Manicure Monday

My friends and I came up with New Year's Resolutions for each other, ranging from the absurd (A has to pet 365 dogs) to the pragmatic (T has to cook using an ingredient new to her at least once a week). The boy has to leave a review for a game before he can purchase any more (his Steam account is just ridiculously overstocked), and I have to wear all my polishes (not just new ones!) before I can repeat any, though I am allowed to re-wear things so long as the manicure contains at least one polish I haven't yet worn. So y'all will be seeing some polishes I've featured before, as well as some new and exciting ones, and I'm hoping the exercise will result in a sleeker, better polish collection.

Essie On a Silver Platter* and Sephora+Pantone Rose Dawn
My NYE mani was a great way to start the year. I layered Essie On a Silver Platter (my Christmas gift from Z!) over Sephora+Pantone Rose Dawn (one coater! which I could have sworn I'd reviewed, but apparently not...). The contrast of warm rose under the blue holo hexes and gold shimmer was really, really pretty (and actually reminded me of the guest post Z did for my birthday!). I would totally re-wear this if I could, but alas, it will have to wait. Also, I was going through a rebellious phase and didn't want to photograph with a real camera, so you get crappy phone pictures.

in sunlight

NYX Cream Blush in Hot Pink Quick Review and Swatches

The boy and I stopped off at the Ulta in Salem to pick up a few presents (and because I can't drive near an Ulta and not stop––the nearest one is more than an hour away, and if I happen to be there, you better believe I'm going in) and I decided I could use a cream blush, based on my positive experience with the Beach Tints. I wanted something different from my other blushes, so I decided on NYX Hot Pink, which is the most unoriginally named blush in the history of ever. At least it's accurate, though!

NYX Hot Pink, after a few uses

NYX HD Concealer Wand in Fair 02 Review and Swatches

Alright, I've had this for a couple months now and I should really review it, but it's concealer and therefore boring, so I'm going to take the lazy girl's route and not bother with structure. Here's the rubric, with comments as needed (ended up being rather plentiful, surprise surprise).

NYX Bronzer and Blusher in Marbella Review and Swatches

I'm going on 2 weeks of this goddamned stupid horrible plague (finally started antibiotics, though, so fingers crossed I feel a bajillion times better by class on Tuesday) and I do not feel like being smart or witty or coherent. But I do want to share swatches with you, so here's a super lazy and incompetent post. Enjoy?

NYX Blush in Taupe Review and Swatches

I wrote awhile back about how I was wanting to enter the world of contouring, and Makeup Morsels suggested NYX Taupe as a good choice for pale complected folk like myself. As a bonus, it was a mere $6.25 on eBay, including shipping, so even if it hadn't worked out, it wouldn't have been too much of a problem. Fortunately, it works great!

NYX Taupe

30 Days Makeup Challenge: Day 7

For a summary of this series, see here!

What is your favorite eyeshadow color?
Well this is a no-brainer: TAUPE! I love how versatile and wide-ranging it is. Below are most of the taupes in my collection (all the ones that I wear or have recently acquired).

Left to right: Fyrinnae Arcane Magic Evocation, Fyrinnae Platinum, Fyrinnae Koala, L'Oreal Bronzed Taupe, Maybelline Bad to the Bronze, NYX Iced Mocha, theBalm Insane Jane

Platinum isn't really taupe at all, but let's just say I included it for comparison purposes, mk? Evocation and Koala are both the darkest and coolest, while Iced Mocha is the lightest and most gold and Bad to the Bronze the reddest. Bronzed Taupe is, in my opinion, the most versatile, flattering shade in my collection of taupes, and I love the texture, so if you don't have many taupes in your collection (and really, who ever has enough taupes?), I definitely recommend checking it out. I've got a couple of high end taupe shadows on my wish list (Le Métier de Beauté Corinthian and Chantecaille Sel), and I'm planning on picking up at least one of them when I'm in New York; I'd love to get both, but at $30 apiece, I really can't afford to!

Oh, taupe, you've ruined me for all other neutrals.

What's your favorite eyeshadow color? Do you share my fondness for taupe, or do you prefer brighter colors?

NYX Gold Glitter Salon Formula Nail Polish Review and Swatches

I have had this polish for months, but haven't written a review of it and figured I probably should so I can get rid of the folder that holds pictures of it! Also, Cherry Culture is having a 20% off sale through tomorrow, so if you're wanting to pick up any NYX products, this is the time! I have previously reviewed another Salon polish from NYX, Maroon (also very belated, but still a couple months ahead of this one!), which I love, and I'm seriously excited for my new polishes to arrive (3 from the Salon line, 3 from the Girls line, and a couple from another brand––it may sound like I have no impulse control, but that is a majorly pared-down assortment!).

