Nail Polish

June 13, 2013

June 2013 Birchbox vs Ipsy Glambag

Posted in Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

My Birchbox unboxing AND my Ipsy unbagging in the video below along with some swatches and commentary. AKA June 2013 Birchbox vs Ipsy Glambag:

My June 2013 Birchbox:

Davines 3-Step System – Davines Love Smoothing Shampoo, Davines Love Smoothing Conditioner, Davines OI/ OIL. dimethicone… 0/5 stars
Mirenesse Glossy Kiss in “Quick Kiss” – the color was growing on me and at first glance I thought that the ingredient list looked ok. Not super healthy but not super toxic. What I missed was that they include fragrance AND dimethicone. The dimethicone is a deal breaker for me personally. And it’s a gorgeous color.Argh. Cosmetics database custom report has it about a 4. Since I had already swatched on my hand, I tried on my lips just because I was curious about the color. I think it might be a little hard to wear but I do think it might have certain occassions that it would be nice to have that extra pop. Then I washed my face intensely and I’m hoping that a limited test isn’t going to cause cystic pimples anywhere near my mouth. I was thinking of the Laqa & Co Lil’ Lip Duo when I was doing the video so I’m frustrated I didn’t get this product. 0/5 stars for the Mirenesse (would have been a 5 star if it had been without dimethicone and fragrance … or if it had been the other product.)
Color Club Wanderlust Collection – I received “Pardon My French” which is a nice lavendar but I was hoping for “Reign in Spain” because I have a thing for corals. My problem with this isn’t that I have to buy the nail polish color I want, it’s that they don’t have full size bottles and you can only buy the set. Since you already have one of the colors, then you’re buying a second of that color no matter what you got in your box. The purple is a good enough color to have as a mini but I don’t need two and I really wish that they offered these as full sized individual bottles instead of the collection. I will probably buy the collection though at $8 and free shipping, so whatever. 3/5 stars (I’m just not a big purple fan plus my comments about the collection above and no full size products even available. For purple it’s an excellent shade and always love the Color Club polishes.)
Oscar de la Renta Something Blue – synthetic fragrance. They now have a new check box for “don’t send me more than 6 fragrances a year” but I really wish I could make that setting “don’t ever send me fragrances” …. maybe with the additional of “I’m allergic to half of them and I don’t want to use the other half and this is such a waste. One even gave me a headache just from opening the box so please stop sending perfume already.” Sigh. Just know, unless it’s natural / organic and it doesn’t give me a headache (which does exist, just rare) I’m not going to give a fragrance a positive review. 0/5 stars

My June 2013 Ipsy Glambag:

Starlooks Lip Pencil in “Bare” – I had high hopes for this one. However the color made me unsure if it was meant to be a lip liner or a light eyeliner (though lip liner makes more sense …) Nothing jumped out as obviously bad ingredients that I could identify. No dimethicone, no frangrance, no parabens. But the custom report, it ended up a 6. (pdf linked on this one.) 0/5 stars
J.Cat Beauty Eyelash + Eyelash Glue – even the glue on this isn’t bad for you. I may cut these apart into individual lashes instead of trying to use the full strip but I’m happy enough with these. Until you get into some really specific eyelashes, those in the under $8 price point are all fairly decent and your biggest factor is lash style / cut. Latex free glue. And these are human hair … ok so a little higher quality than your average drugstore lashes but also a little creepy in that sense. Cruelty free (not tested on animals.) I don’t wear false lashes maybe more than … once every three years but I will be using these for an upcoming special event probably fairly soon. 5/5 stars
Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil – AWESOME no cones. Turns up a 3 in a custom report. Talc is the worst ingredient and in this case I’ll forgive it since it’s not going to go on my eyelids (where talc tends to crease) and it’s not filler reducing impact of some other pigment. I love this in the inside corner of my eye and this looks perfect and natural. No shimmer so it can be used easily and I wonder if it might make a good concealing pencil as a result as well. 5/5 stars
J.Cat Beauty Sparkling Cream Palette – this is categorized under “body glitter” instead of eyeshadow. It’s a chunky glitter so this makes more sense. No, just no for so many reasons. Plus there are the ingredients which aren’t good as well. Kind of on par with petroleum jelly mixed with glitter. It even says “This product should be used on the body and not on the eye area.” I’m not sure what they were thinking. Halloween? Rave? 8 year old girls? I don’t know and this just really doesn’t seem like a great fit for an ipsy bag even ignoring the ingredients for a minute. Yes it’s wild but… Might have made more sense it to be sent out in October just for the Halloween reason. 0/5 stars
NYX Blush in “Pecan” – awesome bronzer shade but there’s dimethicone and talc so I won’t be using it. I haven’t swatched this but I suspect the color is excellent for a beachy summer look. 0/5 stars

