Month: August 2017
Ari
I done fucked up.
I didn’t realize that I was out of Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat. I dipped into the bottle and I barely got a brush of thick goop. It was still within my Julep Maven window, so I figured I would just add some to my September box…but it wasn’t available to swap into my box or add to my box. Well fuck. It is still available to purchase on the site, but I really don’t know if I want to pay $14.40 for it…ugh, I’ll have to wait until I get a really good coupon.
I really wanted to try Julep “Ari” though – it reminds me of a candy apple, which I absolutely hate – but they’re pretty to look at…so I tried it out over Sinful Colors Base Coat. “Ari” is not quite a jelly, but not quite a creme – it’s somewhere in between. “Ari” did NOT play well with the Sinful Colors Base Coat. It almost seemed to bead off of it. Bah. Jellies are tricky, but they shouldn’t be this tricky. “HK Girl” got me past most of the difficulty, but THAT bottle is thickening and getting old, too. Luckily, I have a back-up that I can bring into the rotation soon.
Midnight Mermaid
Ulta is now carrying wet n wild cosmetics – online only. There was a 20% off coupon in my email. What a time to be alive!
I was excited, because wet n wild just released a new collection – The Midnight Mermaid Collection. It’s very similar to Black Moon Cosmetics Cosmic Metals Collection – imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! I picked up almost all of it. I got all 4 of the MegaLast Metallic Liquid Catsuit lipsticks ($4.99) – “Coral Crown”, “Harbor A Crush”, “Siren’s Jewel” and “Sea Seduction”. I only got one of the three MegaLiner Metallic Eyeliner ($3.99) – “Trident’s Shimmer”. I also only got one of the four Color Icon Metallic Liquid Eyeshadows ($4.99) – “Lara’s Necklace”, because DUH. I also picked up the Mermaid Highlighting Bar ($6.99).
I keep saying that I don’t like buying fragrances without smelling them first…but then I keep doing it. After reading the description of Philosophy Amazing Grace Ballet Rose, I went ahead and picked up the mini size for $18. It also came with a 4 oz. bottle of Amazing Grace Shower Gel as a free bonus! I am SO glad I picked it up – it’s now my second favorite rose scent, after Cartier Goutte de Rose.
I also picked up a little something for Lily – the China Glaze My Little Pony 6 pc Micro Mini Kit ($15). It’s a tie in to the My Little Pony movie coming out next month. Maybe the polish will get her over the pain of me refusing to sit through it in the theater. Oh – and my Variety Sampler included foilpacks of Olay Regenerist Luminous Tone Perfecting Cream and Botanics 100% Organic Facial Oil. Meh.
This order did not push me to Platinum Status for 2018, but you know what did? Friday before last, I took the kids to get their back-to-school haircuts at Ulta and I got a cut and color. I was going for a rose gold melt, but my stylist didn’t want to make all my hair fall out by bleaching it too much, so it ended up a pinkish red. I also went ahead and signed up for the Ulta Platinum card, so I could get 20% off all our haircuts. Ulta may be an expensive place to get kids’ haircuts…but at least I ended up with $61 worth of points out of the deal.
Since Hurricane Harvey has had us housebound for several days, I decided to play around with my Midnight Mermaid stuff. On my eyes, I used “Lara’s Necklace”, the green liquid eyeshadow, and “Trident’s Shimmer”, the pewter eyeliner. I LOVED the liquid eyeshadow and may be picking up some of the other colors. I did not care for the liquid line – it was too goopy, especially on top of the liquid eyeshadow. My lips are an ombre of the blue and green lipsticks – “Sea Seduction” and “Siren’s Jewel”, with a bit of the Highlighter in the middle. The lipsticks are just as great as the other liquid catsuits, and the price cannot be beat. It’s a lot for every day (Can you say MiMi?), but just right for the middle of a hurricane.
Readie or Not
I cannot even pretend to know what the name of this polish is supposed to mean – Sinful Colors “Readie or Not”. Is it a typo? Is it a purposeful use of the old middle english spelling (Chaucer, etc.)? Who even knows how they come up with these names. I’m convinced that Sinful Colors just picks random names and phrases out of a huge bucket…I’ve said it a million times, I’d be SO much better at naming nail polishes…
In any case, “Readie or Not” is a fuchsia/eggplant foiled polish. A thin polish that applied smoothly, I got full coverage in two coats. I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat and ended with “HK Girl”.
This polish was decently long lasting, with minimal chips and edge wear. Yay!
August Birchbox – Easy Does It
Yup, I had to get the curated box again. It’s like I just can’t handle surprises anymore…
I’m a big fan of the stila liquid lipsticks, so I mostly chose it just for the stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in “Aria”. I thought it would be a dusty red, but it turned out to be more berry – I love it. Also in this month’s box: Dr. Jart+ Water Fuse Ultimate Hydro Gel (I’m about to use up all my Water Drop, so woo!); Living proof. Restore Mask Treatment; pur-lisse Blue Lotus Seed Mud Mask (yasss); and amika Bombshell Blowout Spray (my 3rd or 4th one).
Box is somewhat mediocre, but enough to get me through. I heard that Wal-mart is in talks to buy Birchbox…if that happens – I don’t know if I’ll keep it. Hmmmm….
If you would like to try Birchbox, click on my referral link – https://www.birchbox.com/invite/5453f – I’ll get 50 points if you join.
