Spotted & Review: Salon Perfect - Love Lacquer and Lashes

Last week I spotted a new display by Salon Perfect at Walmart. It reads "Love Lashes and Lacquer" and I'm assuming this was meant for Valentine's Day, but my Walmart must have been late putting it out. I've not heard too much about this display or it's contents anywhere else in the blogosphere. I read a couple of sources that said they also spotted these, fully stocked, in March and not February. Oh, well. Better late than never.

The display had both lashes and nail polish on it. It was at the very end of an aisle and it was on the side of an endcap. (In retail, we call these type of displays "Sidekicks", as they go on the sides of an endcap to "enhance" it and/or the aisle.) The display had both limited edition and permanent products.

All of the lashes and lash products on the display are permanent. No limited edition items there, which was a little disappointing. I really like the limited edition eyelashes they have come out with in the past for Halloween and the holidays; there is so much they could have done here.

The polishes on the display are are mixed of permanent and limited edition. Whoever set up the display did not put the polishes in the correct order. Not 1 row was correctly done, but let me do my best to tell you which polishes are limited edition and which are not. They retail for $3.98.

• "One Love" Limited Edition (top coat) -this is the very 1st polish on the left.
• "Hearts a Flutter" Limited Edition (top coat) -this is the 3rd polish from the left.
• "Touchy Feely" Limited Edition (top coat) -this is actually the 4th to last polish and they left out the "y" on the name on the display.
• "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" Limited Edition (top coat) -this is the 2nd to last polish.
• "Cosmic Black" permanent (top coat) -3rd polish from the end.
• "He's With Me!" permanent -very last polish.
• "In Love" permanent -2nd polish from the left.

So, now for the good part- Swatches! I did some quick swatches on my nails. The paint job isn't perfect, but it's the swatching part that counts!

Here is "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" on the Thumb and Pointer fingers. This is a pink-purple micro-dot top coat. I found this top coat to dry fast and so multiple layers were no problem. On my thumb, you can see I put it over black and the pink/purple color comes through okay. On my pointer finger, it is just simply 3 layers of the top coat alone and I feel it basically just looks white and black.

"Touchy Feely" is on my Middle finger and Pinky. This is a black and white micro-dot top coat. My ring finger sports 3 coats of it by itself and 2 coats over black polish on my pinky. This was also a very fast drying top coat and multiple layers were no problem.

An up-close look at "Touchy Feely". Pretty simply and ordinary if you ask me. Nothing too special. I think this is an easy $3.98 to save.

An up-close look at "Loves Me, Loves Me Not". It's kind of hard to see the pink-purple hue, but it is there. This is the better of the 2 micro-dots, but nothing to rave about.

Another comparison of "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" and "Touchy Feely". Really, not enough difference in my opinion.

"One Love" is a multi-holographic glitter top coat. You can see it with 3 coats on it's own on my Pinky, I put it over a light mint color and over black. I love the effect when putting it over black polish.

"Hearts A Flutter" is a basic fuchsia glitter top coat mixed with gold hearts. The gold hearts are a pain to get out of the bottle. You really have to scoop to get them. Took me several attempts just to get these 2 you see on my Pointer finger and by the time you dig out a heart or 2, you will have a nice big gob of polish, making your top coat really think.

A close-up look of "One Love". This is the winner in the collection, in my opinion.

A close-up look of "Hearts A Flutter". This is cute, but it takes too much work. 

Final Verdict: While the top coats were the only limited edition products in the collection and the only products I picked up, I found they performed well, but were not really all that unique. For $3.98 a bottle I feel you could easily skip on these and similar products are on the market that you can purchase every day.

Make-Up Look: St.Patrick's Day Inspiration

I didn't have a chance to post this yesterday, because my fiance finally came home from his trip and it was a lot of hassle between Sunday night and Monday morning to get him home. However, today I'm bringing you the inspiration that I wanted to share yesterday. I realize this would have been way more effective yesterday, but what can you do when Delta ruins your night and morning? - This is a green smokey eye, but the shade of green is a little different than what you usually see.

• I started from the inner corner of my eye and worked outwards, using "Clock Strikes Midnight" by EM Michelle Phan from the Holiday Life Palette New Year's Countdown edition. I made sure to blend well and really fade it out at the end of the eye.
• I took "Mint Julep" by Meow Cosmetics from their Summer Spirits collection and put that over the dark Clock Strikes Midnight. This color is a light green with gold iridescence. It is a little sheer and light and looks best over another shade to amplify it. (This is also a limited edition collection that is released every summer.)
• I used "Tease" from the Naked 2 Palette by Urban Decay as the crease color, just to give some depth and dimension to the eye. I blended really well!
• Also from the Naked 2 Palette, I used "Foxy" as the highlight color.
• I lined only the bottom of my eyes with Tarina Tarantino's Eye Dream Hyperline in "Spark of Envy".
• The lipstick is "Pleasure Bomb" from MAC's RiRi Hearts MAC holiday collection released in 2013.

