China Glaze Crackle Metal with Swatches

I stopped by Sally Beauty Supply after work yesterday because I needed some lash glue and guess what I found!!! I suppose the title pretty much gave it away. I have been waiting for these CG Crackle Metals to come out and woo hoo I totally picked the perfect day! Another strike of luck is that they were fully stocked. All the shades were there for me to pick. Can you imagine just how thrilled I was? I was like super duper excited to be the first one to get them. My guess is they must JUST have gotten them! I threw them all in my basket, except for the silver crackle because I already have OPI's silver shatter.

Needless to say, once I picked all the colors that I wanted, there wasn't too many left on the display. If you shop at Sally's, you know exactly what I mean. Those new polish display can sell out pretty quick.

Anyhoo here are the shades that I got

• Cracked Medallion - Shimmery copper crackle
• Oxidized Aqua - Blueish teal shimmery crackle
• Haute Metal - Pink shimmery crackle
• Latticed Lilac - it looks more like a silvery grey with a hint of purple
• Tarnished Gold - medium gold crackle

Haute Metal

 Latticed Lilac

Cracked Medallion

 Tarnished Gold

Oxidized Aqua

As you can see from the pictures, all the shade cracked very well. I'm very happy with the result. Out of all the crackle polishes that I own, these are by far my favorites.

I have purchased 3 extra crackle polishes and plan on doing a giveaway so stay tuned. Details will be coming soon. Must be a follower to be eligible.

Have you been able to snag any of these new crackle polishes or do you not care for it at all? What do you think of this nail trend?

Pure Ice Crackle Polish Swatches

I came across these polishes last weekend when I was at Walgreens picking up some stuff for the family. It looks like every nail company is coming up with their own crackle polish since it has been such a nail trend hit. Anyways, I think I got these for $4.99 each, which is cheaper than other name brand like OPI and China Glaze. I only selected colors that I didn't already have. They actually have a large color selection to choose from. Unfortunately, these polishes don't come with names so I'm just going to give you the color number.

572CP is a shimmery yellow crackle. It didn't crack as nicely as I would have wanted and I redid it a few times because I was trying to pair it with a color that is complimentary. For the swatch, I have Zoya Shawn as the base color. It's a dark grassy green cream color. It gave this crackle polish the best contrast.

573CP is a lime green matte color. This actually cracked the best out of the 3 that I purchased. I wonder if that has anything to do with it being matte. I paired it with Milani In a Flash nail polish.

 576CP is a gorgeous shimmery turquoise blue that reminded me a lot of the one OPI just came up with. It looks a lot prettier in the bottle when you see it in person. This one cracked the worst. I must have done at least 3 attempts in order for it to come out like the picture. I paired it with Zoya Pippa, a bright yellow cream color.

Overall, I am going to keep the lime color crackle polish because it gave me the best results. The other two were difficult to work with and didn't crack as nicely. Another tip I wanna share is use a topcoat and make sure it's completely dry before applying the crackle polishes. They seem to crackle better that way but still. I don't think the shimmery crackled color worked that well for me so I plan to return them.

Thanks for reading and if you would like to see check out my haul for the China Glaze Crackle Metal, please click HERE to go to my Luuux page. I didn't post it here yet because I plan on putting it up tomorrow with swatches included.

Lush Soaps Review - Figs and Leaves, Sexy Peel, Honey I Washed the Kids, Ice Blue, and Sea Vegetable

Lush is my latest addiction and I have been using and enjoying a few of their products for over a month now. But today, I am going to review their soaps. For those who don't know, what makes these soaps (and Lush's products) special is that they are made with natural and fresh ingredients derived from fruits, vegetable, and fine essential oils, which makes them better for use on your skin.
First off, these soaps are sold by weight so you can get at much or as little are you desire. Just ask the sale associate to cut the soap for you. Price varies from one product to another and depends on the ingredients that the soap contains. However, expect to pay an average of $8.00-13.00 per bar soap.
They have a large variety of soaps and scents to choose from and that can be overwhelming when shopping there for the first time. I don't love all of the scents that they carry but I do really enjoy a handfull of them and once you are hooked, it can be addicting and you'll want to come back for more.
Another thing I would like to mention is that there is no special packaging for these soap. Lush will wrap them with a piece of paper. The reason behind that is because Lush strives to be environmental friendly, therefore using paper cuts down on waste since it is biodegrable.

