APR '13 Ipsy Glam Bag

I've been a bad little beauty blogger for the past week or so & I'm so sorry for the lack of posts. Life's been a tad busy & I've just been so exhausted...& then it was my birthday...but now I am back! I've had the April Ipsy Glam Bag for a little bit & now I am finally going to share it with you.

The theme this month is Pretty In Pink & I'm super happy with the contents! The bag itself is super cute & seems to be the most sturdy & well made bag that I've received so far. Also, one of the items is probably my favorite item that I've ever gotten from any beauty subscription. We'll get to that, though...let's start with pics!

April 2013 Ipsy Glam Bag

PHOTOS & REVIEWS AFTER THE JUMP!

Chanel - Taboo

I'd been holding out for so long. I always thought I could find something similar for less money. My spending had gotten extreme but I felt like as long as I didn't do that ONE THING I could justify it all. Well, I finally broke down you guys...I bought my first Chanel polish & boy, is it a GOOD one!

There's not much to say about Chanel Taboo other than 1) it's so multifaceted & simply GORGEOUS [burgundy AND blue shimmer!?], 2) the formula was a dream [almost a 1 coater!] & 3) I am completely obsessed with it! Of course my photos don't do it justice, but here they are:

The rest of the photos are AFTER THE JUMP!

MAR '13 Ipsy Glam Bag

It's that time of the month again...Ipsy Glam Bag time! This month's theme is "The Great Escape" & the bag features items that are perfect for beauty on the go.

I generally start these posts with a photo of the bag itself, but I'm the worst & dropped it behind a heavy piece of furniture before I could take a picture. It's a bummer because the bag is super cute & nautical themed. You can check it out on the Ipsy website if you're so inclined.

Since there's no bag shot, I guess we will begin with a group product shot!

March 2013 Ipsy Glam Bag

Check out the product reviews AFTER THE JUMP!

Illamasqua - Speckle and Mottle

I love Illamasqua's Speckle & Mottle so much that I'm going to just get right into the pics!

Illamasqua Mottle w/ Speckle accent (flash)

Illamasqua Mottle w/ Speckle accent (no flash)

Mottle is a mint green base while Speckle is a lilac base & both have the same multi-size black glitter. The milkiness of the base colors combined with the different sized black glitters gives a super cute robin's egg appearance that I just can't get enough of! I had so many people at work comment on my nails when I wore this manicure, saying that I had Easter egg or Easter candy nails. I guess everyone loves these!

The formula on both was great. I used 2 coats of each for the photos above & both were perfectly opaque. The glitter pay-off was good so I didn't have to try very hard to get the glitter to place where I wanted it to. Dry time was fairly quick, too. All good things!

Speckle & Mottle, as well as 3 other speckled polishes & other makeup items, are a part of the Spring 2013 I'mperfection collection. Per Illamasqua's website, I'mperfection is "an open invitation to stand up and show the world what makes you perfectly imperfect." I can get on board with that!

Did you pick up any of the speckled polishes from Illamasqua or anything else from the I'mperfection collection? What do you think? I've got my eye on their lipstick in Immodest, too. Looks like a great, bright, matte pink!

FEB '13 Ipsy Glam Bag

February's Ipsy Glam Bag theme is "Red Carpet Ready" & it includes some great, useful samples. I love when sample bags/boxes include things that I need/use on a daily basis so I was most definitely happy with this month's offerings! Let's get into it...

The bag itself is a small, black patent leather looking bag with a silver zipper pull & a red interior. It's not my favorite bag that I've gotten so far, but it's simple & useful so I can't be that mad about it.

FEB '13 Ipsy Glam Bag

FEB '13 Ipsy Glam Bag interior

This post is photo-heavy, so the rest is AFTER THE JUMP!!

Zoya - Neely & Vespa

Happy Mani Monday! I've had this combo on my nails since yesterday morning & I'm loving how fresh & Spring-y it is. I don't think that Zoya did it on purpose, but these 2 colors are made for each other. Neely is a dusty, soft mint green creme from the Spring 2013 Lovely collection & Vespa is a deeper, mossy matte mint with small silver "sugared" glitter from the PixieDust textured matte glitter collection (similar to OPI's Liquid Sand polishes but, in my opinion, much better). A match made in monochromatic, multi-textured heaven!

