Introducing Formula X for Sephora + Teardrop Nail Art Tutorial

I'm always flattered when I'm contacted by a company to do a review.  This was even more than that, an introduction for a completely new nail polish line.  Formula X for Sephora is the next in nail, a 3-free polish that has a wide range of colors, finishes, and products extending to nail appliques & nail care treatments.  Sephora sent me a selection of colors from both the New Classics, and the Celestials.  You can see my thoughts on the collection as a whole, a close up look at the polishes, as well as a tutorial for my teardrop design in this vid:

One thing I forgot to mention in the vid is that the caps are not really square - that's just for looks & can be removed to reveal a normal cap, which makes application much easier.

Here's a closer look at the manicure - I used Pyrotechnic for the base color & Sparklebomb for the teardrops:

So what do you all think?  Have you been in store to see the awesome display of the full collection?  Let me know in the comments!

If you don't live near a store you can always order online from Sephora's website:
http://www.sephora.com/formula-x-for-sephora

Or, if you're just looking for some inspiration, check out the Formla X site:
http://www.formulax.com/

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette
(These were sent to me for review)

Small Butter London Haul

I was excited to receive these colors from a Butter London product rep:

Here's a closer look at the bottles - left to right Disco Biscuit, Royal Navy & Yummy Mummy - which as I mention in the vid was supposed to be a lip gloss which is currently still on it's way =)

I have a bunch of other haul vids that I recorded & uploaded & then never got around to taking bottle pictures for the blog post ... in addition to all the NOTD pics I have to edit ... and finish up books from (ugh) last year & then start this years list ... in other words plenty to do but for now I'm headed out to lunch with Mom LOL.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

(These were sent to me for review)

Salon Express Nail Art Stamping Kit Unboxing & Review

While this is an "as seen on TV" product, I got mine at Sallys, and have spotted it at Target also.  I found out that the Salon Express kit is available on Amazon too.

Not much else to say other than what I go over in the vid ... to summarize - I love the stamper, I hate the scraper, and the plates are actually pretty nice for the price, but not as high quality as real Konad.  If you'd like to see exactly why I hate the scraper, check out my full review vid:

It's also worth mentioning that today is my 3 year Blog-ivesary =)  I don't have anything special planned other than continuing to play catch-up (I'm almost done with 2011 stuff at least LOL), but I'm remembering on the correct date this year!  Which, if you're a new follower, is a first - the last 2 years I was anywhere from I think a few days to a full week late.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Review: Born Pretty Stamping Plates

OK, so it took me a while to get around to reviewing these, being so distracted with holiday-related nails, but I did use them the other day over Merry Mittens, and although obviously I haven't gone through & tried out each & every design, I want to share my impressions with you guys.  You can find these & more at the Born Pretty website http://www.bornprettystore.com/, and you can enter promo code "COLE10K31" to get 10% through 3/31/11. 

 

The image plate set that I received is the 12-piece that includes the Hello Kitty design =)  You can check out all the sets that they have avaiable HERE in the Nail Art Stamping section. 

 

The image plates very similar to the Bundle Monster plates in that they come with a plastic film & a rather sharp edge that makes it tricky to remove.  I don't think they're quite as sharp as the BM ones though.  They are also unfinished on the back, but a slightly thicker disc of metal.  The biggest difference between these & both the Bundle Monster & original Konad is that they're octagonal rather than round

 

Like Konad plates, they are labelled with M & the plate number - although some of their M's are capitalized & Konad's are lowercase, when I refer to these plates & also for my tagging purposes you'll see an asterisk * following.  But don't think that they're the same designs just because they're labelled the same.

 

Have a look at the completely different m72 vs. m72*:

 

 

And here, m12* has images from both m36 & m40:

 

The designs seem well-etched - deep enough that you get the whole design when you stamp, and all of the details came through cleanly on the design that I used, from plate m71* .  Although some familiar Konad images are included, I didn't end up with very much duplication, most of the designs are original & include some designs that have a mirror-image right next to them on the plate.

 

Overall, these are very reasonably priced at less than a dollar a plate, and worth it in my opinion if you'd like to expand you image plate collection.  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

 

(These products were sent to me for review)

Review: Kelier Nail Crack Polish

I was recently contact to do some reviews for Born Pretty - you can check out their shop at http://www.bornprettystore.com/ and they sell a variety of both cosmetics, nail polish & nail art supplies.  They sent me a variety of fun things to play with & the first thing I'm going to review is the Crack Polish.

