Girly Things

I am pretty sure it's clear how much I love nail polish. I've been obsessed with nude nails for at least the past two or three months.

But before I get onto the polish overload, I want to prove that more than just my nails get attention. I love lipstick! I was never a lipstick person, mostly gloss, until I found the Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick. My mom is famous for her red lipstick and as much as I love it on her, I never thought I could pull it off myself. I needed a matte but creamy lipstick with staying power if I was ever going to try it. Enter UD Anarchy in my August Ipsy bag. If you're unfamiliar, Ipsy provides deluxe samples each month for a $10 subscription. It is hit or miss mostly, but for a hit like this lipstick I am willing to endure the blah months. Anyways, I put this one while Face Timing with my McDreamy and his jaw dropped when I put it on. I was repelled by the bright Barbie-style pink but I ended up really liking it, and LOVING the formula. It is creamy. It is matte. It is hydrating (as much as a lipstick can be--when I take it off, I don't feel like I'm scrubbing rubber). And the pigment is fantastic. Unbeatable. So, Anarchy. The Sarge likes it. That's a win.

But, who can stop there?? I went on to buy a full size Anarchy and hoped to find a good red, not too orange but not too dark/blue. And then there was F Bomb. And Shame, a dark berry-brown that is really perfect for FALL! Sorry the pictures aren't better... But you get the point. I think I've bought all the lipstick I need for the next year.

The jewel of this post, though, is Butter London's The 444. The neutral color I have on is Yummy Mummy, which is a shimmery taupe color that works well on my skin tone. I'm inclined to think that it would look good on any skin tone, warm or cool. But the shimmer is The 444... I wish I could capture the shine in my cheap cell phone/iPad pictures. It's such a brilliant silvery almost champagne shimmer. I really love it, and can't wait to do my whole manicure in it for New Year's or something equally festive. In the photo below I have two coats and I would call that full coverage (we know how hard that is for a shimmer). It's like a disco ball for your fingers!

 

 

 

Here are a few different angles/lighting: 

 

And here it is in the sunshine. Well, natural light... it was overcast. And this is just one coat. 

I was able to remove it in one swipe using the nail polish removal trick found at gingerbreadmanne. Thank you Pinterest! The piece of the cotton ball in the picture was ONE swipe and my nail was clean. If you hate removing nail polish, try it this way. Seriously.

 Anyways, compare it to BL's Fairy Cake -- the lighting is a little different but you get the idea. The glitter is a bit bigger and much more brilliant than the silvery fine shimmer of Fairy Cake.

 

What do you think? Do you like glitter in your nail polish or do you avoid it all together? Would you rock The 444 as a full manicure? I personally love it, even though I was sure I left glitter nail polish in 1998 with the Backstreet Boys and Tamagotchis. I guess it's true... some girls are just born with glitter in their veins :)

Take a few minutes and give yourself some love -- pamper your hard working hands! Who cares if it will all chip off tomorrow at work. You deserve it!

Ipsy Glambag Review: May 2013

Hi friends! 

Have you guys ever heard of those beauty bag/box subscriptions? Birchbox is a popular one, but there's also Ipsy and Glossybox that I've heard of. You pay a subscription fee ($10 for Birchbox and Ipsy, $21 for Glossybox), then they send you some beauty/skincare samples. I decided to sign up for one last month out of curiosity. I was really nervous because it seems like there's never anything appropriate for darker skin tones in these types of things. But... I heard good things about them, and a (black) friend of mine said she loves her subscription, so I bit the bullet and signed up for Ipsy.

Well it came today! I'm excited. Not only is it worth it, but I actually like the stuff in there and (mostly) it's all color-appropriate. 

For $10, I got: 

-full size Zoya nail polish in Jacqueline (.05 Fl. oz., retail $8)

-full size Pacifica rolling perfume in Island Vanilla (.33 oz, retail $12)

-mini Pacifica luminizing body butter in Coconut Crushed Pearl (2 oz tube, retail $7)

-Juice beauty reflecting lip gloss in Fiji (.14 Fl. oz., full size is .28 Fl. oz. and retails at $15)

-yaby concealer in buff. (I think this one is a full size refill - $5)

Well. The concealer I haven't had a chance to use, but I have the feeling that "buff" is not the color for me. I'll try it out tonight... but.. yeah lol. HOWEVER... I have been introduced to yaby! The quality of the concealer is actually very good. It's creamy and a little goes quite a long way. I think I'm going to get one of those empty palettes and fill it up with some colors I CAN use. 

And the "luminizing body butter smells great, but it shimmers just like my Perfectly Posh Pearls for Girls hand creme. I like it, but I LOVE the smell of the Posh. It's almondy. Anyway, I like it but I have something already in that category. I will use it when I run out of the Posh (it's a limited edition)

BUT I really like the rest. Vanilla is not my favorite scent, but I can imagine that at some point I'll feel that it's the appropriate scent for whatever I'm doing. It smells good, and I do like the Pacifica brand. I was worried about the nail polish because white nail polish looks TERRIBLE on my skin tone (or maybe I just hate it), but it isn't white, it's like a very very light beige.. it comes out much creamier and warmer than white, and I really like it! I'm surprised. And.. surprisingly... I also like the lip gloss. It's light and has a little tingle, which is awesome, and the color is fabulous, at least for me. 

The value this month is on point ... about $39 worth of mostly useful stuff AND a cute bag, for just $10. Try out Ipsy in time for the June bag.. I'm already excited :)

UPDATE!

I tried the concealer and... as it turns out.. I like it! I feel like it brightens my eye area. I used MAC Skinfinish Natural powder in "Deep" over it and I love it! So, it's an official score for month #1!