HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Just wanted to write a quick post wishing you all a very Happy New Year!!

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2010 has brought both highs and lows for me but I have really grown as a person. I'm grateful to have all the people in my life right now including all of my Youtube subscribers, and blog and twitter followers. I have realized what (and who) is important in my life. I want to start the new year on a positive note with lots of hope and happiness and I want all of you to do the same =]

I am so happy that I got reinspired to get back into my blog because it has ignited more creativity in me! I have lots of posts and videos planned for you guys! Thank you so much to all of you for watching my videos, reading my blog posts, and reading my silly tweets.

I hope all of you find all the happiness, success, and luck in 2011 that awaits you. I can't wait to see what 2011 brings!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! <3

My Happy Nail Color: OPI Mod About You

New York City has been hit with a blizzard and I am enjoying being trapped at home!

I recently finished my semester and am recovering from finals, papers, and everything else related to an end of a college semester. I needed some kind of happiness, especially if I was going to be looking at my hands most of the time. In came one of my favorite nail polish colors: OPI's Mod About You.

Mod About You is a light pink with lilac undertones. It needs two coats. It's a gorgeous color, however the formula is thick and chips horribly (within 2 days horribly). However, I love the color that much that I deal with the formula. However, I have recently found a color very close to Mod About You that has a much better application!

Meet American Apparel's Coney Island. American Apparel polishes in general have a great formula, Coney Island is no exception. Coney Island is very similar to Mod About You but while Mod About You is a light pink, Coney Island is more of a barbie pink.

with flash

American Apparel's Coney Island is a gorgeous color with a great formula. It needed two coats and applies very smoothly.

If you love OPI Mod About You but hate the formula, I highly recommend American Apparel's Coney Island.

Will you be picking up Coney Island? What's your happy nail color?

MAC Cham Pale Haul Swatches

In my recent video, I showed what I purchased from the MAC Cham Pale Collection. This is a nice collection for neutral lovers! I found myself gravitating toward the paintpots because the colors seem right up my alley. I purchased 3 paint pots and a nail polish.



Pictures:

Chilled On Ice Paint Pot, a white gold

Vintage Selection Paint Pot, pinky champagne

Dangerous Curve Paint Pot, a gunmetal taupe

Swatches: (left to right) Chilled On Ice, Vintage Selection, Dangerous Curve

Soiree Nail Polish

I find that looing at the brush gives me a better idea of the color. The formula is very smooth on this polish, you only need one or two coats.

It's a gorgeous bronzy-champagne. The formula is very smooth on this polish, you only need one or two coats.

What did you get from Champ Pale? Has anything caught your eye?

Too Faced Silk Teddy Swatch and Comparisons

I'm sure you guys have gotten the point right now that I'm in love with the Too Faced Natural Eye Palette! My absolute favorite shade in that palette is Silk Teddy. Too Faced also sells the shade in a duo if you don't want to buy the entire palette. I wanted to give you guys some comparisons of other shades that are similar to Silk Teddy that you might have to give you a better idea of Silk Teddy and some possible dupes.

 Hello yumminess! Silk Teddy is a pinky champagne shade.

Yumminess with flash!

First is Revlon's Satin Eyeshadow in Nude Slip. This is one of my favorite shadows on its own. It's a pinky champagne like Silk Teddy.  

I highly recommend this shade even if it's not a dupe for Silk Teddy because it's gorgeous! It's creamy and smooth at such a low $4 price tag!

 

With flash!

Next up is Urban Decay's Sin. Another pinky champagne (shocker!) This is a really popular shade in the Urban Decay line so you most likely have it in one of their many palettes (this is in the Naked Palette). It's a very smooth and creamy shade.

 With flash

Lastly is Stila's Kitten. Another pinky champagne! This is THE Stila shade, as in they promote it like noone's business. Again, you most likely have this in your collection. It's a very smooth and pigmented shade (I sound like a broken record lol)

With flash!

swatches (left to right): Too Faced Silk Tedy, Revlon's Nude Slip, Urban Decay Sin, Stila's Kitten

With flash



Swatched they don't look exactly the same but on the eyes they have a very similar eye brightening effect which I LOVE. All these shades have an amazingly smooth and pigmented texture. I highly recommend all of them!

Will you be checking out any of these shades? Do you already have some and love them as much as I do?

My Holiday Wishlist ( I can dream!)

