REVIEW of Essie's Sure Shot with SWATCHES

Hi darlings!

I've held off on this review because while I absolutely adore the color of Essie's Sure Shot, it has been a major pain to try and photograph. When this polish first came in the mail (I ordered it during a Beauty.com sale) I was surprised to see that it didn't quite seem to be the same shade as a lot of swatches I'd seen. Now, I know why. Taking a photo of a fuchsia polish is like trying to do swatches of a red lipstick. Anyway, I thought I'd do a nice review for you and give you the best swatches I can. Suffice to say, this polish looks a little different in person, richer, darker, and more of a sexy jewel tone.

As noted, this polish is a bright, rich, shimmery, jewel-toned fuchsia. The color feels saturated and lush and I just think it's so pretty and feminine and perfect for summer. I feel like it's one of those perfect colors that can fit a wide range of skintones and ages. The shimmer and the fuchsia make it young and flirty but the depth of the shade makes it a little more mature. This color would look great on really pale skintones and really dark skintones. I'd only be wary about medium skintones with undertones that clash with the fuchsia. It photographs more red but to me, fuchsias can go either red-toned or blue-toned.

Conclusion: I love this polish. I absolutely recommend this polish if you like fuchsia and bright jewel tones and I kind of want to run out and buy another bottle.

SWATCHES

Erica Weiner Jewelry Haul

Hi darlings!

I'm incredibly tired right now but I thought I'd write up a quick post on the Erica Weiner jewelry http://ericaweiner.com/ I picked up today using the $200 voucher I purchased from Refinery29. The store is really close to me and I've passed it numerous times but I just never thought anything would suit me and I was never really motivated to look at all the merchandise because it seemed out of my budget. Well, in came Refinery29 offering a voucher that you buy for $100 dollars and get $200 to spend in store or online. So in my mind, that $60 necklace becomes a $30 necklace. Much more reasonable.

(Also, as an aside, let me know if you want me to do an updated jewelry collection post. I did my first/last one almost a year ago and I've made a lot of new additions since then. Actually, I might just redo the whole thing since I know now how to use the macro setting. http://smartandsarcasticwithdashesofinsanity.blogspot.com/2011/07/jewelry-collection.html)

REVIEW of Prevail Nail Lacquer in Gramercy Park with SWATCHES

Hi chickadees!

So I finally got around to testing out one of my Prevail nail polishes and...I have mixed feelings about it. First of all here's a link to my post about the sale on Prevail polishes at Duane Reade from now until June 2nd. http://smartandsarcasticwithdashesofinsanity.blogspot.com/2012/05/prevail-polishes-25-off-at-duane-reade.html Now, for $4.50, I'm pretty happy with this polish. I knew what I was getting into when I chose Gramercy Park. I specifically went for a shade that looked like it would apply a little bit sheer because I wanted to try and dupe the O.P.I. 2012 Ballet Collection that came out recently. Gramercy Park is a sheer light pink polish so it's closest match from that collection should be O.P.I.'s You Callin' Me a Lyre?. Unfortunately, Gramercy Park is nowhere near a dupe. Fortunately, that means it'll appeal to an entirely different crowd.

Color: Sheer, cool-toned light pink
If you have pretty bare nails (not stained yellow from polish testing like mine) I would definitely suggest wearing this super sheer with just one coat for a more natural look. I have a swatch below to show what that would look like. I did 3 coats to try and alleviate that patchiness (more on that later) and achieve opacity. In 3 coats, this polish is still pretty sheer but you can definitely tell what the color is. Gramercy Park is a sheer, very light, cool-toned light pink. It's almost more of a white base with pink instead of a pink lightened with white if that makes any sense.

Application: Smooth, patchy
This is going to sound like a contradiction but I thought the polish applied smoothly but it was also patchy. That is, the formula wasn't too thick or watery and the polish glided over the nail really nicely without any drag. However, because it was so sheer, I had a problem with patchiness. I usually hate large brushes, but I think a large brush to cover the whole nail at once, might have helped here. The paint job on my pinky and ring finger nails look fine but you can see some uneven patches on the other two nails in the swatches below. 3 coats to medium opacity.

