Jindie Nails Electric Grape

Hey guys! Today I have to share with you Jindie Nails Electric Grape! Electric Grape is a deliciously syrupy bright purple jelly base full of blue microglitter that makes it glow. It's an awesome effect-- almost ethereal. Check it out!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

 On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
4 coats Jindie Nails Electric Grape
1 coat Seche Vite

This polish is pretty sheer, but it does apply and build nicely, so it didn't bother me. I actually love the look of VNL through a jelly as long as it is even and without streaks, I think it's super pretty. If you aren't one for sheer polishes though layering it over another purple would still allow all that luminous blue glitter to shine through! I really love these kinds of polishes; that glowing glitter is amazing :)

outdoors, indirect sun

If you'd like to check out Jindie Nails be sure to visit her etsy and Facebook~ you can also buy on Llarowe and MeiMei's Signatures~

outdoors, sun

Have a lovely day! ♥

Laquerlicious Stained Glass + OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise

Hey guys! Today I have the last of my lovely Laquerlicious polishes to share with you. Stained Glass is a fun jewel-toned holo rainbow glitterbomb in a clear base. With rainbow glitters like this the layering possibilities are pretty much endless, but I thought since it was so jewel-toned it would be pretty over a jewel-ish base as well, so I layered it over OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise, a pretty turquoise glass fleck with a very nice purpley-pink in-bottle duochrome that I couldn't really find on my nails. Even so these two polishes seemed to complement each other pretty well; check it out!

indoors, shade

outdoors, sun

On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
4 coats OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise
2 coats Laquerlicious Stained Glass
1 coat Seche Vite

Apologies for the tipwear/shrinkage/whatever it is; it seems my Austin-tatious Turquoise did not care much for SV... anyway, I really love the mix of glitter in this one! I have tons of rainbow glitters at this point because I can't help but be drawn to every one I ever see, haha... but there is something special and unique, I think, about the colors included in this one and the way they go together. It really does remind me of big stained glass windows at a church or something - very pretty! It applied pretty well too, not much as much glitter on the first coat but plenty by the second, which can be nice when you are going for a little more of a scattered, subtle look. Overall I've been very impressed by all the Laquerlicious polishes I've tried out and would definitely recommend them! All very pretty and nice formulas/application - can't go wrong there :)

outdoors, sun

If you'd like to check out Laquerlicious be sure to visit their Etsy and Facebook~

Have a great day! ♥

~This polish was provided by Laquerlicious for an honest review~

Revlon Girly

Hey guys! I was out shopping today and picked up a couple fun Revlon polishes at Walgreen's, among them Girly, which looked like just my style of polish at first sight. Girly is a slightly purple-toned bubblegum pink base full of various shades of hot/light pink and purple small hexes and microglitter. It was totally sheer on the first coat but very easily buildable. Take a look:

outdoors, shade

outdoors, full sun

 On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off base coat
3 coats Revlon Girly
1 coat Seche Vite

I have to say I'm a little disappointed with how this looked on me... I really love the way it looked in the shade, because I find the purple comes out a lot more there and it is much more flattering. However, in the sun the purple all but disappears, leaving it an almost nude shade of pink that I don't really care for. I really like the glitter mix in this polish though, and there was lots of glitter in the first coat but hardly any visible base color, so I may try layering it in the future to bring out those pretty glitters while leaving the unflattering base color behind.

outdoors, weak sun

Have a great day! ♥

Yoshi the Red-shelled Reindino! Enchanted Polish Olive The Other Reindeer + Dollish Polish Dino-mite Yoshi

Hello hello! Today I have a fun, very unplanned and unexpected mani for you that I really love a lot! I did a little swatching today, and the last planned swatch was to throw on Enchanted Polish Olive The Other Reindeer and see if I could finally catch a ray of sunlight while wearing this stunning olive green holo (honestly, I've worn it twice, and twice it was overcast. Ridiculous.). Of course, once I got it out in the sun it was so insanely gorgeous and amazing that I knew I wouldn't be taking it off today... but I thought it would be fun to add a little glitter, if I could find the right glitter. I toyed with some fun rainbow mixes but didn't really want to overpower Olive's holo magic... and I finally settled on Dollish Polish Dino-mite Yoshi, which was totally perfect! Yoshi has small bright green and pink squares, medium yellowy cream hexes, white microglitter and red microshimmer. A very thin, careful coat was the perfect touch to add some fun without overpowering -- check it out!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
(no base-- like I said, this started out as just a swatch!)
3 coats Enchanted Polish Olive the Other Reindeer
1 coat Deborah Lippmann Addicted to Speed
1 coat Dollish Polish Dino-mite Yoshi
1 coat Deborah Lippmann Addicted to Speed