 

A lot of you probably remember cracking polish from back in the day, and it recently has been making a comeback.  Jessica from Born Pretty sent me 2 colors, black & blue:

 

 

And I decided to give them a try over a variety of colors - I started out with each over red, green metallic & silver chrome:

 

I love the cracking effect, both with the big chunks & the one silver where I got a really fine crackle.  It seems to depend both on the application & the underlying polish - I gave it another try over gold & purple (although the purple looks pink in the pic) - the left nail of each had a pretty thin layer of the Crack Polish, the right nail had a slightly thicker coating:

 

 

So you can see, I would say the thinner the better.  Definitely would take a little bit of practice to get an even coat on all your nails, so that the whole manicure had a uniform level of cracking & not one nail with big chunks & the next with little bitty ones - unless that's a look you were going for.  Born Pretty has Crack polish in a variety of colors that you can check out HERE.

 

Only downside was when I tried to just apply over my existing mani, when it cracked it started to totally flake off before I could put a top coat on.  I think maybe my nails weren't quite clean enough?  Next time I try that I would make sure they're squeaky clean with alcohol or vinegar beforehand.

 

I also received some rhinestones & some stamping plates, so stay tuned for those reviews!  Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

 

(These products were sent to me for review)

Mini Follow-Up Review: Skin MD Natural

To see my initial review, you can check out the original post HERE

When I finished my review of this lotion, I gave the rest of the bottle to my mom.  Even though I said I would post back with her results, I'd really kind of forgotten & wasn't planning on it until we talked about it the other night. 

While I wasn't overly impressed, my mom LOVES this lotion.  She has very dry, sensitive skin.  She is always on the lookout for a better lotion or cream & probably has 20 different brands - but she was so impressed with the Skin MD that she said she would consider getting rid of everything else & just using it, which isn't something she'd say about anything else in her arsenal.

The other thing is that for her job she can't wear anything that has a lot of scent.  She is a sensory panelist (read: food taster) for General Mills & if they come in smelling like who knows what it can throw off what they're picking up from whatever they happen to be testing.

So, just goes to show you that to each their own.  She had me look up where locally she can buy this because she wants more once she uses up my sample =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Product Review: Skin MD Natural - Shielding Lotion

I was recently contacted by Skin MD Natural & asked if I would like a free sample of their product for review. Well, you guys know I certainly can't pass up an offer like that! (If it's something I'm actually interested in & blogging about. Stupid semi-hassling product reps for things that have never been so much as mentioned on this blog, you know who you are.)

I received the lotion in the mail last week, and have been using it since. It's not just your normal lotion, it's a new "shielding" lotion - so, in layman's terms, what this lotion does is not only moisturize, but trap the moisture into your skin so it doesn't get dry again so quickly. In more technical terms, and to quote from the Skin MD Natural website:

"A shielding lotion does much more than just treat dry skin – it’s a new kind of skin care product that makes a real difference to all skin types.

Skin MD Natural™ utilizes the finest effective natural ingredients for dry skin treatment along with the latest advances in technology to hydrate and protect the skin.

This is an entirely new concept in skin care requiring a new classification: "Shielding Lotion". A shielding lotion keeps moisture-robbing irritants away from the skin while the proprietary "super" humectants hydrate the skin throughout the day.

Skin MD Natural™ is promptly absorbed, without the slightest hint of any greasy or oily feeling or residue, transforming the outer layer of skin into a hydrating invisible shield.

Glycerin has been the standard against which all humectants are measured. Until now no other humectant drew in as much moisture from the air as glycerin. But the proprietary formulation in Skin MD Natural has a moisturizing factor of at least 6 times greater than glycerin. Combined with its protective properties and natural ingredients, this makes Skin MD Natural a truly unique product.

An accumulated effect of Skin MD Natural is fully realized after only a few days of daily use. Depending on how dry your skin is the first few days may require reapplications after only a few hours. Usually, after a few days of continuous use, only one or two daily applications are necessary to see the improvement."

Now, I don't consider myself to have horribly dry skin, so I didn't get the drastic results that can be seen in some of the dramatic before & after pictures on their site. But overall I did like this lotion, it definitely kept my hands from feeling chapped or dry all day long, and lived up to the claims that it absorbed quickly with no residue.

