My Christmas Eve Nails: Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Peppermint Twist

Wanted to quickly share what I have on my nails right now:

These are the one of the new Sally Hansen Salon Effects designs that came out for holiday this year. It's called Peppermint Twist and it's a white, red, pink and beigey-pink alternating candy striped design.

I think I did something wrong with these this time, but I'm not sure what! I've never had an issue with the Sally Hansen Salon Effects designs I've worn, but for some reason these looked really wrinkled after I applied them. They look fantastic at a normal viewing distance or at arm's length, but up close they look all wrinkly. I applied some topcoat thinking that it might smooth out the wrinkles a little, but instead it made them bubble. I did not expect that to happen. I've worn these types of nail appliques probably a dozen times before and I've never had them bubble or wrinkle.

I really like how the pattern is slightly different on each nail. The lines all looked straight and even and perfectly aligned without any effort on my part, which I appreciated.

So far, everyone who has seen them has loved them, so I guess no one but me can see the wrinkles. I'll probably switch to another design for Christmas day, but these looked perfectly festive for Christmas Eve.

Anyway, back to drinking egg nog and wrapping presents. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

(This was sent for review.)

My Holiday Beauty Wishlist

Gift giving is tricky. You want to give the recipient something they will like, but on the off chance they don't like it, you don't want to have spent so much that you both feel like the money was wasted or so little that they feel like you got them the cheapest, crappiest thing instead of something they actually want.

I know it's wrong to complain about a gift, and I am truly thankful that I've ever been given gifts at all. But... I've been on the receiving end of some of those crappy gifts and let me tell you, it doesn't feel good. I'm not talking about gifts that maybe weren't what you had in mind, but the other person still spent time and effort picking it out or even making it by hand with you in mind. No, I'm talking about the ones that clearly say, "I resent being obligated to buy a gift for you, so I'm just going to give you some random junk."

I could share a few stories about countless extended family Christmas gatherings, where every year I'd get a pair of driving gloves, despite the fact that I was like, seven years old, couldn't drive and the gloves weren't even my size. When I was a little older, I guess some of my extended family decided they didn't like me as the weird goth kid so they got me floral-print overalls and a pink shirt with flowers on it. I've gotten golf tees, used batteries... One year I had a birthday party and a few of my classmates gave me an empty container of candy, a broken comb and a The Lion King soundtrack jewel case that had no CD inside.

Actually, I don't remember where I was going with this... I suppose the moral of the story would be "Don't buy people thoughtless gifts or something you found in a dumpster, unless it's really, really cool." And no kid wants golf tees or driving gloves. Unless they golf or drive, in which case, by all means, go right ahead.

That said, here are the top ten things I put on my letter to Santa this year...

ghd Scarlet collection. Does this look sexy or what?


Megan Miller Collection nail polish. Cork handles! The colors don't look unique but you know what a sucker I am for packaging.

Temptu Everyday Luxury Set. I've always wanted to try airbrush foundation and I like the way this looks.



Lolita Lempicka Couture Black. I WANT THIS SO BAD. I already love Lolita Lempicka and now they have one in this awesome bottle? I may have to buy this for myself this year.


Make Up For Ever Wild & Chic Aqua Cream Collection. A lot of the shades I've been wanting to try plus a bunch more, all in a sweet looking case that comes with a brush.




Bare Minerals Insider Introducing Color Shift Eyecolor Set. I played with the color shifting shadow in the store and even though it's a color I'd have a hard time wearing, I can't stop thinking about it. It's so cool. And here it comes with a few other items for creating a look with it.


Kat Von D Tattoo Chronicles Candelabra Edition palette. Love the design, the colors look great and I'm a fan of the Kat von D/Sephora shadow formula.



Dr. Martens LANGSTON Petrol boot. One of these days I'm going to have these. We're meant to be together.



Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille. I've wanted this for so long and now I think I've missed my chance to buy it. D:

And then there's this....

Last-Minute Gift Ideas from Hard Candy

Hard Candy has a selection of very inexpensive beauty gifts available this year. I previously reviewed the holiday mini nail polish collection, but here are a few more options if you are looking for very affordable beauty gift ideas:

Hard Candy 5 Pack Nail Polish Set

Five mini (0.1oz) glitter nail polishes for $5. Very similar to the $1 mini glitter polishes, just in taller bottles and slightly different shades.

