Tuesday, September 28, 2010

MAC Venomous Villains Disney Preview


The three new M.A.C Lacquers
Bad Fairy, Formidable!, Mean & Green
M.A.C teams up with Disney together are releasing their Villain collection September 30th 2010. Check out some of these new nail polishes. I'm really loving the color and I will probably be at my MAC counter first thing Saturday to pick up Bad Fairy, if not all three.

M.A.C. 2010 Venomous Villains lacquers and makeup



Mean and Green
Bad Fairy
Formidable!

I've read from several sources their are Orly matches for all except Bad Fairy. Which of course saves you a few dollars over the $13 a bottle M.A.C. Price. I just hope these don't stain my nails like Earthly Harmony did! I still can't remove the stain.

You decide, is MAC worth the extra bucks?



Another Award Ceremony

Given to me by 99% There


Rules:
  • Thank and link back the giver of the award
  • Share 7 things about yourself
  • Pass it along to 15 other bloggers
  • Contact them and let them know you love 'em
7things 
  1. I'm a bit of a control freak sometimes
  2. I have slight OCD, it drives me batty when I can't clean everything perfectly. Or when I take a picture of my nails and its messy but I've repainted them 7 times over several hours and I need to post NOW.
  3. Sometimes, I let my daughter have ice cream for breakfast! Some battles are lost to win the war.
  4. I don't like to drink, and do it maybe once every 3-6 months. I always regret it after even though I've never been hungover.
  5. I have a second blog I recently started... On being a mommy. I hope to fill it with stories and witty humor.
  6. I'm not so sure I want to marry, even though I dream about a wedding. I do want to spend my life with the hubby.
  7. I get gift cards for Christmas, and don't end up using them for at least 10 months. I hate gift cards!

Who I am passing this award onto. I'm going to try avoiding double awarding from the sunshine award, although I have blogs I REALLY like.

A Grown Up In Training (My sisters humor blog)
Mail Order Cook (quick easy recipes)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Konad Pure Ice blue with clouds

So I've been liking fluffy cloud nail designs. I think Katy Perry did them? I'm not sure, I can't recall where I saw them before. Can anyone help?

Anyways, I decided to do it a bit different, instead of light blue with white clouds, I wanted dark blue with light blue clouds. I'm usually not a fan of dark blue polish, however its on a lot of the Fall 2010 trend lists for colors this year. So I'll have to pickup some new bottles,

Unfortunately, for whatever reason I purchased the wrong plate (Konad M60) which is a more cow hide then fluffy clouds. However, if someone is not looking like super close I doubt they'll tell the difference.

Pure Ice Nail lacquer

The Pure ice color is an old... old... bottle. Akin to(newer) Pure Ice Celestial. The old sticker/label was long gone so I can't give an exact color. I can just say there are many shiny blues out there available that are quite like it.

Nail Design with Konad image plate m60
The stamping was done with Konad Sky Blue special polish. My little girl yaya is absolutely in love with my nails today and she wants me to duplicate the look on her. Her nails are too small though so I'll have to get crafty!

Blue nail art

All in all, its a great way to wear blue nail polish in my opinion.

Friday, September 24, 2010

ELF Moonlight and MAC Earthly Harmony GCOCL m10

It's my friday! Somehow I ended up with not one, but three bottles of E.L.F. Moonlight nail lacquer. Figures? I guess I really liked it.

I was going to stamp with black, but I realized the tiny bits of my MAC nail polish would look much better. I actually am beginning to think my little one only poured out about half the bottle.


ELF Moonlight stamped with GCOCL plate m10 and MAC Earthly Harmony


E.L.F. Moonlight ($1) is much like OPI Kyoto pearl, only a warmer color. It has a slight golden hue to it which is beautiful.

The Earthly Harmony ($13), which was recently sported on Lady Gaga, perfectly complements it for a stamp. It also stamped exceptionally well, even though it has sparkles.

For the plate, I used my E-Bay image plates to find something that reminded me of cherry blossoms. This design is on plate m10. Although I don't enjoy most of the images on GCOCL plates I was surprised by this design.

I did mess up a little trying to fill in some gaps, but overall am pleased with the outcome. My short nails have not been fun lately, but I've begun using Mavala Nail Hardener. I hope they start growing soon!


