Swatches: BareMinerals Modern Pop Marvelous Moxie Lipstick Collection

Wanted to put this up since Bare Escentuals is currently running a 20% off everything with free shipping promotion. Use code ELEVEN.

This Bare Minerals Modern Pop collection came out in the beginning of this year and is currently on sale for $7.6 a piece ( I got mine a little cheaper at a 30% off coupon earlier.)

Bare Minerals Modern Pop Marvelous Moxie Lipsticks

Nail Art: Spring Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms Nails with Rebecca Minkoff Hudson Moto Mini

Sharing today a little nail art that I featured in a recent Instagram post. This day I was planning on going to check out cherry blossoms, so I decided to match my nails to the outing.

Cherry Blossoms with Essie's Muchi Muchi and L'oreal a la meringue

I used this Sephora Nail Art Set  to create the little fluffy cherry blossom petals using L'oreal's a la meringue. The base color is 2 coats of my favorite pastel pink featured in this previous post. I think nail art with neutral colors is still suitable for a professional work environment.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice weekend!

Swatches: Tom Ford Lips & Boys - Patrick, Flynn and Leonardo

Tom Ford lipsticks are always all the rage, but I just couldn't get myself to spend $50 on a lipstick. Luckily his limited edition Lips & Boys collection came out with a huge selection of mini sizes at $32 for each lipstick. After doing some research, I finally decided to pick up 3 shades: Patrick, Flynn, and Leonardo.

Tom Ford Lips & Boys Lipstick - (from left to right Patrick, Flynn and Leonardo

I purposely chose distinct color categories - shades that don't look too similar. As much as I love my neutrals pinks and MLBB (my lips but better) shades, I figured I'll venture out and try some fun colors.  Patrick is a bright coral, Flynn a muted pink and Leonardo a bold vampy red. More on the shades later.

Swatches: Le Metier de Beaute Colour Core Lipstick in Riviera

Happy Lunar New Year to those that celebrate! May the Year of the Ram bring you happiness and prosperity and most importantly health!

Chinese New Year is all about the bright reds so I decided to step out of my comfort zone and sport a bold red lip today.  This Le Metier de Beaute Colour Core Lipstick in Riviera came in my first LMdB Beauty Vault VIP box, sadly I never even tried it since I always shy away from bright colors.

Le Metier de Beaute Colour Core Lipstick in Riviera

Blogmas 2014 Day 10: Christmas Stocking Nails

Merry Christmas! Well I didn't make the daily blogmas posts but at least I got 10! =)  The last one for this year's blogmas, wanted to show off my Christmas Stocking nails.

Milani Nail Art in White Canvas, Sephora Formula X in X <3 Rouge, Etude House Juicy Cocktail Set #2 color, Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat, Sally Hansen Double Duty Base & Top Coat

Originally I wanted to do a deep red nail color with a dash of gold glitter nail polish as my holiday nails but I realize I don't have any deep red nail colors. (What happens when you only shop for pretty pastel colors.) The closest I have in red is this classic candy apple red - Sephora Formula X in X <3 Rouge, a freebie for renewing my VIB Rouge status! So I got inspired to recreate this Christmas Stocking nail. Very easy to do since it's just a French manicure especially with the Milani Nail Art that I usually use as the French tip. The little gold glitter rim along the French tip is usually what I do to cover any imperfect lines. You can check out how this method looks on a normal French manicure here.

Swatches: Butter London in Cream Tea

I bought this Butter London in Cream Tea Nail Lacquer during one of the Gilt sales. Price came out to be $5 instead of the usual $15. I'm sure it's discontinued but I'm very glad I picked this up! I couldn't resist taking multiple pictures of my nails. So I apologize beforehand if there's one too many of similar photos.

Butter London in Cream Tea

Butter London's Cream Tea easily became my go-to summer nail color.

Swatches: Marc Jacobs Beauty - Enarmored Hi-Shine Lacquer in 102 Daisy

March with it's daylight savings time definitely took a toll on my body and my schedule! Finally a post for March. The Marc Jacobs Beauty - Enarmered Hi-Shine Nail Lacquer in 102 Daisy (what a mouthful, even for typing) was definitely a luxury item splurge for me - retailing at $18 and only available through Sephora and Marc Jacob's website.

