Loose Powder

Here’s a quick review of Spoiled‘s Paying with Platinum polish. Spoiled is a new line of nail polishes by Wet n Wild.

Some of the colors in the new Spoiled line are dupes or reformulations of Wet n Wild Fastdry line. Paying with Platinum looks like a reformulation of Gray’s Anatomy:

You can see that they look very similar in the bottle. I don’t have swatches of both for comparison, but Gray’s Anatomy is more sheer requiring three or four coats to get close to bottle color. Two coats of Paying with Platinum still had a little visible nail line, but not enough to make me add a third coat.

It was difficult for me to capture the color shifting in my photos, but you can see it in the first picture with the bottle. In direct sun, it looks more purple, but in indirect light it looks more gray/green. It’s an interesting color and would probably make a great layering color over black or a very dark purple.

Spoiled nail polish retails for $1.99 per bottle and are available at CVS, Rite-Aid, and Walgreens.

Hi, everyone! This is a review of two lipsticks from Korean brand, Holika Holika. I got them from my friend, Saff, a while back, but didn’t try them until a few months ago. Sorry about the lag in reviewing as I’m still trying to catch up!

I asked for two colors of the Aqua Muse Watery Lipstick: PK114 Pink Mode and PK116 Rose Fever. The Angel Peach (OR207) and Fairy Red (RD805) colors also looked nice, but I thought I’d start with these.

I’m a little undecided on the packaging. I like the shape of the tubes, but the plastic feels kind of cheap. The jewel at the top is a fun touch, though. At the bottom of the tube is the label for the colors.

The color label on the box is very similar to the color of the product in the tube. The one thing I don’t like about this lipstick is that it smells – and tastes – like flowery soap. The smell I don’t really mind, but the fact that it tastes like soap is very off-putting. Thankfully, leaving the cap off for a few hours reduced the smell and taste enough that it doesn’t bother me as much.

Here are swatches on my arm and on lips, PK114 on the left and PK116 on the right.

All the swatches are with one layer of color, so they look a bit sheer. You can build color and the product will leave a bit of staining behind. The lipstick applies easy due to the “watery” nature of the product, but it does build up in cracks and dried skin on the lips a little bit.

They last a fair amount of time and aren’t very drying. I wouldn’t say they are moisturizing, though. After removing the lipstick with makeup remover, I needed to apply a lip balm, but that was probably because of using the remover.

Overall, I’m a fan of this lipstick and I would buy another one!

I reviewed this nails, inc. Magnetic Effects polish in Houses of Parliament previously, so I’m not going to talk too much about it. Trafalgar Square is a silver polish with black magnetic stripes.

The magnet on this polish makes a large wave design, which basically ends up looking like a chevron on the nail. The formula was good and easy to apply and the magnet on the cap works well to create the design.

I’ve been experimenting with various magnetic polishes that I will review later on, but I’ve discovered that the magnet makes a big difference. Thus far, the nails, inc. and Layla magnets have worked the best and I use them with other, cheaper, polishes for improved results. You can also use a strong fridge magnet which will give you plain stripes.

Like other magnetic polishes I’ve tried, this dries to kind of a satin finish and the look is definitely enhanced by a glossy top coat.

Nails Inc., Magnetic Effects Polish is available at Sephora for $16 per bottle and is available in silver, purple, and teal.

I hate shaving mostly because the wonderful smooth feeling of my skin only lasts a day, so I would wax my legs as an alternative. Though waxing has served me well over the years, several months ago, Cyn told me about epilating after I mentioned that I have a habit of tweezing.

The Silk Epil 5 Epilator is manufactured by Braun. The cost for the Silk Epil 5 ranges from $60-$80, but I have seen it priced higher. However, I think this investment is worth the money since using an epilator cuts my grooming time in half. I also don’t have to deal with the mess that always comes with using wax.

The model I have is the SE5280. This model came with a pink epilator, a shaving cap, efficiency cap, dual massage cap, mini cleaning brush, and white storage bag. It looks as though the newer models also have an ice glove included, but mine did not come with an ice glove. I, personally, don’t think the ice glove would make much of a difference. Tweezing individual hairs by its roots already hurt, but when you have an epilator with 40 tweezers going at once this will hurt.

This model has 40 tweezers and a “smartlight” that helps you see the hairs you are trying to pluck. There are also two speeds, but I find the first speed to be fast enough without needing to use speed two. This epilator is not cordless or waterproof. Though there are new wet/dry models that are cordless available.

