Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet

Sally Hansen's Red Carpet is a gorgeous, intense red with fine red shimmer. I am not a red girl, but this color screams sex appeal. I really have a thing for Sally Hansen nail polish. They tend to wear longer than most nail polishes and they always have good color payoff - two coats max usually for good coverage.

I think if this red as sexy, but if I remember correctly, the last time I wore this color someone at work asked if I had gotten it free with my Harley. I wonder what that was supposed to mean ...

Sally Hansen Red Carpet, two coats

China Glaze Caribbean Blue

China Glaze's Caribbean Blue is a bright, clear, medium blue with shimmer. I have no idea how to describe colors. I thought I was good, but now I just seem to get flustered. I need to buy a thesaurus. Is there a thesaurus for nail polish colors? That'd be cool.

Anyhow, on to the pictures. China Glaze's Caribbean Blue is from their Bahama Blues collection.

China Glaze Caribbean Blue, two coats, shade

Benefit Posietint

I'm not much of a lipstick person, I prefer gloss and more neutral lip colors. I do, however, hate the stickiness that usually accompanies lip gloss so I stick with chapstick. I got this mini Benefit Posietint in a trio of Benefit products - along with a mini BeneTint and High Beam. At first I used this and thought it was too pink, but then I started using less, just one coat, and it's very natural. I love this product and use it daily. It can be a bit drying, however, so I always use something moisturizing on top (Aquaphor by Eucerin - love) and something at night to keep my lippies soft.

Natural Lips

Benefit Posietint

I used the BeneTint and thought it to be too dark, but now that I've fallen for PosieTint I will have to revisit that lip stain. I haven't used it for cheek stain since I'm so acne-prone, but I'm sure it would be great!

China Glaze Let It Snow Holiday 2011

I have a few quick previews of the China Glaze Let It Snow Holiday 2011 collection. I only purchased a few, as I'm not really a red/maroon/wine kind of gal. I'm not sure what you call these single finger colors - skittles? Anyhow, here are the ones I got!

China Glaze Let It Snow Holiday 2011 swatches

Thumb - Snow Globe

Forefinger - Blue Year's Eve

Middle - Tinsel Town

Ring - Twinkle Lights

Pinky - Glittering Garland

24 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge

I was perusing blogs and stumbled upon the greatness of paint that nail. Great nail art, I suggest you check her out. She had a post on 24 Days of Christmas announcement where she announced a 24 day nail challenge. She invited everyone to join in, and I figure, why not? =)

Here's the mission list:

Wish me luck! And join in if you'd like, the more the merrier! Let me know in the comments so I can make sure to follow along. I can't wait to see everyone's nails!

Color Club Beyond The Mistletoe Nail Polish Collection Swatches and Review

UPDATED POST: More hits are coming from this post, so I figured I'd jazz it up a bit and provide a few comments...

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe swatches,

FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara

I LOVE this mascara! It's my favorite go to mascara for everything - casual, work, dancing - everything! I can't say enough good things about this mascara.

FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara

Tokidoki Brilliante Glitter Eyeliners

I purchased these recently on sale from Sephora. I do love glitter, especially on eyes. I, of course, got a purple and two browns. I'm so predictable.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there! I hope you're surrounded by family and friends.

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiners - Brown Eyes

I've heard a lot of good things about the gel cream eyeliners from Physicians Formula, so I decided to pick up a set. I really had to stop myself from buying all of them, but I picked the one for Brown Eyes given that's what I have!

There are three stackable liners and a small brush. Brown Eyes comes with a brown liner, medium purple, and black with purple sparkle.

Brown Eyes containers...

Maybelline The Falsies Flared

I recently picked up Maybelline The Falsies Black Drama and Maybelline The Falsies Flared. I thought I'd share my experience of each and compare the two, as people seem to favor one over the other. I'm not a big fan of drugstore mascara, but these have carried such hype I thought I'd check them out.

I do buy regular mascara - not waterproof - because my lids/face are oily and waterproof mascara runs on me. It stands to reason - waterproof = oil based - so my oily face causes it to run. I have better luck with non-waterproof mascara. I know the difference between waterproof and regular is big, even within the same brand/type, so I thought I'd mention that.

The tube, very pretty, love the color.

Sally Hansen Shimmer Strips - Waikiki Strip/Peachy Glow Bronzer

Some of you may have noticed my other review on a similar product, Rosy Glow, and here is the counterpart. This one is similar - 5 shimmery shades - made to be a bronzer. This one also is super shimmery, so the name is, well, appropriate. On to pics!

Maybelline EyeStudio Color Explosion - Caffeine Rush

This is part of my Target purchasing spree, and I got it basically for the glitter. After reading Scrangie's reviews, I was kinda meh about the whole set, but then I kept looking at her posts and after she said it was worth it just for the glitter, I caved. I did hold back and just purchased the brown set, instead of all of them, so that was a personal triumph for me!

