Essie: Skirting the Issue

So starts a new week.

I was watching Once Upon A Time last weekend, and for some reason I noticed that Emma wearing dark red/vampy nails.  Also during the episode, Regina and Cora had red matte lipstick on.  I haven't watched Once Upon A Time in a long time but the entire episode was very grey or tones of grey.  The characters mainly had dark colour clothes on except of Mary Margaret/Snow White.  During the Regina and Cora scenes it's like they had dark clothes, these ladies have dark hair, and then this matte lipstick on.  Both had a different shade but it was really inspiring for me.  Anyway, so I wanted to do a dark red/vampy colour for my nails last week.

I honestly don't usually wear red nail polish.  I own some reds, but I don't own reds like I do other colours.  I feel like sometimes I bought a red colour because I wanted to try something different but never went out of my comfort zone. 

I had won the Essie Styleonomics collection because I participated on a Facebook contact involving instagram.  There are quite a few reds in that collection and choose Skirting the Issue.  It seemed to fit the colour red I was going for.  Recessionista and Head Mistress didn't quite seem to fit my mood.

Thoughts:
The formula is interesting.  I felt like the formula looked like cough syrup or red food colouring.  At first it looked like bright red, which was not what I was expecting.  As I painted more coats, the colour came through.  I had a hard time painting my nails because when I painted my nails, it seemed like when I started from my nail bed, the colour would drag to the tip.  I felt like I couldn't get it to be even.  Basically it was as if I had a done a gradient unintentionally.  So I used about 3-4 coats; I went over the lower half during the fourth coat only instead of painting the entire nail.  I did this because the top half was so much darker than the lower half of my nail.  Maybe it's because I'm not used to this formula, that it was more streaky for me.  A few good things are the coats were thin and it seemed to dry pretty fast.  I do love the result.  It's like this jelly-like, rich red wine colour.  

The entire week, I just loved how my nails looked.  It made me feel so sophisticated.  My clothes didn't change but I felt like my nails just made my week feel so much more different.

Even though the formula was a bit difficult for me, I would totally wear this again.  I just loved it the entire week.  I wore it for five days.  I made the mistake of not using a fast drying top coat so when I went to bed, it kind of had some of the texture of my sheets imprinted but it was only noticeable to me and I liked the colour too much to take it off.  Usually, if it's a colour I'm not feeling, I would remove it in a heartbeat.

Breakdown:
Basecoat: Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Colour layer: Essie Skirting the Issue (3-4 coats)
Top Coat: Nicole by OPI Top Coat Plus

 I realized after I took the photos how messy it was, so I had to clean up around my nails

I painted my nails at night instead of in the afternoon, so my photos are with my lamp light

 Some how this yellow lamp light still is able to show how jelly like/shiny this polish is

 This is how the colour truly looks like.  Usually I do two coats but for this colour I remember I waited until I got the colour that I wanted before taking pictures.  Even with lamp lighting, all I had to do was move my hand and the polish looks different on the picture.  

You can see from the bottle how it looks kind of like cough syrup or food colouring.  I'm not used to this texture, so this is probably the reason why it looks like that.  I thought it was pretty interesting.

The colour really fascinated me, so I took a lot of pictures. 

Close up of the colour.  In this angle you can see how I had a bit of a problem with evening it out but that could be me. 

Still love this colour though.

Picture of the bottle

More pictures.

This bottle shot finally turned out right.

I took this extra shot to show the difference: top (3 coats), middle (2 coats), bottom (1 coat). This shot with afternoon light :)

 A closer look.

The different coats and bottle shot.

As shown in another post but this was the picture that allowed me to win the collection.  It was part of the Essie Canada Facebook Expressie contest.  I used two Essie colours.  I was so happy when I won since I have so many colours of Essie.

I received this as part of a contest win.  I still see some colours in Walmart and Shoppers. 

