Hot Pink Polish Comparison Post: Essie Sure Shot, Essie Fruit Sangria, Essie Watermelon, Maybelline Pink Shock, Sheswai Babe

Hello honeydews,

I thought I'd end August with a quick little comparison post. I don't think it's fair to compare polishes based on how the application of polish to one nail but I have linked to each of my reviews in the key that follows.

Thumb- Essie Sure Shot
Pointer- Essie Fruit Sangria
Middle- Essie Watermelon
Ring- Maybelline Pink Shock
Pinky- Sheswai Babe

Since I'm just swatching for a comparison post and none of the polishes were super sheer, I just painted two coats of each polish.

Essie Sure Shot and Essie Fruit Sangria are shimmer polishes. Essie Watermelon and Sheswai Babe are creme polishes. Maybelline Pink Shock is a jelly polish. As you can see, Essie Sure Shot is clearly darker than the others while Sheswai Babe is more of a true pink. Maybelline Pink Shock stands out without top coat because it has an almost rubbery look like certain matte polishes. Fruit Sangria and Watermelon are the closest matches but as you can see, there are no exact dupes here.

Left: Essie Fruit Sangria

Right: Essie Watermelon

 Left: Essie Fruit Sangria

Right: Essie Watermelon

Triumph Pop Up Experience

Hi chickadees!

I usually don't do lifestyle/event posts like this because my life really isn't that exciting. I know. You're super shocked. However once in a while I have a pleasant if confusing afternoon and I want to share it with you. That's what happened last Saturday when I signed up for the Triumph Pop Up Experience on a whim. This is not a sponsored post. I simply signed up for the event and felt like reporting back to you.

I would like to thank Christina and Mina from The Village Beauty Lounge for a relaxing neck and shoulder massage and a very pretty pink manicure. My only complaint was that after she scraped the polish off my skin with her fingernail she didn't go back to do any clean up so I had to take care of that at home. Otherwise, it was a very nice, smooth paint job. I just asked for a polish change as I was in a rush. Obviously since I didn't do the manicure myself I can't write a review but I did get a free bottle of OPI Amourette Spotlight so I'll probably be reviewing it in the future. In the meantime, here are some swatches of Amourette Spotlight. She used two coats of polish.

 If you'd like to get your own bottle of Amourette Spotlight, Triumph is giving a bottle away with any purchase on their website over $75. Just use the offer code TRIUMPHxOPI. 

I was also able to have a bra fitting and to take a free bra home. I chose the Body Makeup Magic Wire Bra. After giving it a test drive, I find it to be fairly comfortable though the wide band can stab into my side a little if my posture isn't straight.

If you'd like to shop for Triumph lingerie for yourself in person and you can't make it out to storefront in Long Island, they are actually having a sample sale from Friday September 5th through Sunday September 7th at the same location at 168 Bowery. Hours are 10:00 am to 7:00 pm. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I will covering this sale.

REVIEW of Sephora by OPI Nail Colour in I'm Wired With SWATCHES

Hello zettabytes,

I've got a quick review for you today. This is yet another Sephora by OPI nail polish from the Tinseltown set I picked up ages ago. It might be more than a year now. Keep reading to hear what I think so you can decide if you want to go through the trouble of tracking it down.

Color: I'm Wired is an orange coral creme polish. It's not a guava/coral but it's softer than a basic orange polish.
Formula: Based on how it drips from the brush, I'd call it a thick polish but it applies like a thin polish.
Application: The first coat I applied with my dominant hand went on smoothly without any drag though it formed shallow ridges when I tried to even it out. The second coat also failed to go on evenly and was a bit streaky but again, there was no drag. I applied three coats for full opacity. There were no major application problems but it just didn't look like a great manicure because the polish didn't apply evenly and there was no way of fixing it. Applying the polish with my nondominant hand, the experience was essentially the same though the results were slightly worse.

CONCLUSION: This polish isn't awful but I wouldn't recommend it. For me, it's not the most flattering color so I wouldn't put up with the results. However, I will be interested to see how this compares to some of the other oranges in my collection. Let me know if you'd like to see a comparison post.

Please consider making your next purchase at amazon.com through one of my links. Regardless of what you purchase, as long as you start your shopping trip by clicking one of the links of my page, I will get a small percentage of the revenue at no extra cost to you. I appreciate your support.

