Zoya Awaken

 press samples 

Spring is just around the corner, and with the weather we've had here in the Northeast this year I'm unusually happy about that this year.  Spring really isn't my season.  That goes for allergies and for colors.  Zoya's brand new Awaken collection looks adorable and fresh, like a basket of easter eggs...but I don't have the best history with pastels.  My encounter with Zoya's other new spring collection, Magical Pixie, went well enough, but I was still worried about how my sallow fingers would jive with colors almost as pale as they are.  I lined them up and dove in...


Dot is a warm-toned baby pink cream.

Foil Pouch Review: MD Solar Sciences Mineral Creme SPF50

I am always on the search for the perfect sunscreen for my face. I can deal with greasy lotions on my body, but not my face. I need a sunscreen that won't send my makeup slipping off my face within an hour. This mild obsession causes me to snatch up any and every sunscreen sample I come across on the off-chance that it might be The One. When I ordered my Bite Beauty Lipstick Duo, I picked up this sample from Sephora.

I have to say, I am fairly pleased.

Opal Batik

I'm prepping my Zoya Awaken collection review, so today's another fast stamping post.  After swatching FingerPaints Psychedelic Hue, I felt like playing around with it a little and adding more to it.  I've been itching to make better use of the possibilities of Pueen's new Stamping Buffet plates (I bought them from Amazon) and this seemed like a great time for it.

Purple, Gold, and Glitter. A Gradient.

It's no secret that I am in love with the Octopus Party polishes. I think we all know that by now. SuperAwesomeDave sent me a special gift with the last set of glitters: Sinful Colors Lingot! It is a great soft gold, and if you find it you should grab it.

But after the jump, we will see why all of my jewelry is platinum and white gold.

Look At My Undies!

So how's my resolution to use my untrieds more and buy less going?  Um...well...it's....uh....  I have been wearing untrieds, but the buying hasn't slowed much.  Damn.  My untrieds total has actually gone up.  More damn.  I'm right around 750 now...BUT...I'm also just about to crest the 1600 mark for my stash total.  That means....tiny drumroll, please....less than half!  For about as long as I've really been piling up the polish, my untrieds-to-total ratio has been slightly over half.  I'm counting this as progress.  I've been making a point of fishing around for untrieds when I need a base for layering and I'm now sitting on a little pile of swatches of older stuff.  Let's have a look!


Sally Hansen Cherry, Cherry, Bang, Bang is a fuchsia crelly.

used as base for Maybelline Wild At Heart

Smelly Things: Revlon Parfumerie African Tea Rose and China Flower

I managed to find some more of the Revlon Parfumerie polishes. Amanda and I are of very different minds over Wild Violets (she kinda hates the smell, I kinda loved it) so I figured that I should check out some other scents/colors to see if the Wild Violet was a fluke.

It might have been. For me, anyway.

FingerPaints Kaleidoscope

New year, new look for Sally Beauty Supply's exclusive brand FingerPaints.  They've redesigned their logo, revamped their core line and its display, and come out with new flakie toppers!  (And they're BOGO FREE through 2/27 with code 555209! All polish except OPI is included in this sale.)  This new logo doesn't seem to detach from the bottle like the old one, which should be as much of a relief to my fellow clearance shoppers as it is to me.  No more bargain bottles that wind up saying "Fin Pai" or "er ts" or get stripped completely bare.  That always bugged me.  Anyway...my ears perked up when I heard that they'd put out more flakies.  Their Special Effects collection has become legendary and I almost cried when I completed my set.  Every flakie lover got their hopes up, but a lot were disappointed to find out that these aren't as big or as bold as the first bunch.  I wasn't daunted.  I had one of my hunches.  They looked...familiar.  I went out and bought all five, with comparisons buzzing in the back of my mind.  Swatches first though!

note- I don't have much to say as far as reviews go, since they're all in the same clear base.  They apply pretty smoothly and evenly, but you may want to touch up little spots here and there if you're only doing one coat.  All swatches are one coat over a cream and finished with two coats of NYC Grand Central Station.  I've read several reviews that called the base milky or cloudy.  This effect goes away completely with top coat.


