China Glaze INK Collection 2008 Swatches and Pictures

I really love the China Glaze Ink collection!

I took some pictures of it... Wanna see?







Flying Dragon, Blue Sparrow, A Rose Among Thorns, Japanese Koi, Sacred heart



Shocking Pink, Pink Voltage, Purple Panic, Celtic Sun, Turned Up Turquoise



And last, but not least, Ink.

Palette Porn: MAC DressCamp and Stila Kitten

I've been a good little blogger and have been busy taking pictures.

I promised some palette pictures yesterday, so here they are:

MAC DressCamp

Stila Kitten:





Bigger pictures on request.

MAC DressCamp and Stila Kitten palette reviews.

I completely forgot to mention my MAC Dress Camp and Stila Kitten palettes!

So, Dress Camp. Or is it DressCamp? One word, two words? Ah, I don't know. Anyway...

I got the lipstick, palette and both the lipglasses and I love them! Yes, I know there are plenty of hot pinks out there.... But these come in fancy zebra striped packaging!

All of the colors in the palette are similar to existing MAC colors, so I guess there's really nothing too special about it besides the packaging. Truthfully, I got it for the packaging, but coincidentally, all the colors are perfect on me. Bonus!

The lipstick (Too Fab) is a nice bright hot pink, but the finish is glossy and light and that makes it different from some of the previous hot pink lipsticks. The lipglasses are really just standard hot pink and gold, nothing too special, but they look awesome on me so I'm happy.

So, to summarize, the colors aren't unique so you don't have to worry if you had your heart set on buying them, but they are very flattering and come in cool packages.

Now, the Stila Kitten palette. I'm surprised by how small it is. The shadows inside are decent sized, but the compact is so... compact!

I haven't used it yet, but I can already tell I'm going to love Mystic and Sun.

I don't know why it's called the Kitten palette... I mean, yeah, Kitten is in there, but wouldn't Summer or Bronze or something be more appropriate?

I think I'll take some pictures later on if anyone is interested. They're definitely nice to look at.

I should be getting my NARS Orgasm nail polish tomorrow... I'll post pictures when it gets here.

Urban Decay Friends and Family Sale

Urban Decay is having their friends and family sale again!

It's 30% off your order, and you can't combine it with any other coupon codes.

The code is FFA30.

I already hauled my butt off.... Who can resist 30%??

Now I'm trying to resist ordering more...

I don't need more glitter liners.... I don't need more glitter liners.... I don't need more glitter liners....

OPI Mod About Brights Dating a Royal and Green-Wich Village, Part 2.

Pics, as promised. OPI Mod About Brights

Left: Dating a Royal
Right: Green-wich Village

Natural light.

OPI Mod About Brights Dating a Royal and Green-Wich Village, Part 1.

I have a few of the new OPI Brights collection!

Dating a Royal and Green-wich Village.

I'll have pics as soon as I can find a camera, but for now I'll describe:

Dating a Royal is a beautiful blue/indigo creme color, not exactly what I would call "bright" but it's pretty unique. I haven't seen this exact shade before.

Green-wich Village is a muted grassy green creme shade, very similar to China Glaze Tree Hugger. It's greener, but no shimmer.

They're both gorgeous, but I'm not sure why they're classified as "brights"...? I don't remember what the name of the collection is.. Mod Brights?

Anyway OPI 2008 Brights. Pics soon.

Debunking the Myth: Acrylics are Bad For Your Nails

Ok, I am so tired of hearing "Acrylics are bad! They will ruin your nails!!"

Seriously people. Enough already.

Even I might have said this in the past, but it's just not true.

Want to know what really ruins your nails?

Going to a cheap salon to get acrylics, and then removing them yourself.

Why does going to a cheap salon ruin your nails? Because they use that damn e-file (like a dremel) and completely destroy your nail plate. They practically grind it down to the bone, not to mention cut the skin around it. I know some nail techs can probably use one correctly, but come on. You won't find one going to a place called BEAUTY NAIL. I won't even get into how they lie about what products they use. But hey, if you want a full set for $30, go ahead, be my guest, better your nails than mine.

Why does removing them yourself ruin your nails? Tell me, have you ever had acrylic or gel nails and one of them broke or lifted or you didn't like them or whatever? Did you pick or chew it off? I'll bet you did. You somehow pried off that nail and it took half of your natural nail with it. Then you had thin, sore, peeling ruined nails for a month and you blamed it on the enhancements.

Don't get me wrong, I love my long, strong, beautiful natural nails. I have nice nails, and it's just easier this way. I have nothing against acrylic nails at all. I just don't need them.

To prove a point, I did a few liquid and powder on myself. After soaking them off properly, surprise, my natural nail looks exactly the same as it did before. No damage. If anything, it was more protected while I had the enhancements on.

