Color of the Month: Alexandrite

June's gemstone challenge really screwed me over, big time. 

Apparently, June decided it wanted to be all fancy and have TWO gemstones to represent it's month. And neither of them were easy to translate onto nails. 

One of June's gemstones is the pearl, which is hard to pull off on nails without using a pearly white polish or else pearl studs. Overall, both looks would have been boring and not at all blog-worthy. 

The second of June's gemstones is Alexandrite. This little pain in the ass stone is unique in that it changes colors depending on what kind of light you're in. Sort of like the mood ring of gemstones. In natural light, it appears a lovely green shade. In incandescent light, a purple-pink. 

Alexandrite was discovered in Russia in the 1800's, during the reign of Czar Alrxander II, from which the gem's name is derived. It's chameleon-like properties make it a unique and beautiful gem. 

But still, what the hell was I supposed to do with that?? 

My first thought was to buy an ILNP Ultra Chrome polish that had all the Alexandrite colors in it. Then I decided to settle on a Saran Wrap mani using Zoya's "Giovanna" and Orly's "Hot Tropics". 

This is the finished product:

I hated it and took it off immediately. 

It's not like it's a terrible manicure or even color combination. It's just not what I wanted to see on my nails and the end of June. It also reminded me a bit of Barney the dinosaur. 

Needless to say, I am looking forward to the ease of July's gemstone: Ruby! But this week, I need to focus on my 4th of July nails for you. I promised patriotic, and patriotic you shall receive. 

First Ever Ipsy Bag! (And Feels)

I finally decided to sign up for an Ipsy subscription, and I'm so glad I did. 

Ipsy is one of several beauty box subscriptions available. How it works is you pay a flat amount of money each month, and the company sends you beauty products they think you will like. The cool thing about it is you can take a quiz to fine-tune the things they send you to your personality/beauty needs. And if you get a bag you don't like? No problem! Just re-take the quiz or review the products!

There are several companies that do this sort of thing. I chose Ipsy because I thought it was the best deal for the money I am paying, and because I liked their brands.

For $10 a month (free shipping!), I get 4-6 (usually full-sized) beauty products in an adorable cosmetic bag, and their brands include NYX, Urban Decay, Too Faced, Benefit, Zoya, and tons of other high-end brands. Typically, what you get in the bag is worth three, four, or even five times what you are paying. 

Saturday, I finally got my first Ipsy bag in the mail. 

This is pretty much exactly how I felt. 

The cosmetic bag is SUPER cute. It was designed by Rebecca Minkoff, so that was already a huge score!

In my bag, I got Jesse's Girl Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner, NYX Butter Gloss in Eclair, Oleganriksen Truth To Go Cleansing Wipes, Be A Bombshell Lash Out Mascara, and Marc Anthony Dream Waves Beach Spray. 

I have been using Kat Von D Liquid Liner in Trooper for months, so I was interested to see how Jesse's Girl Liquid Liner stood up against it. 

Jesse's Girl (Top), Kat Von D (Bottom)

You can see in the picture that Kat Von D's liner is blacker and covers more fully. However, I was truly impressed with the precision of the tip on Jesse's Girl liner. It was super easy to get right up on my lash line with it. Overall, the eyeliners were totally comparable, so if you don't feel like spending $18 on the Kat Von D brand, Jesse's Girl is a totally acceptable substitute at an affordable $6.99. 

I was extremely excited to try out my NYX Butter Gloss. I have heard nothing but amazing things about their line of glosses and lipsticks. I have tried and loved other NYX products but hadn't gotten around to buying their lip products. 

NYX Butter Gloss in Eclair

I won't lie, I was kind of hoping for the shade Creme Brûlée after seeing Kathleen Lights (one of my favorite YouTube Beauty Gurus) use it so much. But I'm really glad I got Eclair! It's a really lovely pink/lavender shade; a perfect subtle color for when I do something crazy with my eye makeup. It's also nice for layering over other lipstick colors. And for $5 a tube, picking up more colors definitely won't break your bank. 

Like I said, super subtle color. 

Then I got to the Be A Bombshell Lash Out mascara. 

Overall, I wasn't terribly blown away by this mascara. First, it smells very funky. I read other reviews of people who have said the same thing. If you can get past the smell, the product is just okay. It makes your lashes longer, but it's certainly no Bare Minerals or Benefit mascara. I'll use it, but I wouldn't buy more, and for $15 a tube, I definitely want something that I love. I've used better mascaras at half the price. 

I've always kind of wanted cleansing wipes, but never want to shell out the cash for them. As a habitual face washer before I go to bed (no matter how drunk or tired I may be) I figured I wouldn't use them often. However these came extremely handy one night when my bathroom was occupied and I couldn't get to my face wash. The wipes did an excellent job of removing my makeup, they smelled great, and caused no breakouts the next day. They are also moisturizing and age defying. I would definitely look into buying these once my sample runs out. 10 wipes run about $9 and a pack of 30 go for $15 on Olehenriksen's website. 

Lastly was the Marc Anthony Dream Waves Beach Spray. I cannot really give an accurate review of this product, as it is a curl enhancer and my hair is poker straight, only ever yielding a curl or two on my baby hairs when it's 100% humidity. The product and heat styling tools required to get my hair to hold a curl is ungodly. Beach spray ain't gonna cut it.

I used the spray two ways. The first time I sprayed it in, scrunched, and blow dryed it with a diffuser attachment. The second time I sprayed it in, scrunched it, and let it dry naturally. Both yielded just sort of poofy hair with texture. However the spray smells delicious (Mike told me my hair smelled like Bahama Mamas) and even if it won't give me beach waves, I can use it to give my hair texture or hold when I need to for an updo or whatever. The spray usually retails for $8.99 for 4.2 oz. 