Symmetrical Symphony has an assortment of flakes in blue, green, peach, and more.

over Sephora by OPI Dark Room

My First Makeup Tutorial: Eight Product Makeup Challenge

A long time ago, I did a little challenge. I was only allowed to use eight products for a full face of makeup. It was fun, and challenging, and I really liked the outcome. Recently, I saw a thread on Reddit where someone asked for a "no makeup makeup" tutorial. I figured my eight product look would fit the bill. I posted it there some weeks ago, but I figure I should post it here too!

Satin Showdown

So far 2014 isn't shaping up to be the Year Of The Satin like I'd hoped...but there are enough now to start me wondering about dupes.  Sally Hansen's Satin Glam line has a bigger range of colors than most other brands and they're the easiest to find in the US, so they're the focal point of this post.  I bought the Satin Glams at CVS, and the rest at Ulta, from an independent nail supply store, or from Misa Cosmetics.


First up, the silvers...

Marshmallow Twinkle * Metal Iced * TGNaC * Metal Iced

Zoya Charisma vs Sinful Colors Dream On

As we all know, I like to find dupes. Its mildly embarrassing when I find them accidentally in my own stash, but its still fun. This was another accident. I grabbed the brightest thing I could find during the most recent "Try 3 Free" event...and as soon as it arrived, I thought I might have a dupe.

Can you guess which is which? Find out after the jump!

Celia Is Here...And Here...And Here Too...

So the plan was to review Dance Legend Celia and use my mani as a "swatch" like I did with Knight.  Unfortunately, washing my hair caused the polish to lift a little on one nail, so change of plans...stamping!  I recently bought Pueen's new Stamping Buffet collection (it's been selling out, so I got it from Amazon) and was itching to use it.  After testing out a lot of different images and polishes on my other fingers, I wound up going with this...

Ipsy Bag: February 2014

My Ipsy Bag arrived! Unmolested and intact, thank the gods. Since it is February I was expecting a floofy, girly bag...thankfully they took a slightly different direction. These products are all of a more feminine palette, but blessedly not superduper pink and fluffy.

Zoya Magical Pixie

 press samples 

It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of textured polish.  I've worn enough of them by now to know what I like and what I don't within the trend.  Zoya's Pixie Dust textures so far have been some of the ones I've liked the look of the most.  I prefer them (all textures really) top coated, but even before that, they're not as harsh or lumpy as many other textures.  That was then.  This spring Zoya's got a new twist on Pixie Dust, adding small and medium holographic glitter to the delicate texture of the previous ones.  I had to see how it turned out...


Cosmo has holo glitter in a clear base with coarse metallic silver shimmer and texture pieces.

Because Sometimes I'm Lazy

Every manicure isn't all fabulousness and technique. Sometimes, I just throw on a regular color and add some glitter...I get lazy. It happens to the best of us, I suppose. Generally, I don't post all of my lazy manicures. This one, however, I actually ended up liking.

two coats base + two coats glitter

OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby and 4 In The Morning

I decided to post my picks from OPI's new (well...new last month) Gwen Stefani collection in two posts instead of one.  Since I did a fairly big chrome polish comparison when I reviewed Push And Shove, I figured the two satins should get their own post.  Not that I wasn't tempted by I Sing In Color and In True Stefani Fashion...I'd have snagged them too if I'd found them at the nail supply.  No such luck.  I had to get them at Ulta instead, which meant that the budget mattered more.  Phooey.  I did a lot of sighing and picked them up and put them down many times, but I wound up sticking with the ones I knew I wanted.  Right now, if it's a satin, I want it!  I know that their next few collections won't have anything with this awesome finish, but I'm holding out hope for the fall and winter ones.  At any rate, there was no question.  Love.Angel.Music.Baby and 4 In The Morning had to be mine!


Love.Angel.Music.Baby is a yellow-gold foil that dries to a satin finish.

