Fairy Wing Nails Using Zoya

This is another manicure that started out simple but the longer I spent studying the more I kept randomly adding to it.  It's just a coincidence that I used all Zoya polishes for this look, haha.

The gradient blue into the purple with the light sparkle at the base kind of makes me think of fairy wings :D

For the base I used Hudson which is an incredibly pretty metallic lilac.  I love this color so so so so very much for spring. I then gentle used Mosheen to create a blue sparkle gradient from the tip of my nails.  Finally I took Lux and created a light half circle at the base of my nails.  Now my nails are sparkly fairy wings.

I actually sketched out this fairy two days ago, perhaps when I color her in photoshop I'll base her wings off of this manicure!

Golden Raspberry FOTD

This week is finals week so I've been doing a lot of studying and definitely not any procrastinating whatsoever......

Hah.

Today is my physiology II final...its in about an hour....and since its such a nice day out I decided to do a springy look using a color I normally don't work with...gold!

For this look I first put down NYX Milk to make that gold pop as much as possible.  I then used Saturn from the galaxy chic palette on my lid.  Next I took Jilted from the electric pallete and blended it into my crease and under my eye, creating a halo effect. I then finished the look up with Urban Decay's Blackout by using it to darken my outer corner and give my upper lashes a very fine line. Very easy and very cute!

On my lips is Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie lipstick in Lead the Way.

I also wanted to share my outfit because why not!  I absolutely love this top.  I got in at H&M while I was in Turkey.  It is one of the few floral prints I own and for whatever reason as of a little bit ago I've been really eyeing floral prints more and more.  I think when I do some shopping this summer I'll be picking up quite a lot of floral.  The dark green tank top is by Loft,

Now I'm going to do a small bit of extra studying before heading out to take my first final!

The Jamberry 7 Day Chip Challenge

So with my free Jamberry sample came this little slip of paper describing how to take the 7 day chip challenge.  Always up for a challenge I decided to go ahead and do it! 

Basically I couldn't touch up my nail polish for 7 days to see how Jams held out over conventional polish.

And here you have it!  After seven days my nail polish was looking pretty nasty but my Smitten nail wrap still looks almost perfect.  If we go in a little  closer the wrap was not left unscathed.  It is starting to peel up on the edges but it isn't so annoying that I feel the need to take them off.  I could probably wear these for a few more days until they start catching on things and pulling up too often for my liking.  

Overall I'm happy with my Jams so far and can't wait to try them out some more!

I'm Fabulous and Totally Not Sick FOTD

A few days ago my throat started to hurt and before I knew it I had a full fledged cold.  Bleh.  Life for a graduate student goes on so I slapped on some makeup to make myself feel and look less crappy. 

I wanted to really stress the bright colors idea to help mask my tired sick self.  Therefore I chose a bright mint green top and paired it with some equally bright makeup!

On my lid and lightly blended under my eye I have Shiro Cosmetic's Maiden Queen.  In my crease I blended Darkside from the Naked 3 into my crease.  I then darkened my outer corner with NYX Cosmetic's Punk Heart eye shadow to add a bit of purple.  After winging it out I added a touch of sparkle under my eye with Urban Decay's Heavy Metal glitter liner in an unfortunately discontinued shade. 

On my lips is NYX's soft matte lip cream in San Paulo.

I seriously feel so adorable today.  I think I need to invest in more mint colored clothing.  

Also Kamelot's new video was scheduled to release today so I was taking ridiculous pictures while waiting for it to finally go up.  Much to my surprise after uploading these to my laptop I check facebook and BAM, ITS UP! 

So happy!

For your listening and viewing pleasure, Insomnia by Kamelot <3

Black and White Nail Art Featuring Jamberry's Smitten

So a few days ago my mom hosted an online Jamberry party and the hostess sent out free samples to anyone who asked.  Smitten was the sample I received so I used it to create this black and white mixed mani! I ended up buying four wraps during the online party so prepare for me to be reviewing and posting those! I'm all about this new nail wrap trend. 