Sephora Haul with YSL Volupte Sheer Candy

Marc Jacobs Beauty - Enarmored Hi-Shine Lacquer in 102 Daisy

Swatches: Nail Inc Bling It On Floral Nail Polish Set - Bloomsbury Way

I saw Jess's video on a Kawaii Nail Tutorial and couldn't help but try to attempt it on my own. I personally have never tried any type of nail art, so I decided to pick this Nail Inc Bling It On Floral kit up from Sephora retailing $25 (still available here for $13) .

Nails Inc Bling It On Floral

Swatches: Etude House Juicy Cocktail Gradation Nails in #5 Princess Marry

Long time no swatch! I posted this a few weeks ago on my Instagram (follow @melliescloset if you want to see more daily updates from me) and figure I should show some detail pictures here. I bought this Etude House Juicy Cocktail Gradation Nails set in #5 Princess Marry in my cosme-de haul. For some reason, some of my searches on the great WWW has the set as known as Princess Merry Gold.

Etude House Juicy Cocktail Gradation Nails in Princess Marry

The Etude House Juicy Cocktail Gradation Nails set came with 3 mini nail polishes. Retails about $10. These sets are specially paired together to create an easy gradient nail effect, probably the easiest way to be achieve "nail art" nowadays. The back of the package has a few steps to show you how to get the look, it's quite simple. First step is to use the color #1 (yes each polish is labeled with a number) over the entire nail, step 2 is to apply color #2 from the middle of the nail to the tip, and last is to have color #3 on the the tip of your nail.

True color in indoor lighting

Under sunlight (notice the shimmers)

Princess Marry is a nude/gold set. The base color (color #1) is a sheer nude with micro fine multicolor shimmers. Color #2 is a clear nail polish with gold glitters in different sizes and Color #3 is a clear nail polish with chunky glitter in a uniform size.

Side by Side with Butter London's Tart With a Heart

 Color #2 is a good dupe to the Butter London's Tart With A Heart. Both sport the same glitter with larger random sized glitter spheres. All the glitter sparkle in multicolors with the BL one in a broader, more colorful spectrum. The Color #2 in the Princess Marry set has a more golden base compared to BL.

Natural light

With camera flash

Here's the swatch of the nail polish set with the gradient effect. Personally I love the way the nails look, it's a little more fun yet conservative at the same time. Perfect to wear to work without being too self conscious with people looking at your nails. I would definitely wear a top coat over it, not that the nail polish needs anymore protection or shine, but to smooth out the the roughness of the different texture of glitter that you just layered on your nails. (I'm never going to wear any of those texture nail polishes that are so popular recently. I wouldn't be able to stop myself from constantly touching the roughness of an unsmooth nail.)

With a top coat, this lasted over a week for me! Even better is that because of the uneven look of gradient glitter, you don't have to worry about chipped nails. Personally, I can barely notice a chip on myself with this set on, and chipped nail polish has always been a personal pet peeve. A personal anecdote, I have a little OCD on my nails, they always have to be immaculate and perfect. Cuticles can't stick out and there can't be any dirt in my nails. Haha, I'm so particular with my nails, that I clean my bf's too. =P

I'm very interested in trying the other colors now. But looking at the other Etude House colors in this collection, I don't think they'll work that well at the workplace. I know Jen FrmHeadToToe did a Mani Monday post on the peachy orange set and it was really pretty.

Because this lasted so long on me, this was what I wore on a recent Disney vacation. I'll be doing a post on what I've worn and brought with me on travel soon. Stay tuned.

Swatches: Essie, Revlon, Lancome, Laura Mercier

Happy New Year everyone!  I've been itching to post these nail swatches up, but have been too lazy gazy. So here they are!

Essie's Muchi Muchi with Revlon's Stunning

Essie's Muchi Muchi with Revlon's Stunning

Here's I have 1 coat of Essie's Muchi Muchi, which is quite sheer and streaky in 1 coat but I really love the pale pink shade, spiced it up with Revlon's Stunning Nail Lacquer only on a few fingers to make it more unique. The Revlon Stunning polish is top coat of silver glitter with bigger sphere shapes. It is absolutely stunning! (no pun intended ;p ) Only complaint I have is that it was quite hard to pick up the bigger circular glitters with the brush. And as with all glitter nail polish, this was horrible to take off. But it's just so pretty!  What do you think?

Lancome's Vernis in Love in Gris Angora 407N

Lancome Vernis in Love in Gris Angora 407N

No flash

Saw Raeview's review of the new Lancome Vernis in Love and I fell in love with the colors. Picked up this greyish violet color and I was dancing! Perfect fall/winter shade. It's a beautiful creme finish with 2 coats. (1 coat leaves it very streaky). These nail polishes are $15 a bottle and smaller than the regular full size but it makes it a little more affordable to play with. Not like I've ever finished a bottle of nail polish. Plus the polish was quite long lasting (almost a week.)

