April 2012 Favorites

It's hard to believe that April is over. And now that it's May, just 24 more days & I'm officially done with school. Done. I'll be a graduate. It's hard to believe how time has flown...

Anyway, here's the products I've been loving this month!

-Revlon Age Defying Concealer
-Maybelline Great Lash "Big Lash" mascara
-Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Hazel
-Wetn Wild Trio in Walking on Eggshells
-Wet n Wild Single in Nutty

What are some of your favorite products this month?

Meet Me on the Brightside Beauty Blog Hop-I'm a Co-host!

<center><a href="http://meetmeonthebrightside.blogspot.com"; target="_blank"><img alt="Meet Me on the Brightside" src="http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j287/kaquino21/Blohhopbutton.jpg"/></a></center>

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     Happy Friday Bloggers!  The weekend is almost here! Come link up to my Brightside Beauty Blog Hop for a chance to gain new followers and find amazing new reads. Linky list will be open now until this Sunday night 11:59 pm, Ohio time. There are only a few guidelines , so read and follow them all and let the fun begin.  Don't forget to come back every Friday to join the blog hop and enter future giveaways :)  The blog this weekend with the most views will win a co-host spot on next weekend's hop so get your network on :)

PROM: Fun & Flirty Flower Nails

These flower nails are very easy but super cute! In just three easy steps, you have beautiful nails for Prom or any occasion!

1. Start with a beige base color. I used Mulberry Street by NYC Color.

2. Make a total of 6 dots- 1 center dot and five surrounding. Then VERY quickly before the polish starts to dry, use the tip of a pencil or a dotting tool to pull each of the dots to the center dot.

3. Add some finishing metallic touches! I used a silver nail polish, but you can also use rhinestones if you have them.

Enjoy! xoxo

I've Finished My Moisturizer-What Did I think?

I've recently finished up my Garnier Nutritioniste Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Cream & here are my thoughts!

-It's very light. I wouldn't call it a cream at all, just a gel. For those with normal to dry skin, this isn't the best moisturizer for winter because it doesn't pack as moisture as traditional cream does, but it's perfect for the summertime because it's light and won't clog pores. This would also be good year-round for those with oily skin.

-It smells like grape seeds, but it's not too overpowering. I don't mind the scent at all.

-To me, the price seems to have gone up a bit, which I don't mind because this little jar lasts me about 10 months. So $8, I can live with.

-The new jar that I bought seems to be a lot greener than my last jar. Not sure if that means anything...

Did I repurchase? YES!

I love this moisturizer. Overall, I recommend gels over creams because they're a lot less likely to clog your pores, which I struggle with. I highly recommend this gel cream!

Liebster Blog Award!

I've received special award from LizaBellaBeauty

Thank you so much, LizaBella, for giving me this award! It's wonderful to know that your work is appreciated xoxo

So for those of you who do not know what Liebster means, it's a German word meaning "Dearest." The award is given to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers who deserve some recognition and support to keep blogging. Because frankly, blogging is not an easy thing to do and it's nice to be appreciated and supported by your fellow bloggers!

Here are the rules
1. Link the person who gave you the award in your post.
2. Put the award in your post.
3. Choose 5 blogs with under 200 followers to receive the award.
4. Let them know you awarded them.

 

My nominees are

1. TwinxNtrax

2. Scotass99

3. A Scholar Life

4. Rianne's Reviews

5. Glamtone

 

Congrats xoxo

 

 

Wet n Wild Single Eyeshadow in Nutty, Review & Swatch

Wet n Wild Single Eyeshadow in 252B, Nutty

0.06 oz.-Made in China-$1.99-Permanent

PROM: Easy Bold Glitter Nails!

Glitter is awesome. But it's even better when you layer it with different kinds of glitter!

For this, I used 3 coats Sparked by Wet n Wild, which is a chunkier fuschia glitter, underneath Silver Lining by China Glaze, which is a very fine silver glitter. By layering the super fine glitter on top, it creates this really cool foiled effect!