Conclusion: Because it applied patchy I can't recommend this polish but I will say that it probably performs as well as most sheer, light-colored polishes so you might as well spend a few dollars less buying it this month for $4.50. I do like the color and I will probably wear this on days when I want a natural nail and I'm not obsessed with how perfect the paint job is.
SWATCHES (continue reading for swatches)

O.P.I. 2012 NYC Ballet Collection Spotted

Attention NYC residents searching for the O.P.I. 2012 NYC Ballet Collection annoyingly only released to salons and specialty beauty stores! I have finally located the collection at Eve Beauty Source. They have Barre My Soul (beigey nude), Don't Touch My Tutu (white), Care to Danse? (light purple), and My Pointe Exactly (gray) in stock. They have ordered the other two polishes, You Callin Me a Lyre (warm pink) and Piroutte My Whistle (glitter top coat) but O.P.I. has not sent them. The polishes retail for $8.99 plus tax which is a little more expensive than O.P.I. usually is but worth it if you're determined to get a hold of these limited edition nail polishes.

Eve Beauty Source
450 Broadway (between Grand St and Howard St)
Store Hours: Mon-Sat 10am - 8pm
                     Sun 11am - 7pm

Ballet Collection Close Up (Don't Touch My Tutu, Barre My Soul)

Ballet Collection Close Up (Care to Danse?, Piroutte My Whistle)

Ballet Collection Close Up (Piroutte My Whistle, My Pointe Exactly)

OTHER COLLECTIONS AND DISPLAYS

Lush Bath Products Round Up

Hi darlings!

So I've been sitting on a bunch of reviews for Lush bath bombs and bubble bars for a long time but I haven't really felt like I've had a lot to say about each one individually. I finally decided to do a round up review of all the bath bombs I've been trying for the last few months in one big Lush Bath Product Review post. Let's get started, shall we?

(Note: in my conclusion I'll wrap up my main points and say that I recommend the product, don't recommend the product or that I'm neutral on the issue.)

TWILIGHT BATH BOMB

With the Twilight bath bomb, I broke up the sphere roughly into halves.

For the initial testing, I used all the broken bits (less than half) of the bath bomb. I found that the blue portion dissolved much more quickly and bubbled up while the pink portion dissolved much more slowly and foamed which made me think that maybe it was more moisturizing. The pink portion of the bath bomb dissolved so slowly that eventually I had to break it up by hand. I don't know if it was a question of there not being enough water to react with the product or some issue with surface area but I don't think it would have continued dissolving if I hadn't done that. I didn't really find that the half of the bath bomb colored the bath water but it dif leave small blue glitter particles which might be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your personal preference. The scent and look of the bath bomb is supposed to be soothing and relaxing to carry you into pleasant dreams. Using half of the bath bomb I didn't find the smell very noticeable in the bath though I could smell it incredibly faintly in my hair as it dried.

Using the rest of the bath bomb for my second testing, I found that it dyed the water a faint dusty purple color and produced a lot of blue glitter. It was pretty but I would be worried about it lingering on my skin. I have never understood the appeal of body glitter and I certainly wouldn't want the glitter to catch in my hair. The blue and pink portions dissolved the same way and the scent of the bath bomb was still not very apparent but I could smell it faintly on my skin after the bath. The good things I can say about this bath bomb are that the water felt luxurious and almost silky (I would guess this was the contribution of the pink portion of the bath bomb) and that it did produce a lovely effect as it dissolved, though it looked less like twilight and more like a dark cloud constellation.

Conclusion: Mild scent, blue glitter, beautiful effect as it dissolves, gives water a silky feel. Neutral.

SEX BOMB

Pros

• a lot of color
• strong smell

Cons

• strong smell
• rose effect

You will like this product is you like the scent of the product and the color pink and don't mind that the main effect is kind of pathetic. Unlike other bath bombs, Sex Bomb produces a lot of color in the bath, dyeing the water an intense magenta pink. It produces a very strong smell in the bath and on your skin and hair after you get out of the tub. However, like all (or at least all of the ones I've tried) Lush bath products, it doesn't stain the tub. You will find the strong scent a pro or a con depending on your personal preference. I used the whole bath bomb for testing because I wanted to see the rose effect but since that was pretty lame, I'd suggest just cutting the bath bomb in half and using it twice so the scent isn't as overwhelming. The effect of this bath bomb is that when it dissolves, it will release a rose trapped in the bath bomb. My rose didn't really bloom. It just popped out of the bath bomb and then floated around limply. It had a sort of jelly-like texture so I didn't understand how the petals could have separated and bloomed anyway.

Conclusion: Intense pink color, strong scent, sad rose. Recommend if you like the scent and color.

