Out with the old and in with the...old? Turn back the clock with The Vintage Cosmetics Company in 2019!

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It's almost hard to believe that we are now on our last day of 2018. I'd ask where the year has gone, but between some traveling, selling a house, and moving back to Arizona, it has felt like quite a busy year! 2018 has been filled with many positive highs and devastating lows, and I am eager to see what 2019 has in store for us all.

If you are like me and have a knack for reflecting on the past, why not take a step future back by surrounding yourself with beauty products inspired by the past? The Vintage Cosmetics Company has caught my attention this year as their range of products pay homage to beauty goods of years past. I have two of their products to share with you today; let's check them out!

Manicure Purse

I love the attention to detail that The Vintage Cosmetic Company has put into this particular manicure purse! While the floral pattern is a delightful glimpse into yesteryear, the nod to the Union Jack, the national flag of the United Kingdom, is a glorious addition that completed the look! Each manicure purse comes with a small pair of scissors, fingernail clippers, a cuticle pusher, and an emery board.

These tools are the perfect size to get the job done when I need to give my nails a little tender loving care! The scissors have just the perfect angle to them for a close cut of hangnails while the cuticle pusher fits my nail beds perfectly to gently move my cuticles. I'm not really am emery board user as I am committed to my glass nail files, but it serves the even nails out where needed.

Once you have finished with your manicure, the tools can then be returned to their respective secure locations within the manicure purse. The purse itself snaps closed and seals well until you are ready to pull your tools out and work on your nails again. While I keep a larger set of tools at my desk for when I need to do my nails, this set is just the item I have been needing to carry around in my handbag for quick touchups, especially in the unfortunately event of nail emergencies!

At this time, I don't see this particular outer patten on the website, but The Vintage Cosmetics Company has several other beautiful options that are sure to win you over!

Make-Up Melts

Have you ever come across a product you didn't even know you needed until you tried it? That is exactly how I felt about these Make-Up Melts! Prior to my trying these out, I would normally just use a makeup wipe or soak a cotton round in micellar water to remove some of my makeup before going onto a gentle soap and water wash.While there certainly isn't anything wrong with the latter, these make-up melts are SO GOOD at removing my makeup!

Each package comes with three super-soft polyester squares: two in pink and one pink with white polka dots. These cloths are double-sided. The short-fibred side removes all traces of makeup with just the addition of water and gentle circular motions. The other side has longer fibers that serve to exfoliate your skin. If you're not the best at remembering which side is which, each of these melts has a handy little tag just in case you need a reminder so you know what side to use.

I have been using my Make-Up Melts constantly, and I have been amazed with just how well they remove my makeup! I generally don't wear waterproof cosmetics although I suspect these may not work the best for those specific products.

This is what my melts look like after I've removed my makeup. The only makeup I wear that these don't remove is my tubing mascara as the cloths don't quite add as much water as I need for removal. This isn't an issue for me as I still follow up with a gentle soap and water was to remove some excess oil and environmental pollutants that my skin has been exposed to throughout the day. After use, these cloths can get tossed in the washing machine to be cleansed for use again and again.

I have really enjoyed trying out these products, and will be sharing more on the blog later this week!

Have you tried any of these products from The Vintage Cosmetics Company? What others have you used and enjoyed? I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day and I'll see you next year!
XO!

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KBShimmer for January Polish Pickup 2019: Gaia

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We're just one week away from another Polish Pickup! Not only is a new month ahead of us, we'll also be in for a new year with hopefully wonderful things in store for everyone. Last year certainly has been a busy one, ending off with a move back to Arizona for my family. While moving is never a particularly easy experience, this move has been very trying for me on an emotional level as I couldn't celebrate any of the holidays this year as I normally do. The moving truck delivered our things the day before Christmas, and while we are still surrounded by boxes and trying to settle in, I did go out last week and buy a holiday tree and some ornaments. As a year round shopper to catch good deals and lessen the blow on the wallet, I had already purchased a few things for the boys which I had wrapped while in California and packaged in the hubby's car while it was transported here. Whether you like Amazon.com or not, I do have to say the site came to my rescue when it came to finishing up some of the gifting. It allowed me to focus my attention on the family's needs rather than fighting the crowds for gifts. Now that I've rambled away, let me get to this post and the real reason you are here: nail polish!

If you aren't already familiar with the Polish Pickup, let me fill you in! It is an interactive nail polish experience where fans are invited to their website to submit theme suggestions. They can then return to the website to vote on their favorites. The most voted suggestion becomes the monthly themed that independent nail polish brands adhere to when narrowing down their own inspiration. The brands then create a polish that is then offered for sale on the Polish Pickup website during the shop's official four-day opening the first Friday through Monday of any given month. It is an enjoyable way for fans to purchase as many or as few nail lacquers as they wish from a range of brands in one convenient location. While this is a monthly occurrence, it is not a subscription service. If you need to step back and save some money, you can easily do so without having to jump through any extra steps. I have enjoyed watching it develop and grow, and the only part part is narrowing down your purchase picks!

