Once Upon A Polish Scuttle - Review, Photos, Swatches

I have another indie brand for you today! Once Upon a Polish offers unique colors inspired by fairy tales.  The first shade I tried of the order I placed was Scuttle, named after the seagull from Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'. (I am reminded of the cute little scene where Scuttle tries to check an unconscious Eric's pulse by pressing Eric's foot to his ear!) Scuttle is a light gray jelly with black and white multi-sized hexagonal glitter. Lovely. 

Three Coats

Two coats over one coat Zoya Dove

Macro!

Obviously I can offer nothing but the highest praise for Scuttle. Such a classic, chic combination (black, gray, white) that stays fun and youthful with the addition of glitter. I kept this manicure on for a full week, which is astounding considering how many polishes I own! Further proof that Scuttle is absolute love and gorgeousness. You should scuttle on over (see what I did there? 8D) to the Once Upon a Polish's Etsy shop and check out the current offerings!

July 2012 Allure Beauty Bar Sample Society Box - Review, Photos, Swatches

I love the concept of monthly beauty packages, mostly for the surprise element and not out of any particular need to test products to fill holes in my daily routine (I'm happy with my regular products, but always willing to give new samples a shot!). Embarrassingly enough, my current subscription number stands at 5! In an attempt to streamline and cut out unnecessary/uninspiring/not cost-effective subscriptions, I'm hoping to review some of my monthly boxes.

Today I have July's Allure Beauty Bar Sample Society box, which arrived at my doorstep this past Friday!

Clockwise from top: Vincent Longo Duo Lip Pencil in Sangria and White Glimmer, Sisley Paris Intense Anti-Aging Hydration, Borghese Body Creme, jouer Illuminizing Moisture Tint in Pearl

The packaging is a sleek black heavy cardboard, with the samples nestled in standard black crinkly paper shreds. Also included but not pictured is a booklet of beauty tips and tricks. These are actually pretty neat as they aren't specific to the products in the box, so you can carry the tips to your own stash. The downside is that there is no written list of products in the box; while many of the samples are self-explanatory, it would perhaps be useful to have a description of the Sisley cream (is it undereye? Is it for your face?).

Swatches of the lip liner and jouer tint:

L to R: Lip liner in White Glimmer, Sangria; jouer tint in Pearl blended out

The lip liner seems nice - it applied smoothly with no tugging and was quite pigmented. I don't often wear lip liners but I'll gladly keep this in my stash for a special night out, and from what I know Vincent Longo is a solid brand. The jouer tint is a pretty good match for my skin tone and, as a bonus, has SPF 20. I love the fresh, glowy tinge it has to it, and I'm excited to try it out! I'll probably keep the Borghese cream in my bag or at work, and I'm sure I'll eventually use it up - I love getting these travel-sized moisturizers to keep around. The Sisley anti-aging cream I'm not too interested in and will most likely give to my mother. Still, a decent variety of samples were included in this box.

Also included is a $15 off gift code when you spend at least $50 on the Beauty Bar website, BUT you have to be purchasing at least one item from one of the BRANDS in your box (it doesn't have to be exact item in your box, though).

Here is a list of this month's products, along with size and value:
Sisley Paris Hydra-Global Intense Anti-Aging Hydration: Full-size 1.4 oz. sells for $250.00; the sample contains 0.14 oz, making it worth $25.00.

Vincent Longo Duo Lip Pencil in Sangria and White Glimmer: This is a full-size product at 0.06 oz., which retails for $26.00.

Borghese Tono Body Creme: Full size is 7 oz. and retails for about $46.50. The sample is 1 oz. and worth $6.64.

jouer Illuminizing moisture tint in Pearl: The full size is 1.7 oz. at $38.00. The sample is 0.17 oz., which is worth $3.80.

Total value: $61.44

This is a pretty good selection and value for the $15 per month cost. I'm trying to get rid of some of my subscriptions, however, and while this Allure box is good, I'm not wholly convinced to subscribe long term. I will probably give this box another two months before making any decisions, but I don't regret my purchase and will definitely try most of the samples I received!

The Allure Beauty Bar Sample Society box costs $15 per month and may be purchased here.

What do you think? Have you gone subscription box crazy like I have?

