For the Lazy and/or Layerer: Eyeshadow Sticks

The "My Collection" page on the blog is about half unreviewed products, so I'm going to make a concerted effort to try and talk about some pretty things! I've culled my stash several times over the past year, getting rid of things that no longer work or that don't get the love they deserve, and at this point, I'm pretty happy. I think I've still got a couple purging cycles left (and don't even get me started on my closet), but the effort of trying to decide what to discard is more than I feel like putting forth right now!

I have a zillion "new" lippies (some of which I've had more than a year, hence the scare quotes) and I don't really know where to start, so instead, I'm going to talk about cream eyeshadow! Yay! Eyeshadow!

Clockwise from top left: Laura Mercier Sugar Frost*, Mally Champagne,
Rimmel Bulletproof Beige*, Laura Mercier Rose Gold*, Laura Mercier Khaki,
Laura Mercier Pink Opal*, Boots No7 Cool Mink, BECCA Romanticism*,
Sephora+Pantone Tuscany

I've found that I really adore eyeshadow sticks (it's like drawing on yourself!), and between the generosity of friends and some fortuitous sales, my stash has grown considerably. I now own 7, plus two liquid eyeshadows, which, while slightly less convenient, serve a similar purpose: they work great as quick washes or as bases underneath powder (the "lazy" and "layerer" from the title, respectively).

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Khaki Review and Swatches

I am almost always late in the morning, because I always want that extra few minutes of sleep and tell myself I'll be speedy enough to make up for it. It's rarely true. In an effort to remedy this (while still getting those precious snoozes, of course), I've been trying to streamline my beauty routine. 

If I were extraordinarily efficient, I could do my whole beauty routine in 15 minutes, but I am not, so it usually takes about 25-30. Eye makeup is often a time eater, since applying/blending eyeshadow can be a challenge when tired and mostly blind, so I decided to cave and finally try one of the Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks in the hopes it could be a swipe-and-go kind of product.* I chose Khaki, wanting a versatile but not boring neutral, and owning too many (purpley) taupes to justify Amethyst.

a rather uninspiring picture of the unused product

Manicure Monday

GUYS! I DID IT! I finally finished wearing every single one of my polishes. It would have happened sooner if I could have stopped myself from picking up new ones, but...whatever. New Year's resolution DEFEATED. Boom.

This is a pretty massive post, so I'm going to try and keep it short(ish) and sweet(ish). I got gradually less successful at being brief over time...

Sally Hansen Rosy Outlook with Wet N Wild Waves of Enchantment, taped

WoE is sheer, but it's really pretty layered over Rosy Outlook.

Manicure Monday

Hi, y'all! Sorry I've been so MIA (I mean, even more than usual). I'll ease into posting again with a new Manicure Monday––it's been more than 2 months since my last one (wtfffff), but I've been trucking along with my NY resolution. It might go faster if I stopped buying new polishes, but...well, I'm only (a nail polish addicted) human. This isn't everything I've worn, but I'll include the rest in my next MM :)

Color Club Eternal Beauty

This is a polish I haven't already posted, in spite of having had it for, like, a year. It was part of the set gifted to me by the lovely Amanda! All the CC holos are super holographic and incredibly pigmented (this was one coat!), and really fast to dry. Unfortunately, it doesn't get along with uneven nails, and chipped on my middle fingers (both of which had lost the upper layer of nail on the tip). It's real pretty, though, and good for days I don't have much time to devote to my nails. I also want to use it with others from the line in nail art! Rainbowy holo goodness.

L'Oreal Infallible Gilded Envy and Infinite Sky Review and Swatches

I picked these up a while back when Rite Aid had 40% off L'Oreal and I felt like injecting some new sparkle to my eye collection. I love Bronzed Taupe, though I don't find the Infallible formula to be ironclad like others do, but I always wear eyeshadow primer anyways, so whatever. Gilded Envy and Infinite Sky are both very different from anything else in my stash, at least!

Gilded Envy is a crazy pewter-olive-grey-sage-whatthefuck glittery reflective pile of amazing.

macros r us

Manicure Monday

Still truckin' along with my NY resolution! Here's some of what's been on my tips the past couple weeks.

a england St. George

Amazed I haven't reviewed this already! It's a gorgeous dark teal with subtle holo, opaque in one coat. I remember disliking the a england brush, but it was fine this time (except for my ring fingers, which both ended up with polish on the cuticle, how annoying!). I wasn't going to photograph it because my nails are super short, due to one breaking, but then I discovered I haven't featured this polish yet, so I figured it's better to have stubby photos than none at all. Now I want to try Dragon again to see if maybe it will behave better than I remember...

Manicure Monday

Because it's still Monday in Oregon!

Ruby Wing Poppy with Cult Nails Alter Ego

This shot was taken after Poppy had started to change colors. I seriously wish all polishes were UV sensitive. Alter Ego, another DC Cult Nails polish (I only buy them when they're on sale, ha), gives an interesting antique gold shimmer overlay. I'm still experimenting to find what colors I like it layered over, but basically, sheer toppers = endless fun.

