Hare Polish Hooky at the Hamlet

Hooky at the Hamlet is a gorgeous green, glittered, jelly polish from the indie brand Hare Polish. I am a sucker for anything with white glitter, so this polish was a must have for me after I saw swatches of it on Temptalia.

I did not use a base color, and with two coats you can still see some visible nail line. I don’t mind this, because I used to be a biter, and a nail line is major progress! Hooky at the Hamlet is from the spring collection entitled The Last Queen of France (based on Marie Antoinette).

This polish is a little thick, but nothing impossible to work with. The glitters didn’t require any extra moving around and went on easily.

The color of this polish is amazing! It really glows on the nail. I got mine from Llarowe for $11, but it is currently sold up. If you sign up for emails from Llarowe, they will send you an email when a brand is going to be restocked.

MAC Pistachio Creme

MAC Pistachio Creme is a limited edition polish that was just released with the Baking Beauties collection. I bought this in Chicago at a MAC counter in Nordstrom. The MUA was wearing this color and I complimented her on it; she said it was Pistachio Creme and that they had one bottle left, so I decided to get it.

With a name like Pistachio Creme you may expect it to be green, right? Well, this is more of a robin’s egg blue. MAC is not known for having good polish at all, but I am really happy with this. It was a little streaky on the first layer, but the second layer leveled out perfectly. I wore this for three days and didn’t have any chips at all. I don’t know if it’s my new nail care routine (more on that later), the polish, or the top coat, but I was way impressed with that number since my living revolves around typing!

I added some stripe detailing with a Color Club Art Club polish in Long Beach, which is a gorgeous rose gold type shade.

Overall, I love this polish and am really happy with it!

Butter London Bit Faker

Another summer must have, Butter London Bit Faker is “A full coverage bronze glitter that was inspired by the tan from a can.” This polish is so much more than a bronze glitter. This polish is simply amazing and in my humble opinion, back-up worthy!

This is two coats of Bit Faker, and as you can see it is packed full of different glitters. Not only bronze, but also what looks to be some gold, rose gold, and possibly black? The sparkle on this polish is mind blowing. It is one of those polishes where you will paint your nails and simply stare at them!

Bit Faker is part of BL’s summer collection, and is $15 at Ulta, the Butter London website, Dermstore, and Zappos.

Since this is a glitter, let’s talk about application and removal. I used two coats and no base, but you could also use a base and just one coat if you don’t want all of that glitter on your nails. Removal is not as bad as you would think for a glitter, at least not with a little bit of soaking with Zoya Remove. The finish is semi-matte and a little bumpy, but nothing a good top coat can’t take care of.

Mom, I think this would look amazing on you! 🙂

 

Maybelline Color Show Urban Utopia

Urban Utopia is one of the new limited edition polishes from Maybelline’s summer collection. I knew this display was going to kill me. Since it’s a summer collection, all of the polishes are beach related and in beach hues of blue, gray, and nude. I spent all of my summers at the beach with my grandparents, so anything with that theme lures me in!

This color is showing up really blue in photos, but in real life it definitely has more green to it.  Also, in the photos above, there’s no top coat. Look how shiny it is! This is just two coats as well. The application of this polish was very smooth as well.

The Color Show polishes run between $3 and $4 at drugstores and convenience stores. They color variety is great. I have a couple of polishes from their regular line, but much prefer the limited edition shades!

Alphabet Challenge: Zoya Zuza!

Well, it’s finally the last alphabet challenge polish, Zoya Zuza! I have posted about Zuza before, but it’s the perfect time of year to share it again. I love this polish. In my opinion, it is Zoya’s prettiest color, and I’m sure many people would agree with me. These metallic micro glitter polishes are what Zoya does best. The formula is amazing and it just glides onto the nail! This is two coats.

Zuza is perfect for summer. It is a highly shimmery silvery turquoise. Supposedly there’s gold in this shade according to Zoya’s website, but I find it difficult to see. This color is perfect for a pedicure and is definitely a polish must have!

