NOTD Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet

If you want springtime pastel nails at a really affordable price, get this. 

I love wearing pastels like this on my nails in the spring, and I am always attracted to them when I am shopping for nail polish. I had been lusting after Essie's mint candy apple until I saw this nail polish at Walmart selling for $2. Sally Hansen nail products are generally very good, and this color is exactly what I imagine the Essie one would look like. 

This applies like a dream - the brush is huge compared to many other brands and it goes on opaque and smooth with just one coat. Honestly, this applies much better than many of my OPI and Essie polishes. It also lasts a good amount of time without chipping, considering I am a bit careless with my nails.

The color itself is so pretty in my opinion, it is one of those that appears to be a different color in different lighting. Sometimes it looks like Tiffany's blue, other times it looks bright fluorescent green, but mainly it looks like a light creamy mint color. 

I really like this and am interested in going back and getting more of them in different colors (there was a pastel yellow that I was very intrigued by).

What do you guys think of this nail polish? Any suggestions for good pastel colors?

~Vida

Product Rave: Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream Shadow

In my previous haul I mentioned I got the Bobbi Brown long-wear cream shadow in the color slate from Allcosmeticswholesale. 

When I first swatched it I was seriously disappointed. I have only ever used MAC paintpots, which I love, and I was expecting this to be a similar product. This felt a lot thinner in consistency and was very sheer and blended away very easily. I was quick to judge, and for a high end cosmetic company, I was not impressed. 

And I was wrong. I have been using this everyday since I got it, I absolutely love it!

First off, the color is perfect for an everyday neutral look - it gives definition without looking too dramatic. It is a plumy taupe gray, one of those colors that would look good on anyone, and goes with any blush and lip color. 

Second, I have begun to see the benefits of its consistency and now I really like it. This cream shadow is very sheer, but also very buildable so you can apply one layer for a neutral, subtle look, or you can apply several layers for a more intense color. In the pot, it feels like a cream, but when you apply it to your eyelids, it feels more like a powder. I don't know what it is about this, but when you apply it, it blends into your skin so well that it doesn't look like it is product sitting on your skin, unlike some MAC paint pots. It is also extremely blendable, which makes it a dream to apply. 

Thirdly, I love the packaging. I realize this is not so important, but the sleek packaging makes me happy to have it in my collection. The pot itself has a very narrow opening, so it will keep it from drying out longer - hopefully. 

Here's a pic of it on:

I have been mostly wearing it on its own and I love it because it is such an easy makeup. It lasts pretty much all day, and wears beautifully. 

I did try using it as an eyeshadow base the other day, and it worked well to bring out the color of the eyeshadows, but it did crease a little. I think I will stick to using my eyeshadow primers and paintpots as eyeshadow bases. 

Needless to say, I am completely in love with this product, and so I felt the need to tell you guys about it. 

Hope you enjoyed this. Thank you for reading and commenting! 

Current Obsession: solid silk tops

All I want this spring is to fill my wardrobe with these tops, the ones that look like they are made of a silky/ chiffon material.
I love the way they fall on the body - they look so crisp and clean, and the solid colors are great for color blocking. These are the perfect tops for an outfit that is right between dressy and casual.

Here are a few that I found from Topshop that I am hardcore coveting:

And a few from Zara:

They are a bit expensive, which is the only reason keeping me from buying them all, but I did purchase these two from Zara the other day:

I am obsessed!
What are you loving for this spring?

A jeweled inspiration

Hi guys, I'm back and hopefully I can blog more frequently now =)
A few days ago I went into Aldo and fell in love with these earrings:

I love gold and turquoise color combinations, especially in jewelry and I love how these are simple, yet gorgeous and they can be dressed up and down. So good for spring/summer and they were relatively inexpensive too. 

So I have been loving these beautiful new additions to my jewelry collection and wearing them has inspired my makeup as well. I have just recently gotten my hands on the Naked Palette (finally!) and one of my favorite eyeshadows from the palette is half baked, a beautiful warm gold color that I thought would look amazing with these earrings. And because I am obsessed with the blue and gold combo, I paired it with a sky blue shadow from the soften the mood trio by MAC.

I used Half Baked all over the lid and blended out the edges with Naked, which is nice if you want to give a very subtle definition to the crease. Then I ran the light blue shade underneath on my lower lash line.
Then I topped it off with a thin line of the Clinique gel liner and some L'oreal Voluminous mascara. Nothing major here. 

The rest of my makeup:
L'oreal Studio Secrets magic perfecting base
NARS Sheer Glow Foundation
MAC Well Dressed blush
MAC Hush CCB
NYX Circe lipstick
Michael Todd Natural Creme Glace

I really love this makeup. It is so fresh and light and totally puts me in the spring mood. The gold eyeshadow in person is really stunning, and makes your eyes pop.
Also, I would like to say that I am completely obsessed with the Naked Palette. The eyeshadows are so buttery smooth and you can get so many different looks from the array of very wearable colors.

I hope you have all been getting some nice weather. I am so glad to have these sunny days =)
Have a great day!

Haul: Allcosmeticswholesale and MAC

Hello everyone =) I recently ordered a few items from allcosmeticswholesale, which is an amazing site that sells a number of designer brands at a discounted price. They've got some really unbelievable deals and it is a lot of fun shopping on their site. I mainly went on there to check out the Michael Todd stuff, a brand that I was turned onto by Lisa from Lisasz09 on youtube. Of course I ended up with a billion other things in my basket, like a YSL rouge volupte that I eventually put back (regretting it? maybe). But, I finally narrowed it down and this is what I got:

Bobbi Brown Long-wear Cream Shadow - Slate

I am obsessed with all cream eyeshadows like the MAC paintpots, and I really want to try more from different brands, so I was really excited when I saw this. It is a really nice slate gray color with a hint of purple running through it. This is not very pigmented and is easily blended out, so it gives a very subtle smokeyness to the eyes. This has more of a cream to powder finish, which I like, but I'm not sure how it will hold up as an eyeshadow base. 

