American Apparel Nail Polish Mega Haul + Skittle Manicure

Sooo you may have heard of the large lot of American Apparel polishes on sale on Ebay, which is where these are from.  The lot was for 17 polishes for $15.99 with free shipping.  Considering I haven't gotten any new polishes lately for any kind of deal, I was super excited but a bit skeptical.  I want to share with you what the lot contains as well as skittles mani I did with them.

Group Shot

Pinto - Passport Blue - Peacock - Mount Royal - Hassid

Berry - Poppy - Rose Bowl - Dynasty - Coney Island

Mouse - Factory Grey - Cotton - Palm Springs - Manila

Downtown LA - Hunter

So I naturally wanted to wear all of these at once but since that isn't possible, I settled on five that stood out to me the most.

Manila - Peacock - Poppy - Dynasty - Coney Island

All of these are over Orly Bonder and Sealed with Out the Door.  Each are two coats except Manila and Coney Island, which took three coats.  The formula on these were excellent; I'm thrilled to have 17 new cremes in my collection that will certainly get lots of use!

Manila - Peacock - Poppy - Dynasty - Coney Island

Manila - Peacock - Poppy - Dynasty - Coney Island

Mega Haul :D

I finished my finals and then instantly fell ill with bronchitis. Just today I am able to sit up for a decent amount of time.  Go figure, I get a break from schoolwork and then stuck in bed.  Nothing else to be expected I suppose!  I received another Image Beauty Order as long as some gifts from my BFF Coryn!  My collection is going to blossom this season.

She got me the Deborah Lippman Get This Party Started Collection! I've already worn Candy Shop, I'll post about it soon. And yes, thats Across the Universe, too.  I got spoiled I tell ya!

And from my Image Beauty order:

Lights!

Brights!

Left to Right:

Sheri's Pistachio Creme

Kathy's Baby Blues

Emmi and Olli Go Bananas

Sheer Blush

My new HG BC

I stacked vouchers, coupons and codes and got all of this for a great price! :D

And then me and my sister tried the Julep Maven thing for a penny.  I basically cancelled right after receiving mine because they're all boring red cremes.  No variety, not thrilled and we got a lot of the same stuff - I'd rather spend $20 a month on stuff I know I'm going to like, and that is what it came down to for me.  No loss here though as we were able to give it a whirl for a total of two cents, though.

Boring, yea? I'll try them, maybe they have excellent formula. I'll let you know (=

Hits Haul & My Greek Kitties

So I ordered some Hits polish from Llarowe earlier this week and they arrived today.  That was fast.  :D There was some reasoning behind ordering these particular polishes, aside from them being magically delicious.  I've mentioned them previously, but we have some cats.  And most of them are named after Greek deities.  So when I saw this collection I knew that somehow, some way I needed them.  I'd never spend this much regularly for a polish but they are quite fantastic.  Anywhoodle, this is what I got:

Artemis - Atena - Demeter - Zeus

I ordered these four specifically because they share a name with my kitties, but the only one I wouldn't have wanted/purchased aside from that is probably Demeter.  It's orange, but I had to.  My cats wanted to make an appearance, so I said OK.

Artemis (Quiddle)

Athena (Neener)

Demeter

Zeus<3

Our cats have picked up a few nicknames along the way, but those are their actual names and the names used on their vet papers, etc.  I wish I had a better picture of Demeter but shes so skittish so that's all I got. And my little Zeus, I miss him so much.  Ugh he was just adorable and the sweetest little man. Do you see why I had to get these?! Do ya?!

Well anyways, I was thinking about my other cats and the polishes and I had a storm of thoughts: 
-My other cats: Frank, Ralph and Nyx.  The boys aren't godly but Nyx is the goddess of darkness and night, and our Nyx is a little black beastly thing.  I wish they had made her one in black.
-And Zeus should've been silver 1. because my Zeus was white and 2. I envision Zeus' grey beard.
-I also see Artemis as being yellow, not silver.
-Atena makes sense as pink, and a lot of the others are aptly named I suppose. 
-Demeter makes sense as orange as shes the goddess of the harvest, and I think harvest colors = Thanksgiving = orange.
-Also, we used to have a cat Pandora, she died years ago, and I'm not even sure if Pandora was a goddess but it would've been nice to have a full weird cat/np collection.

