Essie Sable Collar

Sable Collar is a deep smoked burgundy with subtle red shimmers. I just love that little hint of sheen. The formula was neither thick or thin. You can get opaque coverage in 2 coats but I think it looks better and more even with a 3rd coat. It's such a rich dark color with just the right amount of shimmer and mystery to it. I love it! It's much prettier in person. I picked it up at Nordstrom Rack but also spotted it at TJ Maxx as well.

Essie Stroke of Brilliance Swatch

Happy St Patrick's Day! Sorry I got nothing green for yall. In fact, I didn't even want to post anything cause I'm just that tired.
I only had 4 hours of sleep last night and was up early cooking some stir fried green beans for our potluck at work. I'm ready to just lay my head on the pillow and will most likely pass out soon after.

So many posts I need to work on but I guess that'll have to wait another day cause my brain just can't think. This nail polish swatch has been sitting in my drafts for months now so I think it's time to post it up.

Stroke of Brilliance is a shiny glittery metallic blue with small and medium size glitters in a clear base. Here I have it paired with Forever 21 Love & Beauty Light Grey Lavender. I can't remember if I did just one or two coats but I do remember that the brush picks up a fair amount of glitters and it was pretty easy to work with.

What are you wearing on your nails? If you're out there celebrating St Patty's day, have fun and be safe.

Essie Parka Perfect Swatch

When I spotted Parka Perfect, I thought it was a lovely medium greyish blue cream. It has very subtle and very fine silver shimmers. Sometimes I wonder why Essie does that you know. Why put shimmers that don't translate on the nails? It makes absolutely no sense as to why they even bother. Perhaps to trick you into thinking hmm...there's something pretty inside? I dunno.
The formula was not too thick or thin and had fairly good pigmentation. It was a little streaky and even though I probably could've gotten away with 2 coats. A third coat was needed to even out the uneven streaks.
The shade is simple, plain, and probably not the most unique grey you can find but still appeals to me in a way because it would make a nice base for nail designs.

Essie Using My Maiden Name Swatch

I don't know why I keep buying nail polishes and I certainly didn't need another lavender nail polish but Using My Maiden Name is just so pretty! It has a subtle violet shimmer glow that looks more prominent when you look at the bottle. It's probably what attracted me most about it.

Once swatched, the formula is more of a jelly creme with a medium thin consistency. It's a little bit patchy on the first coat but with the 2nd and third layer, it evens out nicely. The violet shimmer is so faint on the nail swatches that you can barely detect it. I wished it was a bit more noticeable like it is in the bottle. Other than that, I think this nail color is lovely. I did 3 coats on the swatches for full opacity.

Miscellaneous Hauls And Some Gifts

Hello lovelies,

These are some products I hauled a few days ago and was too lazy to post, lol. The sad thing is that after all the damages, there are some after Christmas sales that are still tempting me.

I took advantage of the Ulta 20% off coupon to snag a few things. luckily for me half of these were also on clearance:

• NYX HD Concealer. They were on BOGO and with my daughter using it, my last one ran out quickly. This is a repurchase. I've already reviewed this HERE. 
• Layla Ceramic Effect CE14
• Essie Parka Perfect
• Essie Using My Maiden Name
• Physicians Formula Eye Booster Eyeliners Ultra Black. One of my favorite black eyeliner.
• Elegant Touch Envy Wraps. I found these on clearance. I've never used nail wraps so I'm curious to try.

I picked up these Revlon Nail Appliques at CVS, they were almost $10.00 each. Normally, I don't pay much attention to these because they are pricey but I had some extra bucks coupons that I needed to use and couldn't find anything I wanted so with these being so pretty and BOGO 50%, I got a killer deal on them.

So I missed the boat on the MAC Heroine lipstick that came out a couple months ago. Didn't think I was going to need it but the more swatches I saw the more I wanted it BAD! Well, the good news is that it is no longer limited edition and with Radiant Orchid being the new color of the year for 2014, I guess MAC decided to bring it back make it part of the permanent line. Woo hoo! If you love purple lipsticks, you need this shade! 

I can't believe that my Clarins Advanced Extra-Firming Eye Contour cream lasted me a whole year then again, it contains more products then most eye creams. It's still got some but I know I will run out soon and needed to restock on eye cream. When I saw the NUXE skincare on sale at Hautelook, I was curious to try and decided to pick up their eye cream. I liked the fact that it came with a pump and it was fairly priced. Along with that, I decided to get the Huile Prodigieuse. I thought this was going to come with a spray nozzle but it didn't. I was rather disappointed with that because it would have been easier to apply this oil on my skin with a spray since it's rather thin in consistency. It has a pleasant smell though I wouldn't rave about it. It smells woodsy, floral, and a bit sweet like honey.

I received this adorable star ornament from a dear friend. I took a picture of it hanging on one of the flowery light up branches that I keep at my vanity desk. With my 50mm lens and some editing magic, I must say it turned out pretty good!

Another friend gifted me a couple beauty products. She gave me the Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner Set and they came with this very shiny aluminum tin container. I'm totally in love with the colors! I'm such a huge eyeliner junkie and the more the merrier so I was very happy when I saw these.

