Zoya Daul

I saw a bunch of the Zoya polishes from the Fall 2012 collection intitled the "Diva Collection" on display at Ulta recently and decided to pick this one up. Daul is a purple base with loads of tiny gold glitter. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed when I first applied this. It's quite sheer and I was hoping for it to be more opaque. I have on three coats here. Next time I apply this polish it will probably be over another color. 

It's a beautiful color once you build it up. You could also just apply one coat over a dark purple, which I will soon try. I do not look forward to removing this, as glitter polishes tend to be a bother to remove. I thought an all glitter manicure was appropriate with the new year approaching.

Are you a fan of glitter polishes? What are some of your favorites?

Top 12 Products of 2012

Last year a bunch of people posted about their "Top 11 Products of 2011" so I thought this year it would be fun to do a post for 2012! In this post I'm featuring my favorite and most used products all throughout the year. 

Physicians Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation in Natural Beige: This is a wonderful setting powder. I usually use it to set my B.B. cream or foundation and it keeps me shine free. Occasionally, I'll just put some concealer on and put this over top. Either way, this doesn't look "cakey" and it provides a wonderful finish to my skin.

Garnier Skin Renew B.B. Cream: This year, the B.B. cream trend came to the states and I was very happy about that! This is the only beauty balm I've ever tried but I reach for it daily. It provides more coverage than a tinted moisturizer, but it's lighter than a foundation. This has a wonderful scent and I can't feel it on my skin when I wear it. 

M.A.C. Mineralize Skinfinish in Perfect Topping: This is unfortunately a limited edition product from M.A.C. but it's been re-promoted multiple times in collections. I found mine at a CCO two summers ago and I absolutely love it! It's my first and only MSF. It has beautiful purple, peach and champagne veining in it. It just provides a wonderful glow to the face.

C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Balm in Vanilla Mint: This is very comparable to the original Burt's Bees lip balm, which I also love. It gives your lips that minty tingling sensation. This also applies matte, which I love. I usually apply this before I go to bed, and I can still feel it on my lips when I wake up the next morning!

Covergirl Lash Blast Volume in Very Black: This is my holy grail mascara. I have repurchased this product at least four times. It gives your lashes lots of volume and separation. I'm such a fan of the huge brush and I love what it does to my lashes. 

NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Yogurt: This is my favorite eyeshadow base to put on after my primer and before my powder shadow. It's a shimmery peach champagne color that goes well under almost any eyeshadow. I own a bunch of these pencils, but this is by far my favorite and most used shade.

Fresh Sugar Rose SPF 15 Lip Treatment: This came in my Sephora Beauty Insider birthday gift for this year. It came with another one that wasn't tinted and I used that one all up, so I couldn't show it here. They both have the same formula, smell like lemonade and are ultra moisturizing! This one gives your lips a sheer red tint. I don't know if I would ever purchase the full size. ($23) 

Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat: This top coat keeps my polish staying on for a very long time. It makes even cheaper polishes last for days! I will definitely repurchase this once I use it up. (This bottle has lasted me over a year!)

Revlon Colorstay Base Coat: I first purchased this over the summer, and it is this first base coat that I've actually noticed it working. My nails are never stained when I remove a polish, and I haven't noticed any yellowing. This base coat is also super cheap! 

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Deep Conditioner: This my second bottle of this and it works wonders on my hair. I use it about once or twice a week. It smells like coconuts, which I love. It makes my hair super smooth and shiny. If my hair is ever feeling dry or frizzy, I always use this to help it out.

Urban Decay Naked Palette: I received this as a gift last Christmas and I have used it every single day since then. It has everything I would ever need for any eyeshadow look from natural to smokey. This is by far my all time favorite makeup product. Some of my favorite shades are: Sin, Naked, Buck, and Toasted. I highly recommend this palette!

Victoria's Secret Body Mist in Berry Kiss: This was my "go to" scent for 2012. It's very fresh and not overpowering at all. If I don't know what perfume to wear, I just throw this on and don't need to worry about it. More than half of the bottle is gone, and that says a lot because I tend to switch up my scents often. 