For today's blog post, I have the offering by KBShimmer to share with you. The theme for January in Mythology (one of my favorite subjects!!), and Christy totally nailed it! Without further ado, here is Gaia on my new shorties to end out the year!

At the beginning, there was Chaos. He was darkness, a void. Then came Gaia (or Gaea). Some say that Gaia is Mother Earth, the Greek Earth goddess from whom everything is born. From Gaia sprang the starry heavens, the sky, mountains, plains, seas and rivers. And typical of Greek myths, lots of drama.

Let me start out my saying these photos don't even come close to doing this polish justice. It is truly spectacular, and whether you're a blue lover or have had the slightest inkling you might want to try blue, you will want to pick up this beauty. The base is a vivid blue hue, and it is filled with holographic glitters while colour shifting unicorn flakes flirt about the jelly base in shades of green, purple, pink and blue. I have been wearing this beauty for over a week now, and I sill cannot get over just how striking it is on my nails!

I achieved full coverage with two coats, although those with longer nails or who paint with very thin coats may find they need a third coat for opacity. Alternately, you can layer it over a similarly coloured base shade such as KBShimmer's Low $ Be Bold. I then added KBShimmer's Clearly on Top top coat to seal everything in and add an ultra-smooth finish.

Gaia will be available for purchase on the Polish Pickup website on Friday, January 4th at 11am EST through Monday, January 7th. There is no limit to the number of bottles available, and each bottle will retail for $10.

Will you be adding Gaia to your shopping list? amine will be getting a lot of love this next year, especially on my toes dipped in our new pool! I'd love to hear your thoughts about this beauty and what other shades you are planning on purchasing with next month's shop opening!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day and enjoy the weekend!

XO!

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#TBTBeauty with Be a Bombshell Cosmetics Eyeshadow Quad in Bora Bora

Happy Thursday!

I'm taking a few minutes to myself and thought I would go ahead and get a quick post up for you. It's been a while since I've shared a #TBTBeauty post with you, largely in part because I've gotten into a groove of postings and skipping Thursdays. Since I'm here, let's go for one today!

If you're not familiar with the project, let me briefly fill you in! I am guilty of always pushing older products aside as I get new ones in my stash, and this throwback series is a way for me to revisit older products that I haven't used in awhile. It's also been a great way for me to decide if I really need to hold on to that eyeshadow palette any longer or if I can finally let it go.

Today's #TBTBeauty product is the Bora Bora eyeshadow quad by Be a Bombshell Cosmetics.

I actually forgot I had this eyeshadow quad until I was packing up all my makeup for the move. In truth, I'm not entirely sure where I got it from as I don't recall purchasing it myself. It may be been part of an Ipsy bag when I had the subscription quite some time ago.

As described by Be A Bombshell Cosmetics, the colours in this quad are cocoa brown, bright teal, rust orange, and tawny brown.

I'm not sure why I've never really used these eyeshadows before! This is the colour payout I found when using a light hand without any real build-up. You can definitely come up with a more intense look if you wanted to build it up more! For the $9 price tag, the eyeshadows also apply surprisingly well and blend out beautifully!

While I've never been to Bora Bora specifically, I have been to Tahiti and Moorea and can certainly see how French Polynesia inspired the shades in this quad!

I'm so glad that I revisited this palette, and I'm going to have to keep Be A Bombshell Cosmetics on my radar! There are several other destination- themed eyeshadow quads I now have my eye on along with a few other products I want to pick up and try out.

Are there any specific Be A Bombshell Cosmetics products you recommend that I try or to avoid? I'd love to hear what you think of the brand! Also, what older products have you added back into your beauty rotation lately? I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!

XO!

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Store: beabombshellcosmetics.com

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Happy Holidays

Happy holidays, dear readers!

I'm taking off at least the next several days if not all week to spend some time with my family. No matter what holiday you celebrate, or if you celebrate anything at all, I wish you a wonderful time with family and loved ones!

Product Flop Friday: bareMinerals BarePRO Foundation

Last month, I brought you a Product Flop Friday post, where I shared a product I had high hopes for but ended up letting me down. Today, I bring you another product I tried that let me sorely disappointed: bareMinerals Bare PRO Performance Wear Liquid Foundation

This foundation is a little on the thinner side, but since I don't like full coverage foundations, I was pleased to see it wasn't very thick. It also made me hopeful that it would blend out easily without caking or drying too quickly.

Using my brush, I blended the foundation out on my hand. So far, so good!