Behold the beauty of Maybelline EyeStudio Color Explosion in Caffeine Rush ...

Sephora by OPI Rocker Chic

Rocker Chic is a four piece mini set from Sephora by OPI. I love mini sets. I never use enough of one polish to finish an entire bottle (unless it's base/top coat) so mini ones give me less polish of more colors. Gotta love variety!

OPI Just A Little Dangerous, three coats

Sally Hansen Shimmer Strips - Rosy Glow

I love anything glittery or shimmery. Usually. I picked this up at a local drugstore thinking, "Hey I could use a new blush." Boy, when they say shimmer, they mean shimmer! Now, I love shimmer on eyes, lips, highlights ... But in blush, I think there is a limit. Maybe that's just because I'm super oily and anything shimmery brings out my pores and my skin looks oily, but for me, this blush was a no go. I try it sometimes in the winter when my skin tends to be a bit dryer (like now, yay!) or sometimes I'll use the colors individually as eyeshadows. 

Acne.org Review - Day 14

Two weeks! So I must say, my skin is improving. It's nice and soft and smooth, which I adore. My makeup is so much easier to apply and I don't seem to need as much. By laying off a few days then coming back using less BP every other night, my skin seems to like it much better. I've worked up my amount of BP to a little more and I'm also using it every night and my face is happy, which makes me happy. My husband went out of town for a week and came back yesterday (yay!) and he mentioned my skin looks much smoother and clearer. And that's something if a boy mentions it! Haha.

Anyhow, I was reading more about it on www.acne.org and I think when I get closer to needing more product, I'll order the larger sizes and include the jojoba oil and AHA. I'll be moved away from my southern, hot and humid weather to somewhere that it's colder and dryer, so I'm sure I'll need a bit more in the moisturizer department.

I will note that I'm not as oily as I usually am. I'm also using a mattifying primer (Cover FX Clearprep Matte Foundation primer) and setting powder on my makeup, and the weather is cooler, but I've never actually noticed my face not being oily (like, ever), so the fact that I noticed it means something is different.

Since I don't use The Regimen like it says, this is what I'm using...

Morning:
The Regimen Cleanser
Cover FX Clearprep Matte Foundation Primer (2% salicylic acid)

Evenings:
The Regimen Cleanser
The Regimen BP (1 inch line)
The Regimen Moisturizer or BE
Philosophy Hope in a Tube eye cream

Random EOTD

This is a fun look that I did based VERY loosely on xsparkage's Playdate: Golden Beach Babe. You should really check out her site if you don't already follow her, and of course see how this eye makeup is supposed to look! I loved the look of neutral glitter with a pop of purple under the eye. Hers is, of course, phenomenal. I tried a version of it, but it didn't quite turn out as well. I do plan on doing it again, hopefully with different products that will give the colors more pop.

Target Shopping

I swear, I can't go anywhere without buying more makeup and nail polish. I blame it on the blogs I stalk, they use products or recommend items and I'm like, "Yeah, I NEED that!" Sigh. I'm a victim. Hehe.

I have family in town so my house has been taken over by my dogs that stay with my parents, so we had to make a quick trek to pick up some dog food. On the way to the dog food aisle, I passed by the makeup. Big mistake. So I decided to take the long route to the dog food and check out Wet 'N Wild nail polish for the new ColorIcon Ice Baby Glitters, but was unable to find them. So to soothe my poor deprived soul, I bought other stuff!

Here's what I got...

Sephora by OPI Four Piece Nail Colour

Milani Lip Flash Gloss Pencils

I first saw these on Scrangie's website and I thought they looked fabulous. I hadn't been able to find them at the store until recently, and I grabbed the ones they had in stock.

Random Eye Look using Wet 'N Wild

Hola. Just wanted to share a random eye look I did the other day before going to lunch with a friend. I used the Wet 'N Wild Comfort Zone. I already depoted by palette into a Uni palette (oops) so no pics of the colors but I hope to do some swatches soon. There are 3 palettes total (I think) and I'm contemplating getting the other two just because I like this one so much. I actually purchased it because one of the colors is, or so I thought, a pretty medium brown/taupe with blue duochrome. I was wrong. It's a deep brown, almost burgandy/wine with greenish blue duochrome. Still pretty but not what I had intended.

Urban Decay - Book of Shadows IV

Eek! My FIRST Book of Shadows. I've heard such good things about these, and I have a friend who has all of them so far, and after seeing hers, I had to get one! I originally set out to order the 15th Anniversary palette (I NEED Omen!) but alas, it was not available, so I ordered this one instead (mainly for Gravity and Blue Bus).