The sample of Smitten I got was actually the smallest size meant for the pinky but because I have very thin nails I was able to wear it on my pointer finger.  Luckily the jams are easy to cut so its no problem trimming them down a bit to get the perfect fit on my nail. For this look I first painted all my nails with Flormar's matte nail enamel in M02 Satin Black which I picked up in Turkey.  Obviously I put top coat over it so the matte effect is lost but its my only black nail polish at the moment....I then stuck on my nail wrap.  Application went much better this time since I used the baggie method and an eraser to help apply pressure.  Finally I took my white nail art pen from Sephora's nail kit and drew on the designs.  

I'm all about this manicure and I would definitely do this again.  I can see myself using Jamberry as accents and doing my own nail art to create a mixed mani fairly often.

A Break From Makeup: I'm Loving This New Wine and Paint Party Trend!

Lately I have been seeing on Facebook that so many people are attending these classes where you basically drink wine while being taught step by step how to paint a picture.  Right from the start I was enamored by this concept as wine and paint are two things I love! Therefore when my mom asked me to go with her to a fundraiser wine and paint event I jumped at the opportunity!  I live in a very small town and the fire hall that hosted this part was PACKED.  They had to book a second class after the initial, because it filled up so fast.  Because I had such a great time I thought I'd share with you all my experience.

So here is the original image that the lesson was based on.  I think my experience was a little different than the classes at the studio because it was a fundraiser.  Usually wine is BYOB but for this event it was supplied by the hosts I'm assuming.  We bought our tickets early so we got a 2 hour paint lesson, a decorated wine glass, and two glasses of wine for $40.  Lessons at the studio are $40 and BYOB, and I'm not sure on the wine glass situation.  Anyway we all sat down at an canvas that had 3 paint brushes, an apron, a paper towel, and a cup of water.  

This is a step by step progression compilation of our paintings.  The instructor stood at the front and walked us through each step. Another employee was going around the room providing extra paint to anyone who needed it.  We all got a squirt of red, blue, yellow, brown, black, and white on a paper plate.  This meant we had to mix all colors on our own.  As you can see my mom and I deviated from the original color scheme, as did a lot of other people.  The instructor said this was fairly unusual and was pretty excited that we were all being so unique.  The instructor herself was very patient and clear in her instructions.  I didn't think her picture was that great but it is very possible that she did not do her best as to prevent making the participants feel bad about their work.

Here is a close up of my finished image.  I chose to make the vases resemble Erlenmeyer flasks because I'm nerdy and ridiculous.  I opted to not write the words as my handwriting is horrendous.  I want to go in with a sharpie and add measure lines to the vases to really drive home that science theme. Some of the details I added on my own based on the original.  For example the instructor did not explain how to do colored shading.  Instead she just had the class ad the black line down the middle of each petal and a white highlight.  She also did not have us do the black and white details on the brown background. Additionally she did not say to slant the middle of the outside flowers to create a perspective of them facing another direction.

And here is a picture of my mom and I with our paintings!  To put this in perspective, I paint from time to time but I only do portraits, this was my first time every painting a flower.  My mom has never picked up a paintbrush IN HER LIFE.  She has zero artistic ability or experience and she was still able to keep up and produce a nice painting.  Therefore do not let your lack of artistic ability deter you from giving this a try.  You might be surprised with what you create!

I hope you enjoyed my wine and paint experience.  The specific studio that taught this class was aMuse Uncorked.  I live in a pretty small town but there are at least three of these studios within a 45 minute drive of my house, therefore you should hopefully not have a problem finding one near you!

Have fun, drink wine, and get painting!

Rimmel London Provocalips 16Hr Kissproof Lip Colour in Kiss Fatal

A friend of mine had heard some great things about Rimmel's new Provocalyse liquid lipsticks so I decided to pick one up based on her recommendation.

I am definitely glad I did!

This product is pretty interesting.  One half is color and the other half is a clear top gloss.  I chose the color Kiss Fatal, a nice plummy color.