Bite Beauty Luminous Creme Lipstick Duo: Swatches and Review

You know me, I'm a sucker for sales. I can't help it. I see a good deal, and my brain gets all wobbly on me. Such was the case with the Bite Beauty duo here...$12 for two lip colors? The full sizes retail for $24, which is above my "oooh, shiny" threshold. When I saw the price of this little guy, I had to grab it.

I'm so glad I did.

Neutral-On-Neutral Stamping

I never know what to call posts that aren't swatches!  Today I've got two random-ish stampy things.  The first was my SFW mani for a few days last week.  The other was done over a previous work mani, but the result wasn't what I'd call SFW.  It was sorta a 'just because' before I changed my polish.  First up, the SFW one...

No7 Galaxy, or Possibly the Most Difficult Polish to Photograph

Another one of the awesome polishes I got from across the pond is this No7 vamptacular shade called Galaxy. It is supposedly a dupe for Chanel Taboo, but I've never seen it so I can't say. I can say that I'm in love with it...and I hate it. It is SO hard to photograph!

The Walgreens 99¢ Sinful Colors Sale is Back!!

You read that right!  All Sinful Colors AND SinfulShine shades are 99¢ at Walgreens through this Saturday 2/22!  I've updated my Walgreens Sinful Colors spam in honor of the sale's return.  It's a mix of recent LE's and the Walgreens core collection.  Right now there are two displays you'll almost definitely see at any Walgreens, Tough Love and Boldacious.  Depending on your local stores, you might also find odds and ends from previous displays.  It's always worth a look.  I didn't include SinfulShine in this post, but I might put some swatches of them up later in the week.

MoYou Artist Collection - 04

Happy Valentine's Day!  I have one last theme mani, inspired by Gustav Klimt's The Kiss, and done using MoYou's Artist Collection - 04 plate.  Be gentle, this is my first try at stamp decals and I got a bit ambitious...

Pinspiration: Mina Stone Spring/Summer 2012

More pinspiration today! I've got this board, full of images that I could possibly turn into a manicure someday. A lot of them I have tried, but I add more all the time. Today's offering is inspired by a pretty spring dress from two years ago by Mina Stone. With the weather being so warm the last month, I am definitely feeling springy, and this dress looks like something I might almost wear.

My Version:

Looking For A Kiss

When I say I'm in love you best believe I'm in love...

Review: Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation

My beautiful friend Sarah, who provided me with an epic nail haul from the UK, also got me a bottle of Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation. Watching youtube videos made me lust after this stuff something fierce. I figured it was just one of those things I would never get to try, seeing as Bourjois doesn't sell here in the states (though you can get it online). But thankfully my lovely friend found a bottle for me, and sent it right over!

healthy mix foundation in
vanilla

Lots More Lips

If you've been a PGS reader for a while, this post might look familiar.  I had a lot of fun doing my Lotsa Lips post near the end of last year and I've slowly been accumulating new lip stuff again since.  Most of these are recent-ish releases, but I think they're all core.  I figured Valentine's Day was a great time for a look at my recent lip purchases.  Some of these are different shades from the same lines as stuff in the previous post, but there are two new-to-me products down toward the bottom.  Like last time, I've grouped different shades from the same line together.  Also like last time, I took these photos under a daylight lamp, so the colors may look different than they would in other lighting.  I bought everything in today's post at either CVS or Walgreens.

My First Models Own Polishes. I am in LOVE!

Recently, my lovely friend Sarah went to Ireland. She asked a few of us if we wanted anything, cosmetic-wise, while she was there. Of course, I said nail polish. (and foundation too. I promise to review that soon!) She certainly delivered: I got three Models Own polishes, a lovely No7 polish, and omgomgomg Max Factor Fantasy Fire. Today, I'm sharing the Models Own. 

Sassy Satin Shorts

Sometimes I know exactly what result I want before I even start stamping.  Other times it just sorta happens.  This was one of those somewhat random times.  After swatching Sinful Colors Black Cherry for yesterday's post, I knew I wanted to do some kind of Valentine's Day stamping.  I started by looking through my plates, since I didn't even have a specific image in mind.  Bundle Monster's BM-421 plate jumped right out at me.  It had the perfect image...

