Guest Swatch!

I'm always interested in what normal peoples' nails look like. I want to know what the non-bloggers are wearing. My high school best friend Jes recently let me know that she was wearing a gradient look with Zoya Wednesday and Zoya Robin and I just had to see it!!!! She sent me these pictures and I think this look is gorgeous!!! Wednesday and Robin go really well together. Jes, by the way, is the person who introduced me to the wonders of Sephora (my wallet cries) and eating uncooked cake batter. So many fun times!!

So tell me, what nail art are you really into right now?? Also, if you're super into nail art and love Sally Beauty Supply (who doesn't??), check out this giveaway info I received yesterday:

Join in on the Summer Fun Nail Art Contest

Los Angeles, Calif. (June 2012) – Take a dive into the world of nail art with It’s So Easy® and the Summer Fun Nail Art contest. Beginning on Sunday, July 1^st, nail art fanatics throughout the United States are invited to enter their nail creations to win cash or gift cards.

         

The prizes are as follows:

                   1^st: $1,000

                   2^nd: $500

                   3^rd: $250

                  

Twenty congratulations prizes will also be awarded, offering $25 gift cards to shop at Sally Beauty®, the largest source of professional beauty products in the world.

The Summer Fun Nail Art contest ends on Tuesday, July 31^st.

For more information about the contest and to enter, visit the NEW It’s So Easy® website atwww.itssoeasynails.com.

About It’s So Easy®

It’s So Easy® provides the highest quality nail art products for nail art applications. The line includes loose glitters, cracked ice flakes, sealer and dryer, rhinestones, brushes, and more. It’s So Easy® products are available now at Sally Beauty®. To find a store near you, visit www.sallybeauty.com.

Like It’s So Easy® on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/ItsSoEasyNailArt

Follow It’s So Easy® on Instagram:

@ItsSoEasyNails

Follow It’s So Easy® on Pinterest:

www.pinterest.com/ItSoEasyNails

Follow It’s So Easy® on Twitter:

www.Twitter.com/ItsSoEasyNails

Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe Road

By now, you must all know that I require every orange polish ever made. I have so many oranges, and still, I find a way to justify buying another one. Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe Road is the first orange polish from RBL, so I definitely needed it for historical purposes. Santa Fe Road is from the new and gorgeous Georgia On My Mind collection.

Santa Fe Road is absolutely unique in my vast assortment of orange polishes. It's kind of peachy looking outside in sunlight and has beautiful green-ish iridescent shimmer running through it. Inside or in shade, it looks more light pumpkin colored (see below).

Indoors or out, this is one amazing polish. It's very different and has that smooth shimmer that Ji is famous for. This is two coats and the formula was good. It was a tad thicker than I had expected, but not at all difficult to work with. If anything, the thickness ensured it wouldn't pool into my cuticles.

Gah.... look at it!!I am 100% in love with Santa Fe Road. I hope RBL makes many more oranges in the future, because this one is excellent.

The Rescue Beauty Lounge Georgia On My Mind collection should be available to order sometime next week, probably toward the end of the week. Check out rescuebeauty.com to sign up for their email notifications.

MAC Heavenly Creatures Haul

I have been anticipating the MAC Heavenly Creatures collection for a few months now. I LOVE MAC mineralize products, and usually their summer mineralize collection is my favorite collection of the entire year. When Heavenly Creature appeared on the MAC website almost a week early (this past Monday), I jumped at the chance to get my products earlier than expected. I also had a code for free overnight shipping, so I got my order super fast as well. Heavenly Creatures is a large collection with lots of color products, as well as skincare. Here were my first round picks (I may go back for seconds after another paycheck):

I picked up two of the four Mineralize Skin Finishes (MSFs), Center of the Universe (left) and Star Wonder (right). MSFs are great all-over color for the face and I am pale enough to often wear them as blushes. They have a beautiful sheen and I always think I look healthier when wearing an MSF.

I also got this gorgeous Mineralize Blush, Supernova. Supernova already sold out on the MAC site, but you will be able to get it next week at your local MAC counter, and there's always Macys.com, Nordstrom.com, etc. There are three other Mineralize Blushes in this collection.

