Simply Beauty.

1/15/13

Spottie Dottie!

Hey guys.

It's been a rainy/sleet-y/flurrying past couple days,

so in honor of that I decided to feature an indie i've had for awhile now-

Spottie Dottie Light from All That Glitters!

As you may know, All That Glitters is one of my favorite indie polish makers.

Here's 1 coat of Spottie Dottie Light over 1 coat of Sinful Colors' 'Rain Storm'.

'Spottie Dottie Light' is a clear base comprised of differently sized and shaped white, matte glitter. It's reminded me of a snowy day since I saw it,

so i've been saving it for just such weather!

POLISH INFORMATION
Brand: All That Glitters

Type: Glitter Top Coat

Formula: Great!

Opacity (1-5): 1

Application: Smooth

Price: $8

Get This: her Esty shop, but it's currently closed. It will reopen soon!

Do any of you have this?

What are your thoughts?

1/14/13

Blue trio from Sephora palette

It's Monday :/ Just 3 more days until my Spring semesters starts.

Then I'm afraid I won't be able to blog as regularly,

but we'll see!

Okay, as promised, I have the first look for you today using my new Sephora Smokey Studio ll palette.
The palette is technically designed to be used in pre-set trios,
so even though I doubt I'll usually use them that way,
I decided to attempt a few looks with their suggested trios.

Here's the first look, using a trio from part 1.

Here's the trio:

As you can see,

it's comprised of a lovely, shimmery white, a bright & bold blue (which initially drew me to pick this trio),

and a dark blue with glitter.

The look is nothing super special or creative,

but it gave me an idea of what the shadows were like,

since I had never used any Sephora shadows before.

All in all, my first experience with these shadows was great!

I did use a primer, but the pigmentation was still great & they were pretty easy to blend.

Stay tuned later this week for look #2!

1/13/13

Sephora Smokey Studio ll- Pt. 3

Alright guys,

I've got the third and final installment of the Sephora palette for you today.

The first section was sexy, bold colors.

The second post featured bright, earthy, & jewel tones.

This final section is comprised of soft and neutral shades.

I'm afraid some of the shadows are so close to my skin tone that they're hard to see,

but I did the best I could!

As usual, these shadows are a variety of shimmery satins, mattes, and 1 or 2 glitters.

Glosses:

To match the shadows,

the glosses are neutrals or dusty rose shades.

Super versatile!

I'll have some posts with looks from each section up here soon!

Thanks for reading :)

1/12/13

'Akyra'

Hey guys!

I'm super excited about today.

Tanner & I finally get to have a date night tonight!

We have a gift card to use at a restaurant and tickets to see The Hobbit!

We've already seen it once,

but we're both huge LOTR fans (nerds) so we're stoked to see it again haha.

Anyway, speaking of fantasy,

I have a great polish for you today!

Here's 1 coat of Zoya's 'Akyra' over 1 coat of NOPI's 'Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam'.

'Akyra' is an enchanting, deep teal metallic. It struck me as very fantastical and mysterious for some reason, and i LOVED it. I ordered this almost a year ago but have just now gotten around to swatching it- and WOW.

I apologize for how sloppy it is.

I didn't even get a chance to clean up,

so I just said screw it & took the pictures anyway :/

POLISH INFORMATION
Brand: Zoya

Type: metallic

Formula: Great!

Opacity (1-5): 1/2

Application: Super easy

Price: $8

Get This: Zoya.com

1/11/13

!GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Drumroll please...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I've contacted her & she will have 48 hrs to respond.
Otherwise, i'll pick another winner.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THANK YOU so much to everyone that entered!
I'm almost at 500 followers,
so help me get there so I can have another giveaway! ;)

As usual after my giveaways,
I'll plan a post where you can leave me the link to your blog if you want me to follow it!
A simple 'thank you' to those who entered :)
Thanks again, guys!
Ya'll are amazing.

Get Carried Away

Happy Friday!

I'll post the giveaway winner later today,

but I wanted to quickly post this polish first.

(I didn't mean to wait to post it until the day the giveaway ended :/)

I noticed a lot of you requested CG's 'Get Carried Away' from the Cirque collection as a prize,

so I've been wanting to post it & let you see!

