Easy Nails for the 4th of July!

I totally meant to post this BEFORE the 4th, but apparently my body decided to sleep through it. ANYWAY here are my holiday nails! They were super easy to do, and I think they're pretty cute myself!

The colors I used for this mani are:

Julep - America

Zoya - Liberty

Zoya - Cosmo

Vapid Lacquer Quick Dry Topcoat

Click on any of the links above for more info or to purchase! Zoya Libery is part of their Pixie Dust line, and Cosmo is a Magical Pixie! I love them both!

For this essentially I painted my accent nails with America. I had to fish out stars but it was worth it. It's a really neat color even though I only use it like once or twice a year. A must have.

I painted the rest of my nails with Liberty then used a makeup sponge for the gradient effect with cosmo. Super easy right?!

Until later,

xX Ashley C.

Rainbow nails!!

This post is going to be super quick but if I don't share these I might very well explode.
So, there was a challenge in one of the Facebook groups I'm in for rainbow nails...

So I did them and I used:
Julep:

• Majorie
• Lexxie
• Nellie
• Eden
• Fiona

Zoya:

• Elisa
• Robin

Butter London - Cotton Buds

Sinful Colors- Black on Black

Pretty & Polished Matte Topcoat

First, I painted all of my nails white with Cotton Buds.

Then, like a day later (I'm really slow), I painted rainbow stripes on top of them with a striper brush.

The greatest part about these nails, is that it doesn't matter how bad you are at drawing stripes because you're not even going to see them for long. :D I suck at stripes.

THEN once the rainbows are COMPLETELY DRY (SUPER IMPORTANT) carefully apply striping tape in the opposite diagonal direction of the rainbow lines. Paint your whole nail black and slowly peel the tape off while they're still wet. 

I then painted them with a matte topcoat.... just because I like matte and ended up with THIS AWESOMENESS!

I wish I could have these nails always.

Xx Ashley C.

Loreal gel kit review

Ok guys I finally got a minute to sit down. So I bought the new L'Oreal Gel Kit not really expecting much since I didn't buy a gel color to use with it but was really hoping for shine and staying power.

I tested it out on 3 of my most used polish to see how it held up to my job. The polish colors are ... Ring finger julep "love" middle zoya "valentina" and pointer finger OPI " Im not really a waitress" So while I went to bed with somewhat shiny nails. No I wasn't really impressed with with the shine,but I didn't use gel polish either so I could not complain much. I was surprised though when I was taking my shower before work Monday morning and had my polish on my right hand ring finger just peel right off. I thought oh great this will be interesting. So that started my Monday off (great start eh?) After work this is how they held up...

The thing that I found odd is that like after the shower, the polish didn't actually chip off but peeled off. In fact I was actually peeling the rest of them off while I was driving home LOL. I thought it would be great if I was wearing glitter polish but no such luck that day. What was left over was a bit more difficult to get off with my regular polish remover pads, so I guess there was a bit more protection. But in the end the shine factor was not there and that really disappointed me. I guess I'll just stick to a good topcoat for now :) ~Melissa

Awesome Pre-Birthday Ulta Haul!

So it's that time of year. Valentine's Day, My birthday, Tax Time, Bonus at work time, School refund time... So I've been waiting and waiting ever so patiently (NOT) to go to Ulta and hunt for deals (Mostly on Nailpolish). I went on Sunday, and to my dismay, they closed at 6. I was super sad and went to Old Navy to buy flip flops and camis in my despair.

I went back tonight though! And in my opinion I got a PRETTY AWESOME HAUL! I don't have very many actual photos and no swatches yet, as I plan to swatch everything individually, but here is what I got!

Ulta was running a special on Nyx for Buy 1 get 1 half off, and I love Nyx so I HAD to get something from this deal! I picked up Nyx Matte Lipstick in Summer Breeze for $5.99 & Nyx HD Photogenic Concealer in Green for $4.99 (Half off, so $2.50!). I've been dying to try out some Green concealer for a long time to see how well it hides blemishes, so I'm pretty excited to try this out tomorrow! Definitely will post a review for you guys to let you know how it holds up! The lipstick I got is SUPER pretty. As you know I LOVE pink lippies & matte lipstick is pretty great too.

You can't really tell how green the concealer is because the flash totally washed this out, but it's like a mint color. :) Isn't the lipstick great!?