First you apply the color which goes on and dries to a satin finish.  Unfortunately you can't stop here as it is extremely sticky when you put your lips together. You have to then top it with the clear gloss which takes away all the stickiness and prevents drying.

And here it is with the gloss applied! I do wish it was wearable without the gloss but it is nice having a super long wearing lipstick that isn't matte. You are supposed to reapply the gloss part whenever your lips start to feel dry and they claim the color will last for 16 hrs.  That's a pretty steep claim.  Yes it will last for 16 hrs but it won't look great after that time.  It does last however.  I've eaten food and drank beverages and it still looked pretty darn good after a solid 8 hours.  This is a pretty awesome product if you don't want to pay a lot for all day wear.  I do want to warn that it may be very drying for those prone to that sort of thing.  My mom said her lips dried out pretty bad after a few hours while I didn't experience this at all.  

Here is my face after 10 hours of wear and no touch ups. In this time I ate lunch and dinner and drank water throughout. As far as looks, it has faded a bit but the fading is very even. The shine is gone which I could definitely feel as my lips were a bit sticky.  If I would have applied the gloss half way through I'm sure my lips would look just as perfect as when I applied it.

If they had a more unique color selection I may have gotten more than just this one, as I do really like the formula, finish, and staying power.

The super impressive lasting power however might be enough to convince me to pick up at least one more in the future.

Where to buy: ULTA, Drugstores

Price: $6.69

My First Jamberry Attempt with Silver Floral

My mom has been using these Jamberry nail wraps for a few months now.  She does all her fingers in about 10 minutes and they look perfect.  I've watched her do it a few times and it didn't look so hard.  I knew my first attempt would be less than wonderful so I thought I'd document it for you all to see.  Be warned this is my no means an indicator of how Jamberry will work for you.  Like I said my mom is a master, I believe it probably just takes some practice to get right.

I'll be using the clear nail wraps in Silver Floral. My mom gave me the 4 biggest sizes which you can cut down to fit any of your nails. 

I took the biggest one, cut it in half, and then cut it in half again to get two small bits.  Make sure you line it up with your nails first to make sure it will still be big enough after cutting.  I then trimmed the bottoms to round them off so they would sit on my nail bed correctly.

So first you peel off the wraps and hold them in front of a heat source for a few seconds until they become pliable.  I used a mini hair dryer that I sat on the floor.

After getting it soft I stuck it on my nail and flatted it out as best as I could.  Obviously I had a heck of a lot of bubbles and bumps since there's no way to get a feel for how to apply these best on your first attempt. After flattening it down you are supposed to hold it in heat for another few seconds so the wrap binds to your nail.

This next part is where I ran into my first real issue.  You are supposed to file away the excess, which has worked fine for me with other stick on nail wraps but for whatever reason I could not break through these no matter how much I filed.  I'm not sure why because I've watched my mom file them off in seconds...maybe my file is just that crappy.  I had to instead take some nail clipper and clip my nails every so slightly to get it even with my nail.

Overall this looks pretty neat and even though mine are filled with air bubbles I'm hoping I can get better at it with some practice.  The nail polish is Zoya's Belinda.

This is an example from the Jamberry website of what you get for $15. f you are smart about how you use these one $15 pack can produce a lot of uses. If your nails are not long you can cut all of these in half and instantly double the amount like I did.

They are supposed to last 2 weeks on your finger nails and 3 weeks on your toenails.  That's pretty good considering my nail polish starts to chip after only 2 days.

Also I wanted to note that this specific type of nail wrap is metallic and the metallics are the hardest to use.  Of course I would start with the most difficult.....so if you want to purchase from Jamberry consider starting with a non metallic until you get the hang of application.

My mom is having an online Facebook party so I may be getting more of these to show you! In the meantime I'm going to keep practicing.

Where to buy: Independent Jamberry consultant

Price: $15

NYX High Voltage Lipstick in Playdate

As soon as NYX revealed they were releasing a pure lavender lipstick I knew I HAD to have it. It was sold out at my "local" ULTA so I had to order online and it has finally arrived!

