Hi everyone!
I was sent a bottle of Suncoat’s water based nail polish. 
What’s great about water-based nail polish is that it is non-toxic. That also means that the polish is free of nail polish fumes!
In order to remove the polish, you just peel it off.
The color above is named “Eye candy”.
Pros: non toxic, fast dry time, NO SMELL!, easy removal, nice color selection
Cons: sheer– needed 3-4 coats, easy removal (not ideal for long lasting mani’s), edge wear
Jackie of http://www.jackie.jamberrynails.net kindly sent me these designs to try:
Andrea of http://www.LoveUrNails.JamberryNails.com has sent me blue & red fish to try.
For those who have not tried nail stickers before, they are very easy to use! These Jamberry ones require heat to adhere to the nail properly. The consultants explained that using a hair dryer is the quickest and easiest way to do it! So what you do is you blow dry the nail stickers for about 15 seconds and then you apply the stickers to your nail and file away the excess.
Unlike other nail stickers that I’ve tried, these ones do not require a top coat.
It is important to heat up the stickers before you apply them! I only put them under my hairdryer for around 5-7 seconds thinking that it’d be enough but the nail stickers fell off after 1 hour. I tried again for around 10 seconds (I know, I really need to be more patient!) and they started peeling off the very next day.
My most recent attempt followed the instructions correctly (15 seconds under the hairdryer) using these cute chevron stickers that Adriane of http://ajolly.jamberrynails.net sent me.
The application was smoother, but still some very tiny parts that I couldn’t even out. There was still tip wear after a day for me. Does this happen to anyone else? I don’t know if it’s due to the curvature of my nail or whatever? I should also mention that I hand wash dishes!
OVERALL:
Pros: Fun designs, quick, easy, does not harm the nails, easy removal (peels off)
Cons: Does not last that long, many size options but nothing fits my thumb perfectly (to be fair, nail stickers pretty much never fit my nails perfectly)
Summary: I did not like using these as stickers for my entire nail. I find that they start to wear off at the tips too quickly. I’d use them for half or part of my nails though! Maybe by cutting out a stripes or something. They stick on pretty well, just not at the tips. There are also a huge selection of designs to choose from. If you’re interested, contact the ladies listed above!
Megan of Health Enterprises, Inc kindly sent me this neat tool to test out!
The Multitool contains a dual-sided cuticle pusher and cleaning stick (pull out the cuticle part), nail brush, nail clippers and a dual-sided nail buffer and nail file while the silicone handle makes it easy and comfortable to use.
Pros: small, very nice silicone grip! (my favorite part!), useful cuticle stick, light weight, everything fits nicely together so none of the compartments stick out when folded, sharp clipper, available at CVS
Cons: emery board is not a glass or metal file, so it will probably be bad after a few weeks, not sure why I might need a nail brush on the go?
Clarisonic Mia Skin Cleansing system / $119 @ Sephora.com
Olay Professional Pro-X Advanced Cleansing system / $24 @ Amazon.com
| Pro-X | Mia |
| $24 @ Amazon.com | $119 @ Sephora.com |
| Weighs 5.1 oz | Weighs 7.7 oz |
| 2-speed, rotating system | 1-speed, sonic technology |
| Water resistant for use in the shower | Water resistant for use in the shower |
| Operates on 2 AA batteries (included in the box) | Comes with a magnetic charger |
| No cap | Comes with a cap for the brush head |
| No timer | Stops automatically after 1 minute |
| Claims to clean skin 6x better than basic cleansing | Claims to clean skin 6x better than basic cleansing |
Size comparison:
The brush head for the Pro-X is much smaller.
Both systems claim to clean 6x better than basic cleansing! Let’s put that to a test:
Clinique lipsticks, Clinique lipgloss, Makeupforever foundation, Prestige waterproof eyeliner, Urban Decay eyeshadow, Maybelline Lots of Lashes Mascara
After cleaning with Philosophy Purity cleanser by hand you can still see that there is lipstick, lipgloss and waterproof eyeliner
Now let’s try with the Pro-x and Purity cleanser…
Better! You can still see some lipstick and eyeliner reside though.
Now for the Mia…
No apparent residue!
Eep. The brush heads will need cleansing!
Other thoughts:
Looking back, I have no idea why I used mascara and eyeshadow for testing… you’re not suppose to use either one of the systems around your eye area!
