Sally Hansen Insta-Gel Nail Strips Starter Kit Review

Ah, Sally, you've done it again. Not only are their Real Polish Strips amazing, but now they've taken them up a notch.

The Sally Hansen Insta-Gel Strips Starter Kit (Shell We Dance) was a bit of an impulse buy for me. I already own everything that I need to do a gel manicure. I hadn't done gels in a while and was intrigued to try the strip concept. I also bought a refill kit in Amazing Lace.

Basically, you put on the strips and put the gel polish on as a top coat.

Pros:

• Easy: The application is easy, a bit time consuming, but not any more time consuming than other manicures. Especially if you include drying time. Plus, you only have one coat of polish to dry, not 4 (base, 2 coats of color and top coat) like you would in a regular gel manicure.
• Cost: $30 for a light and everything you need to get started is a great deal
• No mess: The only mess with this is the backings of the strips. They can end up in really weird places if you're not careful...
• Little room for error: You won't run into the bubbling, too thick, too thin crap that you can run into with gels.
• No dry time

Cons:

• Cost: I know, $30 bucks gets you one application. If you're creative you can probably get two, maybe 3 out of it. 
• Refills: Refills are expensive ($15). They include everything in the kit, except the lamp. They include a gel top coat in every refill, which isn't necessary. 
• Wear time: Mine lasted about two days and started to chip. I filed down all of my nails, so they were really short. After I filed them down, I didn't seem to have nearly as many problems. My nails are fairly weak, so I'm not the best judge of nail wear.

All in all, I think this kit is awesome and prefer it over my OPI Axxium Soak-Off Gels. It's just easier and takes way less time. Plus having patterns is super SWEET!

I'm going to try buying some of the regular strips and sealing them with the top coat. I'll keep you posted! ;)

Influenster VoxBox: Beauty Blogger 2012

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I love being apart of the Influenster VoxBox program. I tired making a video talking about all these products, but I had some major technical difficulties. I recorded it once and the audio didn’t match up. Then I tried recording it with my webcam, but it kept stopping a few seconds into it. Ugh. So, a blog post will have to do!

NYC New York Color IndividualEyes Custom Compact: $4.99

For 5 bucks, you can beat the price. This quad has 4 very pigmented colors. I believe that the color that I got was in Dark Shadows, but I can’t seem to find that name on NYC’s website. It has beautiful greys, perfect for creating a traditional smokey eye. The compact also has a primer and highlighter. The primer is okay, but the highlight is WAY to light for me. I have very fair skin, so if it’s too light for me, it’s probably too light for most people. All in all a great edition to anyone’s collection. Grade: A+

Kiss Ever Pro Lashes Starter Kit: $5.99

Kiss makes some great cheap lashes, but this product was a bit disappointing for me. The lashes were really thick and I had trouble getting them to curve around my lashes. The applicator was nice and a lot better than some. I can’t vouch for the glue, because I was never able to get the lashes on.  Grade: D

Bath and Body Works Mini Candles: $3.50

This is a no brainer. Of course these rock. I got Mahogany Teackwood and I love it. I had to buy this in the full size, 3 wick candle. I also got a couple of other flavors too. Grade: A+

EBoost Effervescent Powders: $expensive

I’m so jacked up on vitamins that I didn’t even try this.

Good Simple Styles Spin Pins: $7.29

I don’t wear my hair up very often, but this would be perfect for anyone who loves wearing her hair up. They’re easy to use, hold well and you can get it in different colors to match your hair. I tried these out and really like them.  I only needed one pin because my hair is fine. I would definitely use these a lot of I wore my hair up. The only downside is the price. Seven bucks seems a little steep for two hair pins.

Not Your Mother’s Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream: $6

Yep, these definitely aren’t my mother’s kinky moves. What a weird name. That being said, I don’t have curly hair so I thought this would be rather pointless for me. I do want to try some of their other products though.

