Collective Nail Polish Haul

Somewhere, somehow, I managed to collect 14 new nail polishes in February... I justified the purchases because it was my birthday month, but I guess you can say have a bit of an addiction to new nail polish... GAH. It's a problem, but just look at them! I can't help it. I really need to get a good nail polish rack to display them.

From left to right: Color Club "The Lime Starts Here", Color Club "Koo-Koo Cachoo", Color Club "Yum Gum", Marc Jacobs "Gatsby",  Orly "Purple Crush", OPI "Sweet Heart", OPI "Alpine Snow", China Glaze "Light As Air", China Glaze "Sweet Hook", China Glaze "Make An Entrance", Zoya "Payton", Models Own "Hedonist", OPI "Push and Shove"

I'll just go through each of them, explaining my rationale for buying them/my initial thoughts if I've tried them already.

Orly "Bonder": I got this base coat because MissGlamorazzi recommended it on her YouTube channel, and let me tell you, it's great. The idea is that it bonds the nail polish to the nail, and it does exactly that. It seriously makes your nail polish last as long as it possibly can.

Color Club neons: On my way back from Florida last week, I popped by a discount beauty store and found these babies on offer - 3 for the price of 1. Such a bargain! I love neon nail polish (recall my obsession with Models Own Luis Lemon), so this was awesome. I haven't worn them yet but they seem seem really glossy and fairly opaque. Excited to try them out!

Marc Jacobs "Gatsby": My friend Marcella got me this nail polish for my birthday, and I love it. I would describe it as a rose-silver metallic (as opposed to rose gold). It sometimes looks a little champagne-y in different lights. It's totally opaque in one swatch. Although it's pricey, you really get good value for money with this one.

Orly "Purple Crush": Since "radiant orchid" is the Pantone color of the year, I felt an overwhelming urge to find a nail polish in that color range. My my my, does this fit the bill. Brands have been coming out with orchid colors left and right but none quite as radiant as this one. I'm seriously itching to wear it.

OPI "Sweet Heart" and "Alpine Snow": I got these two full-size OPIs in a set from TJ Maxx... The price? $7.99 for both! I couldn't leave this in the store, I just couldn't. I already know and love Alpine Snow, and it'll serve as a great base to make those Color Club neons really pop. As for Sweet Heart, well, you just can never have enough nude polishes, am I right?

China Glaze "Light As Air" and "Make an Entrance": I got these at the same place as the Color Clubs, and they were on sale for $2.99. Just couldn't pass them up. "Light as Air" is a beautiful dusty lavender color, and "Make an Entrance" is a vibrant raspberry.

China Glaze "Sweet Hook": So, for my birthday, I made a sneaky Nail Polish Canada purchase. I had enough fidelity points to snap up this pale lilac color, which I've been eyeing since last spring. It'll be the first polish I wear when the weather gets warm!

Zoya "Payton": In the same Nail Polish Canada order, I got Payton, which if you might recall from my previous wishlists, I've been wanting for a long time. The color is gorgeous - a rich purple with silver microglitters. My only gripe is that it's a little thin and brush is imprecise. Otherwise, I'm wearing it right now and I love the shade.

Models Own "Hedonist": Again, I've been wanting this bad boy since last summer! Oh god, I'm so glad I finally own it. I've never seen a brighter coral color in my life. I can't wait to have this on in the dead of summer when I'm eating popsicles and soaking up the sun. Perfect.

OPI "Push and Shove": Of the new OPI collections (Gwen Stefani and Brazil) this is the only polish that really caught my eye. I have a thing for mirror effect nails, so this was right up my alley. As you can see from the swatch above, it's really metallic and reflective. It comes with its own base coat (not sure what's up with that?) but I'm super excited to try it.

PHEW. That's it. I should probably lay off the nail polish purchases for the next while, although Nail Polish Canada did just get the new Models Own Gel Effects.......... LOL :)

PS. anyone notice, no Essie in this haul??? Their polishes have been so boring lately! Seriously hope they step it up!

Nail Polish Trends for Summer 2013

Hey everyone! It's no secret that I've been off my blog game for a while now, but hopefully with school done I'll be motivated to get back in it. My two favorite beauty "realms" of the moment have been nail polish and hair, so I thought it would be a nice idea to share my favorite shades for the season! Without further ado...