In conclusion: STFU, n00b.

OPI Retro Fun In The Sun 2008 Promotional Image

YAY! New OPI collection! Retro Fun In The Sun!

I have no idea when this is coming out. I'm thinking after the new Brights collection (which should be out any day now.)

I wonder what else they will release this year...

Exploding Hookers

I've done it. I'm finally embarrassed by my manicure.

Today I have on the most obnoxious, hideous, nauseating abomination of a french manicure I've ever seen.

Get ready.

Nails are China Glaze Shocking Pink, with Sinful Dream On tips, coated in OPI Text Me, Text You. Left hand has different glitter polishes (China Glaze Wireless and Fairy Dust, Misa Confection Section, Candy Girl and Sweet Pleasure) instead of Text Me, Text You.

I'm not sure I can leave the house wearing this. It looks like a hooker exploded all over my nails.

China Glaze Ink Special Edition Cuticle Oil and Nail Art Polish

News flash!

Much to my surprise, China Glaze Ink (the color with the special nail art brush) isn't black... It's a dark navy blue!

The bottle is slightly smaller than a regular China Glaze bottle (.5oz?) and the brush is long and skinny, like a nail art brush. The brush looks perfect for doing stripes and other kinds of art. I can't wait to use it.

Also, the special edition China Glaze orange cuticle oil in Ink packaging has no brush. It's smaller than I thought it would be, and has a screw-top orange plastic cap. Not an issue, just unexpected.

To summarize:

China Glaze Ink is blue, not black.
China Glaze Ink Cuticle Oil has no brush.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Nail Care Tips

My nails are starting to become claws again. I like the way they look, but they keep getting caught in things, like in between the keys of my keyboard. They're really not *that* long, but they're longer than I usually keep them. I measured. They are one-third of an inch past my fingertips.

I physically can't get my nails shorter than a few millimeters past my fingertips. If I try to go any shorter than that, they bleed and hurt like crazy. I used to work with a habitual nail-biter, and if the habit itself wasn't disgusting enough to keep you from doing it, her nails sure would. Gross. Stubby bloody little nubs that didn't even come up to her fingertip. Just thinking about them makes me a little nauseated.

Aaaaanyway....

I do have a few tips to keep your nails long and healthy.

1. This is the most important. Solar Oil. Constantly. I keep a mini bottle with me wherever I am. Nightstand, car, purse, kitchen, couch, bathroom, desk... Put it on whenever you see it. Not only does it keep your cuticles looking nice, but it helps your nails stay conditioned. I'm sure you can use whatever kind of cuticle oil you prefer, but I have the best results from Solar Oil.
2. Always keep some sort of polish on your nails. Nails can not "breathe", they don't need to "rest"... What they need is to be protected. Polish keeps your nails protected. If you don't feel like having color on your nails, just use treatment like Nail Envy or Nailtek.
3. Use a nail treatment as basecoat. If you're going to wear one, why not have it do something good for your nails at the same time? If you're worried that they don't make good basecoats, let me just say that Nail Envy prevents chips on me way better than Bonder or Stickey ever did.
4. Your nails are not screwdrivers or paint scrapers or crowbars. Do not abuse them.
5. Even if you want your nails very long, you need to shape them. It applies to hair, it applies to nails. Shaping them with a glass file every now and then can actually prevent peeling at the ends and keep them looking nice and not ragged.
6. Wear gloves when doing housework. Scrubbing toilets, doing dishes, scouring the bathtub, whatever. It's hell for your hands and nails. Splurge on a 99 cent pair of rubber gloves. Ha. Anytime you have your hands in water for an extended period of time, put them on.
7. Don't peel off your nail polish or over-buff your nails. This takes off layers of nail and really weakens them. Occasional buffing is good, especially if you have stains or ridges, but every time you buff your nails get thinner.
8. Take your vitamins. Especially Biotin. Do it every day. Fish oil, too. And no, drinking Knox Gelatin or eating Jell-O does not make your nails grow.
9. This almost doesn't need to be said, but be careful. Digging around in your purse or rummaging through drawers, carrying groceries, that sort of thing. This goes with number four. Don't blatantly abuse your nails, but also be careful of inadvertent damage.
10. I'm not sure I can think of a number ten, but the list doesn't look right ending in nine.

Now that you're all sick of me playing self-proclaimed nail Guru.... A quick comment to my googlers.

WHAT IS SO INTERESTING ABOUT SLUTTY RED NAILS?!?!?!

Is it some sort of fetish? I don't get it. I get a bizarre number of hits on any combination of the words slutty, nails, slut and red... (Oh great, now it's going to double.) Are you looking for pictures? Is there some sort of movie or book with that title? Or do you just like hearing someone say red nails are slutty?

