Mariah Carey Liquid Sands Holiday 2013 Collection Swatches: Make Him Mine, Baby Please Come Come and Silent Stars Go By

Happy almost Christmas Eve! Don't forget, my giveaway is still going on, and all you need to do is give me your e-mail address to enter and sign up for more entries. No worries, you still have a week to enter. 

I bought the 3 mini Mariah Carey Liquid Sand set for $10 from Ulta, and I thought it was a great way to try out some of the OPI's without spending much money (I used their $3.50 off $10 coupon you can always find on their website). I will start out with the formula and application since they were all the same. As always, I absolutely abhor the mini OPI bottles and brushes, and since they haven't changed them, it caused issues I'm sure I wouldn't normally have with these polishes. All of them only needed 2 coats which was great, and the dry time was medium (about 20 minutes at least) since you don't use topcoat (although you can).  

OPI Silent Make Him Mine (2 coats)

Make Him Mine is a dusty rose pink with lots of glitter. It also looks a little coppery in some lights. 

OPI Baby Please Come Home (2 coats)

Baby Please Come Home is a dusty lilac purple textured polish that is definitely my favorite of the 3. This will be worn all year round, for sure.

OPI Silent Stars Go By (2 coats)

Silent Stars Go By is a textured light pink color with champagne beige accents. 

Overall, this is a good deal for 3 OPI polishes. My only complaint is that Silent Stars Go By and Make Him Mine are a little too similar for this small set. I wish they would have included Kiss Me at Midnight instead. Oh well, I still think they are nice colors. 

Julep Neons & Nudes Resort Collection: Amelia

Julep Amelia (2 coats)

Wow, my nails look so ugly here. I swear it didn't look this sheer in real life, but boy, does it look terrible in these pictures. Amelia is a champagne frost that is really frosty. I would have redone the manicure with another coat of polish, but I just hated it and didn't want to put it back on. Sorry! Overall, we have:

1. Frosty color-check

2. Bubbling-check

3. Sheer-check

4.Streaking-check

On the bright side, it did remind me of a seashell. 

Julep December It Girl Maven Box: Vivien

Julep Vivien (3 coats) over Essence Prismatic White (1 coat)

Happy 3 day weekend! We were supposed to move this weekend, but the closing on our house got moved again and will likely be next Friday. Grr, buying a house is so annoying!

I ended up wearing Julep's Vivien on Christmas Eve. (I wore a red on Christmas Day). I thought it was going to need some underwear so I put it over a coat of Essence Prismatic White (they called these full coverage glitters, but I am always dubious). I've seen a few photos of this and it does indeed get opaque on its own. Oops. It's a champagne color with small and larger hexagonal glitter pieces. I like the use of different glitter sizes, but this one wasn't my favorite from the box. I would have liked this one more if they would have added another glitter color to this one. 

Have a great weekend! Any of you going to the LA IMATS this weekend? 

SquareHue Monthly Subscription Box: Champagne Toast

SquareHue Champagne Toast (2 coats)

It's Christmas Eve! My family will be getting together for dinner tonight and to open some presents (my brother will be visiting his in-laws on Christmas Day). I just want to say a quick thank you to all of you for coming by the blog. It seems like yesterday that I started this, and I appreciate all of you for your support. I hope to have great things for this blog in the coming year, so stop on back :-)

The second SquareHue polish from their December 2012 box is Champagne Toast which is a champagne/gold foil. This isn't the most unique color, but it is perfect for this time of year. The color isn't too warm, so I think this would be fine for cool toned people as well. The opacity was quite surprising, needing only 2 coats again. Sorry for the weird hand arrangement-the bottle is pretty big and it was difficult to get my hand around.


*This polish was provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site* 

Jessica Cosmetics Fall 2012 Spicy Dream Collection: Champagne Bubbles

Jessica Cosmetics Champagne Bubbles (2 coats)

Man, I just woke up from sleeping off a terrible headache. I have no idea what has been happening lately, but I rarely get headaches. I wouldn't mind if this stopped immediately. 

I had high hopes for Champagne Bubbles from looking at the bottle, but it was a bit disappointing on the nail. It's a champagne and silver colored foil that I thought would look a bit more like Pumpkin Delight, but you really can't see the particles as well since the color is lighter. It's not really bad, but not as exciting as I'd hoped. The application and formula was like the rest of the collection (slightly thick and needing only 2 coats).


*This polish was provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site* 

Zoya Intimate Spring 2011 Collection: Jules

Zoya Jules (3 coats)

Ugh, I've had one of those days. I sat in traffic for an extra hour today (it took me 2 hours to get to work) and missed the 1 class I'm taking. I know, I finished my PhD last year and I am still taking classes for fun! Right now I'm in Soil Chemistry class. If you're in school, what are you taking? I really can't complain too much because I know some of you in lager cities have to sit in traffic pretty often.

This is the second cheap Zoya polish I bought from Ulta. I feel bad for those of you without an Ulta store nearby. When I lived in Knoxville a few years back we didn't have one and I was so happy to move to NC where I had one nearby. At first I thought Jules was going to be boring, but it is a little darker than I expected on the nail so that makes me happy. It's a really pretty taupe color with champagne and gold shimmer. I think this one would make a nice office polish. The color also had me worried it was going to be sheer, but I only needed 2 thin coats for full coverage. Hooray!

On a different note, I've noticed a lot of new viewers from Pinterest. If you're new, welcome! If you like any of my pictures enough to post on the site, please do because it helps get the word out about my little blog. If you haven't heard about Pinterest, or need an invite, please visit their site here or send me an e-mail. 

Color Club Fall 2011 Foiled Collection: Antiquated

 Color Club Antiquated (2 coats)

Orly Rage 

Man, I really want to get the new iPhone 4S (RIP Steve Jobs), but I also desperately need a new computer. I dunno, I think I need to go with a new computer first. Any suggestions on brand? I won't get a MAC because they are too expensive and the specs aren't impressive for the price. I know, I know, some people swear by them, but I'm not making the switch just yet. 

Ok, some people may be wondering if Color Club's Antiquated is similar to Orly's Rage, and as you can see from above, they are pretty different. Antiquated is more of a champagne foil, while Rage has a lot more copper/peach in it. I'm not going to lie, I love both of them and I think they would look good on a lot of skintones.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I have my parents and my father-in-law in this weekend, so my place is pretty packed.