NOTD - 02/27/11

Here's my Nail of the Day (and hopefully the rest of the week!)



OPI-Your Royal Shyness
Sinful Colors-Glass Pink (on ring finger)



I've been really into light pinks lately and YRS has the slightest shimmer, it's really nice. A little streaky in application but what can you ask of a sheer, lighter-than-light pink? On my ring finger I just put a couple coats of Glass Pink because it added a tiny bit of subtle sparkle. So subtle you can't even tell in the picture! Anyway, this is a great natural looking pink nail good for every occasion.

Side Note: Also loving Zoya's Hurry Up drops, they made my nails dry almost instantly!

-Liz

My Top 10 Favorite Candles!

Alright so I have to admit I'm a little obsessed with candles. I have an entire shelf full in my closet and one in every corner of the house. It was hard to pick just 10 but I narrowed it down to the ones I burn most and smell the best! You'll notice a lot of fall/winter type scents because those are my favorites!

In no particular order...

WoodWick Candle - Apple Orchard

I love WoodWick Candles because you can hear the wick crackling while they burn. It sounds like you're cozy by the fire. The name is dead on with this one...it smells like you're walking around the apple orchard on a fresh fall day.

Bath & Body Works - Black Amethyst

This scent is very deep and strong. I only burn this candle in the cold bitter winter, like now, because it smells so warm and cozy. This is from BBW Signature line so the scent is strong and fills the whole room-which I love. I have just about everything from the Black Amethyst line. BBW describes it as "Italian Bergamot and rare camellias with exotic sandalwood and a surprising twist of vetiver" whatever that means...

Slatkin & Co. (Bath & Body Works) - Winter Garland

This candle smells just like my Aunt's house for our family Christmas party. All those scents of Christmas like cinnamon, pine...just Holiday. That's the only way I can describe it.

WoodWick - Amber Woods

This candle is by far my favorite. It smells like a mix of a crisp Autumn day and guy's cologne. I love "boyfriend" type scents and this one takes the cake.

Slatkin & Co. (Bath & Body Works) - Spiced Cider

This one is another typical fall scent, but a little sweeter than the rest. It has some spicy and creaminess to it. It smells like a hot cup of mulled cider. Yum!

Yankee Candle - Cozy Home

What more can I say? They nailed it. Like a cozy fall day spent inside watching movies. Love. I feel like it's  being discontinued because I can't find it anywhere :'( It's a rare occasion when I burn this baby!

Slatkin & Co. (Bath & Body Works) -Autumn

Wow, another fall scent. It has always been my personal belief that there was some kind of mix-up and this candle was named Autumn, while the next one was named Leaves. The names should be switched because Autumn smells like fresh fall leaves and apples...

Slatkin & Co. (Bath & Body Works) - Leaves

...Leaves smells like all the scents of Autumn melted into one convenient candle. Both are amazing.

Yankee Candle - Vanilla Lime

This candle is NOT fall scented! Yay! This is the perfect candle for summer, but it's not tropical. It's creamy and sweet with some citrus. It smells so good. It makes me think of a hot, typically humid, Michigan summer day. Complete with flip-flops.

Yankee Candle - Fluffy Towels

And for the last (and my current favorite) candle...Fluffy Towels! It honestly smells like when you're outside in the spring and you walk by the dryer vent and get a big whiff of the fabric softener. Ahh-mazing.

Well there you have it, my favorite candles. (Because I know you were all dying to know.)

What are your favorite candles? Brands? Types of scents?

-Liz :)

Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo

Here's a quick little post about the new Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo. I just posted a video comparing the Suave dry shampoo to the Tresemme FreshStart one that's been around for a while.

I absolutely love the Suave one for many reasons. Here are a few examples:

• Takes away oilyness and adds shine
• Lasts all day (Tresemme lasted only hours on me.)
• Smells delicious, like oranges and summer fruit.
• Gives me excellent volume, better than hairspray and with no tackyness. (Tresemme provided no volume)
• Cheap! Only $2.99 and I even found it on sale at Meijer for $2.79. How can you pass that up?

Before: Greaseball Galore...piecey and oily :(

Product sprayed on, before massaging it into my roots.

