Review - Kiss Stick-On Strips

I'm an avid Dollar General shopper, so I was particularly thrilled when I spotted these Kiss nail stickers during my last visit. For $3 you get 18 stickers that are supposed to last up to 10 days. Not too shabby in my opinion, considering most of the other brands will cost you upwards of $8.

The application was really simple; apply sticker to a clean nail and not touching the cuticle. Then smooth down and shape. The way that I shape is fold the sticker down at the tip then run a file vertically down the nail tip to cut the sticker off.

The design I'm wearing in this manicure is called "All That Glitters." I thought is was fall appropriate and pretty, albeit a bit busy. I only did accent nails as I felt an entire manicure of this would be a bit much. The polish I had that was the closest match was Essie's "Mink Muffs" which is actually a touch cooler than the base color of the sticker, but from a distance it's hard to tell.

I bought 3 different designs of stickers, but get this, 2 of them have 2 different variations of the design so that's an added bonus in my book.

Wear wise, I'm on day 2 of this manicure and can note a slight amount of tip wear and no lifting. Do I think they will last 10 days? Hard to tell....I like to change up my manicure more frequently than that and will probably never know.

This is a fun and affordable alternative for nail stickers! Let me know how they work for you!

Garnier Ultra-Lift 2-in-1 Wrinkle Reducer Review

I'm always on the lookout for great drugstore skin care. I have tried a few Garnier products in the past such as eye cream and the roller ball eye gel,  but nothing for the entire face. I also like products that simplify my life and combine 2 products into one. Lets face it, counter top real estate is hard to come by! So the Garnier Ultra-Lift 2-in-1 Wrinkle Reducer seemed like it fit all of the above criteria.

Now, you guys also know I don't like to spend a whole lot or pay full price for anything....that's why I love Target! This face cream was on sale with a $2 off Target coupon and a $2 off regular coupon....so instead of paying $15ish I got it for around $10!

Ok, so the review portion:

First a bit of background on my skin: It is normal to dry with some fine lines and wrinkles on my forehead.

Day 1

The day 1 picture you can see the lines, uneven texture and some pigmentation issues.

So first of all, this product does not play nice with other products. If you try to add in another serum or moisturizer it will end up balling up and rubbing off. I have seen other bloggers complain about this with this product, but I only saw this when I tried to add other products.

Day 26

In the day 26 picture you can see a big improvement in the lines, texture and pigmentation. This was using the product at least once a day and sometimes twice a day. The improvement was slow and gradual, I almost thought it wasn't working, but the pictures prove otherwise.

Day 46

By day 46 the lines have softened tremendously in depth and width. Overall skin texture much improved and pigmentation better as well.

So yes, this product does reduce wrinkles....all by itself. The weird bally aspect of this product prevented me from adding in other products, so these pictures are reflecting only the Garnier.

I love the pump packaging, very hygienic and 1 pump is enough for your face and neck. Smooths on nicely and drys to a powdery silicon feel (great as a makeup primer).

As much as I like this product it does have a few cons to it. I found that it wasn't super moisturizing. I still had some issues with flaky skin in a few patches, but the biggest con was the congestion it caused on my chin. I developed a lot of black heads on my chin, which I combated with a glycolic acid face scrub.

Pros:
Improved wrinkle depth and width
Improved skin texture
Improved pigmentation
Price point

Cons:
Bally with other products
Not super moisturizing
Caused skin congestion on chin

NOTD - Agro & Show Me the Money

Today's manicure is China Glaze "Agro" from the Hunger Games collection with Wet n Wild's "Show Me the Money" glitter on an accent nail.

I have to say, prior to this year I had zero green nail polishes. So, 2012 has been the year of branching out and trying new colors.

Am I ever glad I decided to try something new! Agro is an awesome golden/olive green foil which is....a one coat wonder! Yes folks....only one coat of both polishes have been applied! Show Me the Money has medium sized green glitter and very small gold glitter in a clear base. Application for both was effortless.

I feel like this polish combo can almost be considered a neutral look. The gold picks up in the light, but in a dim room the shade almost looks like a gray color. Regardless, I love this look and these polishes. I really like the thick brush on with glitter polishes, because we all know the more you mess with a glitter the goopier it will get.

