Cosmetic Arts Most Popular Swatch

After seeing several nail art pictures involving a gold glitter accent nail I knew I had to pick up a gold glitter polish. The problem I ran into was that most gold glitter nail polish was never dense enough to use on its own. I’m not much of a gold glitter kind of gal so I would pass up most of the gold glitter polishes if I knew I couldn’t get the job done in two coats. When I stopped into Meijer a while back I came across the polish Most Popular by Cosmetic Arts. I’ve never heard of the polish brand before so I’m not sure where else you can purchase it from. Anyways, it was completely what I was looking for and it only cost me $1.98 so it definitely is affordable. Here is my swatch of it in sunlight:

This is two coats of Most Popular.

This has to be the best opaque gold glitter nail polish that I have come across yet. It tends to be more on the yellow gold side and will stain your nails yellow so make sure to use a base coat. Cosmetic Arts also has a silver glitter that is almost identical to this polishes formula that I may need to try. Has anyone ever tried any other polishes from this brand? What are your favorites? I definitely want to try out more polishes from this brand because they are so cheap and they do have some really pretty colors.

NOTD: Dorothy Who? by Gelaze

So today I have to share with you a NOTD of a new Gelaze polish I picked up. Dorothy Who? had been either sold out or opened/gooped up in the cap of the nail polish bottle at my surrounding Sally's. Finally, the Sally's I primarily go to had restocked them and I finally got my hands on one. The nice Sally's lady also informed me of a coupon I was missing out on and I ended up getting Ruby Pumps for free on top of my $5 off purchase coupon! I got both Gelaze polishes for less that $7. What a steal! Anyways, onto the picture...

It's pretty gloomy here right now so you can't see all of that glorious sparkle but in real life, it just sparkles like crazy. It's the prettiest blue gel polish that I own so far and I'm super pumped I finally own it. It's so glittery and perfect. I cannot stop staring at it. What's your favorite Gelaze polish? Or what's your favorite gel polish in general?

China Glaze + Salon Perfect Confusion?

While I was out, I remembered I needed to stop by the store to get some personal hygiene products. Target happened to be closed (I was out late, had to pick up someone from work) and was forced to go to Walmart. I absolutely hate that store. Am I the only one? I feel like it's always gross and dirty... Anyways, while I was there I just had to stop down the nail polish aisle. That is when I noticed a China Glaze nail polish bottle (NOTE: Walmart does NOT sell China Glaze) mixed within the Salon Perfect polishes. The only difference that the polishes had were the bottles and brands. They both were the same color, had the same cap (even the "China Glaze" polish had a Salon Perfect cap), and had the same exact name. The name of this polish is "In Love" and from what I've found, China Glaze does not have a polish with this name. Below are a couple pictures that I snapped really quickly.

Does anyone know if China Glaze and Salon Perfect are owned by the same company? It seems to be that they are and that they had a mishap that happened while producing the polish. Anyone else run into weird nail polish mishaps?

Sally Hansen Base Coat + Top Coat Reviews

Every time I search Google for reviews on Sally Hansen top coats and base coats I always find individual blog posts about a product when what I really want is a giant list of reviews about Sally Hansen. So I'm here to provide you that if you are also longing for that type of post. All images of the bottles have been taken from the Sally Hansen website. So all photo credit does go to them, I'm just here to provide my review on the products. So let's dig in since I do have a few to review.

The first one I have to talk about is the infamous Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. In the beginning I actually really did enjoy this top coat. It dried my nail polish fairly quickly and provided a super glossy finish. However, this gooped up on me like no other. My Seche Vite doesn't even goop up as fast as this did. I was only able to use a little less than half a bottle before I gave up on it. It's inexpensive and you can find it for less than 5 bucks at most places but to be honest, it's not worth it. Was really disappointed with this top coat.