Vitabath Fragrance Mist: $10

I really liked this. I got Nouveau Rose. The smell is really nice and a nice pick me up. I’m not sure if this product is available at the drug store or not. Kinda sucks if it’s not, but it’s definitely worth the $10.

Election Day

Today is election day. A big deal.

You learn a lot about people by the way that they vote. I am not a perfect voter. There are certain measures on the ballot that I don't care about it. Well, not caring isn't true. But I don't understand them and I'm not interested in understanding them.

I hope that our country can get it together. We're so divided and that scares me. I don't understand some people's ways of thinking and they probably don't understand mine. I can usually see other people's sides of debates, but there are some issues that I just don't understand.

I hate when people vote along party lines. NEVER EVER should someone vote based on the party that they belong to. That is giving your voice to a party. A party doesn't always have your best interests in mind. It always has the party's best interest in mind.

Do your research. You can mail in your ballot. Here in Washington State, you ballot is mailed to you. It's such an amazing system. You have so many tools at your disposal to figure out how you want to vote. You have the internet, TV, newspapers and friends and family. You can ask people how they voted and why. You can take your time, understand and cast your vote. I love it. I was able to vote on the issues I already knew how I felt, and research ones I didn't understand.

Don't wait. Don't be stupid. Vote. There is no excuse in this day in age, not to vote. 

Revlon ColorStay Whipped Foundation

I'm not entirely sure why I purchased this foundation, but I did and I'm glad I tried it. I'm a huge fan of Revlon's products. I'm not particularly fond on the ColorStay liquid foundation. I absolutely love the Revlon PhotoReady. I'm beginning to think it makes me break out, because when I took a break from it, I stopped breaking out so much. I had a ton of little bumps on my chin area.

I wanted to give this whipped foundation because I wanted a 24 foundation that wasn't as trying at the original ColorStay. I was a bit surprised when this whipped foundation had the consistency of jello.  Whipped makes me think of whipped cream. What about you?

My first impression wasn't all that great. It went on really cakey and would recommend trying a different brush. The sigma F82 is a great brush for liquid, but I don't think it worked particularly well for this one. I would definitely recommend primer also. This foundation was settling in my pores and looked really cakey around my face. It did make me look completely flawless in low light, but in the sunlight/natural light I had frosting face. ICK.

This foundation would be best if put on with light layers with a damp sponge or maybe a stippling brush. I would also recommend this for someone who will be taking pictures, maybe senior portraits, engagement photos and the like. Overall I think my first reaction was very critical. If I had just exfoliated, applied a primer and used a different brush it probably would have looked great. But that's a lot of work for foundation for a daily basis. I love just applying my PhotoReady with my fingers! 

Fifty Shades of Grey Review

I'm not much of a literary genius. No, I read for entertainment and don't usually read between the lines. I always found it really annoying when high school English teachers would ask what you thought objects, people and actions meant.

I heard about Fifty Shades of Grey earlier this year when it started showing up on my Facebook newsfeed. I read some reviews on it and when I heard it had some connection to Twilight I said there was no way I pick it up.

I read Twilight in 2008 after I a few friends were raving about it. I thought it had to be amazing. The last book that I picked up because of a whole bunch of hype was the Harry Potter series. I'm not normally a huge fan of fantasy/sci-fi, but I loved Harry Potter and thought Twilight might be similar. Boy, I was so wrong. Twilight was poorly written, characters lacked development and personality, and had vampires. Really vampires. Who on earth wants to be around vampires. Vampires suck blood. Gross.

To me, FSoG is Twilight on Viagra. I didn't have much interest in reading it, but now that I work for a company that seen our sales sky-rocket from FSoG, I thought it would be important to read.

Anastasia has no self-confidence and not really any personality. The story doesn't develop into much and the mystery around Mr. Grey starts to get really old. Just tell me already. The story doesn't need to be over 200 pages. I stalled after reading about 150 pages. I didn't touch the book for about 2 weeks and then we a friend mentioned how it might end, I was intrigued again.

