New Wet n Wild: Mint Fusion (Dupe!)

Happy Friday, everyone! Today is a good day. The high is 79 degrees and I have the day off. I'm going to go to Chipotle and have lunch and then sit in the sun and read Rob Rosenblum essays. This is the plan. I'm on my second cup of coffee and I've got all the windows open. I miss summer, you guys. Anyway, today I have another new Wet n Wild to show you all. It's called Mint Fusion but it's definitely not a mint.

This is really a gorgeous polish; a nice lime green with green and gold shimmer. The formula on this was pretty decent if a little sheer. I used three coats here and one coat of Seche Vite. I mentioned yesterday that I thought this looked pretty similar to China Glaze Entourage so I did a comparison (shocking, I know).

Mint Fusion is on my index and ring fingers and Entourage is on my middle and pinky fingers

They're extremely similar. Mint Fusion is a touch lighter, but I am calling them dupes. I think if I didn't know that I was wearing two different polishes I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Entourage is from my favey-fave collection of 2009, China Glaze Kicks. I think if I had to choose one of these I'd stick with the China Glaze. The formula was a bit better (thicker). Then again, the Wet n Wild only costs ninety-nine cents...

Yesterday I went to CVS and bought this Sally Hansen cuticle oil pen dealio for about $6.

I think you are supposed to put it on after manicures and before bed. I applied it one time yesterday and I'm about to apply it again after I hit publish. I'll let you know how it goes in a week or so. I can tell you, though, that it smells really lovely :)

Okay, that's all for today. Do you think you guys will pick up Mint Fusion? For under a dollar you really can't beat it, right? Anyone have any fantastic weekend plans? I can't believe that tomorrow is May...oh! Also, I'm at 298 followers so I think I will be posting my next giveaway on Monday after I [hopefully] reach 300. Thanks, everyone! You guys are the best.

MORE New Wet n Wilds! Haul!!

Good morning, all. Happy Thursday. I've got tomorrow off! *happy dance dance* Yesterday during the day I went a little shopping crazy. I got a pencil skirt and a top from the Garden Collection from H&M and like nine bottles of nail polish. This has not been a good week for frugality, I will tell you that. I found some awesome goodies at Rite-Aid! Lots of pictures in this post.

Lookie what I found; an awesome new Wet n Wild Wild Shine polish. I found a whole new display. This one is called Tropical Splash and it's kind of a frost along the same lines as Rain Check and Wild Card. It kind of reminds me of China Glaze Watermelon Rind in that it is a super blue-leaning green. Pretty, isn't it? As usual, the formula on this was perfect. I had no problems. Well, one problem, but it's my fault. Since this is kind of frosty it shows all the flaws in my nail beds, and the nails on my right hard are a hot peely mess. I need to buff them or something.

Here is the display I found. The collection looks like it's called Guilty Pleasures (vibrantly candy-licious with an irresistible finish, even).

I obviously wasn't feeling too guilty about these because I picked up six. They're under a dollar, as you all know. Anything that's under a dollar is guilt-free, in my opinion.

From left to right we have: Candy Apple Twist, Mint Fusion, Tropical Splash (pictured above), Blueberry Fizz, Berry Jubilee and Grape Crush

They're so pretty all standing in a row like that, no? I got all the cool-toned colors plus one coral (which y'all know I just can't resist like, ever). I compared the coral to Blazed first and they were different enough to warrant having both. Three of these are cremes (Candy Apple Twist, Blueberry Fizz and Berry Jubilee), two are kind of frosty (Tropical Splash and Grape Crush) and Mint Fusion is a shimmer. It reminds me of China Glaze Entourage.

I stopped at Sally's yesterday too in the hopes that they had Poolside. No display so I was sad...UNTIL I noticed a few China Glaze boxes sitting on the counter about to be put away. They had one Poolside set. One. The buy two get one free thing was still going on, too. The nice Sally's employees let me tear through their boxes once again and I emerged with these.