Manicure Monday

I finished winter term last Thursday (after writing some 4500 words in a 22-hour span, #likeaboss) and spent Friday catching up on rest, Saturday cleaning, and Sunday relaxing. As I write this on Sunday, I'm awaiting the boy's return home after more than a month in San Francisco, and I'm pretty psyched to see him (#understatement). We're going to the coast for a couple of days, and then I'm going to Portland for a couple of nights with my mother, so it may be a little bit until I'm back to a (somewhat) regular posting (and commenting) schedule. But here! Have some nail polish. It's very...green.

St. Patrick's Mani: Color Club Cactus and Cult Nails Two-Timer

My ex was (and, as far as I know, still is!) Irish-American and very into St. Patty's Day, so I have a bit of lingering resentment towards the holiday (through no fault of its own). Nevertheless, I decided to get into the holiday spirit with a very green manicure, featuring Color Club Cactus and Cult Nails Two-Timer, which I bought when it was on clearance for $3 (scoooooore). While it's kind of lumpy, and I'm not really sure why––I probably didn't give enough time between coats––it wore like iron; this photo was taken after 4 days. Which may not be all that impressive by some people's standards, but I was super thrilled! My right (dominant) hand looked almost as good, too. Cray.

Manicure Monday

Wow, it's been forever since I've done one of these. Which is silly, because I've been wearing nail polish pretty much constantly! So this is pretty mondo, sorry.

The boy's birthday was the 7th, so I asked him how he'd like me to do my nails. He requested an ombre from turquoise to dark blue; turns out I have enough polishes matching that description to make all 10 nails different! I used 12 polishes, most of which I hadn't yet worn this year, so it made a nice dent in my new year's resolution :)

rawr

Pinky to thumb, left hand: Sally Hansen New Wave Blue topped with Finger Paints Art You Wondering?; Wet N Wild Caribbean Frost; Zoya Wednesday topped with Golden Rose 52; Color Club Blue Heaven; Zoya Yummy

Manicure Monday

These reviews are all super wordy, so I'll skip the introduction.

Revlon Wintermint
This is one of the new scented polishes released by Revlon (they're permanent, no worries). I picked it up because I was just dying of curiosity as to whether it would be a dupe for my beloved Mermaid's Dream. It's not. In fact, I kind of hate Wintermint, even though they are really similar.

2 coats Wintermint on all except
pinky, which has 2 coats Mermaid's
Dream. All with 2 (or 3? damnit)
layers of top coat

Here's the deal: Wintermint's base is much thicker and more opaque than Mermaid's Dream, so it covers up the blue big glitters and gold little glitters in the base much more than in MD, and since there are less glitters to begin with in Wintermint, the end result is much more muted and less sparkletastic. And where MD dries uniformly bumpy, allowing all sorts of different layers of glitter to sparkle (and giving it a cool fish-scale effect, without the 3 coats of topcoat necessary to smooth it), Wintermint is lumpy and uneven from where the larger blue glitter pokes up.

Manicure Monday

Two more Turkish polishes for your viewing pleasure! I think there's only one left––I wore it, but neglected to photograph it, so you'll get to see that...eventually. But here's the ones I did snap!

Flormar Duo 2x Chrome DC05

There were a few polishes in this Flormar duochrome line, but this one was by far the most duochrome-y of them all, so it's the one I got. It is exactly the same color/shift (green-to-blue) as in China Glaze Unpredictable, but the formula is better––DC05 is opaque in 2 coats compared to Unpredictable's 3, and it's less prone to brushstrokes, though as a metallic, there are still some. It's pretty and fun, and it cost 4,49 TL, I think (about $2.25).

Urban Decay Deluxe Palette Quick Review and Swatches

I said I would review this once I had some EOTDs using it, but I have decided to just post this now since it's being discontinued but is still available at Sephora and Urban Decay and I don't know how long it will last. And I have one EOTD, which is something, I guess? (I know y'all stop by for some quality blogging, and I am clearly here to deliver...)

Sleek Original i-Divine Palette Review and Swatches

At some point in the last couple years (which was the last time I'd checked, ha), Sleek Makeup of the UK changed their shipping prices such that they're now insanely affordable for us here in the US, so I decided to order from them after finishing last term's finals. (Does anyone else find that stress –> makeup explosion? The past few weeks have definitely attested to that reality in my life, ha.) I wanted a ton of stuff, but managed to restrain myself to just this one palette, as I was wanting an injection of color into my eyeshadow collection. And color, this provides!