Sparked, by Wet n Wild, and Silver Lining by China Glaze

Enjoy!

Revlon Age-Defying Concealer, Review & Swatch

Revlon Age-Defying Moisturizing Concealer in 001, Light

0.37 fluid oz.-Made in US with US and non-US components-$8.94-Permanent

What's on my nails? Gray's Anatomy, Review & Swatch

Gray's Anatomy, a Fast Dry polish from Wet n Wild, is a purple and green duochrome that's actually quite sheer. I layered it on top of a lavendar creme polish from Love&Beauty.

The formula of Gray's Anatomy is streaky, and even with two coats you still see the brush strokes. There's a slight shimmer as well, which emphasizes the brush strokes.

The Bottom Line

7.5/10

The color is lovely, but it's very sheer and streaky unfortunately. Definitely a layering polish!

Wet n Wild Haul

Rite Aid has a promotion this week where all Wet n Wild Cosmetics are 40% off, and when you buy $10 worth, you get a $3 +up reward back. My subtotal for all of the above came to just $10.12, so it's definitely a good deal!

Here's what I bought and will be reviewed soon!

-Walking on Eggshells eyeshadow trio

-Megalast polish in Break the Ice

-Megalast polish in Bite the Bullet

-Fast Dry polish in The Gold and the Beautiful

-Fast Dry polish in Teal of Fortune

-Fast Dry polish in 9.0.2.1.Orange

-Fast Dry polish in Silvivor

-Eyeshadow single in Nutty

All of the polishes in the picture are in the true to life colors!

And another thing, the $4.99 kits that people have been spotted ARE included in the sale-one blush, eyeshadow trio, lip gloss, and Fast Dry nail polish

And to forewarn you, I wanted to buy a polish from the Chrome LE collection while it was on sale, but those bottles were TINY. So for the outrageous price they were asking for such a tiny bottle, I passed.

Have you picked anything up from the sale?

PROM: Easy Bold Nails

Want nails that are awesome but easy for Prom? Check these out! I used a matte polish and a glitter polish so these are guaranteed bold!

I used Dream On by Sinful Colors, which is a matte polish, and Silver Lining by China Glaze, which is a very fine glitter polish.

All you have to do is paint two coats of the matte polish all over your nail, and then cover the tips with 3 layers of the silver polish for maximum bling!

What do you think?

Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil in Hazel, Review & Swatch

Rimmel London Professional Eyebrow Pencil in 002, Hazel

0.05 oz.-Made in Italy-$3.14-Permanent

elf Essential Nail Polish in Party Peach, Review & Photo

elf Essential Nail Polish in Party Peach

$2-Made in China-Permanent, also in the Spring 2012 Collection LE Nail Polish pack for $5

As my boss said to me, "Hey, I could go deer hunting with that nail polish!"

Yes, this is a neon peach. And you probably could go hunting in it.

Now this is the first elf nail polish that I've tried, and I heard that the recently reformulated the formula of their polishes. But that being said, I didn't have high hopes that this would perform well. Why? Because neon polishes are just difficult to work with in general, and Party Peach is no exception.

It took three coats for the polish to be fully opaque. When you put on the first coat, the formula is very thick so the application is very patchy, requiring 2-3 coats to get a uniform application.

Unfortunately, since you have to apply 3 coats of this thick polish, it cracks incredibly easily. Within 2 hours, little cracks were starting to form at the tips of my nails, which has never happened to me before, and within 4 days, huge chunks of neon pink was falling off my nails.

The Bottom Line

5/10

This truly is a beautiful color, it's just a shame that the formula wasn't the best. I won't hold it against elf for now, because as I said, I find neon polishes difficult to work with in general. We shall see!

Target Beauty Haul & Some Sightings!

Sorry I haven't posted in a week-it's been insane! I've had some major doctor's appointments and a crisis at school, so I just haven't been up for it :/ But never fear! I'm back with some awesome reviews and brand new posts!

