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!

Orly - High On Hope and Elation Generation

Hi everyone! What I have to show you today is a manicure that I wore recently using 2 polishes from Orly's Spring 2013 Hope & Freedom Fest collection. I picked up a Mani Mini kit that includes .18oz bottles of 4 out of the 6 polishes in the collection. I chose High On Hope & Elation Generation to use for this manicure because as soon as I saw them I knew they would go great together!

High On Hope is a navy blue creme with amazing pink shimmer that has a bit of a yellow/orange multichrome to it & Elation Generation is a bright pink jelly filled with holo glitter.

Orly High On Hope with an Elation Generation accent (flash)

Orly High On Hope with an Elation Generation accent (no flash)

The photos above are 2 coats of each polish with Orly Sec'n Dry over top. My camera was having some difficulty capturing the true color of Elation Generation. I would say that the actual color is somewhere in between how it looks in the photos. The holo glitter is also much more pronounced in real life, as is the shimmer in High On Hope.

Formula-wise, High On Hope was good. The first coat went on a bit streaky, but the second coat evened it out & made it opaque. Elation Generation was a tad bit thick but not unmanageable. Dry time was average.

I just love the look of these 2 polishes next to each other! Elation Generation really brings out the pink shimmer in High On Hope & I love the juxtaposition of the holo glitter polish as an accent to a polish with a very strong shimmer. So pretty!

What do you think of Orly's Hope & Freedom Fest collection? Do you love these 2 polishes as much as I do? Let me know in the comments!

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!

Dollish Polish - Big Bang Theory Collection

Today I have 3 of the 4 Big Bang Theory polishes from Dollish Polish! As soon as I found out that this collection was a thing, I HAD to have it! I'm a bit behind the curve when it comes to loving Big Bang Theory, but I've recently started watching it nonstop. I only scooped up 3 of the 4 because 1 of them was super similar to another polish that I recently purchased. Dollish Polish describes each polish as follows: BAZINGA! (red, white, & yellow glitters, in a multitude of shapes & sizes, including squares, rectangles & large black dots all in a slightly tinted yellow base), Coitus (small & medium hexagon glitters in pink, periwinkle, turquoise, gold & white gold with tiny silver micro glitters all in a clear base) & I'm Not Crazy, My Mother Had Me Tested (a full cornucopia of colors, shapes & sizes, all in a clear base).

The photos below are 2 coats of each polish over 1 coat of Zoya's Purity.

I'm Not Crazy... - BAZINGA! - Coitus

I'm Not Crazy... - BAZINGA! - Coitus

I'm Not Crazy... - Coitus - BAZINGA!

I'm Not Crazy... - Coitus - BAZINGA!

The following pic is a quick mani that I did tonight. The main color is Deborah Lippmann Shoshanna with Dollish Polish Coitus as an accent nail. Shoshanna, from the Girls collection, is a lovely violet color with an ever-so-slight shimmer that was opaque in 2 coats. The photo is 2 coats of Shoshanna, 2 coats of Coitus on the accent nail & 1 coat of Orly Sec'n Dry over everything.

Please no judging based on my tiny, nubbin nails. The first day of my new job was this past Friday & my drive home took over an hour...the anxiety kicked in & my nice, long nails were GONZO. They are in recovery & appreciate your patience, haha.

Deborah Lippmann Shoshanna w/ Dollish Polish Coitus accent

Overall, I love these Big Bang Theory glitters & I'm super psyched to fully use them in manicures in the future! The formula on Coitus was great...good glitter payoff & not too clumpy. Based solely upon the nail wheel swatches, the other polishes had good formulas as well. These are my first Dollish Polish polishes & I hope to have many more in the future! The one polish that I didn't buy from this collection is Penny...Penny...Penny... & that's mostly because I felt like it looked a little too similar to the All That Glitters Dream On polish featured HERE, although I'd love to see a comparison just to be sure!

I purchased these polishes from Llarowe, but they can also be purchased directly from Dollish Polish.

Did you pick up any of the Big Bang Theory polishes? Do you have any other Dollish Polish polishes? Let me know in the comments!

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!!

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!

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