Shakeup Your Makeup

Something new from the makers of SensatioNAIL, FUSE is a simple, two step process for at home gel nails!  Paint your nails and flash dry with the FUSE LED light, and you are ready to go!  No more base coat, color coat, top coat - this is an all in one collection, with the starter kits running $24.98 and the various colors approximately $9.99 for the polish.  

A picture of the display is below.  There are a lot of colors to choose from, including creams, basic reds, pinks, and some fun colors like blues, teals and shimmers.  Definitely an interesting, and simple, concept!  There are a lot more colors online on the FUSE website, as well.  

Have you seen these all-in-one FUSE nail sets yet?  Think you will pick one up?

Happy Second Day of Fall!  I have been waiting for the cooler weather to hit, because now it means sweaters, boots, and of course, rich neutrals!  Walmart had a massive Sinful Colors display up when I went in this weekend, and this color just spoke to me - Dark Bronze.  And, you guessed it, it's a dark bronze color!  Actually, these pictures give it a bit more gold and less of the olive undertones that I see in natural light, but still a gorgeous shade.  This is a shimmer, but nothing over the top.  It actually is relatively muted, and kind of muddy.  

Click any picture for a larger view.  

 

Spring is so close, I can feel it.  In honor of my desperate need to get past the winter blues, I grabbed a bottle I had been holding onto for warmer weather - Flower by Drew Barrymore in "I Lavendare You".  The new line by Drew is a complete collection, including BB Creams, blushes, nail colors, lip sticks and butters, eyeliners and mascaras...you name it.  Most range from $4.98 (as the nailpolish is) $13.98 for the foundations.  Really a nice price for a new cosmetics line. 

 

I picked up the Nail'd It Nail Lacquer in I Lavendare You (below) and a Lip Butter in Haute Honeysuckle.  I will swatch the butter later. 

 

I Lavendare You is a gorgeous, extremely pale lavender shade with just the slightest (and I mean slightest) hint of an iridescent blue shimmer.  It was so slight, it was difficult to capture, but I think you might get the idea in the second picture.   There are a variety of shades, from rich wines to pale nudes, and a couple extravagant colors like a turquoise and orange as well.  The bottles squat square bottles, but easy to hold.  The brush was nice, thin, and applied an even coat.  The actual consistency of I Lavendare You was much thinner, more jelly like than I anticipated.  I guess by looking at it in the bottle, I was expecting an opaque creme, but it did not apply as such.  With that said, I was very pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  

 

 

 

This closeup (above) gives you a feel for the shimmer in this color.  Not over the top at all - in fact, I can't say it actually translated onto the nail.  When I look close up, I do not see any shimmer at all.  Just a pleasant little surprise in the bottle. 

 

Below, my swatches.  See how gorgeous this color is?  I mean, it screams spring.  Just a light, beautiful pastel.  I actually thought of those conversation hearts for Valentine's Day when I saw it on.  This could easily have used one more coat to get full opacity (I did two here), but I am very happy with the color and slight transparency of this.  With one coat, it is streaky, so I would suggest two.  Application was a breeze - runny enough to get a nice thin even coat, but thick enough to hold on when you are getting close to the cuticles.  Dried quickly and didn't shrink with a top coat, which is another added bonus. 

Final verdict?  I will certainly be picking up another color or two in this collection.  I really love this shade, and hopefully the wear will live up to the hype of everything else I have experienced with the color.  I would definite suggest picking this shade, I Lavendare You, if you are needing a little spring pick-me-up.  You won't regret it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walmart had a new display up the other day for, what I assume, is the holiday introductions for SensatioNAIL.  These are sets of two polishes, one glitter and one color.  There is a red set, silver set and gold set.  Very fun if you are looking for something long-lasting in the glitter department!

 

Maybe I've been living under a rock, but I had no idea ChapStick came out with seasonal flavors!  Standing in line at Walmart today, I noticed this brown swirl wrapped ChapStick and picked it up to see it was called Chocolate Truffle.  In the same box was Candy Cane and Apple Cider.  They sound delicious and at $0.98 a piece, a nice way to get a seasonal fix without the calories!  Have you seen these before? 

 

Every year I love looking through the Halloween aisles at all the makeup kits and holiday themed items.  Walmart had an entire section devoted to Fing'rs Stick-On Nails that were holiday themed, for both adults and children.  I'm not going to lie, I really preferred the kids versions over the adults, but that is probably because they were more whimsical and that is the type of Halloween I prefer.  I took some closeups of what I could dig out of the display below.  They look like a fun way to snap up an outfit!

 

 

Look at how cute these pumpkins are!  I love them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Frankensteins above are adorable too! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ran into Walmart to grab some Halloween candy for my office desk, and thought I'd run over by the clearance section to see if there were any goodies.  I don't know how much of a "sale" or "clearance" this is, but bodycology had some new seasonal fragrances available that I had not seen before.  The two that really popped out to me were Sugared Vanilla Bean and Spiced Caramel Cider  and Sugared Candy Apple.  I wish I had picked these up - I absolutely love Bath and Body Work's fall fragrances, especially last year's Cozy Autumn Vanilla and Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin.  Might be an inexpensive alternative?

