Chrysanthemum

Catch up - 2.3.2012

2012-02-03T21:03:00.006-05:00

Hi dolls!

Just wanted to do a little post catching up with some things. Hope that you've all been well! I had the sudden urge to blog today, so lets hope that these little urges keep coming along with extra free time. I'm trying to mess with the layout of my blog a little bit- it needs a major revamp! I'm still not happy with it, but we're worrrkkkin' on it!

01. Favorite winter accessories; although this winter has been relatively mild, I've still enjoyed dressing up like an eskimo. Above are Ugg earmuffs, sherpa lined Bean boots, and Old Navy leopard print fleece gloves.

02. Reserved for the coldest of days is my faux fur trapper hat from Target. It's wonderfully warm, and the pom poms on the end are pretty fun. I've also been enjoying this bright fuscia scarf from Old Navy, I love bright pops of color during the drab winter.

03. I was long overdue for a new handbag, and recently got the Kate Spade Gold Coast Campbell. I'm obsessed with it. It's classic in nature but I feel as though the pyramid stud turn lock gives it an edge.

04. Current manicure; Essie Absolutely Shore topped with Sally Hansen Glass Slipper.

05. And last but not least, some makeup items that I'm loving. Newly acquired Naked palette (I'm only a year late, heh), the very popular Revlon lip butters, Tarte amazonian clay blush in Dollface, Becca beach tint in Watermelon (LOVVVEEE THISSSS!), and Essie A cut Above.

Hope you all enjoyed this quick little impromptu post! Any of the above makeup products anyone would care for a review on?

xo Caitlin

Tarte Lip Service LE Lip Surgence Collection, Holiday 2011

2011-12-05T17:42:00.007-05:00

I've been having trouble with lip products lately. With the chilly and windy weather glosses haven't been an option since my hair ends up getting stuck to my lips. Lipsticks are too drying, and just seem too high maintenance. Anything in a pot has been out of the question since having to clean your finger off after application gets pretty annoying when you're out and about. I love stains, but they're drying and wear away quickly when I put a balm on top. I needed a tinted lip balm in a tube. Something that felt good on my lips, was low maintenance, easy to apply, and gave me a bit of color. Enter, Tarte Lip Surgence lip stains! I think these are marketed as stains, although they're really more of a balm. I have had my eye on this particular product for awhile, and I swatch the entire range of shades nearly everytime I'm in Sephora. However, at $24 a pop I just couldn't justify it. So when Tarte came out with this set for the holidays that retails for $29 dollars, I was on it! $29 DOLLARS FOR ALL OF THIS FABULOUSNESS!

This set features five shades. Three of which are a lustre sort of finish with shimmer, and two of which are creamy and contain no shimmer. All of these create a peppermint tinge when applied but really don't have much of a taste. While the lustre shades aren't over the top shimmery, you can feel the grit on your lips when you rub them together which was a downside for me. The cream shades (Perky and Swank) feel much better on your lips, they actually feel like lip balm! The wear time on these is fairly short since they are so balm-like. You'll get about an hour to two hours out of these, but reapplication is a breeze so no worries. I love the packaging on these. It seems as if you get a lot of product, and the chubby pencils are really cute! These do stain your lips a bit after the glossiness of them has warn off, particularly Swank. These aren't super moisturizing, but they do moisturize my lips a little.

(L-R) Perky, Swank, Flashy, Dazzled, Glitzy.

Perky - A light poppy pink with a wonderfully creamy finish. Not too light, this won't give you snookie lips! For some reason after this has been on my lips for awhile it turns into a brighter hot pink. Weirddd.

Swank - This cool toned red was my favorite of the bunch. It makes for a great no hassle red lip.

Flashy - I was excited about this shade since I've been loving berry lips...but it comes out very metallic looking once you have it on and seems to have some sort of blue shimmer/frost to it. Not a fan, but it's possible to make this work. Since this one was a lustre it was a bit gritty as well, but still applied smoothly.

Dazzled - This is a shimmering coral shade that came out a bit weird in my swatch. It's more vibrant in real life. Subtle, but pretty. This shade would be a great quick fix to liven up anyones complexion.

Glitzy - The perfect nude lip shade for the no nude lip kinda gal. It almost has a hint of rose to it, and I don't mind the shimmer in this.

This set is an AMAZING VALUE! I think that this would suit anyone really. The shades included in this set are diverse enough that there's a shade for everyone. That's another thing that I liked about this gift set- the shades aren't similar to each other. This would be a great buy for yourself, as a gift, or even split up as stocking stuffers!

While I wouldn't pay $24 dollars for a single stain, I would certainly buy another set like this! I've been loving Tarte lately. I actually just picked up another set from Ulta that has a mini cheek stain, gel eyeliner, mini lip surgence, and mascara! It's gotten be absolutely obsessed with Tarte cheek stains...I'm sure that I'll have quite the collection of them going in no time soon.

xo Caitlin

Urban Outfitters Dust + OPI Dating a Royal!

2011-11-22T22:26:00.003-05:00

Hey girls!

I wore this mani so long ago and I'm just now blogging about it >_<. I really need to get back into the habit of blogging about things when I actually first try/wear them so that I don't just put it off for oh...a month or so. Anywho! Recently an Urban Outfitters opened up in my college town, which means frequent unnecessary visits in-between classes. On my first trip there, I saw a polish that caught my eye and decided to try pick it up. I've been loving these polishes with the multi-sized hex shaped glitter, and they've been popping up everywhere.

This particular shade is called Dust. A fitting name since the polish does remind me of stardust or- well just regular dust would work too I guess. This polish has about 4 different sizes of hex shaped glitter along with fine glitter suspended in a very sheer jelly blue base. Some of the hex pieces are really big (bigger than I've seen in any other polishes- not including franknes). That was mainly the reason why I was attracted to this polish- big hex glitter! Although I'm sure you could eventually get enough coverage to wear this polish alone, I thought that it would be best layered ontop of a blue shade. I chose OPI's Dating a Royal which is a jelly and I really liked the result. It almost reminds me of falling snow, or some sort of cosmic imagery. Next time I wear this combo I want to try to make a jelly sandwich out of it. I've been seeing those everywhere and want to give it a try.

I think that this polish costs around 5$ or 2 for $8 at Urban Outfitters. The formula was nice, and the color selection wasn't too bad so I'd suggest checking Urban's polishes out!

I'm home this week for thanksgiving break and although I've got a lot of work to do it's nice to be home with my family :). If I don't get a blog post in tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving!

xo Caitlin

Benefit Project Flawless Review ! (Bella Bamba blush)

2011-11-06T11:42:00.005-05:00

Hey girls! Hope that you've all enjoyed your extra hour of sleep :). I didn't buy too many things from the Sephora F&F sale, but I did have a gift card left over from last christmas so I picked two holiday sets up, one of which was Benefit's Project Flawless.

I've been wanting to try Benefit's Bella Bamba blush since it came out this past spring but somehow just kept talking myself out of it. But when I saw the Project Flawless kit, I knew it was the perfect excuse to try Bella Bamba! Benefit usually releases these sorts of sets around the holidays, last year I purchased the one that had Coralista. If you want to try any of Benefit's blushes or boxed powders I highly recommend waiting for a set like this since you usually get a full sized boxed powder and a few extras for only a few more dollars than the full price of the powder. This particular set only cost $32, while Bella bamba alone costs $28. This set comes will a full size lipgloss, and two sample sized products so it's a pretty good deal!

All of the products come packaged in a pretty reusable box, with a fun hot pink filler.

(L-R) Ultra Shine lipgloss in Foxy, Girl Meets Pearl, Bella Bamba

Bella Bamba - Benefit describes this blush as a watermelon pink that contains gold shimmer that has a cheek highlighting 3d effect. For me, this blush sculpts my cheeks in the way that Coralista does, only this blush is much more pink, more intense, and contains fine gold glitter instead of the sheen that Coralista has. While you might get a few stray pieces of glitter floating around in the air when you apply this, the glitter isn't obnoxious or even all that noticeable. This is totally wearable for anti-glitter folk. Like all of Benefit's boxed powders in my opinion, this is a little bit chalky and powdery so it doesn't work best with dry skin. This blush does have a scent, it smells a bit like fruit punch to me, but it isn't as strong as Coralista's scent. I think that this shade would work on most skin tones. While I'm not sure if this will replace my beloved Coralista, this blush defiantly has game. Overall this shade gives you nice, defined and sculpted cheeks with a dewey finish. Oh, and while I'm probably alone on this I guess that I should admit that I love using the brushes that Benefit provides for their boxed powders. (...please don't hurt me).

Ultra Shine lipgloss in Foxy - This is a a darker pink lipgloss that has blue, green, and pink shimmer in it. I like the multicolored shimmer, and I think that it makes this gloss stand out from your standard pink gloss. It has a very faint fruity smell and no taste. Wear time was average, and this will last about as long as any other gloss on your lips. I particularly like the packaging of Benefit's lip glosses, I like that the wand has a very small handle in order to conserve space.

Girl Meets Pearl - Benefit is quite famous for it's highlighters and this is one of their newer additions. It's described as a golden pink pearl. I have Highbeam and I have to say that I like this much better. It's not as harsh has Highbeam and not nearly as frosty. If I ever do manage to use this up I think that I might consider getting a full size.

Benefit Bad Gal Lash - I have quite a few of these laying around since I've purchased about 4 Benefit sets within the past year. I know that a lot of gals really love this mascara, but I honestly don't get the hype. It's alright, and that's about it. It's a very dry formula with a chunky brush. If anything I'd say that it's at least a little bit volumizing and it plays well with other mascaras.

So there you have it! I've really been enjoying this set and if you don't already own Bella Bamba I think that it's worth picking up for yourself or as a gift for the upcoming holidays. I'm off to Target to see if they've put out their Christmas items yet, as I want to start getting a few things to decorate with!

xo Caitlin

Fall Ruffian Mani! (Essie Sew Psyched)

2011-10-30T15:01:00.004-04:00

Hey Girls!

If you can remember all the way back to the spring of 2010, then I'm sure that you'll recall the manicure that Creative Nail Design did for Ruffian at NYFW. The manicure became insanely popular in the blogosphere and was dubbed 'The Ruffian'. When it became popular, I recreated the mani here. Although I'm sure it's still done here and there, I haven't seen this mani resurface on any blogs for awhile. While it was still quite popular I can remember bloggers doing various different color combos- so I thought that I would try a fall inspired Ruffian doing a different color combo than I had used previously.

I used China Glaze Hi Tek for the reverse half moon, and Essie Sew Psyched for the larger portion of the mani. Essie Sew Psyched can out with last years fall collection and I bought it but ended up never wearing it- so I thought that I would give it a go for this mani. It's a lovely cool toned army green creme with a flawless formula that's really on trend for this fall season and I believe you can still purchase this shade at target. I like the look of the metallic streak in ruffian manicures, and I wanted to use a warm gold to contrast the cool green so I went with China Glaze Hi Tek, warm coppery gold metallic from the Khrome Collection in '09.

To create the Ruffian I first applied a thin layer of ChG Hi Tek to the entire nail after my base coat. I then applied two coats of Sew Psyched , and painted in a oval shape just as I normally would around my cuticles only I left a small gap and applied top coat. Easy!

Have you tried the Ruffian mani again since the craze ended? Did you like it to begin with?

xo Caitlin

Clinique Chubby Stick Mega Melon Review!

2011-10-23T22:55:00.005-04:00

Hey girls!

(*skip over this if you just want the Chubby stick review*) This is my attempt at kick starting getting my blog started back up. My boyfriend just left from spending the weekend here to go back home and I was reading through makeup alley posts, and other blogs when I realized how much I miss blogging. I miss sharing all of my thoughts on new products, and even more than that I miss interacting with other bloggers and readers. So here goes another shot. My blog will reach its two year anniversary on Halloween, and my blogging has been really sparse and inconsistent since last November, unfortunately. I miss blogging in my life so here is my attempt to bring it back in!

This is a review on the Clinique Chubby Stick in the shade Mega Melon. Chubby sticks came out not too long ago- and I've been interested in trying them ever since they came out. But I was never really drawn to Clinique as a brand before and never bothered to visit a counter. My friend purchased this shade for me for my birthday since she read my review of the Korres Lip Butters, and thought that I would like this coral colored lip tint much better. She was right, I do!

Chubby Sticks are supposed to be a moisturizing tinted lip balm in a twist up pencil form. I don't find these particularly moisturizing, but they aren't drying either and I don't mind this. They're very comfortable to wear on lips, and the pointed tip and twist up pencil makes for really easy application. I love the twist up packaging since I find myself purposely not buying lip pencils that need sharpening no matter how much I like the look of the product (New BE Buxom lip tarnish cough). The finish on these isn't glossy, but it isn't matte either. It just gives a nice, fresh, slightly dewy finish to the lips. The shade that I have- Mega Melon is the perfect orangey, pink melon color with a very subtle (almost unnoticeable) golden sheen. I'd say that this chubby stick leans more melon than pink, but that's not to say that it doesn't look lovely on cool toned, fair skinned ladies. The color isn't super dramatic, but for a tinted lip balm this product is pretty damn pigmented! On my lips these last for a little over 2 hours if I'm not eating or drinking- but since I'm constantly drinking from a water bottle these usually only last about an hour. I don't mind this though, since reapplying is so easy with the convenient packaging, and since the color isn't super bold you don't need a mirror.

My final verdict on these is that I love them. I think that $15 is a great price point for these, and there's quite a bit of product so I think that these would last awhile even with daily use. Chubby sticks come in 8 different shades and can be purchased at your local Clinique counter or Sephora!

This product alone has gotten me really interested in Clinique. I feel like it's a makeup brand that I've ignored in the past, but Chubby sticks have changed that! I visited the counter last week to get some samples of foundation to try out. While there I saw that a mini chubby stick in Super Strawberry is included in the GWP at Macy's, so I'm hoping to get that when I go back to purchase a foundation!

xo Caitlin

Essie Lady Like!

2011-09-27T14:28:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone!

Hope all is well. Last month I moved up to school, so I've been getting adjusted to living on my own and getting used to my new classes. So far all is going fairly well...besides the fact that there is no MAC or Sephora here (cough). Or anywhere to shop for that matter.

A few weeks ago I bought Essie Lady Like from their new fall line Carry On. It's my favorite nail collection of the season, featuring six handbag inspired shades that are beyond perfect for fall. So far the only polish I've picked up from the collection has been Lady Like, but at some point I plan to pick up Power Clutch and Very Structured as well. I picked up Lady Like because I don't really have anything like it, and have been wanting a 'nude-ish' sort of shade.

Lady Like appears much more nude in the bottle than it does on the nail. This dusty, pale lavender creme seems to darken slightly once you have it on. I love this shade- it's perfectly understated and dusty shades of pink and rose are huge for fall. Even though it's not my typical type of color, I'm glad that I took a chance and picked up something different. Very chic, and lady like.

Sorry about the flash image. I had to purchase a new camera for my photography class and I'm still a little iffy on how to work it.

Did you pick up anything from Carry On? What's your favorite collection this fall?

xo Caitlin

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Set the Stage! (with a special guest)

2011-08-16T17:14:00.005-04:00

Hi!

Hope everyone is enjoying the last days of summer! I've just been packing up to go back to school this weekend. Kind of anxious about it, hopefully all goes well :). This is one of the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears, Set the Stage! It's a clear base filled with large gold hex shaped glitter, and small glitter. I love these types of polishes, and I think that the random sort of effect that they give is really chic, and it can add a lot of interest to a plain creme polish. It also has that solar system, space vibe going on that's really trendy right now. This is really similar if not an exact dupe to the $OPI shade, Only Gold for Me, only it's about a fraction of the price at $2 and change, while the $SOPI is around $10. The formula on this was fine, although it takes some wiggling with the brush to really get a good bit of glitter to show up on your nail. I'll be buying a backup of this since I've already used it about 4 times since owning it. In the swatch here I have it over OPI's Mermaid Tears. This is the first SH Xtreme Wear that I've bought since fall and it's reminded me why I love the line so much. Cheap, good formula, decent wear, nice brush. What more can you ask for?

And this is a prehensile tailed porcupine that was at the Zoo a few weeks ago. He was really cute and particularly stupid looking. But then again, I tend to think things are cuter when they look stupid, haha.

Moving away from the subject of spiky animals, I plan on wearing Set the Stage over a bunch of colors during the upcoming fall season. I love how the rich gold looks paired with pale pinks, vampy wine colors, and royal blues.

Have you tried this shade or it's Sephora by OPI counter part? How do you feel about porcupines? (LOL)

xo Caitlin

Eyeko!

2011-08-14T10:35:00.007-04:00

Hey everyone!

Last month the London based brand Eyeko sent me a few products to try out. They sent me a fat balm, some lipsticks, and their graffiti eyeliner pen. I wanted to make two separate posts for everything since I have a lot to say about the fat balm, and didn't want this post to get too lengthy. I'm sure you've all heard of eyeko, since it's been featured various blogs for a long time now. One of their most popular product is their fat balm, which is a lip and cheep product.

I'm a lip and cheek product junkie, so I was quite excited when Eyeko sent this to me. The shade that I'm reviewing is called Frosting, a bright deep pink shade with "light reflecting" shimmer. The color is gorgeous, I only wish it didn't contain shimmer. The shimmer isn't super visible though, and it doesn't look at all frosty on lips. This product contains SPF 15 and Jojoba oil, although I didn't find it particularly moisturizing, but most lip and cheek products aren't. It took a bit of rough blending out on my cheeks with my fingers to blend in properly, and you defiantly need a lip balm over top of this if you're going to be wearing it as a lipstick. Frosting is quite pigmented, and you only need a little to achieve a complexion brightening effect. That being said, this will last you quite a long time. The packaging is a cute, chubby little tube that fits perfectly into your purse. The scent is very lipsticky smelling, with just a tiny hint of sweetness to it. I found that the wear on this was similar to other lipsticks on me, which don't last past a few hours. It leaves a lovely stain on the lips once all of the product is faded away though. I didn't have any problems with this fading on the cheeks, I think because it was a bit dry to begin with. The eyeko website also claims that this is a limited edition shade.

I'm really fond of lip and cheek prodcuts and have enjoyed trying this one. It's not HG material for me, but it's a cute product and I like the color. I've found that it looks particularly nice on lips and cheeks with a purple smokey eye. Fat balms cost $10 on Eyeko's website.

What have you tried from Eyeko?

xo Caitlin

Pops of color!

2011-08-08T18:31:00.003-04:00

My favorite trend of the summer has been bright pops of neon incorporated into an outfit full of neutrals, or color blocked together. I decided to get a post together of some of my favorite neon items (I later realized that I forgot a few pieces...but they probably wouldn't of fit into the picture anyway). I know that by now everyone (including myself) has fall on the mind. Personally, I think i'll be incorporating a few bright pops into my fall wardrobe as well.

Chino shorts - Hurley. I have these in neon yellow as well and love them!

Yellow cross body/clutch - H&M.

Turquoise colored ring - F21.

Flip flops - The Gap.

Yellow Messenger bag - JPK Paris.

Necklace - Triian via Anthropologie. (check out their necklaces & rings, they're gorg!)

Neon orange nail polish - Essie Mini Shorts.

Have you been adding pops of color to your summer wardrobe? Will you be carrying it into fall as well?

xo Caitlin

Urban Decay Roller Girl Palette!

