Thursday, December 29, 2011

Orly Androgynie Swatch & FOTD

Today I bring you a swatch of a nail polish I was really excited when I bought it at Sally's (on sale!) a few days ago. The nail polish is Orly Androgynie; it's a black based nail polish with a small golden sparkle, a slightly larger silver and almost holographic rainbow sparkle, and a large rainbow glitter. The nail polish looks gorgeous in the bottle. It applied well, I have on 3 coats on most nails, but others took only 2.

My problem with this nail polish is that there isn't near enough sparkle when applied as in the bottle! I was so excited to have some spectacularly glittery nails for new years, and that was not the result. It's still a gorgeous nail polish, but not what I was expecting.

In addition to this nail polish, I also picked up my first bottle of Seche Vite top coat. Besides its repulsive smell (even for a nail polish...) it works amazing. So glossy and dries so quickly. And not just to the touch like most fast drying top coats; it seems like the nail is sufficiently dry to actually proceed in activities soon afterwards!

Onto the swatches. It was really really difficult to capture, my camera was acting up and the sun had already gone down.



See how gorgeous it looks?

With flash

Without flash



Had an idea for a new years look to make it more glittery.

And finally, just my look of the day. I still cannot figure out why my pictures turn out like shit. :/


Wednesday, December 28, 2011

New Years Eve Look

I come to you bearing a look that I was trying out for new years eve. I could have spent way more time on this and made it look better... but it's late and I'm tired!

Tomorrow I plan on swatching a new nail polish I got yesterday from Sally's! It's gorgeous.

Anyway, this look is a purple smokey eye with bright red lips! It was kind of inspired by a very popular look in Selena Gomez's "I Love You Like a Love Song" (:





Eyes
  • Urban Decay Primer Potion
  • NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil (Dark Brown)
  • NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil (Milk)
  • Lise Watier Cosmopolitan SE Quad (Black glittery shadow)
  • Makeup Geek Eyeshadow (Duchess, Sensuous, Corrupt)
  • MAC Eyeshadow (Shroom)
  • 88 Palette silver

    Lips
  • Revlon Matte (Really Red)
  • Anabelle Lip Liner (Cherry)


    Do you have something glamorous and spectacular planned for your makeup and nails for New Years Eve?
  • Tuesday, December 27, 2011

    Body Shop 4-Step Smokey Eye Palette - Brown Gold + FOTD

    In addition to the Quo by Orly nail polishes, I also got an eyeshadow quad from the Body Shop for Christmas. It's a warm brown smokey eye palette with a gold creme sparkle eyeshadow.

    I enjoy this palette. The pigmentation is very good, they are extremely smooth and creamy and they blend so well. In addition to all this, the Body Shop sells only cruelty-free products which leaves me in good conscious after using them!

    The packaging is beautiful - plastic case, well secured with a gold band that reads "the Body Shop". Large mirror inside and the palette came with a brown mini eyeliner and a small brush.

    Here are some photos and swatches as well as my face of the day that I did with this palette (and "Purely Naked" eyeshadow from Makeup Geek). Enjoy!




    Swatches taken with flash. As you can see, the gold creme eyeshadow ends up being a very light (almost disappointing, but not quite) gold glitter. Nice as a base!



    Still working on figuring out how to capture the looks better. Thanks for looking!

    Does a proclamation of cruelty-free from a makeup company help you make a decision on whether or not to buy the makeup?

    Monday, December 26, 2011

    Quo by Orly: Celestial Star Swatches

    My first non-introduction post!

    I got the "18 Piece Mini Nail Polish Gift Set" of Quo by Orly nail polishes for Christmas. As by the name, you can tell that these are 18 mini nail polishes of varying shades and finishes. From what I can tell so far, most look shimmery or glitter, but there are a few which have a flat finish.

    A lot of the nail polishes in this set look duochrome to me in the bottle, but after trying this nail polish, I'm second guessing whether they actually end up being duochrome on the nail. This one potentially disappoints (because I haven't been able to test it in the sunlight - it's dark out now!) but to me, it looks just like a royal blue glitter.

    With that said, it is a beautiful shade regardless of the absence of duo chrome-ness. Another disappointing fact, however is that it took 4 coats to get to this shade. I would hope for a bit more opaqueness for this nail polish. Onto swatches!

    Swatches are 4 coats of Celestial Star and 1 top coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

    This second picture captures the duo chrome aspect of Celestial Star a bit better than the first. In the bottle it looks like a royal blue shimmer with a bright purple duo chrome.

    You can see a little bit of the purple in this picture, but not as much as I was hoping after seeing the bottle.






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    the beginning.








    Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Jessica, 21 and I'm a beauty enthusiast. I'm not by any means amazing or even comparable to any of the makeup gurus who I (and so many others) so look up to, but I try. This is a blog like so many others centered around pretty well everything beauty. I hope you enjoy it!



    I live in a small town in Northern Ontario, Canada. Not small geographically, but small comparably to other cities. While obviously having quite the reputation for being frigid, we do also get summers ;). I do love it here, though I also sometimes wish I lived in a bigger cities with Sephoras and MACs :).



    I attend university here and am three semesters away from receiving my B.A. in law and justice. I live at home presently with my family and my pets. I have two dogs, Maya (German Shephard-Labrador mix, 1.5 years old) and Mace (German Shephard, 14 years old).


    As well as the dogs, we also have a cat named Sadie (muted calico, 14 years old). She's my best friend and I'll miss her the most the day I have to leave her to move out.



    I love photography, but seem have to have lost my muse for it recently. If you're interested in seeing some of my work, you can locate my flickr account here.




    Like I said already, I love anything beauty. I am obsessed with makeup and am slowly building my collection and skill. Trying my best by the means I have to get the best makeup I can afford and trying every day to expand my skill of application.



    This blog will have everything from nail polish swatches, to makeup swatches and reviews to makeup looks whenever I feel confident about them to post. Enjoy and let me know what you think! :) I wish you all the best and happiness in the new year!