Julep Maven - Classic with a Twist Intro Box (March 2013)

Recent Ulta Haul!

Since I had a 20% off coupon as well as double points throughout March, I decided to pick up some things I'd been thinking about for awhile at Ulta.

For more photos of the products, as well as my thoughts so far, keep reading!

OPI Euro Centrale Comparison - Gold

This week I'm going to compare the polishes from the OPI Euro Centrale mini set to the other polishes in my collection.

The final comparison from the set is for the gold polish - OY-Another Polish Joke! I don't really like gold on my skin, so the only other gold polish I have is Goldeneye from the Bondettes mini set from the Skyfall collection. They're definitely not dupes. Goldeneye has much bigger flecks of gold and therefore has more nail that shows through the first coat or two. It's also darker.

L-R: OPI - OY-Another Polish Joke!, OPI - Goldeneye

OPI Euro Centrale Comparison - Lavender

This week I'm going to compare the polishes from the OPI Euro Centrale mini set to the other polishes in my collection.

Today I'm comparing You're Such a BudaPest! I was expecting this polish to be a match for something in my collection as well, but it's unique too! It's a bluer shade than Sally Hansen's Lacey Lilac, although they're about the same level of pastel. You're Such a BudaPest! is sort of like a pastel version of Zoya's Caitlin.

L-R: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Lacey Lilac, OPI - You're Such A BudaPest!, Zoya - Caitlin

OPI Euro Centrale Comparison - Blue

This week I'm going to compare the polishes from the OPI Euro Centrale mini set to the other polishes in my collection.

Today's comparison is with the blue from the set - Can't Find My Czechbook. I was not expecting to love this polish as much as I do! I also wasn't expecting it to be so different from my other polishes. I thought I had a decent amount of blue polishes but it seems they're all either much more teal, more purple, or just darker than this particular shade. Hopefully I don't end up wishing I had a big bottle of this one! Although surely I can find a similar shade if I ever use up the mini bottle. 

L-R: China Glaze - For Audrey, OPI - Can't Find My Czechbook, Sally Hansen Insta Dri - Blue-Away

OPI Euro Centrale Comparison - Pink

This week I'm going to compare the polishes from the OPI Euro Centrale mini set to the other polishes in my collection. 

First up: the pink! The slightly coral-leaning pink of Suzi's Hungary AGAIN! is not particularly unique to my collection as I find that type of shade to be particularly flattering against my skin tone. While none of these polishes are exactly the same, the OPI, Revlon, and Urban Outfitters colors are similar enough that you certainly would not need more than one of them in your collection. The China Glaze is more of a true pink than the others, although it is certainly not too far off.

L-R: Urban Outfitters - Cocktail, Revlon Top Speed - Guava, OPI - Suzi's Hungary AGAIN!, China Glaze - Sugar High

Nail Polish Comparison - OPI vs China Glaze

Recently I realized that I could be using the many similar shades and near-dupes in my somewhat extensive nail polish collection to help other people avoid buying such similar colors, or deciding which one they want more! I plan to do several posts like this with different colors. 

First up, China Glaze Innocence vs. OPI Bubble Bath. I've heard OPI Bubble Bath mentioned quite a bit, but rarely have I seen Innocence brought up! I don't think they're 100% dupes, but they are very, very similar. 

L-R: Innocence on its own, Bubble Bath on its own, Innocence over white, Bubble Bath over white.

On their own, I had to use about six coats to get the opacity shown. I did use very thin coats to avoid streakiness or pooling, so it's possible that it could be done with fewer. Or, of course, if you don't mind the visible nail line, you could definitely get away with fewer coats! 

I also decided to test them over white. For this, I used two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On as the base, and then I still used two or three coats to get a nice uniform coverage. I'm not very used to using sheer polishes, so there may be a better technique to apply them in fewer coats, but I think the color showed up well this way. 

