Mini Lush HAUL

I dropped by Lush today to smell all the Valentine's Day products I've been hearing about. I didn't really find the mushroom bubble bar (though adorable) or the frog bath bomb very fragrant or terribly appealing but the girl was so nice that I ended up getting some other things instead.

3 products purchased, 1 free sample of Lust soap, 1 sample of moisturizer, 1 sample of cleanser

Free sample of Lust soap which should go nicely with the Lust perfume I already own

In hand (for size comparison)

Small size of Lust perfume (heady and delicious jasmine scent)

Avobath Bath Bomb

Among the other ingredients, Lush says this contains avocado to soften skin, and lemongrass and citrus scents. My nose isn't great at picking out citrus notes but I was immediately drawn to this. It's a mild, pleasant, clean scent. It reminds me of the best clean, almost unisex perfumes.

Cut in half. This took freaking forever. I thought I was going to slice my hand open from exhaustion. This is large bath bomb so I decided to cut it in half to use twice.

Rose jam bubbleroom.

These are tiny and fairly expensive given their size, but I couldn't resist once I felt the texture and got a whiff of the scent. These smell delicious and I hope they'll be more moisturizing that the bath bombs have been so far. I comfort myself with the thought that I spend about as much on these as I do on real macarons (which is what they're based on).

 The bubble bar has a really pretty, delicate but definitely detectable rose scent. It's held together loosely by some kind of paste. I barely had to exert effort to pull the two halves apart.

Twilight bath bomb

If this had anything to do with glittery vampires I would have put it back. Thankfully, it does not because I love the scent of this. Usually I hate lavender, but this is very light and more floral than herbal and musky. The outside is a light pink bath bomb speckled with an irregular yellow pattern.

Mine has a hole in it. I don't know if that's customary. Anyway, the inside of the bath bomb seems to contain a smaller light blue orb. The salesperson told me that together they are supposed to evoke the colors of twilight. Whatever that means. Really, some of these things are a little too high concept.

This was very easy to split open but as you can see, it didn't split evenly. I'm guessing it was because of the layers.

Not the best name in the world. She tried this on me in the store but I wanted to see how it would stand up to real makeup (as opposed to the light foundation she put on my hand). I've never tried a cream cleanser but it wasn't too bad. It feels very light, like a whipped lotion. I massaged it into one eyelid (because my heavy-duty makeup is mainly on my eyes) and it sort of dissolved my eyeshadow and Maybelline gel eyeliner into pigment which got mixed into the cleanser. I didn't really have it on too long and I was careful but it didn't sting my eyes. After everything was dissolved, I wiped it off cleanly with a wet paper towel. Now, a bit of water on a paper towel can remove my eyeshadow but it won't take off my eyeliner or mascara. That was my control. The Ultrabrand cleanser didn't remove my waterproof mascara either. Now, I'd have to try it out with drugstore mascara or even Clinique because Fairydrops kind of has a crazy thick formula that makes the mascara wash off in flakes. Still, I think a good cleanser should be able to remove mascara so I'll keep testing this one.

I also picked up a little container of BB Seaweed Mask (apparently only good until February 13) so I guess I'll be using it pretty frequently over the next few weeks to get 6-8 uses out of it. It's sitting in the refrigerator and I don't want to take it out. I'll probably take pictures for the review.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my haul. Please leave any comments below as always. ;)

Wet n Wild Spoiled Display Spotted

The Wet n Wild website is annoying to try and navigate so I'm just going to link you to one of my favorite beauty blogs for more info. http://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com/2012/01/closer-look-at-new-spoiled-nail-color.html

I was so excited to see this display at my local CVS. The one at 20 University Place which is always out of everything...in case you live in NY and want to check it out. Well, this time they had the nice big display at the back and it was almost fully stocked. There was a bottle or two of polish for every color in the selection except I think they were out of some of the reds and purples in the pictures on Nouveau Cheap or I probably would have picked them up. Most of the creme colors looked unremarkable but if you wanted to try and find a dupe for other brands, $1.99 is a great deal. What mainly caught my eye were the glitters. There were a handful of them that looked interesting but glitters and I have a complex relationship. I like them in the bottle, but once I take them home and apply them on my nails I fall a little out of love. By the time I'm picking large hex glitter off my nails the honeymoon is definitely over and it takes me a few weeks to get over it. As you might have read in my recent update, I have a big stash of polishes I need to get through so I only picked up two colors, a black creme and polish with red large hex glitter with regular red glitter in a black base. I don't know when I'll test them out but I'll try and make it before next Halloween. Maybe I'll try the combination for Valentine's Day, just to be cheeky. :)

Oh, and Ants in My Pants (terrible name) might be a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Ruby Red Slippers but I don't have the Deborah Lippmann polish to do a comparison. I'm sure if it is, the internet will soon be flooded with comparisons.

Zoya Delivery

In case you were curious about what you get when you order Zoya nail polishes, I took pictures of everything that came with my recent order of Neeka and Breezi.

Box containing up to 3 nail polish bottles, color spoons, info packet

Front of box

Back of box

Close-up

Side of box. A lot of people endorse Zoya products because they claim to be free of harmful chemicals and to be environmentally friendly.

Other side of box.

