Collective Nail Polish Haul & Update

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Where is this year going? I can't believe it is already March! Today I wanted to share a nail polish haul with y'all and an update as well.

My polish haul is a collective one from the past month or so, so let's start with that ;)

First up I finally found the NYC Strip Me Off base coat, I picked two of these up, but conveniently lost one last week when I went out of town. I also picked up a few Sinful Colors polishes, Ring the Belini, which I posted about already, Zest of Times (Rite Aid) and Thimbleberry (Big Lots). I purchased one of the new polishes from Avon, Reckless, I swatched it and based off the swatch I was not too thrilled with the formula but will give it another try. Lastly in this photo I picked up December to Remember from China Glaze while Sally's was having their additional 50% off Clearance sale. I have used this polish and really loved it, such a beautiful shade of blue with light pink reflects!

Found a couple more polishes at Sally's! Orly Steal the Spotlight and Finger Paints In the Monet. Lastly I found some polishes that I've wanted since they came out, but didn't want to pay what the stores were asking for them, but luckily for me Big Lots had some of them the last couple of times I was there! I'm talking about the Revlon Parfumerie polishes, I picked up Lavender Soap, Wintermint, African Tea Rose and Apricot Nectar. I could not get over how good African Tea Rose smelt, I was quite amazed that once the polish was on my  nails and fully dry, that it did not smell like nail polish at all! The scent was noticeable for the next few days, but only when I had my hands near my nose and it was  not an over powering smell. I hope the other three smell just as good!

And now for my update; I finally found a job, Thank God!! It is a retail setting so it's already going much better than the job I found last year. I'm still trying to work out a blogging schedule that will fit in with my job schedule as well as my Avon schedule and everything else that I need/want to do. Right now I'm thinking about posting on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's. I should have 2 days off each week that will allow me to get posts wrote and then I can schedule them to post. I think once I get a new routine set things will fall in to place :)

I've also reached a goal on my blog, today's post is post number 500!

Hope you all enjoy your Monday!

Delicious Red

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I'm not a huge fan of red nails on myself, mostly cause I can't find a true red polish. Here I used Delicious from Revlon Colorstay, the formula is great, dried fast and I only needed 2 coats. However, it is not a true red either, it's more of an orangish red.

Y'all know I can't just leave my polish plain, so I added Top of the Gold, a gold flakie type polish from NYC. It was kinda hard to see so I topped that off with Matte FX from Salon Perfect. 

I liked the way l this came out, but it did not last long at all! I got a few nicks and dings not even an hour after completing this mani. The polish was super soft, so much in fact that I was able to just scrape it off with one of my nails. I don't know which polish caused that issue, gonna have to do some research and see if I can't figure it out. In any case I can now mark Red off the #SBBNailChallenge

Tomorrow I'll be back with a gorgeous water marble!

Favorites: May 2014

It has been a while since I've done a Favorites post, February was actually the last one. Within those few months I have found a few new favorites I wanted to share with you, a few are old rediscovered favorites.

We'll start with my new favorite hair product, L'Oreal Sleek It Iron Straight Heat Spray. I got this in my Ulta Haul earlier this year. It seems to shorten my straightening time and really keeps the frizz at bay, the thing I like most about it is you can feel it conditioning your hair while you are styling it. Leaves my hair feel so soft and smooth. Will be purchasing again once I use this one up!

