TJ Maxx Haul and Nail Polish Swatches - OPI, Butter London, and Julep

I was at TJ Maxx last week and they had quite a selection of nail polishes from brands like Essie, OPI, Orly, Nicole by OPI, Sephora, and a few Ciate, Butter London, and Julep. I love finding these treasures at TJ because they are typically half off the original price.

The only non-nail polish product I got from this haul is the Macadamia healing Oil Spray for hair. Love the packaging. This is $16.99 as opposed to $29.50 retail price. Ching Ching! Gotta love the savings!

This set of OPI costed me $7.99. They usually retail about $9.00 each.

OPI Baring It All is a light cool toned flesh nude with a cream finish. I have 3 coats on the swatches. The formula is not too thick or thin and is a bit streaky at first but levels well and looks even on the 3rd coat. It's very plain jane for me and needs either glitter or some sort of design to oomph it up.

OPI Frog In My Throat looks beautiful in the bottle. It's got a dark jelly base with goldish green shimmers, small holographic glitters, and orange flakies. It's so much prettier in person but I gotta admit that the shimmers are understated once the polish dries. The formula is thin but easy to work with and can be built up to an opaque coverage in 3 coats.

Julep Paris has a clear base and a mix of gold and silver holographic glitters with smaller holographic glitters. Here I'm wearing one coat over OPI Bare It All. Told yall it looks better with glitters. The base is not too thin or thick, picks up a decent amount of glitters and you only have to pat them a bit to get them where you need them. The bottle is so little, only .27 oz, about half the size of a typical nail polish bottle. Even paying $5.00 for it doesn't feel right.

Butter London Swinger...haha, the name makes me laugh because I'm definitely a swinger when it comes to nail polishes. I'm greedy and I gotta have all them preciouses. Swinger has a lightly green tinted base with very tiny gold and green glitters and small green glitters. It's rather sheer but applies fairly evenly and you can get opaque coverage in 3 coats.

Swinger with a clear top coat

Butter London Scuppered and Jack the Lad - Swatches

Hello Beautifuls,

Today, I'm excited to show you swatches of these two Butter London polishes that I picked up from Ulta last week. I've been lusting for them for about a year now and I am glad they are finally a part of my life.

Scuppered is a beautiful sparkling mix of bronze, gold, pink, and green. Absolutely beautiful! I wanna say it's a bit duochromatic. There is a subtle shift in color depending on the angle. At some angle it look bronze and at other angle it seem to look a little bit greener. Again the shift is very subtle but it's there. The formula wasn't too thick or thin but I did need 3 coats in order to get opacity. It didn't flow quite as nicely as I would have hoped which resulted in some patchy areas. The 3 layers needed for opacity also helped even out the application. You want to make sure you gently give it a little shake before use in each finger and that you pack a generous amount on your brush in order to ensure a smoother application. It dried fairly quickly. And it looks very shiny. I wore it for 6 days. I did notice some small chips on the second day. That was a bit of a bummer. Oh well, nonetheless it's stunning, unique, and worth adding to your stash.

I added some green glitters (Orly Mermaid Tale) to give it an extra oomph! That was like icing on the cake. I got lots of compliments and I get all giddy inside when I see my mani. It is such a gorgeous combo and made me smile every time I looked at it.

Jack the Lad is a deep and dark forest green with brighter green, gold, and blue fine glitters. Stunning in the bottle but the sparkles lose a bit of luster on the nails in this very dark base. It's still beautiful though. It think it would have been nicer if there was a mix of larger and brighter blue glitters in it or I'm gonna have to check my stash if I have any suitable match for it. Nothing comes to mind at the moment.
The formula was pretty similar to scuppered and needed 3 coats for full opacity and even coverage. It also dried fairly quick.

Overall, I don't have many Butter London polishes because they are rather expensive. They retail for $15.00 and can be purchased from Ulta, on their website, or other online store. The price is what makes me cringe. If I pay anything over $10 for a nail polish, I do have greater expectation like a flawless formula, chip resistant, and/or a unique color. I was a bit disappointed that Scuppered started to chip on the second day. I think the gorgeous and unique shade will makeup for that.

Own any Butter London polishes? Are they worth the price? What is the most you would pay for a nail polish, why, and where do you draw the line? Tell me whatchu think...

Haul - Ulta, Victoria's Secret, and a Few Miscellaneous Items

Guess who went shopping! I got a coupon from Ulta a couple days ago for 20% off my entire online or in-store purchase so I decided to put it to good use.

I was in desperate need of hand soaps. These Ulta Anti-Bacterial hand soaps have quickly grown on me. I love them just as much as the Bath and Body Works hand soaps. These were on sale for $4.00 each. The coupon brought them down to $3.20.

I've been eyeing this spray for some time now and with the coupon, I thought it was a good opportunity to finally try it. My hair is pretty long and reaching down to my waist now. Seems like it took me forever to grow them. Anyways, I always wished my hair was thicker and had more volume because it's always flat and boring. I'm hoping this will give them the bounce I've always been dreaming of. This bottle is $26 but with the coupon, I saved $5.20.

