LORAC Lips With Benefits Lipgloss Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

LORAC has a brand new gloss collection out for Spring 2012. LORAC makes one of my favorite glosses of all time (the Multiplex 3D duochrome ones), so I was quite excited to hear that they were adding a new type of gloss in their lineup. Are they as fantastic as the Multiplex ones? No, not exactly, but they're still pretty cool. Take a look.


The brand new LORAC Lips with Benefits glosses are an extremely visually-appealing layered gloss. They each consist of four different shades layered in swirled in each tube. When applied, the swirls of color combine on the lips to make another color. A little bit like those tie-dye glosses they did a while back. The Lips With Benefits formula is also supposed to have some nice vitamins (Vitamins C and E) and antioxidants (acai and pomegranate extracts, vitamin C) to care for the lips and provide a non-sticky, hydrating formula.

These are one of the coolest looking glosses ever. They're way too pretty and interesting for just one picture of each, so I took about a million. Please click on any of them if you'd like to see more detail.

The shades are Alex, Ben, Chris and Josh.

They come equipped with the standard doe-foot wand applicator.

Another thing about these that's really nice is that the pattern is different on each side of the gloss. The glittery colors in these look especially cool unmixed. Here's a closer look at each shade.

LORAC Lips With Benefits in Alex


Alex


LORAC Lips With Benefits in Ben


Ben


LORAC Lips with Benefits in Chris


LORAC Lips With Benefits in Josh

There are two downsides to the cool design, though. The first being that you're never quite sure what the end result of mixing the colors is going to be when viewing the tubes. That can make it hard to decide what color to buy, not knowing how it will look when they're mixed. The second is that once you use them a few times, the layered zig-zag pattern gets smudged and then eventually disappears:

This is after about half a dozen uses. It doesn't look too bad, but you can see that the colors will eventually just blend together in the tube.

This is how each shade looks when applied:

In natural light and with flash. Alex, Ben, Chris, Josh. You can see that a little of the silver sparkle that's there in the tube does show up in the final color. I wouldn't call it glittery, but there are some good sized silver sparkles in each shade.

Here's what I thought.

What I liked:

• They look awesome.
  
• They smell amazing- a sweet but slightly caramel-like burnt sugar scent, just like the layer of caramelized sugar on top of crème brûlée.
• Attractive, solid tubes.
• Very good applicator, easy application.
• Smooth, silky, completely non-sticky formula.
• Decent wear time, they're not so slippery that they wear off immediately.
• Good color selection.
• Pretty good amount of product in the tubes (0.19 oz).

What I didn't like:

• The design eventually gets destroyed, and the design is one of the main reasons I like these.
• Has a bit of an odd taste to it, but nothing terrible. It doesn't taste exactly like it smells and it's not sweet like the Multiplex glosses.
• They're on the pricey side ($18), but still not as much as the Multiplex ones ($22 for 0.17 oz).
• These tend to look a little frosty when they're on, probably from all the fine silver and white shimmer.
• Hard to tell how the gloss is going to look when it's on because the colors are unmixed in the tube.
• Not moisturizing, but not drying either. I expected a more slippery, balmy-feeling gloss formula.

Overall, I like these for the novelty factor of the swirled design, the comfortable non-sticky formula, and the awesome sugary scent, so I think I might pick up the rest of the shades. Sephora only carries four shades, but Ulta has seven. My favorite one is Alex and my second favorite is Chris. Alex was a bit of a surprise- it turned a slightly warmer, slightly darker rosy shade than I thought it would be and it's really nice on me. I don't have another gloss like it. The two lighter shades (Ben and Josh) are too light and frosty for me when applied heavily, but look nice blotted down.

These are limited edition. $18 each from Sephora (Alex, Josh, Nick and Mark) or Ulta (Mark, Nick, Chuck, Ben, Josh, Andy, Chris).

(This was sent for review.)

Valentine's Day Skeletons

I was removing my Incoco Cupid's Arrow Valentine's Day manicure when this happened again:


I love it when that happens! The background color dissolves before the designs do and you're left with the skeletons of the pattern. I wish I knew of a way to clean this up a little (remove all traces of background color and touch up the color on the hearts) so I could wear it like this. I could just do a Konad stamp over a bare nail to get a similar effect, but I like the metallic design and raised look of these. Ah, well, looked cool while I was removing it at least.

None of the pictures of my Valentine's Day eye look turned out, but it was so pretty... I saved this one really dark picture because it showed the pretty pastel colors in the glitter:

That's a Wet n Wild loose glitter I picked up last summer. It's so pretty, I'm going to have to use it again and try to get it to show up in a picture. My Valentine's look ended up being Sugarpill Tako, Sugarpill Dollipop, MAC Passionate, and then the pastel Wet n Wild glitter over Tako. Pastel opal glitter looks awesome over white.