Michael Todd eyeshadow base

I have heard many good things about this eyeshadow base. I have never used urban decay's primer potion, I have only used paint pots as my bases. I used this yesterday and so far I really like it. It dries slightly opaque, creates a nice, sticky base and does not crease. I really like the doe-foot applicator too. 

Michael Todd powder blush - Lilia 

The color of the blush was a little different than what I expected from the pictures, but it is still a pretty color nonetheless. I think I was most disappointed by the blush, first because of the color and then because of the quality. It is quite powdery and chalky and barely shows up in a swatch on my hand. I haven't given it a good go yet, but I don't have high expectations. 

Michael Todd creme glace lipgloss - Natural & Perfect Mauve

I am really excited about these. They are meant to be lipglosses, but they have a much creamier, smoother texture and they go on very opaque. They are a mix between lipgloss and lipstick, almost like liquid lipsticks. Both colors are really pretty and wearable, but natural is more lipgloss-like, and perfect mauve has more of the lipgloss-lipstick hybrid qualities. 

Finally, I stopped by MAC and picked up the Viva Glam Gaga 2 lipstick, which I was incredibly excited about. 

I don't have the first Gaga lipstick, but this one is much more wearable to me. It is a browny nude, which doesn't look as unnatural on me as pinky nudes and it is super creamy. I am absolutely in love with it, and might go for a back up. 

Swatches:

So that is my haul. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while and I can't say that I will be posting within the next few days because I will be gone for a mini spring break vacation! But I am excited to come back and resume blogging.

I hope you guys are having a great week!

Something happened to my hair last night

Most days I don't really "do" my hair. I might run a straightener through it, or put some thickening cream or mousse in it, but normally I just leave it in what's comfortable and let it run it's course. Most of the time I put it up in a messy bun, because this gets my hair out of my face, looks cute, and best of all it gives me the best waves ever when I take it out. 

With that said, last night it just happened that I went to sleep with my hair in a bun. This morning when I woke up and got ready, I noticed that my hair had taken on a life of its own:

Normally the "straight out of the bun" hair looks good, but this was more like "prancing around in my loincloth" hair - not a good look.
Luckily for me, flattening out my hair is never a problem, but building up volume is. So, I put in some mousse at the roots to hold the volume, and I used John Frieda's Secret Weapon Finishing Creme to soften my dry ends.

I really like these products. They smell nice and do what they're supposed to. The mousse keeps the volume in nicely without feeling too crunchy. The finishing creme is basically like lotion for your hair. It works immediately and takes absolutely no effort.

5 minutes later I had hair that I could be seen in public with:

I believe that the curls/waves I get from putting my hair up in a bun are better than any curls I can get from a curling iron, straightener, or any styling product, not to mention a hundred times easier and quicker.
Oftentimes when I'm in a hurry to get ready, and I want to get some volume and texture in my hair, I will put my hair in a bun while I'm putting on my makeup or getting dressed and then take it down when I'm done.
I love the loose, messy waves that result and I can get every strand in one shot.

So, that was my little hair story of the day. Do you guys do this too? If not, give it a shot if you've got straight flat hair like me =)

Mixed patterns

At the moment, I have a newfound love for mixing patterns. Now that spring is coming around, there are going to be so many pretty patterns that could go adorably with each other. One of my favorite ways to mix patterns is to add a colorful scarf to a striped, or some other patterned, shirt. As long as the other accessories and frills are kept simple, I think this creates a wearable, eye-catching outfit. The other day I put this outfit together, and I ended up really liking it. 

Outfit: Top - H&M; Skirt - Zara; Tights - American Eagle; Boots - Zara; Bracelets - H&M and a random jewelry shop in Soho; Bag - Topshop

What do you think about mixing prints?
xx

Pink and Plaid

I'm currently loving bright blue-toned pink lipsticks. I used to think I could never pull off bright pink lips, but now that I've played around with some, I really enjoy wearing them when I'm in the mood. They brighten the face and I really like how they contrast with other colors, so you don't necessarily have to have the right outfit on to wear a bright pink lip. 

Here's a few I've been alternating through and I love and recommend them all =) 

(L-R) - NYX strawberry milk, Wet N' Wild Think Pink, MAC Creme Cup 

They all look kind of the same in the picture, but there are some slight differences between them. Strawberry milk is much lighter milky pink, and Think Pink is the same tone as Creme Cup but brighter. 

What are your favorite pink lipsticks? 

Nail polish of the moment

Recently I have been obsessed with one nail polish in particular and that is Victoria's Secret's "explosive". 

I've had this for so long, but I stopped wearing it after I initially got it because I didn't like how the color looked on me. As I have gotten more experimental with my nail polish colors, I picked it up a few days ago and I am absolutely in love with it now! 

The formula is great, it goes on opaque with just one coat (but I use two for good measure), and it's easy to work with, not streaky or thick. The color is a bright magenta pink, which tends to look different in different lighting, but I still love it. I love how bold it is, and how it contrasts with other colors. 

I know Victoria's Secret isn't available in many countries, but I think there are plenty of versions of this color out there. 

Thanks for reading =)