NEW Goodies Added To My Giveaway!

If you haven't heard, I'm having a great giveaway! Please visit the blog before this if you haven't.

Here are some MORE goodies I picked up in the UK to add to the prize pack!

All products are by MUA: two sets of false eyelashes, one of the NEW nail polishes just out, a gorgeous palette of metallic eyeshadows and a silver glitter eyeliner!

MAJOR Giveaway!!

It's that time! Time to win some goodies!!

I have put together the greatest collection of goodies, with the help of SauceBox Cosmetics (http://www.sauceboxcosmetics.com) and Jesse's Girl Cosmetics (http://www.jessesgirlcosmetics.com) So far, the prize package includes:

6 of Jesse's Girl new lipsticks
7 Jesse's Girl loose pigment eyeshadows
1 Jesse's Girl brush roll (no brushes included)
1 Jesse's Girl eyeshadow primer
6 Jesse's Girl Frosted Gumdrop Nail Polishes (The full set! I don't even have those!)

1 Temptation palette by SauceBox Cosmetics

**The new UK goodies have been added to the giveaway!**

So, what do you have to do to enter? It's easy: follow my blog, like my Facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/iamglamourpuss), like/comment about what product you're most excited about/share my giveaway announcement on my FB page. I will be checking to make sure all criteria are met.

You have until April the 14th at 12:00/midnight EST. Winner will be announced on April 15th.

Jindienails

I follow so many nail fanatics on Facebook and Instagram.  It makes me insane, there are so many cool things out! And with my new interest in indie nail polishes, I've decided to try out a few.  I've only had a couple before, so I don't have a whole lot to go on.

I came across Jindie Nails on Instagram.  I fell in love with the a color called Candy Land (very left on the row of bottles below).  It has large hex glitter and smaller hex glitter in a variety of neon, yet translucent colors, suspended in a white, jelly base.  But once I started looking, I found a few more things I wanted to try.  Since Jindie Nails sells mini bottles, that was the easiest way to try it out.

Colors (Top L-R): Candy Land, Dream In Color,

Barbies Have More Fun and Talk Nerdy To Me

Below, you can see what each coat looks like.  My pinky has Barbies Have More Fun on it.  It layered alright, but I wasn't getting much of the pink glitter (more on that later).  Candy Land is on my ring finger and as you can see, it took a fair amount of work to get some glitter on my nail.  Talk Nerdy To Me is on my middle finger and it applied better than any of the others, despite my low expectations after the first coat.   And last but not least, there's Dream In Color on my index finger.  The first layer looked promising, but when I went to do the second coat, all the glitter got hung up on all of the dried glitter already on my nail.

The trick about these polishes is to remember that you cannot simply brush these coats on smoothly.  You have to use a "dab and blend" kind of method if you want an even distribution of glitter.  I think this is more of a user error rather than a manufacturer error, the glitters in some of these are pretty big.  I did read on another blog that if you turn Candy Land upside down, you may have better luck getting more glitter out.  Another thing was that a lot of glitter in Barbies Have More Fun stayed stuck to the side of the bottle.  I shook it like crazy.  Left it upside down for two days...and even then, very little has changed.  Below you can see the way it's all stuck to the front of the bottle.  There's a definite difference between the front and the back.

I swatched it again today.

I've swatched the polishes, but I've not put them through the rigors of daily life.  I cannot speak for how well they wear just yet.  I did find that Dream In Color popped right off, in one sheet (a friend of mine complained of this but with other colors).  BUT  I didn't use a base coat for the swatch photo, so I have to try that again.

Now, for my biggest gripe.  It is really difficult to buy polishes from Jindie Nails.  There is an Etsy store, but most of the time it is vacant, until the next restock.  And I participated in the last restock and I can tell you one thing...it was not easy.   The store was supposed to be active at 1 PM Central time.  So I made a point to be at my computer.  Messages were being posted on Jindie Nails' Facebook page about how not all items were active yet and to please wait to make your purchases.  So I sat.  I waited.  I added things to my cart.  After a while those things got cartjacked by people who didn't wait.  And somewhere in the debacle, I totally missed the listings for the two new colors she released.  Like I wasn't lame and missed it because I couldn't find it...the listings NEVER showed up.  Refresh, refresh...nothing.  So, I snagged some mini bottles fearing I would miss out on those.  The whole ordering/waiting/refreshing process took me 57 minutes.

There are other outlets for Jindie Nails products.  You can buy them via Llarowe now and via Mei Mei's Signatures.  Please note the prices are slightly higher on these sites, more so on Mei Mei.