Sun Worshipper, Flip Flop Fantasy and Kiwi-Cool-Ada

I've been dreaming about Flip Flop Fantasy since I first saw Scrangie's swatches. The green looks awesome too, and I just kind of randomly chose the orange. I wasn't too interested in the blue, I already have a ton of straight-up neon pinks and I didn't think I'd wear the yellow. Sun Worshipper was left by default. I think it'll look good on my toesies :)

That's all for today. Long post, huh? Phew. What do you guys think about these new Wet n Wild polishes? Has anyone else seen them yet? They're hitting it out of the park right now, man. I'll leave you with a picture of Raven and Alley sitting by the door. I took this one while I was sitting outside looking in at them.

Hehe. Cutesies.

Oh, BY THE BY, I have 293 followers as I write this. That is awfully close to 300. Once I reach that magic number I am planning a little giveaway, so please help a sister out and click "Follow" if you haven't already. Kthx.

Minty, Minty Apples

Happy Wednesday everyone. This week has not...been the best for me. My cuticles have gone from looking bad to looking worse. I want to go have a manicure but I don't like doing that when my nails are this short and weird. Sigh-pants. If only I weren't taking macro pictures. I've also been super indecisive lately so it's difficult for me to pick a nail color in the morning. I've also also been complaining a lot, so I'm sorry for that. Here's today's pick.

This is Sinful Colors Mint Apple. I obsessed over getting it for about a day and went to I think three different Walgreens stores. This was a good two months ago. I think I just enjoy the thrill of the hunt and that's why it took me so long to bust this one out. In short, it is lovely. It's darker than most of the mint greens that were released this past spring and I think it's pretty unique. It has this really lovely shimmer that, to me, isn't even really shimmer. It seems more akin to glass fleck because the particles are larger. I found the formula to be way better than on most Sinfuls. It was a bit thick and it stayed where I put it, so that's awesome. You're looking at two coats of Mint Apple and one of Seche Vite. Please ignore the state of my cuticles and focus on the color. I spend so much time doing stuff with my hands at work and it's just murder on my pretty.

In the comments yesterday someone asked about my ring. I got it about five years ago at American Eagle. I have not removed it for any extended period of time since the day I bought it. Sometimes I take it off to play with it or something but I always put it right back. I'm not sure what it's made of, but it has never turned my finger green or irritated my skin or anything like that. I think it was about $15. It's the only piece of jewelry that I wear daily. My left hand looks weird and naked without it.

Yesterday I did end up going to The Target That Time Forgot, aka The Magic Target that my friend Amber and I found a couple weeks ago while the Liberty of London craze was happening. I figured they would have my Zac Posen snap tape dress. Guess what? They did. I can definitely say that the line runs small. I normally wear a size 10 in jeans and in dresses, so I figured a medium would work. Not so. I couldn't zip it near the boob area. I tried on a large and it fits like a glove. I'll post a picture of me wearing it on here once I figure out how to make myself look not like a stripper in it. It was $69.99 but I returned another dress that was too big at the same time so I owed $35 on it. Not bad. Pretty excited.

That's all for this morning. Opinions on Sinful Mint Apple? It's one of my favorite "mints" from this spring, I think. Most of the others were cremes and this one is just too pretty. Plus...for $1.99 you really can't beat it. Alright, over 'n out.

OPI DS Reflection (!)

It's finally sunny again! I feel like it has rained for the past three or four days. I don't know if that's actually true because I honestly can't remember three or four days ago, sadly. I just checked the weather and it's supposed to be nice-ish until Saturday. Wahoo. I did not have a swell day yesterday. I'm going to try to make up for that today, but it probably won't happen. I have work later and I'm kind of not looking forward to it. Uber-sigh.