I get almost as many hits on "Carol's Daughter moldy" and I can only hope they're talking about beauty products.

OMG MISA SUGAR SUGAR GLITTER SUPER HAPPY FUN TIME YAY

Okay, I just got the new Misa Sugar Sugar collection and WOW! They're nothing like what I thought they would be.

THEY'RE SPARKLY!!!! AND IRIDESCENT!!!!!

GLITTER!!!!!111!!!!!one!!11

China Glaze Ink Collection 2008

My manicure right now is... China Glaze Flying Dragon!!!!!!

I got my Ink! Yay!!

Let me tell you, I think I've found THE color. Flying Dragon is incredible. I might be wearing this for a long time. The only downsides are formula related- it's thick and goopy, and dries to a weird gritty matte finish. I guess nothing a little topcoat can't fix, but still.

I'm really impressed with the Ink collection, color-wise. They're way more vibrant than they appear in the promotional pictures. Celtic Sun is nearly blinding, it's even brighter than Color Club Yell-Oh.

I do feel a little guilty to have ruined a perfectly good OPI Peel Me a Gobi Grape manicure this morning. It's like Catherine the Grape, but fifty bajillion times better. I was in a glitter mood so I thought I'd make it even better with some Nutcracker Sweet glitter topcoat, and to my dismay that totally ruined it. Oops. But, now I'm wearing more purple, so it's all good. (Did I just say "it's all good"?)

So, Ink. If you like neons (who doesn't?) get them. Half of them are re-releases of the older neons, but the rest are brand new and awesome.

P.S. Clarisonic uber alles.

OPI India Collection, China Glaze Eco Collection and Everyday Minerals.

I got my OPI India and China Glaze Eco polishes today.

They're pretty cool, but I haven't worn any of them yet. Unplugged and Recycle look really awesome, though. I don't want to paint my nails right now. I'm still enjoying yesterday's manicure of Sally Hansen Glossy with OPI Man of La Mancha on top. I really love the old formula OPIs, I wish they'd go back. And I'm really getting sick of the ProWide brush that I used to love so much.

I also got one of those Beauty Blender things.... I haven't tried that, either. I used mineral makeup today.

I'm going to sound like a total heretic here, huge Bare Escentuals fan that I am, but I tried the Everyday Minerals Try Me kit and I think I'm in love.

They offer different formulas, which I like. I am wearing the Intensive one, which offers way more coverage than my beloved Bare Minerals, using less product.

The color match is nearly spot on. I usually wear Light or Fairly Light in Bare Minerals, but for some reason the last two refills I've purchased have been much darker and pinker. I even have an old jar to compare, and they're definitely different. I am wearing the lightest shade in Everyday Minerals (on the cool spectrum) and it's perfect. Not pink, not orange, not white.

I'll have to keep using it to see if it does anything weird to my skin, but so far, so good!

Orly Rock Candy: Miracle Worker

Yesterday's manicure was OPI's Make Love. I don't know what inspired me to pick that color. It's an opaque milky pink. It really stands out on your nails. I just wasn't feeling it. At times I loved it, other times I wondered what I was thinking.

This morning I debated removing it, but since it was still perfectly pristine, I thought maybe I'd modify it instead. I originally planned to layer OPI Pink Ulta-Matum over it, but then another polish caught my eye. Orly Rock Candy. I'm glad I went with the Rock Candy. It's perfect.

Rock Candy is a sheer somewhat shimmery iridescent sort of color, with mostly blue-green overtones, but layered over the top of Make Love, it looks like mother of pearl. I was trying to figure out what the color reminded me of, and that's it- the inside of seashells. Really pretty and interesting at the same time.

I broke down and ordered the three OPI India polishes I had my eye on, and decided to throw in the China Glaze Eco collection in with them... to keep them company. I'm actually more excited about the Eco ones than the India ones. Finally, a grey nail polish that's not gunmetal or silver.

I also can't wait for the China Glaze Ink collection... I love bright colors, and I can't wait to be wearing that purple one.

I'm still in a makeup rut. It's painful.

I got my MAC Fafi stuff, and I'm really disappointed that the special Fafi packaging is just stickers/plastic overwrap. How lame. I don't get this Fafi stuff. Meh, whatever. When Heatherette comes out I'll be able to rave about that.

Cargo Blu Ray High Definiton Makeup Collection Review

I'm trying out this new Cargo Blu-Ray High Definition BS makeup whatever stuff.... I'm not sure why I bought it, but it seemed like a really great idea at the time. Drunken Sephora ordering, FTW!

