Pacifica Red Red Wine

So this month in my September Ipsy bag I got this gorgeous red wine polish. When I seen the sneak peeks that they were putting out I was really hoping this one would show up in my bag. There was also a gorgeous lipstick that was put out in the sneak peeks that I was hoping to get too. I was so excited when I was able to go on Ipsy's site and view my Glam Room to see what would be coming in my bag and then even more excited when I saw I was getting both the polish and lipstick I was hoping for.

For those of you who don't know what Ipsy is I can explain. Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription that you sign up for. It costs $10 a month and they bill you on the first of the month every month. Shipping usually starts around the middle of the month and they start giving out little sneak peeks of what is all going to be in the bags for the month. They start the sneak peeks around the first of the month. Right around the 10th or 12th of the month they open up your "Glam Room" and it will show you what you will be getting in your bag. You get roughly 5 products in your bags and the items they choose for you are somewhat based on the beauty quiz you take when you sign up. Each product is usually a deluxe sized sample and there is usually at least one item that is full sized. You can re-take the quiz at any time if you are not satisfied with the types of products you are getting. Your products are packed inside a cute little make-up bag that is designed for the theme for the month. If you are interested in signing up I will give you my link here. Check out this link for more information and to sign up.

This is Red Red Wine from Pacifica. I had sort of heard of this brand through Ipsy but never had tried it before. From reading the bottle and packaging Pacifica polishes are 7 free and 100% vegan cruelty-free. This is a gorgeous red wine color that I think is absolutely perfect for fall and just for those of you who love a nice red. The formula on this was amazing and dry time was average. I used 2 coats of polish over a base coat and then topped with Out The Door topcoat.

As you will see in some of the pictures that cleanup on this was a little more difficult and I think that is because this is such a highly pigmented color that it sort of "stained" my skin. Not to worry though, the rest came off in the shower that evening and honestly there really wasn't much staining on my skin that I was worried enough about.

Pacifica carries a full line of beauty products and perfumes that you should check out. After I checked out their site I learned that they are available in various types of stores. In my area it looks like Whole Foods carry Pacifica products and a few little stores/salons. There is a store locater section on Pacifica's site so you can find a location near you. I also seen on their site that their polishes retail for $9 on the site but I can't say what cost is in a store (I would imagine that it would be about the same). These are such beautiful polishes that I may have to check out some of their other products. If you haven't tried them you should.

Nail Art with Zoya

Today I thought I'd show you a little nail art I did recently with some Zoyas from various collections. I seen something similar to this design on Instagram and for the life of me I can't find it again to give credit to the proper person for inspiring me. I did change it up a little bit so it was a little different from the original person's design but in essence it was inspired by their design.

I gathered my tools and polishes that I was going to be using and got down to business. I started out with a base color of Zoya Rue from the Naturel Collection, it is such a nice soft pinky mauve neutral and I find myself reaching for this shade more than I thought I ever would. Then I topped it with a quick dry topcoat because I was in a little bit of a hurry to get the design on (I was doing my mani a little later at night than I normally would and I wanted it to be dry so I could shower and head to bed).

Then I took a toothpick (I wanted to see if I could get smaller dots by using a toothpick versus using my dotting tools), after I had started the design I came to the conclusion that I probably could have used my really small dotting tool to get the desired dots I was looking for. Despite the dots being a bit bigger than I wanted I still continued to use the toothpick. First I dotted on the white and for this I used Zoya Purity, Purity is one of my all time favorite whites and I use it very often. You can see I just did the dots in a swirl design. Then for the other shade I used Zoya Marnie (I believe it's spelled wrong on my label because when you look it up on Zoya's site it's spelled Marnie) from the Naturel Deux collection. I did the same swirl design for the dots kind of diagonal from where I put the Purity ones.

Then just because I felt that it needed a little something extra I added a cute little flower to my thumbs. I used Purity for the center of the flower and Marnie for the petals of the flower. Once all of my design was mostly dry I added another coat of topcoat to seal it all in. I hope you liked this design, I know I did. I think I may do this one again and change it up a little bit just to make it more unique and my own.

