Sally Hansen Virgin

Posted on by Cynthia

Ok, I admit that I have never tried any Sally Hansen nail polishes. I use a lot of their other nail products like my holy grail of cuticle removers: Problem Cuticle Remover with aloe vera. It’s fantastic and cleans up my gross cuticles instantly.  Today I was perusing through all the cosmetics at Rite-Aid (no, I was not looking at the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters…no!) and I saw that a lot of their Sally Hansen nail polishes were on sale…most at 75% off! Well, who am I to say no to a sale especially when nail polish is involved?  So I gravitated to the HD polishes display and ended up picking up 4 of those and 1 of the Diamond Strength polishes.

Oooooohhhhh shinny…..ooooohhhhh pretty! The three middle shades are duochrome so I can’t wait to try them out. The formula seems a little sheer so I don’t know how that’s going to work out.  It might be interesting to layer them over other colors. I want to swatch them now but I don’t want to take off my Konadicure from yesterday. I’m still in love with it.

I ended up paying under $10 for all of these so for the price, I will make them work! I’ll swatch them soon so check back.

Rainy Day Konadicure

Posted on by Cynthia

I noticed today that I haven’t been giving my Konad plates much love lately so I picked a design from one of the plates I ordered recently. Then I had to decide what colors to use. What a dilemma. Well, I ended up using OPI’s Yoga-ta Get This Blue! with Konad’s special white polish.

First of all, I’ve got to show you how gorgeous Yoga-ta Get This Blue! is. It’s dark blue and shimmery and one of those perfect formula polishes. This is definitely the star of OPI’s India Collection from Spring 2008.

 

And here it is with a designe from the M79 Konad plate:

 

I’m really diggin’ this combination and strangely it suits my mood with all this rain outside. Weird.

Wen – Starting Out

Posted on by Cynthia

Dear Wen,

I really hope that you live up to all your promises. Every time I see Chaz Dean’s freaky funky face during my late night insomnia infomercial sessions, I keep wondering if you’re really worth the price. Granted I have spent a small fortune trying to figure out what shampoo will work best for my hair but you are kinda pricey so if you don’t work, I’ll be super pissed off.

Thanks,

Crazy Hair Girl

So, I got my first shipment of Wen today which I wasn’t expecting. I had really been interested in getting it but I always found it too pricey. Well, when I saw an ad for it on Swagbucks, I decided to go ahead and do it. In case you’ve never heard of Swagbucks, it is this awesome online search engine where you can earn Swagbucks that you can then redeem for various prizes. I always end up redeeming my points for Amazon Gift Cards or Paypal. It really is a lot more than just a search engine and you can earn points by taking polls, filling out surveys, watching videos and so much more. I’ve actually earned a few hundred dollars in gift cards since I started using it. There really is no catch! If you’d like to check it out and join, you can use my link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/ArtemisAgrotera

So the main reason I decided to order it was because Swagbucks was offering 1,200 Swagbucks for trying out Wen. (1,200sb is almost enough for $15 in amazon gift cards.)  The kit came with the cleansing conditioner, their deep treatment, a wide-toothed comb and two free gifts for $29.99 + free shipping. Pretty cool! This is what came today:

I wanted to use it immediately so I jumped in the shower. I have very short hair (I’ve been sporting a sort of pixie cut for the last 8 months) but it’s very fine, thin and oily. I tend to wash my hair every day…sometimes more than once. Whenever I hear people wash their hair every other day or every two days, I gag. I’m glad they can get away with that but if I tried it, my head would be a grease ball.

I also have a lot of issues with scents so I was worried if it would end up giving me a headache. The scent was not overpowering but it did smell medicinal. Gross. I followed the directions and then proceeded to rinse out my hair thoroughly. I was surprised that my hair actually felt squeaky clean and that the scent went away. Now that my hair is dry, it feels incredibly soft, and it is super manageable which never happens with my hair.

This really isn’t a review yet since I just tried it today. I will be sure to post more info at the first week mark. I really hope this works for my hair!

Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense Review

Posted on by Cynthia

I am a huge Make Up Forever fan. I think they have some of the best products out there and they make my favorite foundation: HD Invisible Cover Foundation. MUFE states that their line of Rouge Artist Intense lipsticks are formulated with 50% more pigment than traditional lipsticks and come in three finishes: matte, pearly and satin. I much prefer the matte finishes because they are so smooth, buttery and super pigmented. I get about 6-7 hours of wear on these lipsticks which is great. Even after they wear off, they leave color behind on your lips. These lipsticks retail for $19, and I have purchased all of mine from Sephora’s MUFE Studio.

 

 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #9

 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #10

 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #11

 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #13

 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #15

 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #18

 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #24

 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #29

 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #36

 

Are you a Make Up For Ever fan?

Too Faced Lip Of Luxury Review

Posted on by Cynthia

Too Faced is one of those brands that I feel goes all out for the packaging and sometimes doesn’t deliver on the actual product.  Having said that, I think that their line of lipsticks comes in adorable packaging and the quality is very good. Too Faced claims that their Lip of Luxury line is ” luxurious, long-wearing, come in 18 shimmering, sparkling and classic matte shades with serious staying power. Drenched in shea butter, rich color, and diamond shine, our exclusive silky smooth formula smoothes out fine lines and creases while it pampers your lips with a flavorful moisture surge of pure champagne essences. ”

I have personally heard people complain about the taste of these lipsticks but I actually like it. The one thing I don’t like in these–or any lipsticks–is how gritty the shimmery shades feel. I hate rubbing my lips together and feeling like there is a brillo pad between my lips. The color pay-off on the shades I have is great and they last maybe 4-5 hours on me–less if I am eating and drinking.