Here are my first impressions:

The powder seems like any normal pressed powder, but the color is way too dark. It only comes in one shade and I feel like I'm suffering serious floating head syndrome. The finish seems nice enough, but I can't be absolutely sure, as I'm wearing it over MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (which I'm pretty sure I don't like.)

The blush/highlighter is pretty nice. Actually, really nice. It's a neutral pink shade with what appears to be a bit of shimmer. The texture is absurdly soft, so be careful. I tapped my brush onto it and sent a giant cloud of blush dust everywhere. That's how soft it is.

The mascara is freaky weird, but effective. The applicator is basically a paddle with a really thin comb on one end. It absolutely will not clump and gives decent length, but I couldn't build much volume with it. I need volume. It's also a little messy to apply because you have to press so hard to deposit mascara from the weird comb onto your lashes, and you get mascara flecks on your eyelid as a result.

The glosses seems nice so far. I used the one in the lower left hand corner. Shade is nice, nothing special. The formula is nice and smooth, not the least bit sticky. It has a slight mint flavor and cooling sensation, but nothing dramatic. It's your average gloss, I guess.

I didn't try the mattifier because I don't need one and it would probably make my skin look dry. Can't report on that. Maybe next time.

Now I'm off to remove my awesome Amp'd Up manicure to try Chanel Azur over Blue Satin. I hope it turns out cool.

Color Club Ampd Up With China Glaze Wireless Holographic Topcoat

Ok, here's some pics. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. It doesn't look neon or holographic and I can't figure it out. It looks cool in real life... Am I using the wrong lighting? Frustrating.

Anyway, Color Club Amp'd Up with one coat of China Glaze Wireless Holographic Topcoat (and Seche Vite).

Flash (just for fun)


No flash:

Urban Decay New Releases for 2008, China Glaze Wireless Holographic Topcoat and Lancome L.U.C.I

I remembered what else the Urban Decay lady said was being released... Colored mascaras, and I believe she said it was the Big Fatty formula.

I had to post because I just tried out my China Glaze Wireless Holographic topcoat. I have a very loud manicure right now. First, a quick review of the topcoat: Sparkles.

It's very pretty, but not really all that noticeable. I used one coat, but tried two coats on my left thumb. It's not really in-your-face holo, but the effect is just gorgeous.

Since I was faced with the prospect of making any holographic color I wanted, I decided to make a color that I know doesn't exist: Holographic neon orange. Hell yes.

I used Color Club Amp'd Up as my base. Let me talk to you about Color Club. It's dirt cheap, has a huge range of colors and the application is a breeze. Sure, it's not OPI or China Glaze, but that doesn't mean it can't be good. Almost all the colors I have are completely opaque in one coat, and I can't say that about many of my pricier polishes. If you can find them, you should definitely pick up a few.

Once my camera is charged I'll try to take a picture, but I'm a really terrible photographer, so I can't promise the pictures will be good.

I got a chance to try my new Lancome things.

First of all, the L.U.C.I. Eyes Ray of Apricot Light is incredibly disappointing. It's not iridescent, it's not light-reflective or photonic or whatever... it's just crap. The texture of the coppery colored shadow is nice, but it's nothing special. The "special" white/pink shadow is extremely chalky and is just a shell pink with white chunks. It does come in a very cool shell shaped compact, but I think you'd be better off trying it before buying it. If you're interested in the "iridescent" shadow, you should try MAC Vex. It's cooler, has more depth and the texture is like velvet. MAC has lots of nice duochromes with fabulous texture and the price is way more reasonable.

The Juicy Tubes Julie Verhoeven in Pink Muse is beautiful. It's a sheer, barely-there pink gloss with a small-size diamond glitter. It's not glittery, but it really lights up when the light hits it. Very pretty.

The Juicy Tubes Star Shower is puzzling. I don't see why it's called Star Shower. There's not really any shimmer or anything. It is pretty, but, huh. Star Shower?

Zoya Angelina, Chanel Azur, and random beauty babble.

My manicure today is Zoya Angelina. I don't know, I really like this color but I don't get it. In the bottle it's clearly brown. A very dark chocolate brown, like my favorite Valrhona Le Noir Amer 71%... Mmm.... Dark and bitter, it suits me well, no?

However, on the nails, it just looks black. It's an interesting effect. It's black, but there's something different about it. It's softer, not as harsh... In the right light you can see that it's actually brown, but otherwise you can't tell. It kinda makes my fingertips look red.

Another color I don't get: Chanel Azur. I admit, it was an impulse buy because it looked soooooooooo cool in the bottle, but now I don't know what to do with it. By itself it's not strong enough to make an impression. Sure, it's really cool looking, but you have to be under the right light and looking right at it.