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Cosabella Sample Sale Report August 2014

Hi honey bears,

I popped on over to the Cosabella Sample Sale pretty early to scope out all the merchandise for you. But before we get into that, let's get all the boring details out of the way. The sale is taking place from Sunday August 24 through Tuesday August 26. Hours are 11:00 am to 6:00 pm on Sunday and 11:00 am to 7:00 pm on Monday and Tuesday. It is being held at the Cosabella flagship store in New York at 220 Lafayette Street between Spring and Kenmare. They are only taking credit cards... Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, as with previous Cosabella sample sales, you want to head all the way to the back of the shop past the curtains. There are sale items on the racks to the side but they are not part of the sample sale. I was drawn to the rack of nude bras that are true nudes as they come in a wide range of flesh tones.

The sale wasn't too chaotic when it opened. I'd say there were about 10-15 girls shopping at one time but the back room is small so things might be a little cramped. There is no changing area but some girls were trying on items. Dress accordingly if you're planning on trying things on. Items are arranged on racks and in bins. There's no real rhyme or reason to it. I'd suggest going to the sale with some idea of what you want. There's everything from your standard bras and thongs and hot pants to regular apparel like dresses, tops, and pants. There's also swimwear. Another good way to navigate is by color. If you're a fan of brightly colored unmentionables, this the sale for you.

Bra/Wire $45

Among all the bras I found a decent range of sizes. I saw everything from a 32B to a 36D. I think there were also some 32DD's among the softbras in the bins. Generally I think C's are going to do the best at this sale but it really depends on the style and color that you want. The band size range was 32-36 though and though I checked many tags I did not find any A's or anything above the DD's.

Clothing items and camisoles generally favor smalls and mediums but I did find some larges here and there. Again, it depends on the style and color you're looking for.

Naturebox Month 2 Review

Hello peanuts,

Well, I decided to keep my Naturebox subscription for another month. I think I convinced myself that I just needed to pick the right combination of snacks. This month I opted for the Everything Bagel Stix, Apple Pie Oat Clusters, Masa Crisps, Lemon Tea Biscuits, Italian Bistro Pretzels, Mexicana Mango, and South Pacific Plantains.

The Mexicana Mango was my favorite item in this month's Naturebox because I grew up eating dried mango. Of course, the dried mango I'm familiar with is thicker and loaded up with sugar which is why I can't have it as a regular snack. The slices of mango in this snack are much thinner and wafer-like. They aren't crusted with sugar so they aren't as sweet but they're still pretty sweet. If we're ranking things, Philippine dried mangoes are the sweetest followed by natural mangoes followed by this Mexicana Mango snack from Naturebox. Whether you like these will depend upon your personal tastes. I can see some people finding them a little bland. I was disappointed that they contained 30 grams of sugar for 3.5 pieces. I decided to compare them to Gold Key Dried Mangoes where a serving size of 7 pieces or 40 grams contains 140 calories and 30 grams of sugar. That's surprisingly more or less on par with this Mexicana Mango from Naturebox. I wasn't able to locate the brand that makes the dried mango with a ton of sugar but the Gold Key Dried Mangoes still have a good amount of sugar so Naturebox's Mexicana Mango is far from a notable improvement.

I wouldn't call the South Pacific Plantains a favorite but they were easy to snack on. Again, I'm used to dried banana and dried plantain snacks and I really didn't get any of that flavor from this Naturebox snack. The plantains are cut thin and taste more like a potato or starchy vegetable chip. I mean if you try really hard to detect it you may taste some plantain but you might also be deluding yourself. These were a bit on the salty side but I didn't find it too excessive.

REVIEW of Cult Nails Lacquer in Tempest With SWATCHES

Hello darlings,

I tell you, I've found it! I've finally found my perfect white creme polish! When I placed my order during a recent Cult Nails sale I thought I was crazy to be buying another white nail polish that all the blogs promised would apply beautifully. Been there, done that. Actually, I went a step further and took this on vacation to do a polish change with the most basic of nail kits with me. And I had no problems! Well, that might be a slight exaggeration. Let's get into it.