All in all, I was completely thrilled with my Ipsy bag! As someone who loves getting mail, and loves beauty products even more, it's the perfect way to treat myself a little each month. In my estimation, the contents of my bag were worth over $38, and that is NOT including the designer bag it came in or the cost of shipping. You simply cannot beat the deal, and it's a great way to try out products you can't afford, or are too afraid to try. 

Interested in signing up for your own Ipsy subscription? Use my link below to get started! 

http://www.ipsy.com/r/c16l

I've Been Drinkin', Watermelon

Hey all! Yesterday I was MIA because I was spending the day in Atlantic City for my husband's birthday. We spent the whole weekend celebrating. 

As some of you may know, we have spent the past two months making improvements to our backyard in preparation for the very party that happened this past weekend. We've pulled up chicken wire, laid down grass seed, painted both decks, made a horseshoe pit, and (sort of) opened the pool. It was a ton of work, but it also made it that much more gratifying to see all of our friends over enjoying what we had done. 

We had roughly 30 of our friends and family over to celebrate with an awesome BBQ and pool party. The pool water may not yet be clear, but it was still swim-able and fun. 

For the occasion, I asked my sister to sew me a watermelon dress. I found a picture of me as a pre-schooler wearing a watermelon dress recently and decided I needed an adult version. 

Watermelon dress, circa 1994

Watermelon dress, 2014

And, of course, to match a watermelon dress, I did watermelon nails. 

My nails and my dress

A huge thanks to everybody who came out to celebrate with us! We had so much fun. And to those who couldn't make it, you were missed. 

This upcoming weekend, I'll be out on the ocean for trawl, which isn't the best time to do funky things on my nails. Next week expect to see some swatches or product reviews. I have posts ready for the Zoya Magical Pixie Summer collection, my Ipsy bag review, and my new Lush products :)

Pride 2014 Weekend

For those of you who don't know, June is National LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Pride Month. The point of this movement is to encourage people of differing sexual orientations to be proud of who they are and to embrace their gender identity. With so many states legalizing gay marriage, it is an especially exciting time to be a part of the LGBT movement!

To celebrate Pride month, several cities around the country have huge celebrations. This past weekend, I went to Philadelphia with my husband, and my friends Lindsey and Joey (aka Jnano) to join in the festivities. 

Saturday night, we went to Woody's (which is a gay bar). It wasn't much different from any other night at Woody's, except that maybe there were more people and more streamers. Still, on any weekend, a night at Woody's is a blast. I dressed for the occasion with rainbow eye makeup (including purple eyelashes!)

My dress also had rainbow Hawaiian print and a heart cut out of the back. 

Sunday was the parade which was a LOT of fun! There was a color guard team called "Flaggots" who did a choreographed dance to "Timber". There were drag queens galore, men and women in the tiniest metallic shorts I have ever seen, women wearing only stickers on their nipples, and rainbows EVERYWHERE. 

Hubby even bought me this sweet rainbow boa. 

The overall feeling of love and acceptance was really powerful. Everybody was just there to support one another and have a good time. It was really amazing to see so many floats of churches, republican groups, etc.  promoting LGBT rights. 

Of course, in honor of Pride weekend, I had to do something special with my nails. I recently bought some lightning bolt vinyls from Nail Vinyls, as well as Maybelline's Bleached Neons collection. This is what I came up with:

Maybelline Color Show "Bleached Neons" collection, L to R: "Pink Punch", "Coral Heat", "Bleached in Peach", "Lime Accent", "Day Glow Teal", "Ultra Violet".

I LOVED this mani. It even glows under black light! 

My favorite colors in the collection are "Day Glow Teal", "Ultra Violet", and "Coral Heat". I felt like the blue and purple looked the best together, and I may end up combining them in another mani sometime soon :) The neutral color in the mani is OPI's "My Vampire is Buff". 

Did you do anything fun for Pride? Tell me about it in the comments section! 

Color of the Month: Emerald

So I know this post technically comes a couple days late, but it is time to put the spotlight on May's birthstone - Emerald. 

Emeralds are one of the four precious gemstones (diamonds, rubies, and sapphire are the other three). According to earthsky.org, emeralds were "once believed to prevent epilepsy, stop bleeding, cure dysentery and fever, and protect the wearer from panic". 

The American Gem Society notes that emeralds are a symbol of rebirth, and, in mythology, were believed to grant the owner foresight, good fortune, and youth.

 Emeralds come in several shades of green, but since it is summer, I wanted to go with the brighter end of the spectrum. For my emerald manicure, I decided to try a jelly sandwich. 

Some of you are probably wondering what sandwiches have to do with nail polish. Let me clear up the confusion. Nail polishes come in different formulas or finishes. Your basic polishes with no glitter or special effects are called "cremes". Then you have holographics, metallics, mattes, textures, etc. A "jelly" polish is just a type of formula in which the polish looks sheer on the nail, but can be built up to full opacity in 3+ coats. 

So then, what's a jelly sandwich?

A jelly sandwich is when you layer glitter between coats of a jelly polish. The resulting effect causes the glitter to look like it's floating within the polish, and gives your manicure depth. 

I actually topped my mani with the glitter instead of the jelly polish, since my jelly wasn't as sheer as I hoped! 

Here it is...

For this mani I used Essie's "Shake Your $$ Maker" as my jelly, and then layered on OPI's "Fresh Frog of Bel Air" and Sinful Color's "Green Ocean" for the glitters.