DRAGON'S EGG BATH BOMB

I wanted a bit more of a luxurious experience so I used the entire bath bomb for this review instead of just half. And, well, I was still a little disappointed. Lush's Dragon's Egg Bath Bomb turns your bath water a golden/orange color that is incredibly inappealing like urine or silt-filled water but with golden shimmer. The bath bomb dissolves quickly at first and then once it is halfway dissolved it slows down. Eventually I had to break it up into smaller chunks by hand. It foamed up like the Twilight Bath Bomb and gave the water a slippery feel (maybe because the ingredients were basic?). I could not detect a scent when I was in the bath or out of the bath which was incredibly disappointing because the bath bomb had a very pretty and strong scent just as a bath bomb before I plopped it in the water. What I did like was the way it dissolved. This bath bomb dissolves in two parts, kind of like an egg white and yolk so you get a mix of white, orange, and liquid gold that is absolutely gorgeous. Other than that, it didn't seem to dry out or moisturize my skin.

Conclusion: No scent, dissolves prettily, water feels slippery. Do not recommend.

ROSE JAM BUBBLEROON

I adore the scent of these bubbleroons. They look nothing like a macaron but they are very cute nonetheless. I bought two bubbleroons, first using each half separately and then using both halves in the same bath. They break apart very easily. The rose jam bubbleroons have a beautiful light floral scent and are supposed to work the same way as a bubble bar though they feel a lot softer than a traditional bubble bar. You just crumble them under running water and they will create bubbles. (You can also crumble a bit into a container filled with water and transfer the water back and forth between containers but that seems like too much work.

Using only half, the bubbleroon managed to turn the water a milky/cloudy light pink color. It produced a small amount of bubbles but they dissolves ridiculously quickly. I could smell the scent of the bubbleroon on my skin but I couldn't smell it in the bath or in the water. After the bath I could smell the scent faintly in my hair but not on my skin. So overall, that was a disappointment.

Using both halves/the whole of the bubbleroon I was even more disappointed because I thought for sure I would get more of an effect. I still didn't get a lot of bubbles and they were soapy bubbles as opposed to foam bubbles and dissolved very quickly. Again, I could smell the scent of the bubbleroon on my skin but I couldn't smell it in the bath or in the water. After the bath I could smell the scent faintly in my hair but not on my skin.

Conclusion: Love the scent, can't smell it in bath, can smell it in hair after bath, few bubbles. Do not recommend.

AVO BATH BOMB

I cut this one in half to use twice. I found it to be very pigmented. Half of the bath bomb was enough to dye the water in the tub a strong light green color. There was also a decent amount of fragrance so I could smell it faintly in the water and on my skin in the bath. The Avo Bath Bomb smells very clean and fresh. I found it calming and not too intense though it might be different if I used the whole thing. Other than coloring the water and producing some green shimmer/glitter, this bath bomb doesn't have much of an effect. I'd say this is a classier bath bomb. I'd put it in a gift basket for someone not interested in all the frills who just wants a light, refreshing scent.

Conclusion: Dyes water green with green shimmer, light calming fresh scent. Recommend.

REVIEW of Zoya's Skylar with SWATCHES

 

I'm going to keep this review short as I don't have much to say about this nail polish other than that I liked it.

Color: This is a nice medium blue shade with quite a bit of shimmer. I think this color is great for girls with pale skin but might not look as good on darker skin tones. I love the way it looks in direct sunlight (which is how I took these swatches) but in dimmer lighting where my skin takes on more of a yellow tone the polish looks darker and less flattering. Also, it all types of lighting the shimmer kind of makes my nails look a bit greasy. I didn't mind it but it might not be the effect everyone wants or expects from this polish in the bottle.

Application: The polish applied pretty sheer until the third coat but it gave me no trouble at all. I'm definitely revising my opinion on Zoya polishes with the polishes from this latest order. Hopefully I have the same luck with the rest of them.

SWATCHES (Note: I used Orly's Rage as an accent nail. You can see the contrast between the glittery foil of Rage and the shimmery greasiness of Skylar.)



Prevail Polishes 25% OFF at Duane Reade

Until June 2nd, NYC (and probably a lot of Eastern drugstores though I'm not sure how it's broken up regionally so check your Duane Reader circular on the Duane Reade website) Duane Reades have discounted Prevail Polishes by 25% off so they are going for $4.50 before tax. I feel like Prevail is a Duane Reade exclusive brand because I haven't seen it in other drugstores. Anyway, I just wanted to give you a heads up because I picked up two polishes, Botanical Gardens and Gramercy Park (gotta love those names!) but I'm not sure if I'll paint my nails or get around to a review until the sale is over.

