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!

Christmas Wishlist 2013: Beauty

I'll just go ahead and say it: I have an irrationally long Christmas list this year. We can just regard this list as a compilation of things I wanted to buy this year but was too poor to afford. Here it goes!

The eyeshadow palette I bought for myself this year is the Urban Decay Vice Palette, but I've also been lusting after Urban Decay Naked3, the Lorac Pro Palette, and the Laura Mercier Artist Eyes Palette. All neutral, but all extra lovely.

My blush pick for this year's list is Mac "Gingerly" because I've been searching for that perfect orange-coral shade. My concealer/foundation pick is the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer. My highlighter pick is the Hourglass "Ambient Light" Palette - because all the online reviews have successfully convinced me that I need this.

I've singlehandedly decided that I need a YSL lipstick in my life, so I'm going for a classic red called "Red Muse". My MAC lipstick pick for this list is "Fixed on Drama", a rich wine retromatte. For good measure, I'm throwing in the elf lip exfoliator, because why not?

For the sheer fact that I've never owned a "high-end" mascara that wasn't a sample, I've included: Benefit "They're Real" (all-time best mascara that I have like 3 used samples of), Tarte "Lights, Camera, Flashes", and Clinique "Bottom Lash" mascara, simply because "bottom lash mascara" seems like a superfluous purchase, but works great as a gift.

Ideally I would like one of every type of the Sephora Formula X nail polishes, but I've included "Boom" for list purposes. Zoya "Payton" looks sooo nice. Want. I'm in need of a good matte top coat so I've chosen the OPI one.

FINALLY, Pharmaprix has begun to stock the Sugar Crush line of Soap & Glory products, so naturally I'm after the Body Buttercream and the Body Scrub. Lush "Lovely Jubblies" (a "breast firming cream"...lol) has been on my wishlist for forever, so it's about time I get my hands on it.

Every year I like to refresh my brush collection in some way or another, so this year I'm asking for the MAC 138 which I'll use for highlighter, the Real Techniques eyeshadow brush set, and the Sigma E65 which I'll use for gel liner.

And, surprise, this is not the end of my list! I'll have a part 2 coming up which will feature my non-beauty items :)

Nail Polish Canada Wishlist

Hey everyone! It's no secret that I'm obsessed with nail polish, which means I have a ridiculously large collection of it. That also means, unfortunately, that I can't justify purchasing any more. So, instead of buying the ones I want from my usual online store (nailpolishcanada), I figured I'd make a quick wishlist. Not exactly the same as making an order, but it'll have to do!

Photos from nailpolishcanada.com

First up is "For Audrey" by China Glaze. Surprisingly, I don't think I have a similar colour to this in my current collection. I have a turquoise but it's much more on the green side. I think it's such a cute shade and name - of course referencing Breakfast at Tiffany's. I feel like it would definitely be a staple in my collection if I were to own it!

Next is "Bouncer it's Me" by Essie. Of the newer Essie collections (including their Resort Collection, their new wedding collection, their new summer collection, and their neons), this is pretty much the only one that caught my eye. I don't normally gravitate towards blue polish anymore but this one is so crisp and shocking that I can't help it!

OPI hasn't really intrigued me with their new collections recently - I feel like nothing totally unique has been released and I'm not feeling their new liquid sands, but "Chic From Ears To Tails" is something I would like to own. I don't have a pretty, creamy pink colour, and from the swatches I've seen I believe this has a very slight glitter to it, so I think it would be really pretty on!

Models Own "Hedonist" is a colour I've been eyeing for ages. I don't know exactly when Nail Polish Canada started stocking Models Own, but I'm so thrilled about it! These nail polish are extortionately expensive on the Models Own site and on ASOS (presumably because they hail from the UK), so I'm really glad they're only going for $8. There are other Models Own polishes that I'm after ("Luis Lemon" and "Indian Ocean"), but they're unfortunately sold out. I feel like Models Own is the only company that has put out anything super unique lately!

Photos from nailpolishcanada.com

It's no secret that Seche Vite is my favorite top coat ever, but once you're about halfway through the bottle it does start to get gloopy. "Seche Restore" is a polish thinner that supposedly gets the top coat back to its original state.

Zoya "Godiva" is hands down the most gorgeous textured glitter that has been released in this entire trend - or at least of the polishes I've seen swatches of. It has the prettiest sandy texture and it looks so classy and elegant. I'm really sad that it's sold out at the moment but hopefully the site restocks soon! Otherwise I might have to pop Trade Secrets a visit!

Next is Revlon "Orbit Moon Candy", a nail art duo that has intrigued me for a little while now. I nearly picked this up at Wal Mart but, of course, decided against it because I can't justify more nail polish. The combination of the two polishes makes a really awesome, quick galaxy nail.

Speaking of the galaxy nail, NCLA released limited edition nail wraps in a galaxy print. I originally saw these on Little Black Bag (where I've just placed my first order!!! Expect a haul/unboxing soon!), but they were soo popular and impossible to trade for. They just look really cool, and I'm a big fan of the galaxy nail trend.

So there you have it! My Nail Polish Canada wishlist complete. Any nail polishes you've been loving lately?

NOTD: Essie "Sand Tropez" + Bonus Easter Mani

Hey everyone! Welcome to April :) I probably won't be doing a March favorites post seeing as not much has changed from last month, however this little manicure has definitely been a favorite. I think it's so cute and perfect for spring! First I'll show you the base color I used, which is Essie Sand Tropez.

Though some may find it a little bland, I've been looking for a nude-taupe nail colour for a while. I think this will quickly become a favorite! The application is really lovely and smooth (as is with many Essie nail polishes).

PS. my nail beds have been awful lately! Do any of you have this problem?

This was the manicure I wore on Easter! Cute, isn't it? And it reminds me of Mini Eggs haha.

It's really simple to do as well. First, you paint your nail the color of the half moon (in my case, either blue, pink, purple, or yellow), wait for it to dry completely (I used a quick bit of Seche Vite topcoat because I'm super impatient lol), apply a page hole reinforcer to the bottom half - those little circular stickers, and then paint the top part of the nail with your color of choice. In case you're curious, the colors I used are Zoya "Jacqueline", American Apparel "L'Esprit", Essie "Fiji", Zoya "Blu" and of course, Essie "Sand Tropez".

Let me know what you think in the comments! Hope you're having a great spring so far!

NOTD: Zoya Jacqueline

Hey everyone! As I mentioned previously, I recently got ahold of Zoya's new spring collection, so I'll be featuring each of them in a string of NOTDs :) This is actually the second one from the collection that I've tried so far (totally forgot to take a picture of Neely when I had it on).

Top left: natural lighting, top right: artificial lighting, bottom left: with flash, bottom right: natural lighting (but w/ more shade)

I'm very, very pleased with the formulation of these polishes. They're incredibly high quality and opaque in only two layers (I used three for good measure). Jacqueline is what I would describe as a pale, eggshell or magnolia yellow. It's really polished and classy, and is a nice alternative to a stark white or a plain nude. This shade is creamy and buttery--I really love the effect of it.

I'm excited to try the other shades in this collection, especially Blu (creme pale blue) and GeiGei (shimmery baby pink). Look out for those NOTDs coming soon! :)