U JELLY? Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz : Review and Swatches

Being a fan of creme finishes for their glossiness it was only a matter of time before I gave into nail polishes with a jelly finish.  You know, those super glossy nail polish that you HAVE to put three coats on because the first one is almost clear.  

The first jelly nail polish I ever set my eyes on was NARS Zulu.  The once elusive now not so elusive Zulu, but more on that later.  

In the more accessible range, here is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Purple Pizzazz, which I paid 2.99$ at Shoppers Drug Mart.  It seems nowadays that they're getting rid of A LOT of nail polishes because every drugstore has some brand on clearance.  Usually it's mostly duds that are left, but once in a while you see a little gem like this one.  

What you see up here is three coats in natural sunlight, well, it was cloudy but... you get the idea.  It's a jelly base that has some shimmer to it which makes it fascinating to look at.  I literally couldn't stop looking at it the other night and kept telling my boyfriend ''isn't it pretty?'', which obviously he didn't see LOL.

I know some people have trouble with jelly nail polishes because they tend to be streaky if applied incorrectly but this one was a breeze.  Very high quality for the price and definitely an unusual color.

Now here's a shot with the flash so you can see the shimmer I'm talking about.  I just loooove it.  It's very subtle and that's what makes it so lovely.  I hate shimmer that leans towards frosty or foil looks and this obviously isn't that.  

It's definitely one of my favorite right now and I'm sure I'll be wearing a lot this winter.  Do you like jelly finishes?  What are your favorite shades?

Doctor Flakie or How I Learned To Stop Wanting and Love the Dupes.

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm bad.  Like REALLY bad.  At a lot of things.  Things that require a lot of coordination like basketball (double dribble anyone?) or that require precision or arm strength (yeah I throw like a girl) or memorizing tax reliefs conditions for exams.  

But the thing I'm the worst at is willpower.  When I want something, I want it.  Badly.  You might argue that this is good because it drives me to accomplish stuff, well yeah, that too, but it does account for some STUPID DECISIONS.

A while ago flakies started popping up several places in swatches online.  With Finger Paints releasing a collection of flakies, they were all the rage.  Thing is though... they're only available at Sally's.  And not online, in store ONLY.  And guess what?  There are no Sally's here.  

So I ventured on ebay to try and find those precious Finger Paints flakies.  Yeah, bad idea.  The whole pack of them was 70$+shipping, when they retail for 5.49$ each.  If I had bought them - and I almost did, several times - I would have overspent by like at least 45$.  Like I said... STUPID DECISIONS.

Gladly, someone mentioned that Inglot had flakies as well... And I purchased two of them, which were 12$ each.  I picked the green one (203) and blue one (204), because I don't really care for multicoloured flakies or orange-toned ones (scandalous, I know).

Here are the results :  

Now.. isn't that GORGEOUS?  I must've looked at my nails all day that day LOL.  I layered it over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, which is my go to black as seen here.  Even though it is mostly a green flakie, you can definitely see some blue flakies in there :).  

Oh and this is one coat of flakies only, so it's a lot more pigmented than the Finger Paints flakies from what I've seen/heard.

A little pet peeve though.. can you see how SMALL this bottle is.  It's really halfway between a regular Essie bottle and a mini Essie.  That's how small the thing is.  But honestly, I've never EVER finished a nail polish (except blacks, base/top coats and treatments) so it's not like I think I will run out of this someday.  But still, for 12$ it's a little infuriating.

Lastly a close up pick to show the prettiness in all its glory.   

I'll try and post a matte flakies look 'cause those are GORGEOUS as well.  Much less tacky also imo... because let's face it, when you've been rocking these for 2-3 days, you do start to see them like a trend that you will look back on someday and say WHAT THE F*** WAS I THINKING?

What are your thoughts on flakies?

OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui and China Glaze High Hopes: Review and Swatches

Urgh. So sorry. I've been a bad blogger lately.  You know, the Holidays and all that.  Another semester at school (will I ever be done with these?).  Anyways, no excuses!