I think it would be great for layering, but I don't know what to use with it. I tried it over China Glaze For Audrey and it just made it look blah. I'll try it over Blue Satin, or some other dark blue, Zoya Indigo maybe? It might enhance the sparkle. Hmm. We'll see. Any ideas?

This week I've changed my nails every day. Monday was Clarins 230, Tuesday was Zoya Creamy, Wednesday was OPI Pretty at the Premier (blah), Thursday started out as Essie Decadent Diva but then I changed to China Glaze OMG, which was chipped this morning so now I have Zoya Angelina. I think I have manicure ADD.

Nothing in the makeup world is really all that interesting right now. I am a little excited for Heatherette for MAC (or other way around?) but I haven't seen any pictures. It's Heatherette, it has to be good.

I did acquire some new makeup this week. Lancome Color Fever Gloss Photonic in Rainbow, which didn't really live up to the hype. L.U.C.I. eyes duo in Ray of Amber Light, Juicy Tubes Sparkling Night in Star Shower and Juicy Tubes Julie VerHoeven Pink Muse, none of which I've used yet, so I can't really review.

My Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab collection has reached critical mass. I have no place to store it. I need to go box shopping. Without counting duplicates, I have 214 bottles and 310 imp's ears. That's 524 unique scents from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab alone. I won't stop until I've tried them all! Gotta catch em all!!!!

I need some sort of box organization system... I used to keep all my limited editions in one box, lunacies in another, general catalogues in another and all of my imps are alphabetized in ammo boxes and the duplicates are in a huge ziploc bag in my nightstand. Now my nightstand is completely covered in bottles and imps that no longer fit in their designated boxes. I'm afraid I'll knock them over or something.

I want to keep them upright, but I want them protected. No shelves. I label the tops of the bottles with stickers, so I don't need to see the labels. A box would be ideal, or multiple boxes to avoid risk of tragedy.

I'm going out to the garage to get myself in trouble come up with an idea.

Flat Iron Method For Depotting MAC Eyeshadows

Ooh, I just got an interesting google hit... "What is another thing I can use to depot my eyeshadow".

My answer: Your flat iron!

I actually find the flat iron (straightening iron) method to be a lot easier than with a candle.

Here's what I do. Pop out the plastic part (talking MAC here) containing the eyeshadow pan as usual.

Set the iron on the hottest setting. Set the plastic pan on the flat iron for a couple seconds. The plastic will become soft, just like the flame method. Use a tool (tongs, tweezers, I use my cuticle pusher, shh...) to pry the shadow pan out of the soft plastic. Be careful not to gouge the shadow.

I apply a magnet, then I warm up the label side of the original pot so that the label glue comes loose and I stick the label on the magnet and place it in my palette.

Simple, painless, and you can't set yourself on fire this way.

OMG, WTF! And Carol's Daughter Mold.... again.

Ah, now I know why China Glaze called it the OMG collection... Because when you put it on, you're like, "OMG THIS IS CHIPPED ALREADY!!!"

Maybe they should release a color called WTF. Seriously. This stuff chipped within the hour! I did my usual Nailtek II, two coats of polish, Seche Vite and Qtica Half Time, which usually gets me 4-7 days of wear if I can wait that long... But, no. This chipped immediately. I didn't have any oil on my nails. I always clean with acetone or Seche Erase or Creative (Sorry, CND) ScrubFresh or NailFresh... I don't want my polish chipping before I'm ready to take it off.

Oh well.

I know this is something I've said many times before, but I will say it again. LUSH has the WORST customer service. Ever.

Moving on... I've been getting a lot of hits on "Carol's Daughter mold" and I think I can understand your frustration. It seems to be one of those natural companies that use no parabens. Now, while there is a lot of speculation on the safety of parabens, personally, I have never seen any definite proof or evidence enough for me to stop using products with parabens. In fact, I have a hard time using products without them. Why? You need parabens. They keep your products from getting moldy and growing all sorts of stuff that you can't see that can give you a wicked skin condition or infection.

I only own one Carol's Daughter product, and that's the Black Vanilla Leave-In Conditioner, and as far as I can tell it's still fine, but I might give it a test to make sure. Yes, you can actually test your products for bacteria and fungus. Very CSI, right?

China Glaze OMG Collection Swatches and Review

China Glaze OMG:
(Not pictured: TTYL. It's ass-ugly.)
Please excuse the broken nail. I broke it opening the box. Irony.




Edit: Okay, I might at well post my review.

They seem to dry super fast, like holographic colors seem to do for some reason. The thing is, they dry matte, so be sure to get a coat of Seche Vite on there if matte's not your thing. They are completely opaque in one coat, which is awesome, but they seem to have that "Big 3 Free" formula problem of being goopy and runny at the same time, so watch out for stray globs of nail polish that randomly fall off the brush.