2011-07-15T10:33:00.003-04:00

This is a small review of Urban Decay's summer 2011 Roller Girl Palette. I much prefer UD eye shadows to MAC, so when I saw that their new summer palette included three neutral shades and a fun shade, I was drawn to it. I was also drawn to the palette since the palette didn't feature any of UD's glittery shadows (fall out, bleck).

Woodstock is a bright pink shade with minimal shimmer. I think that this is a fun shade, and I'm glad that they included it amongst neutrals. I like to pop this shade on my lower lash line with the other shades on the lid. I've also read that UD suggests that this can be used on lips and cheeks as well.

Verve is described as an oyster color. A great shade to pop all over the lid. Shimmery beige with slight green undertones.

Suspect is a medium, shimmery toast shade that looks great in the crease.

Darkhorse is a deep, taupey chocolate brown with slight shimmer. This shade shows up really dark on me, so I just like to put a tiny bit of it in my outer corner.

The palette also comes with a mini UD lip gloss in Crush which is a hot pink shade, and a mini 24/7 eyeliner in the shade Whiskey which is a gorgeous brown shade with red undertones and no shimmer.

Overall, I really like this palette. I like that it features three practical shades for everyday wear but includes a bright just in case you were feeling particularly bold that day. As much as I love this palette, I've had it since it came out and haven't really used it much for some reason, but I think that it's a great purchase anyway. I believe that this retails for $32 at Ulta and Sephora.

What are your favorite UD eye shadows?

xo Caitlin

Coral & Gold

2011-07-11T18:45:00.003-04:00

I apologize for the grown out, chipped up mani but I really loved this and wanted to post it! This is the mani that I wore to the beach last week. Well- at the beginning of the week it was Essie Absolutely Shore with a Milani Gold FX accent finger, then after that got all chippy I switched it up to one of my favorite corals OPI Hot and Spicy and left the accent finger. I didn't think much about Hot and Spicy last year when I purchased it, but it's become one of my favorite corals. It goes great with a tan!

Also, I have no clue how a date stamp got on there.

I hope that you're all enjoying summer as much as I am. While OPI Hot and Spicy is one of my favorite orange based corals, I'm looking for something a little more pink. Anyone have any favorites?

xo Caitlin

Funky Fingers Wild Child!

2011-07-01T17:22:00.004-04:00

This is the first time that the brand Funky Fingers has been featured on my blog! Mainly because the only place to get it is Five Below, and one just opened up in my area. I've always seen Funky Fingers swatches and have been interested in the brand. When I went to five below I was kinda bummed out to see that the polish was stored in bins, and they only had about 6 or 7 different shades. They didn't have the purple holo shade that I wanted :/ (Jester I think).

Wild Child is your typical neon tropical green creme/jelly with touches of blue to it. Like all of these types of colors, it was impossible to photograph. This was an unexpected jelly and I was really excited since I love jellies. I was really afraid of staining, since my nails are STILL stained from the OPI green Serena Williams polish that I wore months ago, and shades like this tend to stain my nails. I used a sheer pink polish underneath and am happy to say that it didn't stain! The wear on this was also really excellent. I should add that I'm pretty sure that this is the same thing as Color Club Wild Child, since the two brands are manufactured by the same company or something like that, and they're the same color AND have the same name. Not bad for under $2!

Just to let you all know, I'll be going away on vacation for a week so I won't be posting. Have a lovely 4th!

Have you tried this brand?

xo Caitlin

for the first time...

2011-06-29T19:50:00.005-04:00

AN FOTD! I've never posted an FOTD on Chrysanthemum before. I've always wanted to but just felt that my makeup never really translated into the camera well every time I would try. I really enjoy FOTDs on other blogs, but I have to admit that I feel kind of silly posting this. I sorta' feel like I'm just being vain and posting pictures of myself! Then again, I guess that this is a beauty blog so the idea of vanity is bound to pop up somewhere.
So there ya go! I haven't been wearing any foundation or TM lately and it feels AMAZING. I know that my skin isn't flawless: I posted the last picture so that you can see my acne scaring. But there's no acne, which is something that I've been battling with for over a year now. I've been on anti biotics for it for the past few months, and it's done my skin wonders! Anyway, I'm REALLY excited about not having to wear foundation if I don't want to.

EYES:

MAC Rubenesque PP as base.

Bare Escentuals Glimmer in Queen Phyllis all over lid.

Bare Escentuals Glimmer in Queen Tiffany on outer corner.

Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Bourbon on lower lash line.

Maybelline One By One mascara.

FACE:

WnW Bronzer lightly dusted all over.

Benefit Hoola to contour.

Benefit Coralista on cheeks.

Benefit High beam as highlight.

LIPS:

Liplicous lipgloss in Passionfruit Guava.

I feel like I've been wearing really light MU for summer, but that seems like a lot now that I have it all down in once place, haha! I want to do more FOTDs but I'll probably wait until I move up to school in the fall. I'm planning on posting a lot more FOTDs, and OOTDs since I won't have as much moola to buy new makeup products!

I really love the effect of the 3 benefit cheek products. It's really bronzey, and glowy. I've gotten a bit of sun lately, so I wanted to try a different look! I always go for a neutral eye, but usually in the fall and winter (and even spring) I sport sort of a bright cheek and lip. I think i'll be doing a neutral cheek look like this for the rest of summer (when I'm not using my beloved ChaCha tint).

I also just rediscovered my Bare Escentuals glimmer eye shadows. I never hear much about these in the beauty blogging world and would just like to say that they are FANTASTIC! Queen Phyllis is a beautiful, quintessential nude sunlight color with intense sparkle and shine, and Queen Tiffany is it's taupey brown counterpart that has a tiny hint of plum to it. I use my finger to tap on Queen Tiffany to the outer corner of my eye, instead of putting it in my crease with a brush. I just like the effect better that way. Anyway, I really love BE eye shadows and want to take a trip up to the BE Boutique soon so that I can pick out some more neutral everyday shades!

So what did you guys think? Do you have any FOTD posting advice? :)

xo Caitlin

Essie Smooth Sailing!

2011-06-28T17:07:00.003-04:00

Essie Smooth Sailing has become one of my favorite polishes released for SS11. It's a very slightly muted dark lapis shade with complex pink and blue shimmer to it. Maybe I could even call it burple? Sadly, the shimmer doesn't translate into my swatch at all. The formula was wonderful, and the swatch that you see took two coats. The name reflects the shade really well. If I were on a sailboat somewhere the east coat, I'd imagine this would be the color of the water surrounding me.

This shade came out with the Brazilliant collection in late April. I'm really loving the fact that Essie is sold in drugstores now since collections are no longer hard to hunt down! This collection should still be available, as I've just recently seen fully stocked displays at Rite Aide and Walgreen's. I also got Absolutely Shore from the collection which I'm IN LOVE with. I'll post it soon!

xo Caitlin

Korres Lip Butter Glaze in Pomegranate!

2011-06-22T22:11:00.004-04:00

Hello! This is just a quick review of the Korres lip butter glaze in the shade Pomegranate. I'm ridiculously backed up with swatches and reviews. Now that I actually have the time to blog, for some reason I just don't feel much like blogging. Trying to get myself out of that though!

I believe the Korres lip butter glazes were released sometime last year. They come in the same shades as the lip butters, and promise to deliver the same moisturizing effects. The only difference would be that the lip glazes are a bit more shiny than the lip butters in the pots, and come in a squeeze tube.

Lets start with what I like about this product. The color is gorgeous and I love coral lips. I prefer to wear a brighter lippie most of the time to brighten up my complexion, and this slightly warm toned coral with pink undertones is very flattering. The color is pretty opaque which I also like, but it can be sheered out if you add less product. I also like that it comes in a squeeze tube. Since most of my favorite tinted lip balms come in little pots, I liked the idea of not having to use my finger to dig out product in the middle of the day.

Now on to what I don't like about this product. I don't really find it even remotely moisturizing. It doesn't really feel good to put on either, it almost feels like it has a drying effect. I may very well be the only person who feels this way about this product, since I've read many great reviews on them. Honestly I have lip glosses that are more moisturizing than this product. While I love the color and general idea of this product, I almost never find myself reaching for it because I don't like how it feels. Also, since I don't really love it I'm kinda' bummed about the $14 dollar price tag.

If you've tried this product, I'd love to know how you feel about it!

xo Caitlin

Late May Favorites!

2011-06-13T17:45:00.005-04:00

I know that we're well into June by now, but I thought I'd post my May favorites anyway. I love monthly favorites posts, and didn't want to leave this out just because it was late. So, here ya' go.

1. Benefit High Beam travel size.
2. Organix Coconut Milk anti-breakage serum.
3. Maybelline One by One mascara.
4. Hard Candy Glamoflauge.
5. Badger Cuticle care.
6. TBS A kiss of Color.
7. MAC Indianwood paintpot.

1. Benefit High Beam- I know that this product has been really popular for awhile now, but I only just purchased it in December. It's advertised as "Model in a Bottle" and while I don't think that it makes you look like a model, it certainly administers a dewy look to skin. My skin has been clearing up lately so I've been using it more, I don't particularly like to add any shimmer to my face if my skin is actin' a fool.

2. Organix Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage serum- I can't decide if I love or hate this product. I loved it when I included it in this favorites post, but the past few days it's been making my hair weird. I use it in my ends while my hair is still wet as a leave in conditioning product. I find it quite heavy on my very fine hair, but when used sparingly I like it (or did). Have any of you ever loved a product one minute and hated it the next?

3. Maybelline One by One Mascara- this has replaced Maybelline The Colossal as my favorite mascara. I do use it in combination with the Colossal if I want really dramatic lashes, but for the summer time I really don't like the look of super thick dramatic lashes. I prefer this over The Colossal for the following reasons- It doesn't flake. I love the look the Colossal gives me, but it always flakes and leaves me with black dots under my eyes. Not a cute look. This is also more natural looking, yet it really makes your lashes stand out.

4. Hard Candy Glamoflage Concealer- This is an HG product for many gals, and you can count me in on that bandwagon. This has been sold out at my Walmart in Light for a long time, but I finally caught it in stock! I really recommend this for people who have acne, since it conceals really really well. It's super pigmented and can be used very sparingly. It's only six dollars and I'd imagine that a tube would last well over a year with everyday use. Since my skin is clearing up now, I've been skipping foundation and using this to conceal my blemishes.

5. Badger cuticle care. HG CUTICLE OIL. I can't believe that I've never heard anything about this product in the blogospehre or on YouTube. I included a picture because this cuticle moisturizer contains little pearls of Shea butter that dissolve when you rub them into your cutes. I'm not sure how much this costs since it was given to me by a friend, but I'd imagine nothing over 8 dollars. I'll defiantly be repurchasing.

6. The Body Shop A Kiss Of Color Blush - I bought this product on a whim when TBS was having a sale after Christmas. I thought that the packaging was unique and the color was pretty versatile, and it was on sale for $1 so I had nothing to loose (FYI The Body Shop is having one of those sales again! I scored a YSL Touche Eclat dupe that I really love for $1 and bought some backups of it as well.) I didn't really touch this product until the month of May since it's peachy pink shade is more spring/summer than fall/winter. The blush has a circle applicator that is on a little spring, and the blush is in the top of the container (if this is making any sense.) I just poof a perfect little circle on to each cheek then blend fiercely with a big fluffy blush. This product was limited edition, but I know that the Asian brand Etude house makes similar blushes that I want to check out.

7. MAC Paintpot in Indianwood- A friend bought this for me for Christmas since she knew how much I loved rubenesque. I've completely fallen in love with MAC p/ps. I previously didn't really understand the hype, but I love these applied on their own and as a base for eye shadows. They literally don't budge once dry and they can be worn as either a sheer wash or a a fully pigmented shadow. Indianwood is a beautiful golden bronze shade that looks a bit orange on me, but I don't mind. The only thing that I dislike about this shade is that in the pot it looks like a little metallic pool of molten bronzey gold, but on the lid it seems to turn a bit matte? Has anyone else had this issue?

Here's some swatches just for fun: (L-R) TBS A Kiss of Color blush, Benefit High Beam, MAC Indianwood PP, Hard Candy Glamoflauge.

What were your favorites in May?

xo Caitlin

OPI Mermaid's Tears with Silver Shatter!

2011-06-01T13:08:00.002-04:00

Hello lovelies!

Hope all is well with everyone. Just wanted to post a mani that I wore two or so weeks ago- OPI Mermaid's tears with Silver Shatter over top. Both shades came out with the Pirates of the Carribean collection, which featured six murky pastels and silver shatter. I'm a huge fan of this particular OPI collection. All of the shades seem soft and delicate and have an air of femininity about them. I was even compelled to buy the pink shades!

Mermaid's Tears is a soft creme shade that falls somewhere between sea foam green and turquoise. Maybe aquamarine would be a better description? It reminds me of Essie Turquoise and Caicos which was a favorite of mine last summer, but Mermaid's tears is much more muted and opaque than T&C. I used two coats for my mani.

I won't ramble on about Silver Shatter since everyone and their great grandmother either own it or know of it's existence, but I liked it. When I first heard of the collection I didn't think that silver would compliment many of the shades, and I had originally thought that gold shatter would be a better color compliment. Upon seeing the shades in person I think that I was quite wrong, since the silver seems to bring out the touch of gray that each of the colors have. The only complaint I would have about it is that it's so blingy that in the sunlight the color underneath becomes completely overwhelmed by insane silver sparkle.

I'll post the rest of the shades that I purchased from this collection soon.

What did you think of this collection?

xo Caitlin

Sophy Robson googly eyes manicure!

2011-05-24T12:03:00.005-04:00

Hello!

Last week I felt inspired to try out some nail art. Browsing nail blogs on tumblr that feature crazy nail art (like THIS one) has made me crave funkier nails as of late. One of the manicures on the blog was one that was created by luxury nail artist Sophy Robson. All of her designs are genius in my opinion and she creates very posh and whimsical nail art. I'd love to have her job! I didn't link a picture of her original manicure for copy right issues, but I'm sure it will pop up on google.

To create the 'googly eyes' mani, I used five different shades that were similar to the colors that Sophy used. However I did have to substitute the chocolate brown creme that she used on the thumb for a smoky purple hue. Clock wise from thumb to pinkie I used Sephora by OPI Metro Chic, Rimmel Coralicious, China Glaze Lemon Fizz, L'Oreal Ocean Breeze, and OPI Mermaid Tears.

To create the little eyeballs I just used a ball point pen dipped in white polish, along with a nail art pen that has a very fine tip and squeezy applicator for the black dots. I really liked this mani and couldn't stop looking at the little multi-colored creatures on my fingers when I wore it.

Have you tried any different nail looks lately?

xo Caitlin

Benefit ChaCha Tint!

2011-05-19T15:58:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone!

Today I have a review on Benefit's newest lip and cheek stain Cha Cha Tint. Over the winter I fell in love with Benetint. So when I heard that benefit was releasing a coral (or mango as they call it) lip and cheek tint, I was beyond thrilled!

As I've mentioned, Benefit describes this tint as "mango". Which is totally valid, but I just don't think mango when I look at it - I think coral. Although my swatches make it look quite orange, I promise that it's a bit more red based then my swatches show. For some reason my camera wouldn't pick up the red. The consistency of Cha Cha tint is a milky, creamy gel/cream hybrid similar to posietint's formula. I don't own posietint, but I've swatched it and played around with it a few times and to me chacha tint seems to be more pigmented than both Posietint and Benetint.

This also blends much better than Benetint considering that it's not completely liquid based. You also need less product to build up a visible glow. Like the rest of Benefit's tints, this shade is supposed to be universal. It's flattering on my pale skin, but I'd imagine that it would be really gorgeous on someone with a bit more of a tan as well. The wear on this is absolutely excellent, and just like Benetint this product doesn't seem to fade on cheeks. It does seem to fade on lips within a few hours though.

This can be worn under your foundation, or above. I prefer to wear benefit's tints under my tinted moisturizers for a really lit from within glow. I really think that this would be perfect for a no makeup look at the beach that wouldn't fade of melt off.

Overall, I'm really in love with this product and I defiantly favor it over Benetint. I love the creamy and easy to blend formula, and I'm a sucker for lip/cheek stains. The only downside of this product would be the price - $29 dollars. This product isn't available at Ulta or Sephora yet- I actually ordered it from HSN sometime last week in a set that came with a few other products for only a few more dollars, so it seemed to justify the price a bit for me (even though I already own two of the products, erm...backups I suppose). Even though this product is overpriced like many of Benefit's products in my opinion, it's a winner in my book and I know that I'll be grabbing for it a lot this spring and summer. ChaCha tint will be available at Ulta and Sephora in June!

Have you tried any of Benefit's tints? Which is your favorite?

xo Caitlin

OPI Texas Swatches!

2011-05-14T10:42:00.004-04:00

Hello!

I've been spending the morning getting over last night's migraine, and catching up on my favorite blogs. It's been enjoyable minus the migraine part. I have a lot of swatches and manis that I photographed even when I wasn't blogging. So even though OPI Texas seems like it was forever ago, and I'm sure you've all already seen swatches, here are the shades that I purchased. I apologize for the swatches being somewhat crappy due to lack of sunlight. I think we've had something like 3 sunny days since January here in Pittsburgh. Lovely place to live, I know.

Don't Mess With OPI is a muted kelly green creme. I'm not quite sure why I purchased this as I'm really not a fan of this particular shade and I haven't worn it since I bought it. Formula was okay with 2 coats, just not my thing.

Do You Think I'm Tex-y? Is a cool toned raspberry pink jelly. These are what I was excited about from this collection. JELLIES. OPI tried pretending like that had some awesome new revolutionary new formula of nail polish that had never been done before by calling this a "Sorbet" finish, but we all know that jellies are nothing new. These are true jellies however, so they're extremely sheer and require 3-4 coats to avoid VNL.

SQUISHY.

Guy Meets Gal-veston was my favorite of the bunch. I'm a sucker for corals, and a JELLY CORAL? Yes, please. I can't wait to wear this shade with a tan in the summer.

Did you gals get anything from Texas? IMO, It was a generally uneventful collection aside from the jellies- which sadly were only in pink, orange and purple shades anyway.

xo Caitlin

Update! & NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams!

2011-05-11T14:20:00.000-04:00

HI GUYS!

I hope that you've all been well. After a very stressful year of school and work I finally have time to do the things that I enjoy again since it's summer - one of those things being my blog! I've missed blogging so much and it feels great to be posting again!

I thought that I would start out with the new(ish) NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams. The two shades that I got were Tokyo, a cool toned pale pink, and Antwerp a warmer rosy coral shade. These lip cremes have a really cool super light and fluffy texture, they go on lips nicely although they tend to settle into lines so need a little extra care with blending out. As one can imagine they're a bit drying like most matte lip products. The wear time on these is pretty good, and I'm fond of them because they wear down to a stain after the actual lip creme has worn off. Antwerp is a great shade for coral lovers like myself, and looks great on both fair and tan skin. Tokyo however, really isn't my thing. It's too pale of a pink to wear on my lips personally, and I think it's a bit garish looking once applied.

However, I found another use for it. These work GREAT as cream blushes! They go on very smoothly because of the light texture and blend beautifully into skin, creating a 'from within' sort of glow. I've used these on my cheeks several times since purchasing them a month of so ago and haven't gotten any breakouts or anything from them. These come in a variety of shades and retail for around $6 at Ulta and other places that carry NYX. I was able to grab them at Ulta for $3 each when NYX was BOGO 50% off plus a coupon.