But I wasn't on the design team so my input means nothing.

I also got my Black Friday Milani order (Finally, they never sent a shipping notice. It just showed up.) and didn't feel it deserved a full post so I'm tossing it in here as this is a "haul" post.

Dude Blue - Fresh Teal - Cyberspace - Hi-Res - Dressmaker

On that note.. Dude Blue..?? Really?

SH Salon Effects Plus CVS Mega Haul!

Since CVS is having crazy sales this week I thought I'd give the Sally Hansen Salon Effects another whirl.  My previous attempt and experience with them left a lot to be desired.  I swore to myself I wouldn't pay full price for these again and I didn't! I got Skinny Jeans for $2.62!  Even if they were always that price, I still wouldn't buy them regularly. Maybe.

Cutesy!

I was more patient this time, and warmed up my nails before applying the strips by rubbing my nails and then I held it on and pushed it down for a while.  I followed the instructions exactly and about 6 hours later (which is now) I have a chip or two and some tipwear. WTF. How do people wear these for 10 days?!  My former roommate got WEEKS out of hers, but I put them on her!  So I'm doing it right. My nails hate me.

So I don't know what my problem is.  They stick on just fine, but the tips wear so easily, and as I said before, chip as well.  I only used 6 strips for both of my hands, maybe 7. but it comes with 16, so I'll do yet another experiment with the product that refuses to love me.  Gosh my nails and SH Salon Effects hate me too.

But at least I was able to ruin someone else' day, or so it seemed.  The cashier at CVS asked me how my day was, and I said good how was yours? And he replies: It was pretty good, but now I feel short.  Prepare for a capslock rant: LOOK KID, I GET IT, I'M TALL, I'M TALLER THAN MOST WOMEN BUT I'M THAT THE TALLEST WOMAN IN THE HISTORY OF EVER. So anyways I laughed it off and he asked me if I liked being tall and I said yes, there just isn't that many tall men to date.  I also said the air is better up where I am, too. So I am happy to have a hand in having his day going from "pretty good" to "feeling short". What a durp.

So yea I was at CVS and bought some stuff! YAY! STUFF.

From left to right:

- Thinking of Blue
- Fairy Teal
- Diamonds
- Luminous Tulips (..what?)
- Cherry Red
- Whirlwind White

From left to right:

- I Pinky Promise
- Showtime
- Creamcicle (spelled that way)
- Twilight Nights
- Catch a Falling Star

Skinny Jeans - Teal With It

Some make up for cheap! :D

 I spent about 30$ for ALL of this!

Another Image Beauty Haul

I realize this is a bit late as I've already posted two swatches from here but there's no harm in sharing anyways (=

This was the order that wouldn't happen, I tell you.  I placed it early November but missed the email where they said a certain item was out of stock.  I didn't realize it until about a week and a half ago.  Then another item I placed was out of stock.  I had to make four order changes to this but I finally got it.

Red Pearl - Fifth Avenue - Flip Flop Fantasy - Basket Case

My friend picked out the red, obviously.  I don't wear them much.  And I finally got a new bottle of Basket Case!  That was one of my first polishes I really loved and the one I own is non B3F so it smells.  Plus I think I destroyed it when I was new to the nail polish world and thinned it with remover. Eek!  Fifth Avenue has always called to me as well as FFF.

Sweet Dreams...Carol - Heavenly Julia - Lou Lou's Peachy Creme

The Brucci names are really laughable but that is cancelled out by their amazing formula!  I wore Heavenly Julia for 3 days (!!!) without a single chip - that NEVER happens.  Nail polish either chips off or I pick it off and neither occurred with the Brucci.  A new love!

Best Haul Ever!

Today I recieved my order from NailXChange.  She's having a blogsale and I purchases some real beauties from her.  I also squashed my biggest lemming ever:  Sally Hansen Prisms Blush Diamond (Light Version)!

Ooooooh! How exciting!

I purchased a total of 5 prisms, 3 Takoko and got 2 Coloramas as gifties!

I cant remember the order of which these are after I mixed them up since they are similar but my lot included:
Purple Diamond - Pink Rose Diamond (Dark) - Pink Rose Diamond (Light) - Blush Diamond (Dark) - Blush Diamond (Light). I am beyond thrilled to finally own these.  I am a huge fan of pink holos, and these are exactly what I love!