MAC Earthly Harmony nail designs on ELF Moonlight nail polish


Have a great weekend! I hope it's warm enough to go fishing.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

TooFaced LashGASM Mascara review

I was born with long blonde eyelashes. I guess I lucked out they're long, but otherwise they're thin and well... blonde. Sigh. I dreamed of black, luscious, THICK lashes my whole life.

I never liked the feeling of mascara, but I do wear it from time to time. If you saw me walking around Boston, this is how you'd most likely see me.


Eyelashes


So I decided to try out a few different mascaras starting with Too Faced LashGASM mascara ($21). It claims to be like the godsend of mascaras with volume.

I found it worked better than most mascaras I've tried in the past, but I'm not crazy about the volume. I mean, my lashes look LONG. I didn't even use a curler, but I actually felt they looked more sparse.

Too Faced Lash gasm mascara swatch


However, can we have both length and volume with mascara alone? I was told by a Sephora associate once "We're ALL looking for THAT perfect mascara, it doesn't exist. You get one OR the other"(meaning volume or length).

Lengthening mascara

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Watermarking of photos

Its not something I want to do, but it looks like I'll be watermarking some of my photos. I use Photobucket for some of my photos on here (when I don't use compose option) and can see statistics for viewing. Seems like one or two photos are getting heavy usage on a couple other sites. They have been watermarked. I will begin the tedious process of watermarking the rest.

On another technical note, I've also noticed my blog roll was lost (AAAH!) I'm really sorry to anyone who was blog rolled and I will begin updating this list again.

Incoco Lemon Fizz with Konad nail art design

I wanted to use more of the Incoco dry nail appliqué this week. When I asked for my colors I requested "Lemon Fizz". I knew it was a neon, but for some reason I didn't expect to be able to direct traffic with my nails!


Incoco dry nail applique

Incoco Lemon Fizz Swatch

My guy made a comment that my nails looked Jamaican when he came home from work! Hehe.

I did an earlier review on their glitter dry nail polish, and stated how easy it was. The non glitter varieties are much harder to work with as they have no substance. I had a harder time working with them, but it still came out really lovely. It took a bit longer to smooth out wrinkles, and they tear easier then their glitter-cousins. Otherwise, I still really enjoyed it.


Incoco tear


Since they were all crazy anyways, I decided to stamp it up with one of the images on Konad image plate m70. I picked an image I probably otherwise would not use and the dark blue special polish. It turned out a bit green looking, but that was fine by me. No comments yet except from the fiance, but I've gotten quite a bit of staring at my hands. I can't tell if their faces were like "WOW" or "GAG"? Who cares what they think? I sure don't.


Konad stamping art

Konad nail art m70


Now I'm going to apply for a job as a cross walk attendant, or maybe as a police officer. Do you think this color is a bit too crazy for everyday life?

Monday, September 20, 2010

Resurf.A.Stic review for ingrown hairs and calluses

Recently I was adding some cosmetic companies to my facebook likes. I was hoping to be informed sooner about product releases. In one such case, Blinc cosmetics talked about their new line called Resurf.a.Stic. I added them on facebook and entered one of their comment giveaways. Since not a lot of people have friended them yet, I won! I was excited, I almost never win anything.

They sent me two products: one for ingrown hairs, and one for calluses.  I got to try them out last week and wanted to share my results. Both are shaped like old school deodorants, and are like a hydrating gel stick with medical grade microdermabrasion crystals. Depending on the stick you're using you wet the stick, or skin and rub the stick lightly in a circular motion.



Resurf.A.Stic ingrown is really nice. The directions state to use prior to shaving. The crystals are medium sized (in my opinion) and smooth. It smells pretty nice.
 My problem with most scrubs/dermabrasion like products for ingrown hairs is they're too harsh and cause serious sensitivity. I was willing to give it a try though as I have a couple embarrassing non-inflamed ingrown hairs on my lower legs. It worked quite well, although it didn't release all the ingrowns on the first attempt.
However, I had no sensitivity and it didn't hurt. I would definitely recommend this product for any ladies with sensitive skin.