Now I do realize that the Hunger Games collection came out earlier this year....but, I don't like to pay full price for anything, so I waited a bit and picked up all but 2 of the shades in the collection for only $1.50 EACH at my Sally Beauty Supply! So shazam for being patient and saving a bunch of money!!! (HAHA....didn't realize that the glitter kind of emphasizes my money saving!)

NOTD - Spice It Up

So the Eleventh Gorgeous sisters are raving about Ox Blood nails so I decided to look thru my collection to see what I had....guess what I found? Nothing!!! GASP!!

Thankfully Ulta sent out a 20% Loyalty Discount Card and I picked up a few things, namely drugstore items and this polish being one of them.

Revlon's "Spice It Up" is from 2011 Holiday Collection, but I was still able to find it at Ulta. I'm not sure if it's part of the regular line now or not.

It's a beautiful deep burgundy with tiny gold shimmers. It's a burgundy that can't decide if it's a brown...know what I'm saying?

Application is pretty straight forward, but don't go slow as this is the Top Speed formula. I'm not sure if the application was a bit dry because it is the quick drying type or because it's almost a foil type polish.  I was able to get this depth of color with 2 coats.

Stephanie & Tracy....I got me some! Check out their post and YouTube channel, they're so cute!
Eleventh Gorgeous YouTube
Eleventh Gorgeous Nail Blog

NOTD - Halloween Edition - Red Eye

I told you I liked the style of layering solid polishes with a crackle and glitter on top! This is another fun Halloween inspired look. I don't remember the polishes I used, but use it as inspiration...I know I did. I can't remember who I saw on YT that did this manicure, but it was inspired by it.

NOTD - Halloween Edition - Fire & Brimstone

This Halloween inspired look started out as just a red manicure I wore most of the week at work. 2 coats of OPI's "I'm Not Really a Waitress" was topped by a black crackle polish then topped with China Glaze "Ring in the Red."

From a distance it looked like a sinister red, but up close the texture and shine made it much more interesting!

This is a style I'm eager to try out with other shades and glitters....stayed tuned!

HAUL: Ross & Nail Polish

Here are a few things I wanted to show you guys that I bought recently. 8 new nail polishes....yes, that's alot, but they were inexpensive! The rest of the products were mani/pedi related items from Ross. I picked up some exfoliating gloves for the shower as I have terrible luck with shower scrunchies...they tend to just unravel and end up a long string  :(  So I thought I'd give the gloves a try.

I am very diligent about pumicing my feet in the shower, but no matter what I do they're still dry since it's officially flip flop season! Maybe slathering some lotion on then putting these on instead of regular socks will do the trick! Any suggestions?

Unfortunately the nail dryer didn't work and will be going back to the store....should have known it would be a dud, it was only $3.99. Sigh, I guess I'll have to continue to flap my arms around to get my nails to dry faster....or just give them a blast of the hair dryer! The Salon Express nail stamper I've had before, but gave it away. Now that I'm back into the nail kick I thought I'd give it another go!

Take care!

NOTD: Hard-Core Party & Strobe Light

Hard-Core Party & Strobe Light

Today's NOTD is a "Replay" of my last NOTD! The original manicure was using the pretty pale pink "Hard-Core Party" by Sally Hansen. As you can see in the replay I just added this gorgeous new glitter polish "Strobe Light" also by Sally Hansen on my thumb and ring finger. Strobe Light has tiny dark pink glitter and medium sized holographic glitter. The color and size differences in the glitter make for a dynamic combination! I can already tell that this glitter will get a lot of use with many different shades beneath it! 

L: Hard-Core Party
R: Strobe Light

NOTD: Hard-Core Party

Sally Hansen: Hard-Core Party

Today's NOTD is a simple mani using a pretty pale pink. I'm starting a new job this week and thought that this would be work appropriate. The polish is "Hard-Core Party" from Sally Hansen Hard as Nails line. To get the opacity that you see in the picture required 3 generous coats, perhaps too thick as small air bubbles started to form on a couple of the nails. I'm thinking multiple thin coats would work out best. 

I went with this polish instead of investing in Essie "Fiji" nail polish which is a similar shade. I don't know what the color payoff for the Essie polish is like, but I opted to spend $2 on the SH polish versus $8. Did I make the right choice? Those of you that have "Fiji" let me know!

