one of those rare times that I'm posting my NOTD while wearing it.  It was a little risky wearing it to work, since it's neutral but not anything close to nude or natural.  I've mentioned that the acceptability of my polish is up to inspectors and that inspections are random.  Well...we got inspected last night and it passed!  No remarks on my nails at all.  I feel like it got an official "SFW" rubber stamp.  Good thing too, since I'm "stuck" in it until tomorrow.  I'll probably still be staring at it by then.  It's just so....different!

Bottom line: It's novel and interesting.  It applies well, but is a little sheer and I needed three coats for confident coverage.


I can see myself picking up Cetraria and River Of Time next time.  If only there was a brick and mortar Dance Legend store in NYC or something.  I'd consider it worth the trip!

Blogger Wants Me to be Pretty?

I've noticed semi recently, that my pictures on the blog look way more...smooth than they do in Photoshop of Picasa. I did some googling, and saw more than a few posts warning against using jpg format. I had to figure out why.

Zoya Tickled

 press samples 

The tagline for Zoya's new Tickled and Bubbly summer collections is "Feel good color" and the bright, summery shades in Tickled reflect that idea to the fullest.  I'm not a summery person, but even my head filled with balmy, tropical thoughts while wearing these cheery colors.  It may be gray, pouring rain, and 64°F here right now, but it's summer while I look at these swatches!  Tickled features six creams in eye-catching colors.

Pin Busting: H&M Landinski is a Dupe for MAC Heroine

Hello again! It's time for another installment of Pin Busting! I really do love doing these, and it's been far too long. I was cruising around Pinterest, basically killing time until dinner, and I stumbled on to a great board full of proposed makeup dupes. Quite a few caught my eye, and have been pin'd for future investigation...but this one really grabbed me. Not a month ago, I picked up Landinski from H&M.

I knew that I had to test this one for myself.

Wet n Wild Deception

Today I've got kinda a "post and run".  I've been working on something bigger for tomorrow and all of a sudden it was noon and I didn't have anything ready for today!  Deception is my only pick from Wet n Wild's new-ish Street Art collection.  The display has been seen here and there for a few months, but I didn't find it until a couple of weeks ago on a trip to Rite Aid.  I'd heard that Deception is a jelly, so I wanted to see for myself.  I can always use more purple jellies!


Deception is a red-violet jelly.

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer: Summer 2014

It's summertime (somewhere) and it is finally time for a new collection from Octopus Party Nail Lacquer. The new stuff is kinda amazing, guys. I showed some sneak peeks on Instagram last week, and I think you guys are about as excited as I am for these colors.

*promotional samples ahead!*

Taming Seche Vite

Seche Vite has the most confusing reputation possible.  It seems to get almost as much scorn as it gets love from the online polish communities.  It dries very quickly, but can shrink.  It self-levels, but can cause pop-offs.  I'd see the same people ping-pong between thinking it was the best topcoat EVER and vowing never to use it again, only to reverse after a few weeks...before quitting "forever" again.  I decided to avoid it "forever" too, just in case.  Trouble is, I fell in love with black label OPI's.  With their longer drying times, they need something like Seche Vite to really make them wearable.  So I sighed, winced, and bought a bottle for $4 at the nail supply.  That was late last summer.  I tried it over a regular mani one day and the weirdest thing happened...I love this stuff!  By keeping tabs on other people's advice about it or warnings against it, I've managed to use it for over half a year with only occasional, minimal issues.  It's time I gathered all of this advice into one place.


Meet the Vite

Mini Review and Swatches: My Pretty Zombie "Drugs Like Me" Blush Collection

Indie makeup is a whole new world for me. Finishes, colors, and brands that I've never heard of. It's like the first time that I went into Sally's and saw these brands I had never heard of...I didn't know where to start. After a super helpful young lady from Reddit gave me some links, I decided to buy all the sampler packs I could find. The first one to arrive was this blush sampler from My Pretty Zombie.

the samples come in bags, but I had some empty pots laying around.

