Mini Target Haul (includes details on clearance items!)

Today I have a little Target haul for you guys. I actually just got back from there with my friend Larina. You can check out her blog here. She has new posts coming very soon so make sure you follow her!

My main reason for going there was to pick up the Pond's Evening Soothe wet cleansing towelettes. If you received the beauty sample bag from Target, there was a pack of 5 that came with it. I tried it out and I love these wipes. They stay moist and they remove EVERYTHING.. even waterproof makeup! The sample bag came with a set of coupons and there was a coupon for $1.50 off a Pond's facial item. It is $4.69 for a pack of 30 towelettes minus the $1.50, so it came out to be $3.19.

I have been wanting to try a new mascara because Maybelline Falsies has just not been working for me lately. Larina recommended Maybelline Lash Stiletto, the waterproof version (Retail Value: $6.94).

I picked up a backup ELF Tinted Moisturizer in Sand (Retail Value: $3). I have been using this since about March and I love it. It gives a light weight even coverage. There was also a ton of ELF holiday gift sets at the Target I went to. I didn't pick any up this time around but I may go back another day because I am tempted. They are such a great value.

On an end cap, there was a shelf full of beauty items. There were a few stacks of these Wet n Wild Color Icon eyeshadow trios on clearance for $1.48 (Retail Value: $2.99). The one on the left in the photo above is called Silent Treatment, which is a trio of neautral colors. The one on the right is called Spoiled Brat, which has silver, black and fuschia eyeshadows.

There were also Maybelline XXL Pro Mascara on that clearance shelf for $2.27 (Retail: $7.64). I didn't buy that but what a great deal!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Gettin' Nutty

WOW! I haven't done a manicure post in what seems like FOREVER! That is going to change though. I just got a new bottle of Seche Vite and I am getting back into a steady schedule with school and life so expect to see regular posting (hopefully!).

The above manicure was done using two Love & Beauty polishes from the haul I posted here. The base polish is a scented polish called Natural, with the scent being Almond. Now, this doesn't exactly smell like almonds. It has a sweet scent that takes getting used to, at least for me. It doesn't smell nutty at al, but of course I don't know what usual almond scents smell like.

I accented the ring finger with Love & Beauty Turqoise, a polish with hexagonal and micro glitter. I topped it off with Maybelline Matte Maker because I tried using a Sally Hansen quick dry 2 in 1 top coat/base coat that I had laying around (because I ran out of Seche Vite) and it caused bubbles, which I HATE!

Thank you for reading! Leave a comment if you like =]

Red, White and Blue!

Happy (early) 4th of July! The above manicure was done using Maybelline Eternal Red, China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le and a LA Colors Nail Art Deco polish in White.

Now, I have to admit - this manicure is all kinds of crazy! The thumb nail and the pinky nail are completely different designs. The pinky nail didn't even turn out to be much of a design anyway because I was rushing to leave my house and did a couple sloppy lines on that nail!

Get this! Like I said, I was in a rush to leave my house. Check out my right hand:

LMAO!

Haul? Gifts? IDK!

*Since Blogger was being a jerk off and deleted everyone's posts and comments the other day, I have to re-post this and try and remember what I wrote!*

Can I call this a haul if these were given to me by someone? IDK! These polishes were generously passed on to me by a family friend. I was very surprised to get these because 1) I barely know her, 2) I haven't seen her in years and 3) I HIGHLY doubt she knows about my nail polish obsession! It warms my heart to know that some people can be so generous and I am so thankful to have these!

 From left to right: Jordana Garlic Growth Base Coat, Sweet Orange, Soft Pink, Silky Purple, Good Luck Charm, Orange Gleam

 From left to right: Red Gem, Midnight Blue, Instinct

From left to right: Maybelline Sparkling Champagne, Cover Girl Cherry Slick, Miss Kiss Superstar

Dollar Tree Haul

Ok guys! Here is the Dollar Tree haul I promised you guys a few days ago!

From L to R: Cover Girl Sand Dune, Cover Girl Moon Glow, Cover Girl Sun Kissed, Cover Girl Gold Front

From L to R: Cover Girl Bronze and Maybelline English Toffee

From L to R: Cover Girl Crackle Boo, Cover Girl Sheer Orchid, Cover Girl Midnight Forest

Stay tuned for reviews/swatches on these polishes in the future and check out the manicure I did with Cover Girl Crackle Boo and Maybelline English Toffee here.

Cover Girl Crackle Polish

I finally found those Cover Girl 2 per pack nail polishes at Dollar Tree. I will show you all my complete haul in my next post but for now I will show you my favorite polish out of the bunch! I was so excited to get these packs and even more excited to see they had some Crackle nail polishes. I have been waiting for Sally's Beauty to get the China Glaze Crackle polishes. I will love this Cover Girl crackle polish as if it is my first born baby! (OK, maybe not but you get the idea!) Plus, from the swatches I have seen of the China Glaze crackles, I much prefer the crackle effect of the old school Cover Girl version!