Also, the two systems feel VERY different. I recommend that you sonic technology is very different from a rotating brush head. The best way I can describe it is that it is like a very powerful massaging chair lol. I never really felt like the Mia cleaned my face better but apparently it washed my hand better?
I also read that some people do not use their Mia’s or Pro-x’s to clean makeup? I always assumed that the whole point was to remove makeup more effectively. Hm, I don’t know? :/
Bottom line! Buy the Mia if you can afford it! If not, the Pro-x is a very nice alternative as well!
Wanted to post up some pictures of the magnetic polishes that I was playing with at Sephora
nails inc. Trafalgar Square (chrome) — middle finger
nails inc. Special Effects Electric Lane Holographic Glitter Top Coat — index finger
nails inc. Houses Of Parliament (purple) — thumb
Aren’t they cool? For the magnetic polishes, you swipe a thick coat of iron-powder infused polish and quickly put the magnetic cap on top of the wet polish. I found it a little tricky not to let the cap touch my nail (and apparently others have this problem too since the tester cap had quite a bit of residue!) but after about 5-10 seconds, the polish will dry to a cool pattern! If you’ve ever seen cat-eye beads, the finish is kind of like that. They cost $16.00 a bottle at Sephora and come in 3 colors (chrome, purple, teal). I couldn’t bring myself to buy a bottle, hopefully there are dupes to be found!
Two more swatches:
Zoya – Neeka (not quite as glitter as it looks in the bottle, but still very pretty! this color is also darker than it appears in the bottle)
Essie – School of Hard Rocks
I posted the Julep $0.01 deal a few days ago and just wanted to let everyone know that I got my box!
I know you’re curious.
The box came with…
3 nail colors ( L-R: Diane (vampy jelly forest green), Trina (vampy aubergine shimmer), Helena (creme fuschia)
1 nail top coat
1 sample of Julep’s hand scrub
1 sample of Julep’s hand lotion
1 mini container of nail glitter
all wrapped nicely in a black paper bag with a red ribbon for a penny.
Trina is my favorite! The polishes were all very pigmented, Diane was a bit sheer though so that took around 3 coats. I was very pleased with how all of colors dried with an ultra glossy finish! The only thing I dislike about Julep polishes is that they are quite expensive… each polish costs about $14.00 on their website– but their polishes are not the standard .5 oz! They are .27 oz. I have yet to see a Julep nail color that is special enough to purchase for that price.
Sorry for the messy application! I was in a rush.
(Quenched — clear, Peach Kiss — sheer nude, Peppermint — clear, Cherry Me — sheer red, Pink Punch — sheer barbie pink)
Hey guys, another off topic post here! I was sent some Maybelline products from BzzAgent to test out and I decided to put my review here.
The new product they lauched not too long ago is called “Baby Lips” and they’re tinted lip balms that are fruity flavored (with the exception of one minty flavored one!).
Swatches!
Maybelline Baby Lips in one of the clear colors (Left)
Maybelline Baby Lips in Peach Kiss (Right)
Maybelline Baby Lips in one of the clear colors (Left)
Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me (Right)
Maybelline Baby Lips in one of the clear colors (Left)
Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch (Right)
These are pretty nicely pigmented, but I don’t think they do a very good job at moisturizing. I still prefer my pomegranate oil Burt’s Bees lip balm– it’s just that the Maybelline ones seem to dry out my lips when it wears off. They are affordable and it’s a good way to experiment with lip colors since you can layer on the color… but if you’re looking for quality I think you should look elsewhere.
Rating: 3.75/5
Soooo, Veronica of Mariposa Allure has kindly sent me some nail foils to try out!
I’ve never used stickers that covered my entire nail bed before, just small ones like a flower or something. I’m sure most of you have heard of MINX nail foils or Sally Hansen’s Salon Effects nail stickers.. well these are like those.
Step 1. Basic nail prep: Remove oils / old nail polish. They also sent me a cuticle stick and a mini nail file to use. I recommend that you leave the nail file for filing off the sticker later as oppose to shaping your nail during prep because these are disposable files! So if you use it for prep, then you might not have any left for the application (that is, unless you have spares of course).
Mariposa Allure recommends that you apply 1 base coat for optimal application.
