NOTD: OPI 'I Eat Mainely Lobster'

Calling all OPI snobs!!! Today's nail of the day is an OPI polish that I purchased from Costco in a duo set for only $13! That's quite a deal for OPI! The color I'm sporting today is called 'I Eat Mainely Lobster' and I wound up quite impressed:

2 coats, natural sunlight

This polish is a beautiful coral that is more on the orange side. You can see in the upper left portion of the bottle that there is a very slight shimmer in the polish that actually shows up on the nail! I get SO disappointed when there is shimmer in the bottle then it doesn't show up at all on your mani (Bikini-So-Teeny, anyone??). But this color is true to the bottle. I'm not usually a huge fan of orange polish so this impressed me as an orange that I don't mind staring at all day because of its slightly coral quality.

Only 2 coats needed to reach full opacity for me (hoorah hoorah!) and this color remained chip free for 3 days!
Snag this color up if you're interested in an orangey-coral. This color is beautiful for spring and summer but will definitely be wearable through the fall months. Yay versatility!

OPI polishes can be found at ULTA and some drugstores for $8.50 a bottle.

xxSJ

Review: Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara

In an Urban Decay order I received a deluxe sized sample of their Lush Lash Mascara so I thought I'd give it a go! I'm generally a non-believer in high-end mascaras HOWEVER, I must admit that I haven't ever tried a non-drugstore mascara! How dare I form ignorant opinions! So I thought I'd take this deluxe-sized opportunity to try out a more expensive mascara option:

Behold the pretty purple packaging. Purple is my fave so I'm a sucker for all things Urban Decay.

This packaging feels soooo luxurious. Even though this tube is teeny (about the size of a MAC lipstick), it had some weight to it because the casing feels to be made out of tin or aluminum.  As you can see the brush has plastic spindles which I generally love because they help comb through your lashes as you apply your mascara. I was a bit unsure of the shape of the brush, however, because of its hourglass shape.

Top: No mascara, Bottom: Two coats mascara

Ahhhhh! My beautiful before and after shots. As you can see between the two pictures, Mascara can make a world of difference! To be quite honest though, I feel that I get very similar results to this mascara as I do from my Maybelline Rocket mascara. My lashes do look quite pretty, but I don't think its worth the $20 price tag to purchase the full size.

Perhaps this product is more about the ingredients though rather than the look of the lashes. This product is apparently a lash growing serum, so maybe if I wear this for days on end I'll notice some length? We'll see... but I'm generally a non-believer in lash growth serums (non-believer in high end mascaras, non believer in lash growth.... what a pessimist I am!!). 

I also noticed that while I was wearing this mascara, my upper and lower lashes kind of stuck together a bit whenever I blinked. Very annoying! 

I will be finishing up this deluxe sample for sure however I will not be purchasing this product in full size. I prefer some of my other cheaper mascaras!

xxSJ

NOTD: Essie 'Ladylike'

Today's nail of the day is Essie's Ladylike which came out in a fall collection last year. I love colors like this for the fall because they are a lovely neutral shade while not being flesh toned:

2 coats, natural sunlight

As you can see, this color is a pretty grayish, mauvey, purpley color. I think its really quite pretty! It only took two coats for me to reach full opacity (impressive, no?) and the color remained chip free for days. Definitely one of Essie's better formulations!

Get your hands on this color if you're interested in a neutral gray purple color for the fall and winter. I think it will be a staple on my nails in the coming weeks :)

xxSJ

NOTD: China Glaze 'Electrify'

Today's nail of the day is a color from China Glaze's Hunger Games collection, 'Electrify.'  This polish layered over a red or white has been my go-to gameday polish! FIGHT ON!

1 coat over Essie's 'Really Red' and Julep's 'Kate,' natural lighting

I LOVE this polish. The red and yellow glitters are all equal sized and suspended in a clear polish. You can put one coat of this over a polish for a light smattering of glitter, or you can use multiple coats for a pretty opaque coat of glitter over your nails.  This color is awesome and has some long lasting power. Sometimes it takes some strategic placing of the brush in order to get an even spread of glitter, but it takes barely any effort and is well worth the beautiful payoff.

Overall, this glitter polish gets an A+. Plus it's from the Hunger Games collection, so that's cool. May the odds be ever in your favor when you rock this magnificent mani :)

xxSJ

Review: MAC 'Beauties Play It Cool' Eyeshadow Palette

Today's review is of an eyeshadow palette released by MAC 3 years ago in the 'A Tartan Tale' collection.  This palette is called the 'Beauties Play it Cool' palette featuring, you guessed it, cool-toned eyeshadows:

Exactly what you'd expect from a collection called 'A Tartan Tale,' the packaging for these products is an adorable plaid!

The top of the palette is this blue felt plaid fabric with a gold metal emblem.  I'm hoping this will stay nice and clean and that the emblem is firmly attached! It might look a bit tacky if it pops off, but until then, this is so adorable!

Taa-daa! And here are the beautiful shadows--a lovely mix of mattes, frosts, and veluxe pearls, all cool-toned and beautiful.  

Top Row: Silverwear (F), Hold My Gaze (F), To The Ball (S)
Bottom Row: Altered State (VXP), Magic Moor (VXP), Heather Belles (S)

The 6 eyeshadows are 0.88g of eyeshadow each, making them just over half of what a normal MAC eyeshadow holds.  The palette comes with a mini brush which is cute but may be rather ineffective.  In a bind if I find myself brushless and in need of touching up, it may serve its purpose, so I'll be keeping this little guy in the palette! Hooray for heroic tiny brushes! The sleek black plastic packaging feels very well made as it has some weight to it and the lid snaps close.  The packaging definitely gets an A+ for being flippin' adorable as well as sturdy.  