Figs and Leaves

• It has this soft floral and feminine scent derived from orange blossom and ylang ylang fragrance
• If you love floral scents that are not overpowering, you will love this soap.
• Ingredients: figs and fig seeds for exfoliation, aloe vera extract, Rapeseed oil, coconut oil, and leaves.

Sexy Peel

• This soap smells amazingly citrucy! Like a mix of lemon and orange. The scent is very fresh and potent. This soap probaly has the most potent scent from all the ones I've tried so far. Perfect for the morning because it will wake you up. When I had this soap and Honey I Washed the Kids in my bathroom, the combination of fragrance was so strong that it lingered and freshened my bathroom for at least 2 weeks!
• Ingredients: fresh lemon juice, grapefruit, lime juice, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, lemon peels, orange peels, and lime oil.

Honey I Washed the Kids

• This soap smells so delicious! It has this sweet and delectable scent that makes me drool. I am normally not a big fan of sweet scents but this one I love! The sweetness coming from this soap is unlike any other. I can totally see this one being a favorite among many. I like it so much I had to repurchase it. Definitely take a whiff of this soap if you ever happen to pass by a Lush counter.
• Ingredients: honey, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, beeswax, sweet orange oil, aloe vera extract, and gardenia extract.

Ice Blue

• This soap has a very interesting scent and invigorating peppermint scent to be exact. I actually really like it. It smells refreshing.
• Ingredients: peppermint oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, sea salt, sweet wild orange oil, bergamot oil.

  Sea Vegetable

• When looking at and smelling this soap, you will be reminded of the ocean. As you can see from the picture the teal color of the soap and seaweed also give that visual aspect. It smells very fresh like an ocean breeze.
• Ingredients: lime oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, lavender oil, sea salt, and seaweed.

These soaps last just like regular soaps. I noticed they foam not as much but will still give good amount of lather. Since I am not the only one using them. I tend to go through them quicker, which can get expensive if I'm going to continue buying them.

Overall, these soaps do a good job at cleansing. I don't find them moisturing but neither drying. One big difference that I notice about Lush soaps as compared to commercial soaps is that they rinse completely off your skin. You are going to get that squeaky clean feeling. When I use commercial soaps, after I rinse my skin feels sort of slippery but I don't get that when I use Lush soaps.

With that said, some may still wonder or not understand why Lush gets so much raves. I am happy and don't mind paying for these soaps because I know what they are made of and I know that they are good and gentle on my skin. Also, I am very in love with some of the scents that they have. When you find a scent that you love, it sort of have that narcotic effect on you. Scents have a power to relax, perk you up, or put you in a happy mood. It makes showering a pleasant and relaxing experience, who wouldn't like that you know.

For the record, my favorites are Honey I Washed the Kids and Sexy Peel.

My rating 9/10.

For more info about Lush, please visit http://www.lushusa.com/shop or your local Lush counter.

Nars Orgasm Dupes - Comparing 5 Blushes

I don’t know about you guys but with all the hype that NARS Orgasm has been getting, I have been wanting for the longest time to own it and wanting to compare it with other blushes I have that I think may be a good dupes for it.

I was finally able to get Orgasm but it came with limited edition package which also included two other popular face powders, AKA Laguna and Albatross.

I’m going to do a side-by-side swatch comparison and let you know what I think and how close they are in color. One of my pet peeve is when people claim two shades to be dupes and they don't have the proof to back that up. And when you get the "supposely dupe", you come to find that it looks nothing like the other color.