I also find this book a tad bit scary. The kinky sex doesn't bother me nearly as much as the humiliation and dominance. If this relationship between these two adults didn't involve a contract wouldn't this be considered an abusive relationship. He's extremely jealous, tracks her phone, follows her to Georgia, threatens to beat her and actually hits her. This is something I have a hard time wrapping my head around.

Drives me nuts when every person in a book is hot or extremely good-looking. Was there anyone in this book that wasn't perfect!?

Oh, and the fact that this book takes place in the U.S. with all the main characters from the U.S. and the author is from Great Britain. When I first started reading the book, I thought their language was extremely proper and very English. When I learned the author was from Britain, it made more sense. Shows her laziness or lack of knowledge of American culture. The author obviously had a thesaurus on hand as well.

This book doesn't offer much, but it has been interesting to learn about a BDSM relationship. I knew BDSM existed, but I didn't know much about what went on. I think there have been positives for a lot of women who are spicing up their sex lives and trying new things.

In the end, I understand the hype, but this book isn't great. It might be worth reading for the learning, but other than that, you're not missing much.

Getting settled.

Hello Beauties!

I hope all is well with everyone. I've graduated, moved and gotten a job all in the last 3 weeks. Life has been absolute craziness! I haven't been much into makeup lately. During my last few weeks of school, I was so busy I didn't wear much makeup, if any. I didn't watch any YouTube and completely neglected my blog (what else is new?) but now that I'll have a normal schedule I plan on making more videos. I'm just trying to find the right filming set up.

In our new house I have a whole room to myself! It's going to be my little cave and plan making it an excellent place to film. I find myself wanting to do more reviews than tutorials. My room faces west, so I have excellent natural light and I won't have to put my filming stuff away. The room is almost completely empty right now. I have a set of rubbermaid drawers and and a shelving unit that my Father made for me. I plan on making this room my little organized retreat. I'm getting lots of great ideas from Pinterest. I like that site for finding different crafty things. I plan on putting a HUGE desk in this room to have plenty of work space.

I'll keep you posted on how my very empty room comes along!

Monthly subscriptions via Zadidoll

Hi girls!

There are so many monthly subscription services. One of my favorite bloggers is Zadidoll. She does great reviews and digs deep to get all the info on companies.

Here is a great list of boxes you might be interested in checking out.

Vloggy Vlog Vlog

May is going to be a crazy, busy, hectic, stressful, exciting, fun month for me. Want to come along for the ride? I'm thinking about doing some vlogs. Probably not daily vlogs. Maybe a weekly vlog of the days that week. I think daily vlogs can get boring, unless your life is full of DRAMA. Mine is not! :)

I'll try this out on my channel and if people seem to like it, then I'll create a vlog channel.

Not sure why I'm adding another project to my life, because I haven't had a chance to edit any of my beauty videos/tutorials this month. I think I've filmed about 5. :) Ah, editting. We have a love/hate relationship.

My boyfriend and I bought a house. We get the keys at the end of the month and we're trying to get out of our lease early. I'm also getting ready to graduate and will be walking in a small ceremony at the beginning of June. I'm not going to put my family or myself through a 4 hour ceremony.

Let the vlogging begin!.... Tomorrow! :)

Luxy Hair Extension Review (160g #18 Dirty Blonde)

This post is all about my experience buying and using LuxyHair.com hair extensions. I ordered my extensions (160g #18 Dirty Blonde) on a Tuesday and recieved them on a Saturday. I was actually surprised that they came that quickly!

Why Luxy? I chose Luxy because they ship out of the US. I didn't want to pay for international shipping, nor did I want to wait for them if they got stuck in customs. I was considering FoxyLocks, but I wanted them ASAP! Also, they are pretty popular on YouTube and I wanted to try them out for myself.