I also just realized that people were commenting below the products on ipsy (linked to in the glamroom) if they wanted to trade. OR there’s also http://mygl.am/glammieswapforum (though the other seems more efficient… or makeupalley would also work better than the facebook page.)

And I’m happy with the leopard bag with the neon zipper. I’ve been leaving the chevron bag in my swim bag recently just to throw my jewelry in so it’s not lost at the bottom of the bigger bag. I’ll probably find a use for this one too.

So there you have it … another mildly disappointing month with Birchbox and a good month with Ipsy. I think I wouldn’t even be saying this if I had received the Reign in Spain polish and the other lip gloss Birchbox had promoted on facebook. Actually I’d probably have been happy with just the other shade of nail polish just because the swatches I saw of it looked like a nice bright fun summer color. The creamy shade is one that I already own something similar and the green … meh, not as versatile. Actually the purple I already own something similar to as well just the that Color Club purple is just a hint better actually.

Swatches of some of the products from these boxes:

May 14, 2013

May Ipsy 2013 – unboxing … (unbagging?)

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Subscription boxes

In my May Ipsy Bag – (a cute chevron makeup bag!):

yaby concealer refills in Buff
Zoya Nail Polish in Jacqueline
Pacifica Roll On Perfume in Tahitian Gardenia
Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Pink
Nume Finishing Serum
BONUS – Urban Decay Moondust in Zodiac

My May Ipsy Glamroom:

My May Ipsy bag items in more detail review:

yaby concealer refills in Buff – well the color looks like it’s the correct shade but with cyclomethicone (cones!) and talc I’m not really interested in it. Mostly the cones keeping me away (yeah, I’m sure if you read regularly, my comment about cones causing breakouts for me has become annoying.) It however ranks a low 3 with cosmetics database which was surprising and a pro for it. 0/5 stars

Zoya Nail Polish in Jacqueline – love zoya. This is “5-free” and the shade is quite surprising. I wasn’t sure I liked it at first but after I put it on it grew on me quickly. It’s not a shade I would have chosen but I really like it. It’s very opaque and it’s almost a very subtle ivory-ish eggshell shade. It’s hard to describe and it’s also hard to get a great idea from pictures. It’s elegant and I think it will be a versatile shade. 5/5 stars

Pacifica Roll On Perfume in Tahitian Gardenia – I already own this and I love it. I don’t mind getting a second one! Love love love this company because they are one of the few that makes wonderful natural perfumes that don’t make you smell like a hippie and aren’t over the top expensive. No they aren’t drugstore cheap but they are worth every penny. I keep meaning to do a post on the scents I have bought from them. The roll on bottles are great for travel. The Tahitian Gardenia is a rich soft scent – not light, more deep and calming. Floral notes but not teen girl and surprisingly even though I have a hard time with some florals (even natural) this one seems to get along with my sinuses. It does have a vintage-ness to it. Older, more sophisticated. 5/5 stars

Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Pink – ANOTHER winner. I double checked the ingredients just in case but this is perfect. No dimethicone, all natural organic. Nice subtle color with that touch of pink and shimmer. Not glittery. It’s a little lighter and a little more neutral than some of the other pinks I’ve bought lately. I think this would work well with a variety of skin tones. It’s is maybe a teensy little oily feeling but it feels like it stays and nourishes your lips. I still like the zuzu luxe and burt’s bees just a little better particularly since they have a wider range of colors but I almost feel like this will be my go to lip gloss in winter. 5/5 stars

Nume Finishing Serum – fail (for me at least.) It’s only a 3 with cosmetics database (mostly due to “fragrance” being an 8 on it’s own) but “DIMETHICONOL” is basically another cone in disguise. :/ If you don’t mind cones, I suspect this will tame flyaways and be excellent against humidity, just feels like it would do what is says it will. Also even if I didn’t break out I would still likely avoid regular use because cones aren’t good for hair either over time. (I swear I’m going to do a longer post about ‘cones’ soon and just link to it instead of repeating myself so much.) 0/5 stars

