Sephora by Opi: Havana Dreams Nailpolish Review

Sephora by Opi has a shade called "Havana Dreams" which is a dupe for Chanel "Riva" shade.  This is a sheer pale sky blue, very streaky and difficult to apply, but if you have the time (and patience), it makes for a great manicure.

 

Swatch/Picture Gallery 

 

Dupe 

This shade is a dupe for the Chanel "Riva" nailpolish. 

Review

Havana Dreams is a sky blue, and the actual shade most resembles the first and last photo. I notice that in very intense lighting (for example if you are at the beach), the shade will shine just ever so slightly aquamarine. At first I thought this was something my camera was capturing that wasn't really there, until this morning when under a light lamp, I notice the aquamarine in this sky blue shade. If you are never in a extreme lighting situation, then this shade will always be perfectly sky blue. (the fist and last photo are PERFECT examples of what this shade is 99% of the time).

To be quite honest, I love the shade, but I hate the formula. It is milky and not in a good way. It is so milky that it is streaky like no tomorrow and because it is so streaky, it takes FOREVER to get a good even coat throughout the nail. That's why you will see the streaks. Its almost impossible not to have streaks without doing 3 coats. 3 coats is excessive because the more coats you go through, the faster you are going to go through the nail polish. The consistency is watery, Sephora calls it "sheer" but there are similar colors out there, so unless you really LOVE the shade, you should probably PASS on this shade.

Grade

C+ (the + is added simply because I love the blue)

Xoxo,

Emmy 

Disclosure: I bought Sephora by Opi in "Havana Dreams".

Free Nicole by OPI Nailpolishes in Collaboration With Kellogg's® Special K

Nicole by OPI announced today that the brand will be producing three custom nail lacquer shades for Kellogg's^® Special K^® beginning in April to pair with a campaign encouraging women to "show off your confidence with color." Customers will have the opportunity to receive free full-size bottles of Nicole by OPI nail lacquer by signing up for the Kellogg's Family Rewards program and entering codes from specially marked boxes of Special K products, while supplies last.

Be Ama-Zing!, Challenge Red-y & Pros & Confidence

You will be available to sign up here. The link will become active in April when the campaign starts.

The three custom shades include: 

• Be Ama-Zing! (creme pink)
• Challenge Red-y (creme red)
• Pros & Confidence (creme turquoise) 

With the purchase of three eligible Special K products, you will receive the shade Challenge Red-y. After submitting the purchase codes from eight eligible Special K products, you will then receive all three lacquers – Challenge Red-y, Pros & Confidence and Be Ama-Zing! 

"Nicole by OPI is delighted to partner with Kellogg's to offer such an exciting reward to Special K consumers," says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann , Nicole by OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. "At our company, we always say that nail lacquer can change your look – and your outlook. In working with Kellogg's Special K, we hope to inspire and motivate women who are striving for beauty both inside and out."

This promotion will be available in the US only where Special K products are sold.

xoxo,

Emmy

Beauty.com GWP Richard Chai Bag with Samples

If you head over to Beauty.com, you can add to your cart the 'Romy', a cobalt beauty case loaded with beauty samples for any purchase of $100 or more, while supplies last.

What the site shows you will get:

Now this is what I got:

In the advertisement, the bag's material resembles shiny leather, but its all just plastic looking. The design is there, its just not as nice as the picture. The logo is covered with film which has to remove (which I forgot to do before I took this picture).

my goodie bag

 

the samples

Review

I initially only had $70 in my cart but the free The New Black Full-size nail polish was tempting me. Rarely do companies give free nail polishes away, and a full size at that. I ended up not getting the blue shade that was advertise but the purple one from the collection.