Resurf.A.Stic Callus ($30)

 Resurf.a.Stic Callus is OK. It smells pretty minty and has much larger crystals. I'm not extremely callused and it did smooth out my palms and backs of my foot decently well. Maybe its just cause it's a new stick, but it didn't seem to have many crystals. If I saw better results I might use this in conjunction with my Mr.Pumice, but I didn't see a huge improvement. I'll keep trying it and if I see a major difference in the upcoming weeks I'll post again.

I really wish I had won the face version, but so far my L'oreal go clean 360 is working decently well on my Retin-A flakiness without being too harsh. Although my daughter did call me alligator face the other day - OUCH.

What do you use to smooth your body?


[This was not a sponsored post, Resurf.a.Stic and Blinc did not send me these items to review. I happened to win them on a facebook give away and wanted to share]

Friday, September 17, 2010

E.L.F. Nail Polish Swatch Sunset

Sorry it's been a slow week. I must be stressed much more than I think over the sinking bed because I landed in the E.R. on Saturday night with chest pain and heart palpitations. I think everything's O.K. but I have to follow up. As you can imagine, I haven't been feeling well enough to paint my nails as much.

Last night was good enough to give it a try. So I did a quick swatch and snapped some pictures as best I could. I realized after the pinky looks distorted but it looked beautiful actually on my nails. 

E.L.F. Polish Sunset

E.L.F. Sunset nail polish is a beautiful deep pink color. Not something I'd associate with the name "Sunset". I guess I envision a different time of the evening (orangey-pinks).

 It's still a beautiful color, and application was so easy. Most of my ELF colors dry super fast, and this one is no exception. By the time I finished my pink the thumb was completely dry. I finished with Sally Hansen hard as nails UV top coat.

I've been trying out Blogger's compose instead of edit HTML. So if you notice any issues with the posts, let me know.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Sunshine Award Tag You're It!

Karen D of Frazzle and Anipolish tagged me earlier this week, but I've been feeling not so well so I waited to post it until I felt better.

Award

The rules for this award:
1. Post the image on your blog
2. Link the blogger who gave it to you
3. Pass it on to 12 other bloggers
4. Link those 12 bloggers
5. Let them know you've tagged them by commenting on their blog


Portrait Of Mai What can I say? I love Mai already. She leaves little comments on most of my posts. She's absolutely adorable. And her blog is cute!

Bella Gets Real a fashion blogger. I really like her sense of style, her cute pictures, and her wit. Quote from her blog "Why did I picture Cosmos in mini glasses?"

Magic Maid So I love love love her nails. They're so beautiful. She's really a sweety too.

Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes First, she's a doll. She's been really nice to me. Also, she posts nail polishes I'd like to see and purchase. You know, not just $10+ bottles. She also posts the retail price so I'm not surprised when I go shopping, which is something I should do more often.

Almost Never Without Nail Polish A Swedish blog. I love the hand painted designs. She doesn't have many followers, but its definitely a must read (if google translator works for you)

Getcha Nails Did So she hasn't been posting lately due to a computer issue and a sick puppy. However, I love her blog and I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting for a new post.

Cel's Deco Nails I wont lie, I have a sweet spot for anything Japanese. Well... Almost - Cow tongue ice cream is near the bottom of my list. But Cel features some Japanese nail art that is to die for!

Also Known As A big inspiration and she has really pretty polish.

Hyperbole and a half Not a beauty blog but a comedy. Any time I need to smile, this is where I go. I've probably read all of her posts. Now almost every time I type "alot" I now get pictures of her Alot monster running through my head.

The Nailphile Im not sure its just me, but her blog seems to come out sort of discombobulated on my computer. However, I still love it. The polishes she uses are amazing(check out the Khaki Chanel color!)

I'm leaving the last two spots open to whomever YOU would like to recommend. Tell me about some blogs I may not know about so I can add them to the list!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Konad kit winner by Design Ur Nails

Winner Winner... Ok the line is getting old! I feel compelled to watch 21 now. For all you wondering who won the customizable Konad stamping kit then you're in the right place

Our giveaway had a total of 73 valid entrants and a total of 234 entries. Wow! Thank you all for entering, and for checking out DesignUrNails. I hope you used the coupon code while you could! (it should be expired now, so if you missed out, sorry!)