And of course, here are some pictures of Olive by itself:

outdoors, sun

outdoors, sun

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sun/shade -- holo burning through the shade, love it!

outdoors, sun/shade -- another b/c I thought these pics were cool

 It's a bummer that the sun was getting lower by the time I got outside to take pics for the full manicure, because the holo of Olive is not diminished at all with all those extra coats on top of it. Super gorgeous! I adore both of these polishes, so it's fun that I was able to make them go together so well :)

outdoors, sun

You can find Enchanted Polish at Llarowe, Harlow and Co, Mei Mei's Signatures and Pshiiit Boutique and be sure to check out their Facebook~

You can find Dollish Polish at their BigCartel store and Llarowe and be sure to check out their Facebook~

Have a great day! ♥

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox - Forever Red Exclusively at Bath & Body Works Review

One last Influenster Cosmo VoxBox post to share with you, hurrah! This post features the lovely Forever Red Eau de Parfume by Bath & Body Works.

As for the official stuff:

• A touch of red is pure magic! Bath and Body Works introduces you to their new, most luxurious fragrance ever, as you lavishy spray on a passionate blend of pomegranate and red osmanthus with a sexy surprise of vanilla, for a forever enchanting way to fragrance. Everyone will be commenting on how great you smell!

This was a really nice perfume. I have never been so great at picking out those distinct "notes" listed in fragrances -- I usually am good with fruity/floral/something else, and do I like it?/no. However (maybe it because I had my reviewer's cap on) when I sprayed this on my wrist I was able to immediately catch a strong whiff of pomegranate. The pomegranate seemed to stay on top and dominant for not too long - no more than half an hour - gradually settling into the background scent of vanilla. It ended up smelling like a pomegranate-y vanilla (emphasis on the vanilla) for the majority of the wear. Speaking of wear, I think this perfume lasted about as long as comparable perfumes (several hours at the very least), although like I said the pomegranate does fade significantly into the vanilla fairly quickly.

I would classify this as a "sensual" smelling perfume, which is great, but if I am 100% honest, not exactly my thing. It smells great, for sure! But I am more one for the super-girly fruity floral concoctions, or if that won't fly, then a simple clean fresh scent. But if you like perfumes like this, I can't see why you wouldn't love this one too! :)

If you'd like to check out Bath and Body Works be sure to visit their website!~

Have a great day! ♥

~These products were provided for an honest review by me from Influenster~

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox - Ghirardelli Gourmet Milk Sea Salt Escape Review

Yay for another Influenster Cosmo VoxBox review. And... yay for chocolate! ;) In this post I'll be making you drool over the Ghirardelli Gourmet Milk Sea Escape chocolate bar -- yum!

As for the official description:

• Ghirardelli Gourmet Milk Sea Salt Escape: The decadently rich and creamy milk chocolate in Sea Salt Escape is combined with bursts of sea salt and roasted almonds delivering an epicurean chocolate experience. Experience a moment of timeless pleasure with all natural Ghirardelli Gourmet Milk chocolate. Is your mouth watering too?

Yes, yes my mouth is watering! Too bad I gobbled this yummy chocolate bar up almost a month ago; I could definitely use some right now, haha.

This was a really yummy chocolate bar, much better than I was expecting to be honest. I've always loved Ghirardelli chocolate, but I was a bit unsure how the saltiness would go with sweet chocolate - but it turns out, they go together very well! I was nice enough to share with my mom :) to gather more thoughts for my review. The milk chocolate itself was very creamy and decadent -- a distinctly yummy gourmet kind of taste. There was an abundance of little almond bits in the chocolate, which gave it a great crunch. The flavor of saltiness, this chocolate bar's calling card, was definitely there, but it was not too strong at all -- it added to the complexity of the flavor in a very nice, appealing way. As my mom put it, there is a good balance of sweet and salty here, which is great for satisfying both cravings in one go :)

Another thing that I really like about Ghirardelli chocolate bars is that even the giant ones like this are divided into nice little squares, so you don't have to eat the whole thing at once. Though I certainly was not too concerned about that back when I took these photos, haha (you will notice my artistic cropping of the chocolate bar to hide the fact that I had already polished off almost the entire thing!) I am currently on a post-holiday diet, so it's nice that I could enjoy a little bit of this yummy treat easily and guilt-free.

