Friday, May 10, 2013

You Mix Glitter: Intensive Review Part 2 * Pic Heavy *

* Press Sample *

Boom, it's Friday and I have two post days back to back. I am on fi-ah! That would be fire in non-diva speak, athankyouverymuch! We are movin on up with the next installment of You Mix Glitters and today I have two of the four mixes. Now lemme tell you guys, these things are FANTASTIC. Just wait until you see the macro shots! So without further ado:



And the heavens opened up and gave us macro!

First up we have the Death By Glitter Mix, which is multiple sizes of hex and square glitters in  much every color ever. I'm pretty sure there is some holo in there too but it's hard to tell given there are so many different colors in the mix.





Finally for today we have the Mad For Matte Mix which has multiple sizes of hexes and squares in green, blue, orange, red, yellow, purple, and I think black? All matte of course!

Well that's it for today's mixes. We have one more post coming up which show you the remaining two. I look forward to frankening with these and showing you what I can come up with!

I'm thinking of doing a Saturday post so hopefully I will see your lovely smiling faces then! So until we meet again, remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

If you are interested in checking out You Mix Glitters, they can be found at the following!:

** These products were provided to me for an unbiased review. My loyalty is to my readers who deserve the utmost respect and honesty! **

Thursday, May 9, 2013

You Mix Glitter: Intensive Review Part 1 * Pic Heavy *

* Press Sample *

Hi Ladies! Sorry about the impromptu blog break in the middle of this week. Life has been hectic! This was the first time I missed a post and hopefully the last. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss blogging. I will never leave you again, promise! Haha I was searching for some sort of dramatic meme to insert here and found this awesomeness:

Seriously, how often have to wanted to send that to someone on your newsfeed??
Totally non applicable but still hilarious, lol. Well today's post is a little bit different. Those of you that have been with me for awhile know that my blog generally consists of frankens and indie reviews. However, I was contacted by Amber of You Mix Glitters (which specializes in solvent resistant glitters) asking me to honestly review some of her glitters and I thought this would be a great way to get more in depth regarding some of the products and to let you in on solvent testing (which EVERY indie maker should do to assure the quality of their product!). So this is part one of a 3 part series prior to solvent testing. So I bring you today's glitters:



Here we have the magenta holo hexes in the .032 and .015 sizes (paperclip provided for size reference). Seriously, look at that holo flare coming just from using daylight bulbs. Can you imagine that in a polish?? Seriously gorgeous!





Lastly for today, we have the hot pink matte glitters in the square (sizes .025 and .035) and hex (sizes .015 and .040) shapes. Again, the paper clips are provided for size comparison. What I love about these glitters is the coloring is uniform through all four batches. Furthermore, I have seen many matte glitters which seem to have lines on the actual glitter pieces from whatever coloring system used, and there are no coloring lines on these glitters. I LOVE that! To me, it keeps the glitters looking professional!

Well that's all for these glitters. I am super excited to show you what I have coming up for you, glitter mixes with some AWESOME macro shots! Tune in next time ladies for the next you mix installment!

Until next time remember to always keep it classy and creative!

xo

If you are interested in checking out You Mix Glitters, they can be found at the following!:

** These products were provided to me for an unbiased review. My loyalty is to my readers who deserve the utmost respect and honesty! **

Monday, May 6, 2013

Influenster: Sugar and Spice Vox Box

Good morning my lovelies! We are taking a quick break from our regularly scheduled posts to tell you a little bit about the Vox Box. Now, the Vox Box is a program from Influenster that sends you products to review and report back on at NO COST TO YOU. You simply fill out a brief profile survey then wait to hear back. When Influenster thinks you may be a good fit for their review products, they send you an e-mail letting you know and send the box your way. This Vox Box contained all full sized products which I thought was pretty impressive! While it may not necessarily cater to me as a nail blogger specifically, there were definitely some products in here that I could see using in my daily routines. So let's check them out shall we?


My photography skills while at my desk at work
Ok, let's start with the belVita breakfast biscuits which claim to have nutritious sustained energy made with a combination of grains that are carefully baked to release energy regularly and continuously. I tried the cinnamon and brown sugar flavor for breakfast one morning and they were quite good! The biscuit was sweet with a hint of cinnamon that wasn't overpowering. These are touted as being super portable and given the crunchy and crumbly nature of the biscuit, I don't see how you can eat it on the go without making a mess (but I also make a mess of EVERYTHING). Now let's get to the important part, whether or not they lived up to their claims. I noticed after eating them that I didn't necessarily feel any less hungry then normal. Taking a hop, skip, and a jump to My Fitness Pal you will see that the biscuits contain fiber and  protein but not a significant amount. This was a little surprising being that both are imperative for energy and feeling full.  But there is however, no shortage of carbs. It does note that there are no artificial sweeteners.