I got this before Thanksgiving,

but with all the Christmas posts- I never got around to it :/

Here's 1 coat over Maybelline's 'Onyx Rush'.

'Get Carried Away' is a sheer black base filled with silver microglitter & large silver and copper hexagonal glitter. This polish is nearly impossible to layer. Well- you can- but it looks like crap. Definitely need a good base for this to look good!

I really wasn't that impressed with this polish :/

Over 'Onyx Rush' it looked okay,

but I just thought it would look better for some reason...

1/10/13

Sephora Smokey Studio ll swatches- pt. 2

Hey everyone!

I've got part 2 of my swatches from my new Sephora Smokey Studio palette.

(To see the first part, go here).

Today I have the middle part of the palette to show you.

It's all vivid colors & warm jewel tones :)

Again, this palette is made up of mattes, glitters, and shimmery satin shadows.

Love it!

Each section also has 3-6 glosses. Here are the ones paired with the jewel tones.

The one on the left is actually a super glitter cherry red,

but it's much less opaque than I thought it would be.

I've already created a few looks with this palette,

and I can't wait to show you guys!

I have some other posts to get to first, though ;)

Thanks for reading!

1/9/13

Glistening Snow

Hey guys :)

Quick post today-

I've got my very last polish from CG's Holiday Joy collection for you today!

It's taken me long enough,

but I finally got through all the ones I had.

Here's 3 coats of 'Glistening Snow'!

'Glistening Snow' is a silver & holographic glitter. It's very much like 'Winter Holly', just a different color. It looks more like glistening diamonds to me, but still pretty!

The only thing I didn't like about this polish (along with Winter Holly) is that it dried super gritty. One would have to use God knows how many coats of SV to make it glossy :/ That's a pain and something I just didn't have time to try to do.

What do you guys think about this?

Thanks for reading! :)

1/8/13

Sephora Smoky Studio ll swatches- Part 1

Wooooo!

I received a Sephora gift card for Christmas,

and my purchase finally came in the mail today!

I usually shop at Ulta rather than Sephora & have never tried Sephora's makeup,

so I ordered a ginmorous Sephora palette.

I've never owned one of those big things with shadows, blush, gloss, etc,

but I took a chance on this baby...

and man, is it awesome!

This is comprised of 15 glosses and 36 eyeshadows!

They have it divided into "trios", but I don't know how much i'll stick to using them that way.

The shadows are mixes of mattes, shimmers, and glitters.

The glosses are EVERY color & I can't wait to try them all!!!

The neat thing about this bad boy is that it comes with a much smaller palette. You can pick a trio of shadows and/or glosses that you want to take with you, and fit it into the smaller palette so it's much less of a hassle. Great for traveling!

To make things easier, i've broken up swatching the palette into 3 sections.

First, I have the left side- the "pop" colors.

I've never used any Sephora brand shadows before,

but they sure look pretty pigmented!

And shimmery, which i love :P

Here are all the glosses from the left side.

Beautiful, right?

I see a lot of great summer shades in there.

The orange is actually more of a coral in real life,

it just looks more orange beside that bright pink.

I foresee loads of fun looks with these babies!

Stay tuned for part 2 ;)

1/7/13

Let it Snow!

Hello!

I have another polish from Kawaii Nail Lacquer's holiday collection for you today.

I did all the Christmas-y ones first, so now I have the Winter-y ones left :)

They are some of my favorites, too!

I'm pathetically hopeful that we here in TN will get some snow (the kind that sticks) soon,

but at this point, i'll take even flurries. I love snow :) Thus, I'll be having several snow themed posts for the next few days.

Here's 1 coat of 'Let it Snow' over China Glaze's 'Icicle'.

'Let it Snow' is a clear base with tiny sapphire & white glitter, white bar glitter (intermittently), and large white & sapphire hexagonal glitter. This is the 4th polish from Kawaii Nail Lacquer that i've tried, and so far i've loved ALL of them! The always apply evenly and aren't too gloopy or thick, despite all the glitter.