Have you guys ever had any difficulty keeping up with your blog while you had a lot going on in your life? I've really missed all of you guys!

xo Caitlin

Super mario mushroom nails!

2011-02-04T11:26:00.004-05:00

Hello!

So I realize that I said I was back before, yet didn't post for a month. I know it's annoying at this point, so I'll go right ahead and stfu but I'm pretty sure I'm back this time fo' serious. College is fun but difficult, and growing up really sucks. Anyway, here's a manicure that I did a few weeks ago!

I was inspired to do this manicure from this blogger here: click. For the red base I used Essie Geranium which I picked up from Ulta for 99 cents right after the holidays. I have no clue why it was clearenced since I'm pretty sure it was part of the permanent line. For the little mushroom I just painted as I would around the cuticles but left a gap, then just free-handed all of the details. This nail art is super easy, so I recommend it even if you suck at nail art (like myself). Back to the base color, Geranium, I really like it. In fact I like it so much that I did three manicures in a row with it which is really rare for me since it's odd for me to wear a polish twice in a year let alone 3 times in a month. This may be partially because I haven't felt much like doing manicures lately, and red nails are just an easy choice, heh.

I want to try this manicure with green mushrooms soon!

Just so you gals know, I have a lot of make up posts coming up, and not quite as many nail posts.

xo Caitlin

Catch up!

2011-01-04T11:37:00.007-05:00

Hi everyone!

So I know I haven't posted in forever. My life has been super crazy, and in the past few months blogging just sort of fell off of my list of priorities. I'm horribly sorry for dropping off the face of the blog-o-sphere without any notice! I'm back now though, and this post is just going to be all of the products I already had photographed and swatched from the fall that I never got around to posting. I meant to review all of these- but since I have lots of other new products I want to review I figured I'd just show you all swatches of these since I had them anyway!

NYC Love Letters over Black Lace

Wet 'n' Wild Mega Last lipsticks in Rosebud, Smokin Hot Pink, and Just Peachy

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Coral Crush (dupe for MAC Toxic Tale!)

Sally Girl Mini Baked Eyeshadows (only a dollar, but I really dislike these...)

Sinful Colors What's Your Name

China Glaze Bogie

China Glaze Classic Camel

Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain in Passion

Bare Escentuals Glimmers in Queen Phyllis and Queen Tiffany

Milani Hi-Res

So there ya go, a bunch of random product swatches. If you have questions about anything just ask in the comments and I'll be sure to get back to you! Hopefully i'll be back to reviewing products normally within the next few days.

Thank you to all who still read my blog! Hope that you all had a lovely holiday and new year!

xo Caitlin

October Favorites!

2010-11-05T13:48:00.008-04:00

Hey everyone!

Life is has gotten a bit hectic again, so as usual I'm sorry for the lack of consistency concerning how often I post. I'm a little late posting my October favorites, but late is better than never right? :) I usually don't do monthly favorites every month because I pretty much use most if not all of my products pretty equally and switch it up every day. It's rare that I use something everyday for an entire month, but this month I found myself using a few products more often than the rest:

1. eos smooth sphere in honeysuckle honeydew- I bought this product last spring and used it quite often. I had misplaced it over the summer, but this month I found it behind my nightstand! It's close to being flat now from using it so often, so I'm trying to use it up. I love how this lip balm smells and tastes, it reminds me of real honey suckle flowers. I like this flavor much more than the summer fruit one, which I never reach for.

2. Wet 'n' Wild Mega Liner liquid eyeliner - I go through phases with lining my upper lash line. Sometimes I like the look of it, and sometimes I don't. I was really into it for the month of October though (I'm out of the phase already LOL). I Like this eyeliner because it's a precise liquid liner and it's really easy to use. The wand is short and stubby, and the brush is really thin and stubby with makes for easy application even if you have shakey hands. Plus it only costs $2!

3. Boots No. 7 Radiant Glow- I read somewhere that this under eye brightener/concealer is a dupe for the YSL Touche Eclat. I don't own Touche Eclat so I couldn't really compare the two, but I like this a lot. It really brightens my under eye area, and doesn't take too much time to blend. It's really thin and gives moderate coverage.

4. Benefit Erase Paste- As some of you may know, I've recently been suffering from break outs. I've never had pimples before aside from the occasional zit here and there, but now the entire side of my face is covered in red bumps. I'm getting it taken care of but for now Benefit Erase paste has really been helping me hide my pimples! This concealer is really thick, and blends nicely. It doesn't make my blemishes stick out more after I've concealed them as some concealers do. I won't ramble too much about this product, since I know most have already tried it. I understand why everyone loves it so much!

5. MAC Bite of an Apple Blush- This coral/red blush came out with the Venomous Villains collection a month or so ago. I know that this sold out pretty quickly, so I 'm sorry if you couldn't get your hands on it! I was lucky enough to get the last one at my MAC counter, and I went to pick it up the evening of launch day. I love matte blushes, and I've actually been using this everyday since I got it. It looks scary in the pan, but gives a perfect just in from the cold flush to my pale skin. I've been getting a lot of compliments on my rosy cheeks!

6. MAC Rubenesque Paint Pot- This is my first MAC paint pot, one of my best friends bought it for me for my birthday back in July. I now have an obsession with cream eye shadows, I love how easy they are to slick on, add a little mascara and you're good to go. I won't go on too much about this either, since it's a pretty popular MAC product, but it's gorgeous! I know a lot of people use Paint Pots as a base, but I prefer to use them on their own as a cream shadow.

I added some swatches for the heck of it :) ;

(L-R) MAC Rubenesque, MAC Bite of an Apple, WnW Liquid Liner

(L-R) Benefit Erase Paste, Boots No. 7 Radiant Glow

And here is my almost flat eos lip balm!

Have you tried any of these products? Do you like them as much as I do?

xo Caitlin

Halloween mani: China Glaze Fortune Teller!

2010-10-31T16:28:00.003-04:00

Happy Halloween!

I hope that all of you lovely ladies are having a great Halloween. For my Halloween mani, I wore a polish that came out last year as part of a small limited edition Halloween China Glaze collection. So that means that you can no longer purchase this polish anymore. It was a bit hard to find when it came out if I remember correctly, which means unfortunately it's currently not even for sale on eBay :/. I posted a swatch of this polish last year, but figured that I'd post a new and improved swatch since it took me about 6 months of blogging before I learned to do decent swatches, lol.

China Glaze Fortune Teller is a sheer black jelly base peppered with different sized hex shaped copper glitter. Really gorgeous! I forgot how much I loved this polish. I've only worn it twice- last Halloween, and this year as well. Even though the two shades in this polish are very Halloween-esque, I think that you could get away with this polish any time of the year really. It's so unique, and reminds me of bonfires since the copper glitter looks like burning embers. It took me two coats to make this polish opaque. For some reason it was easier to apply than I remember it being last year when I wore it. o.O

I also wanted to mention that yesterday was my one year bloggerversary, and I wanted to just say thank you to all of those who read my blog. I have so much blogging, and getting to interact with all of you!

Have a happy Halloween!

xo Caitlin

Battle of the sheer red lipglosses!

2010-10-28T15:53:00.005-04:00

Hey loves!

I feel like I'm really on a roll with posting everyday lately :) lets hope that this keeps up! This post is going to be all about my favorite type of lip gloss- sheer red! I love jellyish sheer red lip glosses. They're really flattering in both the summer and winter, and they're usually my go to lip gloss shade. Here's a few of the one's that I've tried:

(in order from left to right)

Strawberry Nivea - I posted about the Cherry Nivea during the summertime here. I like the strawberry one much better, it's a lot more wearable and has a glossy finish. I discovered after using the cherry one for awhile that it was really drying and almost acts like a lip stain. The strawberry one is still kind of drying, but I like it anyway!

VS Beauty Rush lip gloss in Cherry Bomb - This is a lip gloss that I reach for a lot. It's a super sticky and thick sheer pink based red gloss with gold glitter. At first the smell of this made me really sick- it has a really strong sweet fruit punch smell to it. I got used to it after awhile though because it fades quickly. I love the stickiness of this gloss, and it's my favorite out of all of the glosses I'm posting!

CG Wetslicks Amazemint lip gloss in Red Riot - this is my second favorite out of the group. I usually don't like minty lip glosses much, but I love the CG Amazemint glosses. They literally feel like water on your lips because they're so smooth, but because of that this gloss wears off on me in less than an hour.

Bonnebell lip lites in Cherry Berry Kiss - This smells great, and I think it only cost around 2 dollars, but I'd advise that you didn't buy it. It's one of those glosses that's too sheer to show up on your lips at all.

Maybelline Shinesational lip gloss in Watermelon Punch - This one isn't that pigmented either. I feel like it's a lot better than Cherry Berry Kiss though. It's thick and sticky so it makes your lips look really full and glassy. The scent is great too, a nice watermelon smell!

The Body Shop Merry Cranberry lip balm- this is my first product ever from the body shop. I bought it during a sale in the summertime for a dollar, and I think that it's a limited edition item that comes out every year around Christmas time. It's out right now again I believe! It the tin it's a dark red shade with gorgeous gold shimmer. I like this lip balm a lot, it gives a more natural brown-based red flush to the lips.

L-R ( Strawberry Nivea, TBS Merry Cranberry, VS Beauty Rush Cherry Bomb, Maybelline Shinesational Watermelon Punch, CG Wetslicks Amazemint Red Riot, Bonnebell liplites Cherry Berry Kiss)

So there you have it, some of the sheer red glosses that I've tried! Final verdict? Well, my favorites are the VS Beauty Rush one, and TBS Merry Cranberry. They're all worth a go though, minus the Bonnebell liplite!

Do you like sheer red glosses? What are some of your favorites?

xo Caitlin

Milani Rad Purple!

2010-10-27T17:05:00.004-04:00

Hey girls!

This is a polish that I picked up awhile ago in a drugstore in South Carolina since none of the drugstores near me carry Milani.

Milani Rad Purple is an amazing dark pink toned purple jelly. Kinda' dark, and really squishy looking! It's supposed to be a neon, but it's not. I actually prefer the color/finish of the actual polish though as opposed to the color on the opaque bottle. I LOVE JELLIES! This is still in my untrieds pile, so I'm not too sure about the wear. I believe that this swatch was 3 coats. I'm defiantly going to wear this shade soon.

What are your favoite jelly nail polishes? :)

xo Caitlin

Tinted Carmex!

2010-10-26T17:16:00.004-04:00

Hey loves!

This is just a little review/swatches of a new lip product that I've really been loving-- Carmex Moisture Plus tinted lip balm! I had tweeted awhile ago that I wished they made tinted carmex...I later googled it and apparently it exists! I think that it's a relatively new product though as I've never seen it before, and when I went to Walgreens to get it after discovering it's existence it was placed up front in a new display. These lip balms come in only two shades, Sheer Peach tint, and Sheer Pink tint. I love carmex, but I have to admit that from the color on the packaging I thought that these would be really lame. I was wrong though, they're actually really pigmented!

The balm is packaged in a sleek, thin, twist-up tube.

The two shades are actually quite pretty, the peach is a red toned coral/pink, and the pink is a medium toned blue based pink.

(Pink is on the left, and Peach is on the right). I love the finish of these lip balms. On the lips they give a sort of patent finish that looks like a hybrid between gloss and lipstick. They're also really moisturising, and have SPF 15 in them.

Overall, I really love these lip balms. I've been reaching for them a lot since I got them about a month ago. I'm obsessed with tinted lip balms, but most of my favorite tinted lip balms come in jar form which is kind of annoying to apply. I like these because they're really easy to apply, and the thin slanted tip also makes application more precise than just slapping a balm on your lip with your finger.

The only bad thing about these is that they don't really have the original carmex scent. They tingle slightly, but have more a vanilla smell rather than a medicated smell. I'm one of the people who likes the medicated smell, LOL.

These retail for $3 at Walgreens, and if you love tinted lip balm like I do, you should totally pick them up!

xo Caitlin

Essie In Stitches!

2010-10-24T13:35:00.003-04:00

Hey ladies!

Today I have a polish from the Essie 2010 Fall collection... I'm not sure the name of the collection, but I think that all of the names were references to sewing/fashion/fabrics. I didn't like the collection to be honest, and I don't even really like this color. My mom bought it since it's 'her kind of color', so I thought I would swatch it for you all.

Essie In Stitches is a really old fashioned dusty rose creme.. This color reminds me of grandmas, and not in the chic way. The formula on this was fantastic, and it covered smooth and buttery in one coat. It also gave a flawless finish. As much as I don't like this color, I can't deny that I was shocked at how great it looked on my skin tone. Oddly, it was very flattering...maybe I'll end up wearing it for the hell of it. But my final verdict is that this shade is way too granny for me. :)

Did you get any of the shades from the Essie Fall 2010 collection? What do you think about this shade?

xo Caitlin

Weekly Musings 10.23.10 !

2010-10-23T15:07:00.007-04:00

Hello dears!

So I've decided to go ahead with the weekly series! This is the first installment, hopefully I'll be able to keep up with these posts! I'm hoping they don't die out after a few weeks, and that I'll still be inspired to do them!

1. Sephora Friends & Family Sale!

I really shouldn't be spending any money, and I should be saving for Christmas... I know that 20% off isn't that much, but when you're buying a few things it adds up to a good bit saved! I probably won't end up ordering anything, but some of the things that I'm lemming are the Benefit Coralista blush, Benefit Creasless Cream eyehadow in Skinny Jeans, and some of the new Buxom Stay There eyeshadows! Coralista is rather expensive at $28 dollars, but there's currently a set out called Some Beauty To love that offers a full sized Eye bright, Coralista, and then two deluxe sample sized products for 30 dollars! Talk about tempting. In all honesty Coralista doesn't seem all that unique. It's supposedly similar to Nars Orgasm and probably really close to the WnW blush that I posted about a few weeks ago, but for some reason it just calls to me! I also read that it's a favorite of Whitney Port.

2. Thai Food!

My favorite local Thai restaurant called The Green Mango was temporarily closed for the past few months and they just opened back up this week! My boyfriend and I went there to eat there on Friday night and I feel like my life is complete again ;) We've vowed to go there once a week, LOL. My favorite dish is called the Noodle Hut Special, and it's a delicious soup similar to Tom Yum soup, except with chicken and glass noodles! So filled with flavor and yummy! (image from here).

3. Dying my hair brown!

I've been considering dying my hair back to my natural color (brown) for a long time now. I've been getting my hair colored blonde for about 4 years, and it's an expensive and slightly frustrating process. I have really sensitive skin, and some sort of weird issue with my scalp where I'm basically allergic to hair dye. Whenever I get my hair dyed it burns really badly (my hair dresser doesn't use bleach), and I'm left with big scabs on my head afterwards...which is really gross. Because of this, I try not to dye my hair often and go about 3 months inbetween dyes, which means that I have major roots most of the time. So it would probably be best if I didn't have to dye my hair anymore. I love being blonde, and I'm afraid to dye my hair brown but I just feel like it's something that I should do. It's a much more practical hair color, well for me at least. I have an appointment to get my hair colored on Thursday, and I'm quite nervous! Lets just hope that I don't back out at the last minute.

4. Thrift store finds!

Usually when I check out thrift stores I leave empty handed. I have a few friends who seem to always have wonderful luck at the thrift store, but I never do. I did last night though! I found this gorgeous men's Ralph Lauren cardigan for $4! I was so excited! My first thrift store find! I'm sure that this sweater once belonged to an old man with some serious style. I think that this will look awesome with some beige colored treggings (trouser jeggings), and leather riding boots.

So there you have it girls, just some things that I wanted to share about my week. I hope that you enjoyed! Let me know if you girls liked this sort of post.

xo Caitlin

SH Xtreme Wear Fireberry Red & Mystic Lilac!

2010-10-22T14:41:00.001-04:00

Hi!

I seriously fail at blogging lately. But ahem, anyway here are two more of the new (well not so new anymore) SH Xtreme Wear polishes, Mystic Lilac and Fireberry Red! I've already posted Purple Gala here incase you missed it!

Fireberry Red is a nice deep, dark red jelly with gold micro flakies/ shimmer floating in it. Really pretty color for fall that would look great on any skin tone!

Mystic Lilac is truly a unique polish. It's a dusty, muddy lilac shade with green shimmer. It's a really weird combo in my opinion, (green and lilac) but it works beautifully together.

As I've mentioned many times before I love the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line. They're really inexpensive (between $2-3) and they wear really well on me. They also have really unique and on trend shades.

I've been thinking about starting a weekly sort of post, where I rant about random things like trends I'm loving, FOTD's, ect. Would you gals like to see something like that, or should I just stick to the makeup and nail polish posts? I know a lot of other blogs have weekly series and I really enjoy them. Thoughts? :)

xo Caitlin

OPI Diva of Geneva!

2010-10-11T13:13:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!

Happy Monday :) the weather is beautiful today and I'm in a great mood. I hope that all of you lovely ladies are having a wonderful day as well! Today I have another polish from the OPI Swiss Collection.

OPI Diva of Geneva is a metallic jewel toned polish that lies somewhere between red and purple. In the bottle this looks like a total granny color to me, and it was nothing that I was super interested in at first. It really comes to life when on the nail though, it just looks so elegant and has a 'royal' feel to it. Overall, a really sexy color for the fall time. I've gotten tons of compliments on it since I've been wearing it, this polish really glows! The application was great, and the swatch that you see is two coats!

xo Caitlin

Pretty fall time blush from the drugstore!

2010-10-08T13:31:00.001-04:00

Hello!

I've really been on a drugstore makeup kick lately. My favorite drugstore brand is Wet 'n' Wild. As some of you may know, they've revamped most of their products in the past few years. Most of the things that I own from WnW are comparable to or in some cases even better than some of the HE makeup that I own. And since all of their products are under 5 bucks, I'm not sure how anyone could not love WnW! I plan on eventually doing a post with all of my favorite items from the brand like their eyeshadow palettes, singles, matte lipsticks, ect. I know that some gals may still have their doubts about WnW, but I promise you that they are not the same quality product as that 99 cent silver WnW lipstick that you bought in the 90's (...did anyone else have silver lipstick in the 90's? LOL I loved it as a kid!).

One product that WnW does exceptionally well are blushes. Their Color Icon blushes are ridiculously pigmented, have great staying power, and only cost 3 dollars. I only own one shade but I plan on getting the others this week! I believe that they only offer 4 different shades of blush, so their really isn't a whole lot to chose from but they're still worth it!

The shade that I have is called Pearlescent Pink, a pinky peach shade with golden shimmer. This shade looks lovely on pale skin, especially in the fall time. It would work on golden skin in the summer time as well! This blush is extremely pigmented, and you only need to get a tiny bit on your brush. It's also quite powdery, which some people may not like. I've read on a few other blogs/reviews of this being a dupe for NARS Orgasm. While I don't own Orgasm, I know what it looks like and although I can't personally tell you that it's an exact dupe, it's pretty darn close.

Isn't it pretty? The perfect fall time glow if you ask me.

By the way, Wet 'n' Wild is 40% off at Rite Aide next week in case you wanted to pick this blush up , making it cost about $1.80 !

Would you all be interested in seeing swatches of other products from WnW, including the other blushes?

xo Caitlin

China Glaze Midnight Mission!