All in all, the samples are:

• Shaveworks® The Cool Fix™ Targeted Gel Lotion
• Stila® Stay All Day® 10-in-1 HD Beauty Balm
• Go Smile® Touch Up Smile Perfecting Ampoules
• Nuxe® Masque Crème Fraiche de Beauté 24H Soothing & Rehydrating Fresh Mask
• ARCONA® Hydrating Serum, Replenish AM/PM
• Joanna Vargas Skincare Daily Serum
• Caudalie Premium Cru The Ultimate Anti-Ageing Cream
• PHYTO® Phytopolléine Scalp Stimulant Universal Elixir
• Murad® Acne Clarifying Cleanser
• Peter Thomas Roth® Mega-Rich Body Wash
• H20 Plus™ Targeted Care Hand and Nail Cream
• The New Black Full-Size Nail Polish in one of the colors from the Jewel Heist Collection
• bareMinerals® Stroke of Light™ Eye Brightener in Luminous 4
• Beauty.com® $10 Gift Card (But its more like a coupon since its $10 off $50 code)

If you compare my samples to the image, you will notice 1 is missing. That's because they substituted jover moisture tint.

the bag by itself

Should you get this?

If you are already planning on making a purchase, YES. Especially if you were planning on buying either butter london, urban decay, or any other brand with another company like Sephora. Sephora has a beauty insider program, were $1 equals $1 point. You can get a deluxe sample for 100 points (or $100), but the deluxe sample is ONE item. These are VARIOUS items, including a full size nail polish. There is more stuff here than Sephora's 500 gift points items (which is usually 3 deluxe samples from 1 brand). The bag is great for going on trips (too big for purses, too bulky to carry it around like a purse).

xoxo,

Emmy

Disclosure: I made a $100 order purchase to receive this bag. It was not given to me for free by Beauty.com

Zoya PixieDust Nail Polish: Summer Edition

Zoya PixieDust Nail Polish - Summer Edition. Shown: Zoya PixieDust in Stevie.

Zoya PixieDust Nail Polish: Summer Edition - six new shades - Available April 1, 2013

Zoya has released information on their PixieDust Colors for Summer 2013. Six colors that are textured, matte and sparkling.These colors will be available on April 1st 2013.

Here are the colors:

• ZP683 - Solange: Gold Metal sparkle, exclusive Zoya PixieDust Textured, Matte, Foil Twinkle formula.
• ZP677 - Beatrix: Tangerine Metal sparkle, exclusive Zoya PixieDust Textured, Matte, Foil Twinkle formula.
• ZP676 - Destiny: Coral Metal sparkle, exclusive Zoya PixieDust Textured, Matte, Foil Twinkle formula.
• ZP682 - Miranda: Rose sparkle, exclusive Zoya PixieDust Textured, Matte, Sparkle formula.
• ZP675 - Stevie: Violet sparkle, exclusive Zoya PixieDust Textured, Matte, Sparkle formula.
• ZP681 - Liberty: Blue sparkle, exclusive Zoya PixieDust Textured, Matte, Sparkle formula.

Zoya retails for $9 in stores and are free from toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), these ingredients are nown to cause cancer and birth defects.

Zoya recommends the following application with Zoya PixieDust: 
For BEST RESULTS apply 1-3 (for full coverage) thin coats of polish. Allow product to dry completely for full effect. Do not use a base coat or top coat.

xoxo,

Emmy

Sinful Colors: Big Daddy (Swatch & Review)

I felt like wearing orange-red nailpolish today and painted my nails Big Daddy. Big Daddy is a dupe for OPI's A Good Man-darin is Hard to Find as well as for Pantone's Tangerine Tango (Color of the Year for 2012). In comparison to OPI's formula, Big Daddy has a more of a jelly finish.