Ta-Da! Smoother, shinier and no more oil! :)



This product should be called "Now no one will know you never shower because you always smell like oranges and don't have greasy hair-Dry Shampoo."
Okay, maybe from a marketing standpoint that wouldn't work but this dry shampoo is really one of the best I've tried, and definitely beats out it's neighbors in the aisles at the drugstore.

Have you tried these? What do you think?

-Liz

N.O.T.D. (Nail of the Day)

This is actually my first NOTD! Yay, me. Okay, so the whole point of this post is to be short and sweet. I like that, it gives me a break from my normally lengthy posts. Here we go...

I'm wearing Orly Berry Blast under the new China Glaze Black Mesh Crackle polish.

Real quickly, let me do a teeny tiny review on the Crackle polishes. :)
I do like them, however, I don't think they're all that "unique" because I remember having these in Elementary School. They are neat, and differet compared to the polishes that have come out recently.
OPI came out with one first, with the Katy Perry Collection, that is called Shatter. China Glaze (the one I'm sporting in the pictures) came out almost immediately after, for about $3.50 cheaper...(it made it really hard to pick which one to buy...)
Anyway, China Glaze released a black, pink, purple, white, grey and teal crackle polish where as OPI only came out with the black. I viewed some CG swatches online and noticed that the colored ones didn't really crackle. They just looked like polishes that have been on for a few days. The black looked good though, so that's the one I bought. I got it mine at Sally's Beauty Supply for $5.

I have a few tips if you're going to wear this, however, based on my own experiences.

• Paint the base coat pretty thick because the crackle will pull the color and make it appear more sheer
• Make sure to lay the crackle on thick because it wont crack right if it's applied too thin.
• I definitely recommend a top coat over the crackle because it can peel easily, being that it is already separated.
• I think if the Black Mesh Crackle was over an orange polish it would look AH-mazing for Halloween!
  
  

As I mentioned earlier, the crackle polish sort of pulls the color underneath...the pink Orly color is much more vibrant on its own. I am really considering buying the white and grey crackle polishes, I just hope they work...

My next NOTD will be a picture and a short caption, I promise!!

Do you have any crackling/shattering polishes?

Do you remember them?

Thoughts? Comment below!

-Liz

MAC Stereo Rose MSF vs. Stila Make Me Blush Cheek Color

I remember it like it was just yesterday, my phone alarm going off at 5am just so I could go online to order the coveted MAC Stereo Rose Mineralize Skinfinish. It was being repromoted with MAC's In the Groove Collection. One I heard how in love with it everyone was and how hard it was to get your hands on, it became a mission of mine to own it. I placed a small order that morning, just Stereo Rose and Jazzed Lipstick, which, oddly enough turned out to be pretty sought after as well. I waited patiently with no confirmation email from MAC all day. Or the next day. Did I order early enough? Why don't they make more of these things!?!

And then, it came. It was everything I'd hoped for (in a blush of course, I'm not that crazy.) And I've cherished it ever since. Stereo Rose is a great blush for every skintone, my go-to cheek color in the summer and, up until tonight, a very unique piece in my collection.

Enter Stila Make Me Blush Cheek Color. Inspired by Conversation Hearts of Valentine's Day, this cheek color is absolutely gorgeous.

Stile MMB and MAC Stereo Rose don't look anything alike to me in the pan. If I hadn't heard someone else on the Internet claim these two to be dupes of each other I'd never put two and two together.

Ready for some comparison shots?

I'm not even going to bother with the prices point of this comparison since you can't find Stereo Rose anywhere other than overpriced on EBay and the Stila blush is part of a set sold online at Sephora (sold out as of now, but hopefully they re-stock!)
The Stereo Rose is .35oz and the Stila MMB is .34oz.

So are they dupes??

In my opinion, yes. I don't think anything is ever 100% the same as something else but these are pretty darn close. The only differences I can spot are that Stereo Rose is a bit more dimensional than the Stila. From different lights it can take on either a more pink, coral or gold tone. Another teeny tiny difference is that the Stila Cheek Color may be a little more orange/rusty colored than Stereo Rose, but it's barely noticeable. I'd say if you couldn't get your hands on Stereo Rose, Stila Make Me Blush Cheek Color would be a great alternative. (Plus, it's cheaper! You can buy this blush by itself at Macy's and on the Stila website for $14)


Does anyone else have both of these products? How to they compare in your opinion?