Up next are a few skin/body products. I have been using my Perlier Volcanic Thermal Scrub about once a week to get my skin looking soft and smooth for spring/summer. I love this stuff, it is a little harsh, but not so much that it bothers me. I have also been loving my Udderly Smooth hand cream that I picked up at the Dollar Tree a while back. Hands down the best hand cream I've ever used, does not leave my hands feeling greasy at all and really makes them feel soft. I love my Gud Body Butter in Floral Cherrynova, smells so amazing and provides my skin with a lot of moisture leaving it feeling super soft and smooth. My last skin favorite is one that I've had for a while, the Julep Glycolic Hand Scrub. It got pushed back and hid on my shelf, but it leaves your hands so soft, a nice weekly treatment :)

I had quite a few new eye favorites this time around. The Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeliner is amazing, I can do my makeup in the morning and not have to worry about my eyeliner fading or smudging! For the past few months I have found my self grabbing the same 4 eyeshadows; ELF Jumbo Eyeshadow Stick in Little Miss Thing, Avon Cream Shadows in Champagne and Hazelnut and Avon Glazewear Diamonds in Mauved Metal. I have also switched my eye primer to Primed and Ready Eye Primer from Prestige works amazing! I had to throw in my Maybelline One by One Volume Express mascara, love this stuff so much!

For Face favorites I have one new and one old. My new favorite is Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse Foundation, best foundation I have found for my normal to dry skin. My old favorite is NYC's Sunny Bronzer, perfect shade for my fair skin and it's super affordable.

I have two fragrances that I can't quit using, both from Bath & Body Works. Coconut Water that I picked up last fall at one of their big sales. I have also been loving French Lavender & Honey, went ahead and bought a back up of it!

I do believe that is it for my Favorites! What are some of the products you are currently loving?

Haul: Rite Aid

Last weekend I went out and did a little shopping at Rite Aid. I don't get to Rite Aid often because it's not really near me and I have to go out of the way to get there, but when I know they have new collections out or they are having a good sale I will go out of the way to get there.

At the time I went shopping they were having a BOGO Free sale on NYC products and I had heard there were a couple new Sinful Colors collections out. I ended up with two new colors from Sinful Colors Mod in Bloom Collection, Mad about Hue and Nice Steams. I also found the Top of the Gold top coat from NYC, it's gorgeous and I can not wait to try it out! I picked up for my Free NYC product, my all time favorite top coat Grand Central Station. I also seen some of the NYC Sparkle Dust so I picked up one of those to try too, I got in in the shade Pink Topaz. I have also been looking for the new Wet N Wild palettes, but I am having no luck with that, but I did pick up one of their single eye shadows in Kitten for only $.49!

Once I got up to the register and the lady rang up all my items I was a little surprised at the total, so she was going over my receipt and it turns out I had a $3.00 off coupon loaded to my card that I didn't know about! All my items should have been around $13 but with the coupon and sales I only paid $6.89!

Tomorrow I will have a nail look using Nice Steams!

Mish Mash Challenge Week 28: Animated Movie or TV Show

Truthfully I was going to skip out on the challenge this week because I had no clue what I could do for Animated Movie or TV Show. I pondered on it a while and thought I could do Minions from Despicable Me, then I thought I can't do that it won't turn out good. Well I sucked it up and did Minions anyway, how can I get better at nail art if I don't do it, right? I am quite please with the way my Minions turned out, they are not great but they are not horrible either.

I used NYC Lexington Yellow for my base, I used 3 coats. For the Blue I mixed Sinful Colors Snow Me White with Sally Hansen Blue It. I also used Creative Fantasy from China Glaze to add some purple dots to represent the purple Minions from Despicable Me 2.

Have a look at what the other challenge ladies did this week:

Mish Mash Challenge Week 27: Green

Happy Wednesday to you and welcome to week 27 of the Mish Mash Challenge! This week our theme was Green, I have a couple of green polishes, but I just wasn't really feeling either one of them, so I went to one of my untried polishes that had the word green in the name, NYC Python Green. This is a polish that I picked up on one of my Big Lots trips for $1

I'm kinda on the fence about this polish, I think I was expecting something more from it. It's not really green, more like an olive brown with some gold shimmer. The formula on this was a little thin too, it wasn't running into my cuticles thin, but thinner than what I'm used too. I applied 2 coats, wish I would have used 3 as you can still see my nail line. I'm wonder if this would looked good layered over black?