 

Have you seen these?  Tried them?  I wonder what their staying power is?

Welcome to the world of Piggy Paint.  I saw this display at Walmart this past weekend and came home to do some research.  Piggy Paint is a non-toxic, hypoallergenic nailpolish that is "...as Natural as Mud!".   These polishes are free of formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, Bisphenol A, ethyl acetate and acetone as well.

Closeups of pictures below...

It appears the at-home gel nail craze is in full effect.  I posted Nutra-Nails Gel Perfect UV Free Gel Color review and swatches a few weeks ago, and since then I have started to see those particular kits pop up in more than just Walgreens, so I would say they will be soon available in a number of outlets.  Anyway, at Walmart the other day, not only did I see the new SkinnyGirl Face & Body collection, I turned around to look at the Essie polishes and found this: Nailene's SensatioNAIL Invincible Gel Polish Kits and refills. 

The kit itself (pictured above on the display, and then a few closeups below), actually contains whatever color you pick for the polish, The Gel Primer, The Gel Base and Top Coat, the Cleanser, and the LED Light to set the polish.  You can also pick up other colors, which come in a smaller box with a swatch on the front.

All in all there are 12 colors to choose from:

I took some pictures of the actual main kit below - it's a simple four step process on the box - primer, color, set and top coat. 

This is what is actually included in the starter kit :  Cleanser, color, primer, base and top coat, and the LED light.

If you are really interested in the "how-to's", I downloaded the PDF for the actual instructions, found inside the box.  Click the image to see a larger view.

The starter kit retails for $49.98 and the refills/new colors are $9.98 a piece.  Seems about right compared to some of the other kits I've seen that sport a light - the light themselves tend to sell for around $50 a piece, and then you have to purchase the colors and cleansers separately. 

What do you think?  Something you might pick up? 

Next up, about halfway down the display are two rows of skin and body care.  There are tinted moisturizers, cleansers, scrubs, body lotions and cleansers as well as a tinted body shimmer. 

At the bottom is a set of SkinnyGirl Mommy collection, including foot scrubs and a cooling foot lotion and mist.  There were also some gift sets of certain things in various citrus scents. 

The price starts at around $4.97 for the lip glosses and balms and runs up to around $15-16.97 for the more intensive items and sets.  The packaging is cute, and there definitely are quite a few things to choose from.  Interesting enough, although I don't know if I will pick anything up from the collection. 

Have you seen these?  Are you going to get anything? 

I had read somewhere that Nicole by OPI was partnering with the Kardashians, but I didn't realize how many colors there were going to be until I saw the display at Walmart this past weekend.  The collection is called Kardashain Kolor.  Each of the leading ladies has a set of 3 colors to choose from.  There are some basic cremes and shimmers, and some really glitzy glitters. 

The display is enormous, especially by Walmart standards.  It's very rarely that I find seasonal/temporary display for one product that fits the entire endcap in the beauty department, but this one did!  It definitely catches your eye when you walk by!

The polishes retail for $7 a piece and can be found instore or online.

I picked up Disco Dolls which is a golden glitter with hints of red microglitter throughout.  Swatches to come soon.

Walmart was setting up their holiday gift aisle this past weekend, and I spotted the set of 5-Hard Candy LE Nail Polishes.  This is a deep purple shimmer, a bright orange/red shimmer, green glitter, gold glitter and silver glitter.  It looks very similar to last year's set too, but I can't find my picture of it to compare.  Price is $5 for the set.  There were also single polishes for $1 a piece in similar shades to last year.

Expanding upon the huge success of the Skinny Girl Margarita, Bethenny Frankel will soon be debuting a skincare line under the Skinny Girl name, according to the Daily Mail.  

Simple packaging and even easier on the wallet, all items will retail for under $15.  The products will be developed with the beauty company, Lotta Luv, and will be carried through Walmart beginning in November.

Also, interestingly enough, she isn't pawning these items off as miracle workers.  Instead, each item is and its purpose is straight forward and made for a reason.   Below is a peek at the packaging - it's cute, and goes right along with the Skinny Girl theme.

Well, what do you think of that?  Interesting, huh?

A few weeks back I posted a picture of a geoGIRL endcap at Walmart.   From that display I decided to pick up a lipgloss for my purse, and since I'm a sucker for anything lemon/lime, I went with "Sub-Lime".  This is a pale lime green gloss with hints of shimmer. 

As with the other geoGIRL products I have swatched here before, the packaging focused on recyclable products.  The lid is cardboard and the plastic portion containing the gloss itself is made from recycled product.  The outer packaging was also card board and had the cutsie little sayings and ideas on how you can better the environment as well. 

The applicator itself is a doe-foot.  As you can see in the picture below, the product isn't really all that green - its really quite sheer.

Have you tried these out?  What's your favorite flavor?