Here it is on my face, with no other makeup, including no setting powder. Hoo boy, was I not happy with the application! My skin is not perfect- I have pores, and I have some wrinkling on my forehead. Normally, this isn't an issue with foundations I enjoy, but the barePro Foundation was able to emphasize pores I didn't even realize I had and settled it horribly into any wrinkling immediately after application. Ready for a not-so-pretty sight? Let's get a closer look....

Pretty sexy looking pores here, amirite? On a serious note, this pooling into my pores happened no matter whether I used a Beauty Blender or a brush for foundation. I'm not sure if this foundation isn't compatible with my body chemistry or skin care routine, but this is clearly an issue.

You can see it collecting here in my "thought lines". Needless to say, I was not pleased. Because I had purchased this product myself from Sephora and knew I wanted to return it after finding these issues, I didn't want to use up any more product to try and find a combination that would work beyond the four uses I tried. I am willing to make simple adjustments like use a Beauty Blender or a foundation brush, but to be frank, if I have to keep playing around and find the "perfect" combination of skincare products and primers, I'm just not that interested. There are far too many other options available rather than something that is finicky with my particular routine.

Here is my final look with this foundation. As long as I don't look too closely, it doesn't look too bad. That said, it was difficult for me to just be comfortable wearing my makeup knowing it was a hot mess around my nose and forehead.

This product flop post goes to show that what works for someone may not work for others. I actually purchased this foundation after reading a review from a trusted blogger, and while I have no doubt it works beautifully for her, it sadly was just not the case for me. As bloggers, we do our best to test out products to the best of our abilities using our own techniques and background products. Sometimes things turn out beautifully, while others, are just not a match made in heaven for ourselves, either due to body chemistry, non-compatible products, or for a myriad of other reasons. We can only share our own personal experiences when it comes to testing products, and this is part of the reason I like to emphasis what works for me may not for you.

I really wanted to love this foundation, and I'm a little sad it doesn't work for me. I'm occasionally switching up my skincare routine so I may pick up a small tester in the future to see if a change in products helps, but for now, this is a flop for me.

Have you tried the bareMinerals bare Pro foundation? Is it a hit or a miss for you? I'd love to hear about your experiences with it!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!

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Born Pretty Store is having a holiday sale!

Born Pretty Store is having a Christmas sale starting today, December 20th until December 24th!

Be sure to visit them here and take advantage of their offers and get a head start in planning nail art looks for 2019!

Moonlight Butterfly flakie nail polish topper by Born Pretty Store

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Whether you're Team Love Them or Team Over It, there is no doubt that flakies in nail polish have gripped the beauty world and are going nowhere anytime soon! For those that want to dress up their crème nail polishes or want to add even more flakes to your manicure, Born Pretty Store has delivered with their colour-changing aurora flakie top coats! It may be just about winter here in the northern hemisphere, but I just couldn't resist the beautiful Moonlight Butterfly from the Summer Dream Series and thought you may enjoy it as well. Let's get a closer look at this topper!

Depending on how you angle your nails and the location of your light source, these flakies throw off pops of colour in glowing indigo or vibrant greens, or they may choose to stay a subtle peachy-orange hue until they capture the light.

Born Pretty Store suggests a black base with this type of polish, and while it certainly is stunning, I actually prefer playing with my flakie toppers over a range of base shades. The result is often a little more subtle than if you had layered over a black base, but the colour combinations make me think of gemstones, my favorite thing outside of beauty world!

Base shades used:
China Glaze: Liquid Leather
China Glaze: Mix and Mingle

The formula is easy to work with and applies effortlessly off the brush on top of the nail. Because this is a flakie topper, errant flakies occasionally like to hang off of your nails. Simple push gently back up onto the nail or pull it off, it's entirely up to you! The flakies leave a slight textured finish to the nails, but I found a coat of top coat was sufficient to give my nails a smooth appearance.

Moonlight Butterfly can be purchased directly from Born Pretty Store at this link. While you are already there, be sure to check out what else Born Pretty Store has to offer for your nail art needs!

While many items are already at a discounted price, you can save 10% off fully priced items using discount code QWL91.

How do you feel about flake-filled nail polishes, either as a topper or with flakes mixed into the base? Are you still loving them, or are you ready for the craze to die out? I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!

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Nail Art Featuring Zoya Jubilee for Holiday 2018

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We are firmly in holiday season, and with Christmas next week, there is only a week left to make whatever holiday purchases you have planned! To make the holidays all the more stressful, I am leaving our house in California behind today and flying with my boys to Arizona to start our new life. New house + completely new location + now getting to shop for gifts means I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment! It's most likely going to be a simple holiday for us this year, but as long as we're together, it should all be fine. Now how about we get to some nails!