Why clip-ins? I've never had extensions before nor do I have the money to pay a hair stylist to put in extensions. It can be hundreds of dollars each trip to the salon and I'm a student, so clip-ins just make sense. Here are some of the pros and cons of clip-ins...

• Pros
• easy to insert
• cheapest form of hair extensions
• can be taken in and out at users discression

• Cons
• must be applied everyday. Sleeping in them wouldn't be comfortable
• hard to wash
• clips can be uncomfortable
• wefts can be very hard to hide if you have thin hair

 My Luxy Hair Impression: My impression of Luxy is so-so. I'm happy with the extensions that I received, but there are a few things I would change. The over-all quality is okay. I've never had hair extensions before so I have nothing to compare them too, but they shed a lot in the beginning and ends of the wefts are a little frayed (pictures below). The color I ordered isn't dirty blonde in my opinion. It's more like a honey or dark golden/red blonde. They are very warm and my hair naturally has cool tones. Keep the undertones of you hair color in mind. I thought they would be a bit more neutral, but they weren't. When I ordered mine, I knew my hair wasn't going to match them (I had a DIY bleaching experience and my hair turned very ashy when it was corrected). I got my hair done a few weeks after I received them and took a weft in with me. My stylist did a great job matching them, but my hair is still naturally ashy. Also, I only get a partial foil when I get my hair done. This means that the underneath of my hair is darker. If you get a partial foil, the underneath of your hair is left uncolored.

The 160g is WAY too much hair for me, but I would recommend it to everyone. More is better. If you're going to buy it, you might as well buy a few wefts you're not going to use so that you have extras so if one gets ruined, you're not out of luck.

I purchased some hair color to color the lower portion of my hair extensions. I haven't decided if I'm going to color them or get my hair redone and get a full foil. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Here are some pictures below. Let me know what you think!

The verdict: Would I buy them again? No. I think I would just go to Sally's and pick out some from there. I think the Luxy extensions are a bit expensive and buying from the internet is tricky. Would I recommend them? Yes and no. If your hair is ONE solid color it would be a lot easier to purchase on the internet. Other than that, no. Luxy doesn't have many colors to choose from. I'm happy with what I got, but I don't feel the need to purchase them from Luxy again. Definitely no if you have thin hair in the back of your head like me. It's really hard to hide the wefts.

Plus: If you're going to get clip-ins, factor in the cost of getting them cut. They will need to be cut in order to blend seamlessly into your hair!

Interesting Life

I'm spending the time between work and school tucked away by the fire on University of Washington's campus. I'm trying to finish some homework, but I'm really tired. I didn't sleep all that well and this morning I started having really strange dreams, none of which I can remember.

Would it be weird to curl up and sleep next to the fire? Someone might steal my computer! EEEK. 

Skin Care Routine

Ah, winter not only brings weather challenges, sad gray days, but also sad dull skin. I try my best to keep my skin lookin' supa sexy and save myself some cash. We all know I'm extremely frugal and like getting great quality product for cheap. I posted this video talking about the products I'm loving!

Up&Up Makeup Removing Towlettes - perfect for the gym bag. I don't use these on a daily basis, but I like having them handy for easy makeup removal.

Up&Up Eye Makeup Remover - This is a very gentle eye makeup remover. I only use this when I've put on a ton of makeup.

Neutrogena Naturals Cleanser and Makeup Remover - This is one of my favorite cleansers of ALL time. It has a slight fragrance and removes all of my makeup without stripping. If you're looking for a gentle all-in-one cleanser, this is a great option! And it's got a great price!

Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Scrub - I only exfoliate once, maybe twice a week in the winter. The outer most layer of skin holds lots of moisture, so it's important not to strip too much off.

Up&Up Eye Lifting Serum - This eye serum is hydrating and also has light reflecting pigments so it's great for day use.

Alba Botanica Refining Aloe and Green Tea - I love this moisturizer and this brand. I've used many of their products before and always loved them.