The holographic particles in these are also much smaller than the Kaleidoscope collection. I'd say they're even quite a bit smaller than the OPI Designer Series ones, too. This makes more of a holographic sheen rather than an in-your-face kind of holo like the others. It's not bad, it's just more subtle.

I decided on DV8 (that's the one on my pinkie in the second picture) for my manicure. I think I like DV8 and L8R G8R the best so far, and OMG seems to be really similar to the hard to find Chanel Holographic.

Overall, I like them, but not as much as Kaleidoscope.

Oh, and Anaconda is amazing. Bastards.

Clarins 230 crappy pictures.

Since I'm in a nails mood right now, I thought I'd post a few pics of one of my favorite colors. Clarins 230.

It's this translucent glossy purple with a green duochrome and gorgeous red/orange/amber/yellow shimmer that just comes to life when light hits it. It definitely needs three or more coats (my pictures are three coats with Poshe on top), but it's worth it. I found it extremely difficult to capture on film, but it's obviously because I'm a crap photographer.

Flash:




No flash:
















I think I need to take photography lessons. There HAS to be a way to catch this stunning color on camera, and I'm determined to do it. Oh well. There you have it, Clarins 230.

LaVanilla Vanilla Coconut Healthy Body Butter rocks!

Quick comment:

I just tried the LaVanila Vanilla Coconut Healthy Body Butter and... OMFG. This stuff is awesome!

The texture is nice, not greasy, just like the other scents, but this one is special. It's the PERFECT coconut-vanilla scent that smells like both coconut and vanilla without smelling like suntan lotion, glade, or play-doh.

I'm definitely getting the Vanilla Coconut EDP after smelling this. Haters be damned, if it smells good, it smells good!

And... My China Glaze OMG collection polishes should be here Monday, and I'll take pictures, because they sound really cool.

Makeup Doppelganger. Zoya and Seche Vite don't play well together.

First things first, for all you googlers, as far as I know, the entire Sephora Indulgences line has been DISCONTINUED. Very sad, especially since I really loved the Vanilla Frosting scent. The new Sephora bath and body line is okay, and I'd recommend the Coconut Almond scent, it's somewhat similar. The Creme Brulee is kinda funny, very similar to the also discontinued Bath and Body Works Tutti Dolci Creme Brulee scent.

With that aside, I have to share my excitement. I think I met my doppelganger! It was weird. She works at Home Depot (even weirder.)

While she wasn't quite my identical twin, she had the same haircut as I do, and was wearing black (or some variation of black) nail polish- and get this- the same makeup I was wearing. I was in the checkout and she says "I like your makeup!" and I looked up (she was almost a foot taller than me) and noticed hers. It looked like Urban Decay Blunt and Gash. I was wearing Blunt and Gash, with Make Up For Ever Diamond Powder (02) and a few other things .... It was so weird. Sure, she didn't really blend it at all, but the sheer fact that she was wearing it nearly made me pee my pants.

So, there's my story for the day.

Also, I've been having a problem with my Seche Vite! I think something may have gotten into it. Now when I apply it over wet polish like I usually do, it scrunches up and looks squiggly and becomes cloudy white. It seems to only happen with Zoya. It never did this before. I used it over Zoya Casey and Nocti Flying Naked. It happened once on my toes with Yasmeen, but I thought it was a fluke. Does this happen to anyone else?

I got sick of trying to make the Zoya/Nocti/Seche Vite manicures work, so I'm wearing OPI Who Are You Wearing. In the bottle I thought they gave me a mislabeled bottle of Russian Navy or OPI Ink!, but once it's on your nails and dry it looks like a blackened purple. Really pretty, but not as interesting as Ink. After using Zoya and Essie for my last manicures, I now realize how superior OPI is. It dried in absolutely no time at all (under 5 minutes with Seche Vite and Qtica Half Time), it's rock hard and shiny as glass, went on smoothly and was completely opaque in two coats. It's a shame they raised the price by a whole dollar.

I also have the entire China Glaze OMG collection (sans Wireless, because it was out of stock =( ) on the way... I can't wait to try it. I freaking love those holographic polishes. I have the whole Kaleidoscope collection and most of the OPI Designer Series. Having holographic nails is very distracting.

OPI Light My Sapphire is ugly, but OPI and Apple Pie isn't.

OPI Light My Sapphire is easily the ugliest nail polish I've ever worn.

It's just so.... blah! It's not blue, it's not black, it really just looks dingy and uninteresting.

Light My Sapphire and Catherine the Grape are the only two colors I've taken off just hours after applying them because I couldn't stand having BLAH nails anymore.


I like OPI and Apple Pie better than this!