You can purchase Zoya polishes at Ulta stores, select salons, and as always Zoya's site here. They retail for $9 for regular polishes and if you are interested in their textured PixieDust polishes those retail for $10 (you should check them out, they have a wide range of colors).

Zoya Fall 2014 UltraPixie Dusts

****PRESS SAMPLE****


Zoya has come out with 3 new shades of the Ultra PixieDust polishes for Fall 2014! I was very excited when I received the press release on these because I LOVE the PixieDust polishes, all of them, and when I saw the pics of these shades in the press release I fell in love. I love red and berry colors and these are exactly that!
 
These are the next generation of our best-selling textured, matte and sparkling Zoya PixieDust formula Zoya Ultra PixieDust! This collection consists of three shades featuring both fine micro glitter and mega hex particles for tone on tone 3D effects. This easy glam nail is available in 3 shades in a gradient of red, wine and plum hues. No base or top coat required.

For BEST RESULTS (Zoya's recommendation) apply 2-3 thin coats of polish for full coverage to clean (oil free) nail surface. Allow product to dry completely for full effect. Do not use a base coat or top coat. Top coat can be applied for additional glossy effects. This is the same way that I apply the PixieDust polishes when I wear them. I totally recommend following Zoya's suggestion for best results.
 
Here they are!!!!
 
This is NOIR, deep vampy plum, textured PixieDust with red Mega Hex Particles. This one is a nice darker color, I love the dark, deep colors for Fall! These do dry to a matte textured finish but for some reason the lighting I was using was casting a shine on some of my pictures.

 
 




Next is ARIANNA, a blue-toned red wine, textured PixieDust with Mega Hex Particles. This one is so close to Oswin that I almost had a hard time telling them apart in the bottles without looking at the label on the bottom. I really love this color and it really does have the slightest bit of a blue undertone to it. This is perfect for when you are wanting just a little deeper red shade.

 
 



Last is OSWIN, a true red, textured PixieDust with Mega Hex Particles. This one reminded me of Dorothy's ruby red slippers from the Wizard of Oz. That is just how perfect this red is and how much it sparkles!

Now I thought the formula on all of these was just perfect. I did not have any issues with any of them. Zoya has even put out a great YouTube video on how to apply the Ultra PixieDusts, you can watch that video here. They also have a few suggestions on application that I'm going to share with you. Here's what Zoya had to say "For best results: Prep nail with Zoya RemoveNail Polish Remover and Prep. Apply 1-3 (for full coverage) thin coats of Zoya PixieDust polish. Allow product to dry completely between each coat for full effect. Do not use a base coat or top coat. If polish base does not dry down to a matte finish this may be due to not enough wait time between coats or because the color was not applied to a perfectly clean surface that is free of base coat (note: some basecoats may prevent the color from drying properly)."

I can't really pick a favorite out of these 3 because I really do like all of the shades and I am a super fan of the Pixies so it's a win-win for me! I think these gorgeous reds are going to also be perfect for Christmas time and I may have to start planning some Christmas nail art with these for that time of year.

The Ultra PixieDusts can be purchased on Zoya's site here and they retail for $10 each. Other Zoya shades can be purchased at Ulta stores, select salons, and as always Zoya's site. Regular polishes retail for $9 each and all the PixieDusts retail for $10 each.

bareMinerals 5-in-1 BB Cream Shadow

Today I am going to show you another shadow that I've gotten that I really am loving. I got a deluxe sample of this in my Ipsy Glam Bag a couple months ago and I am just now getting around to trying it out.

This is the bareMinerals 5-in-1 BB Cream Shadow and I have it in the shade Devine Wine. According to the description on Ulta's site this is the next generation in eye shadow: creamy, long-wearing color meets exceptional skincare benefits and broad spectrum SPF protection. Chock-full of skin-loving ingredients, this breakthrough product delivers 5 benefits in one luxurious formula. It has these Benefits:

• 12-hour long-wearing color
• Supercharged primer
• Powerful brightening benefits
• Smoothes the appearance of fine lines
• Protects with Broad Spectrum SPF 15

and Clinicals/Claims:

• 100% of women agreed their eyelids looked brighter instantly & over time.*
• 100% of women said their eyes appeared more youthful upon application.*

* Based on an independent consumer study (I copied these descriptions from Ulta's site).