Swatch Comparisons: Icy, and Sea Blues

Hello everyone,

Today I have another comparison post.  I only did one so far with my mint/turquoise colours but I realize how interesting it is watching the colour really come out between each coat.  I prefer to do 2 coats on my own nail cause when it gets to three, it feels heavy.  There were a few months where I did do 3 coats of wear, but I decided to stop that for some reason.

This category was a little harder since not all of these are truly icy and sea blues only.  I realized that there are some polishes I could have totally place in this set that was part of my mint/turquoise post.  This is also the precise reason I love nail polish, especially the new nail polish because they are in between colour groups.

I also decided to do this comparison since I really had a lot of fun doing the mint/turquoise one, and I recently bought OPI Can't Find My Czechbook from the Euro Centrale collection.

BB Cream Review: Skin79 VIP Gold Collection Super Beblesh Balm

Introduction

This past week, I wore a different brand of BB for each day of the week just to compare them to each other.  I always had favourites though.  I think things like foundation, tinted moisturizer, BB cream, or even cream is very subjective due to difference of skin type and what people prefer in terms of consistency and feel.  I have oily skin, and a few acne scars.  Personally I like my face products to feel light on my skin.  I have big pores, and some redness especially around my nose.  Before applying BB cream, I moisturize my face with a moisturizer that has SPF.

After taking these pictures, I realized I have to come up with a prettier or better way of displaying it.  Also I never realized how dry my hands looked.


Skin79 VIP Gold Collection Super Beblesh Balm

Made in Korea.

Breakdown
Coverage
Medium.  It matches the colour of what I would like my face to be.  Since my face is slightly darker than my neck, I would like my face to be the same colour as my neck.

Consistency
Thick cream

Smell
There is a fresh smell.  Smells kind of like flowers.  The smell does not bother me.

SPF
25 SPF

Colour Range
Only seems like one colour on the website

Size and Price
40g.  I paid $16.06 on eBay but this varies depending on the seller.  The first time I bought it for a different price.

Final Thoughts
This is my absolute favourite BB cream.  I have read reviews stating that this is better suited for dry skin types.  I gave my friend with a mini sample of the Skin79 family and she didn't like it at all.  She said it was too oily.  Which is funny because she has dry skin and I have oily skin but I don't find it oily for me.  I have to use a small amount so that it matches my neck colour.  If I put too much, my face will have a grey cast.  This one leaves a dewy look but I tend to use very little of this.  The coverage is good in the way that I don't have to use too much, and as mentioned, if I did, my face would have this grey cast.  The consistency is thick, so when I spread it over my face, it's more to work with but I use my fingers so it's not too bad.  I like the pump, I feel like I have a lot of control of how much comes out of the tube.  This is already my second purchase, so this BB cream is really high on my list.  I like using this one during the winter season.  I have the Hot Pink one too but I haven't given that one much of a chance.

 Promo picture of the tube

My tube which has rubbed off due to many usage and travelling

 The amount I would use on my face. 

Spread over my arm

I must have spread some more out after I took the original picture.  Even the lighting is different here.  Anyway, it's after it has oxidized on my arm.

BB Cream Review: BRTC Gold Caviar

Introduction

This past week, I wore a different brand of BB for each day of the week just to compare them to each other.  I always had favourites though.  I think things like foundation, tinted moisturizer, BB cream, or even cream is very subjective due to difference of skin type and what people prefer in terms of consistency and feel.  I have oily skin, and a few acne scars.  Personally I like my face products to feel light on my skin.  I have big pores, and some redness especially around my nose.  Before applying BB cream, I moisturize my face with a moisturizer that has SPF.

After taking these pictures, I realized I have to come up with a prettier or better way of displaying it.  Also I never realized how dry my hands looked.


BRTC Gold Caviar

Made in Korea.

Breakdown
Coverage
Medium.  It goes on my face slightly darker and then it oxidizes lighter.  On the website it states that it is light beige.

Consistency
Medium-thick cream.

Smell
There is a fresh smell.  On the website it says light baby powder.  It is pretty strong, while walking to the bus stop in the morning, I can smell this on my skin.

SPF
50 SPF

Colour Range
Only seems like one colour on the website

Size and Price
35g.  I paid $17.49 on eBay but this varies depending on the seller.

