MOTD- Claire’s “Chromance”

Hello ladies and gents!

I’m officially on Thanksgiving Break! Thank goodness, because I think I might be getting a cold, I have a splitting headache 😦 Hopefully that clears, because I need to be well to stuff my face with turkey! I’m having two Thanksgiving dinners this year, one with my mom’s side of the family at my house, then we’re all driving to my grandmother’s house to have a second dinner with my dad’s side of the family! DOUBLE FOOD! I can’t wait!

While at the mall this weekend, I impulse bought two nail polishes from Claire’s upon seeing their buy one get one 50% off sale on cosmetics. To be fair, how could I say no to this beauty?! Chromance is an intense blue/purple/violet duochrome shimmer polish, which shade shifts constantly. Claire’s says it’s a holographic polish, but it’s definitely not. That doesn’t detract from its fabulousness though! It has blue, purple, and magenta sparkles in it, and shines like the glassy surface of water. This polish is so many levels of awesome I can’t even, you guys. It’s GORGEOUS! It applies really easily (though the brush was a little stiff), and is opaque in 2 coats, but it its most intense in 3 coats. Pictures below are 3 coats of Chromance without topcoat!

Artificial, indoor light

Artificial, indoor light

I photographed the polish in two different lights to show how much of a chameleon the color is! I love it! Best impulse buy EVAHHH! What do you think of this color? Do you love it as much as I do? Let me know in the comments!

Claire’s nail polish sells for $4.50 a bottle and up (depending on the kind of polish you get- this one was $4.50) and can be found at Claire’s’ stores, and on their website, here.

~Beth~

MOTD- Kleancolor “Holo Chrome” and Beautyjoint.com Review!

Hi everyone!

So, this point was actually meant to be published yesterday, and then I fell asleep… What can I say? It was a long week and sometimes sleep > nails (but only sometimes, usually it’s the other way around!) Better late than never though, right? So let’s get started on today’s post!

A while ago, I heard about the website Beautyjoint.com while browsing through my favorite beauty guru channels on youtube. Though I can’t remember the specific channel I discovered the website on, all you have to do is search “Beauty Joint review” and you’ll get a whole slew of results. The reviews I found were overwhelmingly positive (and also included a coupon code!!) so of course I had to try it out. The website had all sorts of makeup, but of course I gravitated immediately to the nail section. The first thing that floored me was the China Glaze discounts. Guys, there are $3.99 bottles of China Glaze. As low as $3.99!! What a bargain! There are also several old collections, such as the Avant Garden collection from spring 2013 and Capitol Colors from Winter 2012, as well as the current collections, such as On the Horizon and Autumn Nights. There’s also a great collection of mini nail polish sets from various brands such as LA Girl, Wet n’ Wild, and more. The selection is second to none! And for the most part, the prices are majorly discounted.

Look at the prices! Such a bargain!

I ordered 4 nail polishes in my order: 2 from Kleancolor (a brand which I had never heard of before) and 2 nail art stripers from Artdeco. The polish was shipped within 3-5 business days, and arrived in less than 3 weeks. The shipment was wrapped in layers upon layers of bubble wrap, and everything arrived perfectly intact. I was very pleased with the quality of shipping, product, and the company overall. Beautyjoint.com is a must-try for all of you beauty enthusiasts out there: you wont be disappointed!

Today, I have one of the colors I ordered from Beauty Joint, Kleancolor Holo Chrome. Surprisingly, for being “chrome” (generally a metallic blackened silver), this has a blurple gel base (“blurple” being a blue purple). It’s filled with holographic blurple and silver glitters which flash rainbows of sparkle when the light hits them. This is most definitely a scattered holo polish, not a linear one like my Born Pretty holo. It has a really weird smell to it. I can’t really describe it, but it doesn’t smell like the “traditional” nail polish smell. It’s not exactly unpleasant, but not exactly nice, either. It’s kinda thick, but considering the glitter density, I can excuse it. Pictures below are 2 coats!

Artificial, indoor light

Artificial, indoor light

 

Blurred to show the true holo

Overall, I really like this polish. The $1.75 price tag made it even better! Have any of you tried Kleancolor polishes? What were your experiences? And anyone else try Beautyjoint? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

~Beth~

MOTD- Rue Beauté “009”

Hello ladies!

Another Monday conquered, thank goodness! It’s dreadful waking up after a 3-day weekend. I feel like my body gets accustomed to my 11 AM wakeup call much faster than it could ever adapt to my normal 6:30 AM alarm. Just 6 days to go before Thanksgiving break though! Almost there!

