nail adventures: starry night

two coats of Sephora by OPI's Opening Night followed by the konad nail stamping system :)

Konad Stamping Nail Art How To:

1. Put down a piece of paper or paper towel (this process can be messy) to place all of the konad equipment on during use
2. set out all necessary equipment (polish, clippers, file, konad supplies..and whatever else you may need)
3. soak a q-tip in nail polish remover and have a tissue or two on hand
4. go through your normal nail routine (clipping, filing, buffing...)
5. use a base coat followed by your main colored polish
6. take your detail color and place a thick coat over the decal/design.
7. use the "scraper" and scrape off the excess polish at a 45 degree angle
8. immediately roll the stamper onto the design.
9. take your time while deciding where on your nail you want the design.
10. carefully roll the stamper over nail.
11. after every few nails you may need to clean the design off with your q-tip (too much build up on the design makes it difficult to get a clear image).
12. after completing all of your nails, go over with a clear top coat.

:)

nail adventures: junglesque

two coats of Sephora by OPI's Dating the Drummer followed by stamp using the Konad nail stamping system.

my philosophy on philosophy

as a christmas gift this year i received the philosophy share the joy set which contains four shower gels and four lipglosses in cinnamon buns, candy cane, peppermint bark, and bubbly. i was excited to try this set because i had never tried out any philosophy products. so i have mixed feelings about the set. first of all, i love the lipglosses.. they feel great (not sticky), smell great, and last a long time.. however they are clear glosses (except the peppermint bark which has a very slight hint of red)...but these glosses are definitely worth it (for only ten dollars at their individual price).. as far as the shower gels (three of the four can also be used as shampoo)... i have only used the peppermint bark.. but i do know that they all smell delicious.. however based off the one that i have used i do not think they are anything really special (especially for the price of the individual bottles). so my philosophy on philosophy so far = love the lipgloss.. eh on the shower gel.. however i do look forward to trying other philosophy products in the future. :)

Tarte Cosmetics: The Jewelry Box

The Jewelry Box by Tarte is a gold box that looks like a cute little box perfect for jewelry and even has a necklace clipped to the top. However instead of jewelry, the box is home to a variety of makeup items.  This includes: 32 eyeshadows (16 shimmer and 16 matte) in a wide range of colors, 8 lip colors, a bronzer and highlighter, and five eyeliners (in black, purple, green, gold, and a sparkly black). This set is $52 at Sephora and has received Sephora's natural seal.  As far as the individual products go... the eyeshadows are good..pigmented, pretty, versatile... i don't tend to use lip products out of palettes..but these lip colors seem nice to me..i might actually start using them.. they provide a subtle stained look and come in a variety of shades.. the bronzer is tarte's signature bronzer in Park Avenue Princess... the eyeliners are just adequate.. i have used them as a pop of color under the eye and as a base on the lid (but they are hard to blend out..so maybe not the best for that). Overall, i think this palette is a good deal.. definitely comes with a lot of products.. including almost a whole face look.. if only it included some mascara and blush :P.. anyways, if you are looking for a nice gift to buy someone i would definitely recommend this!

Favorite Eyeshadow Palette: Smashbox Cosmetics Palette in Classifeyed

What is my new go to palette? Smashbox Cosmetics Eyeshadow Palette in Classifeyed. This palette comes with six eye shadows in: vanilla, light bronze, brown, ivory, light mauve, and deep eggplant. In other words this palette is perfect for one neutral/brown look and one purple look. This is great for everyday look because each color combination is mild enough for the day but definitely not boring at all! This palette can also be used for night by adding more of the darkest color. This palette also has great packaging; it comes in a shiny black hard plastic case and has a very large mirror on the inside.  The best part? This Smashbox palette is only $15! can't beat that! :)

product gone wrong: ooh la lift

so usually when i'm going to buy something i research it first.. or in other words i read a ton of reviews on sephora's website or i watch video reviews on youtube.. and i had done that..but for a different product.. so when i got to sephora i happened to discover Benefit's Ooh La Lift "instant under-eye brightening boost" and i bought it. i knew nothing about the product.. but i figured benefit was a good brand so why not just try it out right? well unfortunately, it has been a disappointment.. first of all, it didn't really do anything to "brighten" up my under eyes.. but worse than that.. it eventually did the opposite! after i started using this product i started to notice that i kept getting dark smudges under my eyes..which was strange for me..because i was using the same eyeliner combination as i had been for a while (and hadn't had a problem with) so why was it all of a sudden smudging under my eyes? so i stopped wearing eyeliner (gel liner with powder over it) on my waterline for a few days but the smudging kept happening! so then i considered all of the possible changes i had made previous to this smudging and realized that the only change made had been this new "eye brightener" so i stopped using it one day but still without eyeliner on the waterline and no problem! then i added the eyeliner back on the waterline and still no problem! so i guess the problem = this product. boo :(