Final Thoughts
This is one of my favourite BB creams.  It has a lot of claims, such as anti-aging with rich caviar and vitamin nutrients.  While I do not really see a difference, I would hope that these ingredients would be preventative more than restoring for me.  I like to use this during winter because it feels like it does moisturize my skin.  Since I am in areas where the heat is always on, my skin is dry even if my face is naturally oily to combination skin.  It's pretty light in feeling.  Also, I have travelled with this before which explains the reason for the words rubbing off.

 Product shot of the tube

 My tube but I have traveled with this so the words have rubbed off

 I've use quite a bit of this so it's harder to squeeze out comparatively since the tube is almost gone.  

 First spreadout

After oxidation

Swatch Comparisons: Turquoise & Mint

Hi Everyone,

Today I decided to do a comparison post.  I recently bought China Glaze "Keep Calm, Paint On" from their Avant Garden 2013 Spring Collection.  I know I have a lot of colours, especially in this range since it's my favourite colour range.  So I decided to compare what I already have in my stash.  I have a lot of colours, which is why I decided to start a blog.  If I'm going to buy like a blogger, I may as well start a blog.

Part of me wishes that I had a better idea of the colours before placing them the way I did.  The reason being is from the bottle sometimes they didn't look that similar, so I just ignored it.  Mainly from China Glaze "Keep Calm, Paint On", I wish I placed next to Sally Hansen nailgrowth Miracle "Gentle Blossom".

BB Cream Review: Tarte Amazonian clay BB Illuminating Moisturizer

Introduction


This past week, I wore a different brand of BB for each day of the week just to compare them to each other.  I always had favourites though.  I think things like foundation, tinted moisturizer, BB cream, or even cream is very subjective due to difference of skin type and what people prefer in terms of consistency and feel.  I have oily skin, and a few acne scars.  Personally I like my face products to feel light on my skin.  I have big pores, and some redness especially around my nose.  Before applying BB cream, I moisturize my face with a moisturizer that has SPF.

After taking these pictures, I realized I have to come up with a prettier or better way of displaying it.  Also I never realized how dry my hands looked.


Tarte BB: Amazonian clay BB Illuminating Moisturizer

Made in USA.

Breakdown

Coverage
Light coverage on my face.  It is an Illuminating BB cream.  The illuminating part is very subtle and not overwhelming.  On the picture below, you can not see the glitter particles but when I swatch it at night, against my iPhone flashlight or my lamp light, I can see the glitter.  The Illuminating portion looks nice on my swatch but I didn't notice it on my face.  The colour looks a bit more tan on me.

Consistency
Medium.  Easy to spread.  In my picture it looks like it separated a little between the oil and the product.  I'm not sure what happened here.  I bought this small size last month.

Smell
Not much of a scent.

SPF
Not the one I tried.

Colour Range
Only this colour for the Illuminating one which is Champagne colour.  Tarte has just came out with a line of BB cream primer with a range of shades.

Size
My size is 9mL.  On the website it is U$32 for the regular size.

Final Thoughts
I bought this at Sephora with the Tarte Prime, Shine & Define Tarte-To-Go Kit.  I didn't use the primer before using this BB Illuminating Moisturizer.  I like the Tarte line of the Amazonian clay products but I wasn't into this.  I think it's only because it looked pretty dark on my face.  I didn't have much to say about this in my notes, so I don't think there was anything really special about this. I did use my MUFE HD powder to set this.

Tarte BB Amazonian clay BB tube in the Prime, Shine & Define Tarte-To-Go Kit

Size of how much I would use on my entire face

 Half spread out

After a few minutes to oxidize

BB Cream Review: Final Comparison pictures set 1

Originally I wanted to do my BB Cream review post in one big post but realized it was too long, so I separated each brand.  I don't have much to say now since I've reviewed how I felt about each of these in separate posts.