Zoya Neely w/ a Vespa accent nail

First of all, I apologize for the sorry state of my cuticles. My hands have been so dry lately that there's just not much I can do about it. Also, this color didn't make my hands nearly as lobster-y as they appear in the photo. Anyways, the photo above is 3 coats of each polish w/ a coat of Orly Sec'N Dry (my latest quick dry top coat experiment...so far, so good) over all but the accent nail. Formula-wise, Vespa was a dream. Each coat went on smooth & even & dried very quickly. Neely was a bit of a different story. The formula was thick & had a sort of glue-like texture, which made it go on streaky & uneven. The first 2 coats were a bit of a nightmare until I had the sense to add some polish thinner before the 3rd coat & that greatly improved the situation. I would definitely recommend thinning this polish if you have the same problems, it seems to have solved the issue.

Did you pick up any of Zoya's Spring or PixieDust offerings? What are your thoughts? All of these pastel shades have me seriously wishing it was Springtime!

All That Glitters - Bitter Hearts Collection (Heart Burn & Dream On)

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays, if for no other reason than everything is pink & sparkly. These 2 polishes from All That Glitters are no exception! They are part of the Bitter Hearts collection, which consists of 12 limited edition glitter polishes with cheeky names like C U Never, Go Away, I Luv Me & Just Lust. The 2 that I have for you today are Heart Burn (bright pink jelly base with black, white, iridescent, silver bar & black & white heart glitter) & Dream On (pastel pink creme base with gold & gunmetal glitter). The swatches below are 3 coats of polish, 1 coat of Gelous & 1 coat of Julep's Fast Dry Top Coat.

Heart Burn - Dream On

Heart Burn - Dream On

All That Glitters Dream On

All That Glitters Dream On

The base color of Dream On is something that I probably wouldn't wear on its own, but the addition of the gold & gunmetal glitter make this polish sweet, classic & interesting. I can definitely see myself turning to this polish when I need something with subtle flash. I had a little bit of a bubbling issue, but I think that was the topcoat's fault. Womp.

All That Glitters Heart Burn

All That Glitters Heart Burn

Heart Burn is such a complex, beautiful polish that I keep catching myself staring at my nails trying to fully figure it out. My camera was having a heart attack trying to capture the color & glitter correctly, so these pictures don't quite do it justice. The jelly base gives it a great depth & I love the flash of the iridescent & tiny silver bar glitters. The hearts took a little bit of digging to get on the brush, but the extra time was totally worth it! (TIP: Turn this polish upside down for a few hours before use, it helps the heart glitters sink to the top so you can reach them!)

These polishes are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to flashiness, but I love them both equally! The formulas were both good for being so glitter-heavy & dry time was pretty quick. I didn't have any application problems other than having to fish out the heart glitter in Heart Burn, but that's to be expected with large, shaped glitter. Eggnog Wasted was my first All That Glitters polish & I really loved it...now that I'm equally as impressed with these 2, I plan on picking up many more in the future!

Dream On & Heart Burn, as well as the rest of the Bitter Hearts collection, are currently still available on the All That Glitters Etsy page. If you are interested in any of these polishes, I would hurry over & place your order...since they are LE they will not be restocked when they sell out!

Do you love Valentine's Day as much as I do? What about these polishes? Let me know in the comments!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Nails Inc. - Whitehall Magnetic Polish

I purchased Nails Inc. Whitehall from Sephora many months ago, but for some reason it sat on my shelf unused. Maybe I was a little intimidated by the whole magnetic polish thing since I'd never used one before. Either way, I finally busted it out recently & I LOVED the results!

Whitehall is a shimmery deep teal polish that pulls black when exposed to the magnet. The pictures don't do it justice...it looks so amazing & sort of 3D in real life, like a cat's eye stone!

I did one coat of Whitehall on all of my nails & let it dry, it was pretty opaque & the formula was thick but easy to apply. Then on each nail individually I put another thick coat & held the magnet over it for 10-15 seconds. Voila! I finished it off with Duri Miracote topcoat, but I probably should have waited a little longer before I applied it because it kind of blurred the magnetic design. Oh well, you live & you learn!

I think it turned out pretty well for a first-timer & I'm sure it will look even better next time. I know I'm a little behind the trend, but I can't wait to get my hands on more magnetic polishes!