NYX Cosmetics are BOGO 50% off sale. I've had mostly good experience with this brand so I'm always looking for the next thing to try. I usually wait for a sale for the opportunity to snag new goodies.
More eyeliners! If you've been following me my recent swatch posts, you know how much of an eyeliner junkie I am. I, of course, had to get more.

• NYX Super Skinny Eye Marker Carbon Black, $8.99. I usually don't have much luck with marker type eyeliners. I was hoping this one would prove me wrong. 
• NYX Born To Glow Liquid Illuminator Gleam, $6.99. I don't know what I was thinking. Highlighting isn't usually my thing but I gotta say, this one looked quite beautiful when I tried out the tester in store. 
• NYX HD Photogenic Concealer, $4.99. I don't know why but I've been on a concealer kick lately, lol. This one looks promising. 
• NYX Slide On eyeliner Tropical Green, $7.99. I dig this deep shimmery green color. 

Pond's Wet Cleansing Towelettes ($5.49) were on BOGO 50% off. Actually, all Pond's products are on sale at Ulta right now. I was debating between another pack of makeup wipes or a cleanser but since I still have a lot of cleansers to go through, another pack of wipes was the logical decision.

Scuppered and Jack the Lad

I've been wanting these two polishes for the longest time. My lemmings for them are finally over! I justified my purchase with the coupon, which saved me $6.00 on these two babies. I think the price of Butter London went up. Didn't they used to be $12.00 a pot? They are now $15.00 each...*Cringe at the price*
Scuppered is OMFG amazing! I nearly cried when I finally claimed it as my own. It was like being reunited with a long lost lover. Yeah I know, sounds a bit dramatic but nothing gives me the high like a pretty nail polish does. Jack the Lad is also gorgeous, was going to put it back on the shelf but my bad self couldn't do it so in my bag it went as well. This concludes my Ulta haul.

Moving on to Victoria's Secret...

Yep, I'm back to trying to find a new scent and VS has all their beauty products for buy 2 get one free.

• Dream Angels Heavenly body mist, $15.00 Free. Notes: white musk, sandalwood, vanilla, and white peony. I like this one but I think I would love it if the floral note was stronger and the white musk and sandalwood notes were softer. 
• Very Sexy Touch body mist, $15.00. Top notes: Juicy red pear, honeysuckle, gilded apricot, fresh citrus.Middle notes: Vanilla orchid blossom, blooming magnolia, white peony, Italian iris. Dry-down notes: Vanilla bean, creamy coconut, clean vetiver, amber wood, musk...Dang, I didn't know this one had that many notes but I'll have to agree that this fragrance smells like a lot of stuff has been put into it! My daughter picked this one for herself. It has a sweet fruity floral scent, which is usually what she prefers.
• Very Sexy Temptation body lotion, $20. Notes: Passion flower, Moroccan jasmine and blushing orchid. The lotion is light and absorbs quickly. It has a bit of a sweet scent. Maybe a bit too much for for my nose. 

I found a store at the mall that sold this polish for a buck. It has a mix of chunky red glitters, smaller red glitters, and holographic bar glitters.

Francesca's has some cute jewelries. I don't shop there very often but this time I decided to check it out. The earrings on the left ($18.00) looks like two medallions attached together. It's approximately 2 inches long. The earrings on the right has two jade-like colored stones. The length of the earrings is approximately 1 1/2 inches. It was originally $12.00 but jewelries were BOGO 50% off so this one ended up being $6.00.  

I guess that's it for now...

Have you tried any of these products or is there any that are going on your wishlist?

Butter London Swatches - Wallis

This is the last polish that I purchased from Butter London. If you haven't seen my previous posts, I have also bought: The Black Knight (limited edition), Fairy Lights (limited edition), and Victoriana. This is another shade that I find unique. Well at least I do not know of any shade that is a dupe for this one. There are a few polishes out there that have similar colors but still don't have the likeness of Wallis. I was asked if this is a dupe for Chanel Peridot and it's too different to be a dupe in my opinion.
Wallis is a very interesting color. It's like an antique gold with an olive green undertone. The way the shimmers are deposited is similar to Victoriana. The contrast between the gold and green gives this polish a lot of depth and dimension. It looks stunning on the nails. I did two coats on the swatch and as you can see, it's pretty opaque. The formula is also easy to work with.
I don't review the durability of nail polishes because I feel that it works differently for everyone and will depend on how harsh you are with your hands, if and what type of topcoat/base coat you are wearing.

Butter London retails for $14 and you can purchase them from:
Ulta
Butter London
Beauty.com

Luuux Shared Link

Butter London Swatches - Victoriana

Here is a swatch of another polish that I hauled during Black Friday. I have previously seen a few swatches of this shade and I always thought how gorgeous and unique it looks. Yes, there are plenty of teal colors out there but this one has silver shimmers in it. What's interesting about this polish is how the silver shimmers sit on top of the color, creating more dimension. The formula was also very easy and nice to work with. The first coat was pretty opaque but I felt I needed a second coat to even out the application.
Butter London polishes retails for $14, which is pretty pricey. Aside from quality, a unique shade would be one of the reason I wouln't mind paying a little more for it.

 

You can purchase Butter London from:
Ulta
Butter London
Beauty.com

Luuux Shared Link