Color: Cult Nails Tempest is a white creme polish. It's a stark white, the most basic shade you'd want if you were looking for a white for nail art or a white polish to mix with other colors. However, it still retains the creaminess of a creme polish. The best way I can explain it is that it doesn't look like I've painted my nails with white out. It lacks the flatness of just using an acrylic paint. I am in love with it. If you want to try out the mod nail look that was so popular a while ago, this is polish I'd recommend.
Formula: I don't find the consistency noticeably thin or thick. It's probably on the thinner side if I absolutely had to vote one way or the other.
Application: This polish goes on super smoothly. It doesn't apply like any other white or pastel I've tried. It applies like a creme polish with a good formula. There was a little bit of streakiness and unevenness on the second coat but it was very minimal and the third coat fixed things right up. I applied three coats for full opacity. I thought the Seche Vite I applied as a top coat was messing things up a little so I didn't apply top coat to my middle nail. That's why it looks a bit weird in the photos. I don't think this is an issue with Seche Vite or this polish. I just keep getting bottles of Seche Vite that are full of bubbles.
Wear: I applied this polish on August 3rd. By the ninth, I had noticed tip wear. Basically at the edges where I wrapped the tips of my nails, all the polish was gone. Also my nails had grown quite a bit so there was growth at the cuticles. For some reason there were weird slices in two of my nails kind of like if you'd dragged a key or a nail file through the polish. I can't remember what I did to cause the damage. I removed the polish the next night. There was still a little bit of shine but it was considerably duller than when I had originally applied it.

CONCLUSION: I think you know what I'm going to say. These are unbelievable results for a white polish. I absolutely recommend this one and when I run out of it, I'll probably be getting some more backups.

Please consider making your next purchase at amazon.com through one of my links. Regardless of what you purchase, as long as you start your shopping trip by clicking one of the links of my page, I will get a small percentage of the revenue at no extra cost to you. I appreciate your support.

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REVIEW of Ginger + Liz Colour Collection Polish in Boss Lady With SWATCHES

Hello boss ladies,

I very well couldn't call you "working girls" now, could I? Oh slang, always getting in the way of my writing. Anyway, I've got another Ginger + Liz polish for you from that same Ricky's order I placed so long ago. You'd think a girl wouldn't need this many red polishes but well, I probably don't need most of the polishes I currently own. I haven't attempted to organize my collection in a few months. I'm kind of afraid to do a count. It's well over a hundred at this point. Eep!

Color: Ginger + Liz Boss Lady is a red creme polish. I was debating whether to call it a creme or a jelly but it doesn't have the squishy gel look of a jelly. It's just a creme that's not completely opaque. Of course, you might own this polish and disagree with me which you are free to do in the comments but I'm calling it a creme for now. I don't know if it's so much of a "boss lady" red as a bright red, more of a bright tomato red than a cherry red or the deeper red that I'd associate with a "boss lady" look. I suppose there's a bit of assertiveness and aggressiveness to it. Still, it's more of a jungle red than a red for a boardroom. (I know I linked to it but if you haven't seen it, don't waste your time with that movie. It's not very good. Until I get the movie reviews up and running, the best I can do is warnings against the bad ones.)
Formula: The formula isn't notably thin or thick but if I had to make the call it's a thicker polish. However, unlike most thicker polishes, the viscosity has no effect on application.
Application: The first coat applied very smoothly. There was no drag at all and I found the polish very easy to work with. I didn't even have to even it out. It might be self-leveling. The second coat also went on very smoothly. You could get away with two coats if you're okay with visible nail line. The polish applied very evenly so if you don't mind a thinner, jelly polish look, two coats would be fine. I added a third coat which decreases the appearance of VNL but the polish was still not 100% opaque. I don't think this is a polish where you're going to get full opacity with a reasonably number of coats. On one or two nails the polish seemed a little thick but it was super easy to even out and gave me no problems.
Wear: The third day after I applied this polish I noticed very slight tip wear. I noticed it because usually my tip wear is smooth but this tip wear looked like minor chipping at the edge of the nail. Again, it was very slight and would have been easily fixed by wrapping the tips of my nails but I wanted to make note of it. It was primarily on my right hand so perhaps I'd done something to cause the damage.

CONCLUSION: I would recommend this polish. The formula is great and super easy to work with. If you already have a bunch of reds, you don't really need to add this to your collection as it isn't terribly unique. However, if you are looking for a bright red and you don't mind wearing a red polish that isn't fully opaque, this might be worth picking up.

I have not gotten any ad revenue for the past few months. If you'd like to help support this site please consider making your next purchase at amazon.com through one of the links on my site. You can purchase anything you want. As long as you start you shopping trip at amazon through one of my links I will get a small percentage of the sale of whatever you purchase at no extra cost to you.

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