Happy shopping!
cat

UPDATE: I reviewed one of the polishes, Gramercy Park. You can read my review at this link.

http://smartandsarcasticwithdashesofinsanity.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-of-prevail-nail-lacquer-in.html

REVIEW of O.P.I.'s Just Spotted the Lizard and Zoya's Loredana with SWATCHES

So..I've gotten into some pretty bad habits lately when it comes to doing my nails. One is generally not having the patience for it after treating myself to the nail salon quite a few times during the stressful exam period I just got through. Fingers crossed everything worked out alright. Another is indecisiveness when it comes to color selection. And a third is only finishing the paint job on one hand because of reasons 1 and 2. Oh, and I also need to get a bottle of Seche Restore because my Seche Vite is actively ruining my swatches now. Any imperfections you might notice in the swatches of O.P.I.'s Just Spotted the Lizard (nails 2 and 4 from left to right) are from my Seche Vite top coat. Obviously, I didn't use top coat on nails 1 and 3 because they were painted with Loredana, which is one of Zoya's Matte Velvet polishes and a shiny top coat would ruin the effect.

Now that we're through with that, I'll get into the actual review. O.P.I.'s Just Spotted the Lizard is the only color I really liked from their Spiderman collection and is widely accepted as a Chanel Peridot dupe. I bought my bottle at Ricky's in NYC. I ordered Loredana in a recent haul from Zoya and it's one of their previously released matte velvet nail polishes. I found both polishes surprisingly easy to work with. I haven't worked with a matte polish or a duochrome before and I thought they might be too glittery or foil-like but they went on incredibly smoothly. They were both pretty opaque in 3 coats though not so much before that. The only thing that upset me was that originally all my nails were painted with Loredana but even after a ridiculously long drying time, my nails were not completely dry and they smudged so I cleaned the off and painted on O.P.I.'s Just Spotted the Lizard instead. I ended up loving the effect since it kind of reminded me of concrete which worked nicely with the Spiderman theme (seeing as Peter Parker lives in NY).

Both colors were absolutely gorgeous. Loredana has definitely sold me on the matte velvet effect. It just has such an interesting look and feel, like your natural nails but smoother instead of that plasticky feeling you can get with creme polishes and shiny topcoats. The polish is kind of made up of little flecks of color which gives it an amazing amount of depth and dimension. O.P.I.'s Just Spotted The Lizard is a stunner. At certain angles, it can be a bit blinding but it's worth it. It is so reflective your nails can actually reflect colored light onto each other. The color is always a bunch of different colors simultaneously but the main ones are a bronze-y gold, a lizard-like green, and a yellow green. I definitely recommend both for the color and formula.

SWATCHES...

Inventory of Nail Polishes to Review

Hi there,

I decided to make another list of all the nail polishes I have in my collection that I haven't swatched or reviewed. This just lets me know what I need to do and let's you know what's coming up next on this blog. Feel free to request swatches of any polish you're more interested in that the others. :)

Essie: Sand Tropez, Jelly Apple, Jazz, Watermelon
Orly: Rage
Zoya: Bevin, Lael, Tracie, Gemma, Breezi, Pinta
L'Oreal: Eiffel For You
Revlon: Carbonite, Whimsical
Sinful Colors: Why Not
OPI: Do You Lilac It?, You Callin Me a Lyre?, Piroutte My Whistle (top coat)
Prevail: Botanical Gardens
Milani: Bolting Blue, White, Black Magic
Joe Fresh: Persian Blue, Denim, Hunter
Sally Hansen: Blue Streak
Confetti: Tazmanian Devil (top coat), Crimson Cutie

Drugstore Product Stalking: Walgreens 20 Astor Place

Hi chickadees!

So I decided to celebrate the end of the semester through more aimless wandering but I'm a little low on funds after some random purchases yesterday so I decided to scope out some drugstores for you instead of doing any more shopping. Also I may have landed too hard on my ankle yesterday because it feels odd, like it might be half-sprained or something. Can you half-sprain an ankle? Getting back on track...

I'm splitting this post up into sections: New Displays, On Sale, Clearance Items, Random/Other

NEW DISPLAY: The only new display I could find for makeup was this one for L'Oreal. The display itself contains repeats of already released products like the Infallible eyeshadow in Golden Sage which I reviewed on this blog. It's also full of random L'Oreal items that I think someone working in the store just threw in there. Still, I thought you might like to take a look.

Post continues after the break...