Wet 'n' Wild Five-Pan Palettes: My Two Favorites

My monthly trek to CVS was quite fruitful this month. I stumbled onto the new Wet 'n' Wild five pan palettes! And as luck would have it, they all had $1 off coupons attached to the front...and I had $4 in extra bucks. I consider this a sign from the gods!

Floral Values

The first one I grabbed was Floral Values. It's a lovely, feminine collection of purples and pinks. They may not be the best colors on me, but I love them just the same. They aren't as pigmented as older WnW shadows, which was a bit of a bummer. But they are quite soft and blendable...and for $4 the are fab. The real standout here is that dark purple color. It is the perfect inky, midnight purple. Coupled with a fine brush, it would make a terrific eyeliner. The colors are all satin and demi-matte, which is great for someone my age. Super shimmery/glitter colors tend to show every wrinkle I've ever had, and no one wants that.

L: over UDPP
R: bare skin

Sinful Colors Tough Love

Last year Sinful Colors had an obvious Valentine's display.  I'm not completely sure that this year's new Tough Love display is really Valentine's themed, but it'll do to kick off my themed week.  Calling it new is a bit of a stretch, since I think it was first spotted at Rite Aid around xmas.  I also skipped Simply Silver, so it's not really the whole thing being shown here.  (I'm kinda fudging things today, I'll cop to it.)  Nothing against Simply Silver, I just have so many silver foils already.  It's one of only three new shades in the Tough Love display, which is mostly a mix of some of the holiday metallics and fall's mattes.  I had the reissued shades already, but I bought Taupe It Off and Black Cherry at Rite Aid.  I wanna say I've seen this display at Wegmans too, but I'm not 100% sure on that.  Enough babble....swatch time!


Taupe It Off is a cool-toned light brown taupe with silver shimmer and a matte finish.

Octopus Party Giveaway: Part II

Time for the next giveaway! I love contests...even if I can't enter them! I enjoy giving gifts as much as I enjoy getting them. I know, I'm weird.

This next prize is Where the Green Grass Glows, which would be a fabulous polish to wear on St. Patrick's Day. Its a mix of green glitters, densely packed into a jelly base. Just like it's sibling Ametrine Hour, it lays smoothly and doesn't misbehave. And it is super reflective. Be prepared to get some stares when wearing this one. 

four thin coats + top coat

Pinspired: Mustard and Gold

It's been a little while since I've done a Pinspiration post. I figured I was due, and when I saw this mustard-colored wonder, I knew it was time. It took a little searching (people, make sure you pin from the source!) but I finally found that this is fabric...and god I wish that I had the money to buy it.

My Inspiration:

source

Accidentally Patriotic Cling Film

A break from swatches! Finally! 

Ever since I got the Ink or Swim, I've been obsessed with layering it over things. I could fill an entire month with just pictures of the things I've tried it on so far. I may have an illness now. This time, I decided to try a little cling film action...and holy cow I love it.

Colors Used:

Sally Hansen Sultry Fuchsia

OPI Alpine Snow

Octopus Party Ink or Swim

Dance Legend Knight

I decided that Knight needs a post all to itself.  Well...another post.  I already teased it a little.  I'm battling with a very strong urge to show you ALL THE PHOTOS.  I took around 150, I think.  Knight shifts so intensely that it's a little different in each photo.  I also figured I might as well get this post up ASAP, since it's limited edition but has been restocked on Dance Legend's site.  HURRY!!  US retailers have had the Chameleons for like five minutes a couple of times, but I never manage to catch these kind of things, so I broke down and ordered direct from Russia.  The shipping time to the US is a month or two, but it is entirely worth it, as you're about to see.  No bottom line on this one.  It's phenomenal and you need it!


Knight is an intensely shifty metallic multichrome that goes from copper to deep periwinkle.

two coats over black

Zoya "Try 3 Free" Haul: 2014

I'm guessing that the "try 3 free" business is an annual thing? This same time last year, I picked up three others for only $12 shipped. I was kinda disappointed in the colors I chose last time. Not that I didn't love them, but Zoya's on-site "swatches" are a bit of a joke. (Thank the gods for polish bloggers!) This time, I had the sense to search for other pictures when I made my choices. After much internal debate, I managed to pick just three.