2010-10-02T11:48:00.000-04:00

Hello!

I won't bother boring you all with a rant on why I haven't been blogging much. Real life has been in the way more than usual lately, leaving little time for any hobbies. Anyway, I didn't think I'd be getting any polishes from the China Glaze fall 2010 collection, Vintage Vixen but I ended up getting three of them. Two of which are most unusual colors for me, but the first one I'm showing you (Midnight Mission) is more of a typical 'Caitlin' color.

Midnight Mission is a deep smokey blue shimmer/(frost?) with a heavy amount of silver micro glitter sprinkled throughout. A really lovely shade that reminds me of October night skies when the weather is only just beginning to chill slightly. This color has a cool, crisp, refreshing quality about it. Midnight Mission is a lovely fall shade for ladies who love blue polish as much as I do. It's also refreshing to wear something with a bit of shimmer since I pretty much wore cremes all spring and summer.

The other polishes that I have to show you from this collection are Bogie (a brownish plum frost), and Classic Camel (a camel shade with gold shimmer/micro glitter). I'll be posting those up soon!

So what do you think of Midnight Mission? Did you end up getting anything from Vintage Vixen?

xo Caitlin

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous!

2010-09-21T09:39:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Here I've got another shade from the OPI Fall 2010 Swiss collection! This is another polish that didn't wow me in swatches (my swatch still isn't really wow-worthy), but it person it really caught my eye.

Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous! is a metallic foil shade that lies between silver and charcoal. Really stunning in the sunlight and great for gloomy days as well. It actually kind of reminds me of slush on the sidewalk in the winter time. This swatch took me three coats to build up an opaque color but the application was great :) !

Sorry for the short post! A little side note... I may seem a bit dim here but how the hell do you say "Lucerne-tainly"?

xo Caitlin

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Gala!

2010-09-18T16:39:00.000-04:00

Hey girls!

The Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line (which is one of my favorite drugstore nail polish brands) recently released some new polishes. One of which was Purple Gala!

Purple Gala is a glass flecked/ foil type of polish with purple shimmer and gold micro flakies? That's my best description of this polish, sorry! It's pretty crazy looking though and I don't own anything like it. Totally awesome for a $2.50 drugstore polish! It almost looks as though the tiny gold flakies are floating on top of the purple polish. In certain lights this polish can turn sort of ugly though and just look like a mucky brown shade. It's true beauty shows in the sun! This polish was opaque in two coats, and had great application. It wore really well on me and was super easy to remove!

So what do you think of the new SH Xtreme wears that have been released? Have you tried any yet? I still have a few more from the line to post!

xo Caitlin

Minted Rose!

2010-09-16T16:36:00.000-04:00

Hello ladies!

I've had another busy week of school, which yet again meant no posts. Hopefully for the remainder of the week and the weekend I'll have time for more blogging. Tonight I wanted to share with you all a product that I've been religiously applying to my lips since I got it a few weeks ago: Smith's Lip balm in Minted Rose. This product is brought to you by the same makers of the cult favorite lip balm, Smith's Rosebud Salve. I haven't tried Smith's Rosebud Salve since I own a Rose Salve by a different company, but I really want to give all of the other lip balms made by this company a go since I love this one so much.

One of the reasons why I chose this lip balm other the others offered by the company was that from images I saw online it seemed to have a slight tint to it. As most of you know, I have an unhealthy obsession with tinted lip balms. So I bought this product hoping that it would give a nice flush to my lips. The color isn't as lovely as the shade you see in the tin (a bright vibrant orangey red), but it does give a flush to your lips. If your lips are well pigmented though, I don't believe it will show up.

I was a little worried about the 'Minted' part of this lip balm, since I think that I've grown tired of minty lip products over the years. I used the C.O Bigelow mentha lip shines religiously through high school, and lately anything that smells remotely close to them on my lips makes me a little nauseous. Upon smelling this product, I really couldn't detect a mint smell. I can't describe the smell, it's a rose scent with a comforting zing to it. The smell is incredibly soothing and calming, and I love it! I actually purchased this while I was sick and it was very comforting to use when I was congested.

The texture of this is pretty much like a thinner version of Vaseline, although it does a wonderful job of moisturising. It is a greasy sort of lip balm though, and if that sort of thing freaks you out it might not be the best lip balm for you.

The packaging; a cute little vintage looking tin!

I love the color of this lip balm, a vibrant orangey red.

Not as much pigment as I was hoping for, but it does give a very slight flush to your lips :).

As I've mentioned Smith's Rosebud Perfume Co. offers a range of other lip balms including Brambleberry Rose, and a Strawberry lip balm (next on my list!), and the traditional Rosebud Salve.

Overall, this is a fabulous product. I love the scent, very slight hint of color, texture, moisturizing abilities, and packaging. This product is available at Sephora for $7 in case you wanted to pick it up!

What's your favorite lip balm?

xo Caitlin

OPI Yodel Me On My Cell!

2010-09-12T11:38:00.000-04:00

Today I've got one of the polishes that I got from the Fall 2010 OPI Swiss Collection. At first I wasn't really feeling any of this collection when I saw swatches on various other blogs when the collection first came out. After I saw them in person though, I decided that I needed almost half of the collection. I won't be posting all of the shades that I got from this collection at one time because I've ordered a few that still haven't come in yet, so I'll just be doing it one at a time :). So first up is Yodel Me On My Cell!

Yodel Me On My Cell is a slightly smokey/darkened aqua blue shimmer with specks of larger shimmer? I'm not quite sure if that makes sense, but it's beauty doesn't translate into my swatch so you ladies need to see this in person! It's not as bright as my swatch, as I mentioned it's sort of a deep shade. It also has a bit of that 'lit from within' quality that some polishes have. It's gorgeous! It reminds me of clear lake water in some serene place. Application was great with this shade, and I can't remember if I used 2 or 3 coats, but it gave me no trouble. Perfect formula!

So that's my first polish to show you all from the Swiss collection. Hopefully I'll be able to post during the week this week. Sorry I've only been posting on weekends!

Have you tried any shades from the Swiss collection? What are your favorites?

xo Caitlin

Incoco Dry Nail Applique review!

2010-09-11T17:33:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I was sent a product to review by the brand Incoco. I've seen reviews of these dry nail polish strips on a few other blogs and was really intrigued, so I was honored to be given the chance to try them out and share my results and thoughts with all of my readers.

So what are Incoco Dry Nail polish Appliques? Well, they're sort of like nail stickers or strips that stick onto your nails and are supposed to wear for around two weeks. They're made from real nail polish and are DBP, Toluene, and Formaldehyde-Free. So that means no nail polish smell and no drying time are required. They also can be removed with regular nail polish remover, and no base or top coat is needed. I'm not sure about how easy to non-glittery versions are to remove, but the glitter ones seem to be more difficult to remove than your average glitter polish. These come in both a french tip version, and a full nail color and are available in several different colors. Although the glittery ones are my favorite!

These strips are fairly easy use, and here's a little picture tutorial that I received as well to show you all how to use them:

The only thing that I would recommend to do different than what this tutorial instructs is to use a nail file and move it in an up and down motion to remove the excess nail sticker. I learned this from watching Asami's tutorial for these nail strips (link here). If you're going to try these nail strips, I defiantly recommend watching her tutorial as she has some nice little tips for using this alternative to regular nail polish :).

These are what the nail strips look like! The glittery gold shade (24 Karats) is a french tip set, and the others are full nail color sets. Each set comes with more than ten nail stickers so that you have several different sizes to try in order for the strip to correctly fit your nail.

This is my swatch of Copper Rouge the first day after I applied it. Application was easy and I didn't really run into any trouble. I loved the bling factor of this manicure, and thus far into my experience was totally impressed!

Here's Copper Rouge 8 days later! Awesome right? I did experience some tip wear, and probably could of worn these a few days longer but was growing tired of the glittery pinkish purple shade on my tips. Also, I might as well mention that I'm really rough on my nails. Nail polish doesn't last as long on me as it does on most ladies, so these would probably wear even better on your average gal.

Overall, I was MEGA impressed with these, and they're defiantly a product I would purchase. I'll defiantly be getting one of these for my next vacation, as they're great for a week-long worry free and no maintenance manicure. I love that no drying time is required, although it is recommended that you avoid warm/hot water for three hours after application.

Incoco Dry Nail Applique's come in a variety of glittery, cream, frost and shimmer finishes and shades. They retail for around $8-$9 dollars, and can be bought on their store website here, or at Walgreen's. Although I have no idea what Walgreen's' color selection is like.

So there you have my review! What do you think ladies? Will you be trying these? :)

xo Caitlin

Mulberry for Target!

2010-09-06T11:51:00.000-04:00

Hey there :)

Target's designer collaborations have become a phenomenon of sorts in the blogging world. In the past we've seen collections from Jean Paul Gaultier, Rodarte, Cynthia Vincent, Zac Posen, and other fashion giants. All of which were brought to us at affordable prices by Target. Next month, on October 10th Target will launch a collaboration with Mulberry. While doing a bit of googling (that's where I got the images below, and information) I was informed that last month these bags were for sale on Gilt Groupe. For those of you who don't know, Gilt is a membership site similar to Haute Look where you can buy designer clothes, bags, and makeup for a fraction of the price. The sales only last for a limited time though, often only 24 hours or so. Membership is free by the way, so anyone can shop Gilt :). Anyway, I'm totally bummed that I missed the sale that also featured the upcoming Tucker for Target collection, which will be released in September. Always check you Gilt emails ladies, ALWAYS!

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Target's designer collaborations. Giving the average woman a chance to own a bag designed by a high end designer is huge indeed. While Target doesn't promise the quality of actual Mulberry bags, they certainly don't skimp on the design aspect. After all, you're paying around $30-$50 dollars, not hundreds or thousands. In that aspect, you get what you pay for. While the bags most likely aren't of superior quality, I think that they're great none the less, so check 'em out:

These are only a few of the bags that I found using google image search, and I think that for the most part they're pretty cute. I believe the large patent leather and denim ones in the first two photos will retail for $50 dollars. I'll defiantly be getting one of these bags, and I'll probably be one of the first ones in the store on October 10th. I'll also be removing the heart key chains as soon as I get out into my car. After all, they're supposed to look like actual Mulberry bags right? Not Kathy Van Zeeland ones. But that's just my opinion, maybe you like the heart key chain but it's just not my style.

I'm liking how the first two bags really look like (and are supposedly the same size) as the classic Mulberry Bayswater bag. I'm also really digging the quilted pattern on the denim version, but can't see myself carrying a blue denim bag. If it comes in black though, I'll defiantly be into it.

All and all, I'm pretty excited about this designer collaboration! What do you think? Will you be picking up one of these bags on October 10th? At least checking them out?

xo Caitlin

Wet 'n' Wild Blazed!

2010-09-05T19:34:00.000-04:00

Hello again!

So posting twice in one day is something that I've never done before. But I figured it would be appropriate to makeup for the lack of posts lately. That, and I've been doing nothing but laying in bed with a box of tissues all day, haha. So here's a polish that I bought a few months ago,

Wet 'n' Wild Blazed is one of those 'perfect' coral polishes, however it's a pink/peach toned color as opposed to a red one like WnW Candy Apple Twist. I really loved this shade at first, as it's a nice creamy and traditional summer polish. I don't know why but I experienced horrible wear with this polish. It chipped after one day, unlike the WnW polishes that I've previously posted about that I had amazing results with as far as wear is concerned. I dunno what was up with this shade! Kinda' bummed about the wear, it's still a nice shade though. It has sort of a jelly-ish texture, although I wouldn't say it's a true jelly. And it only costs 99 cents, and is part of Wet 'n' Wild's core line!

So have you tried this shade? I know it's pretty popular, even though I've just tried it. Did you experience the same chipping issues?

xo Caitlin

Sinful Colors Cream Pink!

2010-09-05T12:51:00.001-04:00

Hello lovely ladies :)

I've been absent for quite awhile again. I'm still getting used to school and just haven't had the will power to post lately, really. I've just been kinda in a lazy rut :/. I've still been reading all of my favorite blogs by the way, even if I haven't been commenting! I figured I better get a few of the summery polishes that I had swatched previously posted before the fall weather moves in. I know that most of you, myself included are totally in the fall mood. While it's been in the 90's all week here, there's supposed to be a cold front moving in and I'm looking forward to it. Especially since i've caught a cold, and there's nothing more miserable than being sick when the weather is beautiful, hah. So today I have yet another polish that I received a few months ago when I won Steph of Imperfectly Painted's give away!

Sinful Colors Cream Pink is a hot pink that boarders being neon with subtle gold micro shimmer. The name is odd in my opinion, since it's not really a pure creme polish. The gold shimmer is what makes this shade fantastic though, as I don't think that I've ever seen a bright pink shade with gold shimmer before. While in my swatch the shimmer is only slightly noticeable in the bottle, I promise it's more visible in person. As I'm sure most of you know, I'm not normally a fan of bright pink shades, but this one is defiantly a winner. I love the golden shimmer, which makes this polish a pretty, girly and sun-kissed shade for the summertime. Hell, you could even wear it in fall really. I don't think that bright nails are really ever out of season, especially not pink. The formula on this was pretty thick though, so I did have a bit of trouble applying it. Cream pink dries matte, so you'll need a shiny top coat to get the shine that you see in my swatch above. :)

I have two more summery polishes that I need to post (both from the drugstore), so hopefully I'll get to that before we move too far into the fall time. :) !

xo Caitlin

Ulta Glam Goth Set!

2010-08-25T18:27:00.000-04:00

Hey there!

I'm back, finally. I was on vacation as I mentioned in my previous post for about a week, then started school right after I got back. I'm still getting used to my new schedule, so posts may be scattered for awhile. This post features a set that Ulta released this summer (I think). I know this set was released awhile ago, but my Ulta still had a few a couple of weeks ago. The set includes five mini Ulta brand nail polishes, all of which are deep, dark and sexy hues. This set retails for ten bucks, and even cheaper if you have a coupon. I had never tried Ulta brand nail polishes before, and didn't have super high expectations for these. I loved the shades, but was worried about the mini bottles/brushes, formula and wear of these polishes. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised that this is a great set!

First up we have the only creme of the collection, Black Lace. This is a beautiful deep, dark grey creme. It's moody and chic. Totally unique and gorgeous, I've never seen a grey quite this dark and you all know how I love my cremes.

Next we have After Hours. Initially, this shade seems incredibly generic. A dark almost black purple with purple shimmer. But it changes once on the nail. It turns into sort of a deep smokey lavender with shimmer. It reminds me of Chanel Paradoxal in a way (not a dupe though, not even remotely close!) but the smokiness of the violet is what makes it similar in my opinion. There's just a touch of grey to it!

Underground is another shade that looks really common and generic in the bottle. It's a beautiful darkened black/blue with turquoise shimmer. I thought I would have something like this in my collection, but to my surprise I don't own anything similar.

For Bitten is one crazyyy nail polish! It's black with a ton of red duochromey shimmer. The shimmer changes to hues of red, gold and green. Totally unique and gorgeous, I can't even think of another polish that looks like this. The name is really cute as well, although it kind of reminds me of twilight :/. That may be a good thing if you're a twi-hard though! Anyway, I would buy this entire collection just for this shade. It's such an ideal fall shade, since the duochrome changes the same colors as fall leaves.

Here's just a better look at the awesome duochrome shimmer in For Bitten!

I saved one of the best for last, Tainted Love is an amazing sort of teal/turquoise/emerald shade with lighter green and gold shimmer. This photo doesn't do it justice, but trust me when I say it's stunning. Initially this shade reminds me of evergreen treens. But being the nerd that I am, it also reminds me of the Slytherin house from Harry Potter.

There ya have it gals! The Ulta Glam Goth set. If you plan on getting it, I suggest that you check your local Ulta right away as these did come out quite awhile ago and I'm a bit late on swatching them. I've had them swatches since I got them but just didn't want to post them because they were such fall-time colors that I didn't want to share them with you all in august, when most of use are clinging to the last days of summer. I suppose there isn't much to hold on to now as far as summer goes since I've started school again.

Anyway, the formula on all of these were great and most of them were 2-3 coats. The brushes are short and stubby, yet pretty wide and thick at the same time. Pretty easy application.

Did you pick this set up? What do you think of it? Are you still clinging to summertime nail polish/makeup?

xo Caitlin

China Glaze Grape Pop!

2010-08-13T15:12:00.000-04:00

Hi!

I'm going away again for a week, and just wanted to get another quick post in before I left. I may do one more post before I leave tonight. I start school as soon as I come back from my trip, so I don't know how often I'll be posting after that until I get used to my new schedule/work load :/. Anyway, today I have a polish that I've been loving since it came out this past spring: China Glaze Grape Pop! This shade came out with the cheery Up and Away collection which featured several different bright or pastel creme shades! You all know how I love my cremes ;).

Grape Pop is a medium purple creme. It's the perfect purple creme in my opinion. Not too light or dark, and it has the right amount of blue undertones. I've worn this shade as a pedi several times since I got it back in April or May and I love it more and more each time. It's super flattering on pale skin. Grape Pop is bright and fun enough to work for the summer and spring seasons, but dark enough to be worn during the colder months as well. Just a beautiful, perfect purple creme with an excellent formula :). The above swatch was done with two coats! The name makes me think of Grape soda, since where I live we refer to soda as 'pop'.

Although I only got two shades from Up and Away I think I may pick up more from my local Ulta since they still have a full display of it for some reason.

So what do you think? What's your favorite purple polish?

xo Caitlin

Will it ever end?

2010-08-10T15:23:00.000-04:00

Hey girls!

Just doing a fun little post about some pretty makeup items that I'm really lemming. *sigh* I need more makeup like I need a hole in my head.

Illamasqua Sheer lip gloss in LilyRose

The above image isn't of Lilyrose, but it's the most gorgeous sheer red gloss! I've never tried anything from Illamasqua, but I love sheer glosses that aren't sheer to the point where there's no color payoff. This seems to fit the bill!
NARS Single Eyeshadow in Galapagos
I swatched this in my local Sephora inside JCP and fell in LOVE! It's a deep dark chocolate shade with insane amounts of bronze glitter. I wonder about the fallout though. Has anyone tried this?

Benefit Sunday Funday Palette

Everything about this palette looks amazing. The eye shadows are all wearable shades, you get a gorgeous full sized shimmering rose lip gloss, and small versions of Benetint, Hoola, and Toasty! 38 dollars seems a bit much for this though... If it was about ten dollars cheaper I would totally jump on it.

Cargo Blush in Key Largo

I've never heard of this blush before, but saw it caught my eye in Sephora in JCP. It's the most obnoxious neon pinky coral shade that I've ever seen it my life and it is absolutely FANTASTIC! I believe Cargo describes it as being a tropical punch colored blush. I think I may have to cave and get this. Even though fall is on the way, I'm still loving bright, obnoxious, candy-colored blushes.

The Body Shop Lip & Cheek Stain
I really like red cheek stains, and this one looks super promising. I've never tried any makeup from TBS except for a lip balm that I got on sale for a dollar. I've read really mixed reviews on this, some people love it and some people hate it. It seems like it would give me a wonderful fall time flush. Have you tried it?

Makeup Forever HD Blush

As I mentioned earlier, I'm obsessed with candy colored, bright blushes. This range has a lot of bright shades, and I love creme blushes! They look rather small for the price though.