Overall a very, very yummy chocolate bar, one that I thoroughly enjoyed chowing down on! For review's sake, of course ;)

If you'd like to find out more about Ghirardelli be sure to visit them at their website~

Have a great day! ♥

~These products were provided for an honest review by me from Influenster~

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox - FriXion by Pilot Pen Review

Another Influenster Cosmo VoxBox review! In this post I will share with you guys the FriXion by Pilot Pen.

Some official info first:

• Do you want to be mistake free? Now you can be with FriXion bt Pilot Pen. FriXion writes unbelievably smoothly, in expressive gel ink colors, and erases completely with its rubber tip. You have to try it to believe it! FriXion is the newest innovation from Pilot, the #1 seller of gel ink pens in America. So, with FriXion... who's perfect now?

So as a college student (back in school now and everything, just finished my first week of the new semester!) I am pretty much taking notes 24/7. I really hate taking notes in pencil, because it never looks as nice, isn't as easy to review when studying, and can potentially smudge into a yucky mess. However, making a mistake in my notes and not being able to get rid of it because I wrote in pen drives me crazy (bit of a perfectionist here, haha), so I usually just have to pick the lesser of two evils. Not with the FriXion pen!

FriXion by Pilot

Aren't they pretty, first of all? I like the design, I'm always a sucker for cool pens with neat designs.

I figured the best way to test these out was to write out a cute message and do a before-and-after picture each to see just how much erasing action goes on. Writing itself was pretty nice; the grip is fairly comfortable and the ink flows well without bleeding or choking up and not writing or anything.

:) pre-erase

Erasing, I'm happy to say, went quite smoothly as well! The eraser is on the other end of the pen, just like a pencil (of course, this means you will have to take the cap off the end, if you store it there when writing) and it erased almost every trace of my message. Of course, if you get really up close and personal with the image, you will still see a faint outline in places, but for me, it is more than adequate.

post-erase

Like I said, spring semester started up this week, and I have already used these pens a few times for note-taking. I love that I can now take notes in pen like I want without worrying about making mistake -- my FriXion will take care of it for me! Now I just need to get some more colors... pink, anyone? I love me a good pink pen :)

If you'd like to learn more about Pilot Pens check out their website~

Have a great day! ♥

~These products were provided for an honest review by me from Influenster~

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox - Gillette Venus Embrace + Venus & Olay Razor Review

The first of my reviews for my Influenster Cosmo VoxBox, hurray! In this post I will be sharing with you guys my experience with the Gillette Venus Embrace as well as the Venus & Olay Razor.

First, a bit of official info, as provided to me by Influenster:

• Gillette Venus Embrace blade refills provide an ultra-close shave with five blades that hug curves to get virtually every hair. 
• Venus & Olay Razor blade refills feature Olay Moisture Bars that contain skin conditioners to help lock in moisture and with every smoothing stroke, Venus' five blades provide an ultra-close shave.

Sounds great, right? And really, they are that great! I must confess, I have been using the Venus Embrace razor since I was in middle school. Some may call "bias!" there, but I counter with "great product!" Before I used this razor, I used an electric razor that cut up/razor-burned my legs, and on top of that I had to shave every couple days or get that attractive peach-fuzz look. When I switched over to this razor, I was still a fairly inexperienced shaver at the time, and therefore a bit clumsy and ...vigorous, haha -- but from that point on, I was able to go about a week with nice, smooth legs, and only very rarely did I cut myself (only if I was being stupid, which of course happens from time to time, lol). Because of that, I really do vouch for the smooth shave the Embrace promises, because I've been enjoying it for at least 5-6 years now :)