Gold Glitter, image via NYX (because yes, I am actually too lazy to go take a picture of mine; bad blogger!)

NYX Maroon Nail Polish Review and Swatches

I thought I'd reviewed this already, but going through my photos stash, I realized I hadn't! Whoopsy daisy, my bad. Better late than never! Especially since this is a permanent shade.

2 coats NYX Maroon, no top coat

NYX Black Label Lipstick in Socialite Review and Swatches

I have a confession: I am a bit lipstick-obsessed. I didn't realize how extensive my collection's become until I collected it (almost) all together to compare shades, and there were, like, 20. Oops. They're just so fun! This is one of my more recent acquisitions, as I picked it up during Cherry Culture's 40% off NYX sale a few weeks ago. I've been hearing raves about NYX's BLL line for ages, and figured this was my chance to try them out. The main problem I had was deciding what color to get, since there's no place that sells NYX near me, and with close to 100 colors, you can't find swatches of everything online. I did a lot of Google searching, and ended up deciding on Socialite, hoping it would be a nice, cool berry-red. That, it is not, but I like it nonetheless.

NYX Black Label Lipstick in Socialite

NYX Eye Shadow Base in Skin Tone Review and Swatches

When Cherry Culture was having their 40% off sale, I decided to finally pick up the NYX Eye Shadow Base. I usually use elf's primer (or, more often than that, nothing at all), but figured I should try branching out and seeing what else is out there. Temptalia reviewed it awhile back, and gave it high marks, so the lower price just sealed the deal. I've used it a few times since I got it, and let's just say: it's worse than worthless for me.

NYX Eye Shadow Base in Skin Tone

NYX Girls Nail Polish in Carnival Review and Swatches

Deborah Lippmann makes a polish called Happy Birthday. It is really, really glittertastic. It's got a mix of all kinds of colors, shapes, and sizes of glitter (Scrangie described it as "clown puke", though in a good way) in a clear base, but it's $18 and therefore out of my price range. Fortunately, there's a ton and a half of cheaper dupes or near-dupes, one of which is the topic of this post: a NYX Girls polish called Carnival.

NYX Girls Carnival

NYX Girls Nail Polish in Spot Light Review and Swatches (WARNING: SO UNBELIEVABLY PIC HEAVY IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY)

This is the last thing I picked up when I was in New York and had access to NYX makeup.  It was $1.50, and it looked so awesome in the bottle that I couldn't resist getting it (didn't even really try, honestly).  It looked like a rainbow-filled glittery miasma of glory.  I'm happy to report it looks just as awesome on my nails.  Like, I'm planning on wearing it indefinitely because it's just so awesome.  Bored in class?  Just look at my nails.  Feeling stressed?  Check out how my nails sparkle!  Feeling sad?  But my polish changes colors!  Seriously, unbelievably awesome.  Possibly the best purchase I have ever made (excepting food, of course).  I wore it over Sonia Kashuk Blank Slate (which I'll be reviewing soon); the first day with just one coat of glitter, and the second day I added another.  I liked it best with 2 coats, because the level of sparkly glowage was just unbelievable, but 1 coat was plenty to see the effect, and less gaudy for those sensitive to such things.  Now then, brace yourselves for a deluge of pics (and enlarge them for a better view of the sparkle!)...

Bottle in the sunlight, out of focus to show the crazy sparklies

And even in focus you can see how shiny it is!

The only shot I managed to get of it in the sunlight, when I stuck my hand out of the window in my office during a brief window (bahaha) of sunshine

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yogurt Review and Swatches

The second eye product I bought when in New York is the ever-hyped Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yogurt, touted as a great cream shadow on its own, and an equally great base for other shadows.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yogurt

NYX Eyeshadow in Iced Mocha Review and Swatches

One of the NYX items I picked up while I was in New York was this eyeshadow, Iced Mocha.  It's reputed to be a dupe for MAC's Satin Taupe, and I've been hearing about it for ages, so I decided it was worth the $5.50 to try.  I've used it several times since purchasing (and before photographing, so it's not in pristine condition!), and I'm liking it!

Iced Mocha (I keep wanting to type Satin Taupe...)