So here's what I picked up at Target recently:

-Scunci clear bands and bobby pins-there were a few of these left in the dollar spot. I find that they're still as good of quality as the expensive Goody ones
-L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion
-Got2B Playful Pomade-this is on sale for $3.79 this week, and if you still have that $3 off any Got2B product coupon that expires May 12, this is only $0.79!
-Gud by Burt's Bees Body Mist in Pearanormal Activity
-Revlon Age-Defying Concealer-this was on clearance for $4.47, and there's a $2 off any Revlon product coupon available at Target.com
-Up&Up Nail Polish Remover-this was $0.97 at my Target, and I used the $0.50 off any Up&Up nail care item coupon from Target.com
-Maybelline The Falsies Volum' Express Waterproof Mascara
-Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Hazel

And here's some of the awesome deals I spotted!

-The Target Beauty Bag on clearance for $4.98. This was with a Vitamin Water deal a while back, and I would have picked it up, but the bag was kind of ugly, and it was a rip-off. They still want $5 for two travel sized Pantene samples, an Olay facial wipe, and a packet set of Fekkai hair samples. Not worth it in my opinion.
-The L'Oreal Sublime Bronze tint lotion was super cheap because I found a display on one of the caps with $2 off peelies attached!
-Revlon PhotoReady Aqua Mineral Makeup was on clearance for $4.50

Look for these in upcoming reviews!

elf Golden Bronzer, Review & Swatch

elf Studio Golden Bronzer

0.4339 oz.-$3-Permanent

This is known as a versatile product by many of the beauty junkies because it doubles as a bronzer, blush, and eyeshadows. Now, this product doesn't say that it's eye safe, but it also doesn't come with any warnings against it, so just use good judgement with this product. If you think it's safe on your eyes, then by all means go ahead.

When used on the eyes, as I did try for review purposes, all four colors look like basically the same color, but they're very shimmery and add a beautiful pop.

When using just the pink as a blush, it honestly didn't show up on even my fair skin. It was basically just shimmer on my cheeks.

As a bronzer, I can say that a lot of color didn't show up on my face. The product itself is very hard to get out of the pan with a brush. I tried the elf powder brush and the elf complexion brush and they product just want concentrated enough to add a "bronzed sun-kissed glow" to my face.

The colors are lovely, I just wish it was more pigmented. I mean, my skin is very pale, so you'd think this would easily show up, but it just looks like a ton of shimmer.

The Pros:

I love the colors, the price, and the packaging

The Cons:

It needs more pigmentation and to be easier to get on the face

The Bottom Line

7.5/10

I'll give this another try in a few months when I'm more tan and see if I can make it work then, but for now, I don't see myself reaching for this product.

elf Spring 2012 Nail Polish Collection, Pictures & Swatches

elf Spring 2012 Nail Polish Collection

$5-Limited Edition-Made in China

Left to right: Coral Dream, Flirty Fuschia, Party Peach, Smokin' Hot

Coral Dream

Party Peach

Flirty Fuschia

Smokin' Hot

I haven't worn these on my nails yet, but just from swatching them, the formula seems very opaque and quite streak free! It looks promising!

Have you tried these nail polishes yet? What do you think?

Wet n Wild Nail Polish Haul!

Meijer has a sale this week for BOGO 1/2 off all WnW! Since their prices are already a bit cheaper than regular drugstores, I took advantage! & each polish but the Wild Shine was $1.89. The Wild Shine was $0.93 (all before the sale). Follow the jump to see swatches & more pics!

What's on My Nails? More Sinful Colors!

I love blues because they remind me so much of the ocean!

This blue in particular is "Ciao Bella" by Sinful Colors, and is a royal blue with turquoise shimer snd glitters in it.

It applies a little sheer, but honestly, it really works for this shade!

Ciao my beauties <3

My Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips Experience & Review

Well, these were an experience. A two hour, me ripping stickers off my nails, and my mother asking what in the world I was attempting to do kind of experience.