Orgasm vs Flirt Heartthrob

99.9% dupe. The base color looks the same when swatched. The only difference is the gold shimmer in Heartthrob is finer then Orgasm. Orgasm also seems to have more gold shimmers.

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Orgasm vs NYX Pinched

Orgasm is peachier than Pinched. The shimmers in Pinch are very fine. It looks more like a gold sheen.
As far as textures goes, Pinched is a bit chalky whereas Orgasm feels buttery and creamy. 98% dupe.

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Orgasm vs Josie Maran Flushed

Flushed is close in color but slightly pinkier with a very refined gold sheen. Flushed was part of a limited edition set which also came with a bronzer. Unfortunately, you can’t get Flushed anymore. Both have a creamy buttery texture. 99% dupe.

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Orgasm vs ELF Candid Coral

Orgasm is pinkier with more shimmers. Candid Coral is peachier with a very faint gold sheen. Candid Coral looked the least like Orgasm. Candid Coral has a more powdery texture and isn't as pigmented. Honestly, I wouldn't consider these dupes.

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Out of all these similar blushes, Flirt Heartthrob is the closest dupe to NARS Orgasm. It has just very slightly less amount of gold shimmers, except that they are finer than Orgasm. Heartthrob retails for about $12.00, whereas Orgasm is $27.00. As far as quality goes, they are both very pigmented, smooth, and buttery.
You can purchase the Flirt brand in Kohls. Some CCO also carry some of the Flirt products too.

Josie Maran Flushed and NYX Pinch also came close but they had more of a muted gold sheen.

Mind you that once these blushes are applied to the cheeks, it’s practically difficult to distinguish the difference. The similarities and difference were more noticeable as a heavier swatch.

My conclusion is if you want a close dupe for NARS Orgasm, I highly recommend you check out Flirt Heartthrob. It’s a lot cheaper and you won’t sacrifice in quality either. The second rounder up would have been Flushed but since it is no longer available I will pass it on to NYX Pinched. Now that I finally was able to compare Orgasm, I can finally have some closure, lol.

I hope this post was helpful. Let me know what you think of the swatches and please share which ones you have that are dupes of NARS if you happen to have any.

Luuux Shared Link

MAC Bloggers' Obsessions Lipglasses Haul and Swatches

The Bloggers' Obsessions collection just launched Tuesday June 21st on MAC's website and it is only available online unfortunately. I'm pretty sure most of you MAC addicts already know about this if you follow other bloggers and especially Temptalia. Basically, if you didn't know, this collection consists of 4 eyeshadows and 4 lipglasses and is inspired and created by bloggers, which I think it's pretty cool.
After checking out the swatches on Temptalia, I wanted the Jealousy Wakes eyeshadow so bad that I literally didn't sleep well the night before because I knew it was going to sell out fast. Ok please don't judge, lol. If I could only get one thing from that collection, it would have been it but with the site playing waiting games on all of us. We couldn't know for sure at what time we would be able to order.
Unfortunately with my luck, it was available online while I was busy working my taill off and for some reason, I couldn't order through my phone so when I got home to check it was SOLD OUT T_T. Whyyyyyy! Whyyyyy! Ugh, curse you MAC for not making enough for the rest of us!!!

Yes it's limited edition so once it's gone, it's gone! My last resort is to enter Temptalia's giveway but with thousands of people entering, I don't have much of a chance to win, though it doesn't hurt to try anyways. God knows when MAC will bring it back but hopefully soon!
So in spite of the disappointment, I consoled myself with 2 lipglasses from the collection.

Here are swatches for you. I just checked within the past few minutes and they are still available for purchase so if you are interested, don't wait too long cause you just never know.

Caqui is a coral/orange red color with creme finish.

Sonoran Rain is a warm red with a tinge of orange and gold shimmers.

They both look similar in color in the tube but when swatched, there is an obvious difference.