I use the epilator on my legs, underarms, and even on my face. When the epilators plucks the hairs from my legs, it doesn’t hurt, but it has an odd sensation. Since I am used to plucking and waxing hairs from my underarms, the pain from epilating there is not as bad, but there are still pinches here and there since underarm skin is more sensitive. Though if the hair is longer, it will hurt more. I recommend using the shaver head to trim hair down to the ideal epilating length. The shortest length I’ve successfully epilated with is 1/16″. Because everyone’s hair is different, I’d say the ideal length is 1/16″ to 1/4″ anything longer may hurt more.

When using the epilator on my face, I’ll be candid. It is scary and loud. I’ve often equated epilating to running a lawnmower over my legs, so imagine putting that noisy electronic equipment with forty tweezers revving next to your face. It’s terrifying.

I usually use the epilator to deal with those pesky upper lip hairs. The first time I did this: it HURT. Second time I did this: it STILL HURT! I don’t think it will ever NOT hurt using an epilator for facial hair removal. However, if I can get facial cap. It might make the pain less. Maybe.  If you are brave or stupid like me and decided to use this on your face, take a swig of alcohol and be prepared to shed some tears.

As much as I love epilating, sometimes I will still need to use a razor to go over the shorter fine hairs that the epilator missed. However, I have noticed that when new hairs grow in, they are less coarse.

The dual massage head has two rollers on the side that just makes the epiltor look like a monster.

The precision head narrows down the location that is being epilated. This is a cap that I mainly use since I feel that the dual massage may ease the pain, but isn’t as effective in hair removal.

The shaver head and cap is useful for getting hair down to epilating length, and useful for maintaining hair in the bikini region.

After trying out the Stila Smudge Stick Eyeliner in peacock, I decided that I’d like some more. This set of silver and gold eyeliners were on sale at the Stila website for $10!

I wanted to get a silver eyeliner for highlighting and I thought the gold might make a nice change from black in the waterline area. How convenient to have both in one set!

These applied very smoothly without dragging and are metallic without being glittery. If you smudge it as soon as you draw the line, you can soften the look. Once it sets, it’s smudge resistant and waterproof.

Unfortunately, just like the peacock pencil, these don’t last very long on my waterline. On the plus side, the colors are both light enough that I can apply them and even if they don’t stay long, the fading isn’t very noticeable.

I’m still a fan of these eyeliners and would definitely purchase other colors!

Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner retails for $20 and is available at Stila’s website, Sephora, and UIta.

In January, I’d accompanied a friend to a local beauty boutique so she could have a consult and a makeover. While she was with the makeup consultant, I poked around the shop and was interested in the NARS lip pencils. Recently, I’ve gotten more interested in lipsticks and pencils to expand my lip color selection.

After speaking with a consultant, I decided to purchase the Velvet Matte Lip pencil in Walkyrie for myself.

The soft pencil is a dusty rose color that applies very smoothly. It’s a pretty typical large pencil that gets sharpened when it wears down, though I wish it was an automatic type. The cap is very secure, so I wouldn’t worry about it coming off in a my handbag or cosmetic bag.

This lip pencil isn’t drying, but it also isn’t moisturizing, so I tend to apply a lip balm under it first. It has a matte finish that tends to accentuate any dry spots, so you may want to exfoliate your lips before applying. While this isn’t completely smudge-proof, this is a long wearing formula that doesn’t transfer to your drinkware. It does contain silicones, so if that is a problem ingredient for you, you might want to skip it.

For me, this isn’t particularly long lasting – if I don’t eat or drink I can get a couple hours from it. Still, I like this lip pencil a lot so I would probably buy another.

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils retail for $24 and are available at Sephora, Ulta, and where NARS products are sold.

Butter London is one of my favorite high end polish brands and there are so many colors of theirs I want to try. This one is Victoriana, a blue teal with silver shimmer.

This polish was easy to apply and two coats was enough to get bottle color with no visible nail line.

This is such a great color, especially with the shimmer giving it an interesting texture.

Butter London polish is $14 is available from Ulta or the Butter London website. I purchased this bottle at Ulta during a sale.

Ms. Hautie was part of Color Club‘s Untamed Luxury Collection and I picked it up for $2.99 at my local beauty supply place.

In the bottle, this silvery grey polish is full of holo micro glitter and pink shimmer. Unfortunately, once it’s applied on the nail, you can’t see any of those features and the polish just looks like a dull grey. The finish is also very gritty, which I didn’t expect.