Above are 2 of the nine Mineralize Eye Shadows (MES) from the collection. Nine was overwhelming to me at first, so I just got these two- Magnetic Attraction (left) and Universal Appeal (right). I will probably get another MES or two from Heavenly Creatures because I do love them.

I only got 2 of the five Cremesheen Glasses, but this is another area where I'll probably grab a few more. I love the Cremesheen Glass formula. That's Astral on the top and Meteoric on the bottom.

Finally, the one skin care product I got is Volcanic Ash Exfoliator. I got this when it was last released, I think with the Style Black collection in 2009, and loved it. This is definitely not exfoliation for sensitive skin, but my skin likes these grainy scrubs. The crystals in this do melt away so it isn't too harsh as long as you don't rub too hard at first. Many people also find the smell to be odd, so sniff it at your counter before purchasing. I will most likely buy another 2 tubes of this if it doesn't sell out too quickly.

And now for the swatches!!!! Universal Appeal MES is more purple... my camera didn't feel like accurately representing the color I guess.

Center of the Universe MSF

 Center of the Universe, Star Wonder, Supernova (in shade)

 Star Wonder

 Supernova

 Center of the Universe, Star Wonder, Supernova (sunlight)

 Magnetic Attraction, Universal Appeal, swatched dry

 Magnetic Attraction, Universal Appeal, (dry)

 top- Magnetic Attraction, bottom- Universal Appeal (dry)

 Astral, Meteoric

 Astral, Meteoric

I haven't done any full looks with the products yet, so hopefully I'll be posting those soon. I did try Center of the Universe on my cheeks quickly and I'm loving it! It gives a beautiful warm glow that isn't too brown or muddy looking. I wanted to get these quick swatches up before stuff really starts to sell out! Everything I purchased looks amazing, I am super pleased with this collection and hope to buy more when I get paid again LOL!!

The MAC Heavenly Creatures collection is available now online at maccosmetics.com. It will arrive on MAC counters on Thursday July 5th. 

China Glaze Fall 2012 On Safari Preview

UNTAMED COLOUR AWAITS YOU

China Glaze® Introduces 12 New Crèmes and Glitters for Fall 2012

Los Angeles, CA – (June 2012):  China Glaze® nail lacquer invites you to take an exotic expedition with its Fall 2012 collection, On Safari.  Be captivated by the earthy tones, rich plums and celestial sparkles that make up this adventurous assortment of polishes.

The China Glaze® On Safari features 10 rich crèmes and two glitters including:

            ·         Kalahari Kiss: Light sand brown

·         I’m Not Lion: Glistening gold and multi-color glitter

·         Call of the Wild: Beautiful chocolate brown-dark cherry blend

·         Adventure Red-y: Vivid red

·         Desert Sun: Delicious caramel

·         I Herd That: Brilliant copper glitter

·         Man Hunt: Bold cobalt blue

·         Exotic Encounters: Lush green crème with blue undertones

·         Elephant Walk: Cool graphite grey

·         Jungle Queen: Smoky violet

·         Purr-fect Plum: Bold burgundy

·         Prey Tell: Daringly dark red

On Safari is also available in:

·         6-piece “Native” Collection: Man Hunt, Exotic Encounters, Elephant Walk, Jungle Queen, Purr-fect Plum and Prey Tell

·         6-piece “Tourist” Collection: Kalahari Kiss, I’m Not Lion, Call of the Wild, Adventure Red-y, Desert Sunand I Herd That

·         12-piece counter display

The China Glaze® On Safari collection will be available at fine salons and beauty supply stores nationwide in July 2012.  Individual polishes retail for $7 MSRP; the 6-piece sets retail for $42 MSRP.

China Glaze is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde. China Glaze nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, visit: www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook and Twitter: http://twitter.com/ChinaGlaze

I'm really excited for this collection! I love fall collections so much... I think I need Kalahari Kiss, I'm Not Lion, Desert Sun, Exotic Encounters, and Jungle Queen.

