Girly Thread v. Nail Porn, Makeup Lust and everything else girlie girl

[CHiLD-0F-THE-BEAT]

I had to scrub at it with a make-up remover but it didn't stain my lips afterwards. They felt good afterwards, not overly dry - which is something I've struggled with when using other long-wearing formulas.
The most unpleasant was one by MAC, and it just flaked off in big hunks over the course of the day! That one left my lips feeling raw and sore.

 

[Samadhi]

That's good to know - it's something i dislike about long-wear lipsticks - some of them feel like you've sprayed your lips with high-gloss lacquer at the end of the day

 

[Pillthrill]

Hola ladies!
Let me see those holiday nails!!

I picked up Essie's "Set in Stones" the other day after seeing this swatch, for $8.00 at Walgreens.

I'm currently wearing it over red and green nails for a "Christmas lights" effect!

I'm in love with it! I think I might do it over a silver base for the New Year!

 

[aislinnna]

So, I finally went in and had my bra size taken the other day, and I measured up as an 8B. Can any of the Australian ladies recommend some good retailers?

 

[Perpetual Indulgence]

Equate (Walmart brand) Clinical Strength Antiperspirant/Deodorant is NOT the same as Secret Clinical Strength.
Equate dries up into little white balls and flakes under the armpits. What a mess. I used it for a week then threw it out. Not worth the $3 saving.

 

[queenbee1127]

^That's funny that you mention this. My boyfriend is a strong proponent of Wal-Mart brand products - both Equate for health/beauty and Great Value for food/house products - and I couldn't disagree with him more. He will buy anything as long as it's cheaper than the name brand, but I often find that it just doesn't work as well as name brand products. I have to specifically go out of my way to make sure he doesn't put this cheap stuff in the cart, he is so drawn to it. I suppose there are a handful of products where it makes no difference, but I generally find that I would rather pay more for a name brand and get a the product I'm expecting.

PT - I love that polish! I saw the review of that Essie collection on Scrangie and there were a few I have my eye on.

For months, I have had my eye on the Nubar Sparkle collection from 2010, I even put it on my Amazon wishlist in hopes of receiving it as a present. The 8 piece set retails for $54, but since both my mother and my boyfriend have informed me they will not, under any circumstance, be buying me nail polish for Christmas, I was left to my own devices. I stumbled upon a 6 piece lot of the sparkle collection on eBay and miracle of miracles, I won!! Best part is I got 6 polishes for under $30, when two more would have cost me an additional $24 plus shipping.

Night Sparkle:

Petunia Sparkle:

Sky Sparkle:

Star Sparkle:

Violet Sparkle:

Purple Rain:

And one other I won in a different auction, Nubar Treasure, a holographic:

My manicure last week was Revlon's Blue Lagoon, over two coats of white to just give it a little backbone since it's so sheer. This is after about 3 days so there's some tip wear/chips, but the color is awesome:

And....HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

EDIT: Barielle is on Haute Look today (Christmas Eve) until Monday morning for 50% off!!! It looks like they have the whole line, dozens and dozens of colors for $4.00!!!

 

[CHiLD-0F-THE-BEAT]

^Sky Sparkle and Petunia Sparkle are gorgeous! Also, love that mani' PT.

 

[spork]

queenbee, i saw that barielle was on hautelook too and was thinking about getting some. do you know how good of quality their polish is?

 

[queenbee1127]

I haven't used their polish myself, but I have read reviews/swatches on both All Lacquered Up and Scrangie which, at least to me, are pretty reputable nail polish blogs. They have a wide line of treatments, topcoats, basecoats, etc....so I would imagine their polishes are of a pretty high quality, as opposed to being just some botique-y brand with trendy colors.

There are soooo many colors I want! I have tried buying Barielle on TransDesign before, but all the colors I want are always sold out.

 

[euphoria]

queenbee those sparkle polishes are making me drool. do you have a photo of your polish collection? I want to see it! If your boyfriend and mother refuse to add to it, it must be of epic proportions. I am starting a pretty ridiculous collection of my own lol... How do you store/organize yours?

 

[queenbee1127]

I am gearing up to make new color wheels to incorporate all the polishes I have acquired this year, so when I do so I will take tons of pictures to show you guys! If I had to guess, I would estimate that I have anywhere between 150-200 polishes, but I honestly have no idea.

I store mine in a Helmer, it's a small drawer shelving unit that can be purchased at Ikea. I got mine for USD $40. It's kind of a pain in the ass to put together, my boyfriend had to do it for me, but now I store by color groups: blue/green, purple, pink/red, neutrals, glitters and miscellaneous.

 

[chrissie]

holy crap, girl! that's quite a collection.

 

[Pillthrill]

I'm in need of new storage. My shoe box no longer cuts it, but I want to be able to store my tub of remover with it! Or I misplace it.
Hmmm...

 

[queenbee1127]

Good God! I just completed the most frustrating mani I have done in quite a while.
I thought I would use one of my new Nubar's, Violet Sparkle for a concert I am going to tonight. Terrible idea.

