NOTD: Essie Smooth Sailing & Essie Coat Azure

I put off getting Essie Smooth Sailing since I thought it would be too similar to Coat Azure but I am glad I got over it (a $5 coupon helped too) and got Smooth Sailing since other than being blue they are nothing alike. I have Smooth Sailing on all nails other than the accent nail which has Coat Azure which as you can see is not as shimmery and much lighter/brighter than Smooth Sailing. All in all I prefer Smooth Sailing, but if you were on the fence like I was rest assured these colors are nothing alike (like I was told when I was still waffling over it), hopefully this helps. The formula on both is amazing, makes me wonder why I don't have way more of Essie in my collections.

Sorry about my terrible cuticles, yikes!

Recently Hauled Goodies (MAC, NYX and more)

Recently I've been on a lipstick kick. I know I said that before but this time I've really gotten into it. I know what colors I like and what colors I can pull off and I don't find most lipsticks too drying. I was looking for a great reddish coral which is apparently very wearable for me, so when I saw this lipstick I knew I had to get it. Luckily that day my local MAC store just got in a big shipment so I picked it up that night :). It was so very worth it, it's a surprisingly wearable color that isn't TOO red or TOO orange. Also I love the tube, at first I was leery about the collection's packaging but it does look really nice. It has a very nice weight to it and it's pretty cute.

I also got a couple of NYX round lipsticks to try, I like them quite a bit although now that I am trying to stick to high-end makeup more I am not sure how many more I will get...maybe I will just get crazy colors I won't wear much but want to have for fun from NYX or something :). Anyways I got Haute Melon and Shiva, surprisingly Haute Melon is very wearable despite it looking quite orange. But worn it truly is a cantaloupe shade on me. Pink enough that it doesn't look strange. Shiva is a blue toned fuchsia with a blue flash, very nice and also very wearable at least for me. I think if you are afraid of brights either wear it very lightly or stay away.

I'd also heard that Sinful Colors' new summer collection "Adventure Island" had a few dead-on dupes for OPI's "Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" collection. From what I saw they are the same, but personally I don't have the OPI ones to compare it to. The formula is great and the wear time is great so at $2 you really can't go wrong here unless you have a strong moral objection. However I found that I didn't really want to pay close to $9 for straight cremes and since I already got the color from OPI I wanted most, this was the best way to get the stragglers.

Star Fish is the dupe for Sparrow Me The Drama

Seaweed is the dupe for On Stranger Tides

Verbena is the dupe for Planks a Lot

Spring/Summer Color Obsessions

Ok, so I started to go on about this on Twitter but I think I want to blab about it a bit more on the blog to expand on it.

Eyes: Mostly neutrals. Sometimes with a little hot pink, blue, teal or green on the outer corner as a bit of an accent. I haven't been feeling mascara too much for the past week or so for some reason, so I've been leaving my lashes bare.

Lips: BRIGHT BRIGHT BRIGHT! I've been huuuge on bright lips ever since I found out I could pull it off (yay for cheap NYC and Wet n Wild lipsticks to experiment with). My absolute favorites have been fuchsia with a blue cast to it and coral!

Cheeks: I don't really have a lot, but of course CORAL CORAL CORAL haha. I've also been into bright "dolly" pinks, light pink but bright.

Nails: Coral again, of course! I don't actually OWN any but I am trying to change that very soon :). Also pink and sea-foam green. Lately I've been into gold but it feels like sort of a phase and not an obsession!

Overall I think I've just been crazy about fuchsia with a blue cast and coral. I've just been rabid for those colors!! I am still amazed that they are flattering on me. I'd wear them every day if I could (well, COULD but I like to change it up).