CoverGirl AquaSmoothers Tinted Moisturizer - I've used this tinted moisturizer for years. It's light, but hydrating. It also has SPF 15 so that you're never without sun protection. Mixing it with a highlighter, I use the Body Shop's Radiant Highlighter. It illuminates the skin and makes me look alive!


I hope I didn't forget anything!

New Year's Resolution

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions. I don't typically keep up with them. I mean, really, who does?

And I'm well aware that it the 22nd day for the new year already. It's cool. I'm just a little bit behind on the times.

So what do I want my New Year's Resolution to be? Take my pictures. I don't use my DSLR camera all that much. Partly because I'm terrified to take it out of the house. I love it so much, and I don't anything to happen to it. And partly because my life isn't all that interesting. Day-in and day-out, I do pretty much the same thing. So please, if you get tired of seeing pictures of my boyfriend and my dog, please, don't make me feel worse about my boring life!

Here are a few of the pictures I took during our horrible storm last week. Enjoy!

Smokey Eye and Bold Lip Tutorial

I love this look! It's so simple and only takes a few minutes and you can probably use products you already have in your collection! I'll give you a play-by-play here and list the products.

Primer- Urban Decay Primer Potion
Shadows- Jane Iredale 24k Silver, a Stila grey/blue and a soft black (I'm not sure of the names)
Mascara- L'Oreal Millions of Lashes
Lip Liner- ELF Mineral Liner in Peach and NYX in Hot Red
Lipstick- NYX Femme
Lipgloss- L'Oreal Le Glosse in Peach Fuzz
Blush- Bare Minerals True

Julep Maven Review

I decided to try out Julep Maven for a couple of reasons, but mostly because I found this video. She had two coupon codes to share and I figured "why not!?".

Julep is a company that has a few nail parlors in the Seattle area. They also have their own line of nail polish as well as hand and foot care. Julep Maven is a monthly subscription to their boxes, it's similar to Birchbox or JewelMint. You only get nail care products from Julep's line.

The coupon code for a penny didn't work, so I did the one for 5 bucks. It worked, so I decided to buy the box. I did the style quiz and they determine that I was an "American Beauty". I looked at the other boxes and decided that I would try the one that they recommended to me.

Julep Maven: American Beauty January 2012

Included in Box 

• Two Nail Polishes (full size) Anne and Maria (.27 oz)
• Glow-On Lotion

I ordered on a Saturday and the box was on my porch on Wednesday. Pretty quick.

Julep is local Seattle company, so I was instantly interested. I've read about Jane Park in a few different local publications and have loads of respect for her.  I've never been into one of her nail salons because I love doing nails at home, so I'm glad they have a line outside of the salon.

Product Review

Let's review the actual products now I really like the products in as a whole. I'm not fond of the shimmering, metallic nail polish (Maria), but I love the creme color (Anne). The lotion is nice, but I'm not really sure it's something I would repurchase. It's targeted at a different demographic than me, which I absolutely respect. It had a nice texture and smell, but I like really thick hand creams.

The nail polish quality was actually really nice. At first I thought it was a little goopy, but it was goopy in a good way. It allowed the polish to go on smooth and it didn't require multiple coats for great pigmentation. I was really impressed. The more I think about it, the more I like it.

At first, I was thinking that I wouldn't get another box because I didn't want to pay for it, but I kind of want to try more of their products. Maybe I'll get the box that just has polishes if I like the colors.

All and all, I've been impressed with the box. I think it's a pretty good value and the products are worth it! Pictures below!

Pros

• Quality products
• Good value: Polishes alone are $14. The fact that you get two full size polishes means that box already paid for itself.
• Lot's of box options to choose from if you don't like what they chose for you

Cons

• Must log on at certain time during the month to skip month or your card will be charged. This can get really old, especially if you're forgetful
• The  combination of products you get might not be to your liking (but that can happen with any subscription box)
• Products are only from Julep, if you're looking to try multiple brands this might not be the box for you.