It comes in a total of six shades and to me they are mostly neutral shades. The shades are Barely Nude, Soft Linen, Radiant Sand, Blushing Pink, Elegant Taupe, and Devine Wine. You can check them out on Ulta's site here. They retail at Ulta for $18 for a full sized 0.10fl oz tube. They have a nice paddle wand applicator (kind of like a lipgloss wand). For me this one dried really quickly so I figured out that the best way for me to apply it is to just dot it along my eye lid and then immediately blend it in with my finger. It blends really nicely and blends out to be a very beautiful shade. To me it is more of a brown than a Wine like the name says but I've been wearing this on those days on the weekend when I want a little bit of color on my eyes but I don't want to take the time to apply a whole eye look, or if I'm just going for a really natural look.

I can't say that I've used it enough to say whether or not my eyelids looked brighter or more youthful but I can say that I love this stuff and I may have to hit up my local Ulta and pick up a full size in this shade and possibly one or two more shades. I'm thinking that the Barely Nude and Blushing Pink may have to become a part of my collection along with the Devine Wine.

You can purchase these at Ulta stores or online or anywhere bareMinerals products are sold.

Coastal Scents Creative Me #1 Palette

Today I have another awesome find I came across. I had really wanted the Urban Decay Electric palette but I couldn't afford the price of it. Well, since I had such an amazing experience with the Revealed and Revealed 2 palettes from Coastal Scents I decided I was going to browse their site to see what I could find. Well, I found their Creative Me #1 palette which I found some colors that were very similar to the Electric palette. Sadly, it was out of stock. The nice thing about Coastal Scents is that you can sign up for email alerts that will alert you when something that you wanted comes back in stock. I quickly signed up for that alert.

A few weeks passed and finally I got the email saying the Creative Me #1 palette was back in stock. What was even more awesome is that this happened to fall within the time period that they were running a 35% off sale on most of their palettes and this one was on sale!! SCORE!! I quickly placed that bad boy in my "cart" and then thought about the nice silvery shade in the Electric palette that wasn't in the Creative Me #1 palette. So I browsed their Hot Pots and found one that was similar. I placed that in my "cart" and a "Go Pod" for the pot.

Now when the palette arrived at my home I quickly opened it and found that the pots in the Creative Me #1 palette were interchangable so you can replace just that particular color when it runs out or you can change around the shades in the palette if you want to purchase additional pots and change your palette around. I took one of the shades out of my Creative Me #1 palette (the lightest yellow one because I figured I wouldn't use that one as much and placed my silvery white one in it's place and put the yellow one in the Go Pod. The Go Pod is just basically a little compact for that single eyeshadow pot. They are all held in with magnets that are in the palettes and pods and the shadow pots are in a metal base. This is really nice and convenient. I love this idea, it's so nice that if I run out of a shade I can just purchase that shade and replace it, I don't have to replace my whole palette.

The Creative Me #1 Palette sells for $14.95 and it has 12 shades in it. The shades are Light Yellow, Bright Yellow, Light Tangerine, Bright Tangerine, Neon Red, Neon Bright Pink, Deep Grape, Magenta, Indigo, Electric Blue, Teal Green, and Shamrock Green. The silvery white that I picked up additionally was called White Silver. The single hot pots sell for $1.95 and the Go Pod for it sells for $1.95. I had a coupon code for the Hot Pot and Go Pod and then the palette was on sale for $9.72, I also used my Rewards Points that I earned from my last purchase and got $1.08 off. That brought my total with shipping to $19.85! That is a lot more affordable for me than splurging on an Urban Decay palette.

Now let me tell you about the palette and all the shades I have. The palette is a nice matte black plastic and each shade or hot pot is held in with magnets so you can replace or mix and match. It snaps shut so that is really nice that it stays secure when you take it with you traveling. It also has a very large mirror on the inside of the lid. I like the really big mirror because if I'm traveling I might need a good mirror to use. All the shades that come in the palette are matte shades and do not have any glitter or shimmer to them. The Hot Pot White Silver I bought is a shimmery shade, I like to have a bit of shimmer sometimes. The colors are really pigmented in my opinion and they are so buttery. I haven't experienced any fallout from any of the shades that come in the palette but White Silver is a shimmer shade so there was a little bit of fallout with that one. I found that if you just don't put too much on the brush you don't have much fallout.