BONUS Urban Decay Moondust in Zodiac – This was apparently a bonus item for ipsy community members who are content creators (who knew!) You know how I feel about dimethicone however. BUT the shiny shimmery uniqueness has me intrigued. Since it’s eyeshadow and I don’t think I’ve ever broken out close to my eyes (and hopefully this won’t be a shade that migrates) I’m thinking about giving this one a go. It’s such an awesome shade. 3/5 stars … I really can’t make up my mind on this one.

At $20 a pop (and I did receive a full size sample) this is possibly the most expensive eyeshadow I’ve owned in awhile. Since I only got one color and was curious about the other colors (and to see if swatches would help me make a decision on the dimethicone breakout risk issue.) I came across this excellent video that shows the different shades and swatches. It kinda makes me want Space Cowboy. I’m about 90% likely to give this one a shot… we’ll see. If I do use it I’ll post some photos of it on and swatched.

May Ipsy Bag total score:

3/5 stars overall. But I REALLY REALLY liked several of the items in my May Ipsy bag. And should I start counting the bag? I don’t really use the bags but this one was really cute. I might have a thing for chevron lately though.

Oh and I almost forgot – the Nume Coupon Code:

I should upload the unbagging video I did soon. There was also a coupon code on a card for numeproducts.com/shop

I was thinking that their styling products were going to be super super expensive if they were offering a $110 discount and a free heat protector. I was right. However there was one hair straightener, the mini, that would have been cheap with the discount but it said it was backordered. I decided to give it a try. … It won’t let you backorder it. When I clicked checkout I just kept being brought back to the checkout page with a warning at the top that the item was out of stock. Can’t order something that’s out of stock even if you’re willing to wait for it. Which makes the other products that the coupon code qualifies for STILL over $45. :/

Has anyone tried their styling tools? I haven’t looked for reviews yet. I’d want mega reviews before I forked over the amount of money (even WITH a discount) that they are asking for their styling tools. I think the most expensive styling tool I’ve ever bought was … $60?

May 3, 2013

SinfulShine Picante swatch from SinfulColors & comparison

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Nail Polish

My video probably illustrates the color comparison “Picante” of Sinful Colors new Sinful Shine line to the other colors I have. I didn’t really mean to buy something so similar to other nail polishes I own.

Picante IS a high shine gloss nail polish but I’m not sure yet if I’m sold on this line of SinfulShine polishes. The colors are amazing and they ARE glossy but I had an issue with my first application getting fabric texture from my sheets on them after waiting over an hour and a half before going to bed. You can see it in some of these swatches below but again you can probably see it best in the video above.

Some more photos of the other shade available from the Sinful Shine (or is that “Sinfulshine”) line of polishes by Sinful Colors:

Colors I think I’m tempted to buy:

Most Sinful – an incredibly vibrant electric blue unlike any other blue I’ve ever seen.
My Kryptonite – a deep teal. I’ve seen a couple of other brands with similar shades but not many this deep.
Royal Flush – a raspberry magenta color that matches several shirts I own
In the Limelight – not exactly lime and not exactly kelly green. I’m loving greens but I don’t end up wearing them much – they seem kinda awkward on my fingernails.
There are a couple of pinks that are interesting but several of them are so similar, like “Tan Lines” and “Sailor’s Delight”, that it’s hard to choose.

Have you bought any of these and what are your thoughts? Did I have a freak application that ended up textured by my sheets?

April 24, 2013

Zoya Nail Polish Earth Day Exchange 2013 -Through Friday April 26 2013

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Nail Polish

Zoya Earth Day Exchange 2013 Clean out your nail polish wardrobe and get rid of old nail polish that may not be BIG5FREE (Free of Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, Toluene, DBP and Camphor) trade in exchange for ZOYA Nail Polish!