This holiday season, Zoya has really stepped up their game with the new Jubilee Collection. This year we have seen so much red and pink from the brand, and I am delighted they took note and brought back more colours, like purples and teals. They also introduced their new Leopard Spots topper. Designed as a crackle polish for placement over their PixieDust polishes, I really wanted to create nail art that was a play on the topper. Check it out!

Leopard print nails are always so fun to wear with the added bonus of being super easy. You really cannot mess them up! I'm particularly fond of incorporating fun and unusual shades in my animal print designs, and this look really won me over.

Polishes used:

Carson

Chiara

Danica

Juniper

Cookie

Kateri

Leopard Spots Topper

Willa (black cream not part of Jubilee Collection)

In addition to the leopard print design, I was also really inspired to create another design for this collection. Rather that creating a second post, I'm just going to add it here.

To create this colourful design, I dotted polishes over my base and used saran wrap to blend the shades together slightly and to blot away excess. I then added in a few random dry brush spots of the golden Astrid to tie the nails in with my simple accent nail.

Polishes used:

Astrid

Leigh

Maxine

Allison

Taryn

What do you think of these nail art designs? Both are simple and quick to create, but the final result is beautiful! There is also the added bonus of blowing people's minds when they discover you did it yourself!

The Jubilee Collection is available for purchase now, and each shade retails for $10. While all the other shades in this collection come with the usual thinner Zoya brush, the Leopard Spots Topper uses Zoya's new Z-Wide brush. For those that prefer a wider brush in general, and wish to switch out the brushes they already have, they can be purchased for $2 per brush.

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!

XO!

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The Perfect Holiday red lip and a makeup remover by Crystal Hearts Cosmetics

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I love coming across new-to-me brands when I cover shows, and I am so excited to be able to share one of them with you today! Crystal Hearts Cosmetics caught my eye while at Cosmoprof North America this past summer, and I brought back a few items to test out.

I've been holding off on this review since I knew this lipstick was going to be an amazing lippie to wear over the holiday season, and was I right about that! Let's jump in on the review and get a closer look at the products!

Liquid Matte Lipstick

I got to test out the Liquid Matte Lipstick in the shade Dahlia. Wearing a red lipstick is a great confidence booster for me and I love wearing this colour no matter what time of year! I know not everyone feels the same way, but I figured with the holiday season parties and other festivities, this just may be the colour you are looking for!

The doe foot applicator makes for easy application, and I only used one coat for smooth and even coverage over my pucker.

Seriously, how pretty is this colour? While it dries down to a matte finish, it is a comfortable matte. I've worn this several days in a row, and my lips have never felt dried out. It has nice lasting power as well, and I've only had to lightly touch up the center parts of my lips after really chowing down on a burger and my drinks throughout the day.

Retail: $16

Not only am I in love with this colour, this formula has really won me over! So many matte liquid lipsticks become painfully dry for me, so this was a welcome change in pace. I definitely need to pick up more colours from Crystal Hearts Cosmetics!

Glacial Water Cleansing Sherbet

 I also had the opportunity to test out Crystal Hearts Cosmetics' cleanser. Let me get one thing out of the way right from the start: while the name includes glacial water and it is an ingredient, you will be sorely disappointed if you are expecting a more water based formula. The first ingredient is mineral oil, and it definitely has a greasy feeling to it, especially when applied to the face. This cleanser is designed to remove makeup, so consider this more as a makeup remover than a true facial cleanser.

I wanted to try this after my normal makeup products: foundation, concealer, blush, eyeshadows, eyebrow pencil, mascara, and the lipstick shown above.

After a scoop and a little massaging, my makeup broke up quickly and was ready to rinse off with lukewarm water as directed.

While I wasn't wearing any waterproof items specifically, this makeup removing balm should easily remove just about any makeup you have on your face. Just a few scoops of water and may face was makeup free, other than my tubing mascara. My face surprisingly didn't feel oily after using the Glacial Water Cleansing Sherbet, although I do not like to leave mineral oil-based products on my skin. I promptly followed up with a wash with my normal facial cleanser, finished up my skincare routine, and was off to dreamland.

Retail: $16 for 30 mL
$24 for 90 mL

I might have had a little too much fun with these photos, haha!

I really enjoyed testing out these products by Crystal Hearts Cosmetics. The lipstick in particular is a big winner for me, and I plan to pick up more shades to try out. I do like how well the Glacial Water Cleansing Sherbet removed all my makeup, although I'm not sure that I want to commit to a product that is laden with mineral oil for daily use. It's definitely a good option for when I'm wearing waterproof items, or if you ever wear stubborn stage makeup, it is a great option!

Have you tried any products from Crystal Hearts Cosmetics? If so, chime in and tell me what you like! Would you use either of these products? I'd love the hear from you!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!

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Store: www.crystalheartscosmetics.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/crystalheartscosmetics.usa

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