POLISHED: Pink Ombre [Valentine's Day] Nails

i am a tad late showing you my nails for Valentine's but here it is! i tried doing a form of ombre nails - the much simpler version across my entire hand rather than having an ombre pattern on each nail. i'll call this the amateur version :)

i was actually inspired by the Ombre kits by The New Black on the Glymm website. i was tempted to buy a set but i figured i could do my own since i already own a gazillion polishes.

i picked a number of pinks from my collection and i was looking specifically at ones that were not shimmery or glittery so that the color morphing would look... erm.. cleaner... subtler? 

anyway! this is what i came up with:

natural light; artificial light

seems like the last two colors (my ring finger and pinky) are almost identical in the pictures. whoops!

from thumb to pinky, i used:

* Barbie Loves Joe Fresh in Light Pink

* Zoya in "Shelby" (Glossybox July 2012)

* Essie in "Off the Shoulder" 

* Nicole by OPI in "Something About Spring"

* Diana Manicure in "1104"

the two lightest colors, the Barbie one and the Zoya, required 3 coats while the other ones only needed two. this was the first time i did ombre nails and i thought it was really fun! i was hesitant at first, thinking that it may look slightly childish at work if my nails were all different colors but i think it works if the color changes weren't drastic. 

i am thinking of doing this again with purples next... it gives me a chance to use more polishes and to provide you with some swatches as well. win-win!

would you wear ombre nails like this? :)

REVIEW: Joe Fresh Matte Lipstick in "Berry"

late last year, i started dabbling with darker lipstick shades. i put aside my corals and pinks and sought out wines and plums.

i picked up Joe Fresh's Matte Lipstick in "Berry" (3.3 g) on a whim - i could not really find any swatches of it online and there was no tester either - so i based my decision solely on the color of the label.

so imagine my surprise when i opened it and found that it was so dark and so purple! there's nothing in my  lipstick collection that even compares to it.

seeing the color of the lipstick, i applied it to my lips with the utmost caution. i breathed a sigh of relief when i saw the color was actually not as scary on!

top to bottom: natural light; with flash

"Berry" is a purple wine color. i don't usually take lip pictures with flash since you can see every imperfection on my face so clearly - it adds depth to my pores like you wouldn't believe... but i wanted to show you that even though this is a matte lipstick, there is actually a slightly shiny finish after you apply it. you can also see how the light reflects off the actual lipstick in the tube in the pictures above.
the lipstick applies easily to your lips too (there's no tugging) but it eventually dries to a matte finish. it doesn't feel overly dry on the lips though (as in i am not frantically searching for a lip balm). the color starts to fade after a couple hours of wear - mainly around the middle of the lips but it does leave a stain behind.

i would suggest a lip liner as well as a lip balm prior to applying this shade. if you look closely, you can see that this lipstick emphasizes the dry patches on your lips. applying the lip balm beforehand will also make the lipstick apply sheerer if you desire a softer look.

i was too afraid to apply more than one layer of it on my lips but on the swatches on my hand, the left swatch is one layer and then i built it up on the right.

natural light; with flash

oddly enough, i decided to google this color to see if it is sold on the Joe Fresh website and found my own link to another Joe Fresh matte lip product - a lip crayon - in almost the same color ("Plum")... which i have almost forgotten about. but what a weird coincidence! maybe i should always google a lip product before purchasing to make sure that i don't already have a similar one...

 Joe Fresh Matte Lipsticks are $6 each at Superstore. when i picked up "Berry", i was also considering "Brick" but can Joe make it any more confusing for a girl?

REVIEW: Joe Fresh Matte Lip Crayon in "Plum"

so the lip crayons keep on coming...
i am sure this is the last o--- whoops, i caught myself there. i think i have one more that is yet to be used...
but what i can say is that this is the last matte lip crayon i will be reviewing for quite some time. in case you didn't know, i am refraining from purchasing any more lip products this month (and hopefully the next)!

Joe Fresh had sheer and matte lip crayons available but i think they started clearing out the stock when Fall came around. the original price of these lip crayons were $6 but i am positive i paid less than $3 for this.

this is the first second (i forgot again!) lip crayon i own that is not retractable. in fact, it is like an actual pencil crayon. it even smells like a pencil crayon. the cap is clear and the color of the outer lip pencil is a pretty accurate indication of the actual color.

this Matte Lip Crayon in "Plum" (2.6 g) is a dark berry color. aside from the price, i also picked it up because i have nothing like it in my stash of over 50+ lip products (that's only a rough estimate too; i am probably off by another 50 or something ridiculous... i am a little scared to count).

the same thing happened with my dresses. i have a overflowing closet. my solution to this problem is to just buy more dressers.
i already knew i owned a ridiculous amount of dresses - i usually wear jeans but i can't say no to a pretty dress. cause you never know when an occasion can arise where i need to wear a dress that has a sailor feel with a drawstring bust and hem (seriously the label even says SportGlam - i am not sure what i was thinking). so the story is, someone asked me how many dresses i actually owned one day and i shrugged and said like 50. my sister and i decided to actually count when i got home and lo and behold, i had twice as much as that. yes that's right - i can wear a dress every single day for more than three months and would not have to wear the same dress twice.
note: this count was done before summer - i have since purchased more dresses.

anyways, back to the Joe Fresh lip crayon!!
this glides on pretty smoothly and does not tug on the lips. it is matte so i did notice that my lips didn't feel hydrated but it wasn't like i was constantly licking my lips, trying to replenish the moisture.
so like i said, "Plum" is a dark berry color and it leaves a stain afterwards. when i applied it full on, it makes me look a bit vampy (i said this to my boyfriend also and he did not understand what i meant by vampy). strange how in artificial lighting, it looks more red but then i go into natural lighting, and BAM, it's purple. to make it more wearable, i'd apply it lightly in the center and blend it out with my fingers.
i have yet to wear it enough to have to sharpen it but i am hoping it isn't super messy.

artificial lighting; natural lighting

so do you own any "vampy" shades and do you like to wear them?

