Monday, February 27, 2012

"Perfectly Polished Prom" Contest

I received this email blast in my in-box and thought I would pass it on to anyone that was going to prom this year or know someone who is.  You could win your "VIP Prom Experience"!

You can enter the contest by going to Facebook.com/teenvogue and then clicking on "Perfectly Polished Prom".  Entries are being accepted through March 12th.

Good luck!

China Glaze Colours from the Capitol Review

Up until my mid-20's, I used to be an avid reader.  I'd read anything you'd put in front of me, but my favorite genre has always been fantasy/science fiction.  Unfortunately, as I've gotten older, my love of books has all but disappeared.  I blame the internet and having twins.  :P  That said, I still love a good story, I simply choose to get that from movies rather than books, nowadays.

So, when the news hit last year that Jennifer Lawrence had snagged the lead of Katniss in "The Hunger Games" movies, my first thought was "what and who", but after a quick Wikipedia search, I was able to know all I needed to know to decide that I was 1. in love with the storyline and 2. couldn't wait until it came out.

Then, I got the press release that China Glaze was releasing a collection based on the movie and I immediately got giddy.  




















I liked all of the colors on the swatch sheet, but I had my favorites, Smoke and Ashes, Agro, Riveting, and Electrify. 

A couple of days ago, I got a small package from China Glaze containing 2 polishes from this collection, and as luck would have it, I received 2 of the colors I initially loved from this collection, Smoke and Ashes and Electrify.





















Electrify - dense gold and  red glitter.  You all know how much I love my glitter-bombs, right?  And this baby is no exception.  I adore this one.  Maybe it's the Aries in me, but I can't get enough of the combination of fiery colors.  I love that the red glitter is larger than the gold glitter.  Application was good on this one.  I was able to reach opacity in 3 coats, though the picture above is 4 coats.  I know in the macro picture, you can see gaps, but to my eye, it looked like it completely covered my nail.  One thing I do want to mention, is that for my first 2 coats, I placed the polish on my nails, rather than using typical strokes.  It made for much less drag, and then I evened it out with the latter coats.  I really loved this polish.  I think this would look fabulous in the fall over a golden or red polish.  This one reminded me of the glitters from RBL, both in application and overall look of the polish on the nail.  So, if you love the RBL glitters or loved them and never got them, you may want to check this one out.  4 coats.




















Smoke and Ashes - Black/green shimmer with blue and green glass fleck.  There are some gorgeous polishes in this collection, but this one stood out to me on the swatch sheet.  I like the cremes in this collection, but if there is one thing that China Glaze does exceptionally well, it's their glass-flecked shimmers.  This one is amazing.  The color on it is so dark and yet, it's obviously a green, and the shimmer is fantastic.  It reminds me of a greener version of the long-discontinued China Glaze Blk-Bila-Bong.  Formula and application were perfect.  2 coats.

The press release states that the collection will be released in early March, before the movie's March 23rd release.  However, I know that I have seen these for sale already on various websites and on eBay.

These were sent to me for review

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Oscar Day!

If you are like me, then the day of the Oscars is like your Super Bowl.  I absolutely love the Academy Awards, have since I was a child.  I remember watching them completely facscinated with the ceremony.  Now that I've gotten older, I also like to watch the pre-shows and make snarky comments about bad dresses, but it still all comes down to the awards for me.  I love them.

So when, as part of my Julep Maven Box, I received 2 colors from their Oscar collection, I was so excited to try them.  I've finally been able to carve out some time for my blog, so in honor of Oscar day, I bring you Julep Viola and Julep Oscar...

















Viola is a rich, dark aubergine creme that leans a bit brown.  It's a gorgeous vampy color.  I love the name of this polish.  I think Viola Davis is one of the most incredible actresses of our time.  I could seriously watch her read the phone book.  As for the polish, as much as I love the color, the application left something to be desired.  The formula on this was very thick.  I had to go slow and be very specific about my strokes.  The color is so pretty, though, that I think it's worth trying a few drops of thinner to see if it's more manageable.  Picture is 2 coats.

Oscar is a golden glitter topcoat.  I'm calling this a topcoat, but in all honesty, this is so saturated with glitter that you could probably use it alone.  It will probably take 3 coats to reach opacity, but unlike Viola, the formula on Oscar wasn't thick or goopy, so you should have no problems with multiple coats.  I really like the contrast of Oscar over Viola, but I also think this would look amazing over a gold polish.  Picture is one coat of Oscar over Viola on my ring finger.

All in all, I like both of these polishes.  The color on Viola is amazing.  I haven't compared it to my collection to check for dupes, but there is a richness about it that makes it quite special.  I just wish the formula was a bit easier to use. 

Both of these polishes are available at Julep.com and retail for $14 each. 

These were sent to my in my Julep Maven Box.  You can sign up for Maven on their website.