There you have it. Some makeup items that have caught my eye recently! What makeup items have you been interested in lately? Have you tried any of the items on my list?

xo Caitlin

Essence Hang Loose!

2010-08-09T14:24:00.000-04:00

Hi,

I've got another polish from the Essence Surfer Babe collection to show you all. As I mentioned in my other post about Pointbreak, these polishes can be found at Ulta in the Surfer Babe display :).

Hang Loose is a pale greyed out lavender creme. It appears more grey in the bottle for some reason to my eyes but turns more lavender on the nail. I wish it was a bit more grey. It's a warm toned lavender, having pinkish undertones instead of blue. I like this color alot, it's very chic yet a little bit moody and girly at the same time. Again, not exactly a polish that I would imagine being put a surfing themed collection but it works somehow. It kind of reminds me of a mid-afternoon summer thunderstorm. Application was decent, I believe this was three coats. I really like the brush on Essence polishes!

I would really recommend checking out the Surfer Babe collection if you haven't yet. It features four really nice nail shades, that retail for 1.99 each! They're a steal :)

I love any sort of greyed out creme polish. How about you?

xo Caitlin

L'Oreal HIP Metallic Shadow Duo in Electrified!

2010-08-08T12:57:00.000-04:00

Hey gals!

Today I have a recent amazing drugstore find that I wanted to share with you all. After seeing Scrangie's EOTD post using this shadow duo, I had to pick it up!

I've used the L'Oreal HIP Shadow duos in the past and have never really been impressed with them. They weren't very pigmented, oddly gritty and hard to get onto my lid. I hadn't tried the Metallic shadow duos until now though, and can happily say that they preform wonderfully and are nothing like the HIP Shadow duos that I've tried in the past.

I'm a neutral eyeshadow kinda gal, that's just how I roll. Every once in awhile I like a pop of purple or teal but mostly I stick with champagne, taupe, chocolate, gold and bronze colors. The reason that I was so drawn to this particular shadow duo was because it creates a neutral eye look with a twist. In theory, plum isn't really a neutral color but it works. Mixed with the highly metallic pale taupe shade, this duo creates the sexiest smokey eye. One side of the duo features a pale taupe shade which is extremely metallic and shimmery. The other side features a deep plum which is less metallic than the taupe but still has a bit of a sheen to it. Both of these shades are incredibly pigmented and blend beautifully on the lid. I used the taupe shade all over the lid and the plum in the crease when I wore this shadow (sorry, I forgot to take pics)! The shadows lasted all night when using UDPP and I haven't tested them without a primer.

As I mentioned before, this look creates a sexy smokey yet neutral eye that is perfect for sultry summer nights and cool fall days alike. I love metallic eye shadows, and this duo didn't disappoint.

Here's swatches of the two shades :)

I think that Electrified is a newly released HIP Metallic Shadow duo (I've also heard that it's a re promote, I'm not really sure) But I found it at my local Walmart for just under seven dollars. HIP items are usually a bit pricey for drugstore products, but this is definitely worth it. If you're a girl like me who loves neutral eye looks, then this is definitely for you!

Do you usually wear neutral eye looks, or do you play with color when doing your eye makeup?

xo Caitlin

Essence Pointbreak!

2010-08-07T11:02:00.000-04:00

Happy weekend everyone ! :)

Today I have Essence Pointbreak which I picked up at Ulta a few days ago. I found it in the new Surfer Babe Collection display along with three other polishes. I got Pointbreak and Hangloose, which I'll post about tomorrow :). The other two polishes included were a pale blue, and a rather average looking pink. While they were pretty, I feel like I already have enough polishes that look like them.

Pointbreak is a lovely medium grey creme with blue undertones. I don't own anything similar to pointbreak, and it's gorgeous! The blue undertones in this grey are really flattering, and the polish itself reminds me of a stormy day at the beach. Kind of an odd shade to release with a surfing themed collection, but I can really see it working well at the beach paired with a bright pedi. It's a really chic shade that I think would be super easy for anyone to wear in any season, since this moody shade would defiantly work well in the fall and winter months as well. I loved the brush on this polish. It was long, thin and easy to use. The little round bottle was really cute as well. I even like the little Surfer Babe graphic on the front, and the white cap. This polish was surprisingly a bit sheer though, requiring three coats to show up evenly. But that seems to be the problem with every creme that I try anymore!

I'm really in love with this shade and for only $1.99 at your local Ulta, you really can't go wrong! This is my first experience with Essence polishes and I'm really impressed. I hope that they release more little collections like this at Ulta!

Have you tried Essence polishes since they started carrying them at Ulta? What about makeup? Or prehaps you live in a country where Essence has been around for a long time?

xo Caitlin

Orly Royal Navy!

2010-08-06T16:10:00.000-04:00

Heyyyyy!

Sooo. I haven't posted yet this month, and I've been an awful blogger. I finally got a few new polishes that I'm pretty excited over to post about. Expect a few more makeup posts too, but more nail posts than last month! Today I have Orly Royal Navy. I saw this polish on so many different blogs and everyone raved about how gorgeous it was. They were right! Luckily I snagged the last one at Sally's.

Orly Royal Navy is a gorgeous, deep electric blue jelly peppered with teal glitter. While the glitter is super noticeable in the bottle, it doesn't show up quite as well on the nail. I was actually surprised that this polish had any glitter at all, it wasn't apparent from most of the swatches that I saw. You can't really tell from my swatch either, but you'll just have to trust me that the glitter is much more apparent in real life :). The consistency on this was nice, and it covered well in two coats. For such a deep shade, it's incredibly bright and vibrant. I wore it as a pedi last week and fell in love! My only complaint would be the wear. I may be the only one, but for some reasons Orlys don't wear that well on me. I know that they wear really well on other people so I'm not quite sure what the problem is.

Here's a side view where the teal glitter is more visible.

Overall, this is a beautiful color to sport during the last month of summer! I'm not quite sure if this was part of a collection or not, but it was in a display at my local Sally's with a white and red polish.

Do you have this shade yet?

xo Caitlin

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Pizzazz!

2010-07-30T13:10:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Today I have a polish that I've had for a few months, but just never got around to blogging about it. It's a shame that it took me so long, because I really love this shade! It's another Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear... which I've been posting about a lot lately :) love them!

Purple Pizzazz is another color that the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line launched this past spring/summer. It's a gorgeous and deep purple jelly with pink and purple iridescent glitter floating around in it. It's so shiny and stunning to look at! The glitter really adds depth because it's visible through the layers since it's a jelly. Similar to many of the polishes that I've featured in my last few posts, I think that Purple Pizzazz is a great summer color that also can easily transition into cooler weather. It sparkles in the sun, yet is deep and jewel toned enough to be worn in the fall time. The formula on this was quite nice. A little thick as I have found in most of the Xtreme Wear shades, but nothing super problematic. This swatch was done with two coats!

Watcha' think? :)

xo Caitlin

Nivea a Kiss of Flavor Cherry! (yum!)

2010-07-28T12:38:00.000-04:00

Hola chicas!

I've been loving drugstore makeup lately. It just seems like there's so much great stuff out there right now, and it's really fun to stop at a Rite Aide or Walgreens to get a quick little makeup fix. One of my recent quick fixes was the Nivea a Kiss of Flavor Cherry tinted lip balm!

I'm obsessed with tinted lip balms. I'm sure that you all know this by now ;). The Nivea Kiss of Flavor cherry lipbalm is a pretty decently pigmented pink toned red lip balm. I know that many of you are big fans of of the Nivea A Kiss of Moisture lip balm, which I have never tried surprisingly so I can't really tell you how they compare. I do like this product quite a lot though. I use it more as a red lip product though as opposed to something that I can just slick onto my lips no matter what eye and and blush color I have on. It is sheer, but it's quite pigmented at the same time. Ones lips are defiantly noticeably redder after applying this lip product. I know that some might feel a little silly and clownish with cherry tinted lips, but I'm a fan of the look and think that it's adorable with the right eye makeup. My favorite way to wear this lipbalm? A little mascara and some peach blush. Although it would pretty much look great paired with any sort of neutral eye. This product smells amazing by the way- exactly like cherry popcicles. It is an artifical smell, but in a good way. I have read a few reviews where people said that this lip balm really wasn't moisturizing, but I actually have found that I personally think it is a decent moisturizer.

Swatch timeee :) see how nicely pigmented it is?

Overall, this is a great product in my book. Totally worth the three dollars that I paid for it, and I would repurchase it if I ever ran out (which isn't likely). If you want a cute red lip for the rest of summer, and even the transition into colder weather but don't want to wear a full on red lipstick (which is kind of a hassle) then I think that this product is wonderful option that's also easily accessible to most people since it's sold at most Rite Aide's and Walgreen's. I know that there's also a Passion Fruit version of this, which is supposedly more on the pink/berry side but I haven't been able to find it at my local drugstores! :/

So what do you think about this? Do you like the red tinted lip look like I do?

Oh, and I've been wondering. When I post makeup reviews/swatches would you guys prefer a picture of me wearing the product or do you like how I'm showing them currently?

xo Caitlin

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blew Me Away!

2010-07-26T13:07:00.001-04:00

Hello :)

I feel like I've been an awful blogger lately. I feel like there just isn't much that I'm excited to blog about right now- the excitement of all the summer collections is over and most of the fall ones are just now being released, and won't be available (not to me at least) for some time. I'm not quite ready to blog about fall collections or shades just yet though, there's still a month of summer left! The last thing I want to think about is fall. While I love fall fashions, and fall weather I'm not looking forward to going back to school :/

So today I have a gorgeous summer polish that I recently discovered (a friend had it on as a pedicure color and it looked amazing!) Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blew Me Away!

While I thought Blew Me Away was sure to be similar to a bright blue that I already owned, I was wrong! Blue Me Away is a bright blue creme that's very bold. I don't want to say that it's a 'light' blue shade because it's not, but it is lighter than most bright blues that I've seen. This polish is seriously fantastic, I wore it as a pedicure color at the beach since sunscreen decided to make my Turquoise and Caicos pedi all not shiny and funky after the first few days. It looked fab! This is just such a perfect summer hue. It's ultra flattering and looks great on fair and tan skin alike. I actually think that I'll wear it when I go back to the beach at the end of august! I also did a mani with it while at the beach, and soon found out that it matched my boyfriend's swim trunks perfectly! haha.

Excuse the sand on my nails ;) The first swatch is more color accurate by the way!

This is a great shade that I suggest you pick up if you're into blue nail polish like I am. Xtreme wears wear really well on me, and are extremely cheap and readily available at most drug stores! I wish I had found out about this shade sooner. I know that there's some new Xtreme Wears being released, and I can't wait to get my hands on them! I love this line.

So what do you think about this shade? Do you wear blue polish?

xo Caitlin

BB Couture Caterpillar!

2010-07-23T15:30:00.000-04:00

Hola!

Awhile back, BB Couture sent me four polishes so that I could try out their brand. I've already posted the previous three, and Caterpillar is the last that I was sent.

Caterpillar was released this past spring with the Butterfly collection. This shade is a bright olive green saturated with gorgeous golden shimmer. This shade is really unique, the golden shimmer seems to perfectly compliment the odd olive hue of this polish. I've never seen anything like it, and I love it! Caterpillar glided on effortlessly in two thin coats. I think that the name of this shade is really cute as well, and maybe if I was talented I would attempt some caterpillar nail art on mani. (This shade is more vibrant in real life. Swatching has been my enemy lately, and this swatch really doesn't do it justice :/ )

I can honestly say that all four of the BB Couture polishes that I tried were of great quality. They have such a unique and large range of shades, and their polish wears really well on me. You can be expecting a BB Couture haul on my blog sometime in the future as my wish list for the brand is quite extensive, and I'm lemming a lot of shades!

Do you like this color, or are olive nail polishes not really your thing? What are your favorite BB Couture shades?

xo Caitlin

*this product was provided by the company for review. I am not being paid for this reivew, and all opinions are honest.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Going Green!

2010-07-22T21:51:00.001-04:00

Hey loves!

The polish posts are back on ;) ! I'm really loving the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line. They have a pretty good range of really fun colors, and they're super cheap ($2-4). They also wear really well on me. I have a few polishes from the line that I want to post, but figured that I would just post them individually instead of one big post. So first up is Going Green!

Going Green is a bright leaf green creme with lighter green micro shimmer. While I don't own Essie's Pretty Edgy, I've seen plenty of swatches and in my opinion Going Green is very similar to it. The only difference would be that Going Green has the shimmer that Pretty Edgy lacks. My swatch doesn't really show the brightness of this color, for some reason Going Green did funky stuff to my camera. It's a very vivid color that reminds me of grass and plants. It seems to be the same lush green shade that all of the trees and vegetation in my backyard take on in the summertime.

I really like this color and I'm glad that I picked it up. You need it if you love green, or missed out on Essie's Pretty Edgy.

What do you think? What are your favorites from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line? :)

xo Caitlin

Mark Juice Gems review!

2010-07-20T14:51:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

Sorry for the recent lack of nail related posts, and increase of makeup posts. Lately I just have more to say about new makeup products than I do about nail polish. I have a pile of polishes I want to swatch and blog about, but the weathers been really cloudy lately and I'm waiting for a good sunny day to swatch them.

So today I have a review on Mark Juice Gems. For those of you who don't know, Mark is a sort of sister brand to Avon that targets teens and young women. (I don't sell it, so I'm not an expert... that's what I think it is at least ;) ) I've never really liked Avon but had been hearing a lot of positive things about Mark products. As I'm sure you all know by now if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time I'm a sucker for any sort of moisturizing lip product with a little bit of color. I had heard a lot of positive things about Juice Gems, but I still have yet to find a good review on any blog that features swatches and photos which is why I wanted to do this post in the first place.

Juice Gems are sheer lip glosses made with real fruit extracts.
The two shades that I got were Juicy Snow Peach (left) and Juicy Mango Tango (right). Snow peach is a really sheer pale pink shade, which basically shows up as clear on the lips. Something about it seems to enhance my lips more than any other regular clear gloss would though. Mango Tango is a frosty orange peach shade with golden shimmer. The first thing that I noticed about these glosses was the smell. Juicy Snow Peach is the best smelling lip gloss to ever grace my nose. No, seriously. Mango Tango smells great as well, I just prefer Snow Peach scent-wise out of the two. It actually smells like real peaches. There's nothing sweet or artificial about it, just an honest peach scent. There's no taste to these glosses, which I personally love. Besides the smell, another thing I like about these glosses is their texture. They're the perfect texture in my opinion, not too thick, sticky so they stay on but not goopey. They're also really, really moisturizing. I've been reaching for these non stop since I got them about a week ago, and really want to try the other flavors.

Swatches of Juicy Snow Peach, and Juicy Mango Tango

There is one thing about these glosses that I am disappointed in however, and that's the color payoff. I know that it says they're a sheer gloss, but I honestly expected Juicy Snow Peach to be a gorgeous sheer, bright coral shade that would give a slight color to my lips. Check out the swatch on Mark's website:

LIES! I like the color of Juicy Mango Tango, but it is a bit frosty for my personal tastes. But at the same time, it looks really great with bronzed makeup. I'm on the fence about how much I like it right now color wise. However, I believe that some of the darker shades are a little more pigmented and true to the Mark color swatches so I'll be trying those next.

I would recommend these to anyone who likes sheer, moisturizing lip glosses with a wonderful, real fruit smell and no taste. Beware of the color swatches on the website though and try to google some real swatches if you can! (I couldn't find any though :/) You can get these glosses through a Mark rep, or on the website for 6.50 each!

Have you tried anything from Mark? What are your favorite products?

xo Caitlin

OPI My Private Jet (holo version) !

2010-07-19T14:26:00.001-04:00

Hey!

I hope that you all had a fabulous weekend! I know that I already did a post featuring MPJ way back when I first started blogging, but I'll be deleting it and replacing it with this one since that post was before I figured out how to do even remotely decent swatches, haha.

My Private Jet is a dark holographic charcoal shade, that leans towards black. It's somewhat 'jellyish' to me since is quite sheer, requiring four coats to get an opaque finish. The holographic shimmer sort of appears as if it's floating in the polish. MPJ was originally released with the OPI Night Brights collection back in 2007. As I'm sure some of you know, there's somewhat of a controversy over MPJ because of the two different versions of it that exist. The one that I have is the more rare of the two I believe and is first version that was released with holographic glitter. I think that the newer version which I've seen at Trade Secret has a teal flash and no holographic glitter. I'm not sure where you can find the holo version currently unless you do a bit of hunting around. I was lucky because I found mine when I was selling some clothes to Plato's Closet last summer! I found a never opened bottle with the wrapper still on the brush handle for two dollars. I was ecstatic!

Anywho, My Private Jet has become one of my most beloved shades. It's ideal for summer because of how it sparkles and glows in the sun, but equally as beautiful in the winter and fall time. Overall, it's just a really great shade that I recommend getting if you can find it.

Do you own My Private Jet? Which version do you have?

xo Caitlin

Stila It Girl palette review!

2010-07-16T13:24:00.000-04:00

Hey loves!

Today I have a review on the Stila It Girl Palette which is available at Ulta and Sephora for $10. That's right, three almost full sized (they're pretty big) Stila eye shadows for ten bucks, including the famous Kitten! While it's a great deal in general to get an almost full sized kitten for ten dollars, I'm not entirely impressed with this palette.

The three shadows are placed inside of a sleek black compact that is surprisingly pretty large. Like I mentioned, these shadows are really big and I was shocked by the size of them. I expected tiny little dime sized shadows. The three shades that are included are Lamé , Chloe and Kitten. All of which except kitten are exclusive to the It Girl Palette. I was really excited about this palette, such a great deal and three really neutral shadows that I could wear everyday, plus I had really been wanting Kitten. All three of the shades are very frosty, and by themselves quite beautiful. They're also pigmented, very soft and smooth. Sounds great so far right? The reason why I'm disappointed with this palette though is because once on the eye the three shades blend together to look like you're wearing one shimmery shadow. I tried putting the gold shade all over the lid, Chloe in the crease and Kitten in the inner corner. No matter how careful I was or how many times I reapplied the shades they kept blending together into a shimmering mess.

That being said I'm not really sure where I stand on this palette. I had really high expectations for it and went through some trouble getting it since my Ulta was out of stock the first two times I went to get it. I'm glad that this palette only cost me ten dollars, because I think I'd be really disappointed if it had been more. It's a good deal if you can get the shadows to work out for you, I'm happy that I got Kitten for ten dollars at least so not all is lost.

Lamé, Chloe and Kitten

If you've been wanting Kitten, this is a good buy. If you want a palette that has your entire neutral eye look in it and you already have kitten, I wouldn't waste your money.

Has anyone else tried this palette? Did you have the same problem?

xo Caitlin

Mosaic nail art!

2010-07-15T15:31:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!

Yesterday I did a mosaic inspired nail design using different shades of blue, turquoise and yellow.

I really love how the finished product turned out and I'm quite proud of it! I know it isn't the neatest, but I spent about an hour and a half on it and at least it worked out. Usually any time I attempt nail art it ends with frustration and removing the attempt from my nails anyway. To do this I started with a white base and then just took 7 different shades that I thought would look good together and color blocked them onto my nails. After it dried I outlined all of the shapes with a black Art Deco polish. This kind of reminds me of a mosaic design that would be at the bottom of a swimming pool or something. :)

Are ya diggin' this design? How long are you willing to spend on a mani that involves nail art?

xo Caitlin

Favorite Summer Shades #6 China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise!