I know Xmas is 4 days away but I wanted to show you my list of things I'm lusting after right now! And I can only hope that somehow someone I know stumbles upon this and feels the holiday spirit LOL

1. Too Faced Romantic Eye Palette ($35 at Sephora)

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Well, hello HELLO! My previous post was a RAVE about how I've been loving the Too Faced Natural palette. Too Faced apparently heard me (yea, ok lol) and has released another gorgeous palette with their spring collection. It's available on the Sephora website now!

2. Nail Polish Rack (around $50 with shipping from transdesign.com)

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OK! I admit it! I'm a nail polish FIEND! And with that, the next step is admitting that yes, I need another nail polish rack because I filled mine up. Oh the SHAME!

3. NARS Pleasures of Paris Palette ($55 and sadly unavailable at narscosmetics.com and no clue where else I can find it)

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Look at that yummyness. This palette looks amazing for all of us neutral/purple lovers! Sadly I don't know where I can find it, even if I wanted to make the present for myself.

And last but not the least, the "omg there's no chance I'll get this but I can dream can't I??" item...

4. Louis Vuitton Damier Canvas Neverfull MM ($700 at Louis Vuitton stores or site)

Hello, Lover. I've been lusting after this bag for quite some time and I've started to fall in love with the Damier Canvas instead of the regular logo. There's just something so sleek and elegant about this one (not to mention about the bag!) However, budget and BUDGET keep me from making the purchase! But I can still look at the pictures lovingly =]

So that's my Holiday lust list!

What's on your wish list? Do you know what you're getting for the holidays?

Current Obsession: Too Faced Natural Eye Palette (swatches)

The Too Faced Natural Eye Palette is one of my all time favorite palettes. I would recommend it to all you neutral shadows lovers! The colors are amazingly pigmented and smooth and the palette has a big variety in finishes such as mattes and shimmers.

I explain why I love the palette so much in my latest video, but you have to swatch it yourself to see how amazing the quality is =]

Ta-Dah! Hello neutral goodness!

with flash

pull out drawer contains a sponge tip applicator and angled liner brush

 Swatches:

(left to right)

top row: Heaven, Velvet Revolver, Sexpresso

middle row: Silk Teddy, Push Up, Erotica

bottom row: Nude Beach, Honey Pot, Cocoa Puff 

with flash

Do you have the Too Faced Natural Eye Palette? Do you love it as much as I do? Will you be checking out this amazing palette?

Good Makeup at Claire's, WHAT?

In high school I used to buy jewelry at Claire's. They had some cute, cheap finds. Now they raised prices, added Hannah Montana and don't have as many good finds. I overlooked their makeup because I didn't think it'd be that good, plus I wasn't as obsessed with makeup then as I am now. One of their neutral palettes caught my eye one day and I decided hey, the price isn't too bad (I believe it's $8.50), plus if it's bad I didn't spend too much on it. I'm glad that I tried it because I love it now and wanted to share it with you guys.

The neutral palette is called "Golden Beauty". It also comes with a sponge tip applicator but honestly I'm not sure where that is haha

Upclose on the colors

I love the variety in the palette. There are some neutrals, such as a gorgeous highlight (upper right), lid colors, a crease color, and some accent colors such as a navy and puple.

I know it's easy to overlook something like Clarie's makeup, especially when we're used to MAC, Sephora, etc. However, I recommend you guys check this palette out because you might be pleasently surprised like I was.

Have you tried Claire's makeup or this palette? What did you think? Will you be venturing into the store to check out the palette?



Free Zoya Color Spoon Friday!- UPDATE

If you saw my post yesterday, you'll know that today you can get 6 free Zoya color spoons. Just add the spoons to your cart and use the code SP6. I already ordered mine and will post about them when I receive the order =] Just a little warning, the website has been a little wonky due to so many people taking advantage of the promo. ALSO, the promo has been extended and ends tomorrow at 11:59 EST! Like I said, I highly recommend you take advantage of the promo because it's basically a free $3 credit for a next purchase!

Also, I wanted to mention that Zoya reached 20,000 Facebook followers! This means 3 free polishes for us =] I'm so excited to order them! They said that the code for the free nail polishes will be released January 3rd (OMG that's next year haha!) so keep any eye out for that, but you know I will probably post about it on here too!

You can get zoya at http://zoya.com/

Have you made you Zoya Spoon order? If so, what did you get? If not, what are you eyeing?

Free Zoya Color Spoon Friday!- Tomorrow only

Sheesh, I've been posting about Zoya a lot lately, but I can't help it! Zoya are having a promotion tomorrow where you can get 6 free Zoya color spoons. Just add the color spoons to your cart and use code SP6 at checkout.

 source: Scrangie

Color spoons are basically sample swatches, think of it like a single nail swatch on a nail wheel. They actually use the nail polish for the swatch so it's an accurate representation of what it'll look like. The spoons cost $.50, which isn't too bad, and while they aren't a multi use product (in that you get it, see the color and that's pretty much it lol), you get free shipping on them and then that money you spent you get credited back on a future purchase!