The difference between the two polishes is most clear over white, but even then the difference is barely noticeable. I'm not sure if they're dupes if they're not 100% identical, but they are certainly close. The formulas performed equally in application, neither required more effort or more coats than the other.

L'Oreal Brit Invasion - Nail Polish Comparison

After seeing several people discussing how pretty L'Oreal's Brit Invasion nail polish was, I picked it up at Target yesterday without giving it too much thought. It looked gorgeous! However, after getting it home and swatching it on a nail wheel, I realized it didn't seem that unique to my collection after all. 

On the left is China Glaze White Cap layered on top of China Glaze Ingrid. Brit Invasion is in the center, and China Glaze Ingrid on its own is on the right.

While I certainly wouldn't call Ingrid - with or without White Cap - a dupe for Brit Invasion, for me it was close enough that I didn't feel I needed both. Although it is a gorgeous shade, the more browny, neutral shades in my collection are probably among those I reach for least often, and having such similar shades didn't seem worth it.

If you don't have Ingrid or other similar shades, I do think this would make a nice addition to your collection. It applied really nicely - two coats was completely opaque, and it wasn't at all tricky to get an even coverage. There really is a lot of shimmer, but as it's very fine it doesn't appear glittery or too shiny.

Current Manicure - For Audrey

When I sat down to paint my nails last night, I wasn't feeling particularly inspired to do any certain color or nail art, so I gravitated towards one of my all-time favorite polishes - China Glaze For Audrey! 

This time, I used the Revlon Colorstay basecoat and Seche Vite topcoat. I was originally planning to try another topcoat again, but then I had to go do something pretty quickly after I painted them, so I figured I'd better stick with a fast-dry I can trust.

In case you're curious, I also painted my toenails! I'll refrain from posting a picture of them, but they're currently Covergirl Boundless Color in Fuchsia Girl. This polish is an old favorite of mine - I've had a bottle of it for YEARS! This is actually a replacement bottle because the cap broke on the first one and it dried up. 

I think both of these colors look nice with my skin tone and they're kind of "medium" colors - they're not dark, pale, or neon, but they're still fun and colorful! I feel like this time of year is kind of in between summer and fall. School's in session but it's still fairly warm outside. I'm not one to get particularly hung up on what colors are "seasonally appropriate" since I like to wear bright colors year round, but I do tend to save the darker and more neutral colors for the fall and winter.

What are your favorite colors you reach for when you're not inspired to do something in particular?

Swatches - Cargo Products!

Recently, I took notice of the Cargo brand at the Sephora in my local mall's JC Penney. A few products specifically caught my eye and seemed to be an excellent price for the amount and quality of the product. After discussing it on Facebook, it was brought to my attention that the brand is being phased out of the stores and as such is greatly discounted! I went back as soon as I could to get the products I wanted just in case they ran out quickly.

The products! (Without flash)

Blush in Key Largo. It's a similar shade - although not an exact dupe - to the Make Up For Ever eyeshadow/blush in  #99 which I think is gorgeous. I think I'll probably use this as blush and eyeshadow! I love this color.

Eyeshadow quad in Tahiti. I love these colors so much!! The shades are similar to a lot of colors I have since they're often favorites, but these seemed so wonderfully pigmented and they're all together in this nice palette. 

I can't wait to try these products out! Have you used them or anything else from the brand? I'd love to hear about it!

L'Oreal Quad: Swatches and Face of the Day

I've picked this particular eyeshadow quad from L'Oreal up many times and always ended up putting it back, until this week when I saw it was on clearance at Target and I finally gave in! 

It's the Studio Secrets Professional Color Smokes eyeshadow quad in Forest Smokes, and it's intended for green eyes (although honestly these colors would be gorgeous regardless of your eye color!)

As always, these are swatched using sponge-tip applicators over NYX white eyeshadow base.
I swatched these in numerical order.