Today I have a gorgeous silver foil shimmer for you. It’s number 009 from Rue Beauté, and I originally bought it to be my replacement for my rapidly depleting bottle of Sephora by OPI’s Bring on the Snowflakes. While the two have similar qualities, 009 ended up being somewhat different than its Sephora counterpart. 009 is definitely a silver foil finish, and it’s stunning. It’s definitely got some patchiness problems upon application, but smoothes out in 3 coats. It looks like a put an unwrinkled sheet of aluminum foil over my nails! It does have some of the sparkle that BOTS delivers, but it’s more subtle. I really like this polish! Pictures below are 3 coats of 009, no topcoat.

Indoor, artificial light

Indoor, artificial light

So very very shiny! What do you think of the silver sparkler? Will it be gracing your nails this upcoming holiday season? Let me know in the comments!

Rue Beauté polishes retail for $3.99 a bottle, though are frequently on sale for 2 for $5.00, and are found at Rue 21 stores, and on their website, here.

~Beth~

MOTD- Zoya PixieDust “Carter”

Hello there!

I hope you all have had a nice relaxing weekend! I had my annual piano recital on Saturday, and though I’m happy that I played well (I played Debussy’s First Arabesque), I also feel really sad since that’s probably my last piano recital with my current teacher before college. She’s been with me since the very beginning 11 years ago, and I wouldn’t be the pianist I am today without her incredible guidance (and patience- especially about my long nails!). Here’s to many more years of music where these have come from!

Today’s polish is one that I’ve been meaning to share with you for quite some time but have never managed to getting around to photograph. I know I’m WAY late on this season’s Zoya PixieDust collection, but they’re so gorgeous, how could I not jump on the bandwagon? A while back, I picked up Carter from my local Ulta as a joke (my sister has a friend named Carter) and ended up being completely floored by how fantastic the polish is.

Carter is a dark, amethyst-toned violet texture polish with magenta sparkles flashing throughout. Once applied to the nail, the base becomes blackened, while the magenta and violet shimmers pop against the deep purple base. It’s such a stunner! The matte nature of the PixieDust line really brings out the sparkle (seemingly oxymoronic, no?). It’s a bit lumpy to apply, but most textures are, and dries super quickly. The first picture below is Carter without topcoat, and the following is with one coat of OPI Topcoat!

Artificial, indoor light

Artificial, indoor light

The topcoat just adds more depth to the otherwise stunning polish. However, I think I prefer the matte original version. This polish is just a unique gem that shouldn’t be marred by topcoat. What are your opinions on this gorgeous lacquer? Let me know in the comments!

Zoya PixieDust polishes retail for $9.00 a bottle (slightly more expensive than their regular formula counterparts) and can be found at beauty supply stores, select salons, and on their website, here. Oh yeah, and be sure to follow them on twitter (@ZoyaNailPolish) for some awesome giveaways, and their weekly Tune Tuesday competition!

~Beth~

MOTD- Wet n’ Wild “Caribbean Frost” and KITTENS

Hello there!

I know I tend to favor showing cool-toned polishes on my blog, but those polishes are in my favorite color group. Purples, teals, turquoises, purples, and blues (along with cold metallics like ice white and shimmering silver) dominate my stash. While I do have plenty of polishes in every color of the rainbow, my favorite ones to share are those of my favorite colors, and today is no different!

Today I have Wet n’ Wild’s Caribbean Frost to share with you. It’s a metallic-y teal color pretty evenly balanced between a blue and green base (if anything, it leans ever so slightly green). Though it appears as though it would be similar to Zoya Giovanna, the two are very different- Giovanna is much greener in its base, and really isn’t so much metallic as it is shimmery, whereas Caribbean Frost is all metallic. It does have some brushstroke issues, but with even strokes of the hand, you can still get the polish to look right. It’s almost a one-coater (it’s a bit thick), but I used 2 for the picture below.

Artificial, indoor light

Artificial, indoor light

I wanted to spice up my mani a bit, so I proceeded to unwrap my new Born Pretty Store stamping plate QA15 (shown below) for a quick stamp. For my manicure, I decided to use the ADORABLE kitten icons and the small flower.

I painted over my desired design with Sinful Colors Snow Me White, scraped off the excess, picked up the image, and stamped, giving me the most meow-licious manicure, seen below!

Artificial, indoor light

So what do you think of the polish, and the plate? Are you a cat person, or would you rather have seen a different design from the plate? Let me know in the comments below!