2010-07-14T15:05:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!

I have another addition to my Favorite Summer Shades Series, China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise!

Turned Up Turquoise is a green based shimmering turquoise neon that has just enough blue in it to keep it from being green. This shade is bold and stunning, it's sure to get attention whenever you wear it. Like most of the polishes from this series, Turned Up Turquoise has been used many times and my bottle is less than half full. I'll need another one soon! This is a really great pedi color because it's so bold. Since this is a neon shade, it does dry matte but that's nothing that your top coat won't fix. The shimmer in this polish is very fine, and unless you examine the polish up close it looks like a creme. The application is alright, it's a bit sheer so you'll need three coats. Overall a really bright and glowy tropical color!

So what do you think? Are you still loving summer shades or have you been sucked in by all of the new fall collections that are coming out and sporting fall shades on your tips? :)

xo Caitlin

Too Faced La Vie En Rose!

2010-07-13T13:25:00.000-04:00

Hi girls!

Today I have a review on a new blush that I've been trying out from Too Faced called La Vie En Rose. Normally I'm a creme blush sort of girl, especially in the summertime. But for some reason this blush just called to be when I was browsing the Too Faced section of Ulta.

La Vie En Rose is a bright cotton candy colored barbie pink powder blush that contains a pretty large amount of finly milled gold shimmer. The blush is housed in a cute cardboard compact with a small mirror on the inside. In the pan this blush seems really shimmery, which can make it look a bit scary. Once on the skin though it gives a glowy sort of look, almost creating a highlight as well making the shimmer very summer appropriate. The first thing that I noticed about this blush was how pigmented it was. This is a really really pigmented blush, one only needs to tap their brush lightly into the product and apply with a light hand to get a perfect pink glow. That said, this product should last for ages since you only need such a tiny amount. The staying power of this blush also really amazed me, even when trying to rub it off with my hands the blush seems to stay which means you need to be careful that you don't over apply.

La Vie En Rose in the pan!

Swatched heavily.

Overall, I really like this blush the color is beautiful, the pigmentation is amazing and the staying power is really good. If you don't like shimmer, I would stay away from this though. Another thing is that this blush is not going to give you a natural looking flush, you'll like like you have blush on. Too Faced is a brand that I usually ignore and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this product. This blush retails for 19.50 at Ulta and anywhere that Too Faced is sold.

Do you ignore Too Faced as well? Which of their products do you like? Will you be trying this blush out?

xo Caitlin

Revlon Tropical Temptation!

2010-07-12T14:30:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!

I'm back from my trip and missed blogging as well as reading all of your blogs a lot! As soon as I got home I spent a few hours catching up on all of my favorites :) So I'll be posting regularly again. I have alot of new makeup products that I want to post reviews/swatches of so I'm going to try to do an every other sort of post when I do a polish post one day, and makeup the next. We'll see how it goes, hah :) Any who, today I have Revlon Tropical Temptation which is yet another polish that I won in a giveaway held by Stephanie !

Tropical Temptation is a lovely warm pinkish coral creme with peachy undertones. You'll have to forgive the dent on my pinky and the messiness of this swatch :/ I had a bad case of shaky hands that day. I think that this is a polish that a lot of girls would like, it's simple and pretty. Who doesn't love coral nails in the summer? Sometimes it's nice just to wear an easy coral creme in the summertime to compliment your tan. It's classic. I know that there's a lot of corals out there but they're often too orange, too red or too pink. It's hard to find the right one but I think Tropical Temptation is a happy medium if you're looking for a pink toned coral. For some reason this polish reminds me of Blanche Deveraux from the Golden Girls. I can totally see her wearing this color :). The application on this was nice, it was a little thick and I believe took 2-3 coats. Overall, I'd say that Tropical Temptation is a total winner!

PS: Does anyone know of a lipstick or lip gloss this color with no shimmer/glitter? I'd love a creme lip product this shade!

xo Caitlin

June Favorites!

2010-07-01T17:22:00.001-04:00

Hello!

So this month I have a lot of new favorites, this post includes only half of them! I couldn't manage to fit all of them into one picture and I thought including about fifteen items in one post would be a bit much. So here are a few of my new favorite items for the month of June! Sorry there aren't any numbers to correspond with the items. For some reason blogger kept turning my numbered photo upside down :/ Hopefully you all will just be able to tell which items are which!

Tresemme Fresh Start Dry Shampoo- This is my first dry shampoo. I've been looking for a good drugstore one for awhile now but not many drugstore companies seem to make them. I don't use this in between washes since I have to wash my hair daily but It's a great refresher in the morning since I usually shower at night. This product also gives my thin and limp hair a little bit of texture and volume! Full review of this possibly coming up soon if anyone wants one!

Bath and Body Works Sea Island Cotton scent - I'm absolutely obsessed with this scent. My friend got my a gift set that included a travel size body spray, lotion and shower gel of this scent last summer and I've recently rediscovered it. And since BBW is having their semi annual sale I was able to stock up on Sea Island Cotton goodies including the Perfume and a few backup bottles of the lotion. It's the perfect scent for summer, very light and fresh. It smells like laundry actually, to be honest. But I like smelling clean!

Cheek Tint - (next to the body lotion) The cheek tint pictured above is the discontinued Victoria's Secret Naughty Little Me blushing stick, I believe you can still get it on Ebay though. I got this a few years ago at the VS Semi Annual sale and had never used it because it smells just awful. For whatever reason I put it on at the beginning of this month and fell in love with it! It gives my cheeks a lovely, dewy and fresh fuscia tint that looks incredibly natural. I figured out that the smell (a strong minty sort of smell) was because this is a 'cooling' type cheek stain which can take a bit of getting used to because it feels a bit odd and tingles for awhile.

Wet 'n' Wild matte lipstick in Just Peachy- have I mentioned my new obsession with Wet 'n' Wild? Not only one of the cheapest drugstore brands, but one of the greatest! They've really been stepping their game up as most of the products I've recently tried from them have been phenomenal. This is a great everyday lipstick, it's a neutral pinky peach shade that goes with any blush and eyeshadow that I pair it with. I don't like the matte finish on it's own though and usually apply it over a lip balm.

C.O. Bigelow Rose Salve- I've been using this on a daily basis since I bought it in the beginning of the month and I feel like I'm going to be using it forever. I know I'm a little late on the Rose Salve train, but better late than never right? This is seriously amazing, I love the texture, smell, look of it on my lips, everything! The smell is what I really love though, it has the most soothing rose sent to it. I've also been using this as a really subtle highlight :). This product has been going everywhere with me in my purse, and making its way back to my bedside as a night time lip moisturizer as well!

MAC Mythology- I love different shades of bronze, copper and gold for summer. This is a beautiful copper shadow and one of MAC's more famous eye shadows that I'm sure you've all heard of :) It is a lustre which means a bit of fall out but this shade is really pigmented and sparkly which I love. It makes a great crease color with Gleam all over the lid and Tempting in the outer corner.

Maybelline Sunlit Bronze Quad- I did a review on this awhile back and sort of forgot about it until this month. The shadows aren't the most pigmented and the two lighter shades look better if applied with your finger but this really is a wonderful quad if you like really shimmery bronze and gold shades for summer. The only thing though, I don't recommend using the said 'highlight' color as an actual highlight since it is quite sparkly. I use it as an inner corner highlight and love how it looks!

Wet 'n' Wild Color Icon palette in Vanity- Another fabulous Wet 'n' Wild product. This palette includes three shimmery shades and three matte shades, both of which are incredibly neutral and wearable for everyday. The pigmentation and quality of these shadows amazes me and when using the shadows it's really hard to believe that I only paid five dollars for all of them. I really recommend this palette if you like neutrals, I promise you won't be disappointed!

So those are some of my favorites for the month of June. What are yours? :)

xo Caitlin

L'oreal HIP Jelly Balms!

2010-06-29T11:59:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! I haven't done a non-nail related post in awhile so here's a little review on some lip balms that I've been loving!

I've wanted to try the L'oreal HIP jelly balms for awhile now. They're talked about quite a bit on YouTube and beauty blogs as being a dupe for the discontinued MAC Tendertones. However I hadn't tried them until recently because of the price. Around ten dollars for a drugstore lip balm just seemed a little ridiculous when I could have a Korres lip butter for the same price or a MAC TLC for a few more dollars. Recently I was at Walgreen's and saw that the jelly balms had been reduced to 5 dollars so I got one. Last week I went back to Walgreen's and they were reduced even more to around 2 dollars and some change so I got another. The Walgreen's beauty gal told me that she thinks they're either discontinuing these or changing the packaging. Hmm. So on to the review!

The two colors that I got were Ripe (left) and Succulent (right). Ripe is a
summery vibrant coral shade that shows up to be a nice wash of peach on the lips. I was a bit turned off by this shade at first because it looks to be a neon orange in the jar, it's lovely once on though! Succulent appears to be a dark purpleish shade in the jar although it shows up as a nice bright pink on the lips. I liked the packaging on these, the balms are housed in cute little jars although some may not like these because they do require you to dip your finger into the product which can be a bit unsanitary. The texture on these is a little sticky but still feels very smooth and glossy when you rub your lips together. The stickiness does help them last a little longer though, which I like. These lip balms don't have much a smell- just a faint hint of vanilla that fades very quickly and is barely noticeable.

Here are the swatches Ripe (left) and Succulent. The thing that I like most about these balms is how pigmented they are. On my lips they show up quite well and give a great wash of color and they make my lips super glossy, almost having a glass like effect.

Any sort of tinted lip balms are usually my go to lip products especially for the summertime. Lip balms are usually a hassle free type lip product that you can easily tote around in your purse with you and reapply easily without a mirror. That's why I love them so much! Overall, I really love these. They're fabulous lip balms with great pigmentation and texture. I'd like to try out some other shades so I hope that they don't discontinue these!

Although I love this product, I wouldn't pay full price for it (anywhere from 8-10 dollars). So if you want to try them I suggest getting them either on sale or a BOGO!

Will you be trying this product out? Have you already? What's your go to summer lip product?

xo Caitlin

Turquoise & Gold!

2010-06-26T12:02:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend so far :) Last night I did a mani that was inspired by gold and turquoise jewelry.

I love the look of turquoise and gold together. The brightness of golden hues seems to perfectly compliment cool turquoise shades. Together the two colors make me think of bold statement jewelry worn by women in exotic destinations. The color combination has an incredibly tropical and exotic feel and if nothing else just reminds me of summer. For the gold portion of this mani I used China Glaze Hi Tek from the Khrome collection that was released last fall. I love this polish, it's the perfect medium toned metallic gold. Brush strokes are almost non existent if you're careful, and only noticeable when you have your hand very close to your face. From about an arms length away Hi Tek looks very close to a Minx manicure in my opinion (next picture down) and it's a great alternative if you love the look of Minx but don't love the price tag.

For the turquoise part of my manicure which I applied only to one thumb and a middle finger I used Essie Mint Candy Apple from this last years holiday collection, although I wish I would of used a shade that was a little deeper.

Lastly, here's an example of a lovely Kate Spade turquoise bracelet to show you the type of jewelry that I referred to in this post.

So what do you think about this manicure? :) would you wear it?

Thanks for reading!

xo Caitlin

Favorite Summer Shades #5 OPI I'm Indi-a Mood For Love!

2010-06-25T10:33:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!

I still have a few more polishes left in my Favorite Summer Shades series, so here goes the 5th one!

I'm Indi-a Mood For Love is cool toned pink creme with very obvious blue undertones. This is your basic cool toned pink, and you might already have something like it in your collection but for me this is a staple pink. Usually when new collections come out, I skip pinks as my collection of them is quite extensive and most of them are untouched since I don't wear pinks too often. The reason I love this particular pink so much is because everything about it just works. The formula is smooth and buttery, and covers perfectly in two coats. The creme finish is smooth and glossy and since my skin is rather cool toned this works wonderfully on me. It's bold and bright without being obnoxious. I just like it! Overall it's just a very sweet and girly summer polish.

I'm Indi-a Mood For Love was released in the spring of '08 with the India Collection, which I can remember being super excited for at the time and had picked this up as soon as it came out :) I'm not sure if this shade is permanent or not now, but I often see it at Trade Secret, Ulta, ect. so if you like it you shouldn't have any trouble getting your hands on it!

What is your staple pink shade for summer?

xo Caitlin

Sinful Colors Mint Apple!

2010-06-23T17:30:00.000-04:00

Hi :)

Today I have another polish from Stephanie, Sinful Colors Mint Apple! I believe this shade was released a few months ago along with other new Sinfuls like Rise and Shine that I posted awhile back.
Sinful Colors Mint Apple is your average dusty mint color with tiny silver micro shimmer, which sets it apart from other mint shades. I have to admit that in the bottle this color does nothing for me, since I feel like I'm slowly starting to tire of mint greens and usually I don't like shades that are 'almost cremes' with micro shimmer. However on the nail I really love this polish! Somehow the shimmer just works, despite the fact that I usually prefer pure cremes. I'm really glad that I got this polish as a give away prize from Stephanie, because it's not a color that I would have bought since I didn't like how it looked in the bottle. I'm really glad I gave it a try though, because it really works once on the nail!

My only complaint would be the name... Essie copycat *cough*. :)

Have you tried this shade yet?

xo Caitlin

Favorite Summer Shades #4 China Glaze Watermelon Rind!

2010-06-22T15:39:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

Today I've got the fourth polish in my Favorite Summer shades series, China Glaze Watermelon Rind which is from last years Summer collection Summer Days. I've spoken many times about my love for the collection. All six of the juicy fruit inspired glass flecked shades scream summer! Watermelon Rind is my favorite of the bunch and I wore it a lot last summer.

Watermelon Rind is a tealish aqua glass flecked green. It's a little darker in real life than in my picture, and as with most of the Summer Days polishes it's quite sheer and requires three coats. I don't mind though as this color is gorgeous. It can look a bit usual in doors, but once in the sunlight this shade really glows which is why it's ideal for summer. Watermelon rind is juicy, slightly metallic, deep and tropical all at the same time. It almost has a glass like watery sort of effect as if you're peering at something shiny through rippling water. One of my favorite China Glazes for sure!

I'm not positive but I think that this may be part of China Glaze's core line now, i've seen it at Sally's a few times thrown in with the core shades.

Do you own this shade? Do you like China Glaze's glass fleck polishes? Which are your favorite from the Summer Days collection? :)

xo Caitlin

Nautical nails with Milani Dude Blue!

2010-06-21T14:50:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, hope you all had a great weekend! :)

A few nights ago I was inspired by a sweater with an anchor pattern on it to create a nautical themed anchor mani. I usually don't do nail art although I am a big fan of it. I'm just not that fantastic at it and I'm also a less is more kinda' gal so sometimes I feel like nail art is too much for my personal tastes. I do like to experiment with it once in awhile though, usually because I saw an awesome tutorial or just felt like trying something new.

Milani Dude Blue is another one of the polishes that Stephanie sent me as a give away prize :) This is my first milani polish and I'm quite impressed. This blue creme leans a tiny bit towards teal and reminds me a lot of OPI Ogre-the-Top Blue. It's a very oceanic sort of shade, which is why it was perfect for my anchor mani. The application was clean and smooth and I got full coverage with two coats. The wear of this polish has been pretty good so far as well, nothing spectacular but it didn't chip within the first few days. My only complaint would be the weird opaque bottle because you can't see the actual color of the polish. My anchor looks a little funky since the reflective shine of the polish is making it look odd- it just wouldn't photograph right. I also added an anchor on my thumb and pinky of my other hand. I'm loving this mani alot and it makes me want to experiment more with really simple nail art :)

If you want to see a different take on a manicure feautring an anchor or two, check out Tierney's anchor nails!

So what do you think? Do you do nail art often?

xo Caitlin

Sinful Colors Forget Now!

2010-06-18T12:08:00.000-04:00

Hey girls!

A few weeks ago I won a giveaway over at Imperfectly Painted! The lovely Stephanie sent me tons of really lovely nail polishes from Wet 'n' Wild, Sinful Colors, Revlon, Milani, ect and some really nice lip glosses and other little things as well! I'm still trying out all of the new colors that I received and have worn quite a few of them already but haven't taken photos of them! So thanks Stephanie! I advise you all to check out her blog by the way, she's super sweet and updates her blog very frequently!

One of the colors that Stephanie sent me was Sinful Colors Forget Now which is a stunning cool toned pink jelly shade with tons of purple/fuscia iridescent glitter floating around in it. I had seen this color on a few blogs and have always wanted it but haven't ever seen it in stock at my local drugstores, so I was super excited to get this one! This color really glows, and is surprisingly really blingy. It almost reminds me of a pink version of Ruby Pumps :). I adore this shade, and my mom even picked it out for a manicure the other night. She loves it as well! The application and formula of this shade were fine, but it did take three coats to cover up all of the bald spots.

If you haven't checked out Sinful Colors yet, you should head to your local Walgreen's or Rite Aid and do so! They're really affordable drugstore polishes with a really large color range and the quality and wear of them is really decent as well :) My collection of Sinfuls has grown quite a bit since I first discovered them at Walgreens a few months ago! My only complaint would be the names... they're sort of odd and a little similar to eachother in my opinion and I often have trouble remembering them, ha.

Are there any summery Sinful Colors polishes that you love?

Thanks again Stephanie!

xo Caitlin

Favorite Summer Shades #3 Essie Shorty Pants

2010-06-17T12:50:00.000-04:00

I've been an awful blogger lately, I apologize. Sometimes I get into ruts when I just don't feel much like blogging. I think that's gone now though :) Today I have the third polish in my Favorite Summer Shades Series, a cheery yellow!

Essie Shorty Pants came out with the first set of Essie neons in the summer of 2008. This bright yellow creme isn't quite a neon though which is why I like it so much. I like neons, but most of them just don't work out on my skintone and just don't work for me. I feel like they clash with all of my outfits and are just too much for me personally and Shorty Pants is a great alternative. It's bright, bold and fun but not quite neon status. Overall Shorty Pants is a fun color for summer, it's very playful and nice to wear if I feel like I want to change my nail color up a bit since I don't wear yellows very often. The formula on this is a little tricky, but it's a yellow so that's somewhat expected. It's a little thick and streaky, but if you're careful the finished product will look alright. My swatch isn't' the best representation of careful application since it's a little hurried and messy looking.

Do you like bright colors like this? How do you feel about yellow nails? Do you like wearing neons? I wanna know ! :)

xo Caitlin

Zoya Sparkle Collection!

2010-06-11T16:32:00.000-04:00

Hiya!

A few weeks ago I ordered three polishes from Zoya's Summer 2010 Sparkle Collection. After seeing so many gorgeous swatches on other blogs, I needed these polishes and I'm so glad that I got them. I have nothing like them, and they're truly amazing!

I can't really describe the finish on these in one word. They all have that glass flecked look, but sort of with micro flakies? If that makes sense. They all have a duo chrome in them as well and are just super blingy and flashy.

Charla is my favorite out of the three that I got, and possibly one of my new favorite nail polishes ever. In fact, I think all three of these are on that list. Charla is a beautiful aqua marine shade with green 'micro flakies' duochrome. This is honestly one of the most beautiful colors, and it's perfect for summer. Very aquatic and mermaid-like.