This color is so so so so so beautiful.  Sometimes lavenders do not work well with my skin tone but this one must be more blue toned than yellow because I do not feel like it makes me look dead or washes me out at all.  It just looks very nice and beautiful.  It covers opaquely, evenly, and easily.  It doesn't dry out my lips and lasts for a decent 3-4 hours depending on if I'm eating anything.  A lip liner and/or gloss may be able to extend the wear even further.

Overall I love this color and will be getting a lot of use out of it this summer.

Where to buy: nyxcosmetics.com, ULTA, Drugstores

Price: $6

Fortune Cookie Soap Spring Wonderland Collection Haul

So based on my monthly soap box goodies I decided to snag a few things during the second launch of their spring products

I picked up a perfume oil, a body wash, a hand soap, a room spray, and some shower steamers! 

It's Only A Dream Hand Soap

Scent:

"Calming verbena, lemongrass, calla lily, and citrus blended with leafy greens, ylang-ylang, rosewood, and ozone; with hints of soft musk and roses."

Description:

"Our hand soap delivers a rich creamy lather that contains extra skin softening properties from nourishing Aloe and Vitamin E. Leaves hands feeling soft, smooth and lightly scented."

It's Only A Dream was the scent of the moisturizer that came with the Wonderland box.  I decided to get the foaming hand soap version because I just absolutely love how this smells, but it isn't a scent I would like to smell like constantly. To me this scent is very floral and rosey and I just love it.  The soap itself also foams up nicely and provides a nice clean hand washing experience. The scent also sticks around for an hour after the wash. I would definitely buy their foaming hand soaps again!

Price: $6.99

Off With Their Heads Body Wash

Scent:

"Groves of Meyer lemons and succulent oranges mingle with a perfectly manicured garden of wild roses, violets, and star jasmine perfumed with romantic tones of bergamot and Egyptian musk."

  This was the scent of the bath bomb in the box and the citrus and orange really came out strong and smelled very invigorating but yet relaxing at the same time.  However a lot of that is lost in this body wash when sniffing right from teh bottle. The smell isn't nearly as strong and the floral notes very much overpower the citrus.  It still smells nice but it wasn't exactly what I was hoping. However upon taking it into the shower everything changed! It lathers up nicely just as a body wash should and the citrus notes really shined through and it smelled just as the bath bomb that I remember! :)

Price: $10.99

Futterwacken Steam Me Up Scotty

Scent:

"Sun warmed lilies brightened with a splash of grapefruit and a breath of fresh air."

Description:

"Directions: For maximum results take a hot, steamy shower. Simply unwrap & toss the shower fizzy on the floor to the back of your shower, out of the stream of water. You want it to slowly fizz during your shower, rather than quickly run down your drain. It's like your personal little aromatherapy room, the steamier the better! "

Right from the cube this smells just as the body wash version that came in my box, a very refreshing grapefruit! I was pretty excited to use these shower steamers as I had never previously heard of such a thing.

After trying it out I am not sure if I'm doing it right....I'm a bit afraid to put it on my shower floor because I'm afraid it will fizz and dissolve too quickly and I won't smell anything. Also I don't take super hot showers so I'm worried I won't produce enough steam to make it work.  I placed it on a shelf near my head and did smell it a bit but not much.  I think I'll see if my boyfriend gets a better experience since he takes incredibly hot showers.

Price: $5.99 for 3

Who Are You Perfume Oil

Scent:

"A mysterious mixture of crisp, ripe, pear twisted with tart limes, vanilla orchid, and dash of raw cane sugar."

This was the same scent as the incense cones and one of my absolute favorites.  I had placed the cones in my bathroom cabinet and lusted after this perfume every time I opened it up.  Well now it is finally mine and it smells EXACTLY like I had hoped! The fresh scent of lime and pear goes beautifully with the sweet vanilla. Its just great and I'm so glad I got the larger size.  The wear time on this is very variable,  I've had it go away in as quickly as two hours and last as long 6.

Price: $8.99

Who Are You Personal Space

Description:

"Freshen up your space, wherever that might be! Perfect for dorm rooms, shared bathrooms or that annoying stinky family member! Concentrated room spray. Freshens and deodorizes linens, towels and clothing with a unique conditioning agent."