Review: H&M Coconut Water Moisture Mask

As a person with combo/mostly dry skin, store bought masks are generally painful and terrifying. I keep looking at them, however, because I am jealous of people who can throw things on their face and not cry. I had heard good things about H&M skincare stuff, and when I saw that this one wasn't oil absorbing or mattifying, I snatched it up immediately.

I Think I'll Call It "Champeal"

...or maybe not.  The new NYX Macaron Lippies were so much fun that I decided I wasn't ready to stop with Chambord that night.  I ordered a couple of KleanColor Femme lipsticks from 10dollarmall.com a little while back, but hadn't gotten around to trying them.  G. of Nouveau Cheap's layering with After Hours had me thinking about them again, so I grabbed Teal Appeal and blended it with Chambord.  Not my neatest effort ever, but I am in LOVE with the resulting color!

Claire's Midnight Express...or How to Un-F*ck a Terrible Polish

Bottles can be so misleading. I saw this on the shelf, and thought "Wow, its like a tiny little slice of night sky. I need that." Since I can't pass up a good sale (buy one, get one half off) I grabbed this along with When in Chrome. I have never been more sorry about anything polish-related.

(thankfully, I'm slightly insane and keep bottles of clear around the house)

hint: this is the un-f*cked version. it's prettier.

For My Boys

[Harassing comments will be deleted. My family is non-traditional and bigotry isn't cool.]

This is gonna be another of those rare personal and emotional posts because Mother's Day took on a new significance for me last year.  I'm dedicating this post to my "kids" instead of my mom, and to all of the other "non-traditional" moms out there.  My mom's a hippie and doesn't go for the commercialism of Mother's Day.  She's spending Sunday getting ready for a historical recreation at the end of the summer.  We had a nice phone chat today instead, since she'll be busy.  After we had a bunch of laughs and did some reminiscing, I did this mani...

Sinful Colors Zeus with Nicole by OPI Luke Of The Draw accent

Claire's When In Chrome

It is no secret that we love all things shifty around here. Duochrome polishes are about the coolest thing ever. I was in Claire's the other night with my wee minions looking for earrings for them, and of course I had to peek at the polishes...

Lights, Camera, Swatches: Lighting

A little while back I asked what tutorials you'd like to see me do.  I covered my painting process first, since it seemed like a good place to start.  A couple of you asked how I light my nails for photos and that gave me the idea to do a whole little series on taking photos without a fancy setup.  I feel like a bit of a goober giving advice on this topic, since Nichole's the one taking a photography course.  Still, I've come a long way in the past couple of years so I do have a little advice to impart.

Today's all about lighting.  I hesitate to call this a tutorial, since every home has a different lighting situation and your camera will affect your results too.  Instead it's a look at the different options I've found, the ones I've used in the past, and my reasons for doing what I do now.  It's sorta the lighting equivalent of my ancient cleanup post.

Ipsy Bag April 2014

I know, I'm super tardy this time around. My youngest child turned four in April (holy shit) so it was pretty much a non-stop month for me. I received my bag for April in a completely appropriate time frame, so no complaints there. The delay in posting, this time, was all me.

My Go-To Polish Is...

If you have to wear SFW polish, it's good to have at least one shade you know you can rely on.  For me, that's Orly Nite Owl.  When I get caught up in swatching and realize I need to scramble and get to bed ASAP, it's the one I usually grab.  It seems like no matter how bad a rush job I do applying it, it still looks at least vaguely ok.  I've even thrown it over previous manis.  It's even better in a pinch than SinfulShine Rebel, which is saying something.  It's become my workhorse and it's time I took a moment to celebrate it.


Orly Nite Owl is taupe with a heavy dose of silver microfleck shimmer.

DIY: Lipstick Remix

When you are a bit of a makeup hoarder, like me, you end up with a lot of things that end up being...not so great. One option is to trade them with other hoarders, which I've done a few times with fabulous results. But sometimes, the things I've acquired aren't worth swapping. I can't bear to toss them out, but I know that I won't use them in their current state. That is where a little bit of heat comes in. All you need is a little time, a few supplies, and you can turn those unwanted lipsticks into a whole new shade!