Tocca Sample Sale Report May 2012

Hello my darling chickadees!

I took a break from exams and studying in the middle of the day to visit the Tocca sample sale over at 542 W. 22nd Street between 10th and 11 Avenues. The easiest thing to do is take the C or the E to 23rd St and then walk the few blocks down, though of course these are uptown blocks that go on for ages. You will make your way past apartments with overgrown foliage and tons of pretentious art galleries until you've almost hit the highway. Then it's just a quick elevator ride up to the 3rd floor and you're in a sweetly scented paradise of casual feminine frocks and tons of candles.

I'll have more to say accompanying the pictures, but in general, your best buy this sale is the scented products. Small candles are $10 and they still have a healthy supply of small and large candles in various light, pleasant, floral scents. There are also some solid perfumes for $15 though they're out of Bianca and some of the others and have a ton of Florence and Stella. Everything is packaged beautifully so if you're into candles and scents I would definitely suggest stopping by to pick up some things for Mother's Day. Or Father's Day. The scents are light and feminine but in a kind of casual chic way. I don't see any reason why the enjoyment of the scents should be gender specific.

As for the clothes, I'm not tremendously familiar with Tocca as a clothing brand but there were a few racks of children's clothes that looked fairly adorable and then about a rack or two of clothes for each dress size. (Tons of pictures below). The 0-4 girls will do the best at this sale, but I saw a lot of the same dresses on each rack so most sizes should be happy. I mainly found a mix of sun dresses, fitted dresses, and then random more conservative silk items that might be left over from fall. The sun dresses and fitted dresses would be great for a vacation or a wedding respectively. Normally, I would risk going to scope out the 4's but the clothes are generally constructed so they are very well fitted or one part (e.g. at the waist, under the bust) is really tightly fitted. Also, side zippers. *shudders*

There were some other products scattered about but they kind of seemed like random overstock. There were some tremendously overpriced, low-quality scarves. There were also cute sets of 3 notepads for $5 but I don't really use stationary.
Sorry for getting to this one so late (this week has been crazy) but you have all day tomorrow from 11am-7pm to check out the sale for yourself.

Happy shopping!

Pictures...

Drugstore Product Stalking Walgreens 145 4th Avenue

I am not usually in this specific area so I forget that there's a Walgreen's there. I of course mean the Walgreen's at 145 4th Avenue. There was nothing too remarkable of note which is why I don't do Drugstore Product Stalking posts too often unless a bunch of new products come out. The two interesting things to note are that this store is carrying a lot of Essie Navigate Her (though not the rest of the collection) and at least 4 bottles of Sinful Colors Cinderella (I bought the 5th one) which is only interesting because I have not been able to find Sinful Colors Cinderella anywhere.

Zoya Haul Bottle Pics

Hi dears,

I'm not sure how interesting you'll find this, but I thought I'd share with you some bottle pics of the recent haul of Zoya polishes I did for their Earth Day promotion. I've had some issues with Zoya's formula in the past (click the Zoya label on the side for some of my reviews) but I can't resist the amazing deals that go along with their regular promotions. This time I picked up a total of 8 polishes, many that I've been lusting after since the last time I placed an order.

They came packaged in these two small boxes. I've never ordered this many polishes at one time from Zoya but the design and the quality of the packaging has me guessing this is special Earth Day packaging, maybe made of recycled material. I could be wrong though.

Bevin

I have been really wanting to try this after seeing a swatch on Spaz & Squee and I had been hoping Essie's Who Is The Boss would be a close enough dupe but I hated the formula on that one.

Skylar

This reminds me of a lot of the colors that get released for spring, including the two shimmery blues in the O.P.I. Holland collection but Skylar spoke to me more.

Loredana

This is one of their matte finish nail polishes. I've never tried a polish that is supposed to be matte so this should be interesting. I expected a more dramatic difference between this and the other matte polish I ordered but maybe it becomes more apparent when they dry.

Dovima

I fell in LOVE with this polish after seeing a swatch on Spaz & Squee. This is the one I've been planning to order for a while now.

Tracie

This is the newest release I ordered. It almost didn't come with the rest of the order because I think it might have been sold out after I placed the order. Hopefully that's a good sign?

Gemma

I have heard tons of great reviews about this product. I'm not sure if it'll replace Essie's Sew Psyched in my heart but I'll give it a shot.

Lael

I actually don't have a lot of purples so I picked up a red-based creme.

Pinta

I actually don't have a lot of purples so I picked up a blue-based creme.