Sephora Play! August 2017 – The Innovators
So at first, I thought this box was called “Makeup Geek” because of the bag – but it’s really “The Innovators”, so let’s see what innovative products Sephora wants me to try this month…
First off, we’ve got the world’s tiniest beautyblender – beautyblender micro.mini. What is this, a beautyblender for ants?!?!?! Also in this month’s box: Clinique HIM Dual-Ended High Impact Mascara & Primer Duo; Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick in “Shell” (hyped to try this – maybe I could take a few hours and apply it with that beautyblender?); Burberry “My Burberry Black” (spicy jasmine and rose – not bad); Alterna Haircare CAVIAR Anti-Aging Miracle Multiplying Volume Mist; and Korres Golden Krocus Ageless Saffron Elixir Serum (knowing how expensive saffron is, I am interested to see how this works).
Yet another great box – I feel like it’s worth much more than $10!
If you haven’t signed up yet, you are insane. This is by far the best subscription box I get every month. Sephora Play is only $10/month. You can sign up at sephora.com/play.
Impeccable
Impeccable, which means…not peccable? Peccable is a real word, although rarely used – at least when compared to its antonym, Impeccable. Peccable means “capable of sinning”, the opposite of which is not exactly how Impeccable is usually used today. In context, it is more likely to be interchangeable with flawless or faultless. ANYWAY…this brief lesson in etymology leads into my description of Formula X “Impeccable” – it’s a dusty blush nude, innocent and incapable of sin.
I am much happier with the shiny Formula X formulas than the mattes or glitters. This is two coats over Sinful Colors Base Coat and “HK Girl”. It’s a medium consistency polish, but very full coverage without being chalky.
I need to try “Impeccable” with a gold glitter.
Redrum
Redrum…REDRUM…
Sinful Colors “Redrum” is aptly named – it looks like blood, bubbling up from…the abyss? Wherever blood bubbles from…I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat and then used several different colors to contrast: Sinful Colors “Snow Me White”, “Black on Black” and “GoGo Boy”. “GoGo Boy” was a last minute addition to my plan, since Lily had just used it to paint her nails and it was sitting there on the coffee table. “HK Girl” made it super shiny.
I’ll be honest, this was my second try with “Redrum”. On my first try, I made the mistake of painting each nail and letting them dry a few minutes. I added “Redrum” and then my nails were just red. Huh? I googled to see where I went wrong and found that I needed to add “Redrum” while the first polish was still wet. I removed all my polish and started over, this time, painting each nail individually and then immediately adding “Redrum” – BINGO!
This time, I was very pleased with the result – it’s like the next level of crackle polish. I’m looking forward to trying the other four.
Razzle Dazzle
2017 is Kat Von D‘s year. I feel like she is dropping a new product every other week. Last week, she dropped her new Everlasting Glimmer Veil Liquid Lipsticks ($22). Of course, I wanted all 9 of them, but I controlled myself and ordered the prettiest two. I got “Razzle” – magenta with pink glimmer – and “Dazzle” – crimson with pink and gold glitter.
I LOVE these lipsticks. They’re so comfy and flexible. The glimmer is amazingly vivid and long lasting. I will say that my lips did feel dry and crack-y after eating and wiping my lips with a napkin, but other than that – they felt fine. I think I need more of these…oh, and Sephora is SOLD OUT. They’ll be back in stock on 8/22, so set your reminders…
For my regular samples, I got Lacoste Eau da Lacoste (smells preppy…tossed it to my son…he’ll probably just use it to set something on fire); Dior J’adore (still too floral for me – tossed it to my daughter); and Farmacy Honey Savior All-in-One Skin Repair Salve.
I lucked into a promotion code that provided a 12 sample skincare bag: Tata Harper Clarifying Mask for Blemish-Prone Skin; Hum Raw Beauty Green Superfood Powder in “Mint Chocolate Chip Infusion” (do I look like Gwyneth Paltrow to you?); Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream; Kopari Coconut Melt Moisturizer; Farmacy Honey Potion; Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins Mega-Mushroom Skin Relief (but are they MAGIC mushrooms?); Youth to the People Kale + Green Tea Spinach Vitamins Age Prevention Cleanser (ugh); Boscia Revitalizing Black Hydration Gel; Kora Organics Noni Glow Face Oil; Josie Maran Surreal Skin Argan Finishing Balm; Tarte Drink of H2O Hydrating Boost; and First Aid Beauty Coconut Skin Smoothie Primer Moisturizer (I really like this stuff – I already used up my deluxe sample from June’s Play! box). A few things I won’t use, but the rest are great!
Only $329 left to ROUGE…
Hypnotic Transforming
Sometimes, you just gotta pay full price.
I had been seeing Sinful Colors‘ new collection of Hypnotic Transforming Top Coats and I had to have them all…and I was willing to pay the full price of $1.99 each. On the way back from dinner, I scammed my husband into letting me “pop” into Walgreen’s. We drove by a Walgreen’s in Richmond that I’d never been to…lo and behold, there is a pristine display of of the top coats I am looking for!
I grabbed all five: “Redrum” – red, “Rebel Rebel” – blue, “Concrete Jungle” – gray, “Purpunk” – light lavender, and “Punk the Town” – plum. These polishes appear to be a step beyond crackle top coats – they make bubbles and streaks. So excited to try them!
Ultimately, I didn’t end up paying full price for my polishes – I had $5 in Walgreen’s points from their Beauty Enthusiast program. I’d finally spent $50 on beauty products there.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find this year’s new Lay’s “Do Us A Flavor”: “Crispy Taco”, “Everything Bagel” and “Fried Green Tomatoes”. I even found my sister’s first and middle name on Coke bottles. This was a very productive trip!
Buckshot
Doesn’t this look like my hand just got hit with a load of buckshot?
Sinful Colors “Cherish Me” is from the new “Moon Metals” Collection and it is just flat out weird. It’s super sheer, which is disappointing, but I guess necessary with this tiny, tiny glitter. This is two coats (over Sinful Colors Base Coat and under “HK Girl”) and you can barely see it. And the glitter…there isn’t much of it!
I’ll be honest, I am not in love with this polish.