Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Lovely Rica

Sparkly, shimmery, summery-- Zoya Rica is just perfect for this time of year!

Zoya Rica

Rica has a pinky coral base with TONS of gold shimmer that will blow your mind. It has a really beautiful texture, too. The formula is easy to work with, though perhaps a little bit sheer, and needed three coats. Shrimp on the Barbie by Spoiled is supposed to be a near-dupe, just a touch more pink.

This lovely sparkler is part of Zoya's Sunshine collection from last summer, all of which are super gorgeous and shimmering with gold awesomeness!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Target Beauty Bag

A couple of weeks ago I received my Target Beauty Bag in the mail, and boy was I excited-- check out the goodies!

I love the cute striped cosmetic bag they came in! I'm using it to keep my sunglasses in my purse. And below are all of the great samples that came inside.

1. Pantene Color Preserve Volume Shampoo

2. Nivea Extended Moisture Daily Lotion

3. Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

4. Target Coupon Booklet

5. L'Oreal Paris Magic Lumi Light Infusing Primer

6. Neutrogena Visibly Bright Daily Facial Cleanser

I think my favorite product is either the Nivea Extended Moisture lotion or the Neutrogena Visibly Bright cleanser (consequently they are also the two that I purchased full-sized bottles of). The Pantene shampoo is okay; it didn't seem to lather particularly well and I needed rather a lot of it. I only used it once. The Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes are pretty nice! I've used them several times to remove a full face of makeup, which they did both effectively and fairly gently. I have somewhat sensitive skin so it's always good to find something non-irritating, although I'll probably continue to use my L'Oreal makeup remover (it's also less expensive). Honestly I don't think I used the L'Oreal Magic Lumi the way I should have. I applied it to my face over my moisturizer, and it gave my face a shimmery sheen but I wasn't really impressed with the look. So, I thought, "Primer? Let's find out!" and then applied my Revlon Colorstay foundation over that-- not a great idea. It made my pores super visible, and definitely doesn't work as a *primer*. I think if I had used it as a highlighter over my foundation, that would have worked out much better. But, I really love my Physicians Formula Happy Booster Powder as a highlighter (and it smells fantastic!) so I don't feel the need to re-purchase/retry the L'Oreal.

Also included was a wonderful little book of Target coupons for each of the products/brands included as well as a few others. So far I've only used the Neutrogena & Nivea coupons, and I seem to have misplaced my booklet for now so hopefully it turns up so I can try more stuff!

I love this moisturizer. Granted, I am a little obsessed with hand and face moisturizers in general, but the Nivea Extended Moisture works really well! It's extremely hydrating and long-lasting, and it's basically unscented so there's no, "I'm just not into smelling like raspberry pie mojitos right now" dilemma. The one thing I did notice though is that the formula of the sample and that of the mini tube are totally different. The sample was a little runny and took a little while to absorb fully, where the mini tube is much thicker and absorbs better. I like both-- they both work the same for me, I just wonder which one is the real formula. Observe in the photo below these contrasting creams:

The other product I couldn't live without was the Neutrogena Visibly Bright cleanser. Again, I just really love facial cleansers, but look-- there is gold shimmer in there, whaa? It doesn't show up on my face after I rinse, however, I love this shimmery gold soap. It also has a subtle and pleasant citrus smell that is delightful, and, oh yeah, it cleans my face pretty well, too! So, admittedly, I don't have truly convincing reasons for loving this cleanser. I don't see a dramatic change in the brightness of my face, but it certainly makes my skin feel refreshed and clean and kind of blingy, even though there really is no bling. It washes right off. (Do I want to cover to my face in gold shimmer now? Yeah, kind of. A little.)

Target actually just announced their Summer Beauty Bag giveaway yesterday, and sadly they are already all gone. So hopefully those of you who wanted one were able to grab it. After many attempts I was lucky enough to get one, so I'm looking forward to what this next one will have in store!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Stormy Cement

This manicure was inspired by a beautiful polish from Girly Bits, Stormy Skies.

Sally Hansen Wet Cement + Finger Paints Motley + Pure Ice Heartbreaker

I think the blue/green & purple flecks in Motley and the green shimmer in Heartbreaker contrast really nicely against the pale grey, and give the look of an overcast and stormy blue-grey sky. The shimmer in Girly Bits Stormy Skies is actually much brighter and denser though, and I really love the almost jelly-like look the polish has, which has more blue in it as well. So while I think this manicure is similar in color, well, that's really it. :P

I was actually incredibly lucky enough to win a giveaway of Pam's including Hippity Hop and a polish of my choice, so of course I chose the amazing Shift Happens, a spectacular color changing topcoat. Honestly I wasn't as excited about Hippity Hop until I saw it in person-- wow! Such a gorgeous and delightfully springtime-y assortment of glitters. Here it is over Models Own Indian Ocean; love this combo!

Girly Bits Hippity Hop over Models Own Indian Ocean

More pictures of Indian Ocean to come soon. Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A little while ago I picked up Mermaid's Lagoon, a really beautiful teal with coppery pink shimmer. When I first applied it, it looked fantastic: the color was great, and the shimmer was very visible. But as it dried, the color changed from teal to green! So I took it off, and figured it just reacted weird with that particular top or base coat, and tried it again a couple weeks later. Well this time the color changed again, and the shimmer disappeared. Agh!!

Jesse's Girl Mermaid's Lagoon

Look how visible that beautiful shimmer is in the bottle, yet it was nowhere to be found on my nails! Also the picture above is very color accurate to what the color should have been, but it was a few shades greener in actuality.

+ CND Copper Shimmer & Crimson Sparkle

So I just decided I'd have to amp it up by adding my own shimmer and sparkle with CND Effects, and then it looked pretty awesome.

I've never had issues with a nail polish reacting that way where it changed colors, or at least not to where I noticed it. I really wish this color looked as good on my nails as it does in the bottle though!