Wet n’ Wild nail polish retails for $0.99-$4.99 a bottle, depending on the nail polish line, and can be found in most chain drugstores, as well as on their website, here.

~Beth~

MOTD- Rue Beauté 030

¡Hola chicas!

I hope everyone had a nice Veteran’s Day off, since I sure didn’t! It was school as usual for me, but at least it wasn’t a bad Monday, just average. But I get this Friday off, so at least that’s something to look forward to! Anyone do anything fun over the weekend? Let me know!

Today I have a really interesting polish to share with you from Rue Beauté. It’s called 030, and I actually picked it up awhile ago on a 5 for $5 sale at Rue 21, but have just gotten around to reviewing it now! 030 is an indie-like glitter polish, suspended in a slime green crelly base. There’s a TON of medium sized hex glitter in the bottle, in the colors silver, gold, yellow, pink, blue, orange, and green, and I might have missed some! The glitters peak through the green base enough to show their true color on the nail, but are covered enough to give an interesting, almost “oozy” effect. The base is opaque in 2 coats. The polish is rather thick due to the glitter density, but it’s still decently workable. Glitter will DEFINITELY need placement, so be prepared for that. Pictures below are 2 coats of 030, no topcoat!

Shade

Sunlight

Overall, I’m torn on this polish. On one hand, it’s a unique gem that certainly stands out on the nail. On the other hand, I’m not digging the shade of green. It honestly reminds me a little bit of snot… What do you think of the polish? Let me know in the comments!

Rue Beauté polishes retail for $3.99 a bottle, though are often on sale for 2 for $5, and can be found at Rue 21 store locations, as well as on their website, here.

~Beth~

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink- Pink Ice “069”

Hello lovelies!

So, I realize that it’s almost not Wednesday at this point, as I sit here writing this post after 10 PM… But it’s been such a crazy day, I can honestly say that I forgot that it was Wednesday until now. Of course, I couldn’t miss our weekly Mean Girls Tribute, so I grabbed a pink polish, got painting, and decided to go with the better-late-than-never-speed-blog. I apologize in advance if the pictures aren’t up to snuff- they were done in a hurry to fit my schedule.

Pink Ice 069 is my pink polish selection this Wednesday. It’s a reddish magenta jelly base jam-packed with tiny magenta hex glitters. When I first bought it, I thought it was going to be a layering polish, because in the bottle, it doesn’t appear to have a tinted base. Upon swatching it, I realize it was actually completely opaque! A great surprise, no? Again, my only complaint- PINK ICE BRAND BRUSHES ARE HORRIBLE. Seriously. Look at this. This is a tragedy- stiff, bent out of shape, and horrible for painting evenly. If it weren’t for this brush problem, I’d be completely on board the Pink Ice bandwagon.

Look at how stiff and misshapen it is…

Minus the awful brush, the polish itself is nice. It’s a little patchy, and definitely takes 3 coats to even out, but I think the shine payoff is worth it in the end. The glitter is also so dense that the end texture of the polish is a bit rough (not to the Liquid Sand/PixieDust level rough, but still somewhat textured), but it could be easily smoothed out by a topcoat. In terms of color, I have to draw a parallel between this color and Zoya’s Sarah. I’ll do a comparison of the two eventually to see how close they really are, but from wearing them both separately, they look fairly similar. Pictures below are 3 coats of 069, no topcoat.

Artificial, indoor light

Natural, indoor light

You can see the “textured-ness” of the polish more in the second picture. It looks rougher than it is, I promise. What do you think of this raspberry hued lacquer? Are you a fan of Pink Ice, and have you had similar brush problems? Let me know in the comments!

Pink Ice polishes are a sub-brand of Rue 21, and retail for $3.99 a bottle (though they are often on sale for 2 for $5). They are found at Rue 21 store locations, as well as on their website, here.

~Beth~

MOTD: Born Pretty Store Holo Polish #12

Hi everyone!

I’m sooooo sorry for being absent for the past few days. This week has been absolutely insane with schoolwork and extracurriculars (the life of a high school student, I know!). I’ve also been working on something extra special which you’ll get to see hopefully later on this week! My posting schedule might be sporadic for the rest of the week, but I promise that by next Monday, everything should even out to usual.

I got a lovely surprise in the mail yesterday when I got home from a particularly grueling day at school: my package from the Born Pretty Store had arrived! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Born Pretty Store, it’s an online e-tailer of makeup and nail art products for discount prices, and the quality is actually quite superb for the price! I believe the store is based in Singapore, since all of the packaging I got was postmarked from there, but don’t quote me on that. What I can say for sure is that Born Pretty Store offers FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING on ALL ORDERS. Did you hear that? No, I promise, I’m not lying. FREE SHIPPING! What more could you ask?