My friend picked out the 3 Takoko ones (307-398-367) and two gift Ruby Rays.

How amazing is this haul?! I got the whole bunch for about $50 with shipping and PayPal fees - not bad!  I can't wait to wear these. I got Purple Diamond on now, post coming soon.

My Bloom.Com Order

I was SO excited to get my Bloom.Com order.  It arrived Wednesday, just about a week after placing my order.  The shipping was free which is always exciting.  I paid $13 for my Plum District coupon/gift card and my total came out to $40.50 - with the gift card being worth $40, that means I only paid $13.50 for all of this stuff. I love that! Guilt free shopping has got to be one of the best natural highs, ever!

I must say I am quite impressed with Bloom's packaging. It arrived in a bold black box and had lots of hot pink tissue paper, along with bubble wrap and the larger packaged air.  The polishes had come unraveled from the bubble wrap, but all of the additional packaging kept them safe.

How cute is that?

The invoice included a nice handwritten note from my new beauty BFF, Jenna! Such a nice sentiment that they take the time to do that.

The 3 free samples I was able to choose came with a high gloss card in a cute little bag.  The back of the card suggests reviewing the sample products online for my fellow beauty fiends. (In nicer words, of course.)

 My first Zoyas!  I've always heard such great things about this brand and was so excited to be able to try them at such a great price.  I choose Neeka, Maya and Mira.  I also got POP Beauty Jade Metal and thought I've give CND Stickey Base Coat a try. All of that for $13.50!

Realistically, I probably won't order from Bloom.Com again unless there is another exceptional offer such as the Plum District one.  If I'm looking for something that I can't find elsewhere, I would definitely consider them as their shipping is free and I hate paying for shipping.  Their package felt so personal and warm; it was a delight shopping with them!

AveYou Haul + Essie + Magnetic Nail Polish

First we'll start with my aveyou haul!  Their warehouse (?) is about an hour from where I live, so I got it the next day! THAT WAS EXCITING. I used my kgb gift certificate code thing and after all the math is done, I spent around $40 on $80 worth of stuff! WHOOO!  Aveyou.com still has a code you can use, "GiveMe15", without the quotes, and you'll get $15 off a purchase of $75 or more.  The code is good until January 2012.

On to my pretties!

Warm & Fozzie - Excuse Moi - Ski Teal We Drop - Teenage Dream

Da Bush - School of Hard Rocks - Changing Lilac - Turquoise Wave

I have two from that haul to show you now.  The first is Essie School of Hard Rocks.

3 Coats. Easy!

Then I got bored and decided to put Turquoise Wave over it.  This was my first time using the magnetic polish so it's not perfect, but I like how it came out!

It's so cool in real life! Ohmigod it looks 3D.  When you move your nails back and forth and stuff, it looks like you're looking at something with those dorky glasses. Love it! Easy application, easy to figure out, my pinky was the first shot - can't you tell?  I love how it looks.  These were $15.50 each so I will not be buying anymore, probably ever. But I'm glad I got two pretties to play around with now.

What do you think of the magnetic nail polish trend?

OPI "Swimsuit... Nailed It!" + haul!

I did some shopping on the same day my online order came.  I was crazy overwhelmed by my choices but decided on "Swimsuit...Nailed It!" with some accents and stuff.

One coat of OPI "Swimsuit... Nailed It!" topped with
Funky Fingers "Down to Earth"

I tried doing a half moon mani but had the guides up too high.  I don't hate the result though, it was a different look for sure.  I only put one coat of "Down to Earth" so it's a little splotchy and there are some bare spots that you can see the blue peeking through.  The finish is the same though so the contrast really popped!

Before I did that though, I had "Crown Me Already!" as an accent.

Three coats of "Crown Me Already!" on ring finger

I have a truly difficult time wearing glitters.  I habitually peel it off almost as soon as it sets.  It is such a unique and pretty color though, it is a great addition to my collection.

"Swimsuit... Nailed It!" is a one coater which means its great for a quick mani.  It is super pigmented though which also means it stains.  It penetrated my NailTekII Foundation base coat and I had to buff away the stains.  The strange part about it was that only a few nails were stained?  I don't know what that means but it does have the potential to stain.  I suggest doubling up on a basecoat or wear this around the same time you're due for a buffing.