My absolute favorite nail color of choice for the spring/summer season is coral. Or salmon, orange, creamsicle, peach, etc. If you're looking for something on the paler pastel side, I suggest Julep's Clara. It's a really subtle but flattering way to wear this trend. My favorite, however, has to be Butter London's Trout Pout. It does range on the pricier side ($17), but the quality is incredible - completely opaque in two coats but definitely wearable with just one - and the color is spot-on. It's the most perfect pink-toned coral I own!

Swatches & Full Reviews: L'Oreal L'Orange

You can never really go wrong with a solid neutral nail polish. Admittedly, I haven't found my perfect nude tone, but these are some that have come quite close. My favorite of the bunch in terms of color has to be Kiko's "French Pink". My only problem with it is that it's quite sheer considering it's meant to be a french manicure topcoat, however it still looks really chic and put-together. Another one I love is Julep "Kate". This is my go-to white nail. I think white nails look really great with a nice tan, and this one is just right. It's opaque and lovely and doesn't have that "liquid paper" look.

Swatches & Full Reviews: Julep "Kate", Kiko "French Pink" (#207), Zoya "Jacqueline", Essie "Sand Tropez"

I really believe that a fun, pink nail polish can be the perfect pick-me-up. For a bright, fluorescent pink option, I highly recommend China Glaze Shocking Pink. The color is truly shocking, but it's so summery and looks great on tan skin. I also really love Essie "Fiji". This is the most muted option of the bunch, and it has a more soft, feminine feel. Cascade Cool is a really cute blue-toned pink that veers more towards the purple tones - still a very nice option.

Swatches & Full Reviews: Essie "Fiji", Kiko "Flamingo Pink" (#288)

Lastly, I also love bringing out the blues & turquoises in the summer time. My favorite turquoise has to be Julep "Robin". It's the most perfect turquoise color I've tried so far. Kiko Light Misty Green definitely comes close. My favorite blue to wear is Essie "Bikini So Teeny". Funny story - I wore this polish to Disney World and Cinderella noticed that my nails matched her dress, so now I call this polish my "Cinderella Blue"! That really is the best way to describe it haha!

Swatches & Full Reviews: Julep "Robin"

Hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know if you would like to see these polishes swatched side-by-side. I might do a part 2 to this post if it's requested!

NOTD: China Glaze "Ruby Pumps"

Hey everyone! Today's NOTD is China Glaze's "Ruby Pumps". I got this polish for Christmas, and I must say, it is one of my absolute favorites already. I genuinely think it's the most perfect red nail polish ever formulated.

It's kind of a deeper red, but then it has bright ruby-colored microglitters that make this such a stand-out color. The glitters are actually hardly noticeable in person. You can see them clearly in the photos, but in reality the effect is simply a shimmer. It's honestly so pretty, I can't get enough of it.

I'm in the midst of trying out all the different polishes I got over the holidays, but I'm really excited to put this one back on!

What do you guys think?

NOTD: American Apparel L'Esprit & China Glaze Prism

Today's NOTD is just really exciting for me. As you might know, I'm not a massive fan of American Apparel nail polishes, but I have finally found a use for mine. China Glaze "Prism"is my first super glittery nail polish, and I honestly can't get enough of it. Here, I layered it over American Apparel "L'Esprit".

I purchased the China Glaze polish off BeautyJoint.com (really great site, by the way). The base of this glitter polish is definitely lilac-purple, but it has flecks of silver, green and even red. I can see myself experimenting with it layered over all these colors!

I imagine this is going to be a pain to remove, but it's sooo pretty I might not even care! OH and I finally found a good spot for lighting in my house... Using the light above the kitchen sink -_- I'm looking into getting a white light and maybe even a better camera soon though!

Hope you all had a great weekend. :)

First Ever Collective Haul

I never have enough products to do a proper haul on this blog, but yesterday I felt like I had gathered a good bunch of products lately so I figured today would be the day: my first haul post!