The next one I have to talk about is the Diamond Flash top coat. I got this top coat fairly recently but have gained quite the opinion on it. It does dry your polish quickly and provide a good shine but boy does it have it's down falls. It has a tiny brush, it bubbles, and it chips quickly. The brush on this top coat is terrible. It's so tiny and is very difficult to work with. You have to go over your nail 4-5 times to have a complete coverage of the top coat. The bubbles are what really kill me though. Even if you don't see any bubbles in the top coat before applying it, it still somehow manages to bubble on the nail. It's incredibly annoying and completely ruins a manicure. I will continue to use this on metallic polishes I only want to wear for a day but otherwise it's completely useless.

Next is the Diamond Shine top coat/base coat. As a top coat, I don't like this product. It doesn't really dry your polish that quick and doesn't provide enough shine for my liking. As a base coat however, I like this product a lot more. It's thin enough to not mess with the application of polish but still thick enough to protect your nails. It's nothing extremely special but I do enjoy this as a base coat.

Lastly we have Hard As Nails Hard As Wraps base coat. It claims to have acrylic strength protection and I have to agree with that claim. It makes polishes go on so much smoother and prevents polishes that stain from staining your nails. However, I still have mixed feelings on this product. While it does prevent staining and make polish go on smoother I almost feel like it doesn't really work for my finger nails. When I wear it on my fingers it chips more if I wear it than if I didn't have a base coat on. It doesn't seem to chip on my toes though but that's most likely because I'm not as hard on my toes. It also is incredibly difficult to remove. If you use normal polish remover it will take a lot longer to remove. So I would recommend using acetone to remove it if you don't want to spend forever trying to remove it.

I know they are all kinda vague reviews so if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I will answer them all. What's your favorite Sally Hansen top coat/base coat? I'm in the market for a new one of each so I'm up for recommendations.

Freeman Facial Mask Reviews

Facial masks have easily become one of my favorite things to use after a long day. It's nice to treat yourself to a mini at home spa and these masks are perfect for that. If you're interested in purchasing these masks, I've found Walgreens.com to have the best selection. Here are the masks that I currently own:

I've tried a few others but it's been a while and they were only the individual packets that I found at Walmart. I would recommend just buying the full sized mask because it's going to be cheaper that way. Each individual packets costs $1.00-$1.99 for one use. The full sized tube costs $3.99 and you could easily get 20+ uses from each tube. Just something to think about when purchasing. Anyways, onto the actual review...

Picture to show you the actual mask.

Acai, Dead Sea Mineral, and Avocado & Oatmeal all perform the same to me. They all refresh your skin, don't dry you out, and makes your skin feel soft. They all are very thick, apply evenly, and dry quickly. The quick drying aspect is really important to me. I don't want to wait around for ages for a facial mask to dry. It may just be my skin type but I honestly, can't tell a difference. So when I repurchase masks from them again, I will be going by scent. I definitely would recommend these masks and will be repurchasing in the future!

As for the Cucumber Peel Off Mask, I'm torn. This masks has its pros and its cons. Its pros are: it is fun to peel off and it moisturizes your skin. The cons are: it is too thick, hard to get out of hair/eyebrows, long dry time, can be oily afterwards, and it smells like pickles. It's really fun to peel off and does moisturize your skin. However, it is really hard to apply evenly and can take a long time to dry. It's extremely thick and feels like you are applying glue to your face. This can cause the drying time to extend. You also must avoid your hairline or eyebrows for this to be easy to use. Once it is in your hair, it doesn't want to come out. It can be a real pain in the butt. For those reasons, I wouldn't recommend this mask.

So what do you think of these masks? Which one do you want to try/which one is your favorite?

May 2014 Nail Polish Favorites

The month of May has been a wonderful nail polish month for me. I've collected quite a few polishes this month and many have become new favorites of mine. All polishes that I've posted all are bright, vibrant, and beautiful colors. All which are suited for Spring/Summer. So lets take a look at what I have to show.