The next deal I got was their 2 for $12 China Glaze deal! I normally wouldn't even spend this much for a China Glaze but they had two colors that I really really liked, and one that I have been in search of for a long time. I can't wait to swatch these! I picked up:

China Glaze - It's a Trap-eze! (from the Cirque Du Soleil: World's Away Collection; White w/ lots of glitter)

China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy (from the Party Poolside Collection; Coral Neon)

The next item I HAD to have is Push and Shove from the OPI Gwen Stefani collection. It was $9 but it came with a mini basecoat too which is fine by me. This color supposedly only lasts like 24 hours but it is a Silver Ultra Chrome Mirror Polish. Like crazy chrome. I've heard mixed reviews, but it's too shiny not to have in my life. I can't wait to swatch it! :D

Next is the lovely Zoyas I added to my collection this evening. I decided the other day, that I don't have nearly enough Zoya in my life, and I saw some girls in my swap group talking about some being on clearance at Ulta. I had to dig deep in random bins of nail polish to find these babies, but it was totally worth it.

First up is Zoya - Blaze. The website describes Blaze as a full coverage, cool-toned mulberry red w/ micro fine diamond holo glitter. It's beautiful in the bottle, and I don't even really like red. Dug this out of the clearance pile for $4.99! Can't wait to swatch it! 

I also managed to find Zoya - Payton buried deep for $3.99! It's kind of similar to Blaze, but its described as full coverage, galactic cranberry with holo glitter. Definitely a deeper red!

My nails have been breaking and peeling up a storm lately, so I also grabbed a bottle of Butter London's Horsepower to try out. I definitely paid full price for this, $19, so I hope it's worth it. I've been using some Orly Nail Strengthener, but it just isn't really working out for me. So fingers crossed! Anyone tried this?

Last, but certainly not least, I redeemed my FREE birthday gift. CK One Mascara, valued at $18. I have no idea if this stuff is any good or not. I had no idea this was even a makeup line until I got the coupon for this, but I will definitely let you know how it works out!! It's weird because it comes with two different brush heads, I guess depending how how you want your lashes? I don't really know honestly I haven't used it yet... I just glanced at the bottle. But you can't beat free!!!

All in all, I am really pleased with this Ulta Haul. It's been quite a while since I've been able to buy anything cool for myself in such bulk. Overall I paid about $58 for all of this which isn't too bad considering I saved $27!

I also signed up for the Starlook's Starbox today, as well as a 3 month subscription to the Pretty & Polished Beauty Box! Which is really awesome and is selling out FAST! You get all kinds of stuff with their new sub, including TWO polishes that are ONLY going to be released in that month's box! How awesome is that?!

Anyone gotten anything great in a haul lately?! I'd love to hear about it! 

Goodnight everyone!

Xx Ashley C.

Top Ten Favorite Nail Polishes!

So this was really way harder than I anticipated. Doing my top ten lippies was pretty easy, but there's just so many polishes that I couldn't live without. I'm probably going to do a top ten Julep post later on, but for now, here are my top ten favorite polishes of the moment!!! :)

Here's flash vs. no flash just to give you a better idea of color. Since it's nighttime and there is no sunlight for me to take pics in. 

From left to right:

• Julep - Denver Seafoam Green Creme
• Julep - Avery Hot Pink Creme
• Julep - Kai Baby Blue Sea Salt
• Julep - Carly Full Coverage "Malibu Blue" Glitter
• Julep - Rebel Silver Holo
• Julep - Jackie Perfect Cherry Creme
• Zoya - Carter (Buy it for 7.29 with free shipping on amazon at this link!) Purple Pixie Dust
• Butter London - Cotton Buds - Perfect white creme
• Pretty & Polished - Popples White Crelly with Neon Green & Pink glitters :)
• Sinful Colors - Forget Now Hot pink shimmer

Who's ready for some messy swatches?!?!?! I know I am!

From top to bottom: Kai, Carly, Rebel, Cotton Buds

Cotton buds is the most amazing white ever. If you don't own it, you definitely need to. Just saying. Chynel and I are in agreement. 

Here's a shot of Denver with no flash

Carly is really hard to photograph without it glaring up. And you can't really see the awesome texture of Kai. 

But you kind of can here.

This hand's even messier!! This is Carter, Popples, Jackie, Forget Now, and Avery

By the way I just got Avery today and am in love. It's like the most perfect Barbie pink. It looks like pink plastic I love it. Not overly shiny and it's amazing.

Carter is amazing because its really really glittery and nice and textured. The pixie dusts are so textured that I can use a topcoat, and still feel some of it through. With the Julep Sea Salts, I can't.

Popples is also one of my most favorites. I know I already did a post about it but I just LOVE the glitter!

Well, that's pretty much it!! Tomorrow I will be doing the Top Ten Eye post. I'm really excited for it. :) 

What are some of your favorite polishes?????? There are TONS more that I love that I didn't put on here. Like Pretty & Polished Jawbreaker, any glow in the dark polish, All of the other pixie dusts. It was really really hard to narrow it down. I just decided to go with what I can't seem to stop painting my nails with. :)

As always, don't forget to subscribe and follow us on Facebook to get all the updates!