Here is a coat by coat analysis.

NSFW:

When I started, I had no idea that this polish was purple glitter in a clear base because I ran out of nail wheels and I hadn't swatched any of my new polishes. It is so sheer!! Jesus.

1 coat:

2 coats:

3 coats:

Finally, I added 1 coat of Nails Inc Bloomsbury Square, because I knew it was more opaque and I was running out of time.

With flash:

Without flash:

For the swatches I used in my last post from Scrangie, she must have used a base coat of a purple creme polish because it would take a good 6 coats to build up to the opacity shown in her swatch. If you look closely at my final 2 pictures you can still see bald spots. Next time I use this polish, I will use a base coat, and I will be in no hurry to let it build up opacity. The one good thing about Nubar Violet Sparkle is that because the base is clear, application is a breeze and I had hardly any clean up.

 

[Blondie]

Haha, Blondie! You've forgotten everything about posting on a forum, that's so hilarious. Do you remember Photobucket and Image Shack?

Make a new account if you need, then upload your images there and copy the code into the post.

In beauty news, I used my Maybelline 24 hour lip stain last night at Busty's Christmas party in a super bright blood red. It's the kind with a doe foot applicator for the stain itself, and a clear balm on the other side for reapplication throughout wear to keep it all supple, moist and shiny. I was SO impressed.
I ate three courses, drank numerous drinks and never had a single drop of colour transfer onto anyone's cheek, or onto any of the glasses I drank from!
It seriously did not budge, and didn't feather or creep over my face at all. It's renewed my love for a red statement lip, just in time for the festive season!

Yes..it's slowly coming back to me now...this Photobucket you speak of. LOL. I do believe I have an account!

I had the same problem with the MAC Prolongwear Lip Creme in a red shade. It's a traditional lipstick (as opposed to a color stain + sealing gloss/balm) that is quite thick in consistency...after a few hours I found that my lips were extremely dehydrated and the color began to flake off. I now use Chanel's Rouge Allure Laque in 'Dragon' for a long wearing red lip color...it's an absolute holy grail for me! (I hear it is getting discontinued this year so I may I have stock up!) It's a "liquid lipstick lip stain" that comes packaged like a lip gloss with a doe foot applicator. The formula inside is super richly pigmented most gorgeous shade of red that dries down and stains your lips without losing that creamy lipstick finish!

 

[euphoria]

I am gearing up to make new color wheels to incorporate all the polishes I have acquired this year, so when I do so I will take tons of pictures to show you guys!

Sweet, please do! Its necessary for this thread lol. I have taken to nail polish eye candy on pinterest. The colors are really inspiring.

 

[chrissie]

I have a nail board on Pinterest. Love that site, although I have been neglecting it because I get sucked in so easily!

http://pinterest.com/xsie/

 

[Miss_vanilla]

It drives me mad how expensive nail polish in Australia is compared to the US. I still love it though my fingernails are in dire need of some repair at the moment so don't have any to share.

I don't know if this has been mentioned but adore beauty is an excellent site for Australians and has a huge range of stuff including my favourite nail polish essie. There's a sale on at the moment for anyone who's interested.

 

[queenbee1127]

I got my monthly Julep Maven "It Girl" box this week, and I'm considering canceling it. I like getting these surprise polishes, but sometimes the colors they send me are misses, like this month:

Leah, Hayden, Megan.

Of the 6 polishes they have sent me, 3 have been green! I like green but come on, switch it up a little bit. Neon peach creme? Seriously? I have tried multiple times to cancel Julep, but they make it nearly impossible. You can only cancel during the 20-25th of the month, you can't just click a button or call and end it

To make myself feel better, I applied one of my tried and trues: China Glaze For Audrey.

Flash:

No Flash:

On Friday, I had a pretty promising interview for a new assistant job, so I went and finally got a haircut, and while I was there I checked out the new display of Nicki Minaj for OPI polishes. Overall, I like the collection, but I won't be bothering with the "Super Bass" crackle. The color is beautiful but I just can't get crackle polishes to work for the life of me. I decided I needed an "interview safe" color so I picked up Pink Friday. Please excuse my horrendous cuticles, I can't seem to manage them in this dry weather. I think pictures bring them out, they don't look this bad in person.

I really like this color, it's on the conservative side for me, but still semi-bright. On the nail, I could have sworn it was a dupe for Essie Knockout Pout, which I can NEVER seem to get applied without streaks or bald spots. Upon further comparison, Pink Friday is way lighter. Looking at this picture, I don't know what drugs I was on when I made that assumption.

China Glaze Innocence:OPI Pink Friday:Essie Knockout Pout

New Years Look:

NSFW:

I wore a black tank top with bright blue sequins, so I decided to mimic the look with my eye makeup.

I got this sweet headband at Forever 21 with peacock feathers attached on one side that I wore and you can kind of see in the last picture.

 

[CHiLD-0F-THE-BEAT]

That's such a pretty headband, I like how the feathers hang down in your hair.