Venus Embrace

Venus Embrace

Venus Embrace

 I knew I would love the Venus Embrace since I've been a faithful user for so long, so it was fun to try out a new type of razor head in the Venus & Olay razor! I was actually unaware that you can switch out all Venus razor heads on any Venus razor, which I think is a really cool thing, since it makes trying them all out and finding your favorite pretty easy. The Venus & Olay is supposed to be moisturizing along with just a great shave, which I was pretty excited about, since my legs get crazy dry during the winter. I think some more adventurous bloggers tried out the moisturizing action without any shaving cream to see what would happen, but I'm not quite that brave :) However, I did try using just a very, very thin layer of conditioner (I've always used cheap conditioner over shaving cream) on one leg, vs. my normal thicker layer on the other. Interestingly, I found that my legs felt way softer on the thin-layer leg when I was done! I think perhaps that this was due to less interference between the moisturizing Olay lather and my skin -- more direct contact = more moisturizing? Either way, my legs felt incredibly nice and soft and smooth when I was done, much more so than a normal shave. It does take some water to get the bars to create a soapy lather - which smelled great, by the way, very light and clean - and then you are ready to go. Due to having five blades like the Venus Embrace, the shave was just as smooth as I would hope for.

Venus & Olay

Venus & Olay

Venus & Olay

I was super-pleased with both of these products, as they did exactly what I wanted them to do - provide a great, smooth shave, and moisturize my legs in the process. I definitely recommend them! Like I said, I've been using the Venus Embrace happily for years, and I doubt that will be changing any time soon :)

If you'd like to learn more about Gillette Venus products check out their website~

Have a great day! ♥

~These products were provided for an honest review by me from Influenster~

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox - Intro Post

Hey guys! So I'm sure several of you have heard of Influenster by now. It's a super-cool website where you can read and write reviews of basically any kind of product you can think of, from food to beauty products to video games and so much more. You may have heard of their VoxBox program, in which they send out special themed packages full of goodies for people to try out, review, and share their experiences through social media. Back in December, I was lucky enough to receive the Cosmo VoxBox, full of all sorts of goodies for me to try out! Of course, life happens (being sick for 3 weeks sure didn't help) so this post is a little late at this point, but better late than never :) Especially if I end up introducing someone to a product they otherwise didn't know of, because there is some great stuff in the package I received!

look at all those goodies!

Since each product is deserving of its own review (and putting them all in one giant post would be crazy and way too long) this post will serve as a hub of sorts -- that way, you can easily access the other posts detailing the products and my thoughts on them.

Included in my Cosmo VoxBox:

• FriXion by Pilot Pen - read my review here!
• Forever Red Eau de Parfume by Bath & Body Works - read my review here!
• Ghiradelli Gourmet Milk Sea Salt Escape - read my review here!
• Gillette Venus Embrace & Venus & Olay Razor - read my review here!

I was really pleased with my very first VoxBox -- both that the products were so great, and that I received one at all, yay! haha -- since I think it is a great thing on both ends of the spectrum: bloggers/vloggers/consumers get to try out great products, and brands get all that feedback and tons of social media exposure. Super cool program! I am happy to have been included and hope that you enjoy reading about my experience :)

Have a great day! ♥

~These products were provided for an honest review by me from Influenster~

Laquerlicious Strawberry Cosmo + OPI DS Extravagance

Hey guys! Today I have another gorgeous polish from Laquerlicious to share with you. Strawberry Cosmo is a sheer pink base full of tons of fuschia microglitter, and small/medium fuschia/purple glitters, both hexes and circles (yay circle glitter!) and some holo. I think it could potentially reach opacity on its own due to the pink base, but I decided to layer it over my much-loved OPI DS Extravagance, a burgundy scatter holo, which was the absolute perfect base for Strawberry Cosmo. Check it out!

outdoors, sun (afternoon)

outdoors, sun (morning)

indoors, natural light

On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
2 coats OPI DS Extravagance
2 coats Laquerlicious Strawberry Cosmo
1 coat OPI Topcoat
1 coat Seche Vite

I really, really, really love this mani. It is so insanely sparkly and holo and such a rich, pretty color -- totally gorgeous! I feel like my nails are coated in gemstones. Extravagance has always been one of my go-to favorite colors, and Strawberry Cosmo really took it to the next level (which I didn't even know was possible!). I really like the inclusion of the little purple glitters, as I hadn't noticed them til I applied the polish, but they add a lot of depth and make it very interesting to look at. And I adore the circle glitter of course, always :) As far as application goes I had absolutely no problems, so pretty much this is a perfect polish in my book :)

outdoors, sun (morning)