While my order had lots and lots of nail art items, today I have with you my favorite of all my purchases to show you. I had been craving some of the holographic polishes Born Pretty offers on their website for the longest time, and when my paycheck came around, I knew exactly what I was going to spend it on. In the end, I picked holo #12, a deep, deep blackened teal holo. I can’t speak for all of Born Pretty’s holographic polishes, but this one is a stunner! The linear holographic effect is intense when the right light hits it, and the dark teal is unlike any other color I own. I’ve had the color on for 2 days now without any chipping, so it’s pretty durable as well (I’m wearing it with Zoya Anchor base coat, and no topcoat). I’m very pleased with my first Born Pretty purchase! Pictures below are 3 coats of #12, no topcoat.

Natural, indoor light

Artificial indoor light

Neither of these pictures show the true intensity of the holo, but they’re both pretty true to the teal color. What do you think of holographic polishes? And have you ever tried anything from the Born Pretty Store? Let me know in the comments!

Born Pretty Holo polishes retail for $12.88 a bottle, but are currently on sale for 57% off at $5.49 a bottle (a real steal for holo polishes) and is available online at the Born Pretty Store website, here.

~Beth~

MOTD- Zoya “Giovanna”

Hi guys!

Happy daylight savings time! I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed that extra hour of sleep. I’m one of those people who does not wake up unless someone/something interrupts my sleep. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t wake up otherwise!

Today I have a really gorgeous polish from Zoya’s fall 2013 Satins line. It’s called Giovanna, and it is a deep, pure teal. It’s almost metallic, though not enough so to have massive brushstroke issues, but nonetheless, it’s super shiny. This shade of teal reminds me of Caribbean waters far off the shore after they’ve been stirred up by a storm. I know, super descriptive, but that’s the sense I get! It’s got a warmth to it, which makes it perfect for this fall weather! Application wise, it was great, not too thin or thick, and super opaque, almost good in one coat! I used 2 coats for the pictures below, no topcoat.

Shade

Sunlight

Isn’t it gorgeous? Teals/turquoises are some of my favorite nail polishes out there, I can never have too many! What do you think of this amazing Zoya color? Let me know in the comments below!

Zoya nail polishes retail for $7.99-$8.99 a bottle, depending on the line (PixieDust polishes are more expensive), and can be found at beauty supply stores, select salons, and on their website, here.

~Beth~

MOTD- Pink Ice “30”

Hi everyone!

Man, is it ever a busy day today. Spanish test, Academic Bowl competition, homework, ugh! I need a break! Luckily for you lovely readers, my breaks usually involve painting my nails/writing blog posts. Here’s the product of my daily relaxation!

I have a lovely blue to share with you today from Pink Ice by Rue 21, and it’s called 30. Though I love Rue 21’s polish and prices, I really wish they’d name their polishes, even if they were just called “blue” or “pink” or “yellow”. They’d just be easier to store in my stash. Although, I guess most people aren’t obsessive polish hoarders like me…. oh well.

30 is a beautiful, satin finish blue, leaning in the way of turquoise. It’s a very bright blue, with somewhat of a green undertone to it. It dries semi-matte (hence the “satin finish”) which I love with this polish. It makes the nail look like sea glass! Formula-wise, it’s a bit streaky and patchy, but eventually levels out in 3 coats. The first picture is without topcoat, and the second is with topcoat to show it shiny, with Zoya’s Maria-Luisa on the ring finger as an accent nail.

Indoor artificial light

Indoor, artificial light

I actually think I prefer the matte version of this polish to the shiny version. Maybe sometime I’ll try mattifying Maria-Luisa at some point with this polish, I bet that would look great! Which do you prefer- shiny or satin? Let me know in the comments!

Now, I can’t review this polish honestly without mentioning the Godawful brush. Seriously, this brush is a nightmare. ALL of the Pink Ice brushes are. And it makes me so sad because the polishes are so cool with the satin finish. But the brush is permanently stiff, bent out of shape, and makes controlling the polish almost impossible. If you know how to work with with it, it can work, but for a polish beginner? It’s going to be really hard.

So, overall, I want to like this polish, but I have to dock it some points for the brush. Have other people who have used Pink Ice polishes had this problem? Let me know!

Pink Ice polishes retail for $3.99, but are often on sale for a 2 for $5 deal at Rue 21 store locations, and can be bought at Rue 21 stores and on their website, here.

~Beth~