Swatch/Picture Gallery

Depending on the lighting, it can get a little bit more orange or a little bit more red

I'm holding an invisible nail polish @.@

Review

The formula is semi-sheer when applied, I needed 2 full coats for a even opaque-looking coverage. This is a red with orange tones (or orange with red tones). It compliments all skin tones, and like all Sinful Colors formulas, it last about a week if you use a bottom and top coat. If you love to spend time in the bath (I'm notorious for one hour baths), I have found that without any top coat, Sinful Colors starts to chip in about 2 days. But this is me with my hands underwater for an hour with no top coat, so your results may vary. Sinful Colors is cheaper than OPI so is awesome that this is a dupe of a OPI color. You can purchase this shade at Walgreens or Amazon.

xoxo,

Emmy

MAC 34 Lash

Mac describes the 34 Lash as "Dramatically long. Wispy. Features a long, winged-corner edge. M·A·C Lashes are handmade to exact specifications. Each pattern and design is perfectly shaped and arranged to give a striking effect, whether the look is natural or dramatic. Available in a variety of shapes and densities. If properly cared for, lashes can be reshaped or adorned if desired."

I was so surprised that these lashes are not 100% black but rather a blend of black, dark brown and medium brown hair strands.

front of packaging

Because the lashes are handmade, they won't exactly match each other. The lash on the right has a couple of more black hair strands which makes it "appear" to be thicker, while the lashes on the left are a little bit longer. The slight differences are not considered by MAC to be imperfections, and are not noticeable when applied on. However if one of your eyelashes do appear to be significantly longer than the other one, consider cutting them with salon-graded scissors.

Your "34" will be on a clear sticker applied to edge of product's packaging.

Back of Packaging. 'A92' will look like its "stamped" on

I bought this item directly from MAC, and while I am not disappointing in them (I love them actually), they are significantly different in color than the 34 lash image uploaded on the MAC website:

xoxo,

Emmy

You're beautiful, its true.

If you are having the monday blues, remember that you are beautiful and nothing can stop you.

xoxo,

Emmy

ps. the eyelashes remind me of paperself, don't they? if only paperself eyelashes actually move...

MAC Archie's Girls Collection Brush Set

Archie's Girls five-piece Brush Kit features white handles covered with red hearts, in a logo-embossed tin case. It Includes the 266 Small Angle, 226 Small Tapered Blending, 242 Shader, 168 Large Angled Contour and 167 Face Blender. All brushes state "SE" to signify limited edition.

The box

When you open the box, a beautiful tin is inside

The tin has a heart emboss and the brushes are in white tissue paper

the bag says "MADE IN CHINA". This was bought directly from MAC.

MAC 167SE Brush

MAC 168 SE Brush

MAC 226 SE brush

MAC 242 SE Brush

MAC 266 SE Brush

The original retail price was US$49.50 but its sold out. You may find it on Ebay or Amazon though the price will be significantly higher as these are limited edition.

Sinful Colors: Bianca

My sister bought this beautiful pink shade last night and I just had to wear it today (She bought it at Walgreens for $1.99).

Swatch Gallery

Review

This shade is a cool toned pink and reminds me of Nicki Minaj for some reason. I google Nicki and realized that Nicki often uses this shade of pink in her clothing. I will say this is a Barbie pink with a Nicki slant.

"does Bianca remind you of me?" - Nicki Minaj

With that said, Sinful Colors is free of Toluene, formaldehyde & DBP just like Opi but at a significant price redution (Opi recently increased their prices). I find Sinful Colors to last just as long as Opi as long as I make sure my nails are free from any oils or cream before applying (maybe a day less of wear but hey, my sister found this shade for $1.99 at Walgreens!)

Bianca initially applies semi-sheer to almost opaque and will take you 1.5-2 coats to make sure its completely opaque. I apply 1 coat to my thumb and 1.5 coats to my fingers. The difference is small but if you look closely in the photos, but you can see the outline of my thumbnail (like the line between nail attached to thumb and nail that has pass that point I hope that makes sense, the picture will probably explain it better than me). When you apply 1.5 coats or more, that "outline" is gone. I personally prefer warmer versus cooler tones of pink, but it is still a lovely shade.

xoxo,
Emmy