Remember when I mentioned how much I love those Sweethearts conversation hearts? I went out to get some and you know what? They don't make them like they used to anymore! The colors are all wrong and they changed the flavors and texture, even though they still call them "Classic." Brach's makes a type similar to the old Necco ones, but the shape and texture and flavor aren't the same. And then there were these....

They're Necco Sweethearts Dazzled Tarts. I don't know if you can tell, but they're glittery. Look at the one to the right of the one that says "Girlz" and you'll see the glitter. Glitter candy. That's kinda cool, but I'm still disappointed that they changed them and that the new ones are really half-assed looking. I mean... look at these. Some of them don't even have anything on them, you can't read half the ones that do, and some are just random pictures. And they say hilariously cheesy things like "LOL" and "holla".

(image source)

Oh... not that kind of Holla?

And what is that one just above the Lady Gaga reference supposed to be, anyway? I'm going to go with "disco stick."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! I didn't plan any creative Valentine's Day nail art this year. I was just planning on wearing one of those Sally Hansen Salon Effects, but then these showed up last night and looked even better than the one I previously planned on wearing.
They're the new Incoco Valentine's Day nail appliques and this design is called Cupid's Arrow. Here's how it looks on the website.


And here's how it looks on the nail. What's different about these compared to other designs I've worn recently is that the base is a very pretty light gold pearl, not pure white or glitter like I'm used to. The designs on this one are a pretty metallic bright red that goes really well with the warm gold pearl. I also like that there's a good variety of heart shapes, all different sizes but mostly small enough to get a lot on each nail, and not all facing the same direction so there's no way to accidentally apply them upside-down.

Application on these was easy as pie. The Incoco strips are really stretchy so they conform to my curved nails better and I get fewer wrinkles at the edges. The only problems I have with these are that the pinkie nail sized one is a little too skinny for my nail and there's no in between size, and that you have to be gentle with them for the first couple hours after applying, or you'll mess up the tips like I always do.

Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic Valentine's Day. Yeah, I know that it's cool to hate Valentine's Day... It's manufactured and commercial and it sucks and all that. But, I love holidays, manufactured or not. They're an excuse to do something different and fun, like make pink frosted cupcakes with heart-shaped sprinkles and give them to everyone you know. Or at least take advantage of the 50% off clearance sales on all the unsold heart-shaped boxes of chocolate.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of those Sweethearts/Conversation Hearts candies that are only sold around Valentine's Day. You know, the ones that are rock hard, taste like flavored chalk, and have things printed on them that you would never actually say to people? They used to say nice things like "I love you" and "kiss me," but now they say ridiculous things like "txt me," "www.love," and "you go girl"... And then there are these, which are my favorite variety. Actually, I don't know where I'm going with this other than to say that this is the one day of the year I'll eat those and I'll have fun reading them. And I just remembered that the reason I was thinking about conversation hearts in the first place is that I saw this pattern on Incoco's website. I think I've had too much sugar already and it's only 10 AM.

So....uh... Happy Hyperglycemia Day! XD

(The Incoco strips were sent for review.)

Duri 2012 Valentine's Day Collection Swatches and Review

Duri Cosmetics has a nail polish collection out for Valentine's Day this year. It's your standard pink-and-red Valentine's Day fare, but some of them are pretty nice.


Duri Breakfast in Bed. This is a pale, ever-so-slightly lavender-toned creamy pink base with a very subtle, very fine blue and purple shimmer. The shimmer is nearly invisible, but at certain angles it comes out as a blue flash across the surface of the polish.

Actually, maybe it's not actually breakfast in bed. Maybe it's Breakfest, like a festival where you go around smashing things and break dancing.


Duri Cranberry Crush. Medium berry-colored jelly. More mulberry than cranberry, slight purple tone.



Duri Every Day is a Valentine. A super bright cherry red jelly! This one I really like. It's a very glowy type of red, due to the depth of the jelly finish. Doesn't look flat or dull. The two bright reds in this collection are nearly identical; this one is the cooler-toned of the two.



Duri Forget Me Never. A warm pink creme. Not as bright as it looks here, but still what I'd consider to be a bright/hot pink. Reminds me of OPI Elephantastic Pink, actually. Dries darker than bottle color.



Duri Hot Date. This looks more red than it is in real life, but it's still a mauve-berry jelly. More purple-ish toned than pure red. I have a strong dislike for most berry polishes on me and this is no exception. Bleh. Plus, the name! Hot Date, really? I don't know if I'd really consider Bingo Night to be all that hot, but to each their own, I suppose...