Photo found here
Moving on we have the Colgate Optic White mouth care. Now I wasn't the best consumer market to send this to as I had some issues growing up and my teeth don't whiten normally like most people's do (I've been told if I try to whiten I will get sweet leopard printed teeth! Leopard, not just for clothing anymore!) So while I did not notice a significant difference using the mouth wash or the toothpaste, I did LOVE the toothbrush. It was firm but not abrasive and left my teeth feeling clean!

Photo found here
Now the Dickinson's Witch Hazel Oil Controlling Towelette. Ohhhhhh Witch Hazel. It has been considered a miracle herb for a long time (seriously, check it out here!). But, LET ME TELL YOU, witch hazel is not for the faint of heart. This stuff smells very strong. So strong in fact, that I refused to use it. I passed the product along to someone else because I could not justify putting that stuff anywhere near my nose. I have a very sensitive stomach though so people with normal to strong stomachs may have no issue!

Again at my desk! Check out that ambiance!
Next up, Nectresse from Splenda. Splenda claims this is 100% natural and made from Monk fruit. The box even says it's diabetic friendly to an extent (yay!) Now, I tried this and loved this. The consistency is the closest thing I have seen to sugar in an artificial sweetener and it blends in nicely. It does taste slightly sweeter than sugar and has a slight after taste which I thought tasted like raisins? Weird, but definitely not bad. The only issue I had for this was the box's claim that this is derived from Monk Fruit. While this is true, this is not the first ingredient and therefore, is not the majority of the product. The first ingredient is Erythritol and more info can be found here about it.

Photo found here
Finally, we have the Vaseline Spray & Go Moisturizer in Total Moisture. I was super excited about this one because being a nail blogger, how great would it be to have a moisturizer that sinks in instantly and lets me keep swatching? While I love the moisture it gives my legs and arms, I do not think this is the ideal product to use on the hands for me. I think I am too hard on my hands and nails and require more intensive products. However, when used other places, the spray was non greasy and soaked in quickly. I remained moisturized for a good period of time and did not feel the need to re-apply. The greatest thing, the claims of instant absorption are entirely true. I was amazed at how quickly this took to my skin! I very highly recommend this for general moisturizing purposes!

Well that's it for the products I was sent to review. Hopefully if you were curious about any of these products, this could help you shed some light on them a little more. I will provide the company's links at the bottom should you want more info. I am pretty sure all of these products can be found at your local grocer or drug store. Also, be sure to check out Influenster to see if you may be eligible for the Vox Box program. It's super simple and you have nothing to lose by checking it out!

So I will see you back this coming week for more frankens plus an in depth review of some new solvent resistant glitters I received! Until next time remember to always keep it classy and creative!

xo

Influenster
Colgate
Dickinson's
Vaseline Spray & Go
belVita

Friday, May 3, 2013

Lime Sorbet


Woohoo Friday! Maybe some of you will partake if some lime flavored refreshment this weekend to help you let loose?? I know when I was thinking of the name of this polish I though about comedian Mitch Hedberg. Now if you haven’t heard of Mitch Hedberg, he is hilarious but unfortunately passed away a few years ago. But still, I was totally reminded of this joke 
Photo found here (totally realized way too late that they spelled limes wrong. Who wants some lims?!?)

Anyway, today’s polish is relatively simple! I started with about half a bottle of TKB Luster Base. I then added about ¼ of a bottle’s worth of  What a Shock! a neon green from the 2009 Color Club Electro Candy Summer Collection. I then followed it up by adding one medium sized scoop of Wonder Beauty Product’s Prismatic Platinum Illusion Powder (which if you remember form previous posts, is a dupe for Spectraflair). What was created was an awesome neon green holo that was nearly impossible to photograph!




Low lighting

Sunlight



I’m starting to think that my light box may not play nice with holos (which is why all photos for this post were taken in full sunlight), does anybody else have that problem? Anyway, swatches show two coats and given the neon of the base and the tendency for neon’s to dry matte, I did add one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry on top. I think this polish is great to welcome the warmer weather! I had no difficulty controlling the formula and application was smooth!

I hope you enjoyed lime sorbet (or I hope that you will enjoy your future lime refreshment!). I will see you back next week for more nail polish creations! But until then, remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

* TKB Trading: Luster Base
* Ross: Color Club What a Shock!
* Wonder Beauty Products: Prismatic Platinum Illusion Powder (now this is currently out of stock but I have been in touch with the shop owner Jen, who stated that she does plan to re-stock it, she is just waiting for the manufacturer to receive more product!)

