Facebook Giveaway - ENDED

THE CONTEST IS OVER!  THANKS 

TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!!

**DO NOT USE THE RAFFLECOPTER WIDGET!** PLEASE follow the instructions on the screenshot from my FB page, below. Rafflecopter glitched out on me, but I don't want to delete it yet and lose those entries. Thanks!!**

So, here's what I put together for my giveaway!  As you can see there are: Ardell Double Up lashes, a mini Hard Candy nail polish, nail polish remover pads, a cool mottled Rimmel single eyeshadow, SauceBox Cosmetics mascara, Hard Candy's 5-piece eyeliner set, an Essence multi-colour blush, Philosophy's Supernatual palette, a super-sparkly E.L.F. lipgloss, a compact mirror and a C.O. Bigelow lip  balm in Spearmint!!

I'm so excited that I surpassed 550 fans on my Facebook page!  I tried to keep the giveaway simple, so all you can choose what you would like to do to enter, via rafflecopter!  The contest ends Friday at 11:59 pm.  Good luck and spread the word!  Thanks so much for your support!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Deal Of The Day

Well, I hit up another Walgreens to see if they had the eyelashes I bough the other day on sale. Turns out they had them, but they weren't on sale. BUT, they did have these "Double Up" lashes on sale for $1.50! I had never seen these before, but they have two rows of lashes per eye! Pretty nifty!!

SauceBox Vs Sugarpill

I've been so excited since I came across SauceBox Cosmetics!  Their colors are bright, they are very affordable and they even give one of my favorite companies, Sugarpill, a run for their money!  Ever since I got my last order, I decided I needed to do some comparison swatches.  I knew it wouldn't be long before people started asking about it.  So here they are.

 As you can see they are quite similar.  I find SauceBox's Jungle green to

be more yellow and a lighter shade of green than Sugarpill's Midori.

Now, Oh La La was brighter and a smidge lighter than Dollipop.

 I found the blues to be apples and oranges.

I don't think any are substitutes for another.

But all of the colors are lovely.

 Now, the oranges.  I think SauceBox's Wildflower

is less pink/red than Sugarpill's Flamepoint.  It also

has a less chalky appearance on the skin.  

Her are two that are altogether different from Sugarpill.

Spy is a lovely, shimmery vanilla shade, great for 

highlighting the browbone and cheekbones. 

Killer is a mid-tone, warm gray and I love it.  

It's not blue-based and its very easy to use for

a smoky eye and NOT overdo it.

Now here's the price breakdown of each.  Sugarpill's single shadows are $12 each.  SauceBox Cosmetics' single shadows are $8 each.  A quad palette from Sugarpill is $34.  A quad palette from SauceBox is $26.  And a 6-pan palette from SauceBox is $35-$38.  While some things are not similar, other things are. And you know me, I am always looking for the best deal around.  I am quite happy with all of my shadows.  

Blooper Sale at SauceBox Cosmetics!!

You may have read my review on SauceBox Cosmetics a little while back.  If not, check it out HERE!

In any event, now is a FANTASTIC time to try SauceBox at a great price!  If you like the berry color scheme, then they have a palette for you called Forbidden Fruits!   It usually retails for $35.00.  But they've gotten a batch from the factory that has slight imperfections.  By that, I mean small scratches or smudges.  And because of this, they are selling them for only $20!!!

http://www.sauceboxcosmetics.com/sbpage/store/products/forbidden-fruits-production-bloopers

Find Of The Day!

I found these AWESOME Ardell lashes I've been wanting to try for $2.29 at Walgreens. They are on clearance, with orange tag and will no longer be available once they are gone!

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!

It's A Trap-eze, Baby!

This blog is not a cut and dry nail polish review, a few factors came to mind when writing this. (Just so you know.)

First of all, I've been wanting to try a polish like this ever since Nails Inc came out with their "Sprinkle" collection. And there are many indie sellers who have created similar polishes. This is where my internal struggle comes into play.

As an artist, I want to support small, indie sellers. But it's a struggle when there is not enough supply to meet the demand and a lot of these sellers burn out from the rush of business and then fall off the radar for a while. It's tricky, at best.

I can appreciate that China Glaze is taking notice of the indie trends and came up with two polishes that reflect those trends in their new Cirque du Soleil collection. In this review, I'm only reviewing "It's a Trap-eze", but I will be writing a review for "Whirled Away" too.

The polish is lovely. It has a milky white base and is PACKED with glitter. The glitter is made up of a rainbow of colors and various sizes. I was surprised to see it was a shiny glitter and not matte. I've heard this polish described as thick and chunky, but I think that's only as a result of all that glitter!! I really had no problems with application.

I decided to swatch this polish three different ways: on my pinky there was no base color, my ring finger had a link base and my middle finger had a baby blue base. In my opinion, I like the pinky the best. I like the layered look, where the glitter isn't so sparkly and metallic. I also found that the other two fingers did not get a smooth finish, even with multiple coats of Seche Vite...

which brings me to my next dilemma.

For the first time ever, the SV shrank my polish. The middle and ring fingers were the worst, but you can see it on the pinky too. It made the polish look think and awful around all edges. And of course, a day or so later, the whole thing peeled off in one piece. :/

Despite my various difficulties, I think the polish is quite pretty. I only plan on using it over the regular color of my nails and work in light, thinner layers. If you've wanted to try a translucent polish with glitter, but haven't or can't afford to get your hands on an indie polish, this is an alternative.