I was going to post a picture of the actual entries spreadsheet, but the image was way to wide and resizing it properly made it unreadable.
Design ur nails winner random number

That number pointed to Grace Wong, writer of a very cute new fashion blog named Candy World. Most of her posts are giveaway link ups, but her most recent post about NYC was adorable. I really hope she keeps at blogging!

I'll be contacting you tonight Grace, and forwarding your email to DesignUrNails also so you can get in contact with them about your Konad kit. Congrats!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Possible Tech Difficulties

AFTER the announcement & contact of the winner tomorrow there may be some technical difficulties with our blog. I have purchased a new domain and will be linking it to this website. As of right now the DNS is not directing properly so it is "off" for now.

You will not have to change your bookmarks as our blogspot/blogger address will automatically re-direct to our new domain.

Thank you!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Konad image plate m60 on M.A.C. Earthly Harmony

I've been wearing the last of my M.A.C. Earthly Harmony polish. I did a swatch and full review in August. It makes me sad that most of the bottle is gone after the toddler disaster. It's a lot of fun to Konad stamp on though!

MAC nail polish fall 2010 color Earthly Harmony with Konad stamp

The bottom of the bottle gets very very grainy though, which is disappointing. It really needs a top coat to look smooth and even then.

I used Konad special polish in black to stamp. On the ring finger I used the plain pattern that is also found on image plate m60, which as you can see is "off". I've tried this stamp several times and never once have gotten it right. I decided to wing it for the pictures because I liked the way the rest of the nails turned out and I ran out of time.

Konad stamping m60 on MAC Earthly Harmony polish

I really like this flowery stamp, it looks much better on the nails then on the plate. I played with placement so not every nail looks the same. This pattern stamps amazingly well.

Polish swatch with Konad m60

If you haven't tried Konad yet, you should enter the contest we have going on(there is a link at the top of the page). The last entries will be taken tonight and the winner will be announced Wednesday. The coupon for $5 off $75 is still valid for the time being.

Friday, September 10, 2010

ELF nail polish in Mango Madness swatch with tips

Our Konad giveaway ends in 3 days!

I wanted to do a Bobbi Brown lip swatch this week, however I started treatment from my dermatologist in the form of Retin-A cream. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically vitamin A cream, which causes your skin to shed faster. The first few weeks can cause extreme flakiness, redness, and burning OWIE pain until you get used to it. Well, I'm in the thick of it. Sounds horrible, but the end result is already starting to show, so it is amazing.
Not only is my breakout starting to clear up but so are my other skin imperfections. Hopefully only one more week of flaking!

Anyways, the point of the above is I decided I didn't want to show you all my flakey face, so I did a polish swatch. I'm a summer baby, and yesterday was chilly. It finally is starting to feel like fall here in New England. I'm sure, with our crazy weather we'll have one more heat wave. I wanted to do a summer crazy color as a pick-me-up.

E.L.F. Mango Madness nail polish swatch

I used E.L.F. Mango Madness, which is a very orangey-pink color. The bottle is actually mislabled as "Pink Passion" but I contacted Eyes Lips Face Co. and they assured me there was a packing error and the color is truly mango madness.

This polish made me feel like I was basking in the summer sun. Ahhh! It was so nice.
For the tips of the nails I made X's with art polishes in hot pink and hot orange.

Nail art with ELF Mango Madness Polish

Is it starting to feel like fall where you are?

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Incoco dry nail applique is out of this world!

Konad Giveaway reminder: It ends in less than 7 days!

Incoco Dry Nail Appliqué

Incoco contacted me through Twitter and asked if I'd be willing to review their product on my blog. Of course I would! I love nail products.

Basically, to simply the whole thing is it's real nail polish (DBP, Formaldehyde and Toluene free), in a dry sticker form. Base coat, top coat and color included in ONE sticker-like application. It's dry, so no smudges. Once you stick it on you can go grab your laundry or rush out the door. There are detailed instructions included along with a color chart. The glitter set included a few samples of items including 2 sheer appliqués and some wide silver sticker I think is a part of their upcoming chrome series? (EDIT: Incoco contacted me about the sticker, it is to reseal any leftover appliques so they wont dry out)

Incoco nail polish instructions and supplies

Incoco's own slogan is "The New Revolution in Nail Polish" and quite frankly, I have to agree. I mean, I'm a mommy. I love painting my nails, but it can get messy for me. Sometimes life gets in the way and I smudge my perfect polish job. In the past I avoided Avon's dry nail polish appliqués after reading poor reviews. I probably would've avoided Incoco's too if it weren't for trying it myself.

