it's a party of five, so dress me up and turn on the strobe light! (plus a haul)

How 'bout that name, huh?? Well I thought it was clever :) I really like these nails, and if you can't tell, they're matte. I used China Glaze Matte Magic. I thought these were fun, and I just might have to do it again, but maybe with a different color. This is China Glaze Dress Me Up from the Hunger Games Collection; Sally Hansen Strobe Light which you can't really see, but it's basically small pink glitter; and the multi-colored glitter is Wet n Wild Party of Five.

I haven't posted in a while, I've still been sick (yeah a long time, I'm real happy about it!) And I've gotten a couple nail polishes since then. I feel like I got more, but I can't remember...Here's all of it :

Spoiled by Wet n Wild The Parking Meteor Expired, Ants in my Pants, Trust Fund Baby

OPI Spiderman Collection Number One Nemesis, Just Spotted the Lizard, and My Boyfriend Scales Walls; OPI Big Apple Red

Milani Jewel FX Gems, Wet n Wild MegaLast Heatwave, Revlon Radient, Nicole by OPI Rainbow in the S-Kylie

Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso, Philosophy Lit From Within Healthy Cream Blush Feel Warm All Over

I'm excited about these blushes! I've never tried anything by Milani (makeup wise) and these all look beautiful. The Philosophy is from Big Lots for $3!! They have a few things there now. I'm not sure if the store I went to had everything, but I want to try all they had :) 

what do you think about my nails? and the haul?

sweet dreams.

Hey all! I haven't been feeling very well lately (sick..or allergies, I'm not sure) but I just wanted to post this. I bought Sweet Dreams a couple months ago, along with most of the colors in the GIRLS IN PEARLS line from Sinful Colors. I was a little surprised at just how bright this color was on my nails, but I loved it. There is subtle shimmer in it, which made me love it even more, and it is perfect for Spring/Summer. 

A couple days after painting my nails, I went over to Rite-Aid because they were having a sale on Wet n Wild, so I got all but one color in their ColorIcon Bedazzled nail polishes (at least I think that's what they were called..).  I used Bow in My Presence. I love how glittery this was, and there was a little color change (as seen in the dark photo at the bottom). And in case you're wondering, my ring finger is a different color than the rest of my nails, I was trying out a scented polish!

What do you think? Do you have any of these polishes or any of the others in either polish lines??

gradient, part 2.

I did my nails gradient again, this time using a different method. Everyone who tells how they did their nails this way said they used a makeup sponge, so I tried it!

I started out by painting my nails white. I then took a makeup sponge (the triangle kind, not rounds) and the end with a rectangle, I cut to the length of my nail, then painted three stripes of color on it. 

After that, I sponged my way horizontally across my nail (if that makes sense). For the empty spots that didn't get color, I used the corner of the opposite side of the sponge. Super easy!

There are lots of tutorials and videos on the internet if you want to try this yourself!

What do you think?

COLORS I USED:

Blue - Sinful Colors Sweet Dreams

Purple - Sinful Colors Amethyst

Coral - LA Colors Magnetic Force

gradient.

I'd been seeing these a lot, so I thought I'd share my version!! The colors I used : Love & Beauty Mint and Sky Blue.

How I did these : I first painted my whole nail in Mint, then I used an eye shadow sponge (after the green was dry) and put Sky Blue on the sponge and then started dabbing away. This was really easy...hard to mess it up. For example, I messed up on my nail and tried to fix it by sponging more blue because it looked more like a line than fading. By the time I got it right, there was too much blue and just a little green, so I went back with more green. Using an eye shadow sponge makes it easy to get around small areas on your nail.

What do you think? Tomorrow I'll be posting another gradient nail done with a makeup sponge instead (which is what most people seem to be using!).

mint apple.

Hey! Is anyone else excited it's the weekend? I have nothing planned, but it's going to be a great relaxing time for me :) I wanted to do a quick post about Sinful Colors Mint Apple. I love this color. I see quite a bit of people with mint colors, and I think they're all gorgeous. This one is a bit different than others I've seen because it also has shimmer, which makes it that much more great in my book! 

These were quick swatches I did. What do you think? Do you own this color or something similar? What's you're favorite mint green color?

ulta rewards.

It's been less than a year since Ulta came to town, and I love it. At first, I didn't really understand the point of it, because it seemed to just be like Sephora, just drugstore makeup and a few high end brands. It wasn't until the coupons started coming every couple weeks that I absolutely loved it...that and they are pretty awesome. There are even a few brands I wasn't able to get anywhere else in town (like NYX, Essence, Zoya, and more). So I spent a lot of my money there. I mean 90% of my monthly monies goes there. Needless to say, I racked up more points in these months than I ever have at Sephora, and at Ulta you can redeem your points for money off your purchase (or salon stuff, but that didn't really interest me)! 

So this week, they were having some really cool sales I wanted to take advantage of, so I thought it would be a perfect time to redeem my points. I really want to get all of (or most of) the Real Techniques brushes and they were BOGO 1/2 OFF! Ulta brand makeup was also having really good sales, and as I posted before, I got a set of mini lip glosses from a friend for Christmas which had a gloss I wanted to get the full-sized tube in..all great timing. This is what I got : 

Ulta Super Shiny Lip Gloss in 04 Charmed and Ulta Extreme Wear Lip Stain in 10 Love Connection 

 

The stain is not the same color as it shows in the tube, and by looking at reviews, a lot of other people have said the same thing. It is more orange that the tube shows, but I still like it. I did try it before I left the store, on my hand, so I knew what to expect. The stain comes with a doe foot, which I wasn't expecting that (but am glad it does because I wasn't looking forward to squeezing lip stain out of a tube). As for the gloss, it's what I was expecting. I actually like the smaller one better, but I think maybe the doe foot hasn't been used well yet so it's not giving off a lot of color, if that makes sense. I haven't used the brushes yet, but I've been watching the tutorials on their site all night, so I'm super excited to use them tomorrow!!

Real Techniques Powder Brush : $9.99

Real Techniques Blush Brush : $8.99                 

                             sale : BOGO 1/2 OFF, save $4.50

Ulta Super Shiny Lip Gloss : $8.00

Ulta Extreme Wear Lip Stain : $8.00

                             sale : 2/$6, saved $10

With all that savings, I then used 500 points, which was $17.50 off, and I only had to pay $3.20 for these items!! $32 SAVINGS! Ahh....I love a good sale :)    

hopelessly in love.

Hello! I changed my nails again because I was looking through my "idea folder" and got inspired. These nails are loosely based on some I saw from Grape Fizz Nails. I used different brands, but similar colors. Here are mine :

 

Mine are different, similar being the colors and the idea of the dots! Anyway this is what I used : OPI Hopelessly in Love (base), Essie Chinchilly (grey), Sinful Colors Luminary (coral), Finger Paints Easel-y Entertained (blue glitter). 

I've had Hopelessly in Love for a long time, it was one of the first OPIs I ever got, and it is one of my favorite nudes! It's very peachy, which I wasn't expecting by looking at the bottle (I don't know if it is supposed to be like this, or if it's because it's old..hm..). What do you think?