I would also like to add that Jen from Jindie Nails is quite nice.  I contacted her about a polish that got cartjacked and she offered to send me a mini one for free.  Yet when my order arrived, it wasn't there.  Feeling like a jerk, I contacted her about it.  She had to have some extra correspondence via Etsy and Facebook to remember who I was, but once she figured it out she asked if I wanted it shipped with my next order.  Well...that was thing.  I didn't know if I wanted to order again or not.  So I sat on it for a day.  I felt like I'd be a real shit to ask for the freebie polish and nothing else, so my choices were to walk away altogether or buy something else.  Against my better judgement, I bought Candy Land Remix (see below, upper-left photo), which has some micro neon glitter in it in addition to the large and medium glitter already in it.  I am really hoping it is nicer than Candy Land.  I REALLY love the idea of this polish, but the application is a massive headache...not to mention trying to fish out a blue piece of glitter...I couldn't do that once!  I also got Live Out Loud which has some cool metallic dot glitters.  You can see it in the photo below, lower-left corner.

At the moment, I am on the fence about if I will order from Jindie Nails again or not.  I love the concept of many of her creations, but that's about it.  I really love the color Swoon, which you can see below, it's the aqua one next to Candy Land.  But if it applies anything like Candy Land, I'm sure I'll be frustrated.  When I get my next order in, I will post an update.

These photos were posted by JindieNails on Instagram

Great Things Ahead...

In case you haven't noticed, I have a new widget to the right that isn't quite formatted to fit the column.  BUT  what's going on is very exciting!  I am going to start my own  nail polish business!  The indie cosmetics business is very tricky and quite competitive.  But after years of buying indie and watching businesses come and go, I've decided there's a better way.  There simply has to be.

My frustrations come from vendors that do not plan ahead, worry about supply/demand and have no idea how to handle the traffic and sales they generate when they have a big launch.  Oftentimes these businesses come out with so many new things at one time, I know that I cannot afford to get ALL the things I want, so I'm sure I'm not alone on that.  Then by the time I can afford to, they are gone forever or I have to wait an indefinite amount of time for a restock.  The system is flawed.  I want to create something different, with a totally different business model.

I have so many ideas!  But first there is some fundraising to be done.  I have to get supplies, packaging, bottles, shipping supplies, not to mention source the materials I want, look into names and trademarks.  It's pretty daunting and pretty scary.  So, I've started a GoFundMe page.  I have set in place some pretty nifty incentives.  I would appreciate it if you could take a look or pass it along and help spread the word.  If you could donate, that would be wonderful.  But times are tough, so I understand if you can't. Thank you so much for your time!

http://www.gofundme.com/1ty7k8

China Glaze - Whirled Away

As you saw in my last review, I recently picked up "It's A Trap-eze" and "Whirled Away" by China Glaze. These polishes are from their Cirque du Soleil collection.

"Whirled Away" is very similar to Cover Band Lacquer's polish "Sticks 'n Stones." Again, I'm glad that a big league company is taking cues from indie brands, which also makes the polish more affordable and easily accessible, but I dislike taking business away from indie companies. It's a catch-22, for certain.

"Whirled Away" has a clear base with large, white, hex glitter. Then there are the little black strips and medium-sized, black, hex glitter. I found the application to be pretty tricky. Because the brush is black, it's difficult to gauge how much black glitter is on it. And because the glitters are so large, you have to think strategically when placing them. As you can see on my middle finger, when I simply brushed the polish on the way I usually would, all the glitter got hung up on the middle of my nail. Part of me thinks it would be easier to have loose glitter and manually apply it.

Overall, I like the look. As soon as I saw it, I thought of the Formica tabletops from the '50s, so I decided aqua and pink would be awesome as base colors. I used NYX Girls "Kinky Pink" on my pinky and thumb. Then I used Sleek's "Turquoise" on my ring finger. Barry M's "Bright Pink" on my middle finger and Barry M's "Flamingo Pink" on my pointer finger. On my thumb, I sandwiched the two polishes. I kinda like that effect, but I think I prefer "Whirled Away" as a topcoat.

Last but not least, it took around 3 coats of Seche Vite to create a nice, smooth finish...which, in turn, made the polish like a tiny piece of armor that came off in one sheet a few days later. :/ Darn that Seche Vite!

Nostalgic Nail Lacquers

There has been a lot of buzz about artisan nail polishes for some time now! Some people call them indie, but since they are hand-blended and do vary, I prefer the word artisan.

I managed to snag a couple of new polishes from Nostalgic Nail Lacquers. I have been wanting to try some matte glitter polishes and I found a couple I really liked from their "Clueless"-inspired collection. I got "Rollin' With The Homies" and "Way Harsh."