Thanks for reading these alphabet challenge posts. I’m looking forward to not being so restricted to letters of the alphabet. 😉

More Random Manicure Spam!

Hello! I have another manicure spam post today of some polishes I’ve been wearing over the last three weeks or so. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of one of my favorite combinations, so I may have to recreate that one again! First up is Essie Sand Tropez. Bad lighting makes this look like a really blah nude, but I promise it is very pretty! It just doesn’t look that great on those nubs… 😉

Another Essie here, a new one from their 2013 Resort Collection: In the Cab-Ana. This color is amazing! Every spring and summer there’s some kind of shade like this one released, and I never tire of it.

The last Essie, and a terrible cell phone quality photo, is First Timer. This is a great minty green and it is lighter than last year’s hit, Mojito Madness.

Butter London Alcopop is a classic baby pink shade. If you’re wondering how this compares to Teddy Girl, it isn’t as pale and chalky.

My nails are super short in this picture, but this is Deborah Lippman’s Rockin’ Robin. I’m going to hold off on my opinion of this because I want to do a separate review.

OPI Pussy Galore. OH MY…I am SO OBSESSED with this color! Yes, it deserves all of those capital letters. This is like fairy princess in a jar. This is a liquid sand polish from the new Bond Girls collection.

This last one is what I’m wearing right now! Illamasqua Noble with OPI Which is Witch? and OPI Lights of Emerald City. I love this combination!

 

Desert Essence Organic Repair Pumpkin Hand Cream Review

Hey everyone! I know it has been awhile since I’ve written anything here. After coming home from Chicago on Friday, I had a crazy few days of work. After all of the papers I had to grade, I just didn’t feel like looking at my computer anymore!  Now I’m back with a review of an amazing hand cream from Desert Essence.

First, let me just say that in the past I have felt like there’s nothing out there to moisturize my hands. My hands are so dry in the winter and it seems like I’m putting on hand cream every hour. I’ve tried Soap and Glory (meh), EOS (not bad), Vitabath (like), Gold Bond (great for healing painfully dry hands), and just regular lotions. My husband and I were out running some errands over the weekend, when I found this hand cream at an organic store.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

A high concentration of organic oils and extracts provide intense moisture to the skin and aid in the repair process. Organic Jojoba Oil, similar in structure to our skin’s oils, deeply penetrates the skin, leaving it soft and supple. Organic Pumpkin Seed Oil, with high levels of Vitamins A, C, E, and K, plus zinc, helps combat daily environmental stress on the hands. A proprietary blend of Organic Pumpkin Seed and Licorice Leaf Extracts helps to even skin tone and fade the appearance of age spots on the hands.

No: Parabens, Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfates, Phthalates, Artificial Fragrances or Colors, Silicones, EDTA, Glycol or Petroleum-based Ingredients, Phosphates, Animal Testing

Yes: Vegetarian/Vegan, Wheat & Gluten Free, Recyclable, Biodegradable, Renewable Sources, Cruelty Free

*From DesertEssence.com

Wow, good stuff, right? Well, it definitely is! Not only does this smell amazing (pumpkin!!), it is so soft and moisturizing! This lotion sinks right into my skin and glides on easily.

Not much is needed to moisturize both hands either. It dries quickly and doesn’t leave greasy residue behind like some hand lotions.

The cost is also affordable: $9 for 4 ounces. I am so happy that I found this hand cream and would definitely purchase it again, and likely will when I run out! It smells great and is very affordable.

My DREAM Polish! Dior Princess

Yesterday, I purchased my most expensive bottle of nail polish to date. This was a major luxury splurge for me, but when I saw swatches of this shade online, it just tugged at my heartstrings a bit. A pink packed with silver and pink shimmer called Princess, and Dior no less? Um, yes please! Also, this polish reminded me of my golden retriever…my heartdog, Wembley, who passed away three years ago. She had a collar like this nail polish, so all of that combined, well, it was all over.

Anyway, I was looking for a museum when I accidentally walked too far and landed at Sephora. No really, it was an accident, I swear! That’s when I bought this polish.