You can see the grittiness of the polish. This was after two coats of top coat! The surface feels pretty smooth, but it looks bumpy. In the third picture, you can see what the polish looks like in the bottle. I wish that had translated better to the nail!

This might actually be the first polish I’ve purchased that I’m not at all happy with.

There’s very rarely a points perk from Sephora that I’m interested in trying out, but in January they had this set of Fresh items for 500 points.

The sample set consisted of the Soy Face Cleanser, Black Tea Age-Delay Face Cream, and Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treatment. I hadn’t used the other items before, but the Sugar Lip Treatment I’d gotten as a sample a long time ago and remembered liking it a lot.

The Black Tea Age-Delay Face Cream was the first thing I tired in this set as I’d just run out of night cream. I liked the consistency of the cream – it was thick but not too heavy. It seemed to work okay with my skin, but I applied it sparingly. The one thing I didn’t like about this was the smell! It was kind of a slightly sour, dirt smell. The sample size was enough for about a month’s worth of use, but because of the smell I probably wouldn’t buy this again.

I really do like the Sugar Lip Treatment and the Rose Tint adds a tiny wash of color. I’ve been using this at night and in the morning my lips still feel soft and moisturized. The packaging is another great aspect of this product is the packaging. The metal tube seems durable enough to just toss in your purse and you won’t have to worry about the top coming off since it screws on. The only problem I have with the product – which might keep me from buying it – is that the product is so soft that less than halfway through, it starts to move in the tube and will probably break off of the base. I hear this is a common problem with this product and there isn’t anything you can do about it, which is a shame.

I haven’t used the Soy Face Cleanser yet, so I can’t comment on the product.

Because I got this for free with my Sephora Beauty Insider points, it was definitely worth it to try out. If I can figure out how to use the lip treatment without it breaking in the tube, I’d be more likely to buy a full size. (If you’re a Beauty Insider member, I hear that the current birthday perk is a sample set of the rose tinted lip treatment and the regular sugar treatment.)

While at Sephora shopping for a gift, I spotted this Korres Wild Rose Face/Body/Lip Collection. It was originally a $55 value set, but Sephora had it on sale for $20 as part of a post-holiday sale.

Inside the box are full sizes of:

• Wild Rose 24-hour Moisturizing & Brightening Cream
• Wild Rose Face & Eye Serum
• Japanese Rose Body Butter
• Wild Rose Lip Butter
• Wild Rose Lip Butter Glaze

I bought this in January, so I’ve had quite some time to use the products so that I can review all of them properly. I’ve been a fan of Korres’ Cherry Lip Glosses and I also like their lip butter, so I was hoping that this sample set would be a great way to sample their other products.

I guess I should start with the item I didn’t like: the Wild Rose Moisturizing & Brightening Cream. It has a strong, woodsy scent that was nothing like roses. still, I thought I would give it a try. It’s a very heavy moisturizer and didn’t spread easily on my skin. After a week of using this, I started getting pimples on my chin and temple. Since I haven’t changed my routine otherwise, I can only assume it was this product, which I really should have anticipated due to the heaviness of the product. Pretty disappointed with this, actually. Maybe it would make a good hand cream?

The Wild Rose Face & Eye Serum has a nice texture that isn’t too runny or too sticky. I don’t have lines to reduce, but it would be a good preventative product, I think. I’ve been alternating using this and my Body Shop Aloe Eye Defense at night.

I absolutely love the smell of the Japanese Rose Body Butter. it’s a fresh, green rose scent rather than a powdery rose perfume scent. I use this as a hand cream rather than a body moisturizer as it would be a bit too expensive to get dependent on this product!

As previously state, I already love the Wild Rose Lip Butter, so this one was a back up for the pot I currently have. You can apply it with a lip brush or your fingers if you’re lazy like I’ve been. The Lip Butter Glaze is a thinner formulation of the lip butter in a squeeze tube, which makes it much more convenient to keep in a purse. Here are swatches of both:

The Lip Glaze is on the left and the Lip Butter is on the right. You can see that the glaze is a lot more pigmented and opaque compared to the lip butter. Obviously, you can apply more or less of either product to get the look you want. I love both of these products because they are very moisturizing. Even though the colors doesn’t last a long time, both of these colors leave behind a slight stain and leave my lips moisturized.

Overall, I’m really glad I purchased this set even though the 24-hour moisturizing and brightening cream didn’t work out for me.