The only downside to 'Let it Snow' is that i DID have a problem with most of the bar glitter curling a couple hours after applying it (even with a coat of SV), but I love the polish anyway so I don't even care ;)

POLISH INFORMATION
Brand: Kawaii Nail Lacquer

Type: Glitter Top Coat

Formula: Awesome!

Opacity (1-5): 1

Application: Super easy, just give it a little shake beforehand

Price: $8? I think :/

Get This: Currently sold out, but CHECK OUT her Etsy for other great polishes!!

1/6/13

Wet n Wild Fergie Centerstage Collection- 'Maldives Sky' swatches

Happy Sunday, fellow bloggers!

I was browsing around in my local Walgreens last night & came across the newly launched makeup products from Fergie & Wet n Wild.

I've tried some of the nail polishes and was pretty disappointed,

but I figured i'd give some of the makeup a go.

They had several beautiful palettes from the Centerstage collection to choose from,

but for my first time- I chose 'Maldives Sky'.

I'm a sucker for green, blue, & purple on my eyes!

I've never used any Wet n Wild makeup products before,

so i'm anxious to try this palette. The colors are beautiful! I really love the combo.

Hopefully the quality will be better than the polishes!

(( No primer ))

((^ w/ primer ))

As you can see, there's really not that much of a difference between wearing the shadows alone or with a primer. Even so, I think i'll wear them WITH the primer.

And, (a little unexpected), it appears most of the shadows in my palette are mattes, which I'm not as familiar with. Practice makes perfect though!

I'll try to post a look with these soon.

Have any of you tried any from the Centerstage collection?

What are your thoughts on any of the products from this line, makeup or polish?

Let me know!

Thanks :D

1/5/13

A Little Winter Holly

Happy Saturday!

We've been out apartment hunting again today.

Our current apt complex decided to raise our rent by $100 so we're saying SEE YA -.-

On to a better place, though.

Anyway, I have a continuation of China Glaze's Holiday Joy collection today.

Even though Christmas is past,

there are tons of great polishes for the Winter season- which has just began.

Here's 'Winter Holly'!

Sorry for some of the blurry pictures! My camera freaked out on the sparkle :/

'Winter Holly' is a densely packed hunter green glitter; comprised of gold and green microglitter (with a hint of holo). This baby looked AMAZING after a coat of SV, but the glitter soaked the SV up almost immediately and it dried gritty :/ Not what I was hoping for. Looks much better when it's glossy.

POLISH INFORMATION
Brand: China Glaze

Type: Glitter

Formula: Pretty good, a little gloopy

Opacity (1-5): 4 (2 coats for opacity)

Application: Great!

Price: $7-$8 at beauty stores, but JUST $3 on head2toe.com!

Get This: head2toe.com; super cheap and fast shipping!

Do any of you have this?

What do you think?

Thanks for reading!

1/4/13

'It's A Trap-eze!'

Hey guys!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.

I've had so much going on around New Years with friends and family visiting.

Anyway, I know 'It's A Trapeze' is a reference to Cirque Du Soleil,

but I can't help but think of the line in Star Wars "It's a trap!" by that weird, big-eyed thing.

My boyfriend is a HUGE star wars fan so, alas, he has corrupted me also haha.

Here's 2 coats of 'It's A Trap-eze!"

'It's A Trap-eze!" is a super pale blue (originally white, i think, though) base packed with white, yellow, orange, green, pink, blue, purple, and gold pastel hexagonal glitter of all sizes. It's part of CG's Cirque Du Soleil collection.

SPEAKING OF WHICH-

have you entered my giveaway yet?!?

ANY 4 of the Cirque Du Soleil polishes are up for grabs!

Whichever ones you want!

;)

12/31/12

Christmas/Holiday Classics- Day 4

Happy New Years Eve!

I hope you all have a fun and SAFE time tonight!

I've got a continuation of my Christmas (now Holiday) Classic series for you.

Here's 'A Sparkle YUle Love' !

'A Sparkle Yule Love' is a rose colored base filled with rose colored micro glitter and large pink, silver, and light blue hexagonal glitter. It's from OPI's Deck the Halls holiday collection last year. This was one of the first polishes I EVER swatched on my blog, back in my total n00b days :)