1. Stila HD
2. Lioele Beyond the Solution
3. Tarte
4. BRTC Gold Caviar
5. Skin79 VIP Gold

 Just taking pictures after squeezing it out.  I had to use more of Stila later to give a fair comparison

 All blended in.  I admit that #4 had more product since it was harder to squeeze out of the tube

 From this picture you can see that #3-#5 has a glossy/dewy shine.  Which is surprising cause I feel that #2 leaves my face sticky.  I guess sticky feeling but no dewy look.

.

 More shots

 I'm trying to find some sunlight

 Or different angles

Final shot

Out of this batch, my favourites are #5,#4 and #2.  Though I guess #4 is a tad darker for me but feeling wise I like it.  The thing I love about #5 is that I feel like I have control over the amount I squeeze compared to say the others.  Even from my swatches, the amount I squeezed for #2,#4 is quite a lot.  Whereas I could control how much for #5.

BB Cream Review: Lioele BB Beyond the Solution

Introduction

This past week, I wore a different brand of BB for each day of the week just to compare them to each other.  I always had favourites though.  I think things like foundation, tinted moisturizer, BB cream, or even cream is very subjective due to difference of skin type and what people prefer in terms of consistency and feel.  I have oily skin, and a few acne scars.  Personally I like my face products to feel light on my skin.  I have big pores, and some redness especially around my nose.  Before applying BB cream, I moisturize my face with a moisturizer that has SPF.

After taking these pictures, I realized I have to come up with a prettier or better way of displaying it.  Also I never realized how dry my hands looked.

Lioele: BB Beyond the Solution


Made in Korea.

Breakdown

Coverage
Good Coverage.  Covered all my spots and redness.  After application, there's a bit of a sticky feeling.  I usually use my MUFE HD powder to set this.  I have used this without setting it.  The sticky feeling fades after it sets, or I get use to the feeling but in the beginning it is a little annoying if you're not used to it.

Consistency
Medium consistency.  Pretty easy to spread and blend.

Smell
I sense a light smell.  Not like perfume but there's a slight smell to it.  Like the regular scent of creams.

SPF
No

Range of Colours
Seems to only have this one

Size and Price
50mL and I paid $15.33 on eBay but this depends on the seller.

Final Thoughts
I bought this on eBay sometime last year.  I tried to wear this during the summer and I absolutely hated it.  It melted off my face since I have oily skin and it was warm outside.  Also, since it does not have SPF, it wasn't practical for me to wear during the summer.  I tried to wear this again in November, and I like it a lot more for Winter, during the dry months.  I had just gotten back from vacation, so my face was tanned.  This matched my tanned skin perfectly.  I've read in other reviews that this doesn't leave such a dewy finish but it does for me.  Since I do like this now, I would consider re-buying this for winter months.

Lioele BB Beyond the Solution tube

 Lioele BB cream in the amount I would use for my entire face

 Lioele BB cream blended out

Lioele BB cream after oxidation

BB Cream Review: Stila Stay All Day 10-in-1 HD Beauty Balm

Hi everyone,

I decided I wanted to do a BB cream review since I have so many BB creams.  My best friend had gifted me for my birthday with various BB creams to try last year.  I also ended up buying more just because I wanted to be able to compare.  I bought most of my BB creams on eBay.  I mainly have Korean brand BB creams and I have a few USA ones too.

This week, I wore a different brand of BB for each day of the week just to compare.  I think things like foundation, tinted moisturizer, BB cream, or even cream is very subjective due to difference of skin type and what people prefer in terms of consistency and feel.  I have oily skin, and a few acne scars.  Personally I like my skin to feel light.  I have big pores, and some redness especially around my nose.  Before applying BB cream, I moisturize my face with a moisturizer that has SPF.

After taking these pictures, I realized I have to come up with a prettier or better way of displaying it.  Also I never realized how dry my hands looked.

Stila: Stay All Day 10-in-1 HD Beauty Balm

Made in USA

Breakdown

Coverage
Light coverage.  Very easy to blend.

Consistency
Thicker than liquid foundation, like a cream but not as thick as Korean brand BB creams.  Felt light as well, which I like.

