Collective Nail Polish Haul

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Since I've been working I've been able to splurge a little more on random nail polishes more often, so today I have a nice little collective haul for y'all!

We'll start off with some polishes that I bought from Beauty By Krystal's Blog Sale. I seen she had Essence polishes on there so I snagged some of them up quickly, since I can not find them in my area. I got Aquatix Bay, Under the Sea, A Lovely Secret, Enchanted Fairy and Can't Cheat on me. I'd never heard of Orchid polish so I grabbed the one that caught my eye, Funky Monkey. The last two I got were both from Sinful Colors, Petal Be The Day and Prized Plume.

I picked up a few polishes from work too, 2 Broadway Nails regular polishes; Easter Annie and Sour Apple. Also picked up another one of the Gel Strong polishes for 'testing' purposes ;) in the color Where's Nemo.

At work we got a display for the Wet N Wild 2015 Silver Lake collection, but I don't think that the correct products are in it, because the polish I picked out of it, Bubblegum Pop appears to have been around for a while. In any case it's still pretty and I will wear it proudly. Found this Sinful Colors polish at Big Lots, it's Love Sprinkles, way to cute to pass up!

Also at Big Lots I finally found two of the Bleached Neons from Maybelline, Lime Accent and Bleached in Peach! I wish I could have found the rest of the set, but I'm happy with the 2 I was able to add to my collection.

I also did a little China Glaze shopping on Amazon, always find great polish deals on there! I got Hang-Ten toes, Beach Cruise-r, Ahoy and Flirty Tankini. I got all these for about $4.50 each, not a bad deal! Of course these are not true to color since they are pink toned and neon for the most part.

I can not remember if I have hauled these or not, but they are from Avon's Electric Shades collection for 2015; Hottie, Suacy, Reckless and Vibe. If these cooperate, they would make a beautiful water marble!

Found these cool Nail Edge Guides from Kiss and pump bottle at Walmart! I want to get another one of these to put regular nail polish remover in, so I'll quit using so much pure acetone on my nails.

Needless to say my untried pile is full again! Is there any polishes that y'all would like to see more than others? If so let me know and I'll move them up!

Hopefully I'll be back in the next day or so with a nail look using the Kiss Nail Guides ;)

Review: Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse Foundation

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Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse is a cream-whipped foundation that is supposed to be good for normal to dry skin, provide 100% baby smooth perfection and leave your skin looking and feeling hydrated for 14 hours. It's oil-free, fragrance free, and safe for sensitive skin. The whipped formula is designed to give an air soft matte finish with a weightless feel. The foundation is very creamy and provides medium coverage.

Here is my take on it:
For the last 2 years or so I have not used an actual foundation, I had only been using BB creams, because I could not find a foundation that would not cling to the dry patches or just make my face look super dried out. I love my BB creams, but I wanted something that would give me a little more coverage, so off to Google I went. I came across this product and read that it was good for dry skin, the only thing I read about it that concerned me was that it had pink undertones, my cheeks tend to get red when I'm a little hot or from washing my face with a cloth of some sort, so I didn't know if that would enhance my cheek redness or not. I picked out Porcelain Ivory, which I believe is the lightest color they offer, I probably should have got the next shade up since I purchased this around the time the weather was warming up, but with a little bronzer it works fine.

I am very glad that I gave this a try! I love the amount of coverage it gives me, which is about medium, and the pink undertones do not enhance any redness that I have on my face. Finally a foundation that I can wear that does not adhere to and accentuate my dry patches or make my face look as dry as a dessert, I think this is due mostly to the consistency of the foundation, it is so creamy! It feels very light on my face, so much in fact I usually forget I have it on. My face feels hydrated and soft throughout the day. For me personally the wear time is great too, the day I took the photos for this post I wore it for a little over 8 hours and never touched it up.

My only issue with this foundation is the packaging, and the only thing I don't like about it, is it does not have a mirror and it makes you think you are getting way more product. It does come with this little sponge to apply it with, I've not used it so I can not say if it works well or not.

This is all the product you get, it's .49oz

 I 've used this pretty much every single day since I got it 5 weeks ago and I still have plenty of product, a little bit of this seems to go a long way, which is great!

I use my ELF flat top powder brush to apply the Dream Smooth Mousse. I lightly tap the brush in to the product then kind of stipple it on my face and buff it out, then I'll apply some bronzer and spray my face with ELF makeup mist and set. This is besides the point, but Avon is coming out with a makeup setting spray!!

Here is a nice collage of my face LOL Top Left no makeup at all and as you can see I have redness in my cheeks and on my chin from cleansing with a cloth prior to doing my makeup and a nice little scratch on my nose, Top Right I'm only wearing the Dream Smooth Mousse I think it helps to conceal some of the redness, Bottom Left I have my bronzer and eye makeup done, Bottom Right shows my face after wearing the DSM for a little more than 8 hours with no touch ups.

Everyone's skin type is not the same so I know this may work great for me but not work so well for others. My skin is normal to dry and I do not tend to get any oiliness, so if you have skin very similar to that, I would highly recommend this, especially if you have issues with other foundations clinging to dry patches.