Hard Candy 4 Piece Liquid Eyeliner Set

This is a set of four mini (0.14 oz) Hard Candy Walk The Line liquid eyeliners. A black, a gold glitter in a gold-tinted clear base, a metallic purple and a silver glitter in a clear base. They glitters are too sheer to wear alone as liner but they're good layered or worn as glitter gel on top of eyeshadow. The black and the purple have decent pigmentation but they're very wet and gooey and take a long time to dry. The brushes are not precise; they're a little fluffy and wide and that's the biggest downside to these.

Hard Candy Four Piece Lipgloss Set

This one is four mini (0.04 oz) Hard Candy Mouthing Off Sheer Lip Shine glosses. They really are sheer and all shades look pretty much the same on the lips. Just a little shine and shimmer, not much color. They smell nice and feel decent on the lips. They are really, really small and have paper lids that look a little crinkled and sloppy.

The quality of these isn't the greatest, but for $5 they're really not a bad deal. The colors are nice and the formula is workable. Good gifts or stocking stuffers for the younger girls in your family or just a really inexpensive way to try out a lot of Hard Candy colors at once. Just don't expect full-price quality.

These are all available at Wal-Mart and are limited edition.

(This was sent for review.)

Incoco Nail Appliques Holiday 2011 Collection

Have you seen Incoco's holiday nail applique collection yet? There are four designs this year: candy cane stripes (which I'm missing, so unfortunately I don't have pictures), silver snowflakes, glittering Christmas lights and antique-style ornaments.

Incoco Nail Polish Appliques in Deck The Halls


Incoco Nail Polish Appliques in Let It Snow


Incoco Nail Polish Appliques in 'Tis The Season

Please enlarge the images if you wish to see them in more detail. They're really cute.

Very sparkly and pretty. I haven't worn any of these designs yet, but I'm about to go apply one of them and see how it works out. I've had good luck in the past with Incoco's glitter and design appliques, like the adorable pumpkin ones I wore on Halloween, so I anticipate these to be exactly the same in application and wear time.

All of these designs are available directly from Incoco.

(This was sent for review.)

Nubar Opulent Pearl Layered

Since flake glitter polishes seem to be making a huge comeback this year, thought I'd show you one of the first "flakie" polishes I owned. I think a lot of people forget about this one, but it does actually count a flaky polish, even if it doesn't look like it is from the bottle pictures on Nubar's website.


Nubar Opulent Pearl over black. I really don't like how this looks over black, but it does show the flake colors really well. Nubar Opulent Pearl is a cloudy white base with mid-sized flakes in all different colors. There's red, orange, pink, green, and blue and they all shift colors like normal flake glitter does. The shapes and sizes of the flakes in this polish seem more uniform than in a lot of other flaky polishes.



Nubar Opulent Pearl over Nubar Angels Whisper. I have this thing about flaky topcoats over white polish. I just love the combination. I think it looks like opals. Every time I have a new flaky polish I always want to wear it over white right away. White shimmers are best, but this white-based duochrome frost makes a pretty good base, too.


Nubar Opulent Pearl over Nubar Angelic Glitter. Flakes over regular glitter is another one of my favorite ways to wear them. I know you probably can't tell it from these horrible blurry pictures, but this looked awesome in real life. Both the glitter base and the flake topcoat are duochrome so it was constantly changing and flashing rainbows of color.

Apparently I didn't take a picture of Opulent Pearl by itself. Looks good alone because of the cloudy white base that gives it a little more coverage than some of the clear-based flake polishes.

Now I have this feeling that I'm going to have flakie overload pretty soon. I've seen at least two collections of flake polishes coming out in January so far and you know what that means... All the brands will probably start copying each other like they usually do (*cough*CRACKLE*cough*) and we may end up with a flood of flakies. We shall see...

Hand and Nail Care Gifts from Crabtree and Evelyn

Still looking for some last-minute gifts and stocking stuffers? If so, may I show you this small selection of gift ideas from Crabtree and Evelyn? Even if you're not shopping for gifts for someone, these are still really nice sets for yourself.

Crabtree and Evelyn Gardeners Gift from the Earth Collection

The Gardeners Gift from the Earth collection comes in a metal lunchbox-style tin. It's about 5"w x 9" l x 3" d, has a metal handle and clasp, and has no markings other than "Crabtree & Evelyn" printed on two sides, so you really could use this as a lunchbox or a tool box after you're done with the products inside.


It contains a 0.9oz Gardeners Hand Recovery scrub, a 0.9 oz Gardeners Hand Therapy hand cream, a 0.52 oz Gardeners Nail and Cuticle Therapy cuticle cream, a 0.9 oz Gardeners Age-Defying Hand Remedy hand cream and a four-sided nail buffer with a cute vegetable pattern on one side.