Lancome's Vernis in Love in Rose Plumeti 300M

Lancome's Vernis in Love in Rose Plumeti 300M

No flash

Here's another Lancome Vernis in Love that I purchase in Rose Plumeti. Color is a neutral pink with a shimmery sheen. Here I have it on with 1 coat. It was a little weird, this dried out to a matte finish. I was slightly disappointed that it didn't have the same jelly like finish as the Gris Angora.

Laura Mercier's Cabana Nail Lacquer

Laura Mercier's Cabana

Here's a throwback from the summer collections, Laura Mercier's Cabana. This was a highly sort after polish when it first came out. The perfect coral red/orange you can find! Perfect jelly creme finish. You have to apply 2 coats for the coral red to show up. I have only 1 coat on my ring finger in the picture and the color looks very washed out. Very long lasting and no chips at all. You can see that the tip wears off first.

Since spring is coming up, what do you think is the new "it" color for spring?

Swatches: Winter vs. Summer Nails

Absolutely been way too long since my last post. I have so many ideas and things I want to write and review, it's overwhelming. I've been very distracted as of late. New secret relationships can really take a lot of your time! Plus I've been spending much of my every waking hour gathering items for Sims Social... such an addiction.

Anyway, not going to bore you all with the details. Here are some back logged nail pictures I found in my hard drive. A nice winter vs. summer nail juxtaposition collection.

Butter London's Lady Muck - 1 Coat

Here's a cool tone wintery nail color that I loved, Button London's Lady Muck, a murky blue-grey color. The color looks a little gloomy, so it'll probably be my winter choice, unfortunately not suitable in a professional work environment. This is one of my first Butter London polishes and they were super easy to apply and dry.This lasted longer than the Fairy Lights that I tried.

Zoya's MIA - 1 Coat

Here's a more work-friendly nail polish - Zoya's MIA. It's a neutral mauve pink that leans on the sheer side. Shown here with 1 coat only. Dries fast, but wears away from the tips without top coat pretty quickly. Doesn't last more than 1 day without the wearing off.

Essie's Muchi Muchi (2 coats) & Hello Kitty in Blueberry (1 coat)

One day I felt like being a little more "daring" and decided to paint my nails in 2 different colors. Essie's Muchi Muchi is a super sheer and needs at least 2 coats for opaqueness. But it's a classic baby pink that's perfect for spring so it's a keeper for me. Paired with the most gorgeous pacific blue color from Hello Kitty's Blueberry. The Hello Kitty nail polish was from my Sephora haul a year or so back. One coat, as you can see, is still very streaky. This polish will require 2 coats, but the color payoff is magnificent.

Revlon's Sheer Nude (1 coat), Milani's Nail Art in White Canvas, and Butter London's Tart with a Heart

Switching gears back to an office-friendly French manicure. This time I added a little bling to my normal French tip with Butter London's Tart with a Heart. This Butter London nail polish has a sheer pink base with multiple glitter particles in various shapes and colors, would probably look very weird alone (I haven't tried that yet), but looks really nice layered on top of a opaque color. I dotted my normal French tip with a toothpick, super easy, and super quick.

Revlon's Color Stay in Marmalade

Revlon came out with a new line of nail polish called ColorStay which claims to last up to 11 days as long as you use their top and base coat. I'm not too crazy for long lasting color for THAT long, but I was drawn to this bright orange coral in Maramalade. They are very pricey compare to the regular line, these run up to $11. They lasted quite a while on me, but as you can see, they also wear off pretty quickly at the tips. But overall, a perfect summer POP of color.

=)   That's it for the nails, hopefully my other reviews will be up soon!

Swatches: Del Sol, Zoya Pink Nail Polishes

Here's the two swatches of my new nail polish collection. Been having a crazy nail polish frenzy lately, I've bought so many yet have not really gotten a chance to try most of them.

Del Sol in Flirt (Pale Pink with Glitters)

Del Sol is what I'll call a tropical brand. I've only known about them after going on a few cruises to the Caribbeans. There is also one chain store located in the Quincy Market in Boston. They're actually a company that specializes in apparel that changes color under the sun (hence the name Del Sol). Their designs react to the sun's UV rays and transforms in color. Yup, even their nail polishes!