OPI Girly Glam Nail Apps

I have one more of OPI's excellent new Nail Apps to show you today. This design is called Girly Glam and it's a glitter-based nail polish sticker. The design is like a swirly almost camouflage-like pattern with silver, pink, bright pink, red, and black. I love this pattern, and the glitter really sparkles.

The Girly Glam Nail Apps applied as easily as the other two I reviewed, Reptile and Metallic Waves. The excess was very easy to file off and get the edges smooth. I cut the four largest strips to fit my nails for these swatches, and I obviously didn't really do a great job cutting. But that's my lack of cutting skills, not the fault of the nail apps. When I actually wear these strips for a full mani, I choose the five smallest strips for each hand, and I don't have to cut them at all.

The OPI Nail Apps have been lasting for four + days on me, with no chipping or tip wear.

By the way, if you are ever rushing out the door without your nails done (unfortunately, I am all the time) to an important event, these are an excellent thing to keep in your purse. I was able to do a set of nail apps in the car on the way to a wedding on Sunday (while my boyfriend was driving, of course). My nails looked awesome and it was way easier than trying to paint my nails in the car and then waiting for them to dry/ruining them upon exiting the vehicle.

Pure Lacquer Nail Apps are available now at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for the suggested retail price of $11.95.
For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!


This product was sent for review. For more information, please read my Disclosure Policy.

Born Pretty Store Silver Foil and a Slytherin NOTD

When I was thinking about what polish color to pair with Born Pretty Store's silver foil, I couldn't get past the combo of dark green and silver. And dark green and silver are Slytherin colors, so here's a Slytherin mani!!

Born Pretty Store's foils are really good for an easy nail art look. For this mani, I ripped up the silver foil into small pieces and spread the pieces out onto a piece of paper. Then I painted on two coats of Zoya Envy. When Envy was mostly dry, I used my fingertip to pick up one foil piece at a time and place it on the tip of my nail. After applying all of the foil, I finished the look off with a layer of top coat.

I really like using this foil. It's easy and fun!! Someday I'm going to try covering my whole nail in pieces of foil so a bit of the base color peeks through. And I'll do it in red and gold for you Gryffindor fans out there.

This nail art foil is available now at Born Pretty Store. Don't forget to enter the code "ERJ61" at checkout for 10% off your order!

Speaking of Slytherin and Gryffindor, I just joined Pottermore. I haven't had much time to explore it yet, but I will later in the summer. If you're on Pottermore, my name is PhoenixSparks5772 and I don't have any friends yet!!

Born Pretty Store silver foil was sent for review. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

China Glaze Summer Neons Sun-Kissed!!

I've said this before on the blog, but I spend the vast majority of the summer with a China Glaze neon polish on either my toes or my nails, sometimes both. I love neons for summer, they're just so cheery and bright!! In my opinion, China Glaze makes some of the best neon polishes around. Their latest Summer Neons release in no exception. So far, these are the best neon polishes I have tried. I purchased six of them to show you/wear constantly this summer, and today's post is China Glaze Sun-Kissed.

Sun-Kissed is a bright highlighter yellow neon with shimmer. It looks slightly more yellow and less green in real life than in these pictures. I did three coats of Sun-Kissed for these pictures, although I'd wear just two coats. This is Sun-Kissed all alone, NO WHITE BASE NEEDED!!!! I much prefer neons that don't need a white base, and this pops all by itself.

We HAVE to chat about how this is the least streaky yellow I have ever used in my life. It must be the shimmer, because it applied like a dream. I read someone's review where they said their bottle needed thinner, but mine did not. It was so easy to apply and opaque in two coats. Yellow is a favorite polish color of mine, but a lot of times I feel like it's not worth the hassle of trying to get it streak-free. I didn't even try with Sun-Kissed, yet there are no streaks!

I sincerely hope the other 5 Summer Neons I bought are as amazing as Sun-Kissed. If they are, this will be my favorite China Glaze collection since Summer Days in 2009!!

The China Glaze Summer Neons are available now at an Ulta near you!!