Dream Smooth Mousse comes in 6 shades at Ulta and online, but for some reason Walmart's site lists 4 additional shades that were not available on the other sites. Prices are different on each site but range from $7.97-$9.99

Haul: Christmas Gifts and After Christmas Shopping

Today I thought I would share with you some of the beauty related gifts that I got for Christmas plus a few products that I picked up at the after Christmas clearance sales. I'm in no way trying to brag, just thought this would be a fun post :)

First up are a few things that my Husband got me. He is so great, he will listen to me go on an on about beauty products even though most of the time he will admit he has no clue what I'm talking about, but his gifts proves he really is listening. He got me two bottles of the Garnier Sleek and Shine Moroccan Argan Oil and this awesome set from Suave which contains the Moroccan infusion products. It comes with the shampoo, conditioner, a hair mask, a bottle of oil and 3 of the Goody Ouchless elastics! He also got me a $25 Gift Card to Bath & Body Works.

My Mother-in-Law got me some styling products from Sally's Beauty Supply. I've never tried any hair products from Sally's, I usually only shop there for nail stuff, so I'm excited to give these products a try. Two bottles of Volumizing Sculpting Foam and a bottle of finishing spray, these are supposed to be comparable to Paul Mitchell products.

My Best Friend got me a few things from Bath & Body Works,

NOTD: Fing'rs Heart 2 Art In Mint Condition

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Today's nail of the day features In Mint Condition form Fing'rs Heart 2 Art. I picked this polish up at Walmart for $1.68 I love the color of this polish, it's a nice mint color with a hint of gold, it also has blue glitter.

The application of this polish was okay, the fact that the brush is so long leaves you with a big glob of polish running down the 'wand' which at times caused me to get way to much polish on my nail. I fear that this polish is going to get get very thick after a few times of using it, because it was a little thick to start with. Drying time was average, about 10 minutes.

This polish does feel rough after it dries and I was hoping my topcoat would help that out, but it still feels a little rough. I used the NYC quick drying topcoat.

Have you tried any of the polishes from the Heart 2 Art collection? What did you think about them?

Next Wednesday I will be starting a new Nail Challenge with a great group of ladies that participated in the ABC Nail Challenge! This new challenge is called the Mish Mash Challenge, 30 different manicure ideas, so be sure to stop by next Wednesday and check it out!

Haul: After Christmas Shopping

For Christmas I got some gift cards and cash and I thought I would share with you the beauty related items that I picked up while doing some after Christmas shopping.

I have one of the E.L.F eye lash curlers and it is the best one I have ever used, well it's getting a little worn and not working like it used too, so I went to Target and was going to pick up a new one plus a few backups, they only had one! I'm disappointed with it too, it does not work right at all! Glad it was only $1.00, but now I'm stuck without a good curler.

I love NYC top coat, it leaves my nails super shiny so I picked up another bottle of it, as I am getting low on my current one.

I have been on the look out for a good base coat for my nails. I've been using Strong Adhesion base coat by China Glaze, but it is getting empty. I really like the China Glaze, but I wanted something a little less expensive. I also have a problem with China Glaze polishes getting really thick after I have used them for a while. Anyone else have that problem? I found one by Sally Hansen, it's a base coat and a top coat, I already have a favorite top coat, as you seen above, but I'll see how well it works. It was a couple dollars cheaper than the China Glaze.

I also picked up a set of scrunchies. I usually pull my hair back when I'm at home and I thought these would be easier on my hair, than the ties I'm currently using.

I have also been wanting to try some Moroccan oil on my hair, so I picked up some Garnier Fructis Moroccan Sleek oil treatment.

I've been eyeing this palette from Hard Candy for months now! Every time I would go shopping at my local Walmart I would pass up buying it LOL, but now I have it and am super excited about it!

I also bought a few non beauty products that I'm excited about! I got a small candle warmer to use with my Bath & Body Works candles that I picked up at their semi annual sale. I also picked up this super cute angel soap dispenser from the Christmas clearance section in Walmart. The last non-beauty item is the one I am the most excited about. I collect unique 'piggy' banks and I had seen these in December 2011 and really liked them but passed up the opportunity to buy one. I've seen them in Walmart for most of 2012 and finally decided, I'm gonna get myself one, an actually piggy bank!

Did you do any after Christmas shopping? What did you purchase?

Be sure to check out my Giveaway!

Shop and Tell

My Avon shipment was delayed a day because of Memorial Day, so today's post will be a Shop and Tell :)

It's been a while since I bought new beauty products from anywhere other than Avon, so today while I was out running errands I stopped by Wal-Mart and picked up a few things I had been wanting.

First I picked up a bottle of Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser. I got a sample size of this in my Target Beauty Bag and really liked it. Next I got a bottle of NYC Matte

Small Walmart Haul

Went and did some shopping at Walmart :)
I picked up one of the Baby Lips lip balm in Quenched, a new NYC nail polish in Lincoln Square Lavender, and the wet n wild pallet in Comfort Zone!

Maybelline Baby Lips Quenched

NYC Lincoln Square Lavender

 Swatches from the Wet 'N Wild pallet! Gorgeous colors!

Spotted: Hard Candy & Maybelline

Was out shopping at my local Walmart in the Christmas gift section and found these 2 great product bundles. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos I took them on my cell phone.

Hard Candy Limited Edition mini 5 piece glittery nail polish sets for only $5

Maybelline 3 piece set includes Falsies mascara, Line Express eyeliner with a smudger and an ExpertWear Eyeshadow all for on $10