Cumming: The Fragrance: The Best Commercial Ever

Yes, I did actually pay $69 for Cumming: The Fragrance.

Not only because I love Alan Cumming, but it has the most hilarious commercial for a fragrance EVER.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7SHFQ5V3kZE

Warning: Don't click unless you want to see naked man ass. I suppose you might call it NSFW....

Earthy... Really earthy. *nod*

Gross Mascara Googler and also Too Faced Shadow Insurance is better than Urban Decay Primer Potion.

To the person who hit my blog by googling "make mascara useable again":

OMFG!!! THROW IT OUT!!! Don't do it, man!!!

Anyway... Not much time to write, but I wanted to say that the new Too Faced Shadow Insurance ROCKS. So far, it's way better than Urban Decay Primer Potion.

Better texture, it has a bit of tint to it to even out lid color, shadows blend easier and no creasing.

Nice!

Why I hate Mary Kay, and some helpful eye makeup tips.

Ack! Speak of the devil. That Mary Kay lady keeps calling me! I just had a nice chat with her explaining why I don't like Mary Kay. I felt bad, it seemed like she took it personally. She kept insisting that Mary Kay is the "Number one selling brand in the world!" and that they are "the best!" I wonder if she could hear my eyes rolling.

I would encourage everyone to visit http://www.pinktruth.com before considering being bullied into becoming a "multi-millionaire" Mary Kay consultant.

I won't go into why I don't like Mary Kay as a company, as you can visit http://www.pinktruth.com and read about it for yourself.

I will explain further why I don't like the products. Simple:

* Low pigmentation
* Poor quality
* No variety
* No personality
* High price
* Too dated

Okay, I know this isn't the pick on Mary Kay blog, and I'm not trying to. It's just that these consultants are so pushy- they're like vultures! They are relentless! They'll say anything to get you to buy as much product as you can carry and guilt trip you into becoming a consultant.

Now for something positive. There's too much negativity in the air.

Let's talk about eyes!

I'm an eye person- I've always felt that they were my best feature and I always choose to make them the focal point of my look.

I feel that eyeliner and mascara are the simplest thing that anyone can do to make themselves instantly look better.

What's the point of eyeliner? It works in a few different ways. It darkens your lashline to make your lashes look thicker and your eyes more defined. It makes your eyes appear bigger and draws attention to them. It has a framing effect. It can also change the visual shape of your eyes depending on how you apply it, for example, the cat eye effect.

Eye makeup is absolutely worthless without mascara. You can't look finished without it. I see so many girls walking around with eyeshadow or eyeliner and straight, bland looking lashes. It makes their eyes look faded. It makes them look... weird. Like maybe they're sick, or tired.

Here's my eyeliner trick. I line inside my lashes, and on my upper waterline or upper rim. It really gives my eyes that extra something and eliminates any skin-colored gaps that can ruin your eye look. It can be a little tricky to do, but it's worth trying! It helps to look up with your eyes open, and take your pencil and run it along the wet part. Make sure it is freshly sharpened and clean. Then try to draw in your lashes. You can make dots in between or just do what I do and draw back and forth right at your lashline. Angle the pencil down and make sure you don't get it all over your lids.

You can stop there for a more natural look, or continue with a regular eyeliner application for a more defined look.

I always line last, right before curling my lashes. If you put eyeliner on before shadow, the shadow dulls your liner. If you curl your lashes first, it's difficult to make a straight line and you get a lot of lashes in the way. If you put mascara on first, the eyeliner ruins your mascara. The only exception is if you're doing a dark smoky eye- You can line first and put shadow on top, but I usually line again after that.

Mascara is the easiest part. Curl your lashes first! It helps. Take your curler, clamp right at the lashline (don't pinch yourself!) and hold for 10 seconds. You can either pump or hold, I do both and they both give the same result. Then, look at the mirror. Tilt your head back and look down your nose. That's a neat trick I learned that really comes in handy if you're like me and get mascara all over your lids.

Okay- you're sitting with your head tilted and you're looking down your nose- this gives you lots of lid space. Hold your mascara wand next to your lashes and blink. Once you have the first coat on, you can fill in where you want more lash. I always do extra on the outer edges of my lashes. It makes your eyes seem wider.

One more tip- always wear black mascara. Even if you are blonde. You want your lashes to frame your eyes and to be defined. When you wear brown mascara it makes your lashes blend in with the background, which makes your eyes blend in and not look quite right. It doesn't have to be super black - you can get soft black (or even dark blue!) but you want it to look like you have eyelashes, not weird brown fuzz.

That's all there is to it. It probably takes about a minute and a half to do, but it makes you look so much more awake and defined. It adds interest and helps draw attention to your eyes.

Stay Away From Mary Kay (Seriously.)