Now, here to the good stuff.  Nail polish *___*

I've mentioned before on this post that I've ordered a few nail polishes from Nail Polish Supplies inc because they're one of the few sellers that deliver to Canada without ridiculous shipping prices.  I've played with my cart a few times and noticed that if I ordered 3 nail polishes I could get away with a 5.95$ shipping fee, which is very reasonable imo.

Here's two of the polishes I bought and tried : 

The first one is Suzi Says Feng Shui by OPI.  I can't remember the exact price, but it ranged from 4$-4.50$, which is very cheap compared to the 9$-9.450$ I usually pay in hair salons here.

This is two coats.  A lot of people love this shade so I was expecting to fall head over heels for this one, because I love blue nail polish so much.  But this color is really muted.  It does make it very fascinating and different, but when it just sits there with bad lighting (which is like 95% of the time) it's kinda bleeeh.  Also, I wouldn't try it on my toes as I feel it can give the dead feet look quite easily.

The second shade is High Hopes by China Glaze, which I paid 3.15$, yay!  It's a very pretty coral color and it does look prettier in the pictures than it does in real life.  I don't know if it's just me, but I'm always drawn to corals but they just don't go with my skin tone.  I feel Sally Hansen Instra-Dri Sonic Bloom - which I also have - might be a dupe for it and that one surely is easier to find in Canadian drugstores.  All in all it's a pretty shade, but I'm sure I won't be trying it again before I get a little tan (well... what I can get that is).

I'm really glad I found this seller because I've been mesmerized by the Up and Away China Glaze collection and their beautiful pastel and creamy shades and I've been able to get ahold of them real cheap!  

 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out : Review and Swatches

Because my First Mate manicure started to chip, I decided it was time for a change.  So I put on Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out.

I love this collection, the bottles are cute - unlike the Instra-Dri ones - they're cheap (around 3.49$-4.49$ here) and they have a wide range of colors.  The application is pretty good with each of the shades I've tried.

What you see here is two coats, which gives a really even black with a creme texture - my favorite as you may have noticed.  The color doesn't chip easily and you can wear it for 5 to 7 days with no chipping with a basic top coat.

Because black is a color I use a lot for nail art or layering under glitters I find having a cheap brand that I can rely on is great.  And Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear definitely does the job well!

What's your favorite brand of black nail polish?

Walmart haul... gotta love those savings!

Hi everyone! Today I had a nice relaxing massage and day at the spa, so of course, as soon as I got out of there, I was ready to shop 'til I drop. So I went at Walmart first, and purchased a whole lotta drugstore products.

Pictured: Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (7.97 $CAD), Montagne Jeunesse Red Hot Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Sauna Masque (1.87 $CAD), Sally Hansen Kwik Off Acetone Free Nail Colour Remover (3.04 $CAD), Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush in Peach Satin (7.86 $CAD) and Rimmel Vinyl Gloss in Fashion Icon (5.98 $CAD).

Not pictured: SPAresource Pro-Series Premium Wedges (2.58 $CAD)

I'm very happy with the cuticle wax, as I have a terrible problem my cuticles. I don't bite my hands, never have, but I do tear my cuticles whenever I can. This leads to pain, bleeding and unhealthy looking nails, and since I'm such a nail polish addict, I really must address this problem. I also bought a Sally Hansen kwik off, which is a must for someone who hates removing nail polish. It is very drying though...

I'm also very happy to buy a sauna mask, which I haven't used since I've been like 10 years-old, when I first started using beauty and skincare products. It's only for one use though, but it has - from what I can remember - a very nice hot soothing feeling when you apply it.

I've also been searching for a coral lip gloss and this one was pretty much the only one available there. I preferred the Revlon lip gloss in Papaya, but they had only one left and it wasn't sealed, so definitely wasn't going to purchase that.

As for the blush, I haven't tried it yet, but I will post a more detailed review when I do. I've been looking at NARS and MAC blushes for a while now, but can't seem to resign myself to shed out the $$$ to purchase them. So I figured I was going to try this one first and start my blush expansion project from there. A very evil project for my wallet, but such a beautiful journey.

xoxo, MiMu