I've purchased all of these polishes at either Sally Beauty Supply or Meijer. Meijer has come out with a lot of new polishes and began carrying more Color Club. I'm super pumped about the Color Club.

From left to right: OPI Where did Suzi's Man-go?, Kiss Me I'm Brazilian, Live.Love.Carnival, I Just Can't Cope-acabana

Of course I had to include my OPI Brazil Collection picks. These are absolutely gorgeous colors and I'm just completely obsessed! If you want to hear more about these polishes check out this blog post.

From left to right: Studio M East Austin, Sunrise Canyon

Studio M polishes are Meijer brand polish and recently had a new display showcasing a bunch of colors. Two of which are shown above. These both apply very evenly and dry quickly. I've received a lot of compliments on East Austin and for good reasons. It's gorgeous! Sunrise Canyon is a rose holographic polish and is extremely gorgeous on! I'm kind of a holographic addict.

Color Club - Twiggie

As I said above, Meijer has more Color Club polishes. This polish really stuck out to me. I don't really own many green polishes so this is definitely a unique color in my collection. It applies smoothly and is completely opaque in two coats. It's gorgeous and I will definitely need to stop by Meijer again soon to pick up some more Color Club.

So these are all of my May favorites. I'm super excited about finding all of these polishes this last past month. They are all perfect for summer and I plan on wearing them a crap ton. So what are your favorites? Always looking for more polish I should pick up. (Not like I really need anymore :P)

Gelaze by China Glaze Review + Swatches

So today I'm going to be talking about something I've been trying out for a while now and that's Gelaze by China Glaze. China Glaze has decided to jump on the bandwagon and create a gel polish line. All of the polishes they have are already found in their regular polishes permanent line. These gel polishes do REQUIRE the lamp. It claims to be a 2in1 polish and doesn't require a base coat. Here are a few random NOTD swatches that I have for a few of the colors that I own.


Fairy Dust - Can't really tell from the picture but it is a clear polish with small holographic glitter.

Flip Flop Fantasy - This one looks definitely more orange than the original FFF.

Refresh Mint - This is probably my favorite of them all. It looks so lovely on.

Shocking Pink - Definitely a very bright pink, looks wonderful on.

Swing Baby - Not really that fond of this one. Looks prettier in the bottle than on my nails.

Sorry for the randomness of the photos, most of them were taken for the use on my Instagram so they are not the best. These are the only swatches I have of them right now and thought it would be better than bottle pictures. Anyways... I also own the topcoat, For Audrey, and Turned Up Turquoise which are not pictured above. Overall, I really do like these polishes but lets take a deeper look into them.

Dislikes:

• Peels easily - This doesn't last on your nails very long. After a couple days of wear it begins to peel up at the edges causing it to snag and completely come off.

• Shrinkage - While waiting for this to cure under the light it begins to shrink. You have to really work at this polish for it not to shrink.

• Pools at the cuticle - You have to be extremely careful to use thin coats with this polish. It pools extremely easily around the cuticle and makes the whole process a lot longer due to all the excess clean up (MAKE SURE TO DO CLEAN UP BEFORE CURING, WON'T COME OFF AFTER YOU CURE).

• Availability - So far, Sally's is the only place that carries this. Most of the time when I got to the Sally's around me they are all sold out of the colors I am interested in. So the availability kinda sucks.

Enough with the dislikes, now onto the likes:

• Peels easily - I know this is under the dislikes but it is also a like as well. I love gel polish because it doesn't chip but that doesn't really take away my want to change my polish constantly. It peels of easily and doesn't damage the nail (well it hasn't in my case) and allows me to change my polish often without it chipping easy.

• Glossy finish - It's extremely shiny and I just love that. The gloss doesn't fade away either so you can expect the gloss to last however long this polish lasts on you.

• Price - Gel polish can be extremely expensive but the price for this polish isn't that bad. It costs $11.99 with your Sally's card but I've seen these on sale a lot. I got all of these polishes on sale when Sally's was having the BOGO Free deal so watch out for the deals.