Here are some swatches of each of the colors for you to see...

Here is Light Yellow, Bright Yellow, Light Tangerine, and Bright Tangerine.

Here is Neon Red, Neon Bright Pink, Deep Grape, and Magenta.

Here is Indigo, Electric Blue, Teal Green, and Shamrock Green. You can see here that the Teal Green and Shamrock Green appear to be very similar. In the palette/pot they look slightly different but once swatched they seem similar.

                                                           Lastly here is White Silver.

For me I don't think I will use the Light Yellow much so that is why I put it in the Go Pod right away and put the White Silver in it's place in the palette. I also found when swatching these that the Teal Green and Shamrock Green are very similar on the back of my hand. I also noticed that when I went to take my pictures of my palette I wanted to put the Light Yellow back in the palette and leave the Go Pod empty but I couldn't figure out how to get the Hot Pot out of the Go Pod, I'll have to do a little research and figure that out. If I can't figure out how to get the pot out when it's not empty I will just have to wait until it is empty so I can pull it out. Not a big deal for me though.

Here are just a couple eye looks that I did when I was playing around with the palette one day. I have yet to create any more looks but I look forward to all the looks I can create with this palette. These bright colors are something new for me, I've never really worn bright colors before but I am really starting to push myself to wear some bolder looks. I love that at my day job I am able to really express myself and they don't have any sort of dress code or anything that says what kind of make up I can and can't wear. They really give you freedom which for me is refreshing and just another reason why I love my job!

You can purchase Coastal Scents products here on their site.

2 more Wet-n-Wild Fergie Vicious Varnish High Shine Lipstain

I love these lipstains so much that I had to go out and get a couple more. I think now I have roughly 6 of the 10 shades released for these. I am debating on running out and grabbing the other 2 shades I've had my eye on but not sure. I'm sure I probably will though, lol!

Like I've said in my previous 2 posts on these lipstains, I LOVE them!!! They truly are high shine and a stain. They don't dry out your lips, they aren't sticky, and they really do have staying power!!

Without further delay, here are the 2 additional colors I picked up...

This one is Giving Realness. This is a nice nude beige and I really don't have a shade like this in my entire collection of glosses, stains, and lipsticks so I knew I had to really have a nice nude in my collection that I know will last! Close up in the pictures it looks a bit streaky but normally it has a nice color to it, most people aren't all up in your face inspecting your lips so I'm not worried about it because it gives me a nice result. :)

The next one I have is Street Queen. This is described as a sort of bubblegum pink but in my opinion it has a bit of a lilac to it. It really is so pretty and I wasn't sure if I'd like it on but it's really growing on me.

The other two colors that I am hoping to get my hands on are Runway Red and Throwing Shade. I guess you will just have to stay tuned to see if I pick them up because if I do, I will be sure to do a post on them so that you can see how they look.

These are available where Wet-n-Wild is sold, and that is practically everywhere! They are so budget friendly too! I got mine at Walgreens and they had them for $3.99 but on sale for $2.49 with your Balance Rewards card. So that means I scored 2 lipstains that are amazing for about $5!!! You really can't beat that price!

I hope you enjoyed these as well as I am!!

Press Release: Zoya Fall 2014 Ultra Pixie Dusts

For Immediate Release

 

Meet the next generation of our best-selling textured, matte and sparkling Zoya PixieDust formula ­Zoya Ultra PixieDust! Three shades featuring both fine micro glitter and mega hex particles for tone on tone 3D effects. This easy glam nail is available in 3 shades in a gradient of red, wine and plum hues. No base or top coat required.

 

 NEW for FALL 2014: ZOYA ULTRA PIXIEDUST!

ZP765 ­ NOIR: Deep vampy plum, textured PixieDust with red Mega Hex Particles.