Ivanka is a lovely green shade with very slight blue and gold flashes to it. This is a beautiful green, and I loved this as a mani last week when I wore it. :) I couldn't stop staring at my hands! This shade also reminds me of mermaids and fish scales.

Mimi definatly takes the crown as the most gorgeous purple that I own. It's a royal purple with slight pink and goldish duochrome.

These are all amazing. They literally glow, and if you're a fan of nail polish YOU NEED THESE IN YOUR LIFE. I often find myself just staring at the bottles because of their glowy gorgeousness (LOL). This was my first experience with Zoya, and these are my first Zoya polishes. I'm super impressed! These all wore extremely well on me when using CND Sticky and Seche Vite. All three of these were a little sheer but the formula was fine and they looked flawless with 3 coats. I can't say enough good things about these shades!

Did you get any of the polishes from the Zoya Sparkle Collection? Perhaps you got the other three shades instead, or the entire collection?

xo Caitlin

Favorite Summer Shades #2 OPI Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It!

2010-06-10T13:56:00.000-04:00

Hey ladies :)

Today I've got the second installment of my Favorite Summer Shades series, a classic bright red creme.

OPI Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It really is your classic, bright, bold red creme. To be honest there are a lot of shades like this from OPI, and other brands as well. But this one is special in my opinion. It's the perfect shade of red to me, it's application is smooth and buttery, and it's timeless and flattering. I always get compliments when I wear this shade and it looks great on short nails in the summertime. It really pops against a tan yet looks great on fair skin as well :). Although Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It was released with the Australia collection that came out quite awhile ago I think it's part of the permanent line now? I believe that I saw it at Target a few months ago actually mixed in with the few nude and pink shades that they offer. I love this shade for summer. It's also a nice change of pace since most of the shades that we saw this spring were blues, greens and pastels, not many bold reds. Sometimes it's just nice to wear classic red nails and this one is a favorite in my book!

Do you have a favorite classic red shade that you like to sport on your tips in the summertime?

xo Caitlin

How to get manageable hair for summer without using heat!

2010-06-09T14:27:00.000-04:00

Hey girls!

So this post is going to be all about summer haircare. I know that a lot of girls want to stop adding heat to their hair, but it's hard for them to do that because their hair is often unmanageable and frizzy unless they blow dry, straighten, curl, ect. I used to blow dry and straighten my hair everyday, and had to cut it all off into shoulder length hair several times because it was so damaged. I can honestly tell you that the only way to improve damaged hair completely is to stop adding heat on a daily basis, preferably all together. There is no way to cure damaged hair, however some products do mask the damage. So about a year and a half ago I stopped adding heat to my hair and now my hair is longer than it has ever been and healthy. I actually prefer my hair when heat hasn't been added to it now! (I do add heat to my hair sometimes though if I feel like curling it :) )

If you've been wanting to improve the health of your hair and want to stop using heat on a daily basis to style your hair summer is the perfect time to start letting your hair go natural! It's easy to begin sporting messy and care-free Bohemian looking hair in the summertime when everything is a little less uptight. However, I know from first had experience that if your hair isn't in the best condition letting your hair go natural can be quite mortifying. So I've gathered my favorite products that I use in my hair on a daily basis that make letting your hair go natural a whole lot easier!
1. Aussie 3 Minute Miracle deep Conditioner- I first heard about this deep conditioner in the fall time on Rebecca's blog Almonds and Apples (check out her review here). I use this as an everyday conditioner even though it's designed to be used every few days. I just smooth a tiny bit of this into the ends of my hair and let it sit for about 3-5 minutes everyday while in the shower. It makes my hair a lot more manageable and plus it's really cheap and smells coco nutty :)!

2. Pantene Pro-V Detangling light conditioning spray- this is fabulous detangler! I spray it on my hair before combing it out after a shower and it makes my hair so smooth and manageable. I have very fine, long hair that tangles easily but since I began using this product I get a lot less tangles. It's not heavy or sticky at all, and very light like the name suggests.

3. Neutrogena Triple Moisture Silk Touch leave in cream- I go through phases with this product as I often use it for a few months then move on to another leave in hair treatment, but lately I've been loving it. It's a rather thick cream so you only need to work a small bit into your ends to smooth out your hair, it smells great and leaves your ends moisturized and frizz-free.

4. Joico K-PAK Color Therapy Restorative Styling Oil- I love Joico in general and I'm a huge fan of their K-PAK Color Therapy Shampoo and Conditioner as well. This is a different leave in hair treatment that I use if I don't use the Neutrogena one mentioned above. This product seems to absorb into your hair however you do need to be careful not to use too much as a little goes a long way. I really love this product, it does a great job at keeping my ends moisturised and manageable!

Well there you have it, those are the products that make my hair manageable and looking nice without using any heat!

Some other tips for healthier summertime hair:

Try putting extra virgin olive oil in the ends of your hair and letting it sit for a few hours on a lazy day when you're not planning on leaving the house! Olive Oil can be used as a deep conditioning treatment, just make sure to wash it out after a few hours.

If you're planning on spending the day at the beach, make sure to either slick all of your hair back so that you don't have a part in your hair, or put SPF on your part to avoid getting sunburn on your scalp.

For 'beachy' waves try combining water, a table spoon of salt, and a very small amount of nice smelling conditioner in a spray bottle and spraying the solution all over dry hair. (I don't recommend this for everyday use though as prolonged use can dry out the hair because of the salt)

I hope that you all enjoyed this post :) I know that most of you already know the tips that I mentioned above but I thought I would throw them in there anyway incase there's someone who doesn't. Keep in mind that I am not a hair expert, I do not work in a hair salon, and everything that I mentioned in this post is just my personal preference, and what works for me!

How do you wear your hair in the summer? Do you use heat on a daily basis?

xo Caitlin

(photo from weheartit.com)

Favorite Summer Shades #1, China Glaze For Audrey

2010-06-08T14:53:00.001-04:00

Hey all :)

I hope that your day is going nicely! I'm in the summer sort of mood so I've decided to start a new series called "Favorite Summer Shades" in which I'll be showing my favorite nail polish shades of summers past. That means that none of the polishes that I'll be showing are from new Summer 2010 collections however are still available weather they be in the permanent line or available for a reasonable price at e-tailors and on eBay. First up is the infamous China Glaze For Audrey!

I'm sure that you all are aware of how insanely popular For Audrey is. Even people who aren't into nail polish seem to have a bottle or know of it's existence. Named after the late Audrey Hepburn this shade is said to resemble Tiffany Blue. Although the polish isn't an exact match since Tiffany & Co has a trademark on the specific shade of their boxes, it's pretty darn close. The interesting inspiration behind this polish makes it easy to fall in love with, but the actual color is what really gets me. For Audrey is the most flattering turquoise creme color that's pale enough to be considered 'soft', yet it's bold at the same time. It has a slight dusty quality to it which makes it all the more interesting. Simply put, this shade is perfection. For Audrey has only been in my life for a little over a year and my bottle is already dwindling down to it's last few manicures. With it's soft, fresh and soothing qualities For Audrey is ideal for summer days spent at the beach, park or wherever it is that you like to go when the weather is nice. There's just something about it, I feel that this shade can be worn by teens and mature women alike. It's just universally flattering.

I don't want to say that this is my favorite nail polish since it's a hard thing to pick one favorite nail polish, but I'm almost positive that it has a permanent spot in my top 5.

So there you have it, my first installment of my Favorite Summer Shades series :) and I hope that you enjoyed this post even if you do already have For Audrey. Maybe i've inspried you to put it on! If you don't own it however, it should be located along with the core collection at your local Sally's if you'd like to pick it up!

xo Caitlin

OPI Hot & Spicy!

2010-06-04T15:18:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

Happy Friday! I can't believe it's Friday already? Today I've got a swatch of OPI Hot & Spicy from the Spring/Summer 2010 Hong Kong Collection.

Hot & Spicy is a coral colored creme with strong orange under tones. In my opinion it's a very 'typical' sort of shade that you can find from a lot of different brands. The application was a bit streaky, which was odd for an OPI creme as it's usually quite smooth and buttery. This shade is bright yet it has an odd dusty quality to it that keeps it from being too bright. I could see someone rockin' this at the beach though. It would look lovely with a nice tan! Overall, a cute summer color with an even cuter name. Not a must have and I really wouldn't reccomend it, but i'm still enjoying wearing it at the moment.

The Hong Kong Collection seems like it was years ago, even though it only came out this past Winter. This was the only color I got from the collection, and I just picked it up yesterday at Ulta. The collection was alright but didn't impress me too much- I felt like I already had dupes for most of the shades.

So are you liking this color? Did you get anything from Hong Kong when it came out?

xo Caitlin

Summer 2010 Fashion Picks

2010-06-03T15:14:00.000-04:00

Hey ladies :)

Again, sorry for the lack of posts. I decided to try something a little different today and do a post about fashion rather than nail polish of cosmetics. More specifically, fashions that I'm loving for Summer 2010. So here are my personal fashion picks for this summer;

Polyvore" src="http://cdn.polyvore.com/rsrc/img/logo_embed_alt_63x21.png">

I don't mess around with Polyvore too often, so you'll have to forgive the smallness of my set. I couldn't figure out how to make it bigger for the life of me. It also happened to get smaller every time numbered my items, so we'll have to do without numbers I suppose. If anyone can educate me on polyvore I would be very appreciative :)

Floppy Straw Hats - I can't wait to wear a hat like this to the beach this summer! I'm loving straw hats in general, but big floppy straw ones just have that 'glam', retro sort of feel in my opinion. The one that's pictured is from the Gap, but I've seen hats like this just about everywhere recently.

Khaki Shorts- for some reason I'm so not feeling jean shorts right now. So thus far into the season, I've been wearing khaki shorts which can make an outfit a tiny bit dressier (as dressy as you can get in shorts I suppose). They especially look great with a skinny belt, and a tucked in shirt. I think that in some cases, opting for khaki shorts can give your summer outfit that chic factor that jean shorts sometimes lack.

Button up oxford shirts- Shirts like this are adorable for summer. I'm particularly partial to plain white ones as well as the striped version. While I prefer the big, boyfriend fitted style of oxford shirt, I also think that fitted ones can be equally as flattering.

Small Leather Cross body bags- The bag that is pictured above is the MARC by Marc Jacobs Percy Turn lock cross body bag. I'm in love with it. Love I tell you! It's so plain and simple, yet beautiful at the same time. Large purses often seem like too much to tote around in the heat of summer, and a small cross body bag is a great alternative. I'm trying to find a cheaper version of this bag to get for myself, but I might as well start saving now since I know I won't be satisfied with any other cross body bag except for this one. *sigh*

Turquoise Jewelry- I personally love turquoise and think that it's always a great option for summer jewelry. Large statement necklaces like the one I've pictured in my Polyvore set can take a plain white t-shirt or tank top to a whole new level.

Biker Jean Jackets- As we all know, this seems to be the summer of jean apparel. Jean jackets, jean rompers, jean shirts and dresses. I'm loving the trend but I don't really think I'll be buying an entire wardrobes worth of jean items. I think a great way to wear the jean trend is a moto-style jean jacket. Regular jean jackets are nice, but a bit boring often times. Jackets like this can easily be thrown over a plain tank top to add a bit of style during chilly summer nights. While the Alexander McQueen jacket above is ridiculously expensive, I recently purchased a cheaper alternative at the Gap that looks almost identical.

White jeans- I'm loving white all together this summer. White shoes, bags, tops, pants, anything. White skinny jeans are extremely fresh looking for the summertime and look stark and crisp against a nice tan.

White blazers- Blazers are huge right now, yet can be a little heavy for the summertime. A great way to wear a blazer in the summer yet not look like you're sweating to death would be to get a thin white linen blazer, preferably with shorter sleeves like the one from Mod Cloth that you see above.

Big white watches- Okay, so I might be going a little overboard with the white. But I really do love it for summer! Big watches seem to be the 'in', and 'chic' thing right now and my personal favorite ones are white with gold accents.

Rompers- yet another trend that's HUGE this summer. Rompers both adorable and girly but a little quirky. They look great whether you pair them with heels or sandals and can easily be dressed up or down.

Oxford Shoes- Okay, so these shoes aren't very summery. They're more of a fall and winter item I suppose. But I can't help but think of how cute they would look with shorts! I know these type of shoes aren't for everyone, but if you can rock them they would defiantly look great with a pair of shorts and a flowy top in the summertime.

Gladiator Sandals- Some gladiator sandals I love, and some I hate. Most of the ones that I love though are very delicate looking like the DV by Dolce Vita ones above. They have a Grecian vibe that can add a feminine feel to any outfit, and are currently on sale at Nordstorm now if I'm not mistaken.

Well those are my picks for this summer. Keep in mind that these are all just my personal opinion of what's in for summer and what trends I'm currently loving. I'm not claiming to be a fashion pro by any means.

What trends are you loving for summer? :)

xo Caitlin

BB Couture Man Bug!

2010-05-29T22:15:00.001-04:00

Hey ladies!

I hope that you're all having a great weekend so far :) I took this swatch forever ago and totally forgot about it until I was rummaging around through my pictures on my laptop. Sooo, here is BB Couture Man Bug!

Man Bug is a turquoise/blueish green jelly shade sprinkled heavily with very fine green micro glitter. This shade was released with BB Couture's Spring 2010 collection that consists of two parts, Lady bugs and Butterflies. This shade was released with the Lady Bug collection. While Man Bug is a truly unique and gorgeous polish with a cute name, this polish is extremely sheer. I'm talkin' 4-5 coats. The result in the end is worth the 5 coats for me, but I do really wish this polish was a little less sheer. I feel like I would definatly wear it more opaque. Overall, a really unique shade. I own nothing like it, and I can't think of anything that would compare to it.

I also have BB Couture's Caterpillar from the Butterflies part of the collection to show you all. I had it already swatched but thanks to a computer virus the swatch is long gone, heh :(. Hopefully I'll find the time to swatch it again soon!

So are you feelin' this shade, or are you completely turned off by it's sheerness? :)

xo Caitlin

*This product was provided by the company for review. I'm not being payed and all of my opinions are completely honest.

Essie Splash of Grenadine & Playa Del Platinum!

2010-05-26T11:05:00.000-04:00

Hello ladies :)

Sorry for not posting much lately, I've been a bit busy. If you can remember to a few posts back when I showed you all Essie Turquoise & Caicos from Essie's new Resort Collection you may recall that I had mentioned that I wanted to get Splash of Grenadine and Playa Del Platinum but was trying to cut back on buying polish. Well, I couldn't help myself :( but I'm glad that I did finally get these other two shades because I love them!

Splash Of Grenadine is an odd mix of purple and pink and has sort of a creme/jelly consistency. I own a lot of pinks and a lot of purples, but nothing that looks quite like this. Even if you don't normally like pinks I think that this is a shade worth getting because it's not your common pink. Like the rest of the Resort collection, this one was a bit sheer but not quite as sheer as Turquoise & Caicos.

Playa Del Platinum is a greige creme shade that I'm very fond of. I've ignored neutral grey shades like this in the past, but I'm starting to develop a new found love for shades like this. It looks great paired with a Turquoise & Cacios pedi. Again, this shade was very sheer requiring 3-4 coats.

I love the Essie Resort collection so much! Out of all of the Summer collections that we've seen so far this season, it's defiantly my favorite. All of the shades are so tropical and pretty, and as I've previously mentioned all of the shades make great mani/pedi combos no matter which two you combine. I like when companies release small collections like this that only consists of 4 polishes for some reason.

So what do you think about these colors? Are you liking Playa Del Platinum for summer, or do you prefer to wear bright shades in the summer season?

xo Caitlin

L'oreal Ocean Breeze!

2010-05-21T19:19:00.000-04:00

Heyy there! :D

As many of you already know L'oreal recently bought Essie. So maybe it wasn't such a coincidence that L'oreal's new Passport To Paradise trio of polishes were exact dupes for the trio of blues and greens that Essie released last summer called North Fork. (I didn't personally discover this, and only know this information through reading various other blogs, ect. I'm not trying to take credit for making this discovery). If you'd like to know more about the dupes you can check out this link for comparison photos. To be honest I was tempted to get the entire Passport To Paradise collection. However I heard that the formula on most of them was dreadful so I ended up with just one.

Ocean Breeze is a sky blue shade. Like the name suggests it resembles the color of a clear cloudless sky on a hot summers day spent at the beach. I'm not quite sure if this shade is a jelly or a creme. Some sort of hybrid between the two maybe? It's very sheer and applies like a jelly, yet once built up it looks more like a creme. Hmm. I don't know much about the wear of this polish since I didn't wear it as a full mani yet, I only swatched it. The formula wasn't too awful though, as I mentioned it's a little sheer but nothing that you can't work with. Kind of like most of Essie's shades...

Now I know you may be thinking... hey, doesn't that sort of look like Orly Snowcone? You know the polish that you posted a few days ago? Well, that's what I had originally thought too but no, not really. Ocean Breeze lacks the purple undertones that Snowcone has and Snowcone looks more periwinkle in comparison:

Incase you wanted to pick up Ocean Breeze for yourself, I found the L'oreal Passport to Paradise display at my local Rite Aide but have also seen the display at Ulta and Walgreens. They retail for around 5 dollars.

Whatcha' think? :)

xo Caitlin

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipglosses in Coral Reef & Pink Pop

2010-05-20T13:34:00.000-04:00

These lip glosses have been raved about on blogs and YouTube alike recently. That being said, I had to try Revlon's new Super Lustrous lip glosses that are a part of their Spring/Summer 2010 collection out for myself! The collection includes five candy colored glosses that are all creamy with no shimmer. The two that appealed to me the most were Pink Pop and Coral Reef:

Pink Pop (on left) is a beautiful, bubble gum pink.

Coral Reef (on right) is a perfect coral shade that's both summery and bright yet completely wearable. It's a true coral, not being too red or too orange. It has just the right amount of pink in it to make it wearable.

For me, these glosses are pure love. While they aren't completely opaque, they're not at all sheer and give your lips a great pop of color. Both of these shades were non-sticky and extremely long wearing. I was surprised at how long these stayed on my lips. In addition Pink Pop and Coral Reef are very moisturising and have no scent or taste which I love! They actually felt really great on my lips.

Basically, there's a lot to love about these glosses. I would really recommend picking them up if you're looking for pretty, summery lip glosses. If you have a large lip gloss collection you may have something that looks like Pink Pop, but I've never seen anything similar to Coral Reef. It's just so perfect! I sometimes have trouble with coral lip shades as they can make me look a bit clown-ish and was worried when I first bought Coral Reef that it would have the same clown effect.

I found both of these glosses along with the rest of the new Revlon Super Lustrous lip gloss shades thrown right in with the core line at Target for just under $6 a piece.

Have you tried them out yet? Are you going to?

xo Caitlin

OPI Shrek Forever After Swatches

2010-05-18T14:09:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Just wanted to share with you all the 3 out of 6 shades that I got from the OPI's new line of Brights By OPI for Summer/Spring, titled Shrek Forever After. I was excited for this collection of bright new OPIs for two reasons one of which being that they're all cremes! The second reason would just be the fun colors. No boring reds, pinks or sheers here.

