My first Influenster VoxBox!

 

SO EXCITING! If you haven't heard of this thing called Influenster;
you aren't alone. I hadn't either until I watched Bailey Van Der Veen on youtube. After that, I signed up, answered a few questions and waited.

Quite a while. 

HOWEVER, much to my surprise, I GOT THIS BOX! Inside were 5 products (4 full sized!) and two sets of coupons, one to get a products for free and 3 for $3.00 off a purchase. WOW!! 

Sinful Colors nail polish, Dickensen's face wipes, Vaseline Aloe spray on lotion, Blue Diamond Almonds snack pack and an Infusium 23 hair treatment; ALL FOR FREE!! I haven't tried any of them yet, but I'm looking forward to it! 

You can click on the link above, or the gadget on the right to sign up! I'll be reviewing the products soon, but until then, enjoy!

 

WHICH COLOR?? Why choose just one??

 

  Last night, I decided my nails needed a color change. So I dug into my collection* (I have way waaaaaay too many nail polishes, I had to get a storage system...) and started grabbing colors. I ended up with 5 in the same color family and the same brand.

Butter London lacquers are fantastic, they go on beautifully, (I put on 3 coats of each just to have complete coverage) and I've never had a problem with any of them.

The list of colors, from pinkie to thumb are:

Snog, Trout Pout, Dahling, MacBeth and Jaffa.

My entire nail routine is as follows: Melt-Away Cuticle Eliminator by Butter London, then I push back my cuticles (gently!) and nip them with the Mini Nail Rescue Kit by Tweezerman from Ulta.com, then I use OPI Chip Skip to clean my nails. Then I use OPI Original Nail Envy to treat my nails, since they tend to bend and peel on their own. I use Orly Bonder rubberized basecoat, it's the best one I've tried, it helps me keep the polish ON my nail instead of all over my finger. Two or three coats of my chosen color, then this amazing topcoat Glisten & Glow fast drying topcoat which works even faster than the Seche Vite topcoat but without the "pulling" on the polish (when the polish pulls back from the tip and exposes the nail underneath). And it's incredible! It dries fast enough that I can paint all 10 nails, then go straight to bed. I love it! 

My nail polish usually lasts 4-5 days, if I'm not impatient and change them first, which is nearly always the case!

The lacquers were purchased by me via EBATES and Ulta.com, and the topcoat was purchased at Glisten & Glow. 

Happy New-Groundhog-Valen-Patrick's...oh ok, I've been lazy!

I have been lazy. I've had bunches of posts in my noggin but haven't put finger-to-keyboard! Sorry!

Now, to jump back in! What's one of my peeves? Texture! Bumpy, bubbly polish makes me want to scratch the paint right off, as exhibited in this post, UGH! That being said, there's a new trend coming out in full swing this spring: Liquid Sand by OPI.

 

The color above is "What Wizardry is this?" purchased by my pal, Barb (HI BARB!) and loaned to me to see how it looked. I believe she made her purchase at Ulta earlier this week.

My thoughts: It's a PRETTY COLOR! Bronze-y, gilded and sparkly. But the more it dried, the more the bumpy sandpaper texture came out. Granted, I used a supa-fast-quick-dry top coat, which the OPI website says to avoid, in fact the bottle says "Dries to a textured matte finish infulsed with reflective glints of light. Apply base coat and two coats of color. Do not use top coat." But I'm impatient and didn't want to be forced to walk helplessly around with my fingers up in the air waiting for them to dry.

Verdict: I like it, but I don't think I'll make any purchases of them This bottle was a loaner and I think the owner is going to be pleased, but the texture just isn't my style. If the top coat had smoothed it over, then I'd probably be ok with it. But it didn't. I'm not sure anything short of 6 coats of a top coat would actually smooth the texture.

If you like trends and aren't afraid of texture, then HAVE AT IT! OPI always has terrific color choices.

Tinfoil: It's not just for hats anymore!

I can't remember which Pinterest link I saw that clued me into this gem of a tip. But I do fully credit Pinterest!

I saw a pin regarding glittery nail polish easily, tried it and discovered that it works with EVERY polish!

Here goes: (follow the pictures left-to-right, top to bottom)

You're going to need tinfoil, cotton balls or pads and nail polish remover. I use Acetone because it's cheap.

Pull a decent length of tinfoil, enough to make a long rectangle when folded in half length ways. Then fold end over end, creating a smaller rectangle. Tear the rectangles off, then tear them again, repeat until you've got a decent stack of tinfoil rectangles.

Soak the cotton ball in acetone, place it on your nail. Take a foil piece, start wrapping your nail, making sure you wrap as tight as you can. Sealing the foil around your finger as much as you can. I wrap once, then fold the end up, then wrap the rest around my finger. Continuing that process until your whole hand is silver tipped is awkward. But I find the appearance to be funnnnnnny, reminiscent of Family Holiday dinners where my cousins would put olives on their fingertips!

I wait 1-2 minutes, then gently pull off the tinfoil fingertip, pushing/pulling a little to make sure all the polish attaches. And Presto! No more polish! No back and forth! You're done!

So there you have it! An easy way to quickly change your polish!