If you'd like to check out Laquerlicious be sure to visit their Etsy and Facebook~

outdoors, sun (afternoon)

Have a great day! ♥

~This polish was provided by Laquerlicious for an honest review~

Laquerlicious Melted Ice Cream + butter LONDON Muggins

Hi guys! Today I have a fun polish from a new-to-me indie brand to share, Laquerlicious! Melted Ice Cream is full of white, black, hot pink, light pink and purple shard glitters in a clear base. I layered it over butter LONDON Muggins, a pale lavender creme, so that all the glitter colors would pop- check it out!

outdoors, (weak) sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
3 coats butter LONDON Muggins
2 coats Laquerlicious Melted Ice Cream
1 coat Seche Vite

I first must say that I love shard glitter, so this polish is super fun for me! I think the colors go together really well, and I like the different shapes and sizes of shards in there. Application was better than expected -- it mostly flowed onto the nail with minimum glitter placement necessary. When it was all said and done I had three glitters sticking up a little annoyingly (which is pretty common and hard to avoid I think with this type of glitter). I very carefully picked one of them off the nail and just left the other two. With the exception of those just the one coat of SV smoothed this mani down pretty nicely :) Got a bunch of compliments on it today too -- always fun!

If you'd like to check out Laquerlicious be sure to visit their Etsy and Facebook~

Have a great day! ♥

~This polish was provided by Laquerlicious for an honest review~

Dandy Nails Bathed in Light

Hi guys! Today I am super excited to share my very first Dandy Nails polish with you! I have loved this one for awhile and finally decided to just get it, and I am definitely glad I did :) Bathed in Light is a pink-gray duochrome infused with holo microglitter. This color combo often reads a rosy taupe color but it sometimes even looks like a smoky lavendar -- it's a chameleon! I had a hard time holding back on pictures because it's so lovely-- check it out!

outdoors, overcast

outdoors, shade

 On my nails:
1 coat Nail Tek III Protection Plus
4 coats Dandy Nails Bathed in Light
1 coat Nail Tek II Protection Plus

indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light (natural lighting lamp)

indoors, natural light

Of course I was lucky enough to have an overcast day for a holo... luckily since it is really holo microglitter and not a linear holo, it was a little easier to get the sparkle to show up. I really didn't need all 4 coats there, 3 was enough, I just loved painting this on, it had such a nice formula and is oh so pretty :) I love how faded it is -- it's got a subtle effect when really so much is going on (duochrome, holo, glitter) and it is very classy looking, I think. Like I said I have been wanting this one for awhile but have been holding back and now that I've got it on my nails I could not be more thrilled with it :)

indoors, natural light (near window)

outdoors, overcast

If you'd like to check out Dandy Nails be sure to visit her Etsy and Facebook - also found on Ninja Polish ~

Have a great day! ♥

OPI The Impossible

Hello all! Today I have another one of the delightful OPI Liquid Sand polishes from the Mariah Carey collection to share with you. The Impossible is a sparkly coral/pink-leaning red glittery base with scattered small red-pink hexes and silver holo stars. It is kind of squishy like a jelly (although of course it tries to that matte-with-sparkle Liquid Sand finish) so when the glittery base covers the stars, they usually read as holo fuchsia glitters, which I love, haha. The stars did sink to the bottom of the bottle a bit, but they were easy enough to get out when I left it upside down for a minute or so and then dug around a bit. Otherwise application was quite lovely and it is very pretty,  check it out - with and without topcoat of course :)

indoors, natural light

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

And with topcoat~

outdoors, sun TOPCOAT

outdoors, shade TOPCOAT

On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
2 coats OPI The Impossible
-----
2 coats OPI Topcoat
1 coat Seche Vite

This was a thirsty one, for sure... even with all that topcoat it is still a touch bumpy in places. Also, to be honest I am not sure star glitters are meant to be un-topcoated ever... I couldn't keep it that way for long because the little points on the stars started sticking up and driving me crazy. For that alone I probably prefer this one with topcoat, although it is very pretty without. Red is not usually my color but whatever it is about this polish -- it's a little sheer and jelly-like, I do have some VNL but I actually like it, or the particular shade of red, or whatever -- I like it a lot! Makes me feel like a star :)

outdoors, shade - skin looks blue but polish looks really cool!

Have a great day! ♥