Urban Outfitters Luster

I'm weird.  A polish doesn't lose my interest because it looks like something I own.  Instead I must have it and I must compare it, especially if the one I have is pricey.  When I was browsing Urban Outfitters' polish rack and biding my time because the guys were in the comic shop, I saw something familiar.  Luster jumped out and screamed "Hey! I look a lot like Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra In New York!"  This meant I needed it, so I bought it without hesitation.


Luster has large and small gold hexagonal glitter in a black jelly base.

Radiant Orchid for Summer

Like I said before, Radiant Orchid is growing on me. It doesn't hurt that the interpretations of the color are so loosey-goosey. Most of the nail combos I've seen are beautiful, but springy. I needed to figure out a way to make this soft purple feel more summery.

Apparently, the answer is to just add orange...and a gradient. Because gradients.

My Picks from Sinful Colors Chill Out

...at least I think that's what this collection is called.  It might be Sultry Seas.  The display has both names, but I'm gonna go with the one in larger print.  Because BIG.  So...yeah.  The new vs old shades count on this one is a little blurry too.  The completely new shades are Blue Crushin, Blue La La, and Lively In Lilac.  I didn't buy Blue Crushin or Blue La La, but you can see both in Nouveau Cheap's post.  There are also three fan favorites in this display; Endless Blue, Green Ocean (you have a second chance, if you missed it!), and Let's Meet.  Then it gets a little more complicated.  Curry Up is new to me, since it was previously a Walmart (boo hiss) exclusive.  Now a little bit of bad news, if you haven't already heard.  Dream On has changed.  This display has the new version that's been showing up at regional supermarkets and Walmart (boo hiss) this year.  It's quite different, as you'll soon see.  The expected Walgreens version of this display hasn't shown up yet, so I bought the new and new-to-me shades at Rite Aid.

Why I Choose a Beauty Blender over a Knock-Off

A few months ago, I got a Beauty Blender from Ipsy as my "people used your link" gift. (thanks, btw!) I had been using a knock off that I picked up from Marshall's, and I was in love. I had yet to even lay hands on a real Beauty Blender, but I figured that they had to be pretty similar. I mean, they are both sponges right? How different could they be?

Boom! Pow!

Last night the guys and I finally went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was really good!  Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day and the guys are going on a pilgrimage to a bunch of local shops, mostly so The Beard can try to snag these.  His HeroClix collection might rival my polish for sheer volume.  Well...maybe not.  He might have only 600 of them.  Anyway...the timing seemed perfect to do something inspired by comic books.

BOOM!  ...OW?

Gradients + Tape: A Wonderful Pair

I feel sometimes that if a week goes by without doing some sort of gradient manicure, my brain might explode. It is my go-to nail look, like other people and glitter toppers. But it is hard to keep them looking unique, since a fade is a fade...no matter how good.

Thank goodness for striping tape! It turned my kinda-boring pink to gray gradient into something different and fresh.

My Picks from NYX Macaron Lippies

Believe it or not, I used to be so into makeup that I wanted to be a makeup artist.  I wore it every day, had a job selling it (at The Body Shop), and spent way more money on it than I should have.  I was as into makeup then as I am into polish now.  Lots of things happened over the decade-ish since and I've been waiting for something to slap me in the face and revive my love and interest.  I think it may have happened.  I'm in awe and dreaming of lipstick again!

Photo Editing: How Much is Too Much?

Editing pictures is a hot topic these days. Whether its companies like Target editing models to look thinner or Old Navy giving their plus sized mannequins thigh gaps, it seems like everyone is doing it. I don't mind a little smoothing here and there, honestly. I understand that these are ads first and foremost. They have to look perfect. 

But how far is too far? Mascara ads use falsies and photoshop to make the product look more effective, which is just plain dishonest in my opinion.  Beauty bloggers and makeup artists edit the hell out of their pictures, removing pores, hairs, and any semblance of skin texture. Is it honest? No. Is it a little creepy? Yeah, I honestly think so.