February 2014 US Weekly Birchbox Unboxing!

For those of you who don't already know, Birchbox is pretty much the first beauty subscription box there was, and has been around for awhile. Like one of my other favorites, Ipsy, it's just $10 a month and they send you 4-5 samples of higher end products so you can try them out before you purchase them! I've been subscribed for three months now, and my favorite part of the Birchbox program is that as you receive items, you can review them and then receive points towards anything in their store. 100 points =$10, so it's pretty great. If you'd like to subscribe feel free to use my referral link RIGHT HERE!
This month's Birchbox partnered with US Weekly to bring us the latest and greatest brands, so they say, and this is what I received....
**Spoiler Alert!**

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.

Mani of the day!!

I'm so so so excited for fall!! I can finally wear my sweaters, boots, hoodies and fall colored nail polishes!! For my nails today I decided to do a glitter ombre! I am OBSESSED with glitter ombres and fades right now. They are super cute for any season but I think my favorite gold glitter is perfect for fall! I probably need a little bit more practice with them but I'm really liking my nails!! Hope you enjoy! :)

For this mani I used:
Sephora by OPI - I'm with Brad
Sinful Colors - All About You

The glitter ombre itself was really easy to do! All you need is a makeup sponge. First paint you nails a solid color and wait until they are almost all the way dry. Then you paint the glitter onto the sponge and just sponge it on slowly and make sure there is more at the tip of the nail! :) Then seal it with a topcoat of course!

Another tragedy I'm also out of cuticle oil!!! Anyone have any suggestions for a brand that will help a really big problem with cracking cuticles???

Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do!! :)

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Xx Ashley C.