Since this was my favorite scent from the box I got this in a room spray too! It is so nice to spray in a room or on my clothes or fabrics.  This is my new Febreeze! I do wish the scent lingered a bit longer....however it is hard to tell considering the nose adapts very quickly to smell, I'll have to leave a room for an extended period of time and come back in again to see if the smell is still there. The bottles pictured on the website are tall and skinny while the one I received was short and stout, but I'd imagine they still contain the same amount of product.

Price: $9.99

I am very pleased with my order and am even more excited for my summer box which I've heard may be mermaid themed.  I also think I'm going to pick up one of their shampoo bars next time.  The idea intrigues me and I'd imagine they would be easy to use with my short hair.

Nightwish Concert Practice Makeup

So tonight I will be going to see Nightwish, Delain, and Sabaton and I am sooo excited! Nightwish has been my favorite band since I was in middle school.  Once Tarja left I couldn't stand Annette's voice and got out of symphonic metal until just last year when my boyfriend brought me back.  I am so overjoyed that Floor Jansen is the new singer.  I loved her in After Forever and Revamp and she works with Nightwish perfectly.  I do miss Tarja's operatics but I love Floor just as much.   And then there's Marco who I've always loved.

Anyway I did a concert makeup trial run and decided to wait to post it today since there's no way I'm updating on the day of the concert.

This is my custom Nightwish shirt that I ordered from Artscow.com.  I want to do my makeup to match this as it is what I'm wearing to the show. Century Child will always be my favorite Nightwish Album. 

I don't really feel like going super dark for this show so I decided to do something a lot more colorful! I started by tracing a wing with Jesse's Girl liquid liner.  then I dabbed Fringe from the Electric Palette towards the outer half of my lid.  Then I took Cosmic from BH Cosmetic's Galaxy palette and blended that from the corner of my eye and into Fringe.  I then took Urban Decay's Blackout and filled my wing in while also blending into Fringe.  I then blended the three  colors again under my eye.  I lined my lid lightly with my liquid liner and finished with mascara! For the concert I may decide to go a bit darker with the black and line my eyes a bit thicker with the liquid liner.

I'm still not 100% sure of what lipstick to wear.  I may go pretty dark since my eyes aren't too powerful. Regardless I have to make sure to pick something that will stay all night.

I'll be sure to make a concert post again like I did after Sonata Arctica!

Possets Perfume Haul 2

Since there were quite a few scents from my last haul that I needed forever I went ahead and placed another order. Because of my budget I could only get 2 out of the 4 that I wanted, so I will probably have to place another order in a few months.

I picked up full sizes of Dance With Me and The Temptress which were my top two favorite scents.

The full review can be read here.

Basically Dance With Me is a gorgeous vanilla creamy mysterious grapefruit.  Its so lovely I can't even.

The Temptress is a gorgeous dark feminine musk. It's hard to explain, but I love it so much. 

I still have Arcturus and Lavender Corset on my wishlist!

Today I wanted to review the four free samples I got, some were winners and some were well....not.

Chocolate Incense

"No Valentine's Day would be complete without a foolish amount of chocolate! But this is the kind you can wear, a drug for your nose and an indulgence for your psyche. Sandalwood, amber, frankincense bring out the smokey tease in chocolate which you probably had no idea was there. Downright narcotic, it's so sensuous."

Initial Sniff: CHOCOLATE.  This smells exactly like chocolate from the bottle.  Wow, its really delicious. I was actually pretty excited because sometimes you just want to smell like some chocolate.

On the Skin: This transforms entirely and very quickly.  It goes from pure chocolate to losing all chocolate notes.  Instead it leaves behind a very smokey woody musk smell. Unfortunately it is much too masculine for me to be able to pull off.  I feel awkward wearing it even though I enjoy the smell.  So I put some on my boyfriend to see if he could use it.  Even though it once again smelled musky and delicious on him he said it was too feminine.  Haha.....welp. 