Here is OPI DS Reflection. I got this from the lovely Perry of PerryPie's Nail Polish Adventures in a swap not too long ago. I am so terrible to swap with, but only because I constantly offer things to people and I never really want anything in return. Nail polish people are all so nice and no one wants to take something for nothing, which I kind of understand. PerryPie chose this one for me and she did a good job. I've only used one other DS polish before (Mystery) so I was excited to receive this one. It's a nice rosy reddish-pink with really pretty holo glitter. I'm sorry my cuticles are so dry. I dunno what's going on. It's the macro setting, mostly.

Anyway, this polish is fantastic. The formula was spot-on. It's actually the nicest polish I've used in a while. I feel like I could have used just one coat, but I always feel weird doing that. Even if I'm using a one-coat lacquer like RBL or something I always do two, just out of habit. That's what happened here. Anyway, definitely loving this and I think it looks really nice on my skintone. I'm glad I waited for a sunny day to bust it out. Also, the end of April/beginning of May is always one of my favorite times of year because the lilacs come out. Lilacs are my favorite flower ever and we have two big bushes in our yard.

Does anyone know of a nice lilac perfume? I like wearing flower-scented perfumes. My favorite is Fragonard Cerisier en Fleurs (cherry blossom). Maybe it's time for a Google hunt. Also, yesterday my friend and I went to Target and saw some of the Zac Posen stuff. I fell in love with this dress.

Of course I will not look like a twelve-year-old boy when I wear it like the model, but whatever. I couldn't find the size I needed at the Target we went to so I might go on a mad hunt for it today like I did with the Liberty of London stuff (and that LibofLon dress I bought only like three weeks ago is now too big; sad). I've been reading reviews of it online and apparently the whole collection runs small. Fabulous, 'cause these hips don't lie.

Okay, rambles over. What do you guys think of DS Reflection? Anyone have it and love it? Anyone kind of meh about it? Anyone about to stalk Target for the Zac Posen stuff?

I Was (Kind of) Wrong About Espana

Here's the thing about OPI Espana. It was boring. It was so boring that I complain about how boring it was at pretty much every opportunity. I used Can You Tapas This? back in September and that shut me up for a while just because it was so beautiful. You may remember that I wore Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees back and March and I just raved about it. Well...here's another rave. I was so sick of wearing that Orly pastel purple by the time I got around to removing it yesterday that I kind of wanted to paint my nails black. That's kind of cliche so I went for an almost-black and chose OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow. The light here has been overcast for the past few days, so these images aren't the best.

No flash. I can still tell it's green here.

With flash. Definitely green.

Macro. Shimmer? I think? Very subtle shimmer.

And here comes the rave. I kind of love this. It's basically Lincoln Park After Dark except green; one of those polishes where everyone thinks you're wearing black, but you know that you're really rocking a dark green (or in the case of LPAD, purple). I tend to love vampy colors against my nearly-albino skin. Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow kicks the ass of that cute and sweet purple pastel I had been wearing. I think the only complaint I have about it--and it's not even really a complaint--is that the formula was weird. It went on super sheer the first coat, kind of like...watercolor paint or something. The second coat helped, but I think it really did need a third. For this manicure I used three coats plus one of Seche Vite. I'm not looking forward to taking this off because I love it so much. Maybe dark greens really are my jam. I like to tell myself that I don't really really want the infamous NARS Zulu, but maybe I do. Someday perhaps I'll be okay with spending $12.50 on polish and I'll throw it down for Nfu Oh 569. But I'm so cheap!

Today is my day "off" after working pretty much all week and straight through the weekend. It's turning out that I have a lot of shit to do, though. Alley, my little cat, is having eye trouble. Her left eye is all swollen and puffy so I need to take her to the vet as soon as I can. I also have a bunch of errands to run before 1 when I pick my friend up for an Ulta trip (which will be fun). Maybe I should have slept more. I only slept for like four hours on Saturday night. Not. Cool.

Okay, sorry for the ramble. How do you guys feel about Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow? I like how I bought it in like August and it took me until the end of April to actually use it. Shame. Maybe I should revisit other Espana colors that I had thought were boring. Probably not, though. Most of them were blah. Am I right?