My Picks from CoverGirl Capitol Collection Glosstinis

I've had today's polishes for months.  Months!  Nichole posted her review of Rogue Red back in early December and I had meant to get them onto the blog before xmas, but somehow that just didn't happen.  I was gearing up to post them with an apology and "I hope you can still find these" sentiments when a suspicion I've had for longer than I've had these polishes turned out to be correct.  I spotted them in a CoverGirl wall display at CVS this past weekend.  I've had a hunch that they'd be replacing the Tropical Glosstinis since I first saw the new batch announced.  There were nine shades in the original bunch and there are nine of these.  Add that to the Tropicals clearly being labeled "Limited Edition" but being out for months and remaining in the displays even after the Capitol Collection and my hunch just kept growing.  If your local drugstore hasn't updated their display to add them yet, I've also seen them in a new-ish shelf display along with some Smoochies Sizzle Gloss shades I don't remember seeing in previous displays.  (Swatches of a few will be up next week.)  I like that while the Glosstinis are LE, they're a sort of 'long term' LE that I haven't really seen from another brand.  The closest I can think of is when Sally Hansen introduces a line that they discontinue after a year or so.  It means less turnover and fewer new colors, but a better chance of snagging what you want before it's gone.  I actually just bought two more of the Tropical shades last week when I found them on clearance at Wegmans.  So if you're fretting over missing or never finding these, don't worry.  Though they will be worth fretting over when they're gone someday.  I bought six of the nine shades, skipping the yellow Sulfur Blaze, Rogue Red, and the orange Flamed Out.


Inferno has a red-orange base packed with gold flecks.

Urban Decay Naked 3: Swatches and a Look of the Day

*this is a picture heavy post guys. basically, makeup porn. enjoy!*

Urban Decay loves to steal my money. They keep making things that I must have. The latest offering is the Naked 3 palette. It is 12 shades of rosy perfection. I love the rose-gold take on neutrals.

the box. it's so purdy.

Failicure: Gradients and Glitter

Not everything I do ends up looking awesome. The beauty of having a blog is that I can portray myself as this "perfectly manicured" person, nary a fail in sight. But this is not reality, and sometimes I do some things that strike me as truly awful. This is one of those things.

I tried to do a gradient using aqua and gray...and then I had some glitter toppers from Sally's that I picked up for a steal. Why I thought they would all work well together is beyond me. The definitely don't. But in the interests of honesty-in-blogging, I decided to share it anyway.

OPI Push And Shove

There's something about silver polish.  It's retro-futuristic, bold, and empowering.  It's always been one of my favorites, and that goes double for chromes.  Back around '00, I remember strangers stopping to ask me what my polish was whenever I wore Sally Hansen Titanium Chrome.  That might be why silver is my "power color".  Two years ago I was lucky enough to find a bunch of Maybelline Mirror Image sets and I honestly couldn't imagine another polish ever beating it...or even comparing.  When I saw that OPI was putting out a silver chrome polish as part of its collaboration with Gwen Stefani, I knew had to buy it just to see how it stacked up.  I tested Push And Shove against Mirror Image, Titanium Chrome, and Essie No Place Like Chrome...swatches first though!


Push And Shove is a reflective silver chrome.

two coats

Octopus Party Giveaway!

 I've been working with Dave from Octopus Party Nail Lacquer for a while now, and I'm having a great time. There is something perversely amusing in wearing a polish that no one  else has. It's not super mature...but then Im not either.

Time to remedy that. In honor of Valentine's Day, we have a giveaway! Dave has offered up two of his newer polishes for TWO giveaways this month! How awesome is that?

First up is Ametrine Hour. It's a lovely mix of gold, royal purple, and lilac glitters. Like all his stuff, it dries smooth and even. Little to no dabbing or packing on the top coat. I am a little geeky for that.

four thin coats + seche vite