What I've been loving: Becca Mineral Blush in 'Flowerchild'

I am utterly drawn to BECCA's line of powder products. From their highlighters to their blushes, I think they KILL it with their powder game. During these warm summer months I've been wearing nothing but my blushes in Snapdragon and Tigerlily, and though those are both beautiful, they are both decently bright colors. I decided to snatch up an additional blush from BECCA in a slightly more muted tone.

BECCA's mineral blush in 'Flowerchild' is a pale pink color that is described as a 'peachy pink with golden highlights.' Peaches are my kryptonite so it is no wonder this bad boy made its way into my collection.

One of my favorite thing about BECCA is their packaging. The packaging is sturdy and looks like a petite UFO. Brown rubber makes up most of the compact with a sturdy metallic top. A tiny mirror is inside for application on the go.

The blush is soft to the touch almost to a fault- a simple tap of your brush will give you the perfect amount of color to sweep on your cheeks. These blushes blend beautifully as well with a powder blush or beauty blender.

bottom L: Flowerchild, Center top: Tigerlily, Bottom Right: Snapdragon

 Here is this Mineral Blush compared to my luminous flush mineral blushes from Becca.

L to R: Flowerchild, Tigerlily, Snapdragon

This blush is actually quite similar to Snapdragon--a tad less bright with a bit more peach to it rather than coral. I don't think owning both is necessary and I think I will be reaching toward Flowerchild more than I will reach for Snapdragon. Tigerlily reigns supreme as my favorite of the bunch, though.

You can purchase this product from Sephora HERE!
$32 for 5.6g of product.

xxSJ

Check out my reviews of other Becca products:
BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Luminous Blush in Tigerlily and Snapdragon
BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter in 'Rose Gold'

NOTD: Essie 'Viva Antigua!'

Today's NOTD is from Essie's new Summer 2016 collection. The collection is full of bright colors inspired by Rebecca Minkoff's travels to Antigua. Viva Antigua I find to be a pretty unique standout in the collection which is why I selected this one from the bunch. It is a turquoise with A LOT of green in it with gold and turquoise flecks running through out. This stuff is gorgeous in all lighting and is the most perfect formula-2 easy coats to full opacity!

Check this color out if you're looking for a fun addition to your Summer nail wardrobe!
Check out the collection here!

xxSJ

NOTD: Formula X for Sephora 'Zing' and 'Blast Off'

Today's nail of the day is this awesome neon blue from the Formula X for Sephora line! It the color 'Zing,' and it is the most perfect electric blue color.  I topped this fun color with Formula X's 'Blast Off,' which is a fun black glitter top coat suspended in a clear base. 'Blast Off' has multi-sized hex shaped glitters as well as bar glitter to spice things up a bit.

This color applied easily and was opaque in two coats. This mani lasted for 3 days, chip-free. I recommend using a base coat with neon polishes because they will stain your nails!!

Formula X For Sephora costs $10.50 on Sephora.com.

xxSJ

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

Deborah Lippmann Calypso Nail Lacquer Duet

This amazing little nail polish duo is currently at Sephora so I just had to share my thoughts on it with you all before its gone! Deborah Lippmann is a well-known celebrity manicurist known for her high quality line of unique nail colors. She is particularly renowned for her glitter polishes which can be topped by few other brands.  The quality of her polishes comes at a price, however, with her creamy polishes coming in at $18 and her glitters costing $20. 

This particularly duo, called the 'Calypso Nail Lacquer Duet,' comes with one of Deborah Lippman's most famous colors, 'Mermaid's Dream.' It is a sandy seafoam green base filled with different sized and hued blue glitters. It leaves a scaly, sandy, finish on the nails and is completely solid in just two coats. The other complimentary polish in this duo is 'Flowers in her Hair' which is a light minty cream color. It is completely opaque in two coats and very easy to apply. The two polishes come housed in a glittery teal zip up pouch perfect for packing polishes on the go. 

Mermaid's Dream lasted for days on my nails with out chipping. It looked perfect for 4 days before it started chipping around the edges. As with most glitters, this polish is not easy to take off which is a definite downer, but I don't think I've ever received as many compliments or caught myself staring at my nails as much as I did when I was wearing this polish. It is so unique and beautiful! 'Flowers in her Hair' lasted a few days with out chipping and was easy to remove with out staining my nail underneath.

These mini polishes are about half the size of a full size polish at 0.27oz each. The whole kit costs $19 which is quite the deal considering the hefty price of just one Deborah Lippmann polish. Considering this kit has one of her iconic colors along with a beautiful neutral, I wholeheartedly recommend this nail duo. You won't regret it!

Purchase this duo here: sephora.com

xxSJ

Colour Pop Eyeshadows 'Sequin' and 'Tea Party'

Colour Pop is an LA based indie brand that touts bringing the latest trends to the beauty industry at affordable prices.  They currently sell eyeshadows, blushes, and lipsticks at $5-$8 a pop.  Their eyeshadows are known to be revolutionary in texture and feel so I decided to give those a shot and placed my order with Colour Pop!

My package arrived in good time in an envelope mailer with a personalized note to me along with my eyeshadows. Some people really like this personal touch but for me, I could take it or leave it. The shadows were in small cardboard boxes with a window to see the colors inside.  Shipping is free on orders above $30 and otherwise costs $5.  When you join Colour Pop's mailing list, you get $5 off your first order.

The containers themselves are pretty cute with 'ColourPop' printed on top of the clear window in a holographic print, and the white plastic definitely makes the colors inside 'pop.' The downside is since this eyeshadow is meant to be applied with your fingers, these containers get dirty rather quickly! There are instructions telling you to make sure to screw the caps onto these shadows tightly between uses as the shadow is prone to drying up. 

 The colors I chose are Tea Party, which is described as 'a versatile soft peachy pink with gazillion silver glitters and subtle hints of pale pink glitter,' and Sequin, which is described as 'a copper penny like shade with silver and gold glitter.' The texture of these shadows really is unique as they feel a little foamy and squishy to the touch. It is truly something you have to feel for yourself to understand! 

Sequin blew me away with how gorgeously it swatched. It is a pigmented shadow with beautiful metallic finish. It is a true copper color leaning more peach than red. This color is great for all my blue and green eyed gals out there!  I have to admit that I was hugely disappointed in Tea Party at first swatch. There is almost no pigmentation in this color that looks like it should show up as a bright peach. The glitter in this shadow is the true star and I think would work well as a finishing touch on an eye look to add some sparkle and shine rather than as the main focus all over the lid. 

Here is the card that comes with the shadows describing how to use these shadows. Colour Pop really stresses that these are meant to be used with your fingers in order to get the most bang for your buck. I do recommend these shadows for beginners since you don't need any tools other than the ones you were born with (fingas, baby!!) and they can really work as slap on and go colors.

I think I will enjoy these colors a lot more in the Summer time when I am looking to do more fun and simple looks. While testing these out, people definitely noticed the glitter and sparkles and I got a few compliments!

I do think that if these shadows intrigue you you should try them out! At $5 each, you don't have much to lose and people generally like these. In fact, Temptalia awarded these as the best budget eyeshadows of 2014!

Check out Colour Pop HERE! if you're interested in seeing what this brand has to offer!

xxSJ