I hope your year was wonderful and let's make 2013 even better!

China Glaze Awaken

Today's manicure features yet another China Glaze polish. This is Awaken and it is in their permanent line. It is a beautiful metallic gunmetal color, that doesn't apply streaky. In fact, this looked great with only one coat. (But because I'm a bit OCD I insisted on putting two coats on) You don't get any brush stroke lines with the application either.

I love the way this color looks with my skin tone. It's perfect for the winter, because of it's metallic finish. It's also great because it's a darker shade, but not so dark that it's black. I will certainly be reaching for this shade very often during the winter.

I think metallics are very appropriate with the New Year approaching! What will you be wearing on your nails when the ball drops?

The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector

The weather is starting to get colder as the new year approaches, which means my skin is suffering from the temperature differences when switching from the cold air outside to the very warm air indoors. My hands tend to get the worst patches of dry skin, sometimes my knuckles get so bad they even bleed. (TMI?) Anyway, I've been using this hand cream to help solve my dry skin problems.  

$10 for 1.0 oz

This hand cream has a very thick consistency. It's ultra moisturizing and doesn't leave an oily residue, although I only use it before bed. I wasn't very fond of the scent when I first purchased this, but it has grown on me. It's a very herbal scent, but isn't too overpowering. I'm not a huge fan of the packaging, I don't enjoy products that have this metal tube packaging very much, but the product definitely makes up for it.

The Body Shop also makes other hand creams in different scents, if you aren't an herbal fan. However, they are advertised for all skin types, so this is the only scent in this specific formula. I recommend this hand cream for anyone who has very dry skin and is tired of drugstore hand creams failing them, like me.

I am quickly becoming a regular customer at The Body Shop, I have yet to be disappointed by their products. Do you have a favorite hand cream? I'd love to hear about it!

Hunger Games Holiday Nails

Today's nail post features two polishes from China Glaze's Hunger Games collection, titled Capitol Colours. The collection was released in March 2012. I purchased these mini bottles in a set on clearance  in August and I thought these two colors together would make a great holiday manicure. 

I really love the way this manicure turned out. I think it's great for the holiday season. Normally I'm not one to put glitter on every nail, I usually just put it on my ring finger as an accent. I was in the holiday spirit and decided to put glitter on every nail and I really enjoy the look of it. I'm a little late on the "flakie" polish trend, but I'm loving it!

Agro (District 11-Agriculture)- This is a mossy green color with tons of beautiful gold shimmer. It has almost a metallic finish to it.

Luxe and Lush (District 1-Luxury)- This has clear base with holographic flakes. The flakes are orange, blue, green and gold. I thought it would go well with Agro because of the green and gold colors.

If you find either of these polishes in the clearance section at your local beauty store, I highly recommend you pick them up. I love China Glaze's formula, it's one of my favorites. What's your favorite "flakie" topcoat? 

Fortune Cookie Soap Winter Soap Box

I've been hearing so many people rave about Fortune Cookie Soap for a while now and I finally decided to give them a try for myself! I signed up for the quarterly subscription "Soap Box" which is $20 per box. This includes 8 products, some trial sized and a couple full sized. I love that this company is all about being "Gunk Free", all of their products are free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic preservatives and they don't test on animals.

This box is "Grinch Themed", everything in it has a name pertaining to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" which I thought was so clever and cute!

Everything came packaged beautifully, and they even threw in a mini candy cane! How cute!

Each box comes with a $10 off any purchase made at fortuencookiesoap.com, which I plan on using to pick up a full size of my favorite product!

OCD Hand Sanitizer in Whobilation: This is a clear gel with rainbow glitter in it, it smells like peppermint and cherry. I absolutely LOVE the scent of this! It's definitely heavier on the cherry. I'm not sure how I feel about getting glitter all over my hands, but because it smells so good, it's worth it.

Body Wash in Cheer Monger: This is described as chocolate, marshmallow and peppermint. It smells just like hot chocolate with marshmallows! Peppermint is the weakest scent in this, but it's there!