The ONLY downside I saw after cruising the directions was sizing the nail appliqué properly.

A major plus side, if placed improperly you can carefully pick it back up and place on properly. Since it stayed relatively sticky and my nails are currently very short I was able to use both sides of the sticker. So I was able to double the amount of manicures I could do with a package. I'm not cheap, just thrifty... Ok, Maybe that is being excessively cheap!

Incoco dry nail polish applicationIncoco dry nail application

It was easy to apply, instead of using their suggested nail file to remove the tip of the sticker I cut it with a cuticle cutter, then used the file. It made it much easier. I had no wrinkles, or bubbles. It was extremely easy to smooth out.

I tried 24 Karats glitter and its gorgeous. I usually hate glitter polish, but its so beautiful. Much more glittery then it looks in the pictures and I'm getting tons of comments. It also doesn't feel scratchy, nor is it catching lint like a real glitter polish would.

Incoco glitter 24 Karats

Dry nail decal polish in 24 karats by Incoco

As far as the claim that it can last up to 14 days? I believe it. I chip polish within 3-5 hours of normal application. The longest I've gone is 24 hours of light wear and tear. I'm never easy on my polish, and I use my nails as tools.

I applied the dry appliques Sunday (48+ hours ago). After applying I changed the water in my salt water fish tank, did several loads of laundry, several sinks of dishes, obviously showered a few times and gave a few baths to my daughter. Not one chip. On one thumb a small smidgen of glitter is missing from the tip, but its not noticeable at all. With light duty, it could certainly last a very long time.

Personally, I feel it is a decent deal at $7.99 if you have short nails and can stretch a package for 2 applications. I'm not sure I'd personally pay that much for one use. Except for when I wanted perfectly polished nails all day or for a number of days, like in example, a wedding or short vacation. I like to change polishes quite often, so it wouldn't be economical for me to purchase 5-7 packs a week, obviously.

Incoco dry nail appliqués can be found in a variety of colors on their online shop, at Walgreens, or at an Incoco Nail bar. 24 Karats retails for $7.99.

[I was not compensated for this review, I however received the item outlined above for free to try it out. The above review is HONEST and in my words.]

Thursday, September 2, 2010

O.P.I. Kyoto Pearl Swatch and Konad stamping

I feel lucky that I swatched and stamped my O.P.I. and M.A.C. nail polishes last week. I took photos. It allowed me to continue posting this week. Otherwise, I just wouldn't have the extra time to polish, do nail art, then blog about it. I should prepare more often, just in case.

I suppose when it rains... Obviously the biggest is the death in the family. I went to the dermatologist about a reaction to L'Ancome teint idole and he said unofficially he believed the makeup caused my reaction, but that he wouldn't say it officially in my records. Then I woke up today and my Burberry eyeglasses have a gigantic scratch. Wow. I mean, I don't mean to complain. There is a lot of good stuff going on too!

Konad USA stamp with Konad special polish black on O.P.I. Kyoto Pearl

I really like Kyoto Pearl lacquer. It's a fun shimmer color without any giant glitter pieces that are hard to remove. The only downside is I felt I had enough coats after two, then I went in different lights and noticed it was still transparent in different settings.

O.P.I. Kyoto Pearl lacquer swatch

O.P.I. polish Kyoto pearl indoors

You can definitely see the difference above. I never did get around to adding more coats.

For the nail art I used Konad Image plate m71, a very girly victorian looking. It's definitely (so far) my favorite metal nail stamp plate.

For the middle finger I swiped off about one-half of the image diagonally to match the other stamps (*tip* remove it from the stamp with your fingers, or a paper towel from the stamp to avoid lint). In hindsight I wish I removed more of the design.

Konad m71 nail plate

I'm looking forward to next week, as I know it should be much better. How is your week going?
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