The only thing I didn't like was the scent - although since the lotion is absorbed so quickly, it doesn't smell for long. My mom identified it as lanolin - it reminds me of baby wipes =( It's faint, but I have a sensitive nose. For me, particularly, a scent that I don't like is a deal-breaker.

The last thing that may be considered a downside is the price - on their website for a hefty (to me) $18 for a 4 oz. bottle. It looks like it's also available in many stores and pharmacies, and I'm assuming the price there would be comparable, although you'd be able to avoid shipping charges.

Overall, while I liked this product, I don't think I'd pay the price to continue using it. For now at least, my skin is healthy enough to get by with "normal" (& normally priced) lotion. However, after reading some of the reviews on their site, I think I will give the remainder of the bottle to my mom to try, since she suffers from Rosacea & there was testimonial that it really helped with that condition. If I have time & remember to do so, I may post a follow-up with her results.

Have any of you had experience with this product? Feel free to add your 2 cents in the comments =) Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Helmer Time =)

Yes, finally! Pics from start to finish through the assembly. At $40.00 each, I consider these to be pretty reasonably affordable. They hold up to 500 bottles of polish, depending on what size of bottle you have, and although I am still procrastinating & haven't actually put any polish inside them yet, I am going to be taking the opportunity to sort my polish by color instead of by brand as it is currently.

So, as many pictures as I did end up with, I kind of feel like I should have chronicled the shopping trip also - it was my first time to Ikea, and man is that place HUGE! I didn't think we really needed to go through the showroom, but I ended up being glad I did, because while I knew the Helmers came in 3 colors - white, red & silver - the real-life colors were quite a bit different than I thought. I knew the latest version of the white is really more of eggshell cream from reading other blogs. For some reason, I had the red in my head as darker, like a cherry wood kind of color? No, the red Helmer is like a fire engine. It's bright. I ended up going with the silver, which really is just grey. Nice & neutral.

Now, on to the pics =) Here's a couple of the box:


See how methodically this thing is crammed into the smallest possible space?:


Now, while I've heard some horror stories about Ikea's instructions, I didn't have too much trouble - once I got over my initial astonishment that there are NO written instructions. Literally. The only word that appeared in the manual was the misleading "click" which I'll discuss when I get there. Still, the pictures proved to be self-explanatory enough that I did not have to call the store ... as the little cartoon character illustrated:


Count your pieces of course, lay them to the side - the only tool you'll need is a screwdriver.

The first step in installing the uh ... well excuse my technical terms here, but I'm going to call them the little ledges for the shelves. They're nothing fancy, you don't actually have a drawer slide - in fact, one of the display pieces at Ikea was put together pretty poorly & several of the drawers didn't pull out smoothly at all, but all of mine are fine. The ledges basically slide right into place with little tabs:


Once you've done all 6 on both side, you get to put the base on - and this is the one step that I thought the illustration was very misleading:


No way in hell would I say these pieces "click" together. You have to push HARD to complete this step, but once I realized how much force I actually needed to use, I still wouldn't call it difficult.

Slide on the back panel, then secure it by bending this little metal tab down like so:


The top basically just slips on, then you put the casters on the bottom. I'd say they're pretty decent quality, only downside is they don't swivel, but I don't plan on moving these around much so I don't care that the maneuverability is cut down a bit; This step uses 3 screws, one further securing the base to the sides, and 2 securing the caster to the base:


Now to the drawers - I will admit that I folded up 2 or 3 of the drawers inside out & had to flatten them & fold them the other way, so just pay close attention to all the little arrows & stuff in the diagram:


The handle attaches to the drawer-fronts with 2 screws, and then the front is secured to the body of the drawer with more bent tabs:


Same with the back:

Repeat 6 times, and you're done!


Now, I also read that since the drawers are metal, if they're not completely full the polish bottles tend to slide around in there - thankfully, I also read the solution, which was some gripping shelf liner:

I feel like I've treated this kind of like a review with all the details & pics LOL. Overall I am very happy with my Helmers, they were easy to put together & I can't wait to fill them up - and then of course take some pics to share =) Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Nails, Nails, More Nails, Mini-Review & Award

LOTS to cover. Probably because several of these things I meant to post over the weekend & just never got around to doing it!