And lastly, the other gift I received is this Josie Maran BearNaked nail wipes. This container is so cute. I don't even want to use it. I'm fine with just acetone and cotton balls but I guess doesn't hurt to have something more portable for traveling. 

So that's it for this post. Got a couple new things but will do a separate posts for them.

What did you get for Christmas?

Essie Lots of Lux Swatches

Hey everyone!

How's your weekend been so far? I've been doing all of my Black Friday shopping online. I'm excited but at the same time I feel so horrible for spending like no tomorrow. I also received my Sephora reward card for $20.00 so that means that I'm going to also make another trip to Sephora in the next few days, aye!!!! Fortunately, I'm expecting a $50.00 Sephora gift card and a $25.00 TJ Maxx gift card, which I will receive soon for participating with my insurance's health risk assessment program. Yay for more shopping! LOL. I guess it's not quite over for me yet.

So, I stopped by my local Walgreens a few days ago and noticed Essie had come out with a new collection of Effect nail polishes. One of the Essie nail polish called Silver Platter (view swatch HERE) looks pretty identical to Formula X for Sephora Law of Attraction, you can view my swatch HERE.

Anyways, I picked up Lots of Lux. I really liked how pretty it looked in the bottle. At the time, I had no idea this was going to be a textured nail polish, lol. It was a surprised when I swatched it. It is freaking gorgeous though! It's a rich cobalt blue with gold, green, and blue shimmers. My swatches really doesn't do justice to how truly beautiful it is in person. The macro shots did a good job with capturing the textures but as a result it lost the glory of the pretty shimmers. It's one of those polishes you'll have to see in person in order to truly appreciate it's beauty.
It's richly pigmented and a little thick. You will need two coats in order to spread the application evenly. I'm not a big fan of Essie small rounded brush but I'm willing to work with it if I love the color of the nail polish. As with most textured polishes, it also dried fairly quickly.

And here are the swatches with a top coat over it. It's just equally as beautiful with and without a top coat.

Love & Peace & OPI vs For The Twill Of It

Hey everyone! Sorry for the latest nail polish spams but I've been busy and tired. I'm breaking out like crazy. My skin is out of control. IDK what the hell is going on but I feel stressed and pooped! I'm behind on reviews and even though I've been testing. I've been too busy to take notice on how the products perform throughout the day. There are a few things I can't wait to post but I'm just not ready yet so please bare with me.

As promised and with no further ado, I am now showing you watches between OPI Love & Peace & OPI and Essie For The Twill Of It. Excited?!

Love & Peace & OPI on the two finger nails on the left and For The Twill Of It on the two finger nails on the right

Take a look at that! They look exactly the same! I don't understand why are they doing this? Is it because they know that a dork like me is going to make a post about it? Is it because they wanna know which brand people like better? What is the meaning of all this?

Ok so there you have it. 100% look alike. I cannot distinguish a difference in the way they look. There is however, a slight difference in the formula. Aha!

Both require only two coats for even and opaque color payoff. I found the OPI version a little thinner and the Essie version just slightly thicker. I was in favor of the Essie brush this time. I feel like the brush stroke were less noticeable and the round tip made it easier to line around the cuticles. I had to be a little more careful and precise with the brush stroke when using the OPI brush because this type of finish with highlight them.

Which one should you get? It doesn't matter, I'd say just grab whichever one you find first. What do you think?

Essie For The Twill Of It Swatches

I picked up this beauty from Ulta last week. For The Twill Of It is part of their fall 2013 collection. I was also interested in Vested Interest, which looked like a dusty medium green. When I saw it, it reminded me of School of Hard Rocks, a polish I already have so I kinda left it alone.

This polish is a duochrome, or shall I say multi-chrome, with color shifting from grey to teal and purple. The color shift if fairly strong so if you love duochrome, you'll be pleased with this one. The formula leaned slightly on the thick side but still being manageable. A little uneven on the first coat but the second coat is enough to offer full and even color payoff.

I'm not sure if this collection hit the drugstore yet but it is available at Ulta for $8.00.

On the last picture, I added a sheer blue and pink shimmer polish on top and made they made the nails look so much prettier too with the subtle shimmers.

Will you be getting anything from this collection?

Essie Nail Polish Spam - Wrapped In Rubies, Dive Bar, Over The Edge, Mochacino

Happy Friday!

Ughh! I had to work today, while a lot of people were still off. I have some Essie swatches for you. I have owned these polishes for quite some time now and finally got around to making swatches....

Wrapped in Rubies is a shimmery/metallic red with a bronzy/gold shimmer in it. Formula wasn't too thick or too thin and applies rather smoothly. The brush strokes are noticeable but if you apply carefully, they won't look too bad. Opaque in two coats.

Dive Bar is a dark blue base with a hint of teal shimmers. It's a little sheer, streaky, and patchy at first but with three coats, the color and application looks pretty even. I love how it's dark yet not black and has a lovely teal shimmer.

Over The Edge is a dark charcoal grey with silver, teal, and pink shimmers. This is also on the sheer side and applied streaky. It needed 3 coats for opacity and even color distribution.

Mochacino is a cool toned brownish taupe with silver shimmers running through it. There's also a very subtle pink and teal shimmers in it but not noticeable on the nail. It's what I call a chic classy neutral polish. The formula is on the thin side but applies nicely and looks opaque in 3 coats.