I adore UD eyeshadows - creamy, heavily pigmented, easily blended. Love!

**WARNING: VERY PIC HEAVY**

Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV

Buxom Stay-There Eyeshadow in Beagle

I'm not normally a creamy eyeshadow type of gal, my lids are too oily even with primer to think about anything other than powders. This line of shadows, though, stole my heart with their names and doggies on the packaging. This one, Beagle, is described as a light purple/lilac. I'd say that's fair, but it leans more pink on my skin. When I've worn it out, people comment on my "pink" eyeshadow. It's not a big deal, it looks nice either way, but I bought it (in a package deal, it's not available on its own through Sephora, that I know of anyway) so I was a bit disappointed because I adore purple shadows on brown eyed girls.

Buxom Eyeshadow in Beagle is a lilac/pink color and not very pigmented. Even with heavy swatching you barely get color, but it does have lots of shimmer/frost to it. Setting with a similar color eye shadow or translucent powder gives me extra staying power and keeps it from creasing, but otherwise the color is great and long lasting.

Acne.org The Regimen - Day 4

I still think the benzoyl peroxide was a bit much for my sensitive skin and that was causing the itching and redness. My eyes were a bit swollen so I stayed of the BP for a day and probably will start reapplying only once a day tomorrow night. I'm hoping by using less product less often it'll decrease the irritation. I went searching under FAQ section about how much to use because the instructions say "two pumps" but mine is in a large squeeze tube... So I saw how much you're supposed to start with and I was using double that. Oops.

Wet 'N Wild Fantasy Makers Glitter Eyeliner

Just a few swatches of two of the eyeliners WnW had out this past Halloween. I really like them. Sometimes I want to jazz up my eye makeup with a little (ok, a lot) of glitter and these helped! 

The two I picked up were Mystical and Magical. Gotta love the names!

Wet 'N Wild Fantasy Makers Purple Potion - Revisited

I used a different camera to try and capture the beauty of this polish. I hope it helps give a more accurate portrayal of the color.

Acne.org Review

I recently started The Regimen from www.acne.org. It consists of a three products - a gentle, nonsoap cleanser, 2.5% benzoyl peroxide treatment lotion, and then a light moisturizer. You're not supposed to use makeup during the time you start the regimen, but there's no way I can go to work without my usual products. You can use drugstore products, but I figured for ease of use, I'd just order his products and then switch up to drugstore products later ...

Today is Day 2. My face feels OK, but the area around my nose and lips is a bit ... hot? It burns when I scrunch up my face, but otherwise it seems to be going well.

My jawline does itch a bit. I had the same problem with Proactive previously. I ended up waking up one morning with itchy red cheeks and swollen eyes. Hopefully I'm not having a reaction to this stuff - so far so good.

I have noticed that it doesn't burn when I use the BP but when I use the moisturizer, it stings. Strange ...

Wet 'N Wild Fantasy Makers

I know this is late for Halloween but I wanted to share some swatches from this season's Fantasy Makers. I saw them first on Scrangie's website (love her, love her blog, love her nails, love everything, she's awesome!) and I grabbed two of them - Creepy Pumpkin and Purple Potion. I love the packaging - cute little tombstones!

Creepy Pumpkin is a bright orange with orange glitter. The formula was fairly sheer and kind of runny, pics are 3 coats without topcoat. I do like the color - nice and bright, and I do love glitter. I think this would be a fun pedi color in the summer.

Purple Potion is a black with bright purple glitter. Great dark polish with a pop of color - I love how the purple/magenta glitter really stands out against the dark base. Only needed 2 coats of this one and it's completely opaque.

I tried to get a good picture of Purple Potion but my camera wasn't having it. Glitters are hard to photograph...

Good value - fun colors! I'll have to keep an eye out for these next year.

Sally Hansen Vitamin E Nail & Cuticle Oil

China Glaze Lighthouse

The week after Halloween and I'm dreaming of all the lovely fall colors out there with my name on it. This one I recently purchased and even though I'm not much of a yellow person, I love the color. It's nice and bright without being neon, and glitter is always a plus! Three coats and there was minimal nail line visibility, but I'm not complaining.

china glaze lighthouse

L'Oreal Owl's Night

I picked up this polish on a whim while perusing the shelves at a local drug store. It seemed like an interesting enough color when I got it.

Owl's Night is a greenish gold infused black - nice and opaque in 2 coats. I love how it's dark but in the light it shines. Very sneaky.

Please pardon the chips. I had originally taken pictures that were ... lost. These are after a few days of wear. I was going to do new ones but I found something interesting when I started taking off the polish today, and so I took a few quick shots of nails that were still mostly painted.

L'Oreal Owl's Night, 2 coats, no topcoat

Sally Hansen Hard As Wraps