Totally Nude

Cougar

Living In Sin

Drop Dead Red

Too Faced’s Lip of Luxury line can be found at Toofaced.com, Sephora, Sephora.com, Ulta and Ulta.com. These lipsticks retail for $20 each but you can sometimes get a discount on the Too Faced website since they tend to run promotions once in a while. Are these lipsticks worth $20? Well, you could probably find dupes from a more economical brand, but as usual with high-end make up brands, you are paying a lot more for the name and the packaging. Will I purchase more shades? Probably not unless they come out with a shade that I find unique.

What do you think of the Lip of Luxury line?

Orly Wednesday

Posted on by Cynthia

Orly is a brand that I don’t think gets enough love.  I don’t actually have that many bottles of Orly but I definitely keep a close eye on their collections.

 

Lollipop is such a sweet light pink color that screams spring to me.. It reminds me of cotton candy.

 

Sugar Plum looks just the way it sounds. This is not a color that I really like because it’s so frosty. I have to be in a certain mood to actually wear this color so I don’t wear it much.

 

Gumdrop…ah, gumdrop. I love this color. This is another one of those Tiffany-Blue polishes. For Audrey is just the tiniest more blue but this is a good dupe. If you have For Audrey, do you really need Gumdrop? Probably not but for a nail polish fanatic, that is a silly question because of course you need both.

 

Coffee Break looks like the perfect neutral for my skin color. I bet I could do a pretty awesome matte mannequin manicure. This also makes my fingers look so long because the nail blends into my fingers

 

Prince Charming is a muddled brown which I didn’t think I would like as much as I do. The confusing part about the polish is the name. Prince Charming?

 

Flagstone Rush is another one of those frosty polishes that I don’t usually like. This is just a pretty rusty color that looks good on my skintone. I like this a little more now that I’m so obsessed with orange nail polishes.

 

Bus Stop Crimson is a color that is right in your face. It’s a blood red that will really make your manicure pop.

 

Wild Wisteria is a vampy purple. It will definitely look black unless you’re in the right light. I really liked that this polish did not stain my skin or cuticles despite the intense shade.

Today’s Manicure

Posted on by Cynthia

There are plenty of tutorials out there for half moon manicures so I won’t go into a lot of the details. Despite being such a nail fanatic, I had never tried this before until tonight. I ended up using two Orly colors: Coffee Break and Prince Charming. I also did a matte version and a shiny version. Which one do you prefer?

 

Matte with Essie’s Matte About You

 

Shiny with Seche Vite

Zoya Is Here!

Posted on by Cynthia

Remember the Valentine’s Day promotion that Zoya ran that I posted about? Well, my two polishes came today! Woot! I am surprised that they got here so soon because usually it takes eons for Zoya to ship stuff when they have promotions. If you recall, they ran a promo where you picked one of their classic reds and then picked another polish from any of their collections and you only paid $8 and got free shipping. My one beef with Zoya is their high shipping costs, so I only order when they have a promo code that includes free shipping.

Here is the classic red that I picked: Diana. I freaking love this polish. Red with a jelly finish? In looooove! It reminds me a lot of OPI’s Vodka & Caviar. This was perfect with two coats and I still can’t get over how beautiful and shiny this is.

 

Lotus is part of Zoya’s new True Collection for Spring 2012. Of course I wanted this beautiful purple even though I kept thinking in my head that I already had some somewhat similar colors (Zoya Neeka, OPI Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI). Well, the shimmer on this is super understated. Unless you’re looking at it in the sun, it can just blend in the background. I like the pink shimmer but it’s so faint that it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. I thought the formula was deceptively sheer. I thought it would be more opaque, but it took 3 coats for these swatches.

 

So keep an eye out for Zoya’s frequent promotions. They are very generous!

 

Growing Out My Nails

Posted on by Cynthia

Let me get this out before I continue: I HATE long nails.  Rather, I hate the feeling of long nails. I certainly admire long nails (not the talon kind because those give me the heebie jeebies) on other women but I just don’t have the patience to grow mine out. I dread that feeling of bumping my nail on something and feeling it bend back; that’s as bad as nails on a chalkboard. Recently I decided to grow out my nails and see how long I could stand it. Well, this is what just happened earlier today:

Freaking A! What do I do? First I used some nail glue and I brushed it on the nail where it’s broken. That seems to work until I start doing some dishes. I went online and I found some stuff called Clear Liquid Bandage by Nail-Aid. Since I didn’t want to go around hunting this stuff down, I went to Rite-Aid to see if I could find anything else.

By the way, if you have tried this liquid bandage stuff, please let me know how you like it. I hate buying stuff randomly. I mean, it’s not that expensive or anything but hearing some opinions always helps.

So I ended up purchasing some stuff from Sally Hansen.

This does not seem to be a fix for a broken nail but I already applied it and it became a hard coat over my broken nail. I guess I will have to wait and see what happens after a day or so of showers and dishes. I really hope this helps otherwise I’m cutting my nails pronto. I have  long nailbeds so I’m lucky that even when I cut them short, they look somewhat long once they are polished.

Here’s to growing out long nails! (not the talon kind, please!!!!)

Because I Couldn’t Help Myself: More Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters

Posted on by Cynthia

After purchasing two Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters at Ulta last week, I knew I wanted more colors after wearing them a few times. Last week they had a BOGO 50% off sale so I was hoping this was still going on. Lo and behold, they changed the promotion but now they are Buy 2 get 1 free. I went on the Ulta website and printed out their $3.50 off coupon and headed to Ulta hoping they still had colors I wanted.

I ended up picking up three colors: Red Velvet, Brown Sugar and Sugar Plum.

 

 

 

 

The best part of all: I paid $12.37 total for all three. Now don’t tell me that wasn’t a great deal!