 

 

 

 

ZP764 ­ ARIANNA:Blue-toned red wine, textured PixieDust with Mega Hex Particles

 

 

 

 

ZP729 ­ OSWIN: True red, textured PixieDust with Mega Hex Particles

Zoya PixieDust Application:
For BEST RESULTS apply 2-3 thin coats of polish for full coverage to clean (oil free) nail surface. Allow product to dry completely for full effect. Do not use a base coat or top coat. Top coat can be applied for additional glossy effects.

See the ³Zoya How to apply Zoya PixieDustTM Video² for more great beauty tips and tricks to use when applying Zoya PixieDustTM.

 

 

COLLECTION PRE-ORDER STARTS September 9^th, SHIPPING BEGINS September 15^th or Sooner

 

 

ZOYA IS THE HEALTHY COLOR OF FASHION!
$10 (US) Available onZoya.com and at finer salons and spas.

FIND ADDITIONAL COLLECTION IMAGES FOR MEDIA PURPOSES HERE: https://aob.box.com/s/5i272mg7on3vsu0i41c3

 

 

*BIG5FREE: Formula contains no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate, toluene or camphor.

A Fall Dotticure with Zoya Entice & Ignite Fall Collections

Today I have a nice dotticure for you using the Zoya Entice and Ignite collections, I also used one from the Naturel Deux collection and my favorite white of all time, Zoya Purity. After I finished doing this dotticure I realized without even trying that this was a perfect mani for fall. All the colors I used are just great Fall colors.

For my base I went with Zoya Veronica from the Entice Fall 2014 collection on my thumb, pointer, and pinky fingers. Then I used Spencer from the Naturel Deux transitional 2014 collection on my middle and ring fingers. To speed up dry time I then added a coat of Out The Door.

Once my base of Spencer was dry I started out with a single dot of Zoya Ryan from the Entice Fall 2014 collection on the upper corner of my middle finger and then on the lower corner of my ring finger. Then I took Zoya Autum from the Ignite Fall 2014 collection and went around the first dot with more dots. Next I took the same color I used as the base on my other fingers, Zoya Veronica, and went around all of the Autum dots (in kind of a half moon shape). Then for the last line of dots I did in this half moon/circular dots pattern I used Zoya Purity, this is my go-to white. It's actually down to half gone so I think I should probably order a new one so I have it as back-up.

Then once all of my dots were fairly dry I added another coat of Out The Door for protection and shine. I didn't get a pic of it but when I would lay my hand out flat the dot pattern looked like an "S" between the two fingers. It was kind of neat!

Zoya polishes can be purchased at Ulta stores, select salons, and as always on Zoya's site here. They retail for $9 each and the Entice and Ignite collections are available now. You should head on over to Zoya and pick them up because they really are the perfect colors for Fall (which lately feels like it's approaching very quickly here in MN some days).

Nail Art with Zoya Cosmo and Rooney

So this is just a pretty simple but very beautiful mani I did recently. I have been so excited using my new Zoya Tickled polishes along with the Zoya Magical Pixies, I seriously can't get enough of the bright colors of the Tickled and Bubbly collections and the insane sparkle of the Magical Pixies. This day when I was trying to figure out what I should do for a mani I was on serious idea overload with not enough time to do many of the things I wanted to do.

So I just settled for simple so that the colors and polishes can just speak for themselves! Here I have Zoya Rooney from the Tickled collection on my thumb, pointer, and pinky fingers. Rooney is a gorgeous bright magenta pink. In the pic above I have a top coat added to it but it really is shiny on it's own too. This cream goes on so smooth and with no streaking. I probably even could have gotten by with just one good coat but I applied two thin coats here.

On my middle and ring fingers I have Cosmo which is from the first edition of the Magical Pixies. Cosmo is a gorgeous silver with the original pixie formula and matte holographic glitter mixed in. This one sparkles so much that on a sunny day you could blind yourself or someone else if you're not careful, lol! But seriously, it really does have insane sparkle! This too applied smoothly, just as easily as the original Pixie Dusts, and dried fairly quickly. I love that it has the holographic glitter in it but isn't overly rough like you would think it would be. It has the same feel as the original Pixies and I love that!!

Zoya polishes can be purchased at Ulta stores, select salons, and on Zoya's site here. The Tickled and Bubbly collections as well as the Summer Magical Pixies aren't available in Ulta stores yet but you can get them on Zoya's site. They retail for $9 for the polishes and $10 for the Pixie Dusts (original and magical).