Both colors are opaque and pigmented

 Caqui Lipglass

 Sonoran Rain Lipglass



I particularly favor Sonoran Rain. I think the color complements my skintone more. Both shades are very pretty though and they were the only two lipglasses that I felt I would enjoy more out of the collection. As far as the eyeshadows, I was only interested in Jealousy Wakes, which was a beautiful emerald color. The rest of the eyeshadows were just ok. I didn't see much uniqueness in them.

Did you get anything from this collection? If so, what did you purchase? 

Are these shades something you would wear?

Thanks for stopping by :)

Walgreens Haul

Dear readers,

I'm sorry for being MIA for the past few days but I lost my groove for some reasons due to minor life stresses and annoyance, lol. Ya know, I have those days where I'm thinking to myself "gosh, why do I have to put up with that?" My biggest annoyance so far has been dealing with people with lack of common sense. I'm usually pretty calm and easy going but I do get a bit edgy when people can't apply common sense. I guess you can say I have that sort of expectation. I think we all do but the reality is not everyone has enough of it and that's when conflict or compromise follow. So here I am thinking to myself "I can't believe I have to say this" and "how am I going to say it so that they don't take it the wrong way." These awkward moments get me every time.

Anyways, enough of my life dilemmas, lol. The point of this post is about stuff that I found at Walgreens yesterday. My family asked me to get some drinks after work so I decided to stop by Walgreens because it was on the way there. I decided to browse the beauty isle as usual to see if anything new catches my attention.

First thing that I grabbed was these Pure Ice Crackle polishes. I saw one fellow blogger, Huda, post some of these so when I found them on display and they had colors that I didn't have I was excited to give them a try. I hope they don't disappoint otherwise, I will return them. FYI, they actually had a lot of colors to choose from.

Secondly, I needed a black pencil eyeliner because I gave my UD 24/7 liner to my mom. I'm excited to get my hands on the Milani Liquif"Eye Black. I have the color Aqua and it worked really well on me so I am hoping the black one is just as good.

Amazingly and to my surprise, that Walgreens carried these Milani Baked blushes! They were all stocked too. I wanted to scream and jump with joy like a little kid who found her toy, lol. I have had such a hard time finding these in local stores. I previously ordered 4 of them online but now that I know where to get these, I'm just thrilled! I refrained myself from getting all the shades that I didn't order last time so I only purchased one. With that said, I will do a Part 2 review and swatches of the Milani Baked Blushes when I can get the rest on sale.

At last but not least, I am sure you noticed I have 2 MAC products in the picture. I will post these separately so be sure to check them out. I will post them very shortly.

Thanks again for visiting my blog and have a beautiful weekend :)

Estee Lauder Double Wear Eyeshadow Creme Review - Deep Orchid and Silver Leaf

Over a month ago, I purchased these two Estee Lauder cream shadows at my local CCO. I can't remember the exact price I paid but it was about $12.00 each, which is a lot cheaper than the retail price of $17.50.

Packaging

• Product is packed in a glass jar
• Net weight of .17 oz or 5 g
• Pretty decent amount of product

Colors

Deep Orchid is a shimmery reddish violet with grey undertone.

Silver Leaf is a medium shimmery taupe. It actually looks a little more grey than pictured.

Product

• Very creamy, blendable, and pigmented. The consistency reminded me of Benefit Creaseless Creamshadow
• Long-wearing
• Once it sets, it becomes smudge-proof and crease-proof. I've used it without primer and I did not have any problem, which is pretty awesome for a cream shadow
• Can be applied with fingers or brush

Conclusion

I really love these two Estee Lauder cream eyeshadows. They worked very well on me even without a primer. I am moderately oily on my lids just in case you are wondering. The formula is something to rave about. For a cream eyeshadow, it performs extremely well. It doesn't take too long to set but at the same time allows you time to blend effortlessly. The pigmentation is also great and buildable. It can be applied sheer or more intense if you add another layer. I would definitely recommend if you don't mind the price. You are sure getting a superior quality with these that is worth the money, IMO.

My rating is 10/10.