Zoya Haul and Swatches

I recently took advantage of a "Buy One, Get One + Free Shipping" promotion from Zoya to order some new nail polishes! The sale was for polishes from their Fall 2014 "Entice & Ignite" and "Naturel Deux" Collections. I picked up 4 polishes for $18 - Chantal, Autumn, Remy, and Yuna. I swatched each of these polishes on my nails in the same way: 1 coat of Orly Bonder as a base, two coats of the Zoya polish, and topped with a generous coat of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Topcoat. I tried my best to get all of the pictures in natural light. Please read on to view the details.

Autumn Nails w/ Owl Stamp

Last night I wanted to do a seasonal mani, and I also wanted to do some stamping. I chose a cute little owl design from my Pueen stamping plates, and picked out some autumn colors to go with it. I am not sure how much I like the outcome, just because it generally lacks color. I might add a little orange stamped design on the pinkie nail!

Birchbox November 2014

This review is for the Birchbox from November 2014. Birchbox is a very popular subscription box. It is $10/month for 4-5 beauty and lifestyle samples, which are personalized based on a quiz you take. They seem to stick to the quiz fairly well, though they do state that even if you "dislike" a particular product, you may still get it once a year or so. The great thing about Birchbox is its reward system. You get 10 points for every item you review from your box, as well as a point for every dollar you spend in the Birchbox shop (which includes the purchase of your actual box). You can also get points for referring friends. Every 100 points you accumulate is $10 toward a purchase from the shop, which contains full-sized items, some of which are exclusive to Birchbox. So, it's a pretty inexpensive way to try out products and then use your rewards towards buying the ones you ended up liking or something else entirely.

Ipsy November 2014

What a week for beauty boxes! This review is for the Ipsy subscription for the month of November. Ipsy is a monthly subscription box that focuses on makeup with some skincare, hair care, and nail polish products. It's $10/month (+ $.75 for tax (?)) for a small makeup bag plus 5 samples that are influenced by a quiz you take. You can earn Ipsy points for reviewing products, posting things to your facebook, and inviting friends. These points can be redeemed for additional full-sized products.

Simple Accent Dotticure

 

I didn't have too much time to spend on my nails last night, so I went with something really simple, and also got to try out one of my new polishes that I picked up on clearance at Target (yes, I am a clearance shelf junkie). It's a deep green color by Maybelline Color Show, whose polishes I am continually impressed by. Hope you like this short and sweet mani!

Allure Sample Society November 2014

I have a new beauty box to review! I was generously gifted a 3 month subscription to the allure Sample Society Box for my birthday. The box costs $15/month + tax and is curated by allure magazine. The box includes 5 deluxe samples of makeup, skincare, hair care, and fragrance items. You also receive a $10 off of $50 coupon each month to use at BeautyBar.com, which is the umbrella company. I am excited to try out this new subscription!

Fire-y Hand-Placed Glitter Gradient

It was a lazy Friday night of watching movies, so I decided to go with a more time-consuming nail art project. I have always been inspired by the amazing hand-placed glitter art made by the blogger of Polish All the Nails. I have a small selection of hexagonal glitters, and I decided to use red, orange, and yellow glitters to make gradients on each nail. It took some time and patience, but it was actually pretty fun to do while just lazing around watching a movie!

Girly Pink Scented Nails

I have been wanting to try out the Revlon Parfumerie Scented Nail Polish line for awhile now, and I got that chance when I found a couple bottles in the Target Clearance box. I got African Tea Rose, which is a very bright pink color, and Bordeaux, which is a dark red wine color. I was looking for something really simple to do on my nails, so I decided to swatch the African Tea Rose color and add a little glitter for fun.

Pop Art Nails and Costume

It has been a very long time since I have put any effort in on Halloween, but this year, I decided to dress up to help me de-stress from a crazy busy week. I decided to go for a pop-art look inspired by Roy Lichtenstein artwork. As someone without much in-depth art knowledge, I can at least say that his artwork emulates comic book styles and is recognizable by the sharp lines and the use of Ben-Day dots. I did not pick an exact piece of artwork, but rather did an inspired look and leaned heavily on a particular rendition. Of course, being a nail art person, I had to have my nails match the look, so I did a comic book design.