Let's check out what the other ladies did for Green!

Year In Review: Favorite Products

Welcome to the first of four posts in my Year in Review series! Today I'll be sharing my favorite products from 2013! I have quite a few things so let's get started. Also if I have reviewed the product I'll link to that post in case you want to know more about it.

I'll start off with my favorite lip product, Maybelline Baby Lips in Quenched, since I don't have a photo of it because I'm out of it and I can't find a photo that I took of it, but we all know what it looks like. I went through several of these lip balms in 2013 I think they moisturize my lips well and I love that it has SPF in it.

I tired several new skin care items this year and came out with three that I really liked. L'Oreal Hydrafresh Toner, eclos Skin Prep Cleanser and Avon Moisture Boost Daily moisture lotion. I hear a lot of people say that you don't need a toner, but I feel like it really helps my skin and it makes it feel really fresh. This toner did not leave my skin feeling tight or dry. I have been using this same bottle of eclos cleanser for months, and it is probably my most favorite cleanser ever, hands down. It cleans my face well and leaves it feeling soft and smooth. The only issue I have with this product is the price. I have used several moisturizers this year as well, but I stuck with the Avon one the longest, it's a really light moisturizer, but it gives my skin all the moisture that it needs.

Next are face products that I used the most in 2013. I instantly fell in love with the Olay Fresh Effects BB cream, I have been using this since early summer. It gives me the moisture my skin craves and evens out my skin tone, it does not give much coverage though, that's where my NYC Sunny bronzer comes in. I love this bronzer and will probably never

Empties: October 2013

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I had a few empties for October:

Pure Silk Cherry Blossom shaving cream, it was fine nothing special. I would repurchase this, but I prefer Skintimate.

ONYX Acetone polish remover. Love this stuff already repurchased a large bottle :)

Not Your Mother's Kinky Moves. I like this stuff but the smell can be overwhelming to begin with, plus I can't find it in my area so I probably will now repurchase. I've had this tube since December 2012!

Aussie Aussomely Clean 2in1 shampoo. I really like this shampoo, this is the 2nd or 3rd bottle I've had of it. Have not repurchased yet, because I am making myself use all the other shampoos and conditioners I have before I buy any new ones. Discipline LOL

I also used up another bottle of my favorite top coat from NYC and a base coat from Sally Hansen. Have already repurchased the NYC top coat, not sure if I will repurchase the base coat, nothing really special about it. With both of these I was not able to use every singe drop, as they both got thick and goopy.

What products did you use up in October?

I will not have a favorites post for October, I've pretty much been using the same things for the past few months, so there is nothing new :)

August Empties & Update

Normally I'm all like where did the month go, but I am glad to see August go! The last week of August was bad for me, I had oral surgery to extract a tooth and had an allergic reaction to the gloves the surgeon used, so I spent the week laid up on the couch with a sore mouth and swelled up lips LOL Another reason I'm glad to see August go is I get to go on vacation the 9th of September! So excited! I will still have posts up the week of the 9th-13th. I will not however have a Mish Mash Nail Challenge post up this week. I was trying to get a couple of the challenges done so I wouldn't have to miss any with my surgery and vacation and somehow I managed to skip over this week and did next weeks challenge (insert eye roll). I should do it but I have so much house work to catch up on and blogging stuff and getting things ready for vacation, but I'm really excited about my post for next weeks Mish Mash Challenge. Okay on to the empites!

Up first I have a bottle of Wild Honeysuckle soap from B&BW. I love the way this smells, I would purchase again if I found it on sale. I finally used up my pack of Ponds cleansing towels; I like these, nothing special, would possibly repurchase them. I also used up the ELF Mist and Set Spray, I really like this stuff if I am wearing any kind of powders on my face because it keeps my face from looking dry and cakey. I threw in my China Glaze Black Mesh Crackle polish because it is so thick it's unusable, same goes for the NYC quick drying top coat.