Again, apologizes for this being late, but I still wanted to share. Comments are always welcome and I'd love to see your green inspired look for the holiday this year!  

Review: Julep Mani Essentials

I'm going to give my review and take on the January Julep Maven Box in which I choose the Modern Beauty box that contains only beauty products, no polish. I know what you're thinking: "3 months late!" -Well, I didn't want to just show the box, when I felt these products could have an impact on manicures in a big way. I wanted to be able to test them and actually give a full on review of them.

Products from Left to Right:

• Julep "Ta Da!" Quick Dry Drops
• Julep "Vanish" Cuticle Softener & Remover
• Julep Essential Cuticle Oil

Julep Ta Da! Quick Dry Drops: I can't say enough good things about this! I was skeptical about buying these. I had heard that the OPI one was not that effective and the Sally Hansen one had iffy reviews. This might not be essential to everyone out there, but if you're like most people who do not have a lot of time to spare in today's world and value your time then you'll want to pick this up. This stuff works within 2-3 minutes. Just drop on your nail after your final coat and they're dry in about 2 minutes. Retails for $14 or $11.20 if your'e a Maven.

Julep Vanish: Of the 3 products in the box, this has been my favorite and my life saver! I have horrible cuticles that are almost callus-like from my very hands-on job and it being winter/colder. This stuff actually does diminish your cuticles from the nail and makes them easier to push down. Just 1-3 drops on each nail is all that is needed. Then just push down with your cuticle pusher and you're done! Love it and helps free up time for me! Highly recommended. This retails for $18 or $14.40 if you're a Maven.

Julep Essential Cuticle Oil: Essentially, the name of the product says it all. This is an oil for your cuticles. I really like this. It comes in a rollerball form so it's not messy. I usually use this during the week, at night, and before I go to bed. I just roll the oil over my cuticles and let it sink in. For me, this is not something that's good to use during the day when you're working or running errands, because you need to give it time to sink into the skin. It's good for a little TLC though every night or when your cuticles need some love. I had already heard such great things about this product before it came to me, so I wasn't overly worried about the performance. This retails for $18 or $14.40 if you're a Maven.

Any questions or comments, please leave them below! Let me know what you think if you have tried any of these products!

Make-Up Look: Blue Sunset

I'm bringing you a look today created by My Beauty Addiction's mineral eyeshadow from their Rainbow Bright collection.

• On the inner corner of the eye I used "Champ", which is a bright blue.
• I used "Spark" on the outter corner, which is a bright yellow.
• In the crease I used "O.J.", which is a bright orange.
• I used "Twink", a bright matte white, as the highlight color.

Side note- The liner is "Cobalt Vault" which was released from the Fergie collection by Wet N Wild. It is a limited edition liner that was released in the fall of 2013, but it re-released for the holidays later in 2013. If you're wanting to get your hands on it you may still be able to find it in some drugstores, particularly Walgreens. A lot of times, I'll see a few items stuck with the regular merchandise that haven't sold yet from limited edition collections. - The lipstick is by Maybelline from their Vivid collection and it's "#870 Shocking Coral".

Multi Purple Star Mani

I don't share my manicures very often, because I do them myself (except for like 2 times out of the year) and I do not consider myself a manicure expert. I am working at improving and hopefully you can see some improvement as time goes on from the pictures I post, but when I receive a lot of positive responses on a nail look I do then I like to share.

Today, I bring you a manicure I did using 3 different purple polishes and a silver tinsel sparkle on top! The 3 purple polishes are in the picture above.

From left to right:

• China Glaze in "#987 Crimson" (This is a limited edition color from their 2011 "Haunting Halloween" collection.)
• Wet N Wild in "Who Is Ultra Violet?" (This is a limited edition color from their "Pop Art Craze" collection from 2013.)
• SinfulColors in "#1180 Sweet Tooth" (This is a limited edition color from their "Sugar Rush" collection released in 2013.)

I apologize for the glare in the picture. I had to use the flash to get the true colors to show up. 

Here is how I painted my nails. I used "Sweet Tooth" on the thumb and pinky. I used "Who Is Ultra Violet?" on my pointer finger and ring finger. I used "Crimson" on my middle finger. (The mark on my pinky finger is actually not polish, but bleeding I had underneath the skin.)

The purples looked good on their own, but I'm the type of person who loves glitter and sparkle and I finish off most of my nail looks with glitter or some sort of a different finish. I don't know why I didn't take a bottle shot of the last polish, but I used "Stars At Night" by Nicole OPI. I'm not sure if you can see on the bottle, but this color was from the Selena Gomez collection released in 2013 which has since been discontinued. You can still find this collection around in some stores, but for the most part it has been clearanced out and discontinued.

I received a lot of compliments on this look and feel free to leave your comments below!