Smell
I can deal with the smell.  It seemed fresh.

SPF
No

Range of Colours
Seems to only have this one shade

Final Thoughts
I received this sample with my Sephora purchase.  I never bought a tinted moisturizer before but I have swatched it at Sephora.  So this is what I think tinted moisturizer to be.  I can not comment on the benefits this claims to have since I only wore it for one day.  After I put it on, it made my face look darker.  There's an orangey hue to it?  My face is tanned but I would imagine this would look darker for people with fair skin.  Since it's a sample, it doesn't say whether it has SPF or not.  I'm guessing it doesn't since on the Stila website, this is listed but does not say anything about SPF.  On the Sephora website, this product has a SPF printed on the tube.  My skin was matte though, so that was nice.  I have some redness around my nose so I had to use a little bit more than I would for around my nose area.  On the Stila website, the tip is to follow this with a tinted moisturizer or foundation.  So it does seem like this was meant to be used as a primer.

I would not buy this product but that's only because I would prefer to use only one thing instead of using this as a base/primer only to follow up with a tinted moisturizer or foundation.  Also the colour does not fit me.

Stila tube

 The amount I would use for my entire face on the back of my arm.

Half of it blended out on the back of my arm.

Essie: penny talk

Happy Long-weekend!

Today I have "penny talk" from Essie.  When the Mirror Metallics collection came out last summer, I wasn't sure if I would pick up any.  I'm not really into having my nails look metallic.  However I saw swatches of penny talk and I thought it looked so unique. It's not simply copper, but it looks rose gold like.  I only say that because it looks like a new penny but lighter.  It's not as dark as I picture copper to be, or how copper as a colour is usually produced for products or nail polish.  Then I bought "good as gold" and "no place like chrome" to use for stamping.  I found that Essie nail polishes are great to use for stamping.

Thoughts:
I wore this without a top coat.  I remember reading on Essie's Facebook page or somewhere to use a base coat as a nail smoother, thin layers of this polish but you don't need a top coat since the finish is a metallic matte finish.  I used a base coat but knew before hand that the ridges on my nails will appear.  I remember trying to apply this when I first bought it last summer and had a lot of difficulty.  I believe others had that problem too, which is why on their Facebook page there were suggestions on how to apply the polish.  Since it was Valentine's Day week, I wanted something pink like but different.  That's when I decided to give penny talk another chance.

After my basecoat, this was very hard to apply.  I used two coats and between coats, I made sure I gave the first coat enough time to dry in order to go to the next coat.  I remembered from last year that it tugged a little bit of the bottom layer because it dries so quickly and it looked like a mess.  So, I did the same this time and it still tugged a bit.  Most of my nails I used two coats, for the ones that looked messy I just went over that section with another thin layer.  Once I was done, the polish seemed to smooth itself over, or at least for me it appeared that way.

Since I did not have a top coat, the polish faded very quickly.  I washed something on the first day and it looked like it was being rubbed off.  I wouldn't call it chipping but it was being rubbed off.  I wore this polish from Sunday to Thursday.  By Thursday, some of the rubbing was interesting, it had a bit of black marks, like real metal.  I didn't mind that but next time I may try to put a top coat on.  Another reason I decided not to have a top coat is because I didn't want it to tug and drag.

My coworker liked the colour but she commented how it was somewhat flashy.  I looked at my nails in the washroom mirror and I liked the way it looked.  Flashy but nice :)

Breakdown:
Basecoat: Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Colour layer: Essie penny talk (2 coats)

 The ridges are pretty apparent but that's my nail

  Essie: penny talk

Essie: penny talk bottle shot

Essie: penny talk over bikini so teeny.  I used this to enter in an Instagram contest for Essie's Fall Collection.  Penny talk was so nice to use for stamping.  There were no problems with putting a top coat over this.  (Only after taking the pictures did I notice that I was very bad at applying a base coat).

Essie is available at Trade Secrets, Wal-mart, and Shoppers Drug Mart.  Prices vary.  I bought mine at SDM for $9.99 on sale.