Who The Shrek Are You? is a shrek colored green creme. This color is so ugly that it's beautiful. This isn't a very 'me' type of color but I love it. It's bright, summery, unusual and sort of has that retro 70's green vibe in my opinion (but brighter). This shade would look amazing with a tan which is why I'm waiting a bit before I wear it as a full mani. I would never expect OPI to release this type of color, but hey I'm not complaining. The formula on this gave me a little trouble, it was a bit streaky and required 3 coats to even out completely.

Ogre-the-Top Blue is what I would call a cerulean blue creme. If you can remember all the way back to your days of color, 'Cerulean' was the name of my favorite blue crayola crayon. It looked just like this! This shade is very aquatic and 'pool like' to me. It screams summer and was very flattering on my skintone. The formula was smooth and buttery, only requiring two coats for full coverage.

Rumple's Wiggin' is a slightly warm toned lilac purple creme. This color gave me trouble in two departments. It proved both hard to apply and hard to photograph. This almost pastel shade required three coats and was pretty streaky. It's still a pretty color though regardless and reminds me of Done Out In Deco minus the grey undertones.

The other three brights in the collection include:

What's With The Cattitude? A sky blue creme.

Fiercely Fiona an odd murky yellow pastel with green undertones.

Funky Dunkey a grape colored creme that is very similar to China Glaze Grape Pop.

Overall this was a really fun collection with cute, bright colors for summer. I don't even really like Shrek, but still want to go see the new film while sporting Who The Shrek Are You? on my tips. So, since OPI continues to do these Hollywood collaborations maybe I can dream about a Harry Potter collection ? :)

xo Caitlin

Orly Snowcone!

2010-05-15T21:56:00.000-04:00

Hope that you're all having a great weekend so far :) mine has been pretty boring although the weather has been great. Speaking of great weather, this polish shares it's adorable name with a cool summertime treat!

Orly Snowcone is a cornflower blue creme, with a slight pastel quality to it although I wouldn't call it a true pastel as it's very vivid. This shade was released with a handful of other candy colored pastels with the Orly Sweet Collection, which at first didn't wow me. But of course by the time that I decided I liked quite a few of the colors, my Sally's was totally sold out except for a lone bottle of Snowcone, which was the one that I wanted the most :). This shade was flattering on my skin and it applied very smoothly in two coats. The formula was very buttery. I loved wearing this polish except that it chipped so quickly on me for some reason :/ I'm wondering if anyone else experienced chipping problems with Snowcone.

Just wanted to do a short, quick little post since I'm feeling really lazy.

xo Caitlin

BB Couture Laguna Lagoon

2010-05-13T21:04:00.000-04:00

By now I'm sure that most of you ladies are sick of mint greens. I myself, thought I was a bit tired of the mint trend... and then I received BB Couture Laguna Lagoon, which as a previously mentioned is one of the shades that BB Couture kindly sent to me for review.

Laguna Lagoon is a true mint green creme. By true mint green, I mean that Laguna Lagoon doesn't have the blue undertones that most of the other mint greens we've seen have. It's an honest green, and sort of reminds me of mint chocolate chip ice cream. The application on this was actually fantastic for a pastel shade and evenly applied streak free although it did need three coats. I also love the name of this polish, very cute and summery and it reminds me of mermaids.

Here's a comparison photo to show just how different Laguna Lagoon is from the other mint greens that I own. RGB Minty, Essie Mint Candy Apple, and China Glaze For Audrey (which I don't really consider a mint green, but I threw it in there anyway :) )

I'm loving BB Couture. They really do have a unique selection of colors. I keep looking up swatches of their glittery polishes such as Hermosa Surfer Girl and Balboa Beach Bunny... they're gorgeous!

xo Caitlin

*This product was sent to me for review by the company. All opinions are honest, and I am not being paid.

Shoe love...

2010-05-13T14:37:00.001-04:00

Hey loves :)

I found these gorgeous Cynthia Vincent for Target wedges the other day and I just had to share them with you all. They're so pretty I love them! They had a lot of other gorgeous shoes as well, including these gladiator sandals that Noelle bought :). When I was in Target and saw the gladiators I immediately remembered them from her blog! (I may have to go back and get them...I'm trying hard not to but I keep thinking about them, ugh!)

Anywho back to my new wedges. I'm a bit sad because oddly enough they aren't very easy to walk in and wedges normally are for me :/ hopefully I'll get used to them though and won't look so hobbly next time I wear them!

Have you recently bought anything for summer that you really love?

I'll have a new nail polish post later on tonight!

xo Caitlin

Essie Turquoise & Caicos

2010-05-11T20:58:00.000-04:00

Hello!

I'm on such a roll... posting at least every other day/every day ;). Now that school is over I'm going to try to update my blog every day or at least every other day. Today I have Essie's Turquoise & Caicos for you all. I was determined to get this shade, it was sold out at Ulta and Trade Secret, luckily they were in stock at a different Trade Secret.

Turquoise & Caicos is a beautiful true turquoise, aquamarine cream color from the Essie Resort collection. This is the truest turquoise shade that I own, very creamy, perfect and oceanic. The color evokes thoughts of sunny beaches and luxurious tropical vacations and just omits that feeling of summer. I'll defiantly be wearing this to the beach this summer. The formula on this isn't the greatest but the color is worth it. It's very sheer and requires 3-4 coats to get an opaque finish.

I really like the entire Essie Resort collection and I think that all of the colors no matter which two you combine make great mani/pedi combos. This is the only one from the collection that I got so far since I'm trying to calm down on my polish buying but I'll probably cave and end up getting Splash of Grenadine and Playa Del Platinum as well *sigh*.

Have you gotten any of the Essie Resort polishes yet? :)

xo Caitlin

New Wet 'n Wild Shine Polishes!

2010-05-09T22:25:00.000-04:00

Hey ladies!

Hope that you all had a great mothers day. I actually did my mum's nails today and meant to take a picture to post on here but completely forgot. She chose China Glaze Strawberry Fields btw :). Anywho, the other day at Ride Aid I saw a new display of Wet N Wild shine polishes. I've never really paid a whole lot of attention to WnW polishes before but decided to get two since they were only a dollar each and two of the colors were really calling to me. Those two colors were;

Berry Jubilee is a medium warm purple jelly. AMAZING.

Candy Apple Twist is the perfect coral that I've been looking for. It's also a jelly. It's very bright, but not too orange, not too pink and not too red. Perffffection.

I was excited after trying both of these colors because they're jellies and applied really nicely to my surprise. However I was a bit bummed out because they are WnW... which I figured meant the wear would be awful and they would chip within hours of applying them. I was wrong. I wore Candy Apple Twist for 4 days with no chips! Using CND Stickey basecoat and Seche Vite topcoat. I also added another layer of topcoat after 2 days.

These are seriously awesome. Great colors, nice application, wears well, and costs 99 cents. The other colors in the Shine display were also really pretty, blues, pinks, greens and purples but they all looked like dupes for polishes I already own... I didn't know that they would be jellies though! Which means I may go pick up a few more.

You have to pick one of these up if you can find them, they're fabulous! 99 cent drugstore polishes totally proved me wrong in every way possible.

PS: Sorry about the weird layout of this post with the text beside the photos. Once again blogger hates me. I hope this doesn't happen next post, erg.

xo Caitlin

Essie Lollipop has sparked a new obsession...

2010-05-07T16:34:00.000-04:00

JELLY NAIL POLISHES!

Look at that crazy shine, that 'squishy' finish! Okay, okay truth be told I got this at Christmas time but didn't ever put it on until last week because it looked a tad boring. But alas my friends Essie Lollipop is anything BUT boring. I'll admit- usually Essie's formula is a little on the craptastic side, but not on Lollipop. It applies so smoothly, and literally like you're applying lip gloss or something to your nails. It also dries looking like lip gloss, it's just so amazingly glossy.

Okay, I'm done ranting about how much I love this polish. All of that said, I'm currently really obsessed with jelly nail polishes. I'm currently on the hunt for the perfect coral jelly. I think I may have found it as I just got two new Wet and Wild nail polishes that I bought on impulse and to my surprise they were both jellies, and one is a gorgeous coral. But it's still Wet and Wild so I'm not expecting too much as far as the wear goes. I'd really like some jellies from my normal brands like OPI, China Glaze, ect. More on the Wet and Wild polishes later though.

Can you recommend me any Jelly nail polishes? It would be VERY much appreciated! :)

xo Caitlin

N.Y.C. bushable Creme Stick review!

2010-05-05T16:32:00.000-04:00

'Ello!

Guess what? One more final tomorrow and I'm done with my first year of college! I can't believe that I'm already done with my first year, it went by so quickly. Summer is such a relief though. Anywho, I've been on the hunt for a good cream blush for awhile now. I'm a bit obsessed with blush lately. There aren't that many cream blushes out there to choose from, so I had planned on just getting MAC Ladyblush. Well actually, I found myself craving the obnoxiously bright cream blushes from the Lilyland collection. That is until- I FOUND THESE!

Pink flash (on left) and Wild Berry (on right).

The New York Color blushable Creme Sticks are a cream blush in a twist up stick form, which means no having to stick your fingers in the product,. I seriously cannot tell you how amazing this product it. I bought pink flash, and went back to Rite Aide the very next day to get Wild Berry. These cream blushes are extremely pigmented and smooth, and they blend very well. They're super creamy so all you need is a little dab on each cheek, and then to blend. That said- you get A LOT of product that is going to last a long time. These are also REALLY long wearing, and you'll still have a visible hint of color to your cheeks at the end of the day.

Honestly, this product has no downside in my opinion. It's that fabulous. I'll be wearing these all summer, for a fresh dewy glow fo sho (ha, that rhymed). The only sad thing is that these were the only two colors that I liked, and I think that they're possibly limited edition? Pink Flash and Wild Berry were on a N.Y.C. display that was aside from the normal line of blushable cream sticks which includes more natural dusty, muted pinks. But I love fun and bright blush colors! Pink Flash is a pretty bright, warm toned pink with coral undertones. Berry Wild is a slightly darker cool toned pink. Both of them look lovely on once blended, despite the scary swatches above.

Oh, the best part you ask? They only cost $4 a piece! I'm debating on whether I should go pick up a back up of each, since as I mentioned I think that the two shades I have may be limited edition.

Well, are you going to try this out? If not, do you have a favorite cream blush?

Wish my luck on my math final tomorrow!

xo Caitlin

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement and Pacific Blue

2010-05-02T13:32:00.000-04:00

Howdy!

Today I've got two colors that I believe are from the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear spring line (don't quote me on that...). I'm in love with both of them!

Pacific Blue is a vivid cornflower blue creme. This color is very deep and bright, and a little more 'cornflower blue' than my swatch suggests. The formula on this was fantastic, and it applied evenly and streak free with two coats. I also LOVE this as a pedi color.

I've been looking for Wet Cement for awhile and found it at Walmart of all places o.o. This medium toned grey cream also applied smoothly in two coats with a flawless finish. This is my first grey creme aside from the Claire's color changing one and I love it! Very chic on short nails.

I love me some cremes and these two polishes were great additions to my collection. I know that I'll be wearing both of these all through summer. The best part? They cost between $2.50-3.50 a piece at Walgreens, Walmart, Rite-Aid, ect. There is a downside to these though- they smell really funky. Like the normal polish smell but worse. It doesn't really bother me, but just thought I would mention it!

These are my first two polishes from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line. Do you have any polishes from this line that you love?

xo Caitlin

Finger Paints Blissfully Blue!

2010-04-27T21:07:00.000-04:00

Hey girls!

How's your Tuesday night going? I'm patiently waiting for the Hills to come on. So excited!! Anyway I picked up a really pretty pastel blue shade from Sally's the other day:

Blissfully Blue is a soft pastel baby blue creme. Pastels are usually streaky, but this applied perfectly and was actually almost opaque in one coat. The formula wasn't too thick either. I've been searching for a baby blue creme, and thought I would just have to wait for the one from OPI's Shrek Forever After collection... which still isn't availble around here. Hmpf. Glad that I found this one though! Blissfully Blue is an ideal color for spring and summer, it even reminds me of summer skies and robin's eggs. This is my first Finger Paint's polish and I'm really impressed! I picked up another shade which I thought was a nice coral but ended up being too orange for my liking. I'll post that later this week. I'll really have to pay more attention to the Finger Paints rack at Sally's in the future... i've been ignoring it all this time!

Oh, and Blissfully Blue was on display with an array of other blue shades in the back of my Sallys. I think it was a collection, but I can't seem to remember what it was called?

Have you worn any pastel blue shades yet this spring?

xo Caitlin

Sephora by OPI Metro Chic!

2010-04-25T13:15:00.000-04:00

Hello :)

Today I've got $OPI Metro Chic to show you all. I'm quite late on the Metro Chic bandwagon, but hey, better late than never right? Before I get on with the post, I'm really sorry for the state of my cuticles in this photo. I cringe when I look at it. I was a bit lazy with the hand lotion and cuticle cream this week. Moving on...

Sephora by OPI Metro Chic really is as gorgeous as everyone says it is. It's just so... well, chic! I really do have an addiction to cremes. To me, this shade is a mix between brown, taupe and purple. Usually I dislike muddy taupe colors, but the hint of purple keeps Metro Chic from being too muddy. Simply put, it's perfection. The application was smooth, a wee bit streaky but nothing that three coats couldn't fix. The above swatch was actually taken after three days of wear. Overall, Metro Chic gets a gigantic thumbs up!

This is my first, and probably my last $OPI polish since I don't have a Sephora that close to me. There's one downtown, but the traffic isn't exactly worth it. My mummy actually picked this one up for me in Vegas a few weeks ago :).

Have you tried Metro Chic yet? (at this point, I'm probably the only one who just recently has, lol) Are you as madly in love with it as I am?

xo Caitlin

BB Couture Zuma Wave Rider

2010-04-24T10:52:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. School is sucking, and I've had the week from hell. 'nuff said! Anywho, recently BB Couture kindly sent me four polishes to review. All of the shades that I received are lovely, and I'll have swatches up of each color individually as I wear them. :) The first of those is Zuma Wave Rider! WHICH IS UPSIDE DOWN. I HATE YOU BLOGGER.

Zuma Wave Rider is a gorgeous sky blue shade, with a hint of lavender to it. In the bottle it has a slight purple flash, on the nail it comes off as a creme. It has the same starkness as OPI Mod About You, which I love. This shade is beyond gorgeous, and I'm completely in love with it. It also applied like a dream (that's rare for a pastel), becoming completely opaque in two coats. Did I mention that it wore amazingly well? I wore Zuma Wave Rider for about 6 days with hardly any chips or tip wear.

With all of that said, I'm loving BB Couture polishes. The quality is outstanding, they wear well, and apply smoothly. I'll defiantly be ordering some of these in the future. In fact I've already got my BB Couture wish list made out. Some of the other colors that I've received (reviews coming up) include Man Bug, Caterpillar, and Laguna Lagoon. While BB Couture polishes are a little on the pricey side (ranging from 9-10 dollars) I feel that since the quality of these is so exceptional that the price is worth it. They also have a large range of unique colors that include tons of blues and greens.

BB Couture for Nails can be purchased at Overall Beauty or on BB Couture's website.

So what are your thoughts on BB Couture? Have you tried their polishes? Will you? What's your favorite shade from their range?

xo Caitlin

China Glaze Grape Juice!

2010-04-18T12:45:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Last week I wore China Glaze Grape Juice, a polish of mine that has been very well loved since last summer when it came out with the Summer Days collection (which I've talked about quite a bit on here...hehe).

Grape Juice is a lovely lavender/amethyst color with silver shimmer and some multi colored micro glitter that isn't so visible indoors, but really shines outdoors. This shade has China Glaze's lovely 'glass fleck' finish which I love! Since it is a glass fleck finish, it needs three coats. Why do I love the glass fleck finish so much? Well just look at it! It gives an almost glass-like, watery effect. This color is really unique and gorgeous. I'm still head over heels in love with the Summer Days collection! I think I may put on Watermelon Rind sometime this week. China Glaze, if you're out there, PLEASE RELASE MORE GLASS FLECK POLISHES.

A side note about this polish though- I would wear it a lot more often if the wear was better. For some strange reason I get really visible tip wear after only wearing this polish for a few hours everytime I put it on! Anyone have any tips, or know what I'm doing wrong? Sigh...I'd wear it much more than I already do if the wear was better.

Have a great Sunday gals!

xo Caitlin

Orly Bloom Collection!

2010-04-17T14:48:00.000-04:00

Hi all!

Today I've got half of the Orly Bloom collection for spring :)

Thorned Rose, Pure Petunia, and Wadering Vine.
First up is Wandering Vine! How gorgeous is this color? It's the perfect dark green creme. It's not one of those almost black green cremes like OPI Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow from their fall '09 collection. This shade really reminds me of a true forest green shade.

Pure Petuina is a slightly lighter more pinkish version of OPI Pamplona Purple, also from the Espana collection. As the name suggests, it reminds me of flowers! A pretty creme color, but for most of us it's probably a color you already have in your collection.

Thorned Rose is a deep red wine colored cream. Reminds me of Manicurist of Seville (also from OPI Espana xD). Again, it's a nice color but you probably already own a color similar to it! It looks ilke a nice pedi color for winter though.

Overall, the formula on all of these was AMAZING. Two coats gave me perfect coverage and the polish applied smoothly, and evenly. The other shades from this collection include Blushing Bud which is a pink creme, Ginger Lily which is a shimmery dark orange, and Wild Wisteria which is a deep purple/blue creme. This collection seems a bit more fallish than Spring to me, but I have to appluad Orly for doing a collection that was a bit different for spring, since it has no pastels or neons.

Whatcha' think? Are you digging Wandering Vine as much as I am?!

xo Caitlin

*this product was provided for review by the company. I am not being paid for this review, and all of the information given is my honest opinion.

Some new MAC stuff :)

2010-04-12T20:42:00.000-04:00

Hello loves!

Back to monday :( but I got a few new things from MAC the other day that I wanted to share with you all since I love seeing other blogger's MAC hauls, even if they just got one thing! I wanted to get some neutral eyeshadows from the permanent line, and check out the Art Supplies collection. I ended up only getting one eyeshadow though, since they were sold out of tempting *sigh*. Hopefully they'll have it back in this week though! I want that eyeshadow so badly, ergggg.

I did get Gleam eyeshadow though to use as an all over lid wash. It's a lustre finish so it has a bit of fall out and isn't super pigmented but I still like it. It's a nice peachy/beighey color with a lot of gold shimmer. It goes really great with brown shades in the crease (TEMPTING PROBABLY LOOKS GREAT IN THE CREASE WITH THIS).

Ermm, I have no clue why this picture is upside down and I'm not quite sure how to fix it, so sorry. But I also picked up a Tinted Lip Conditioner in Petting Pink. I've wanted this for awhile since I've fallen in love with my Hello Kitty TLC, and this one is a much more wearable every day color that goes with anything. I've been using it everyday since I've gotten it and I love it! It gives my lips such a pretty pink color, a 'my lips but better' type product. It also feels really lovely on my lips.

After checking out the Art Supplies collection I realized that I only really needed one thing. Although everything was really pretty! Like the hot pink lipstain, but it had not so great reviews so I decided not to get it. I did pick up the Grease Paint stick in Dirty though. I picked it up to use on my lower waterline, as it's a brownish/greyish murky shade with multi colored shimmer. Super pretty, and lasts really well on my waterline!

Swatches of Gleam and Dirty.

Have you picked up anything from MAC lately that you're loving?

xo Caitlin