I used them today and I'm happy with it! It seems to be one of the rare eyeshadow sets that doesn't necessarily require other shades to make a look. I used shade 2 all over the lids, blending up towards the brow with shade 3. I used shade 1 in the outer corner and alone on the bottom lashline. I lined my upper lashline first with a brown liner and then went over it with shade 1, although it turns out the green was dark enough that using the brown first was unnecessary. Shade 4 I used in the inner corners.

Other products used in this look:

Urban Decay De Slick spray
Revlon Colorstay foundation
Maybelline Superstay concealer
Jordana powder blush - Redwood
ELF Translucent Mattifying Powder
Prestige Brow Perfection Pencil - Light/Medium
Maybelline Great Lash - clear
MAC Paint Pot - Painterly
Revlon Grow Luscious eyeliner- Espresso
Maybelline The Colossal mascara
Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain - Rendezvous

Revlon Kissable Balm Stains

I had a few coupons to use for these so I picked up the two colors that interested me the most from Target last week. I like how they apply and the way they feel on the lips. They stay glossy for a pretty long time before that goes away and leaves the slightly lighter stain. They really do last a long time. I like them a lot. These are basically the only colors that interested me so I probably won't get more, but I'm pleased with these!

Rendezvous

Smitten

Nail Polish Swatches

These are most, if not all, of the nail polishes I've added to my collection over the last two months. 

China Glaze - Stone Cold

Essie - Navigate Her

Essie - Tart Deco

Essie - Turquoise & Caicos 

Revlon - Posh 

Pixi - Paradise Pink 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pacific Blue 

Illamasqua - Nomad

Brash (Payless) - Turquoise Twist 

L-R: Revlon - Impulse, Revlon - Flirt, SXY (Payless) - Pink Prestige, Essie - Lights

L-R: Wet n Wild megalast - Tropicalia, Club Havana, Through the Grapevine, Pixi -  Coral Cabana

Face of the Day - 24. April

Face:

Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro

Revlon New Complexion foundation

Urban Decay 24/7 concealer

Milani Minerals Compact Makeup

Milani Blush - Mai Tai

Eyes:

NYX HD Primer

MAC Lucky Green

Sleek Original Palette (blue only)

Wet n Wild Creme Brulee

L'Oreal Lineur Intense - Carbon Black

L'Oreal Voluminous False Lashes

Lips:

Covergirl Lip Perfection - Heavenly

I'm including a photo of the same look but with my glasses on. This is how I'll actually be wearing it - I wear these glasses 90% of the time, which is why I'm not too concerned that my eyeshadow isn't always particularly visible when my eyes are open and I'm smiling. It wouldn't be visible anyway with these frames. I prefer the way I look with glasses, I just don't do FOTD photos with them on since you wouldn't be able to see the look then!

Mini CVS haul, review, and face of the day

Revlon Colorstay Eyeshadow Quad - Inspired
Covergirl Lip Perfection Lipstick - Spellbound, Eternal

Face of the Day using the Revlon quad over Palladio primer and the Covergirl lipstick in Spellbound. (among other products, but those are the new ones)

I love the lipsticks - I have two others that I've had for quite awhile so I knew I liked the formula, and these colors are so pretty! The eyeshadow quad is so disappointing, though. The colors look so lovely and vibrant in the pan but just barely come off. You can't even tell I used the green at all, and the blue is after trying to pack on several layers. I should have known better considering how poorly pigmented the Revlon quads in the older packaging were, but I hoped the formula would be different as well as the packaging and color choices.

This haul was extremely affordable! Covergirl products were buy one get one 50% off and I had a $2.50 off two Covergirl products coupon from the newspaper. Beyond that, when I scanned my card at the machine, I had $5 extrabucks from the Beauty Club, $4.50 in extrabucks from something else, and a $5 off of $25 coupon that I'd put on my card from the website. After all that, I paid less than $3!

Even though the quad was essentially free, I'm still going to return it and get something else instead. Why keep something around that I'm not going to get any use out of? I'd rather try some other new products instead.