Inglot Freedom Palette Eyeshadow in 32, 352, 415, 428, 439 and Matte Eyeshadow Single in 391 Review and Swatches

When Inglot had their 20% off sale, I decided it was time to finally try out the brand. I spent days researching swatches and narrowing down my choices, and managed to convince L to split an order with me so we didn't have to pay for shipping, but when I went to place my order, the code was no longer working. My theory is that they were overwhelmed by the response, so they deactivated the code before they said they would, but I am a cynical person so take that with a grain of salt. However, when I tweeted them angrily, they told me to email their customer service, which I did, and a few days later I received a code for 30% off an order. Yay for additional savings, boo for delayed customer service response and hassle. Putting that tale of woe aside, though, here are my thoughts on the product itself.

Inglot 352, 32, 415, 428, 439, and 391

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream Nail Polish Review and Swatches

I finally got around to actually wearing this beauty on my fingers! Yay! (You can see my earlier non-review here.)

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

a england Dragon (from The Legends Collection) Nail Polish Review and Swatches

I'm, like, two months late to this party. Adina is the lovely creator of a england polish, which debuted with The Mythicals, a collection inspired by King Arthur in late 2010/early 2011 (this was before I got into polish hardcore) to much acclaim. Earlier this year she released another collection, called The Legends, inspired by the legend of Saint George. 6 out of 7 of the shades are holographic and 3 of those are duochrome, so needless to say, I was beyond excited to see swatches. I managed to restrain myself to just one choice, though I'm still dying to get St. George (awesomely glowy dark turquoise) and Bridal Veil (holographic black! aaah!), and Princess Tears (light pink-lavender with grey shift) and Ascalon (darker purple with grey shift) certainly call to me, too, especially given my fondness for lavender polish. But anyways! I ended up only getting Dragon because it seemed the awesomest of the awesome choices. And wow, how awesome it is.

2 coats Dragon

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream: A Non-Review

Alright, I haven't actually gotten the chance to swatch this yet (still going through my self-imposed polish absence while I try out Nailtiques), so I can't speak to its wear or show any pretty swatchy pictures. I did put it on my nail wheel, though, and it's so flippin' gorgeous that I figure doing two posts (this non-one and a real review) is perfectly acceptable.

Some Random Polish Swatches

I'm not wearing polish on my nails for the time being while I use Nailtiques on them to try and make them not suck, but I have some swatches from before my self-imposed polish absence that I don't care enough about to write individual posts for, but that I would nonetheless like to be able to get off my computer, so I figured I would just throw them at you! And use a really long sentence to do so!

Essence Where Is The Party?

How it looks in the bottle most
of the time

The name of this polish makes me laugh, because you would never hear it said like that (except by ESL speakers, which I would guess the namers of this polish are, since Essence is a German company). It sounds so formal! So funny how little things like not contracting sounds so weird (even though I wrote that sentence, I was still momentarily confused by the status of "sounds". I've clearly spent too much time linguisting...).

And how it looks in the bottle at an angle!

How it looks in head-on light

Crazy color shift!

Anyways. Linguistic entertainment aside, this is a pretty cool polish. It was the first duochrome I got, though I've actually yet to wear it as a full mani. It's a purple-green duochrome, and shifts from being a rich purple head-on to being a softer grey-purple that shifts to green in different light. It's got a slightly frosty finish, so you do have to be a bit careful about applying, but it's not really high-maintenance. It's a little thick, too, so you have to let it dry between coats if you ever want it to fully dry, but for a buck, I can't complain! I think this was 3 coats, but it's been awhile, so I'm not sure. You can get Essence at Ulta and Fred Meyer, as far as I know, though there may be other retailers, and from drugstores in Germany (and possibly elsewhere in Europe?).

Essie Nail Polish in Lion Around and Da Bush Review and Swatches

I got a 4 pack of Essie minis from TJ Maxx before Christmas, and kept two of them for myself (shh, don't tell!). The colors I kept were unlike anything else in my collection, and I hadn't tried Essies before, so I figured it was an acceptable vice. Both these shades were limited edition (Resort '11), so I won't be giving them real grades, but I thought I should share my swatches and thoughts nonetheless. If either color catches your eye, you can still find them online, just ask Google.

3 coats Lion Around; ignore the
smudge on my pinkie!

Lion Around is a nude-pink with silver shimmer. It's actually really similar to Zoya Pandora, though I of course didn't know that at the time I got either of them. It is pinker than Pandora, though, making it less of a neutral. It took 3 coats to reach opacity, and much like Pandora, the shimmer in Lion Around is pretty subtle when it's on the nails, and I found myself bored with it and removed it less than 24 hours later. It's a nice staple, though, and I don't feel the need for any more pale neutral pinks!

Milani 3D Holographic Nail Polish in 3D and Hi-Tech Review and Swatches

Yet another item from my Milani Black Friday haul (wow, that was a long time ago!): the gold "holo" 3D and green (legit) holo Hi-Tech. I got these so I could do holographic Duck nails, though I knew (based on other reviews) that the gold one wouldn't be the greatest polish that e'er polished. The green, however, is frickin' awesome, and together, they're pretty ducky. Yeah, I went there.

Milani Hi-Tech (left, ignore the weird orange tint) and 3D (right)