Sinful Colors Sail La Vie Swatches

I went to Walgreens yesterday and saw the Sail La Vie Collection; I bought just a few of them, though.  This one is actually titled Sail La Vie as well.

Shown here is two coats over Orly Bonder and sealed with Out the Door.  Formula was great, as it is with most Sinful Colors creme polishes.  The first coat was streaky and I didn't think two coats would be enough.  I was impressed with how nicely the second coat leveled out and a third coat wasn't needed.

Born Pretty Water Decals Review + Coupon Code

Today I have an item sent for review from Born Pretty! I chose to review some water decals since I've never used them before and I am so so glad to have picked these.  I've had nothing but a wonderful experience with them!

I chose the little yellow hibiscuses for this manicure, seen above.  The package came with a bunch of different styles, photos to follow.

I used two decals on each hand for accent nails.  Shown is two coats of Brucci Sylvia's Pretty in Purple.

So, these were the instructions that came with the decals.  I really do use the term instructions loosely here, though.  I'm going to list, step by step, what I did to complete the manicure.

After painting and top coating your nails and making sure they're completely dry (I'd say 20 minutes is good, I waited longer however because I was doing stuff in between):

1. Cut out the desired designs you'd like to use. (Make sure you peel the acetate off; mine fell off without needing to be peeled.)
2.  Dip the design into water and make sure it is completely saturated (This didn't take 10-20 seconds; more like 5 worked for me)
3. Use a finger from the hand you're NOT decorating - slide the decal off on to the tip of your finger.  At this point, it should be upside down, full color design facing down.
4. Position the decal above the nail you're applying to and gently place it.  Be sure to smooth it down.
5. I personally waited for the water from the decal to air dry instead of blotting it, to avoid messing up the design.
6. Once any dripped off water is dry, apply top coat.

Some things worth noting:

• The "instructions" included did not mention that they would transfer backwards. I botched my test run because of this, so that's why I listed revised instructions above.
• These don't work like those kiddie tattoos, although its a similar concept. You have to flip the decal         around and apply the lighter colored side down, full color side up.
• Once the decal is on your nail, if your fingernail is still wet, you can slide the decal around! Awesome! You can slide and gently nudge it to reposition it to exactly where you want. I love that quality about these; stickers and stamping have a much more of a one-shot type of quality.
• The decals are so detailed!  I love how fine the details are.
• Water temperature doesn't seem to matter. Mine was cool from the tap.
• The decal lay very flat against your nail since they're so thing, I like that.

Despite those minor complications these things were a breeze to work with.  No lining anything up, no lumps or bumps. I love them and I'm going to buy more when I can.

Above are some more shots of the manicure, that I've quickly fallen in love with, by the way!  Below are more designs that the package came with.

If you'd like to purchase these decals for yourself they're available here:

Born Pretty Store Water Decals Shop Link

They sell from $1.99 and up and have FREE SHIPPING! As well as my 10% off personal discount code!

Coupon Code for 10% Off: CA10L91

If I get 10 orders with that code, I can host a BornPretty giveaway! 

May Ipsy Bag Review and Photos

I got my Ipsy, formerly known as MyGlam Bag, package a few days ago but was held up due to surgery recuperation.   All is well though, so now I have lots of pictures to share with you!  That being said this post is a bit picture heavy, just a heads up.

What's in the bag?!

This bag this time around was really cute.  And oddly enough, there was a second bag included.  There was no note of why, however.  The products came in the bag pictured above, the white bag was empty.  I wonder if this is because last month's bag was a duplicate?  If so, major points for that consideration!

Bonus Bag

This month's bag had five products in it, including a full size Zoya!  That nearly covers the cost of the bag alone; Zoya $8 - Ipsy subscription $10. I like it already. Lets get into the products.

A full size bottle of Zoya Neely, a color I actually really like!  It's a super light minty green creme.  Shown on the swatch wheel below is one super thick coat, no top coat. Such a pretty, seasonally appropriate color.

Next is Pacifica Coconut Crushed Pearl Luminizing Body Butter.  So, I really haven't a clue how to review these sorts of things so (and I know I say that every time, because it's true every time!) bear with me on this.

 

This stuff has a light coconut scent; not overbearing like sunscreen, but really delicate and pleasant.  It also has the luminizing flecks in it which are all over my entire upper body thanks to my inability to measure an appropriate amount.

Shown above is the palm of my hand that I used to rub the body butter into my arm.  It shows on my arm too, but I was able to capture more of the effect on my palm.

