NOTD: Formula X for Sephora 'Chaotic'

Today's nail of the day is a glittery top coat by Formula X for Sephora called 'Chaotic.' This top coat is filled with black and white hexagon and square shaped glitters of various sizes. This stuff is so cool! In the picture above I layered two thin coats of this glitter over a plain black Formula X polish and the effect looks like outer space!

This polish lasted for days chip free on my nails and attracted many compliments. As with most glitter polishes, it was tough to remove and I resorted to chipping and peeling off the layers of glitter. I think this polish looks great layered over black or white, but it would look really cool over a red or bright pink so you can see both the black and white glitters easily!

Formula X for Sephora polishes are sold exclusively at Sephora and are $10.50 for 0.4fl oz.

Would you rock this chaotic nail color??
xxSJ

Steph Reads: The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty

        It's Summertime in the city and I wanted to start the Summer off by reading a fun chick-lit! The book 'The Hypnotist's Love Story' takes place in Australia at Ellen O'Ferrell's beachfront home. Ellen is a successful hypnotherapist who has found a promising bachelor to spend her life with until the day he tells her 'we need to talk.' Turns out, Ellen's perfect suitor Patrick is perfect enough that his last relationship ended with his ex stalking him.  Rather than being scared off, Ellen is intrigued that this gentleman is worthy of a stalker and, in fact, she would like to meet this stalker of his--little does Ellen know that she already has.
        This book was overall a fun read and had a slew of likable and relatable characters. Ellen is incredibly realistic as the seemingly earthly and spiritual hypnotist that has a running train of thought revealing her imperfections. The narration shifts between Ellen and Patrick's stalker which was a nice touch to be able to understand what is going through the stalker's mind during her most outrageous acts of desperation. I actually felt sympathy toward the stalker by the end of the book because I felt I achieved a certain level of understanding of her actions which was unbelievable given I had written her off as a loon at the beginning of this story.  The ending of this story wasn't necessarily unpredictable, but it was incredibly satisfying and light-hearted giving me peace when I set it down for the last time. I will say that this book got incredibly slow in the middle 150 pages or so. I felt like that whole chunk of the book could have been removed and I wouldn't have missed it all! Other than that slow area, I would recommend this book if you have enjoyed Moriarty's previous work. It's fun, realistic, a little sexy, and entertaining!

What's on your Summer reading list?
xxSJ

Check out my other Steph Reads posts!
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
Splintered by AG Howard
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Beneath the Glitter by Elle and Blair Fowler

Ipsy June 2015 Bag!

 Ipsy is a monthly subscription service that sends you 4-6 deluxe sample-sized products each month for the low cost of $10 including shipping. Ipsy is SO popular that in order to sign up for this subscription, you must first get yourself on their waitlist... I did just that weeks ago and completely forgot about it until I received an email that my June bag had shipped! It arrived a couple days ago so I thought I'd share my thoughts on these products and this service.

In this month's bag, I received 2 pairs of Altcheck Depuff Eye pads, a treStique eyeshadow pencil, a Smashbox photo finish face primer, an ItCosmetics brow pencil, and an Aurora Gel Effect nail polish. All of these goodies were housed in a black bag with 'ipsy' printed all over and bright orange zipper enclosure!

I was most excited by the ItCosmetics brow power pencil as this product claims to be a 'universal brow product.' Hmmmmm I'm hugely skeptical of that! I also thought the eyeshadow pencil was missing its cap at first but was relieved to find that the pencil-like pointed tip is really the cap housing the product inside! 

The eyeshadow color I got was 'Marimoto Pink Pearl' and it is really pretty! It is a light gold shimmery cream eyeshadow with peachy pink undertones. I wore this on my lids with a soft brown swept through the crease and it wore beautifully all day.  The brow pencil is in the color 'Universal Taupe' and it actually works pretty well for my brows. This product is meant to be lightly applied for blondes and then more heavily applied the darker your hair color. I could definitely see this color working for many people, though I recommend trying it out in store before purchasing this. The packaging is really nice as it is a weighty aluminum and there is a spoolie for eyebrow grooming on the opposite end of the pencil. 

The nail polish is a gel effect polish by the brand Aurora called '4 Alarm Fire.' I do really enjoy the color of this hot raspberry red, but I don't think the formula is all that great. I had chipping within 24 hours of application and the brush is huge making application a bit difficult on my tiny nails!

Overall I was impressed with the variety of samples in this bag. The value of each product is as follows:
Nail Polish $8
Smashbox Primer $8
Eyeshadow Stick $10
Eyebrow pencil $12
Eye pads $4

That puts the total value of this bag at $42! Not bad considering I only dropped $10 on it and these are all products I will get some use out of.

I really enjoyed my first experience with Ipsy but I don't think I will be continuing my subscription. I have a lot of makeup as is and I don't feel the need to have a ton of little samples lying around. I would definitely recommend Ipsy to people just starting to get into makeup though! It's an inexpensive monthly service that could introduce you to new makeup items and brands to expand your collection and its great for getting some travel sized products for weekend getaways ;)

Try out Ipsy for yourself Here!

xxSJ