• No drying time - This really goes for all gel polish. It takes a little longer to apply BUT it has zero dry time. I hate waiting around on my nails to dry so I love using this polish when I want to do my nails but don't have the time to wait around for drying.

Like I said, I do really enjoy these polishes. I most likely will be picking up a few more whenever my Sally's restocks them. What colors have you tried and which is your favorite?

Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque Review

Before I had decided to purchase this product, I was super excited. I've heard many beauty gurus on Youtube rave about this product. So when I finally found it at Walgreens, I snatched it up. Now I'm hear to tell you today about what I think of this mask.

Likes:

• Smells good - It's very minty and is quite lovely.
• Dries quickly - Very important, don't want to wait around for a mask to dry.
• Affordable - I bought this bottle for less than $6 at Walgreens.
• Refreshing -  It makes your skin feel super clean, doesn't dry it out, and makes your face feel refreshed. 

Dislikes:

• Burns - This tingles on your face and even burns a little. Not painful but just uncomfortable.
• Benefits - I've used this several times now and haven't noticed any of it's claims. I haven't noticed it help clear pores, dry acne, or get rid of blackheads.

So have you tried this mask? What are your thoughts?

Sally Beauty Top Coat Reviews

When I first started painting my nails, I always told myself a top coat was useless. Once I broke down and bought one for the quick drying properties I quickly learned that you do indeed need a top coat. A top coat not only protects your polish from chipping or smudging but it also cuts down on the drying time significantly (depending on the type of top coat you use). So today I will be talking about 5 top coats that claim to be fast drying, long lasting, a shine increasing. I purchased these all from Sally's Beauty Supply and have used the images from their website. All image credit goes to Sally's Beauty Supply website which is linked here. I will also be linking to the top coat if you are interested in purchasing it. Since I have so many to get through, lets get started!

First up is China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat. One of my favorite nail polish brands is China Glaze however, I'm not a fan of their top coat. I was looking forward to using this and had high expectations due to their wonderful nail polish. This top coat isn't terrible but I don't find it to dry that quickly, add that much shine, or extend the wear of my polish. It's an average top coat and isn't really anything all that special.

Next we have ProLinc Diamond Dry Air Dry Top Coat. I actually received this top coat free a while back when Sally's was having a promotion where you would get a free top coat when you bought a China Glaze nail polish. I was super pumped to try it since I was freshly on the hunt for good top coats. I really tried to like this top coat but I just couldn't. It didn't dry that quickly at all. While it did dry quicker than if there wasn't a top coat, it still took a long time. The biggest reason why I didn't like this top coat though was that it crinkled. Every time I would use it it would crinkle and look like crinkled up aluminum foil. It looked terrible and after 5-7 uses or so I gave up and tossed it.

Up next we have INM Out The Door Fast Drying Top Coat. I like and dislike this top coat all at once. It does dry you polish rather quickly but it doesn't extend the wear of your polish. When I use this polish I notice chipping within 1-2 days after applying. I only use this polish when I know that I will want to change my polish again rather soon otherwise, I won't use it.

Next we have Orly In A Snap Nail Dryer. I honestly just picked this up because it was one of the very first top coats that I had found. It's much like the China Glaze Fast Foward that I mentioned above. It's an average top coat that doesn't really have that amazing of drying time, additional shine, or additional nail polish wear. I wouldn't recommend this top coat unless average is what you are going for.

Lastly we have Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. This top coat and I have had a very long love hate relationship. I first got this top coat when there was a deal at Sally's when you bought a China Glaze polish you would receive a free Seche Vite. It's honestly one of the best top coats I have tried. However, it does have it's downfalls. 1) It's made with chemicals that can cause birth defects. When I think about this, it really creeps me out and makes me not want to use it. 2) It gets goopy after using it about half way through. It can be really frustrating trying to use this top coat towards the half way mark. I may need to try the Seche Vite restore. Those are the only two complaints I have about this top coat. The quick drying time, high gloss finish, and extended nail polish wear does outweigh the negatives though. I would definitely give this top coat a shot if you haven't already.