NOTD: Revlon Red & Brilliant Brushstroke

Today's NOTD is a beautiful red combination. Revlon Red is one of my all time favorite colors. It is a great cool red cream that has amazing payoff! I always get compliments whenever I wear it! But, I wanted to spice it up a little bit and added Finger Paints Brilliant Brushstroke on top. Brilliant Brushstroke is pigmented enough to be worn alone, but I like to put it over a cream to add depth. It's a neutral  red with tiny red shimmer. The picture does not do this manicure justice  :(

I love red polish, it looks great! But....it's sometimes a pain to remove. Usually I'll remove red polish then jump in the shower. That technique works pretty well in getting any residual off of the skin around the nail bed.

Till next time!

L: Brilliant Brushstroke
R: Revlon Red

SHOPPING: Target & Ross

I went to Target to pick up a few more things today since I had some coupons that were about to expire. I try really hard not to pay full price for anything and I also shop for Christmas all year long.

I picked up a couple of makeup and nail polish items at Target with my coupons. I got the Rimmel Stay Matte powder in Sandstorm for $2.99. Pretty good deal considering some say it's a dupe for  MAC's Mineralized Powder in Natural. I had the MAC powder, but gave it away...it was way too light for me! I have high hopes for the Rimmel since Mary of A Love Tart recommends it.

I had 2 Target coupons for $2 off of Revlon eye makeup so I bought 2 of the Revlon Colorstay Quads. I went with Addictive and Attitude, very neutral shades in both. I'm going to give either 1 or both as gifts...haven't decided if I'll keep one for myself or not. What do you guys think?

I also had a coupon for $1 off of a Revlon nail polish and used it to buy Rainforest. It's a pretty dark green with gold shimmer. I don't have any shades like it in my collection and I thought it would be lovely in the winter and around Christmas time. I will not be giving it as a gift since my family and friends tend to lean towards my tradition colors.

I did purchase one item at full price, but it was only $1.99 so I decided to splurge  ;p It's a NYC nail  polish in Wall Street. It's just a pretty light frosty pink. I had a nice polish in that shade that I recently parted with and thought I'd give NYC a try.

I've been having some trouble with my nails peeling on the tips, which I think was related to using overly abrasive emery boards. So I have been on the hunt to find a glass nail file. Lucky me, they had 2 at Ross today. The Sally Hansen file is ceramic, I'm not sure if that is much different than glass but I decided for $3.99 it was worth a try. The other file is not a brand I'm familiar with, but it is a glass file. It's housed in a pink plastic case and slides up and a small light illuminates it once fully extended. I think the light is a bit gimmicky, but I do like the cover which will protect the file from breaking. The pink file was only $2.99!

HAUL: Sally Beauty Supply May 2012

So I stopped by Sally's today to pick up nail polish thinner and of course ended up with a few other things. 

First of all I got a few great deals in the clearance bins. A China Glaze polish, "Some Like It Haute". It's a Gunmetal/pewter shade with grey/silver shimmer and larger holographic glitter. It's from 2011 3D Eye Candy Glitter collection. Looks beautiful and I will certainly post pictures of it on my nails. Even better was the price! Only $1.99!!!

Left: Gondola Before You Know It
Right: Sili-Coney Island

I also picked up a couple of lipglosses from Real Colors for $2.99 each. They're plumping glosses with lots of pigmentation. "Gondola Before You Know It" is a cool pink which reflects blue and packs a nice punch with the plumping sensation. "Sili-Coney Island" is a neutral rose shade with gold shimmer, it doesn't have that lip plumper sting to it like the other. Both are beautiful and are pigmented enough to wear alone if you want to skip lipstick.

Lastly I bought 3 of the Sally Girl nail polishes. They don't have names, but I got them with a specific manicure in mind....stay tuned to see them in action!!

NOTD: Rich & Famous in the Jetstream

Rich & Famous with Jetstream on top

I did this manicure last night. I was originally going to wear Jetstream, but the color was too sheer and required something underneath it. Rich & Famous was a perfect match! Both polishes are by China Glaze and only needed one coat each. Rich & Famous is a lovely cool/blue pink cream shade, while Jetstream is a sheer pink with very fine shimmer that reflects blue and purple.                      
                                           
                                      CHINA GLAZE