Del Sol nail polish indoors

Here I'm wearing the Del Sol nail polish in Flirt. It's a pale pink with lots of silver glitter. The glitter is very fine. I love how it gives off a slight shimmer this way. Perfect go to work color.

Del Sol in Flirt under the sunlight thru window

Difference in color between thumb and ring finger

Here you can sort of see a difference in color after I left my hand under the sunlight for a minute or so. Outdoors the colors are even more vibrant! I'll try to upload a picture of how my nails look outdoors. You can sort of see the difference in color between my thumb and ring finger.

Overall these are not great quality nail polishes. With only 1 coat and no top coat, my nails started chipping the next day. Very easy to apply and they dry fairly quickly. These nail polishes retail for $10 each. And they usually have a Buy 3 Get 1 Free sale in stores.  Pretty expensive for not so great nail polishes, but they are so fun to wear! These make a really nice staple to any summer outfit. So I don't mind purchasing more (I own like 8 of these already). I top it with my favorite Revlon Top Coat and it stays for almost a week. =) Good enough for me.

Next is the Zoya nail polish. I managed to get in on the 3 Free Zoya nail polish promotion a few weeks ago. All I had to pay was $6.95 for shipping and handling, still a very good deal since each of these polishes retail $8 each.

Zoya Nail Polish in Piper (ZP243)

Zoya Nail Polish in Piper is a warm neutral pink that's not really sheer. I had 2 coats on my index finger and only 1 coat on the rest of my hand.

With Direct Flash

With a Side Flash

Zoya claims to make the longest wear natural nail polish. And I think they really do live up to that claim. I didn't even apply a top coat on and I had no chips for 7 days! After that it started chipping a little but it wasn't too bad. The polish was easy to apply and dries quickly also. I think I've found a new love. =)

Swatches: Sephora, Creative, and Confetti Nail Polishes

Everybody's doing these fall nail of the days (NOTD) that I wanted to paint my nails with a fall color too! But I only have a limited collection of fall colors. Normally fall colors mean darker colors like your browns, blues, deep purples. No more french tips or pastels (which are the only colors I have). I managed to dig up some "fall" colors, but I hated how it looks on my hand! Haha, it makes my hands look old and wrinkly. =P

So just a quick review.

• Sephora Collection  Lacquer Nail Polish (the mini bottles) in L12 - Figue

The bottle is so small! Barely fits on my 3 fingers

 

Sephora Collection Lacquer Nail Polish in L12 - Figue

Got this Sephora Collection Lacquer Nail Polish in L12 - Figue a long time ago. I was trying to push it over the $50 mark for free shipping. This was $3 when I bought it and sephora.com currently still carries it. Described as being a deep plum, but I don't really see any sign of the plum, its deep alright. I'll say its more like a cherry-wood color. Being such a small bottle, the brush was also really small, but the polish was easily spreadable and doesn't streak. I could have just did it with 1 coat and it would have been fine, but I wanted to do 2 to see how much the color stands out.

Kind of pricey for such a small bottle, but its a cute bottle so I'll give it that much. Haha. It works just as well as the Sephora Multi Action Nail Polishes that I love. So I'll probably buy it for it's cuteness, lol..

• Creative Nail Design in #410 - Fedora

On my thumb and index finger

Creative Nail Design - #410 Fedora

Got this Creative Nail Design nail polish free from a beauty sample event. The smell of this polish was REALLY REALLY strong. I suggest you do your nails in private away from the men in your family who hates the smell of nail polish. This will definitely drive them nuts. =P  The brush was the standard Revlon nail polish. This polish was kind of streaky though. I definitely had to layer on a 2nd coat in order to make the color show.  I think these normally retail around $5. I won't be trying their other colors, I don't like that it streaks and I'm still a novice with nails.

How they look over all

Sooo overall, I dislike them both. Haha, makes my hand look so old! But between the two, I definitely like the Sephora Collection polish a lot more. It's in a nicer shade of deep cherry wood red. It looks really nice when I put my hands on my face. =P  because my face complexion is so pale, so I'll actually recommend to those who are paler than me (NC25 or lower).