The code on the site actually gets you a 50% discount. Link below the video for full details.

http://www.zoya.com/content/38/category/Earth-Day-Nail-Polish-Exchange-Zoya.html

April 12, 2013

Ipsy bag April 2013 – product overview & review

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Subscription boxes

April’s Ipsy bag is “Pretty in Pink”

So let’s just start off by saying there are some excellent things in this bag but I don’t buy a lot of pink eyeshadows and I have a natural pink to my cheeks so I opt for bronzer over blush. That said, I’m going to judge based on ingredients moreso than color this go round.

In my bag:

MicaBeauty Mineral Eye Shadow – mica and no bad stuff. Excited to try this though pink isn’t something I jump up and down over most of the time. First I’ve heard of this brand though so I’ll be checking out their other products. I actually like the color as well. It’s got some sparkle to it but it’s not overkill either.
Sexy Hair Soy Renewal – nope … soy and I don’t get along and if that weren’t bad enough it has dimethicone as an ingredient. Moving on.
Miss Professional Nail Sation Nail Lacquer – this is a 3-free brand. Three free means no: dibutyl phthalate, toluene, or formaldehyde. I got the “Love At First Byte” color and it was the color I wanted of the two they shipped but the shade doesn’t wow me. I thought it was a dup to Zoya’s Lulu at first but it’s just very similar only a little darker. It’s very similar to my skin tone. Two coats shown in the Love at First Byte swatch below. I’ll update later with how long this lasted before chipping.
Be A Bombshell Blush – I checked out the ingredients …. talc and mineral oil…. I didn’t even read any further, it’s also bright bright pink so this is not for me.

In the glamroom but NOT my bag:

Sexy Hair Powder Play – this scored a 1 when doing a custom report with the cosmetics database. No dimethicone and I WAS really excited to try this!! BUT it’s NOT in my bag!! This was the item I wanted the MOST. More about this in a minute.
Two Cosmetics Duo Eye Shadow – first ingredient is talc and the last is “synthetic” something … usually means the eyeshadow isn’t going to be that great and will crease as the day wears on. So this product is not for me.

Overall I’m good with the bag. It was love it or hate it but I found out about some new to me brands and this bag also showed me that SOME of the Big Sexy Hair products could be good and acceptable ingredients-wise (though some of their products are also not going to touch my head.)

Now here’s where I’m REALLY annoyed – Sexy Hair’s Powder Play: It’s that whole “other people got it but I didn’t” thing. The product I wanted to TRY the most, I didn’t get. I tried using the sexy hair store locator on their website but I couldn’t get it to select the state from my iphone!!!!! I wanted it enough that I decided to hit all of the drugstores on the way home from the mail (business mailbox) because I knew I had seen the product lines those places.

WORSE:
I tried Rite Aide, I tried CVS, I tried Walgreens, I tried Target, I tried Meijer. I’m not kidding.

I could not find the Sexy Hair “Powder Play” any of these places. So … back home I check online and the one place I forgot was Ulta. So I’ll try there soon. If I don’t find it there, I’ll buy it on amazon.com (Ipsy’s $5 off of $25 purchase of the product from the ulta site isn’t a “deal” when you have to pay shipping… plus spend more money.)

Almost forgot. A discount code to GenBeauty in LA. The fact that it’s in LA I won’t be attending but the coupon code can be used by multiple people so I thought I would post it:

And the unboxing video (this time I remembered the tripod! But my angles are a little off):

If you like what you see, don’t forget to pin it or share the link!

Tweetable! http://clicktotweet.com/3e20d
Click the tweetable link to share this blog post quickly on twitter.
There is a preview so you can make alterations before it posts.

April 7, 2013

Has anyone tried…
Sally Hansen Salon Insta-Gel Strips ?
Or SensatioNail Gel Polish ?

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Nail Polish

Has anyone tried the Sally Hansen Salon Insta-Gel Strips or the SensatioNail Gel Polish? I saw both starter kits at Walgreens the other day.

I’ve heard good things about gel polishes but this seems to be taking things a little too far for me. While the Sally kit was around $30 or they have these mega kits with ten applications for around $60. Seems like a hefty investment when I thought part of the point of doing your nails at home was to cut your costs. Yes, you do get multiple application out of one kit but still…

What are your thoughts? Has anyone tried these? And do they really last two weeks?

If you like what you see, don’t forget to pin it or share the link!

Tweetable! http://clicktotweet.com/8HN0U
Click the tweetable link to share this blog post quickly on twitter.
There is a preview so you can make alterations before it posts.