RWTH has a clear base with white and blue matte glitter. It applies easily and the glitter distribution is pretty good. I found two coats to be sufficient for good coverage. I played with the color over some sparkly blues, cream colors and even a matte polish. I like the idea of mixing up textures, finishes and colors.

WH has a clear base, with really fine pink and black, matte glitter. This polish took a little more work to get an even distribution of glitter, but it's pretty!  I really love the mix of it and the turquoise nail polish.  Reminds me of the '50s formica countertops.

Both of these polishes dry down to a matte finish.  I had to use a couple of layers of Seche Vite to get a good smooth shine.  

These polishes are fun and creative.  There are not a lot of companies that make polishes with matte glitter.  I have seen quite a few artisans start a business, then get overwhelmed by the high demand for such products, thus creating the need for a hiatus.  It's a shame because once polishes like these do go on sale, they usually get bought up right away!

As for Nostalgic Nail Lacquers, I would definitely use more of their polishes.  The shipping was fast, the items were packed well.  Everything went off without a hitch and you can't beat that!

MUA Love Hearts Nails

This review looked like it was going to be a "gimme."  I love MUA products from the UK.  I love Love Hearts candy, also from the UK.  And I LOVE nail polish.  I ordered 3 of the Love Hearts colors and they are really pretty!  I got "I Want U", which is an orange.  "U & I" is a lovely buttercup color.  And "Love U 24/7" is a medium purple.  All of these colors are creams.

The first thing I couldn't help but notice was that the brushes are not the best.

As you can see, the purple and orange brushes are spread out with strays coming off the side.  The yellow one has an uneven slant to it.  In any event, all of the brushes are very course, which made for not optimal application.  As you can see, with two coats, there are very visible lines in the polish left by the brush.  Once I saw this, my review of this product was over.

And just to show this is NOT an isolated case, I bought a glitter crackle polish by MUA while I was in England.

Part of me hopes this is just a fluke, part of me wants to demand replacement polishes.  These brushes are unacceptable.  I love the colors, but I doubt I'll use them.  And I have to remember that these only cost 1 pound,, about $1.60 or so.  So I suppose I have to remind myself that you get what you pay for.  I just expected more from MUA since I like their other products so much.  

I Don't Usually Like Flakes...

Of course, I mean flaky people!

Recently, I've seen blogs and heard my girlfriends rave about Nubar nail polishes.  I've wanted to try them and I keep them in my watch list on eBay.  I covet the "Gems" and the "Sparkle" collections...you know me and glittery things.  Then a friend of mine posted about this color called "Opulent Pearl."  It's a flaky nail polish, meaning it has sparkly flecks in it that are not uniform in shape.  Think of how an opal looks.  And flakies come in all colors.  It can get confusing because you may think you're getting a blue one, only to find that the flecks are purple in a clear blue base.  Or a peach one, only to find the flecks are green.  This one is unique because it is in a subtle, white frosty base and reflects red, green, blue and purple.  It really is quite lovely and looks very much like an opal.

I decided since Opulent Pearl seemed to be such a great color, with such a great effect, that it should be what I picked up first.  No major investment in a whole collection of colors, just one pretty multipurpose polish.

I find that this polish looks best in extremes.  I like the naked nail the best and the dark color overlay second.  The reason why I don't really love it over darker colors is that the base polish is a white pearl.  It's not as subtle as I thought it would be.  Once you start layering, it creates a haze over the other color, which means you have to paint it well if you don't want darker colored edges peeking out.

Because of the milky haze that the Nubar polish has, I decided to search for more flakies.  I really like the ones that have ALL the colors, like an opal.  Although, the ones with fewer colors do look great when they are enhancing similar colors.

I already had the NYX polish on hand, although I hadn't tried it out yet and I had just picked up the Finger Paints, so I decided to paint my nails black and start comparing.

Once I had these side-by-side, the Nubar polish quickly became my least favorite.  The translucent base was simply not what I was looking for.  The NYX was nice.  But my goodness!  Look at the Finger Paints!!  My nail looks like a gemstone!  They each had 3 coats of flakies and the Finger Paints had way more depth and fire.  It was exactly what I was looking for.

I am thinking I may try out some of the Speciallita flakies next.  Which ones do you like best?

Cleaning Out Sale

I am cleaning out and I have quite few things I will be posting!  If you are interested in anything, please email me at Glamourpuss_Make-Up@hotmail.com.  I will be listing new things as I get them photographed and I will remove anything that has sold.  Thanks for looking!