The reason why I haven't done a haul before is because I've been desperately trying to save up my money. If you've been a reader of mine since the very beginning, you'll know that I spent a portion of my summer in Italy, wherein I literally drained my bank account to $0 (come to think of it, it might be interesting to do a blog post on what it's like to be completely broke lol!).

However, upon entering tons and tons of giveaways, I have been able to keep up this blog solely on giveaway wins (incredible, right?), so I'll go through the products and let you guys know how I acquired each of them.

Benefit "Benetint" Lip & Cheek Stain: I've always been super intrigued by this product because it's the one that Benefit Cosmetics built its company from. It originally started out as a nipple stain for a stripper (!?) and then a whole line of cosmetics grew from there. Being a big fan of Benefit, I knew I had to try this product at some point in my life, so when @BenefitCanada was doing a Twitter giveaway, I entered immediately and won! Yay! :D

Aussie 3-Minute Miracle Conditioner: If you read my previous wishlist post, you will know that this product, along with the Revlon balm stain and Rimmel Stay Matte powder were on there. Well, I was having a terrible day on Sunday, and yesterday, my mom surprised me with them! She literally came on my blog, wrote down the products and went out to buy them for me! Best mom award. Anyway, I'm going to write a proper review of this product in the next few days (I'll try it when I shower later today!).

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in "Honey": Again, this a product my mom surprised me with. I'd been looking for this baby for weeks and weeks and could never find it in-stock. I should also mention that, according to my mama, this product is marginally cheaper if you buy it at Wal-Mart as opposed to Pharmaprix (or Shopper's Drug Mart if you don't live in Quebec).

China Glaze "Prism": Alright, so I purchased this product along with the NYX eyeliners using $25 PayPal I won in a giveaway. The giveaway was originally for a Sephora e-gift certificate, but because those aren't eligible for use in Canada, Meredith (the girl I won from), was nice enough to wire me some PayPal money. I should also mention that she doesn't advertise her giveaways very much, so your odds in winning are very good: http://nycmakeuplover1.blogspot.ca/p/giveaways.html. Surprisingly, I have a total of 0 glitter polishes so I knew I should invest in a good one!

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in "Pacific" and "French Fries": So I got these with my $25 PayPal money as well, and the website I purchased them from is BeautyJoint.com. I can't remember how I found this website, but they sell brands that are difficult to get in Canada (or at least Quebec) like China Glaze and NYX, and they only charge a flat rate of like, $3.50 for shipping. Incredible. I'm definitely going to be purchasing more of these because I can already tell I love them.

Essie "Bahama Mama": In addition to my wishlist surprises, my mom also picked up this nail polish for me. Now... How on Earth did she know that this is the fall nail color? I have no idea. Anyway, can't wait to wear this because I've heard so many great things about it.

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder: Tanya Burr talks about this product non-stop, and I'm running out of my current pressed power, so I'm very excited to try this out. I love the way it makes her skin look in her tutorials!

Maybelline Color Tattoo in "Pomegranate Punch": This is probably the only product on here that I purchased with my own hard-earned money (not bad, huh?). I got this one at Shopper's about a month ago when I was in Ontario. It was about $9 as opposed to $3.50 at Wal-Mart (insane), but it was out of stock there and I was dying to have this shade after seeing Amarixe's swatches.

Sally Hansen Kwik Off (not photographed individually): This is kind of boring, but I like using this product as a nail polish remover and we were out so my mom picked up a new one. Not very exciting but I thought I'd throw it in lol.

Here are some swatches and initial impressions of these products...

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in "Honey": It's a little more on the brown side than I hoped for. Have yet to swatch it on the lips.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils: These babies glide on amazingly. I'm probably going to use French Fries on a daily basis, and save Pacific for spring and summer. Also, I may or may not have picked one up for an upcoming giveaway.......

Maybelline Color Tattoo in "Pomegranate Punch": I adore this color for fall! I can't believe I haven't seen any beauty guru use it in a tutorial yet. Maybe I can be the first? :O

Benetint Lip & Cheek Stain: Admittedly, this isn't a life-changing product and the color is very, very subtle. I'll use it on a day where I'm feeling a little pale.

I hope you liked my first ever haul post! Let me know if you want to see in-depth review of any of these products in particular because I would be happy to do so.