Duri Sweetheart. If any of these colors say "hot date" to me, it's this one. This is a fire-eating belly dancer type of color! It's bright, the jelly finish gives it depth and it's very, very glossy. This is the warmer toned of the two bright reds, not quite a coral or an orange, but no blue undertone like Every Day Is A Valentine has.

The formula on these was varied. The two bright reds were unexpectedly thin/runny in texure, but had a really even application. The pink cremes were perfectly normal. The berry jellies were thicker and had a little drag to them. The brushes in these were all nice, so that helped application. I did three coats of all; they each needed all three. Dry time is average.

Not a particularly creative collection, but some of the colors are really nice. I didn't like the two berry shades at all, I liked the two pink shades well enough, but I loved the two bright reds. I am very fond of the jelly finish on the reds, and they're so bright and eye-catching, I can't help but love them. If you have a lot of reds in your collection (and I'm sure you do, as any nail polish enthusiast invariably ends up with way more reds in their collection than they ever intended to own...), there's nothing new here. All of these colors are pretty common and probably look like something you already own. The only one that I can't immediately think of a match for is Breakfast in Bed- the light pink creme with the blue flash.

These are all available from Duri's website, and I don't believe any of them are limited edition.

(This was sent for review.)

Stila Love At First Blush Palette Spring/Valentine's Day 2012

This thing is so adorable. Maybe not quite as unique/impressive as last year's, but still insanely cute and absolutely perfect for Valentine's Day.

Under fluorescent light, the coral color of the middle stripe comes out more.


But under natural light, the pretty rosy pink tone of the bottom stripe comes out more.

Unlike last year's palette, I can actually swatch this one without ruining it since there's no overspray. This is the three shades swatched over bare skin (no primer) in natural light, and then all three shades blended together (natural light also).

I've used this a couple times and I really like it. It is a little powdery at first, but has surprisingly good payoff. The color it creates when all three shades are blended is really natural and flattering and not as shimmery as I thought it would be. But, I also like picking up the shades separately with a smaller blush brush (those flat Benefit brushes are perfect for this) and using the more coral pink shade in the center as my blush and the light pink shimmer at the top as my highlight.

Normally when I buy something this pretty, I never end up using it because I don't want to ruin the design. But this time I went ahead and tried it and I'm really pleased that it's actually useable and that the design doesn't get too messed up after using it. Either way, I thought this was a steal at only $14.

I got mine from Stila's website, but Sephora has this alone and as a kit with two mini Lip Glazes for $20.

Magnetic Polish Instructions, Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions

I've gotten a lot of questions about magnetic polish, so I thought I'd put all the information here in one place for easy reference. If I've missed something, please let me know so I can add it to this post!

HOW TO APPLY MAGNETIC POLISH

1. Apply your usual base coat and let it dry.
2. Apply your first coat of magnetic polish to all ten nails and give it a minute to set.
3. Apply one coat of magnetic polish to a single nail. If it looks opaque enough, continue to step four. If it looks too sheer, add another coat to all nails before continuing.
4. Working one nail at a time, apply a coat of magnetic polish and then immediately hold the magnet over the nail.
5. Hold the magnet completely still for at least 10 seconds. Holding it longer will give you a clearer design.
   
6. Continue this process (apply final coat, expose polish to magnet) on all ten nails.
7. Wait a few minutes for the magnetic design to set before applying topcoat.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Magnetic polish does have a learning curve. It's not extremely difficult to use, but it can definitely take a few tries before you start to get the hang of applying it. Knowing how much polish to apply or how to hold the magnet to get the design to come out just right takes practice, but, to me, the results are worth the extra effort! These are some of the problems I've personally encountered when using magnetic polish.

For reference, these are the shapes I'm using below. Left to right: China Glaze diagonal pattern, China Glaze star pattern, Nails Inc. wave pattern, China Glaze chevron pattern.


The design looks like this:

Reason: Finger or magnet were moved while creating the design.

Solution: Hold still when exposing the wet polish to the magnet. If you wiggle or shift positions, it will create a blurred design.


The design looks like this:

Reason: Final coat of polish was already too dry when the magnet was applied.

Solution: Expose the magnet to the wet polish immediately after applying the final coat. Don't wait. If the polish is already too dry, simply add another coat.


The design looks like this:

Reason: The nail made physical contact with the magnet.
Reason: The final coat of polish was too thick or the magnet was too strong, so the magnet attracted the excess polish.

Solution: A thinner coat of polish will help prevent the polish from being attracted to the magnet. If your nail is actually touching the magnet, viewing your nail position from the side should help you to know when your nail is level.


The design looks like this:

Reason: Magnetic polish is too sheer.

Solution: Apply an extra coat of magnetic polish to each nail. Some magnetics will be opaque in one coat, others need two or three.