The colors I am offering are: Rockstar, Dime and Baked. None of these have been sharpened. 

These were tested on my hand and the point is rounded a tiny bit. $13 and the shipping is free. 

 My Melody Watch - 50th Anniversary Sanrio 

Sealed in Package - $10 and shipping is free.

 Hello Kitty Watch - 50th Anniversary Sanrio 

Sealed in Package - $10 and shipping is free.

Sugarbunnies Watch - 50th Anniversary Sanrio 

Sealed in Package - $10 and shipping is free.

Steve Madden Suede Jacket - Size Small

Faux Fur Trimmed with Embroidered Details

$200 with free shipping (OBO)

Awesome Nine West Boots - Size 6 1/2
Worn Twice - $55 including shipping

I have more make-up goodies to post soon too, so please keep checking back!

I'm In Love

I've been on a serious nail polish kick lately.  And I am happy to say that I am in LOVE!  I was recently told about Speciallita nail polishes.  These are from Brazil.  As I scanned their website, guffawing over all of the amazing nail colors, I realized that I HAD to have these in my life.  It was imperative.  (PLEASE NOTE:  These polishes are not 3-Free.  They do contain toluene and formaldehyde.)

Here's the catch:  there aren't many places where you can buy this polish.  The Speciallita website is in Portuguese.  This is daunting to many, but with the help of Google translation, I managed to set up an account.  If you don't have the patience for that, there is a domestic site that has them for sale, look for anything that starts with "HITS".  Here's the difference:  the Brazilian site has the polishes for quite a bit less than the American distributor.  BUT the Brazilian site has CRAZY shipping.  I would recommend it if you want to place a really big order because it does work out less than the American site, but if you only want to try one or two things, save yourself some hassle and order domestically.  (I am contemplating ordering more or even taking orders so I can place one large order at a time, if there is enough interest.  Please let me know if you are interested.)

Now, onto the fun stuff!  (This is a "photo heavy" blog post, sorry!)

I got most of the polishes from the "HITS no Olimpo" collection.  These are gorgeous holographic nail polishes named after the gods of Mount Olympus.  I didn't get all of them because Atena reminded me of another holo I already have.  Hermes and Artemis both have a metallic base with holo and I wasn't too keen on how the swatches I had seen looked.  But I totally snatched up the rest and I am SO glad I did.

  

These polishes have a jelly base and microfine, linear, holographic glitter.  The colors go on smoothly and have good coverage with 2-3 coats.  They dry super-shiny, no topcoat needed.   I can't describe it, but the polish feels good on my nails.  I guess they are so smooth and glossy, it feels different.  I've been coveting Nfu Oh's jelly polishes, but this is my first experience with some and I love them!  I had swatched my nails on a Saturday, with a couple of different brands, but the Speciallita was the only brand to last over a week.  And that is with no base or top coat!

Afrodite is a lovely, warm, medium pink.  

It's unlike a lot of the cooler-toned, silvery-pink holos that are out there.

Apolo is a really gorgeous deep, blue.   I haven't seen anything comparable.

 Dionisio is a royal purple.  

Most of the holos I have or have seen that are purple tend to be muted and silvery.  

I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

But again, I hadn't seen a holo in this color before. 

Now, I HAVE seen light blue holos that are similar to Poseidon.

But since it has such amazing flash to the holo, I decided to get it anyway. 

 I decided to do a side-by-side (L to R) of Techno Teal from China Glaze's "Tronica" collection and Hera and Apolo.

Techno Teal is not a linear holo, like the Speciallita ones, but you get the idea.

 Zeus is black with a gorgeous rainbow of colors!

 I had never come across an orange holo until I found Demeter.

The holo isn't as flashy as some of the others, but I still like it a lot.

I almost passed on Ares.  I wasn't entirely sold on a red holo.

But I was pleasantly surprised when I got it.  It's very pretty!

The next collection I got is called "Mari Moon."  These colors are difficult to describe and impossible to photograph.  If you thought duochromes were fab, then you will be speechless when you see these.  They are multichromatic and look VERY 3-D when you wear them.  There are all sorts of color shifts.  I took many photos...inside, outside, direct light, indirect light...but I was really disappointed that I couldn't catch the true brilliance of these colors.    The color swatches in this blog are KINDA close, but I find they still fall short.  My favorite color of this bunch is Cutie Pie.  As you can see here, there is an purple, blue, aqua, pink multichrome action going on!  It is really amazing.  The other colors are beautiful too and there is something for everyone, but the color shifts in this one make it the "stand out" color of the bunch.