Swatchy swatch:

Swatched over UD Primer Potion

As you can see, the colors range from purple tones to blue or grayish tones. Overall I'm very satisfied with the color payoff of these shadows because sometimes when MAC releases palettes like these, the shadows are not necessarily up to MAC par as far as pigmentation is concerned.  These colors are awesome, however, and are SOOOO silky smooth to the touch.  Sometimes eyeshadows require you to get through the first gritty layer before you get real color payoff, but not these babies!
I'm so excited to put together some eyeshadow looks using this little palette! As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been searching for new colors to play with on my eyes other than neutrals, so this was certainly an exciting find. I think if you're looking for a cool-toned palette, this might be a good palette to pick up if you come across it.  I got mine for $25 from a CCO which is a great deal for MAC shadows!

What do you guys think of this palette from the Tartan Tale collection?
xxSJ

NOTD: Essie's 'Berry Naughty'

Today's nail of the day is a color I haven't worn in awhile because I distinctly remember disliking it last time I wore it! It is Essie's 'Berry Naughty,' and I am SO glad I revisited this color!

2 coats, natural lighting

   This color is a beautiful berry color that looks blood red under certain lighting. Blood Red or Crimson is such a hot color for fall! To me, this color looks very similar to one of my favorite OPI colors, Mulaga Wine.  I'm so happy I found a dupe for Mulaga Wine because I hit that color hard last Fall so I'm in need of a replacement.
    The application of this polish is the reason why I didn't like it for so long...for such a deep color, this polish is pretty thin therefore hard to control while painting.  You have to use a very light hand to avoid spreading this on too thick. With some attention and focus, however, this polish turns out quite lovely!

The wear time of this polish was standard for Essie which, for me, is about 2 days of chip free polish.
If you're looking for a vampy, sexy, berry nail color, then check this out! You won't be disappointed :)
Essie is sold at drugstores, Target, and Ulta for $8 a bottle (0.5 fl oz.).

xxSJ

NOTD: Zoya 'Charla'

Today's nail of the day is 'Charla' from Zoya's 2010 Sparkle collection:

2 coats, natural sunlight

This blue color is a blue/green duochrome. It has bright green and light blue sparkles in it making it reflect the most beautiful teal!

The application of this polish was really smooth, however this polish was surprisingly quite sheer. After two coats I still could see my nail in certain areas.

This color is very pretty and I love it as a transition color from Summer to Fall.  It is pretty bright and obviously sparkly, but the blue makes it rather understated. Overall, I love this polish color!

xxSJ

Review: NYX Lipliners in 'Rose' and 'Sandy Pink'

As I'm getting more and more into wearing different hued lipsticks, I realize that my tried and true 'Dervish' lipliner from MAC isn't cutting it for every lip color! I thought I'd try out some affordable lip liners in my pursuit for a pretty pink pucker:

After doing some research I discovered that NYX's lipliners have excellent reviews, particularly the color 'Rose.' For $2 a piece, I had to give these a try! 

'Rose' (left) is a medium toned beige pink that I thought would look nice under my lighter pinky beige lipsticks to bring some color to a nude pout. 'Sandy Pink' is a brighter medium toned blue pink I thought would look great paired with my new lipstick fave, NYX 'Blush.' The packaging is shiny black casing with white writing. Because of all the writing, these don't necessarily look as sleek as MAC lipliners, but their appearance doesn't effect their quality!

Swatchy swatch! These lipliners are super smooth which I love. I don't like having to warm up a liner on my hand to make it glide smoother. The color is also the perfect amount of pigmented, leaving a nice line of color on the lip. 

Here are pictures of the lip liner alone and then paired with lipsticks I think make good matches:

Overall I think these lip liners are fantastic! They rival MAC lipliners in wear time, ease of application, and pigmentation but for a fraction of the cost. I'm definitely going to pick up some darker colors for the fall!

You can purchase NYX cosmetics on their website or at Ulta. Look out for BOGO deals!

XxSJ

Review: Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Finishing Powder

Today's review is a very inexpensive finishing powder from the drugstore: Rimmel's Stay Matte pressed powder. I was running low on my NARS powder foundation and needed to pick up a new

powder to keep my face shine-free all day long.  Though I love my NARS powder foundation, the $45 price tag is a bit hefty, so I decided to try a drug-store alternative to combat the impending hole in my wallet.  After hearing solid things about Rimmel's $3 powder, I thought I'd give it a go.

I purchased the color Creamy Natural with my fingers crossed that it would be a color match for me. That's the downside of purchasing drugstore products-- you can't swatch and color match in store (unless you're naughty and open the product anyway....shhhhhh I won't tell!). 

The packaging of this product isn't so great. The clear plastic top comes off of the product pretty easily so I wouldn't ever travel with this product as I would be afraid of spills! I don't mind though because for $3, I'm certainly not paying for luxurious packaging. 

Right off the bat I was very impressed with how finely milled this powder is. I was pleased that a fair amount of this product was picked up by my powder brush and how evenly I could distribute this product on my skin. 

I got a full days wear from this finishing powder. It truly kept my face matte through out the day even while on my feet all day at work. No cakey build-up though!

The only negative I have to say about this product is that it has a perfume scent to it. I was worried this might irritate my skin but it doesn't and I can only smell it upon application.  The scent wears off immediately after application. 

Overall I like this powder a lot and will repurchase it when I run out. It doesn't have as many luxurious ingredients in it as my NARS powder, nor does it feel quite so luxurious on my skin, but for $3 it gets the job done!