Fanservice Nails Happy Frog - Photos, Swatches, Review

Lately I've been eating up indie nail polishes like they're the best chocolate cake ever and, in some ways, they are! Indie companies frequently feature fun and sparkly colors that are hard to dupe. Because of the relatively small quantities made and relative unfamiliarity among the public when compared with the major drug store brands, you can be quite certain that what you purchase will be a unique color among your friends and consequently a major source of polish envy :P

Most recently, I have bought a few shades from Fanservice Nails, an indie brand that can be purchased here on Etsy. I couldn't have asked for a smoother transaction, and got some lovely colors to boot. Here is Happy Frog, a pale grass green creme with green and holographic glitter. 

Pretty, no? I used three coats for the swatches above and it came out perfectly. A topcoat would have smoothed out the roughness, but it's still not very noticeable at all. I can't wait to show you more of Fanservice Nails' polishes! I can guarantee that they are at least as beautiful ;)

Fourth of July Manicure (Oh, and I'm back!)

Back from a hiatus! Thanks for your patience - Life took a hectic turn a couple months back, but I feel I'm in the position to get back to providing you with all things pretty and shiny (hopefully!). Let's kick things off with my Fourth of July manicure:

It's looking rough because A.  it's nearly a week old, and B. I put my hands through the grinder (figuratively) daily at work and because of rock climbing. The accent nail is one coat of Zoya's Delilah under two coats of Julep's America, a gorgeously patriotic red, blue, and silver glitter. The rest of my nails feature nail wraps from Incoco. They are super easy to apply and I've experienced them lasting two weeks with minimal wear.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday!

Revlon Colorstay Nail Enamel in Provence, Rain Forest - Swatches, Photos, Review

Back, after a short hiatus! As a sign of my remorse I offer you a couple of Revlon's new nail polishes! I've seen the shiny, new displays front and center at every every every drugstore, and there's only so much temptation a girl-who-is-somewhat-really-obsessed-with-makeup can take before yielding.

This is Provence, a dusty, pale lavender gray creme. Reminds me of sailing on a murky, breezy summer afternoon, just before a thunderstorm. Not all that unique, but a pleasant color nonetheless. I used two coats.

Rainforest, a dark forest green jelly with glitter. Two coats.

What do you think? Have you too been tempted by these new Revlon lacquers? The formula was solid and smooth, with no notable issues. Unfortunately I've not worn a full manicure with this polish so I can't attest to the wear time. Overall, while nothing outlandishly revolutionary, you can find many decent classic shades in this new Revlon repertoire to fill the gaps in your collection (and Rain Forest is truly gorgeous!). They are available at drugstores for $7.99 each.

Coastal Scents Winterberry Palette - Review, Swatches, Photos

  I love Coastal Scents' Winterberry palette! Despite the name, some of the colors are subdued and pastel-y enough to be wonderfully suitable for the upcoming Spring season.

L to R, Top to Bottom

Coastal Scents continues to impress me with the quality of their very reasonably priced shadows! These shades are soft, workable, and pigmented (as you can see), all featuring a shimmery, frosty finish (as you can see). I've posted enough about this brand and there's nothing notably different about this palette's formula, so I'll leave you with a quick Winterberry look -

This lovely little set is available at the Coastal Scents site for $19.95, though it's frequently on sale.

NOTD - Illamasqua Scarab Photos, Swatches

I haven't posted a Nail of the Day in quite a while! Confession - this isn't a nail of today, but a nail of a day from a day a few weeks ago (got it? 8D). My nails are currently in polish rehab until I can get the cracks to grow out. It's a struggle not to reach for a cute, shiny color to swipe over my tips, but we do have a 'placebo' (aka nail strengthener) and are doing alright as it is ;)

In any case, here is Illamasqua's Scarab, a goooorgeous ruby red shimmer. It has that dark, rusty undertone of dried blood, if someone (rather psychotically) added a sprinkling of fine glitter and gloss to it -

The formula is excellent, as is on par for the brand. Pictured is day four after application, so you can see tip-wear, but the manicure lasted a good week before it warranted removal. Nothing else to say, really, other than that I whole-heartedly recommend Scarab if you are looking for a lusty, vampy red! It is available at Sephora for $14.

What do you think?