I'll start out with my nails, since that's probably what you came here to see =) I kept it simple, no nail art, because this polish is pretty enough by itself. I can't quite decide if this is a duo-chrome or just super super shimmery; Nubar Gold Leaf:

Then, my friend's mani chipped, so there was nothing but to redo it. This time we used China Glaze QT, another great holo from the OMG Collection. Unfortunately the sun didn't show while she was around but here are the pics I did take:

I also did my toes over the weekend. From the Color Illusion Collection, this was a Big Lots find, Revlon Purple Twilight (excuse the sun pics ... pre-clean up but it was the only instant the sun was out):

OK, that brings us about halfway through this giant post! And all of the real manicure-related stuff out of the way.

Those of you who read my Mini-Review of the Revlon Runway Collection Fake Nails will probably recall that I pretty much dissed them all around. If you don't remember, well, click the link & go back to check it out =)

Given that I was less than enthusiastic and none too complimentary, I was pretty surprised when they contacted me to say they'd be sending me more free fake nails. Yay!... I guess?

I mean, free stuff is always good, but in this case I'm thinking Revlon is going by the old adage of there's no such thing as bad press. Even if I pan their product, you guys all still get to see it. So I'm going to do another mini-review, this time focusing more on the designs, but please Revlon reps if you're reading this: next time give me polish. Because I really have no love of your fake nails. They're kind of cute but tiny & short & not for me.

All of these are from the Runway Collection and I received in the medium length.

Sequins:

This is one of the designs that I received the first time, but I didn't really talk about what I thought of the pattern. This design is ... well just OK I guess. I'm not impressed, although they're better than just plain french in my opinion.

Starlet:

This is also one of the designs that I received the first time. I like this one a little better than the first but still not blown away.

Minx:

I really can't say that I like this combination for some reason. Either the squarish design OR the silver smile line alone I like, but not together

Stella:

Very neutral & I'd think work-appropriate even in a more conservative office. Just enough of a design that they don't feel plain.

Studio:

Cute but unremarkable except for the fact that it has silver tips instead of white.

Mystic:

This is my 2nd favorite design, I like non-traditional dark tips. But this has the downside (for me) that only some of the nails have rhinestones at the peak of the chevron - I counted, and of the 24 nails you get, only 8 have rhinestones =(

Sateen:

I think this one gets the most points for originality. It reminds me the most of a kind of konad-tip design, which I prefer most of the time over the simpler designs of just dots or lines. This one was my overall favorite design, but it did have one problem that the stripe of glitter is not applied very well on all nails (or else is already coming off before they've even been out of the box...). Maybe not noticeable to a normal person, but I'm used to really scrutinizing my mani.

That's all, although I felt like that was a ton! I wasn't sure what to expect when I opened the box & was pleasantly surprised to see that they were so generous.

Finally, I got another award! And I kind of hate to stick it at the end of the post, and I don't have time to do it full justice & nominate other blogs for it like I'm supposed to, but I think saying thank you & getting it up here is better than it landing in "draft limbo" with other things on my to-do list...

Natalie over at Nani's Nails gave me the Uber Amazing Blog Award!

The rules for this awards are as follows:

1. Write five (5) interesting facts about the person who gave you this award.
2. Jot down ten (10) interesting facts about yourself or your hobbies.
3. Pick your ten (10) most deserving recipients and describe them.
4. Leave a comment on the recipients' blog to tell them they've been tagged
5. Paste the award badge in your side bar.

5 facts about Natalie who I got this award from:

• She's a mom
• She loves nails
• She loves Konad
• She just started her blog on June 4th
• If you really like her blog you can follow her on Twitter =)

10 facts about me:

• I've always loved my nails but blogging has really made me up my game
• My next-favorite hobby is reading
• I love to write LOL & I'm sure that probably comes across when I get to rambling
• Music is super-important to me. Most of the time my job takes up a tiny fraction of my brainpower & if I didn't have an ipod I think I'd go crazy.
• I like video games
• A hobby I don't always have time for but enjoy is cross-stitch
• Uhhh ... (reaching here) my cat's name is Frisky
• My dog's name is Dude
• And I don't know why it's so hard to come up with 10 things other than I feel put on the spot! And that's why I could never try out for Jeopardy, although do pretty good playing from home =)

OK, here's the part where I cheat out on the rest of the award rules ... I'm running out of time but as always I'll urge everyone to check out the blogroll to the right.

I think I just set a new record longest post! So, if you're still with me, LOL, thanks for reading =)

~Colette