I urge you guys to take advantage of this because you're not losing anything, not paying to have them shipped or anything! You get an accurate representation of a color you potentially want AND it's like they're GIVING YOU a $3 credit! It's win-win!

This promo comes at a great time because Zoya is reaching 20,000 Facebook followers soon (I believe they're almost at 18,000) and when that happens, they will be giving us a code for 3 FREE Zoya polishes! So why not sample out the ones you want to get for free with this promo? =]

Will you be participating in the Free Zoya Color Spoon Friday promo? What colors are you eyeing?

My Favorite Overnight Lip Treatment: Vitamin E

New York has the weirdest weather changes and decided to change by 20 degrees overnight. All of a sudden it's super cold, brrrr! I'm sure a lot of you experience the same problem as me where when it gets colder, your skin is so dry and unbearable. My main problem has been my hands and my lips. I wanted to share my favorite overnight lip treatment for helping my lips because it is one of the best (and CHEAPEST) ones I've tried, Vitamin E.

You can find Vitamin E at the simplest place: the drugstore. I just purchased the Vitamin E capsules in the vitamin section.

This comes with 100 capsules and each one has a TON of product. I just pierce one open and squeeze out the oil. After I generously apply some on my lips, I have about half a capsule left so I apply some on my elbows, cuticles, and other dry spots. The texture is a little sticky so it's definitely something I use before bed when I'm not touching other things.

 I've used this a while ago and the recent cold weather has made me bring it back out. I'm so glad I rediscovered it because it's really a miracle product! Vitamin E is very moisturizing and has done wonders for my dry lips even over a few days.

Have you tried Vitamin E as a moisturizer for dry spots? How do you like it? If not, will you be checking it out?

Current Nail Polish: Essie's Mint Candy Apple

Try as I might, I can't resist the light, spring colors! I've grown a little tired of the dark winter colors so I thought I'd switch it up and use a mint green. One of my favorite mint greens is Essie's Mint Candy Apple. It's a mint green with a slight blue undertone. To me it is a closer replica of the Tiffany color than China Glaze's For Audrey.

 

I love that blues and greens can be worn year round! Essie's Mint Candy Apple is a gorgeous color and what's better is that it has a great formula too! I only used 2 coats and they glided on!

Essie is on the pricier side in terms of nail polish but this color is worth it. 

What's on your nails?

Zoya Promotion: Possibility For 3 FREE Nail Polishes!

I just had to spread the word about this!!Zoya recently made a very exciting promo on their blog! They promised that if they reach 20,000 Facebook "likes" by January 3, 2011, they will give a promo code for 3 FREE nail polishes!

(picture from Zoya's blog)

Here is the link to Zoya's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/ZoyaNailPolish all you have to do is press the "like" button

This is such an exciting announcement because it benefits all of us if this promo happens! Who doesn't want three free bottles of nail polish? I DO!! It says in fine print though that you would have to pay shipping lol but still, that's an amazing price for 3 polishes.

I hope this promo works out because I CLEARLY need more nail polish (yea right, addict!) LOL

MAC Vanilla Pigment Dupe for $3.50!

I am obsessed with MAC's Vanilla pigment. It's a gorgeous white/gold and works great as a highlight/lid color. However, I understand that $20 for a jar of product you'll never finish is a bit much. Luckily, L'oreal has lots of products on sale for 75% off at CVS right now (I believe they are being discontinued) including their loose shadows. I bought the HIP loose shadow in Restless for $3.50 and when I got it home, I realized it's a really good dupe for MAC's Vanilla pigment.

The MAC pigment comes with a lot more product than the L'oreal HIP. I have Vanilla in the old style jar but the new jar comes with 4.5g and the L'oreal comes with 1.5g of product.

(left: MAC Vanilla Pigment, right: L'oreal  HIP pigment in Restless) They're SO similar! I would say that Restless is a little grittier though and the Vanilla has a smoother texture

 

(close up) Even the pink-y sheen is near identical!

I wanted to share this dupe because a. Vanilla is gorgeous and b. the items might sell out quickly because they're on clearance. Normally the L'oreal HIP loose pigments are about $13 so if you cannot find them on sale, honestly I would recommend the MAC pigment.I found that the MAC one has a much better texture and comes with much more product. However, if you do find it for $3.50, snatch it up!