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Dragon’s Blood


Hi ladies! I am super excited to be back! Hopefully you didn't mind (or even notice) the pre-scheduled posts but we got the last of our stuff moved over to the new place and the old place cleaned by about 11:30 last night. We opted to move over the course of the week versus in one day to save on stress. So phase one, (the move) is complete. Now onto phase two (the re-organization) which may or may not be just as tedious!

Now, I am not lying when I tell you that I thought about the name of this polish for a solid 20 minutes before coming up with it. Lol, I really have no clue why on Earth I have so much difficulty thinking of polish names; you’d think that’d be the easy part! I think I would rather have difficulty naming polishes than creating them though (its all about the silver linings!).

So today’s polish starts off with about half a bottle of TKB Glamour Base. I then added about 3-4 drops of TKB Basic Red Jellie. After that I added one small scoop of Gold Sparks!, two good sized scoops of Glitter Mix Boutique’s Magic Hex Mix (which are multi sixed iridescent hexes that mainly flash green, gold, blue, and purple),  and one good sized scoop of  Glitter Mix Boutique’s .040 Matte Brick Red Hex. After looking at the photos again,  the name really IS pretty fitting!




My camera is TRIPPING OUT with this photo for some reason?







Swatches show two thick coats plus one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry. I love how wonderfully complex this polish is, especially with the addition of the matte brick red hexes to help add depth. There are so many things to look at in this polish its actually pretty distracting! Formula self leveled well and dry time was pretty good.

Well I hope you enjoyed checking out Dragon’s Blood, I will be back on Friday with a bright, summery neon so get excited! Hope you enjoy the rest of your day and until we meet again, remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

Today’s Supplies Are From:
* TKB Trading: Glamour Base, Basic Red Jellie, and Gold Sparks
* Glitter Mix Boutique: Magic Hex Mix and .040 Matte Brick Red Hexes

Monday, April 29, 2013

Review – Sparkles By Julie: Water Lily


Monday! Woohoo! We made it through the weekend in one piece (hopefully). Hope everyone’s was great. Now I’m going to start this post off by apologizing. Today’s swatch is from the vault and sadly the Sparkles By Julie Polish Line is pretty much discontinued. However, if you do want a silver lining, maybe you could use this polish as inspiration for new creations?? Haha, just trying to find the bright side. Well today I am going to show you Water Lily which has multiple size hexes of gold holo, blue, and black all in a frosty shimmery white base. I am going to go ahead and warn you that these photos are from when I first started using the current light set up so pics may be a tad out of focus!









Now onto the review, I am a huge fan of the idea of this polish, really I am. Unfortunately I think that the frosty white base is a bit too opaque and it is hard to make out all the gorgeous glitter underneath. Even having said that, I still think the polish looks gorgeous as is so I really can’t complain. However, I had no issue getting any glitter out of the bottle or spreading it on the nail. Swatches show two coats plus one coat of fast dry top coat for smoothness.

Well that’s it for Water Lily. Hope everyone is ok with me featuring a discontinued polish (sorry again about that!). I will be back on Wednesday with more franken beauties so stay tuned! So until next time, remember to always keep it classy and creative!

xo 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Reptilia


Hello my beautiful polish lovers and happy Friday! In theory, I should be nearly all moved by now but really, who knows? What I do know is that moving is the worst. My silver lining is knowing we were able to get rid of a lot of junk we had lying around the old house and never used. So I guess it’s not all bad!

So for today’s polish, I started off with about half a bottle of TKB Luster Base. I then added about 2 drops of TKB Basic Blue Jellie and 3 drops of Basic Yellow Jellie (remember, these colors are super concentrated so use a light hand when mixing!) to create a dark jungle green jelly base. I then added between 4 and 6 good sized scoops of TKB’s Shanira Sun which is a glass fleck that shifts from gold to shades of green (think similar to the color shift in Chanel Peridot). What I created I called Reptilia because it reminds me of reptile scales; also, it’s the name of a pretty sweet jam from the band The Strokes. Here she is






Color shift!



More color shift! Woo!


 Now you’d be crazy if you didn’t agree that the polish is reminiscent of reptile skin! I absolutely love this gorgeous girl! Swatches show two coats (probably could have used three though) plus one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry. Formula was absolutely wonderful, creamy, not to thick, and easy to control. It really is one of the more simple polishes but with such stunning results!

Well that’s it for Reptilia! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and fingers crossed that the remainder of the move goes smoothly! And until we meet again, remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

Today’s Supplies Are From:
* TKB Trading: Luster Base, Basic Blue Jellie, Basic Green Jellie, and Shanira Sun
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