Xx Ashley C.

Ipsy October Unboxing!!

It's that time again!!! The middle of the month has become my favorite part of the month since I subscribed to Ipsy. :) For those of you who don't already know, Ipsy is a makeup/beauty subscription program. For just $10 a month you receive a cute bag filled with 4-5 usually full sized mystery products all based on a survey where you tell them what you like or what you'd like to try. I personally love it. Ipsy has enabled me to try out SO many new brands that I would otherwise never try on my own. Definitely check it out if you like makeup, nail polish, or any beauty product!!!

You can use my referral link HERE!!!

This month was an AWESOME month for me! After last month's disappointing bag this one definitely makes up for it. You can see it right here.
The theme for the bags this month was "Art of Beauty" which is super cute. :)

Here is what I received:

I personally don't care for the actual bag this month. It's pretty plain. :)

I received a Coastal Scents medium shadow brush, Sexy Hair Spray Clay, Zoya nail polish, Bella Terra mineral shimmer, and Ole Hendriksen Truth Creme

Here is a better look at the brush. I personally can never have enough eyeshadow brushes and mine were getting pretty old so it works for me. :) It works really nicely and blends easily. It is also super soft. I'd definitely buy a whole set. You can purchase their brushes right HERE. Or you can use this link to buy this specific brush for only $2.49 which is a definite steal for a quality brush.  

Next up is Bella Terra Mineral Cosmetics Mineral Shimmer in Navy. I actually would have rather received the purple color they were giving out but I will surely be able to find some use for this. It is VERY highly pigmented and goes on super smooth. I haven't actually used to as eyeshadow yet but when I swatched it, it was very nice. I'd never heard of this brand before, but I think I will definitely purchase more of these in the future. Their website states these are 8 in 1. They can be used as "Creamy & Matte eyeshadow, nail polish, eyeliner, mascara, lip color, body glitter, and hair streaks" I'm not quite sure about using this Navy Blue for all of those things, but HEY whatever floats your boat. :) They have like 60 really pretty colors and you can purchase them HERE for $14.99 which is good for a pigment. You can also buy 9 stacks of them for $69.99 right here.

See how nice and smooth and shimmery it is? I kind of love it.

Here is the Sexy Hair Spray clay. I really love this brand of hair products so I was excited to receive this even though I wanted the blow dry gel. I used this yesterday after straightening my hair and it was pretty nice. It didn't leave my hair sticky at all, which is awesome in my opinion because most hairsprays do. It is supposed to be for adding texture but I tried it for flyaways and keeping my hair straight all day and it worked great! You can buy a full sized right HERE at Ulta for $18.95 or a trial size for $8.00.

This little thing right here is Ole Hendrikson Truth Creme. I was pretty stoked to receive this because I love trying new moisturizers. I've used it twice so far and the second time was much better than the first. The main problem with this is it has a SUPER strong orange scent to it. If you can't handle fragrances then this is definitely not your product. It goes on pretty smooth but I think it's a little bit too greasy for my liking. Truth Creme is supposed to be really great for anti aging. The trial size they provided is .25 oz while the full size is 1.7 oz You can purchase the full size right HERE for $45.

Last and my personal favorite is the Zoya nail polish. I received Mason out of the Fall 2013 Cashmere's and Satin's collection, which is a purpley/pink shimmer. Their website describes it as "Metallic" but I don't really see it that way. I absolutely LOVE it!!! The picture above is three coats in overcast light and the next one is with flash.. Zoya is one of my favorite brands even though I don't own very many. It goes on super smooth and not streaky at all. You can purchase this color from their website HERE for $8. 

So that's it! I love my October Glam Bag! And here comes the best part..... Ipsy Coupon Codes!!

• Sexy Hair $5 off $25 at Ulta.com - Code 105339
• Coastal Scents 25% off any purchase - Code CS25
• LA Fresh 30% off any purchase - IPSYLOVE30
• Ole Hendrikson 20% off & Free Shipping - LOVEIPSY
• H20 Plus 25% off - IPSY13
• Nourish Organic 25% at Target - Nourish20
• Ofra Cosmetics 30% off - ipsy30
• Starlooks 25% off $35+ - Ipsy
• Zoya B2G1 Free & Free Remover - IPSYZ3
• Bella Terra 50% off & Free shipping - IPSY

Don't forget if you like the looks of the Ipsy Glam Bag program you can sign up using my referral link! It's a reallllly great program if you love makeup!!! 

Have a great fall day! Xx Ashley C.