"Crown Me Already!" is such a show stealer!  It has multiple sized silver glitters but application was a tiny bit tricky; it is so densely packed with glitter that some will inevitably hang off the edge of your nail.  I had to push it back with the brush to keep them from dangling.  I am thinking this would make a great New Year's Eve manicure.

On to the new additions.  I feel like a horrific blogger because I cannot remember where my online order came from.  I think it was head2toe, but I could be wrong.  I had placed it a while ago, before Irene, had sort of forgotten about it.  Anyways:

ChG "Strawberry Fields"
ChG "Shower Together"
Essie "Smooth Sailing"
Essie "Turquoise and Caicos"

Color Club "Untamed Luxury"
Color Club "Space Case"
essence colour & go "You Belong To Me"

The essence polish is from Ulta actually, I grouped it wrong.  And speaking of Ulta, for once the clueless SA actually benefited me.  I was asking about a sale in the flyer I saw and she thought I wanted to look at the discontinued bottles. She went in back and wheeled out trays of the old bottles that were still for sale. They have the same polish in them but Ulta has since changed their bottles.  I got my Ulta polishes shown here for $2 AND they have more in the bottles.  The new bottles have .33 fl oz while the old bottles have .4 fl oz.  I love a bargain (=

From Left To Right:
Concrete Evidence - Sunset Bronze - Mint Condition - Material Girl
Tutu Cute - Alter Ego - Little Black Dress - Pink-A-Boo - X-dry (topcoat)

Material Girl, Little Black Dress and Alter Ego bottle shots.
So pretty!

I also (obviously) grabbed these two.  A different SA from the confused one excitedly grabbed these from the back for me.


*exhale* That is all!

watermelon mani and a confusing haul

HELLO! It's 2:00am. Ever just wanna type in caps? I really do right now, I want to yell this post at you. But I won't. I just want to megaphone this whole post. But again, I will do no such thing.  I wanted to make two separate posts but decided to make on mega post because it felt right.  I will be covering a haul and a watermelon inspired manicure. Onward!

WATAMELON.

It's "inspired", therefore not a direct representation of a watermelon.  I've done the watermelon manicure on the kids at work: red base color, green french tip and black polka dots.  It's actually cute but it wasn't working for me this time so I dodged it.

2 coats of Essie "too too hot" (red)
3 coats of L.A. Colors "Energy Source" (white)

My biffle, Coryn, gave me the Essie.  SO WATERY. It flooded my cuticles before I even knew what happened.  But for once, it didn't take 42 coats like all my other attempts with Essie have, so can't complain!  It's really pretty though, once I realized it was watery I just used less polish and it was fine.  Then I added black and white dots with my dotting tool.  The watermelon shapes I got at Sally Beauty Supply for $5.50 along with a bunch of other fruit shapes.

They're flat. My nails are not.  A tiny bit of practice and I'll be able to get them to lay flush in no time!  Super cute designs though.  They also had a flower wheel but I was really drawn to the fruitsies.  OK HAUL TIME.

So it's official.  My drawers used for polish are PACKED full.  So any polish I've been purchasing lately just sits on my desk.  Right now I count about 25 just sitting here.  I can barely move my mouse anymore.. so what does this girl do? DUH - SHE GOES TO A DOLLAR STORE AND BUYS A TON MORE.

"dizzy" - "yellow aura" - UGH THE STICKER IS GONE.

"Hallucination" - "Nude" (wtf?) - "Floral Wind"

"Hallucination" looks like glass slippers to me, love that!  The middle polish is a clear jelly base with holographic glitter, stars and moons. So, naturally, it's "nude"?.....?? This dollar store brand takes their business seriously as you can clearly see.  Also, the random decision to capitalize some polish names and leave others makes me "lol".  One I have from a month or so ago actually has a typo and is "royal puple". NOT A WORD.

"Broken Hearted"- "Black Shimmer" - "Planet"

 WRONG. WRONG. IT'S ALL WRONG.  First, this picture sucks. It's really dark; my bad.  Second, "black shimmer" is actually black glitter. It LOOKS like its in a black base, but oh no, dollar store scammers got me this time.  Its CLEAR. It's black glitter in a clear base.  And it's not even glitter, it's just tiny black plastic squares, lol. In this case, I got what I paid for. So now I have 9 new polishes to add to my desk.  Nice, I'll just keep my diet coke on my head.