So what top coats are your favorite? I'm always up for trying a new top coat and would love to hear recommendations.

My OPI Brazil Collection Picks!

I was actually really excited for the OPI Brazil Collection as I seen quite a few shades I actually found myself enjoying. Sally's had a sale where the Brazil Collection was BOGO free and I couldn't resist. Here are the polishes that I picked up/am going to pick up:

These are all going to be listed in order by the picture going left to right.

Where did Suzi's Man-go? - A pale orange. Usually I really hate orange colors but this color is absolutely perfect. It does require three thin coats to become opaque but is very easy to work with. It's a great polish!

Kiss Me I'm Brazilian - A very creamy and opaque bubblegum pink. It applies very smooth and has a wonderful application. It requires three thin coats to become 100% opaque.

Live.Love.Carnival - A coral red/orange that looks amazing on toes. I admit that I do love it on my fingers as well but something about it makes me love it on my toes more. It's completely opaque in two coats and again, this polish has an amazing formula.

I Just Can't Cope-acabana - A bright yellow. Again, I usually hate colors like this. It's extremely hard for me to find a yellow that isn't streaky, takes a million coats, and dries quickly. This yellow is absolutely perfect. It's bright, it dries quickly, and isn't streaky at all. It does require three coats but I don't mind!

Toucan Do It If You Try - I don't actually own this polish yet but I plan to purchase it very soon! I decided not to get it last time I was in Sally's and now I can't stop thinking about how much I need this polish! LOL. It will be mine.

UPDATED: Added a better picture.
What colors have you picked up? Which ones are your favorites?

Influenster Go Voxbox

So today I'm finally going to blog about my new voxbox that I've received from Influenster! It shipped really quickly and took less than a week from the day I received the email that I was going to receive it. Which was quite odd since it always seems to take forever but hey, I'm not complaining! I always love receiving these boxes and was excited to get this one! Lets hop into what I received:

I unfortunately don't have individual pictures of each item because I was to excited to dig right into my voxbox so here is the list form of what I got.

- Playtex Sport Fresh Balance
- Vitamin Shoppe Next Step Fit N Full Protein Shake
- Blue Diamond Blueberry Flavored Almonds
- Profoot Triad Orthodic AND Profoot Pedi Rock
- Aqua Spa Body Creme
- 1 Voucher for a FREE Muller Yogurt Product

So far, there is a few things I haven't had the chance to try. I haven't been able to try the tampons, protein shake, or shoe insoles. So I can't review those yet but I will review the rest.

Blue Diamond Blueberry Almonds - They are sweet, very blueberry, and are a nice treat. I usually like my almonds to be nice and salty so it was a nice change to try them with a sweeter coat on them. I can only eat these a few at a time or else I find them to be way to sweet for me. It would be interesting to try the other flavors they have. Might have to pick up a pack next time I go grocery shopping.

Profoot Pedi Rock - I have very naturally smooth feet so I didn't really notice much of a difference when using this product. I did like the shape of the pedi rock though. It was easy to hold and wasn't awkward at all. If you don't have very rough feet I think this is a great product. However, I'm not sure how well this would work for those with rougher feet.

Aqua Spa Body Creme - I received the Lavender & Chamomile scent (not sure if there were other scents) and felt only okay about it. I'm not really a lavender kind of gal so it didn't really smell all that amazing to me. It does however leave the skin feeling quite soft. Might have to pass this one along to someone who will appreciate its scent more than me!

Muller Yogurt - I've had this before the voucher was sent in my voxbox and loved it! It's nice and creamy and good to have for a small snack during the day. Excited to try out some more flavors in the future.

Excited to have received this voxbox. Everything was sent to me courtesy of Influnster for the purpose of reviewing. Did you receive the go voxbox? What did you like the best?