I'm back! Man, it's really good to be home. I never thought of my self as a snobby "city girl" until staying a week in the country... It's so good to be back in a mold-free bathroom. I can finally feel clean after showering again!


I had an epiphany. I attended a (don't laugh) Mary Kay party last night. Now, I have to be nice because a very good friend of mine had asked me to go, and who am I to turn down a chance to play makeup? But, good golly, it was like Makeup for Idiots, 101. I wanted to stab my eye out with the disposable sponge-tip applicator.

It wasn't just the sub-par quality of the products, the indoctrination or the identical look everyone was wearing. It was the whole experience. This is where the epiphany part happens.

These girls, really I love them to death, it's just so sad that they cling to this terrible product for no reason other than it's the first/only brand they've been introduced to! I think the reason more women don't wear makeup more often is because of some of the crappy product they grew up using. I mean, based on my experience at this party, I can see that happening. I was handed poor quality products shaved onto a palette, no tools other than sponge-tip applicators, no proper lighting or instruction on how to make the makeup flatter and enhance your looks.... No nothing! Just scrape, apply, look like crap, then have the kooky lady insist that you'll make $80k a month being a Mary Kay consultant and you'll drive a pink Cadillac and live happily ever after.

I came in with my full face of MAC and the like, which I suppose can be a little startling, I'll admit, heh. I didn't know we would be applying makeup. I thought it was kind of like a tupperware party. Pass around the catalog, order junk and the hostess gets a nice bonus.

I was wearing a slightly over the top look. I was feeling festive. Copper Sparkle and bronze, loaded with Make Up For Ever diamond powder, black eyeliner and my usual metric ton of mascara. My face was covered in glitter a little bit, but that wasn't intentional. I found this cool spray at Bath and Body Works, it's like scented aerosol glitter. It's like super glitter explosion times ten. I tried to put some in my hair- one little spritz- and it covered my entire bathroom, head and body in glitter. I think I even inhaled it.... I'm gonna get the glitter lung... Anyway, getting off topic...

I'm instructed to take off my makeup. After a little hesitation I do so. We cleanse with a little blob of cleanser and remove it with a baby wipe... eeew. I put on some serum and moisturizer, eye cream and a lip mask. All over sticky baby wipe residue... eeww. We then apply some crappy yellow concealer, which is the wrong shade for everyone, and then some cakey orange foundation. We then apply orange powder with a cotton ball, and orange bronzer (also with a cotton ball.) We looked like the 80's.

We then move on to eyeshadow. My color scheme was plums. Cool, I rock the purples like nobody's business, I can handle putting it on with a sponge... Or so I thought. We go directly to applying eyeshadow without an eyeshadow base. So, my light purple shade ended up being translucent grey. We then apply the medium shade to the crease. Mine ended up being slightly darker translucent grey. Then we were to apply the darkest shade "in a triangle" with a sponge. Mine was kinda sparkly translucent grey. Hmm. Mary Kay lady also seemed to have missed the class on blending.

We get eyeliner and mascara samples and apply them. I look around and the other lovely ladies have the dreaded eyeliner gap- where there's skin clearly visible between the lashline and the liner itself. The Mary Kay lady has this also. Apparently this is an acceptable look in the Mary Kay world.

I am embarrassed to admit it, but my makeup looked like crap. My face was orange, my skin looked dry, my eyeshadow looked like garbage and I was wearing brown lipstick. I can't imagine many ladies being very excited about wearing makeup if they thought they would end up looking like this. Hell, if this was my only experience with cosmetics, I wouldn't wear it either! Though, I wouldn't know that there was anything better out there either, and maybe I would settle. I think that's it. These girls have never been in a Sephora, never heard of MAC, never have felt the giddiness of walking into a room full of sparkling little jars and tubes and pots and palettes.

That makes me a little sad. There's just so much fun waiting to happen with makeup. Playing with different looks and colors and textures, different scents and all that fun stuff. Maybe some women see it as a necessary evil. They wear it because they have to, same look day in and day out, without any joy in it. Makeup is not permanent! It's not like cutting your hair or getting plastic surgery or buying am expensive new outfit. It's a way to change your look instantly, and if you don't like the way it turns out, just remove it.

I know I'm a little bit crazy, a bit too obsessed and even a little bit fanatical... But really, there's a lot of fun to be had in it, and there are much better results to be experienced. Even I get stuck in a rut at times, but if you're willing to branch out, there's a lot of enjoyment to be had in this simple everyday 'chore'.

All that being said, I did end up buying some hand lotion. I wasn't gonna be a total bitch. Even if the makeup sucks, Mary Kay does make some nice lotion. Mary Kay Satin Hands kit... I've been using it for years and I would definitely recommend it.