So this thing threw me off a little bit.  I thought yaby was the color at first. And then I realized it's actually the name brand and that buff is the color.  I still didn't know what it was, foundation? Concealer?  A quick Google search leads me to believe it's foundation.  It doesn't match my skin though.  And as I was trying to test it on my arm, the little metal disc popped out and fell on my cat that was by my feet. So now it's really worthless being the wrong color and having cat fur in it.

Also included was Juice Beauty lip gloss in "pink". Yep.. it's called pink, and it isn't even really. It's pretty and sparkly though and smells like citrus? Grapefruit maybe?

Finally we come to the dud of the group (I'm not even counting the yaby thing).  Although I should preface this and say I'm terribly biased and that's why I don't care for this item.

Pacifica Tahitian Gardenia Perfume Roll On.  The packaging is so cute, and I really wanted to love it, but I don't, not even close.  Floral scents trigger migraines for me most of the time, and this is heavily floral scented, obviously.  Smells like flowers and I don't spend enough time sniffing floral scents to be able to discern it's attributes.

Overall, I was pleased with this bag (as I always am, it seems!)  I was really happy to see a full size polish of a brand I love (Zoya) as well as the lotion, which I like as well.  Also, I think it was really nice of the company to send an additional bag to make up for last month's repeat - and I do think that's why they sent two this time around.

One last group photo:

Jessica Lime Cooler with Daisy Gemstones

This mani here is so springtime!  I loved wearing it and I'm excited to share it.

Shown here is two coats of Jessica Lime Cooler over Orly Bonder sealed with one coat of Out the Door.  The formula was surprising; the first coat was a streaky mess but the second coat of Lime Cooler evened out so well that this mani only needed two coats!

The photo above looks a mess but from a bit further away it looked fine and you couldn't see the topcoat bubbles or small imperfections that macro brings to the party.

I applied the gemstones with topcoat and then sealed with it as well in order to have them stay put.  And it worked well, they didnt come off until I picked them off. (Couldn't help it! But they stayed for two days without issue.)

OPI Mermaid's Tears and Pure Ice Heart Breaker

I've had the OPI for a while but Pure Ice Heart Breaker is a new polish thanks for my dear friend Brittany!  She picked out a good one (=

Shown here is two coats of Mermaid's Tears with one coat of Pure Ice Heart Breaker on top.  This is over Barielle Advanced Pro and sealed with Out the Door.

Formula wise, the OPI was great - I love a two coat creme!  The Pure Ice was very fluid and went on super smoothly.

Cartoon Inspired Nails

I keep seeing this pop up on the Reddit nail polish board and decided to finally get them a whirl.  I also keep mistakenly call them comic book nails, which I guess technically works; but they're supposed to look like cartoon nails, like the nails of a cartoon, drawn!

For this manicure I did one coat of Finger Paints Black Expressionism and then two coats of Essie Mojito Madness.  I wasn't able to do a straight line along the free edge wit the green so I went back and used a nail art brush with the same black polish to finish the edge.  This is over Orly Bonder, sealed with OTD, and then I mattified it afterwards.

What do you think? Better mattified or shiny? Goofy or clever?

Oopsie Daisies Nail Polish - Unlikely Hero

I wanted to dress up my previous Ulta Blue Streak mani so I added one of my own polishes for a little liveliness!

 

Shown is two thin coats of Unlikely Hero over Ulta Blue Streak, sealed with Out the Door.  This manicure reminded me of pajamas for little boys, haha.  The primary colors I think did it topped with the preconceived concept of "super heroes".

Ness, from Earthbound, the inspiration for the polish, is the epitome of an Unlikely Hero!

Unlikely Hero is still available, along with the rest of the Earthbound Collection, for $8.50.

 

Ulta Blue Streak Swatches

Another blue creme today!  This one is actually really pretty and I think after wearing it, I don't need to get a recent released polish that comes close that I've been eying. Breaking into my untrieds was a good idea!

I did this mani a bit differently. I was wearing it for a few days and had some tipwear so what you're seeing here is three coats of Blue Streak over NailTekII and sealed with OTD, then another fresh coat of Blue Streak with no topcoat.  Formula was nice, but required three coats.

 

This is one of the older bottles from Ulta but the polish is still available as far as I know, just repackaged.  I bought a ton of these when they were switching over for only $2!

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Just a friendly reminder: holiday polishes are still on sale for $6 - this includes Carols by Candlelight, Festivus for the Rest of Us and Keepin' It Kosher.  There are also currently some last chance polishes available from the Planetside 2 collection. Happy Shopping!