With all they fun manicures I've been doing lately I finished up my regular polish remover and my pure acetone remover.

I finished up more hair products this month! Finished another can of my favorite hairspray, Suave Touchable Finish spray, already have another bottle. Finished up the Biolage conditioner that went with the shampoo that I finished in June, won't repurchase this. So sad that I finished up my Not Your Mother's Smooth Moves, I have a hard time finding this stuff in my area, but would repurchase. I also finished up two samples of conditioner Tresemme split end remedy and daily moisture renewal from Pantene, probably would not purchase either one of these.

What did you finish up this month?

Haul: Dollar Tree & Big Lots

The Dollar Tree and Big Lots are two really great places to find awesome beauty products at a very low price! I went and did a little shopping at each of these stores last week and wanted to share with you the items I picked up.

We'll start with the items I got from Big Lots. Usually when I go there I will find a least a couple of good beauty buys, this time was no exception. I picked up a pack of epielle Green Tea Cleansing Tissues, not sure how well these will work, I will let you know, but for the price I could not pass them up. You get 60 wipes in the package and they were only $2.00. They also had 30 count packages for $1.

I also spotted some of the Goody Spin Pins. I got one of these from Influenster a few months ago and I love it. I have seen these at Walmart and they retail for around $6-7, Big Lots had them for $2.50! Of course at that price I had to pick one up.

The last few items I got were nail polishes (like I need anymore lol) They were $1.00 each. I got a Sinful Colors Magnetic polish in the shade Polar Opposites, I don't like the magnetic part of these polishes, but you can wear them just like regular polishes. I also got a Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in the color Blizzard Blue, it's a sheer color, but looks awesome layered over black. I got a NYC polish in the shade Python Green and a polish from the Holiday Lights line that was out in Rite Aid stores last Christmas. It does not have a color name on it, but it's just a clear/white flakie polish with the super cool light up brush!

Left to Right: Sinful Colors Polar Opposites, NYC Python Green, Holiday Lights, Sally Hansen Blizzard Blue, and Milani Pink Pop (Dollar Tree)

Also from Big Lots I found a set of Sally Hansen mini polishes called Happy Manicures with Gem Crush, never seen any of these before. The set comes with Big Money, Be-Jeweled, Bling-tastic and Lady Luck. The names are not on the bottles so I do not know which is which. These glitter polishes can be wore alone with two coats. They are super pretty and so sparkly! I got the set for $3.00

Moving on over to the Dollar Tree. I went there specifically because I heard that they had Milani products, ummm Milani products for a $1.00, I think so. I only got three items, a nail polish in the shade Pink Pop (pictured above) and two of the HD Advanced Lip Colors, one in Classy Nude and one in Raspberry Blush. I really like these lipsticks they are creamy and feel very moisturizing on the lips. Also they are kind of sheer, which I like, but if you like darker lipsticks you can build them up.

Top to Bottom: One swipe of Raspberry Blush, A few swipes of Raspberry Blush, One swipe of Classy Nude, A few swipes of Classy Nude

While I was there I seen some L.A. Colors Trio and picked up a couple of those as well, I got Sunflower and Orchid.

Sunflower Trio

Sunflower Trio Swatches

Orchid Trio

Orchid Trio Swatches

I also wanted to pick up one of the NYC Sunny Bronzers, so I had been looking for it at Walmart cause I thought it would be the cheapest there. Well all of them had been opened, so I thought I'll just run by Rite Aid and see if they have it, they did and to my amazement, at a cheaper price than Walmart! $2.99 at Rite Aid versus $3.97 at Walmart! I'm hoping this will make a good bronzer for me since it is kind of light and so thankful that is does not have shimmer!

Have you bought any new beauty products lately? If so, what did you get?