Milani Cyber Monday Haul & Swatches - plus a high-end comparison!

Definitely click this one to see it bigger!

Paint Palette
Red Vino blush
Earthly Delights quad
Atlantis and Java Bean singles

All swatches done over NYX white eyeshadow base and applied with sponge-tip applicators.

I'm really excited to try this stuff out!! If you've tried any of these, I'd love to know your thoughts.

Also, while swatching the Paint palette I noticed some similarities so I tested it out:

L-R: Paint Palette, Makeup Forever #92, Paint Palette, Makeup Forever #75

#92 is definitely more pigmented and a bit cooler, but the pinks are extremely similar. And to think - the Paint Palette is about $8 (I got it for $4 with this sale) and the MUFE shadows are around $20...

Holiday Nail Polish Colors! (Bottles and swatches)

I went through my collection and pulled out the ones that reminded me most of the holiday season. I may have missed a few, but I think it's pretty comprehensive. Remember, you can click the photos to view them larger!

L-R: Revlon Matte Suede - Emerald City, Finger Paints Holiday 2010 - Mistletoe Mischief, China Glaze Holiday 2010 - Jolly Holly & Mistletoe Kisses, China Glaze Holiday 2011 - Holly-Day
Middle left is the polishes plain, right is the polishes with opposite-finish topcoats.
Bottom left is with a coat of China Glaze - White Cap.
Bottom right: the first two are with a layer of China Glaze Holiday 2010 - Party Hearty and the second two are with China Glaze Holiday 2011 - Twinkle Lights

L-R: China Glaze Holiday 2011- Poinsettia, Holiday 2010 - Ruby Deer, Sacred Heart , Red Pearl, and Revlon - Frankly Scarlet
Bottom left is all the polishes plain.
Bottom right: Thumb - China Glaze -White Cap, first two fingers - Party Hearty, second two - Twinkle Lights

L-R: Revlon Matte Suede - Powder Puff, China Glaze Holiday 2010 - Mrs. Claus, Sugar Plums, China Glaze Holiday 2011 - Twinkle Lights, China Glaze - White Cap
Bottom left is the polishes plain, Bottom right has the opposite finish topcoat

L-R: Milani - Ruby Jewels, Maybelline - Snow Bunny, Milani 3D Holographic - HD, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Celeb City, China Glaze - Fairy Dust
Bottom right - plain, Bottom left - mattified

The polishes I used as topcoats in a few of them
L-R: White Cap, Party Hearty, Twinkle Lights

For the matte topcoat, I used Essie's Matte About You, which I highly recommend.

Daily Manicures in November - The Final Ten

November's done which means so is my experiment with trying all the polishes I'd been ignoring! Changing polish every day got a bit annoying after awhile - sometimes I just am not in the mood or did not really have the time to dedicate to it. No regrets, though. I'm glad I finally got to see what all these look like on my nails! Swatch wheels can only do so much.

I plan to do winter/holiday themed polish posts for December - not every day, though! If you have anything you want to see along those lines, let me know! I'm open to suggestions - but keep in mind I have very minimal art skills so don't get too crazy in nail art suggestions. Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving! Happy December!

Milani - Hi Res
Top: one coat
Bottom: three coats

Finger Paints - Where Art Renoir?
This polish goes on about 90% opaque the first coat. If you're good at applying polish evenly you could probably just do the one.

Wet n Wild - Back Alley Deals
(Ice Baby Collection)

Wet n Wild - Teal of Fortune

China Glaze - Skyscraper
I LOVE THIS COLOR

China Glaze - Tempest
Not really a fan...I don't like this frosty kind of polish much at all.

China Glaze - Emerald Fitzgerald

China Glaze - Vertical Rush

China Glaze - Light My Tiki
Again...that same kind of frosty look I just don't enjoy...I think this one in particular is too "Barbie" and not in a good way.

Essie - One of a Kind
LOVE this one. Applies beautifully.