Lollipop--You Make My Heart Go Giddyup

Heeeeeeey guuuuuuuys. Happy Saturday. I'm going to work in about an hour so this has to be a quickie post. First thing's first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEA! Yay, 21! That's so exciting.

Today I have for you Orly Lollipop from the spring Sweet collection. There is no sun today, sadly, so these pictures were taken in overcast light.

The first picture is without flash and it's too blue. The second picture is with flash and it's closer to color accurate. Lollipop is a very light pastel purple with a bit of pink thrown in. I don't think it suits me. Maybe my skin is too light for it or something. The formula was pretty good, if not a little thick, but I seem to remember that I had the same thickness problems with Orly Snowcone, also from the Sweet collection. This was two coats with one coat of Seche Vite. I used non-acetone remover to take off my polish from yesterday and somehow it dried my skin out way more than when I use acetone remover. I don't know what that is, but that's why my skin looks so dry. Sorry.

When I realized the name of this polish is Lollipop, all I could think of was that boat scene in Spice World, one of the best [worst] movies of all time. I am not kidding when I confide in you all that Spice World is one of my favorite movies. Ever. Please watch this. It will make your day a million times better, I promise.

Alright, that's all for today. Sorry to quickie post and run, but coffee-making waits for no man. Or woman as the case may be. What's your favorite polish from the Sweet collection?

Essie Lapis of Luxury (!)

An open love letter to Essie:

Dear Ms. Weingarten,

Listen, I'll just get right to the point. I kind of love you. Not in a creepy way or anything, I just love pretty much everything you do. Everything. I love the way you try to please both extremes that exist in your consumer base by releasing colors like Rock Candy and Mint Candy Apple in the same collection. I love how divine you are at producing the best reds ever. I love that your bottles have "essie" etched into the glass. I love your formula. I love your skinny brushes that somehow get the job done without making me get polish all over my fingers. Even though L'Oreal for some reason just acquired you right as they released that North Fake collection, I hope you'll continue doing what you do. You're a stand-up lady, Essie Weingarten, and I will continue to throw my money at you when you release awesomeness like this Resort collection.

Love and Perfect Formulas,

Stephanie

Here is Lapis of Luxury. It...is beautiful. So beautiful. It's this muted cornflower blue that makes me feel kind of calm when I look at it. The first picture is full sunlight, the second is bad indoor lighting, and the third is my hand on the whitest thigh in the world (ie mine). I was kind of worried that I would have opacity issues with this color, but it ended up being fine. The first coat was pretty sheer, but this is two coats and I think it looks nice. The formula was great. It dried fast. I'm in love.

I'm so into cornflower blue right now. My obsession started when Sally Hansen released that Xtreme Wear polish, Pacific Blue. Then Orly and Maybelline released lighter cornflowers and I just fell in love with each one. That's why even though Lapis of Luxury is pretty close in color to both Orly Snowcone and Maybelline Pie in the Sky...I just had to have it anyway.

Orly Snowcone, Essie Lapis of Luxury, Maybelline Pie in the Sky and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue. It's my little cornflower army.

I think the Essie applied best out of all of these. The Orly was too thick. The Maybelline's brush was too wonky. Lapis of Luxury is just perfect.

Does anybody know of other cornflower shades that I can horde? I feel like Zoya has one that I don't have. I'd appreciate any suggestions because I will totally buy them. Anyway, that completes the Resort collection for me. To refresh you, I also got Splash of Grenadine and Playa Del Platinum. What's your favorite one? I probably should have gotten Turquoise & Caicos too. C'est la vie.

UD Smoke Out Kit: Yerba

I think this will be the first post on here that I'll be doing that isn't about nail polish. I'm still wearing Splash of Grenadine today and I don't feel like taking it off and replacing it; I have work in about two hours. The other day I mentioned that I was thinking about buying an Urban Decay Smoke Out Kit. Guess what? I did!