There was only one shade of the Crackle nail polish in the packs I searched through, which is the one in the above manicure. It is called Boo! I am a little confused about what the color of this nail polish actually is. I mean, when I look at the bottle at different angles I see emerald green and a deep purple. In the pictures above the bottle looks to be a dark navy blue. When applied to the nail, the polish looks black! *shrugs*

I layered a thin coat of Cover Girl Boo! over Maybelline English Toffee, a pink coral shade (another old school polish from my haul). I made sure not to apply it thick or go over any of the crackle polish I had already painted. I began to see it crackle within 15 seconds and it completely crackled within 40-50 seconds. A top coat was definitely needed, otherwise the crackle polish who have just came right off.

Do you have any of these old school Cover Girl Crackle polishes? What do you think of them?

Broken Hearts

Guess who is actually back with a decent post? ME!!! ME!!! ME!!!

I got the idea for this manicure from sayanythingbr00ke's Anti-Valentine's Day manicure. Instead of using the usual ring finger as the accent nail, she used the middle finger to give that extra "umph" to the manicure. So I went in the same direction and used the middle finger as my accent nail!

The base color is two coats of Icing Gargoyle. On the middle finger I made little hearts with Zoya Delilah with a dotting tool. To "break" the hearts I used Sally Hansen Black Out. Although Icing Gargoyle is already a matte polish, I added Maybelline Matte Maker as a top coat, which apparently ended up giving the manicure a satin finish (that I do like).

By the way, I have probably used Maybelline Matte Maker in about 3 manicures tops and a little more than 1/4 of the .5 oz bottle has disappeared. *shrugs*

I will probably post a Valentine's Day manicure on Sunday!

OPI Banana Bandanna w/ Vintage Flower Pattern

OPI Banana Bandanna. This is three coats of this creamy, pastel yellow polish. As with all yellows, there is still a visible nail line but I don't mind it with this polish! It is a beautiful color and I cannot stop looking at my nails. =] It is actually a bit more like banana yellow than what is showing up in the picture though.

On the accent nail I did a vintage looking flower pattern. I used N.Y.C 122A (hate that there is no name for these polishes, unless I am wrong and I am just missing the label?) for the darker flower color which is actually a orange shimmer in the bottle but looks much darker when applied. The brighter flower were done with Maybelline Wet Shine in Juicy Tomato, which is a bright red orange. For the stems I used China Glaze Zombie Zest! And of course I used my handy dotting tools to create this simple look.

omg...is that...HIDDEN TREASURE?!

YES IT IS! I am so happy to finally have this beeeeee-youuuuu-teeeee-fulllll flakey in my possession. A certain man in my life bought it for me off of Ebay ( HE BETTER HAD! just kidding! ;] ) He said he bought it so we wouldn't have to head to every drug store all the time. HAHA little does he know, I will still be going to every drugstore all the time.

Hidden Treasure really looks like fish scales! I can't stop staring at my nails with Hidden Treasure on. I am also very satisfied with the fact that I cannot feel the flakes on my nails like I do with glitter polish. Sigh.

Below:
Base Color: China Glaze For Audrey
Layer: Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure
Top Coat: Maybelline Matte Maker

 

*On a side note, I checked out my local Dollar Tree (well local is a stretch, its about 15 miles from my home) after hearing that they carry discontinued polishes. I was disappointed in finding nothing except nail files and buffers ;[

PINK?!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, I have chosen four of my favorite pink polishes in my collection to show to you all!

From Left to Right: Color Club Poptastic, L'oreal Techno Tint, Milani Pyramid Passion, Maybelline Petal Power

These polishes are pretty much shown true to color in this picture! As you can see, I've used quite a bit of Techno Tint and Petal Power. They are just so pretty!

NAIL ART: A LITTLE BIT OF ART

Free-hand manicure. It looks bubble-y and bumpy, but at least this time I wanted it to be that way! To get it that way, I applied Nailene's ACRYLIC STRONG top coat while my nail polish was still wet. I don't quite know why this particular top coat does that to my manicure when I apply it! *shrugs*

There is some wear visible on the tip of the middle finger and the corner of the thumb. OH WELL!!

Nail Polishes Used:

-Quirius (280 Orange Slush)

-love & beauty (BR4153 Bronze)

-Maybelline foreverstrong (140 Time for Wine)

-Maybelline EXPRESS FINISH (95 Berry Boucle)

-Nailene ACRYLIC STRONG top coat

INTRO TOPIC: NAIL POLISH AND NAIL ART

So one of the things I have grown to like lately is nail polish and nail art. Its on the road to becoming an obsession though. As a working student though, it can be an expensive habit and lately I've just been using the items that I have.

This is a recent design I've done using Milani's Hi-tech. On the ring finger I did a marble design using Maybelline Express Finish (105- Barely Pink) and Maybelline foreverstrong (60- Wonder Melon).

I need to stop taking pictures via my Blackberry and actually start using my digital camera because this does not show the intensity of Milani's Hi-tech 3D Holographic nail polish. It truely is a vibrant color and I plan on buying more Milani nail polishes soon!

I also have a habit of not "cleaning up" my manicure before taking pictures LOL