Cindy Lou Who Roll On Purfume: I'm awful at describing scents with many notes to them. This smells amazing as well! It's not a perfume only wearable around the holidays, which I like. I can definitely smell cherry in it, sort of like the hand sanitizer. It also has some floral notes to it, which makes it super girly. This is probably my favorite thing in the box!

Goody Goody Gum Drop Hydrate Me: This is a solid lotion, sort of like the LUSH massage bars if you are more familiar with those. These are shaped like little gum drops! These smell like oranges and pineapple, their scent is very strong! I'm not a huge fan of the scent, but I definitely don't dislike it.

Dear Santa, I Can Explain Personal Space: This is an odor neutralizer and air freshener. When I first read the scent description of this (pine and tangerine) I'm not going to lie, I was a little worried it would smell like the cleaning agent, Pine-Sol. But it definitely doesn't, I really enjoy the scent of this. It just reminds me of Christmas, if I had to choose one scent that reminded me of this time of year, it would be this one!

Pinch of Grinch Whipped Cream: I wasn't able to get a good photo of this (sorry!) It's just a green body lotion that smells of orange, lime and club soda. It's an interesting and different scent, but I really enjoy it! Their Whipped Cream body lotion is one of their most popular items, so I'm very excited to try it!

Naughty/Nice Bath Fizzy: This product looks like a lump of coal! It doesn't smell like one though, it smells like butterscotch. You plop this in your bath and watch it fizz as it releases oils and fragrance into your bath. I had the chance to try this and I wasn't very impressed. It left a black ring around my tub and left black residue all over me. I had to shower right after because I had black soot all over me. The fragrance disappeared once it dissolved and I don't feel like it did much for my skin. This product just wasn't for me!

Holiday Cheermeister Fortune Cookie Soap: This is the number one product that I've been looking forward to trying! It looks just like a fortune cookie, with a paper fortune inside as well! This one is scented like carrot cake and it smells just like it! I love the icing and carrot detail on the soap as well, it's almost too cute to use! (Almost!)

Have you tried anything from Fortune Cookie Soap? What are your favorites?

The Body Shop Camomile Gentle Eye Make-up Remover

About a month ago I purchased a few things from The Body Shop because I haven't really tried too many products from them before. (They were also having a great deal!) I picked this up to replace my Neutrogena makeup wipes. I really enjoy those wipes, I just wanted to try something new, and as the winter months approach, I tend to wear heavier eye makeup.

A bottle (8.4 oz.) costs $15 but as I mentioned before, The Body Shop almost always has deals.

As it says, it contains camomile, which soothes redness. It also contains rose water, which I found interesting. Rose water also reduces redness as well as moisturizes the skin. It is marketed towards all skin types. I have oily lids and this does not leave an oily residue around my eyes. I can see how it would be effective for dry, sensitive skin as well. 

I love the feeling it gives my lashes, they feel very conditioned after using this product where as with other makeup removers, my lashes tend to still feel a bit crunchy from mascara left over. I highly recommend this, and I think it's worth the price. It's definitely better than most drugstore eye makeup removers that I have tried!

What's your favorite makeup remover? Do you have any must haves from The Body Shop?

Whimsical Winter Nails

When I was deciding what to paint my nails the other day, I was inspired to have a winter theme. (Not going to lie, when I looked at my nails when I was done, I thought space, not winter) Either way, I love the way they turned out, a super easy way to change the look of a polish is by layering!

I used a dark shimmery blue, by N.Y.C. in the shade "Skin Tight Denim Creme". Over top of that, I used Revlon "Whimsical". Which is apparently a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's "Glitter in the Air". I can't speak for that, because I don't own the $18 polish, nor will I anytime soon. 

Whimsical adds a "milky" effect to the dark blue shade, which is what made me think of outer space.

This shade is very sheer, I've tried wearing it on it's own, but even with three coats you can still see some of your nail underneath. I usually pair a light blue creme shade under it to get the full effect of the color you see in the bottle. It contains different sized glitter pieces of blue, pink, white and teal. 

This is one of my favorite polishes at the moment. What are some of your favorite glitter nail polishes?