Blush & Eyeshadow Hiatus

I've come to a realization that I can only have so much blush and eyeshadow. I have 3 things on my wishlist right now, 2 of which are blushes. I think after I get those I am going to have reached critical mass on blushes. Yes, I use blush every single day but I also have like 20 of them that I've hoarded in a pretty short amount of time. There are really only several colors of blush I can pull off: pink, rose, peach and coral. How many shades of that do I need? They mostly look similar being worn anyway. I have a wonderful coral already (Milani Corallina) but I still need a nice peachy one which are the last 2 I want on my list. I think after that I'll have PLENTY of shades of blush to choose from. Heck, I already do.

Then since I got the Urban Decay Naked palette last night, I honestly don't actually need more eyeshadow. I only really wear neutral colors now, and I use such a small amount of brighter colors that my existing collection should really cover it. So really, how many neutral colors do I need? I even have plenty more neutral colors than in the Naked palette that I had previously. Similarly with the blush, how many variations on a theme do I need to have?

Anybody else feel like that too?

That's not to say that I won't still have beauty related things to post, I just think I need to cool it on the hoarding for a while! I'm also not saying I'll never buy another eyeshadow or blush again of course. So stay tuned~.

EDIT- Ok, maybe I will stick with blush a little longer, but I am holding my ground on eyeshadow for now. If I get another one it'd have to be AMAZING and I can't really say what would be that amazing now that I have plenty of neutrals... I just feel that sometimes I have too many things on my want list that I just forget about the things I already got. And I am not rich, I can't just buy and buy, I want to be a little bit more frugal while still getting things I want.

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Ok, I know I am super late to the game on this one, but I finally picked up the Urban Decay Naked palette last night at Macy*s. I just couldn't bring myself to spend so much (although technically a very good deal) on neutral eyeshadows before. However, lately I've been playing around more with eyeshadow and realized that neutrals are better for me in the whole scheme of things. Also bright colors make me look stupid and clownish and I feel like Mimi from the old Drew Carey show, yuck!

Mostly blue does this to me, however the bright eyeshadow I want to wear most of the time IS blue or teal, so this makes me just want to give up on bright colors. I think I can pull it off with just a hint of color on the outside V of my eyelid, but no more than that and it has to be a neutral for the base. So this palette is a good idea for me even if I do decide to wear a little color. Only thing I feel it's missing is pink, which I love. But I have other pinks so it's not really a big deal at all...it'd just be nice to have one in there is all.

The only thing is that there are so many colors in here I don't even know where to start! I mean, I managed ok but I am interested in what other people have done with this palette.

Some New Goodies

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, I've been busy watching/thinking about Doctor Who pretty much every waking moment when not working! I'll try to be better, since I am finally almost caught up :).

I recently found a wonderful diptych app for my phone, which also helps me out quite a bit with pictures for my blog since I can just upload one picture with several shots in it :). Love it! Of course if I need to put separate pictures I still will, but I think this makes everything more compact and easy to see. Especially if I do comparisons (not that I really have yet though, but whatev!)

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First off we have L'Occitane Pivoine Flora in Cerise which is a very nice darker red with subtle shimmer. For some reason I can't make it smooth on my lips half the time, but the formula is very moist and glossy.

However THIS is my favorite of the two, and is much more wearable on a daily basis. L'Occitane Pivoine Flora in Fushcia. It's pretty sheer but gives a very nice color to your lips again with a subtle shimmer. It's nice and buildable too although it never gets super bright. The formula is amazingly moisturizing for a lipstick. I love it. My only complaint is that the cardboard cap is a bit loose. I don't feel like cardboard makes it cheap or anything, but it would be nice if it had something to hold it on there a bit better.

A couple weeks ago I did this really need sorta skittles (thumb and accent nail are both the same color so it's not exactly skittles) manicure with Milani Holographic polishes just because I wanted something fun and sparkly! Even though I haven't had this on in a while I thought I'd share it still, since it looked so pretty in the sunlight.

I love this stuff, it's the Hello Kitty x Sephora Apple Balm, unfortunately the container is TERRIBLE and just sucks at opening, so I had to depot it losing it's charm and Hello Kitty-ness. Good thing the balm is amazing and wonderfully pigmented otherwise I'd be disappointed.