The design looks like this:

Reason: Final coat of polish is too thick and runny.

Solution: Apply a thinner coat of polish as the final layer. The magnetic design will still form when thin coats are used. When the coats are too thick and wet, the design will deform and blur as the polish pools and settles.


The design looks like this:

Reason: Topcoat was applied too soon.
Reason: Particular topcoat doesn't agree with the magnetic polish.

Solution: If this happens with every topcoat you use, try waiting for ten or so minutes to allow the polish to dry and the magnetic design to set before applying topcoat. If it only happens with certain brands of topcoat, switch to a different kind for your magnetic manicures.


The design looks like this:

Reason: The nail is very curved and the magnet is not strong enough.
Reason: Nail not level with the magnet.

Solution: If your nails are very curved, sometimes the magnet won't form an even design across the entire nail. This can be helped by choosing a magnetic polish with a stronger magnet. If you're having trouble holding your nail level under the magnet, view your position from the side to see if you're holding it straight.


The design looks like this:

Reason: Magnet or nail were off center while forming design.

Solution: The center of the design is usually in the center of the magnet. Be sure to hold the middle of the nail (or wherever you want the design to be centered) near the middle of the magnet. This is not always a problem; you can customize your design by centering it in different areas, it doesn't have to be right in the middle. It tends to be more of an issue on designs that look best centered in the middle of the nail, like the star or chevron patterns.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Do I have to use a magnet?
A: Yes. The magnetic polishes won't do anything without a magnet. Some brands come with a magnet on the bottle, other brands sell them separately, but you do need one if you want the magnetic design. If you don't really care about the design but you like the color and want to wear it like regular polish, then no, you don't need the magnet. But magnetic polishes will not form a design without one.

Q: Can I use a regular magnet that I have at home, for example, a refrigerator magnet?
A: No. The magnets designed for magnetic polish are embedded with patterns. A normal magnet doesn't have a special pattern and will just make an uneven blurry spot on the polish.
EDIT: Three people so far have told me that they have successfully used household magnets with magnetic polish. I tried a refrigerator magnet and it didn't work to form a design, but apparently there are some that will form a striped design. It definitely wouldn't hurt to try different magnets from around your house to see if the polish reacts to them!

Q: If I have a magnetic polish magnet, can I use it on normal nail polish?
A: No. It won't do anything on a normal polish. Magnetic polishes are made with tiny particles of iron that move when exposed to a magnet.

Q: Can I use one brand's polish with another brand's magnet?
A: Yes. All magnets designed for use with magnetic polish will work across all brands. You can use the China Glaze magnet with the Lancôme polish, the Nails Inc. polish with the Layla magnet and so on.

Q: Will topcoat ruin the magnetic design?
A: It depends. From personal experience, I've found that China Glaze Fast Forward topcoat does mess with the magnetic design, but other brands of topcoat like Seche Vite and Nubar Diamont don't disturb the design. Most magnetic polishes dry fast enough to not need a quick dry topcoat, but if you want to apply topcoat, I'd recommend giving the polish at least five to ten minutes to set so you won't streak the design.

Q: Can I use a regular, non-magnetic polish as a base layer for the magnetic polish?
A: Yes. I've done this frequently to conserve the tiny bottles of magnetic polish. You can apply as many coats as you'd like of normal polish and then apply a single coat of magnetic and the design will still form perfectly.

Q: If I use a normal polish as a base layer, will the color show through the magnetic design?
A: Sometimes. It depends on the magnetic polish. Some magnetic polishes are too opaque at one coat to let the bottom color show through. The more sheer magnetics (like the light greens and greys) will allow the bottom color to show through the design.

Q: Is magnetic polish harder to remove than regular polish?
A: Slightly. It comes off with nail polish remover just like regular polish, but I've found that some magnetic colors take longer to dissolve. I may need to use an extra two or three cotton balls with polish remover when removing a magnetic polish than my usual one or two with regular polish.

Q: Why won't the magnetic design stay as crisp and perfect looking as it did when it was newly applied?
A: I don't know what causes the magnetic design to blur over time, but it has happened with every magnetic polish I've tried. It will stay perfect looking for about a day, and then by the end of the second day, the design will start to spread out and blur, as if the iron particles are mixing back into the base color. I have not found a way to prevent this, but making sure your design is set and dry before applying topcoat seems to really help.

Magnetic polish after three days of wear, no basecoat.

Nina Ultra Pro Molten Gold over OPI Suzi Says Da!

Here's another lovely Nina Ultra Pro color. I have been trying to wear all of the unworn Nina polishes in my stash, and this was a particularly pretty one. I wore this combination last fall and it made me think of apples and apple cider!

Nina Ultra Pro Molten Gold (two coats) over OPI Suzi Says Da!