Morgan Taylor Color Block mani

Here's a little skittle mani I did with a color block design on the accent nail. I used 5 of the 6 colors from the Morgan Taylor Spring 2014 Casual Cool Collection.

Colors used were pinky: Ahead of the Game, ring finger: Varsity Jacket Blues, middle finger: Oh Snap, It's Silver!, pointer finger: New Kicks on the Block, and thumb: Get Sporty With It.

Then once my middle finger was dry I applied striping tape in the # or tic tac toe design. Once I had placement exactly how I wanted it I took a small nail art brush and dipped it in each color and filled in each block on my # with a color. I didn't have any particular design or reason to placement of each color in it's block, it was more just random.

Then once I had each block filled in with it's color I quickly and carefully removed the striping tape to reveal Oh Snap, It's Silver! underneath. Thus giving me my color block design.

Once everything was dry I applied a topcoat of Out The Door to seal and protect.

Morgan Taylor Casual Cool Spring 2014 Collection is available as of March 2014 while supplies last in professional beauty stores and salons nationwide. Suggested retail price is $8.50 per bottle. For more information, please visit www.morgantaylorlacquer.com.

Nail Art with Zoya

Here is a little nail art I created with a few Zoya shades and some nail vinyls. I really loved the way this double accent nail turned out and I have a feeling that I will be creating more nail art this summer.

Colors used were Zoya Kitridge on my thumb, pointer finger, and pinky finger. Then I had a base of Zoya Purity on the middle finger and used Zoya Raven for the chevron design. I used Butter London Fairy Cake for my sparkly accent nail on my ring finger.

Once my base of Purity was dry on the middle finger I applied my nail vinyls I ordered from Linda, @teismom on Instagram, you want to make sure that your nail vinyls are nice and smooth on the nail because when you apply your second color if they aren't smoothly down polish can get underneath and ruin the design you are trying to create. I then applied Raven over the top of everything. Then I quickly removed the nail vinyls to reveal my base of Purity. You want to remove the nail vinyls while the polish is still wet so that it won't pull it up during removal. I also think it gives you nice clean lines too.

Once everything was dry I applied a coat of Out The Door to seal and protect it all. You want to make sure your design is dry enough before you apply your topcoat so that it doesn't drag the colors or smear.

Zoya polishes can be purchased at Ulta Stores, select salons, and Zoya's site here. They retail for $9 for polishes and $10 for Pixie Dust polishes. Butter London polishes can be purchased also at Ulta stores, fine retailers/salons, and on Butter London's site here.

Sally Hansen Color Foil polishes

****PRESS SAMPLE****

Sally Hansen also sent me a couple of polishes from their new Color Foil collection that was released this summer. This collection consists of 10 new metallic special effect polishes. I received 2 of the shades and I am very excited to show them to you. There were so many good shades in this collection that I really didn't have any that I wanted more than others.

Each shade is in a bottle that is a matching metallic color. You can't see through these bottles because they aren't clear, which makes it hard to see how much you have left in the bottle, but that's ok. They are just super cute!

First I have Purple Alloy. This is a medium purple chrome. This applied so smoothly that I was really surprised at how well it applied.

Shown in the pictures is only 1 coat of Purple Alloy and no topcoat. That's right, I said just 1 coat!!! That is how well they cover, you could do 2 coats but really you can get by with one coat. Even on their own they have a nice shine but once you apply topcoat they really shine!

Next I have Sterling Silver. This is a silver chrome. This one also applied so smoothly. It doesn't even show brush marks like what you get with a frost or some other "chromes".

Shown in the pictures is also just 1 coat of Sterling Silver and no topcoat. I just love that you can just apply one coat and if you don't want to add a topcoat you don't have to because they are somewhat shiny on their own. I haven't tried this one with a topcoat yet but I imagine it will shine just like it's bottle does.


Both of these shades are good with one coat and applied so smoothly. They also dried very fast too. I'm gonna have to start thinking of some good nail art to do with these metallics and show them to you so you can see just what these babies can do!

These are available wherever Sally Hansen products are sold.