• Confetti Nail Polish in Heartthrob

Confetti Nail Polish in Heartthrob

Very shimmery nude pink

I got this Confetti nail polish on sale at CVS for $1, it wasn't that big of  a deal, they normally retail for $1.99. Haha. I normally would never go for these cheap drugstore brands. To me it's like buying 99 cents store quality and I would definitely NOT want something like this on my nail that can possibly harm my nails. But I saw Holly from Hollyannaree using it and she got a really nice color, so I wanted to give it a try. I got it in Heartthrob which is a shimmery nude beige pink. Very nice for work. I really loved this nail polish! The brush was nicely sized, the polish was SUPER runny. So even after 1 layer, I can go over the nail polish again to smooth out all the streaks. By the time I was done with one hand, the nails already dried 90%! After top and base coat, this did not chip or wear off much, just slightly around my nail bed as my nails grow extremely fast. I want to try the other colors now. =D

CVS Mini Haul: Revlon Limited Edition Nail Polish, Lip Gloss, St. Ives Cleansers

Recently did a mini CVS haul. My original intention was to get my hands on one of the limited edition Revlon Super Lustrous Lip glosses that Hollyannaree was raving about but they were totally out. :( But I didn't leave empty-handed, while I was there I picked up other goodies.

I picked up the new Revlon Limited Edition Super Lustrous Lip gloss in Firecracker instead of the pretty pinks and corals that Holly had. I was afraid to pick it out at first, because it was such a bright bold red, but it came out looking pretty nice. Smells candy sweet and goes on sheer! =)   Perfect for some summer pop of color.

Revlon Limited Edition Super Lustrous Lip Gloss - Firecracker

Here it is with the wand

Before and After - Left, I have only the Softlips Lip Balm on. Right is with the Firecracker lip gloss on top.

As this is part of Revlon's limited edition, you can check your local drugstores to see what they have left. I saw one color in Pink Pop still available here. 

 From left to right - Mint, Gum Drop and Cotton Candy

My local CVS still had the limited edition Revlon Nail Enamels in Gum Drop and Cotton Candy and I picked up Mint as well. The reason for these candy names is because they're actually scented nail polish!!! (Mint's not scented though) These nail polishes actually smell sweet straight from the bottle, it just makes it that much better that they smell equally sweet once dried on your own nails.

 Revlon Limited Edition Nail Enamel - Gum Drop

Gum Drop is actually a matte opaque lavender purple color with no shimmers or glitter. I'm not sure if I'll categorize the scent as gum drop, but the scent is definitely very sweet like candy. ^_^;; I got paranoid that bugs would start getting attracted to my hands. It was THAT sugary sweet. Although I find it kind of hard to work with, it comes out very streaky. =( So I had to do with 3 coats.
 

 Revlon Limited Edition Nail Enamel - Cotton Candy

Cotton Candy is a pale sheer pink with tiny gold shimmers, something more wearable for work. The scent was not as strong as Gum Drop so I find it more pleasant. It was also easier to apply. Definitely going to be one of my go-to nail polishes.

Revlon Nail Enamel - Mint

Mint is not part of their Revlon's summer limited edition, but I thought this was such a cute color. Haha, not sure when I'll actually wear it though. I'm more used to the normal neutral colors. =P This was also more of an opaque color. I just need 1 coat for the color to come out. Not sure if it's discontinued as I don't see it listed on Revlon's site, but i saw you can still get this color here.

Here are the swatches on my nail:

Swatches on my nails with base coat - Natural Light vs Flash

Besides all the makeup, CVS had a sale on St. Ives skincare products. So I picked up Fuz's current HG face wash - St. Ives Naturally Clear Green Tea Cleanser and St. Ives Fresh Skin Moisturizing Olive Cleanser.

 St. Ives Naturally Clear Green Tea Cleanser & Fresh Skin Moisturizing Olive Cleanser

The Green Tea Cleanser contains 2% salicylic acid for acne treatment. I have normal/dry skin and acne is usually not a problem for me (knock on wood). But during those times of the month when my hormones go haywire or when I get stress out at work, I tend to breakout on my chin and around my forehead. So I started using the Green Tea cleanser during those days to prevent more severe breakouts. It's lightly scented, but I can't pinpoint what it smells like, but it definitely isn't a pleasant smell, not bad, just not great either. It comes in a pump dispenser and 1 pump is all the product I need. It's not a foamy cleanser, but most acne treatment cleanser don't foam anyway, I think. Check here for ingredients.

The Olive Cleanser has now become my go-to cleanser. It doesn't dry out my skin and it removes makeup sooooo well! Like the Green Tea cleanser, it is lightly scented, but it's not all that great. It comes in the same bottle as the Green Tea Cleanser and all I need is also just 1 pump. The Olive Cleanser isn't a foam cleanser either.

And that's it for my mini haul!

Updated: I think Revlon is actually keeping their Limited Edition lip glosses permanently, I still see these glosses around drugstores all over NYC. Hope that helps!