-Liz

Just in time for Valentine's Day...

What a day it's been! I waiting hours for someone to come take a look at our poor bumpy, sinking mattress, had to book it to work, took my sister to Target, and went to Zumba so when i finally opened my front door and saw a Sephora box, I was overjoyed.


Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Well...while I was browsing the Sephora website fulfilling my guilty pleasure of online shopping as I often to, I came across this Stila love themed gift pack. The set comes with a Blush (compact) called Make Me Blush and two Stila Lip Glazes. I also had a coupon code to get a free deluxe sample of Lancome Bi-Facil Makeup Remover and Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara which I've been dying to try so I couldn't not order! ;)


The lip glazes are basically an extra in this set, seeing how it is only $20 and comes with a full sized limited edition blush.


I'm going to try hard not to review this product just yet, as I just opened it about two hours ago! Warning, this post is photo-heavy!

Pinks and golds and corals-Oh My!

The gold color on top of the "conversation hearts" is simply an over spray.

 

 

Bye-Bye gold! :(

First Swipe

First, second and third swipes...just keeps getting better!



The Lip Glazes are .05oz, full size are .08oz. Full size Lip Glazes are $22 a pop!

Kisses is described as a "creamy rose" and I'd say that's pretty accurate. Very wearable.

Nice place for a "made in China" sticker, huh?

Kisses swatched heavily on top and sheered out (but still very pigmented!) underneath.

Hugs is described as a "sparkling red."  Very sparkly, indeed. I think it has a bit of pink tone to it as well.

The names of these two colors should be reversed if you ask me!

This color was so gorgeous I didn't even want to take the swatch off!

Well what can I say? I'm so glad i purchased this set when I did because as of right now it's sold out on Sephora.com. I hope they get more in because this is a really unique gift set, in my opinion. It's a great deal for the price and the product. I will be doing another post about the cheek color because I've heard it's a dupe for the coveted Stereo Rose...we shall see!
The only gripe I have about this Make Me Blush Set, or any Stila Lip Glazes, for that matter, is that they are extremely sticky and very expensive for what you actually get. Just .08oz of product will cost you a steep $22. Also, you have to twist the applicator to get the product to start coming out about 40 times, which leaves you wasting most of it because of how fast it comes out of the top with no warning. Stila has never been my favorite brand for lip gloss but with how inexpensive and gorgeous these two colors were, I can deal with the stickey-ness!


Have any of you tried this set out? What do you think?

-Liz

Hard Candy Beetle Nail Polish

I vaguely remember Hard Candy polishes being sold in big 90's protective plastic packaging at Costco several years ago. I can picture all different colored bottles with matching plastic rings on the top. They were so cool. 

Not much has changed about Hard Candy polishes. They are still cool, still have awesome colors and still come with that plastic chunky ring on the top.

I recently purchased my first Hard Candy Nail Polish, named Beetle. I've heard this color is a dupe for Orly's Space Cadet. I can't vouch for that, seeing as how I don't own the Orly version...but this color is very unique to my growing collection. The closest thing I have to this is is The Show Must Go On from the OPI Burlesque collection, except that TSMGO is pink and orange duochrome.

This color is rare and pretty in my opinion. I'd describe it as a purple/green duochrome with glitter. I was disappointed at first, because the polish in the bottle is gorgeous but each coat is extremely sheer. It looks like a very sheer olive green with chunks of glitter. I had to paint a good four coats to make it look similar to how it looks in the bottle.

With that being said, it is an amazing shade. I'm glad i found it because I missed out on the Orly one and Beetle was pretty cheap at only $4.00.

Looks more on the green side with no flash

Looks strictly purple in the bottle with flash

No flash

 I can't speak of the longevity or wear of this polish...I've only have it on for about two hours. But I can already tell I love it!

What are your favorite duo-chrome polishes?