Last but not least, I picked up some of the "Powerpuff Girl" collection and some other odds and ends.  The Powerpuff Girl colors are lovely, pretty much what you see is what you get, but the pink has a lovely pink shimmer and the black, Buttercup color has a green shimmer.  Really pretty!!

The Speciallita brushes are the kind that are kinda flat, so that they are wider and cover more surface area of the nail when you apply the polish.  My only gripe is that some of the brushes are sorta frayed, they don't lie flat and together, there are strays sticking out.    And one of my Blossom PPG polishes has a chip in the bottle.  I haven't contacted Speciallita about it, so I am not sure of what their Customer Service is like, but I will keep you posted.

All in all, when I got these polishes, I thought that I could go the rest of my life and ONLY wear this polishes.  And that is a really big deal for me, since I have more polishes than I could ever wear in my lifetime!

I'm An It Girl, Thanks Julep!

In an effort to keep my idle hands busy, I've decided to start working on making my nails look nice.  I have never really fussed over my fingernails.  I will paint my toenails, but that's about as crazy as I get.  I am a fine artist, in addition to being a make-up artist, and I am very tough on my hands.  Usually when I put polish on, it's wrecked in a day anyway.  I get hangnails that I mutilate in an attempt to get rid of.  Cuticles...don't even get me started.

Anyway, I recently signed up for the Maven program from Julep.  They had a sale where the first month was only a penny!  AND that included shipping.  This was obviously a great opportunity to try their wares.  They have you fill out a little style survey then let you know what colors they think would work best for you.  It's a little silly in my opinion, especially since they give you the option to select a different mix of products every month anyway.  But I completed the survey and was pleased to find that I'm an "It Girl", was there ever any doubt that I was anything but??

What I liked about being chosen as an It Girl was that the Maven goodie box for the month featured 3 nail colors and a top coat.  Most other boxes have a couple of nail colors and some other hand product like a lotion or a scrub.  While I should probably use products like those, I like colors...so I gravitate towards the fun stuff first!  The colors selected in my goodie box were:  Megan (a nice metallic, mid-shade turquoise), Hayden (described as a "neon peach", more to follow on that) and Leah (a lovely, bright grass green with slight shimmer).  The fourth polish was their fast-dry top coat.

I sat down this morning and decided it was time to swatch.  First I applied Hayden and my initial thought of the color was confirmed:  it's the color of a slice of American cheese.  I suppose I thought it would have a little more pink/red in it.  Not a lot, mind you, just a smidge.  The first coat was streaked.  The second coat was even more disconcerting because it created a thick layer with indentations from the brush strokes in it.  And it STILL didn't create an even color. It took about three and a half coats to get a fairly even color, but it's still not 100% and the thickness makes it difficult to work with.

Next, I gave Leah a spin.  I really like that it is a fresh, bright green.  Again, it took about three and a half coats to get a somewhat even color.   The first coat was nice and thin, but upon laying down another coat this polish also seemed to get thick and hard to work with.  Three coats was almost the charm, but there was still a streak, caused by the brushstroke, right down the middle of the nail.  That's where the half streak came in.  The only other thing that I found disappointing was that the pretty shimmer didn't really show up once the nail was painted.  It's SO subtle, the color looks like a cream.

Last but not least, there's Megan.  I thought this one would be a "gimme."  The first couple of layers went down nicely, thin and easy to layer.  I was still having streaks though.  I'm sad to report that I can't remember how many layers and touch ups it took to get a nice, even color with this one.

I followed up with their fast-drying top coat.  Sadly, the layers were so thick, there was no way this topcoat was going to dry anything, much less, in a quick fashion.  It gives a nice shine, smoothed out some of the imperfections.  But I'm used to Seche Vite, so I guess I'm spoiled.  I just don't see myself using this top coat.

All in all, I am not really a fan of these monthly subscriptions.  There are so many nowadays.  Some send a mix of samples and full-sized products and some let you have a little choice, like the Julep program.  And one thing I can say for Julep is they are very flexible in order to keep your business.  If you want to skip a month, you can.  If you want to send you're monthly goodie box to a friend to hold onto while you're on vacation, you can.  But for me, the bottom line is that if I'm going to spend my hard-earned money, then I want it to be on something I want 100%, not a surprise.

The sales Julep has offered on the Maven program have been good ones.  It regularly retails for $19.99 a month.  Not bad when you consider that their nail polishes are $14 each.  Obviously the sales they have are to get you in the door and committed to the $20 a month.  But I couldn't refuse the offer for a penny.  Sadly, I do not see myself purchasing another Maven box.  I simply do not like the formulas of the nail polish and even $20 a month for two of them and another product is not enough to entice me to continue.