*hooray* for reaching 20,000 pageviews today :) many thanks to all of you!

REVIEW: Joe Fresh Cream Lipstick in "Cinnamon"

okay i admit i've been lazy in regards to blogging the last couple of days. i have a rather long list of ideas to post about but simply did not feel like doing any of them.
so i started rummaging through my lipstick pile and found something that i was going to accidentally buy again last week, so here we go...

i picked it up sometime last year while browsing the beauty section of Superstore and found it on sale. i think it was somewhere between $2 and $3 (original price is $6).
it was not my first time trying Joe Fresh cosmetics (along with a lip stain, a liquid eye liner and nail polish) but it was the first time trying their lipsticks, so why not pick it up on sale? :)
it was around the same time that i was becoming interested in different finishes of lipsticks, like matte and cream. so i picked up the Cream Lipstick in "Cinnamon", a warm nude.

the packaging is clear so you can easily see the color inside. quite handy indeed! but on the other hand, the clear tubing is a bit thick. it is wider than my other lipsticks and takes up more room. below is a comparison of the Joe Fresh lipstick and a Gosh lipstick. there is no indication of how much product there is so i can't tell you either.

also make sure that when you close it, you snap it tight because the cap had a tendency to come off in my bag.
like its name, it is in fact very creamy. it may actually be too creamy. when i applied it straight from the tube, i felt that there was way too much product on my lips. if you have dry patches on your lips, a lot of the product would accumulate around it; so to have more control, i'd suggest using a lip brush first to get all the edges and whatnot and then applying a thin layer on your bottom lip and smacking your lips together (note: i only did the first step for the swatches). this way you'd get more coverage without it getting too messy.
the color payoff is amazing. when i swatched it on my hand, i could not believe how pigmented this lipstick was. and look just how shiny it is!

top to bottom: artificial light; natural light

on my lips, it looks like a warm nude (as mentioned earlier) but also slightly peachy. i am rediscovering my love for this! i guess it was meant to be that i saw it on sale again and was going to purchase the same shade. good thing i checked my lipstick arsenal first.

top to bottom: artificial light; natural light

the cream lipstick also lasts pretty long - it survived through drinking and snacking and required only a slight touch-up to my center of my bottom lip.
i am coming to an understanding that nudes that work on me aren't necessarily the nudes that are all the rage among other bloggers or ones that have the word "Nude" in the name - one example of this is Revlon's "Nude Attitude".

all in all, i am glad i picked up "Cinnamon". have you tried Joe Fresh's cosmetic line? they are relatively new - Joe Fresh started branching out in '09.

POLISHED: Barbie Loves Joe Fresh Nail Polish Set

i am by no means a pro when it comes to doing my nails - in fact, i'm not even very good. but i did feel like reviewing some nail polishes for you.
i picked these "Barbie Loves Joe Fresh" nail polishes at Superstore a couple of weeks ago. who knows if they were meant for kids? i only paid like $2.50 (originally $12) for them so i thought it'd be fun! Joe Fresh also has their own line of nail polishes so maybe not?
the set included: Light Pink, Light Purple and Dark Pink (3.5 mL each).

i did a swatch of each, the left side was taken in natural light and the right, with artificial light (this is how swatches are done normally right? hehe)
here's Light Pink:

i did 3 coats since it is a very light color. as you can see, i am not very patient so i have a smudge already! i like this pink color; it appears very innocent and feminine.

Dark Pink swatches:

now this one is not so "innocent"-looking. i also like how this is a nice pop of color. needed only 2 coats.

and Light Purple:

sadly, i was racing against the clock and did not beat it. the sun had pretty much gone down by now but i decided to try anyway! i apologize! this purple is also a very cute lilac color. again, it is a lighter color so it took 3 coats.

the bottles were pretty cute - they were short and round. it may have been a little harder for me to adjust to painting my nails with such a large and round cap. i think the size is perfect though - i've never run out of nail polish before and i buy new colors all the time. and overall the formula was pretty good. the lighter colors needed more coats and may have been a little streaky at times.

and from this, i decided to do something a little fun with my nails which turned out to be very Easter-y. i did not intend for this but realized it after that it was perfect for the occasion. however, i took it off today since i was getting tired of it and Easter is just around the corner. oh well.
i love this idea of having one nail on each hand that is a different color. it makes it stand out with the contrast and all. :)

and on top of this, i used the OPI RapiDry Top Coat from my March 2012 Luxe Box. i did this on March 27 and i took a picture of my nails today before taking it off:

that's over a week (9 days)! and it looks almost like the previous picture besides some edges and a chip that i got the day before since i was getting careless with some hair rollers. i haven't used some of the more prestigious top coats like Seche Vite  so i can't compare it but this OPI one works pretty good for me!

have a fantastic Easter everybody!