Step 2: Peel off a nail foil and fit it onto your nail bed like so.
Don’t know about if I have really big nail beds or something but the largest one did not fit all the way for my thumb. I was actually kind of intimidated by how big the largest sticker was, funny how it turned out to be too small!
Step 3: File off the excess sticker.
Sadly, all of the stickers were too small for me, however the gaps aren’t noticeable unless you’re looking for it
Step 4: Finish off with a top coat.
These were fun, and it is certainly a fast way to get a cute (and intricate!) mani. I believe the entire process took about 8-10 minutes? Veronica had mentioned to me before sending the stickers that she was working on the thumb nail sizes, but I’m not sure when they will be releasing new products. Each sheet comes with 20 stickers, so if you have smaller nail beds you can probably find one that fits you perfectly.
I can imagine that you can do lots of fun things with these stickers…like cutting out shapes! French manis with a twist perhaps?
Like I mentioned before, I’ve never tried nail foil stickers for my entire nail bed before! I wonder if Sally Hansen’s foils would also be too small for me? I should probably mention that konad stamps (that are meant to fit the entire nail bed) are also too small for me. 
Has anyone else tried nail foils before?
orly – space cadet
covergirl boundless color – disco dazzle
misa – on the verge
bird nail canes from bornpretty!
also… picked up the new 8 color wet ‘n’ wild palettes at Walgreens today!
They’re only $4.99 and for that price the quality is excellent!!!
^ these are swatches WITHOUT primer!!
The pigmentation is very good. No chalky colors, all the colors are easy to blend and soft. the texture actually kind of reminds me of NYX eyeshadows! there are 2 other palettes, one of blues and the other is pinks/purples. The only downside is that the packaging is cheap.. no biggie, but there could have at least been some plastic shrink wrap around the palette! Ah, well, for $5 why complain?
I hope I see this at another Walgreens soon! I actually grabbed the last one on the shelf from my local store.
Hey everyone! So SkincareRX kindly sent me a new product to try out. This is the Personal Microderm system! The idea is to make microdermabrasion at home easy and affordable. Basically, it exfoliates your skin and this allows skin texture to improve as well as creams and serums to absorb better.
The kit included a charger, the PMD exfoliator, 2 different sized caps, 6 tips (the green one is for tougher skin and the blue ones are for sensitive skin!), an instructional CD and 2 mini serum samples.
What interested me about this product was that it claimed to help with keratosis pilaris (on my arms!)… but I think I would need to use it for more than 3 weeks (I used the blue bit once a week) to see satisfactory results. The product works great as an exfoliator, I can really feel a difference after I use it! My skin became very smooth and soft, though the visible results were not what I had expected. Maybe I should have been using the green bit instead of the blue (meant for sensitive skin)?
But anyway, I’m going to continue trying it out. I guess I won’t be buying scrubs anymore? The PMD is efficient enough on its own.
For anyone else who is interested in the PMD system, it was actually easier to use than I had expected. The fact that it is electronic intimidated me .. especially with all the removable parts but it’s actually quite simple! There are 2 types of bits (as I kept mentioning earlier!): blue (sensitive skin) and green (tougher skin). There are also 2 sizes, bigger ones for the body and smaller ones for harder to reach areas such as elbows or between the nose and the cheek.
The PMD kit actually had many warnings about watching the video before attempting to use the product! Def watch the video first!! (It’s only like 8-10 minutes? I can’t remember exactly how long..) If you hover for too long, it may cause a scab! This really scared me at first so I actually tried it on a piece of fabric first to get a feel for how strong it exfoliates. There was also kind of a loud noise when you turn the product on (which can be intimidating)… but it was actually pretty gentle! I never hovered for too long so I can’t tell you how long it would take to scab. Watching the video will help you get an idea of what kind of pace is average.
Oh and another thing! The product actually works by suction. So the cap sucks onto your skin and exfoliates it as you move it around. It does leave a red mark afterwards, but it faded for me within like.. 3-4 seconds? I didn’t feel any irritation though (and I have pretty sensitive skin! I actually have eczema too .. shhh! 
) .
Bottom line:
Rating: 4.3/5
Pros: Very efficient in exfoliating skin, easy to use, not time consuming, easily customizable for your skin type
Cons: Expensive, kind of loud