These aren’t the best swatches since I don’t have my usual camera on me, but you get the idea. It is so pretty…I can’t stop staring at my nails. The shimmer is a lot more visible in person. This is a cool-toned pink. Sephora describes it as “sparkling carnation pink.” I love carnations so that works for me!

This is two coats; the formula was easy to work with, as it should be since this is a $24 bottle of nail polish! Way back when I stopped biting, I wanted to reward myself with something fancy when the one year mark arrived. That time passed and I never did that, but am so happy I waited for this color. If someone designed a polish based on me, I would want it to look just like this one. 🙂 This is a limited edition shade.

Do you have any Dior polishes?

Polish Chit Chat: Bottle Shapes

Hello! I thought it was time for something new around here, just a little polish chit chat type of post. Starting out, I thought it was time to talk about bottle shapes and what kind of shapes I prefer. There are so many bottle shapes out there, but my favorites are square bottles because they are the easiest to store. Essie is one of those brands! Their bottles are so cute and small and easy to store! Cirque also has this bottle shape. NARS and L’Oreal also have square bottles.

Another square, more rectangle type of bottle shape that I love are the Butter London bottles. To me, this is the perfect bottle shape because it is SO easy to store due to the slim shape. You can store a lot of these in a small space! Victoria’s Secret and H&M also have these bottles. American Apparel has a slim shape too.

Models Own is a UK brand, but I like the shape of their bottles because they are the same cylinder from the bottom to the top and again, are easy to store! Nails, Inc. also has this same bottle shape.

The worst polish to store is definitely Nicole by OPI. I hate the shape of these bottles and how they jut out at the bottom. It’s just completely awkward!

I’m also not a fan of CND’s bottles. They are kind of a strange shape, as they are flat on the back, but rounded at the front. If you’ve been on a boat, they’re kind of like that! 🙂 Not a huge fan of storing these, so it’s a good thing I only have a few!

One more bottle shape I don’t like are the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure bottles. They are so big, bulky, and bulbous on top! Yuck!

Any thoughts on this topic? 🙂

Recent Polish Haul

Hey everyone! It seems like this spring I’ve been buying polish in little bursts here and there, so I thought I’d show you some recent purchases, starting with Zoya! Two of these Zoya polishes I actually won in a giveaway that they were having, so I am pretty excited about that. Thank you, Zoya!

First up is Mieko, a rich, hot pink full of gold shimmer. I can’t wait to put this on, as it looks so bright and amazing! Next is Amber. This is a warm peachy golden orange shade. Can you tell I’m getting into my warm summery shades? These are the two shades I picked out after winning the Zoya giveaway.

Finally, the last shade I picked is Zoya Bekka. This shade I found while looking up Zoya swatches to choose my giveaway picks, but found out this shade is discontinued! Happily I did find it on Amazon. I can’t wait to wear this- it’s a lime green yellowy neon type shade with shimmer.

I also recently nabbed two Deborah Lippmann polishes: Rockin Robin and Moon Rendezvous. The latter is a cool shimmery blue metallic, while Rockin Robin is a “speckle” polish. This shade surprised me, because I thought it would be way more green, but I think it leans very blue.

Butter London’s summer collection is now available and I have two shades: Champs and Bit Faker. Bit Faker is seriously back up worth, it is that gorgeous! Champs is a nice rose-gold color. I’m such a sucker for these.

My Rite Aid had some new to me Revlon Brilliant Strength shades. I had a hard time choosing but picked out two: Enrapture, which is a deep burgundy/taupe shade, and Intrigue, a periwinkle blue with shimmer. I do want Dazzle, which is pink with flakies, but I suspected the formula might be quite thick, so I need to read more about it.

Finally, I have a Sation shade from my Ipsy bag: Love at First Byte, which is a peachy pink shade, and Blue My Mind from the Sally Hansen Under the Sea collection. It is SUCH a bright blue! Check out some amazing swatches at Shades of Beauty, Inc. Zenorah, I think this polish has your name on it! 🙂

Do you have any of these shades?