Color plate. If you order a color spoon, one of these nail shapes will come attached to a plastic stick (like a spoon) allowing you to see what the polish looks like before you commit to a purchase. I find the color spoons pretty accurate though you aren't sure how many coats they used and the polish is always applied nice and evenly, preventing you from really getting a good idea about the formula.

Brochure

REVIEW of Zoya's Neeka

Zoya's Neeka is a deep purple polish with gold shimmer and tiny flecks of red. It is much less remarkable than I thought it would be when I ordered it. It is a regular purple, not a vampy almost-black or a pale lilac. However, I can really say if it's blue-toned or red-toned. In the morning, in direct sunlight, it seems blue-toned and I like it. In dim lighting and at night it seems red-toned and I don't like it all that much. I certainly don't hate it but it isn't all that special. I'm happy I got it at a tremendous discount due to one of their promotions. The shimmer really isn't all that captivating or even apparent in direct sunlight so I'm kind of at a loss as to why so many bloggers were gushing about it when it first came out. The formula is lovely. Smooth, really easy to deal with, 3 coats to opacity. The only thing I didn't like about application was the horrible smell. This polish had a very strong odor that didn't wear away after hours and frequent hand-washing. I did my nails at night and the smell had faded by the morning when I woke up.

Conclusion: Overall, I like this polish. The formula was good and it's a decent purple. But I'm not going to repurchase it and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone thinking they're going to get something spectacular after seeing someone else's great swatches. Trust me, these swatches are plenty accurate. The shimmer isn't that special.

Update: As I was cleaning my nails, I saw a decent amount of glitter buried under the purple.

Update

I have been going a little nail polish crazy lately. Makeup is alright. I'll test it for a while and then if it doesn't work out, it goes back to the store. Nail polish just gets added to my ever expanding collection. Here's a list of all the polishes I still haven't used in order from date of purchase.

O.P.I. Do You Lilac It? (Saving this for spring)
O.P.I. Go On Green (Saving for spring)
Revlon Carbonite
Joe Fresh Denim
Joe Fresh Persian Blue (I'm kind of regretting getting this color.)
Joe Fresh Hunter
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in 12 Blue Streak (Saving this for summer)
Revlon in 410 Dreamer (Saving this for spring)
Zoya Breezi (Saving this for spring/summer. I plan to do a comparison between this and some similar colors.)
Sinful Colors 951 Why Not (Saving this for spring/summer)
Milani White
Milani 28 Black Cherry (I don't really have shimmery dark colors and a sale on Milani nail polish is kind of irrestible. I'm just so done with dark colors right now.)
Confetti Crimon Cutie
Wet n' Wild Spoiled Designated Driver
Confetti Tazmanian Devil
L'Oreal Versailles Romance
L'Oreal Eiffel For Me
Sinful Colors Innocent
Essie Sand Tropez
Essie Navigate Her
Orly Gumdrop

Feel free to request swatches in the comments. I'll get around to everything eventually...if I don't buy any new nail polishes to disrupt the order of the list.

REVIEW of Essie's Midnight Cami

This polish made me a little sad. I've had it in my stash for a while and I loved it in small doses. Here's a link to the post where I used it in a twist on a french manicure. http://smartandsarcasticwithdashesofinsanity.blogspot.com/2011/09/navy-tipped-french-manicure.html

However, as a stand-alone color, it let me down. I was immediately drawn to the color, not just because it looked like a gorgeous, creamy dark blue but because it promised shimmer. On my nails, it ended up being a rather ordinary dark blue with hidden shimmer. Actually, after about a day of wear it already looks quite dingy and it picks up smudges ridiculously easily. :( The good news is that unlike other dark blues this polish doesn't immediately go to black in dim or dark lighting. The formula was one of the great Essie formulas. Super smooth and easy to work with, it just glided over the nail. I just wish the shimmer were more apparent and it kept the shine it has while wet. With a layer of Seche Vite, it almost becomes matte, like there's a film over the regular polish. This doesn't happen with most nail polishes so I found it quite odd.

I did find a way to fix it. After an exhaustive search, I finally located Essie's "As Gold As It Gets" at my other local Duane Reade and snatched it up immediately. I love the way it looks over "Midnight Cami". It makes me think of constellations and speckled stones and jewels. I also happened to spot a lot of the new displays, including all the Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blushes, all the new L'Oreal nail polishes, most of the Revlon nail polishes (Who keeps taking Whimsical!?!), the L'Oreal magic lumi display, and the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows and Maybelline Eye Tattoo shadow displays though most of the good shades were gone. If you're curious, and you live in NY, this would be the Duane Reade at 459 Broadway.

 

OK, time for swatches!

REVIEW Maybelline Colorsensational Lipstick

I like Maybelline lipsticks. I'm not sure if they're hydrating or moisturizing but they don't aggravate my dry lips and I like the texture of them. However, these three colors did not work for me.


Pink & Proper
This was not what I was expecting with a name like Pink & Proper. I thought at worst I'd get a girly pink that was a few shades too light. This is a true pink but it's not a color I'd wear to tea or to a job interview. It is shimmery to the extreme. It reminds me of this garish Dior lipstick I wore during one of my proms. I think it'd be hard to wear with a full face of makeup, whether you tried paring it with a neutral or a dramatic eye. It's just too easy for it to look doll-like or cheap. I wouldn't say this is exactly a frosted lipstick but it comes close.

Lips without pigment

Pink & Proper

Pink & Proper