Makeup from ELF

I mentioned before that I just got a debit card that I can use online, yea? Well, I've been doing a lot of online shopping (even though I really need to stop!) and much of that has been makeup, or beauty products. So, if you don't care about what I have to say about makeup, or whatever, feel free to skip this post and move on to the next one!

May Nail Swatches!

I've been a little remiss in posting, my apologies. Intensive classes are intensive. But, I hope to remedy this by doing this post now! I will hopefully also be writing a few more before my upcoming exams, and throw them in the queue.

But, for now, nails!
Official Disclaimer! I have been working a lot lately, so my nails have not been taken care of as well as I usually do. I also haven't been painting them that often, what with the whole kitchen work thing and all. This means that there may not be a nails post next month. You've been forewarned!

First up, a Korean brand of nail polish! I ordered this from KoreaDepart (the online store I bought all that Korean makeup from a few posts back) a long time ago. I actually specifically bought this colour to be my Avatar Aang/Airbender art colour. I never used it for that though. It is, however, a delightful spring colour. I used white cherry blossom decals that I got in Korea as well. Cute, right?
The polish is by Etude House and has a name, but I can't translate it. It also seems to be discontinued from the KoreaDepart site, but may be available from other sites that sell Korean cosmetics. If you look for it, and find it, please let me know!

 I got this one by NYC because it matched my new dress perfectly. I wanted to look coordinated for my wedding anniversary date (pics soon!) and thought the nails would be a great addition. Now, like I said, the brand is NYC, so its pretty cheap (about $1.00CDN) and that shows in the quality of the product. I had it on less than 6 hours before it chipped BIG across several nails. I was not impressed. I have several bottles of this brand, and its great for one night bouts, but not for long term wear. This colour is called Sidewalkers.

Only 2 polishes for my lovelies this time. I had 2 other colour changes this month, but both looked like crap. Maybe I'll re-do them with some nail art, and see if they look better.
Until next time!
xox

February Nail Swatches!

As promised, this nail swatch day will be all about thermal polishes! I adore thermal polishes, and wish I had more. I also wish that I could get them locally, because I hate waiting for orders to come in.

The polishes in question are from Polish Me Silly, which is set up on California. They have some really awesome, unique colour combinations available, so, if you are going to make a purchase, be sure to look at all of them! In addition to thermal colours, they also have many other non-thermal polishes available.

So, I'll start with a general review of the polishes, and then go to the 3 individually. I got the thermal mini set, which is 3 thermal mini polishes for $18, which is an option they don't seem to have available anymore as a set, but they are available as mini's. They arrived in just over a week to Canada, which was okay. I actually expected them to arrive sooner, as I paid a fairly high shipping rate.

The polishes themselves are just beautiful. The polish goes on smooth, if a little light. The sparkles, which range from micro to macro, and include hexagon and square, as well as circle, are all quite lovely and work really well with their respective polish colour.
Here's the thing-the sparkles are MURDER to get off. I mean, wow. Also, thermal polishes are pretty much strictly for those whom keep long nails on a regular basis. The thermal change doesn't happen with short nails.
More after the jump

Nail Polish Swatches

Like the recipe of the month, this will be a new feature of whatever beauty product I am totally into this month. I think, more often than not, it will be nail polish, but I do have other products that I would love to share with you guys, so, who knows.

Anyways, I have a couple of swatches for today. I figure there's no point in only doing one per post, since this isn't a nail blog. If you guys want only one per post, send me a note about it, and I can do that, or set up another side blog for polishes. I dunno. I'm not particular, I just want to share rad things.

The first swatch is one that I made trying to re-create one by China Glaze called Cha Cha Cha, which I got done when I went for a mani/pedi in Ontario with my mom and sister. This is the China Glaze colour. I didn't get a picture from the actual mani/pedi, because it got destroyed in my parents hot tub after only a few days. It was tragic.

But, I ADORED the colour. I went out on a hung to find this actual colour, but I couldn't find it in any of theb beauty supply shops I checked, and I didn't want to wait for an Ebay order. So, instead I went and got two other greens, and layered them to this effect.

I used 2 layers of Maybelline in Go Go Green, with 1 layer of Hard Candy Teeny Greeny on top. I think it turned out pretty well, all in all considered. The China Glaze has more of a holographic look to it, rather than the sparkles that I got with the Teeny Greeny, but, I knew that it wouldn't be perfect. Both polishes were super smooth to use, and no fuss at all.

I was all for the layered greens, so, after the above manicure, I tried another layered green, but changed up the base to one called Green Blush by Divided by H&M. It was a dollar on sale, and the bottle was super cute, so I had to get it. I used 1 later of Green Blush and 1 layer of the sparked Teeny Greeny again.

This one had more of a holographic effect, but lacked the colour consistency that I wanted. It was nice, and the colour was subtle. My big problem was that the Green Blush was super streaky, so I feel it requires a top colour of sorts.

Finally, I got a new polish from a friend, and had to try it out. I have never used gold polish before, since I am more of a silver kind of girl (seriously, even all my jewelry is silver, or titanium.). Its a colour by Julep called Margot. I used 2 layers on the 4 fingers, and some random black that I had kicking around on the 5th. I would tell you the brand, but I don't remember which of my 5 blacks I used. Seriously, I have a thing for black.

 I actually really liked how it turned out, and found the Jupep super easy to use. The first coat was a little streaky, but the second was super smooth. Its a really nice holographic colour, that shines beautifully.
Along with the polish, I also got Julep TaDa! quick dry drops, which is the real reason I bought the package of goods. I have a tendency to ruin polish within the hour of putting it on, and this stuff really helps with that.

So, that is it for this months beauty day. I hope you guys don't mind me sharing all my fun beauty goodies. Next month will be all about thermal polishes that I ordered from an independent maker, and they are just gorgeous!