China Glaze Xtreme Thrash

China Glaze Xtreme Thrash from the Ski Collection.  Swatch and review.

China Glaze Xtreme Thrash.  A darker orange with a normal shimmer. Ugh, I apologize for my cuticles, they're a mess here. I don't exactly remember how many coats I used here, but I think that it was 2.  The reason that I love this color is because it's one of the few oranges that my skin can actually handle.  My skin is a little darker than these pictures show. Once again, the color's most accurate in the bottle photo.

Zoya Tiffany

Zoya Tiffany from the Fire and Ice collection.  This is one of the flecks, similar in finish to Crystal and Gloria.

Zoya Tiffany, 3 coats.  A peach foil.  The pictures are fairly true to life, most like the top bottle picture.  This actually was not one of the colors I ordered in the nail polish exchange, oddly enough.  The last shot is to show how wildly sparkly it is.  In really intense light, it pulls many colors, mostly peach and yellow/gold, making it look almost holographic.  In different lights, though, it looks different, sometimes mauve, sometimes orange, peach, copper.  It's a gorgeous and fairly uncommon color; one of my favorites.

Zoya Nail Polish Exchange

Guess what came in the mail!!

 

Colors left to right: Cassi, Keiko, Adina, Yummy, Apple, Freja, Richelle, Snow White

And these are the wonderful, fabulous nail polishes that I am exchanging back to Zoya. An empty base coat and top coat by Sally Hansen, a dried out design nail polish by Color Club, 3 NYC colors, 1 LA Girl, and a petites nail polish.

It's kind of annoying that Zoya claims that this sale is free.  It's really just getting your nail polishes half off with free shipping.  But I'm okay with that! Especially because Zoya is so hard to find in stores.

If you missed this year, I hope you order next Earth Day! Swatches should be up soon.

Face Up to It: Cover Girl Natureluxe Silk Foundation

After realizing that I only had about one more use of my liquid foundation (Revlon Colorstay) I decided that I might need a new one.  After hearing good reviews about the Cover Girl Natureluxe, I decided to give it a try.

I am the shade 340; maple.

A very inaccurate color swatch, but correct finish and texture.

"Redefine natural beauty with our lightweight silk foundation. With a touch of cucumber water and a hint of jojoba and rose hip extracts, our light yet luxurious formula takes heavy weight out of your polished finish." Cover Girl Official Website.

I actually find this foundation to be quite heavy.  I applied it using my fingers as well as a sponge.  Both times, it never felt as though it fully dried, leaving a tacky, heavy feeling, even when set with a translucent powder.  The finish doesn't reflect this, though.  It has fairly heavy coverage, but doesn't look cakey at all.  This may be related to the tacky finish of the foundation. The finish is mostly matte, but does give a slight sheen where the light reflects. I also found that it had a little bit of a strange smell, and not a very pleasant one, as it smells like food and flowers.  Odd mix. 

The packaging is also a bit of an issue, because the foundation color is only has a small window of visibility, so it's hard to match it to your skin (which you should do to your neck, not your face.) On the other hand, the small squeezy tube controls the flow of the foundation quite well.  It holds 1 fluid ounce of product.

The longevity is good.  It lasted at least 10 hours, and I did a trial run for a few hours and mowed the lawn, which it lasted flawlessly through. 

I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind being able to feel the foundation on their face, because other than that, it's really fairly good. It seems to be best when applied with your hands, when it's given a chance to warm up, letting it blend, thus not being so heavy.  I've found it from between $6-$9.

Thumbs up. Only because I don't mind feeling my foundation.

Midnight Snack: Parfait

 One of my favorite things to eat is a parfait.  Unfortunately, I don't really like them, I just like the idea of them.  But I made one this evening, and I actually really liked it.

I made it with strawberries, raspberries, bananas, honey, plain yogurt, and granola. Parfaits are a healthy form of carbohydrates and the banana's add potassium.  Red fruits also tend to be particularly beneficial to the heart and have Vitamin C.  Always use plain yogurt instead of vanilla, because vanilla has a lot of sugar.  If it takes you a while to get used to it, you can sweeten it with honey then ween yourself off of it, if you will.  The granola is Bare Naked Fit triple berry crunch.  It's actually pretty good for you, and I recommend this for breakfast along with a source of protein.

Easter Butterfly Manicure

Just a little Easter manicure that I did. It's supposed to look like a Monarch butterfly.  Hope it does! It literally took 3 hours, though.

Sorry for the messy cuticles! I had to take the picture before it got dark. The base color is China Glaze Xtreme Thrash.  It's a miracle unto itself that I even have an orange nail polish, because I dislike the color, and it often looks terrible on me.  This one's just dark enough, though.  I don't have a black or white nail polish yet, though I just ordered Snow White from Zoya in their nail polish exchange.  I hope to get my new polishes to post photos of before the exchange is over, though!  Anyway, so I used normal black and white paint, since it wasn't touching my nails. I used toothpicks to make the design!  Ah well, at least it worked.

L'Oreal Cobalt Smokes

So, the other day, I was digging through my stash of eyeshadows, looking for a navy blue, and even with my plethora of makeup-- especially eyeshadow- I couldn't find one.  So I ran off to Target with my mom and bought this

L'Oreal quad in Cobalt Smokes.  I believe that it was about $6.00.  The pigmentation is varied, though the gray is the sheerest.  All colors do a lot better with a base of a similar color, and the colors in the quad work very well together.

Okay, imagine the crease being darker, and some blue in the lower portion as well as in the outer corner.

Products used:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Urban Decay eyeliner in Straydog blended as a base
MAC Espresso through the crease
The grey color on the lid
The pearl color on the inner corner
The medium blue in the crease and outer corner
NARS Coconut Grove in the outer v
Revlon single eyeshadow in Vintage Lace as a brow highlight
Urban Decay eyeliner in Zero on the waterline
Some Wet 'n Wild mascara

China Glaze Strawberry Fields

Hello, I'm Anjum, and this is my first posting.  It's a swatch/review of Strawberry Fields by China Glaze from the 2009 Summer Days collection.

Strawberry Fields.  A medium hot pink with plentiful gold flecks. 3 coats here, and it looks a little warmer in person.It applied fairly well, though it's a little on the sheer side.  I love the flecks, though! Definitely going to have to buy more from this collection.

So, how'd I do for my first post?