The texture of the Gardeners Hand Recovery scrub is on the loose side. It feels a bit like a thin body lotion with lots of sandy, grainy particles. I believe it has both salt and pumice as exfoliating particles so they don't all dissolve when your hands get wet and you can get a good, thorough scrub. When it's rinsed away, it leave a light, silky coating on the hands, possibly from the macadamia nut oil and shea butter in the formula.


The Nail and Cuticle Therapy (top) has a very thin texture, similar to CND Cuticle Eraser. It absorbs very quickly and gives a light amount of moisture but isn't oily. The Age Defying Hand Remedy (bottom) is a slightly thicker and waxier lotion than the regular Hand Therapy cream and leaves more of a protective barrier on the hands than the Hand Therapy as well.

All the products are scented with the Gardeners scent of fresh green clover, lavender, sage, rosemary, and thyme. It's herbal, gender-neutral, clean and a little bit spicy. It's currently my favorite of all the Crabtree and Evelyn scents I've smelled so far. It's not too strong, doesn't give me a headache and smells very pleasant but not flowery or too sweet.

Crabtree and Evelyn Hand Therapy Sampler

This is a set of six 0.9 oz tubes of Crabtree and Evelyn Hand Therapy hand cremes in all different scents.


Rosewater: Delicate rose bouquet with fresh leafy green top notes.
La Source: Relaxing Sea Air.
Gardeners: Fresh green clover, lavender, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Lavender: Fresh lavender enhanced with violet, tonka bean, lemon leaf, and soft musk.
Citron: Vibrant lemon & fresh coriander with a touch of sweet honey.
Summer Hill: Warm, white floral blend of summer grasses, wildflowers and orchard fruits.


The texture of the Hand Therapy creme is pretty thick. It reminds me of L'Occitane's Shea Butter Hand Creme that comes in the same type of metal tube. It's not overly heavy or greasy like a body butter but it feels rich and cushiony going on. It is absorbed quickly and only leaves a small amount of residue. The scents are soft and light on the hands; this is not so strongly scented that everyone can smell your hands from a mile away when you apply this.

I really like all of the scents in this set. I have no complaints about any of them. Even the most floral scent, Summer Hill, was soft and sweet and very enjoyable. Normally I prefer spicy, woody and vanilla-based/foody scents, which none of these are, yet all of them smell fantastic to me.

The tubes are cute, too. The design is really charming and old-fashioned looking. The only complaint I have about this set is that the metal tubes do start looking rough after a while, getting all dented and crinkled with use.

Crabtree and Evelyn La Source Warming Foot Smoother

This is an interesting one. It's a foot scrub that heats up when you use it. It really does! It's a really strange sensation; a wave of mild heat that lasts for a few seconds and then disappears. You may remember the C.O. Bigelow Ginger Mentha Warming Body Wash from a few years back, or that Frederic Fekkai warming hair treatment from even longer ago... This is a similar sensation to that.

The texture of the scrub is buttery but not super thick. It has lots and lots of grains that don't dissolve right away so you get a very good exfoliation. It rinses away quickly and leaves behind a lotion-like coating.

This is a foot scrub, but I use it on my hands and it is fantastic. I absolutely love it. The warming effect is so nice in the winter, even though it only lasts for a few seconds. The scrubby particles feel amazing and scratchy but not sharp or harsh. The coating it leaves on your hands after it's rinsed off soaks in just like a lotion and my hands feel super silky and awesome after I use this. It's just as nice on my feet, too, but I love it as a hand treatment.

My favorite of all of these is the La Source Warming Foot Smoother, but I don't actually dislike any of these. This was actually my first time using any Crabtree & Evelyn product and they made a really good impression on me. Everything looks pretty, smells pretty and is lovely to use. My personal favorite scents out of these are Gardeners, La Source, and Summer Hill, but I still enjoyed all of them.

I think that these would make great gifts for pretty much anyone. Gardeners, teachers, nurses, anyone who works with their hands or has to wash their hands frequently. These are especially nice for winter when everyone's skin gets dry and our hands start to feel chapped and cracked. The formulas are nice, the scents are nice and the presentation is definitely nice enough to feel confident about gifting these.

Also a great gift for nail bloggers... Keeps your hands, nails and cuticles smooth and moisturized after a rough, acetone-soaked day of swatching!

These are all available online and instore at Crabtree and Evelyn. From now until December 25th, 2011 you can get $15 off your purchase of $75 or more at Crabtree & Evelyn with code AFFILIATE15.

(These were sent for review. Contains an affiliate link.)