Just a reminder that Google Friend Connect (GFC) will be leaving July 1st, so please follow me on Bloglovin'

ABC Nail Challenge: Letter X

Today's letter for the ABC Nail Challenge has had me racking my brain since we started this challenge and last week it came to me in a flash 'X' Marks the Spot! Now the vision I had in my head looked like one of those old treasure maps that you would see in moves with the little dashed black line leading to an X. I tried my best to transfer my vision to my nails. Not the best but I kinda like it. For my base I used NYC Mulberry Street, black cream for the dashes and Hot Hot Heat from Sinful Colors for my X. The little rhinestone I got in a set from Avon.

I love to take pictures so I thought I would share a picture of a cute little visitor that keeps coming around my house. A cute little groundhog :)

Be sure to stop by and see what all the ladies did for the letter X!

Happy Belated Blogiversary

It has been two years (this April) since I started up my blog and I am proud of what I have accomplished with it. I've met some very nice ladies that share my obsession for beauty products, and I've had the opportunity to work with a couple of companies. Most of all I'm very thankful for all my subscribers, with out y'all reading and commenting, my blog would be nothing. So in honor of my belated Blogiversary I am having a giveaway! There will be one winner and that person will win:

• A set of Kiss lashes
• NYC Individual Eyes in Dark Shadows
• NYC nail polish in the shade Murray Hill Mauve
• An EOS lip balm in Pomegranate Raspberry

Please read the Terms before entering!

Open to US residents only.

Giveaway starts today and will close Monday June 17th. Winner will be announced and notified on June 18th!

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ABC Nail Challenge: Letter P

Time for Letter P from the ABC Nail Challenge! I can not believe we only have 10 letters left! Today I am super excited about the polish I chose. Last summer NYC came out with a limited edition collection called Summer in the City, and there was this amazing polish that was part of that collection and I could never find it. Trust me I spend all summer trying to hunt it down. Well this past weekend, my husband and I went to visit my Mom and we stopped by a Dollar Tree on the way down there and I found the oh so hard to find limited edition polish!!! YAY! The polish is called Peach Sparkle and I just LOVE it and feel like I totally scored by finding it for $1.00!

The polish goes on very nicely I do think it is a bit sheer, so I used 3 coats. I'm thinking about trying it over black and white and see how it turns out. It dries super quick too, usually I dread trying to use 3 coats of polish, but this dried so fast it was no big deal.

This is a peach colored polish with major gold shimmer to it. So glad that my camera picked up a very accurate shot of this beautiful polish.

Be sure to see what the other ladies did with the letter P!

Mini Shop and Show: Dollar Tree

By now you know that I love finding beauty products at super cheap prices and The Dollar Tree is one of my favorite places to go on a hunt for beauty products. Sometimes you can find great stuff and other times it's just a fail. This weekend I feel like I scored big time when I stopped in at a Dollar Tree while traveling to my Mom's house. I found Sinful Colors and NYC polishes!

The NYC polishes came 2 to a pack for $1.00, these retail for $1.72 each at Walmart, so to get 2 for $1.00 was super. Then I open up the packaging and find that one of the polishes was a polish that I spent all summer of last year trying to track down. It was a limited edition polish from the Summer in the City collection called Peach Sparkle, seriously made me so flipping excited to find that! The other polish that came in the pack is called Murray Hill Mauve, which is a color that I already own.

I will have more in-depth photos of Peach Sparkle on Wednesday in my ABC Nail Challenge Post.

I also found, as I said above some Sinful Colors polishes, these retail for $1.99 and you can find them at RiteAid and some Walmart stores. I picked up #946 Happy Ending, which is a beautiful bright green that has a hint of gold shimmer and #1145 Hot Hot Heat, it's a beautiful metallic burgundy.

Have you spotted any Sinful Colors or NYC at your local Dollar Tree?

L-R: Murray Hill Mauve, Peach Sparkle, Hot Hot Heat, Happy Ending

Could not resist adding a photo of my cat Mopey :)