Camping

Invoked Image:  This makes me think of sitting around a campfire at night while cuddled up to my love.

Wear Time: 7-8 hours

Verdict: This perfume is too masculine for me and too feminine for my boyfriend.  Such an interesting and unexpected conundrum.  I have a friend that likes androgynous perfumes so I'm going to let her give it a try and she can take it if she likes it.  It smells nice but just isn't for me. I wish the chocolate smell lasted throughout the wear.

Cygnus The Swan

This was the only sample I specifically requested, all others were picked for my by Possets.

"Cygnus (the Swan) is a very very very very sexy blend of the scent of real vanilla, rose, golden musk, sugar concentrate (do not eat this), an accord which smells a lot like fondant, and a pink musk which I have not used before. Very strong and very long lasting. Very. It is gorgeous, and I would say an instant classic."

Initial Sniff: Right from the bottle this is downright unpleasant.  All I smell is sweet with an undertone of even more sickening sweetness.  I was afraid this would be another unwearable one like Gelato: Vaniglia

On the Skin: Oh was I wrong! This smells sooo much better on the skin.  The sweetness is cut by the musk and florals, leaving behind a very very feminine but very nice scent. Call me crazy but when I smell this I think of pink lemonade....which honestly makes no sense as there is no fruit or citrus in this. It might be because this perfume has so many layers that I have trouble picking them apart and my nose is confused. 

Lemon Flowers

Invoked Image: Sipping refreshing lemonade on a warm summer day surrounded by beautiful fragrant flowers.

Wear Time: 3-4 Hours

Verdict: I am actually considering buying a full size of this.  It is a very nice scent for when I am feeling super happy and bubbly and girly.  It is very bright and sweet but also interesting and unique.

The Pleiades

"Hauntingly romantic silver musk is at the base, osmanthus (sweet olive), pink baby rose, hawthorne, and a small amount of vanilla. A very floaty, dreamy fragrance perfect for mooning over your lover or trying to catch the attention of someone for whom you have set your cap. Difficult to pin down, and wraps you in a cloud of charmingly vague but definitely beautiful fragrance. Very very feminine."

Initial Sniff: This scent is very light and lovely from the bottle.  It really is dreamy and very hard to explain.  The sweet olive, florals, and vanilla all combine to make a beautifully innocent and soft scent...

On the Skin: ....Until you put it on.  This is so so so so unfortunate.  Once this hits my skin all those beautiful light scents are lost and it smells 100% like baby powder. I'm so sad. This is my favorite out of the bottle scent but my least favorite on my skin.  How is this even possible :(

Baby Powder

Invoked Image: I literally can't smell anything but baby powder and I don't really like the smell to begin with.  Ugh :(

Wear Time: 5-6 hours

Verdict: Such a shame.  I'm so sad about this scent transformation.  If you want to smell like baby powder this is the scent for you.  I'm thinking about using this in another way, like as a bath oil, maybe then the original out of the bottle smell will stick around and it won't transform into baby powder.

Seraphim

"Five vanillas (most of them fat and buttery vanillas cut with lean and sharp vanillas) and are blended with six different ambers which give the hypnotic part to the whole"

Initial Sniff: From the bottle it smells just as the description says, a lovely amber vanilla with the vanilla notes taking the lead.  This smell is very relaxing and pleasant.

On the Skin: Once on I feel that the amber really takes over.  It is very warm and deep.  For me it is a much more wearable version of Chocolate Incense. It is musky and less feminine but isn't too overpowering, and I feel it is a great scent for fall. 

Sunset

Invoked Image: This invokes an image similar to Chocolate Incense...warm and safe with my love but instead of a campfire we are watching the sun set on a warm fall evening.

Wear Time: 3-4 hours

Verdict: While this would not work as the temperature gets hotter, I may keep this in mind for when fall rolls around.  The scent is like nothing I have and is the first non feminine scent that I've liked on myself.

So Arcturus and Lavender Corset are still on my wish list but now I am also considering Cygnus the Swan and Seraphim as well. Possets why do you do this to me??