I got my kit in Yerba (green). It also comes in brown (Ju Ju) and classic black (Sweet Lucy). The fun thing about the kit is that it folds out revealing all kinds of neat stuff, and then collapses back into its nice little cube.

A drawer pulls out from the top layer that has a little instruction pamphlet inside.

One side has a little paint-by-number diagram dealio and the other side has pretty detailed ten-step instructions on how to create a smoky eye.

Here's the top layer. It flips all the way over and has a mirror on one side. Very cool, though I doubt I'll ever be trying to do smoky eyes on the go. There are four shadows: a matte nude, a matte white, a shimmery gray with green undertones, and a dark shimmery green.

The second layer. It includes a little brush and a 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero, which is the best black liner you'll find. Period. Normally I would say that the brush is useless, but I found it to be okay to use for blending in the darker color and for smudging the liner along my lashes.

And the last layer, a mini Skyscraper mascara! I love Skyscraper.

Isn't it cute?

For my first time using this kit I wanted to follow the instructions precisely. They were pretty easy to follow and detailed without being confusing or annoying. I love the shadow colors. I'm going to show you my face, but not close-up because I am so not adept at taking pictures of my own face. I don't know how all you amazing makeup bloggers do it. I just let my Mac PhotoBooth do it for me.

Oh boy I look tired. Sorry.

So there you have it. I think it turned out pretty good. Also, last night I got home at like 1am and went straight to bed. When I woke up this morning my eyes still looked like this. It was a little bit faded, but that's all. I guess that's a testament to Primer Potion, which is the only thing not included in the kit. I'm sure that any eyeshadow primer will do, but UDPP is the best (in my opinion).

Normally these cost $34, but this week at Ulta they are on sale for $19.99. If you want one, go get one. For $20 you'll be getting four shadows, a brush, an eyeliner, and a mascara--all of them Urban Decay quality. I'm really, really happy with my purchase. So what do you guys think? Anybody else have one of these cute little things?

Essie Splash of Grenadine

I will be the first person to tell you that I don't normally like pink. It seems a bit cliche to me, but in a different way than red does. I wear red when I want to feel brave or beautiful--and I always go back to the same red. To me pink doesn't really represent anything but girliness so I tend to steer clear. I'm already girly enough. When I saw the first swatches of Essie Splash of Grenadine pop up I was surprised to find myself really wanting it.

I'm happy to report that I love this color just as much on the nail as I do in the bottle. I find it a bit difficult to describe--a purply pink that has a muted and dusty feel. It's not straight-up pink, nor is it straight-up purple. The formula was exquisite. Today I didn't use a ridge filler, just OPI Dry & Brittle Nail Envy. This was two pretty thin coats, and I think it looks really lovely. No visible nail line, so yay. It's so shiny! I also feel like it's one of those cremes that looks a bit like a jelly. It has that squishy feeling to it. Splash of Grenadine also kind of reminds me of pink magnolia flowers.

We all know that grenadine is actually red, but I'm pretty sure that if you diluted it--added a "splash" of it to a nice cocktail--it'd be pink. Not this pink, of course, but the name still conjures up images of island vacations and toes in the sand, no? Since I showed you my little magnolia tree (by the way, one of my favorite perfumes ever is Kenzo Eau de Fleur de Magnolia; if you like the scent of magnolia you guys should check it out! it's affordable and absolutely lovely) I will show you some other flowers from around my house. It feels so good to walk outside, stand in the yard, inhale deeply and smell the scent of so many different blossoms.

These little pear trees line every street in my neighborhood. Last week they were at their blossoming peak. I took a walk with a friend at like 2 in the morning and everything looked magical. I love spring.

Oh my giddygod's trousers, I cannot wait for summer. Today looks like it will be a lovely day. It's sunny and the skies are blue. It's almost 60 degrees now, so maybe I'll be able to sit outside and read in the afternoon. So what do you guys think about Splash of Grenadine? Are you planning on picking it up with the rest of the Resort collection? Will you skip it? Is anyone else completely aching for summertime? This winter has seemed so long...