Bower of Blisse

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

FOTD: Golden Mangrove

I have a quick face of the day to show you. Quick, as in I am going to type this up rather quickly... I am on my way out the door! Not quick as in "this look took mere moments to throw together", although it wasn't necessarily time consuming. I've been wanting to use NARS Mangrove in a look lately, and today was the day!

I used a couple of new Revlon goodies as well. 40% off at Rite Aid this week, and I had $1 off any Revlon lip product coupons! Woo-hoo!

Face: Clinique Redness Solutions Face Base, NARS concealer, Revlon Colorstay Makeup for dry/normal skin, Benefit High Beam, NYC loose powder, Body Shop Bronzer, NYX Taupe blush, NARS Angelica blush.

Eyes: MUFE Aqua Cream in 13 as base, NARS Mangrove in crease, Revlon Vintage Lace to highlight inner corner and under brow, MUFE Aqua Cream in 2 to line top and bottom lashes, Inglot AMC Shine 11 (shimmery light gold) to blend Mangrove near the top and inner edge, Prestige brow pencil, Ulta brow gel, Prestige My Biggest Lashes mascara, Stila Major Lash mascara.

Lips: Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait.

Finally found earrings to match my gold triangle necklace! Remember it? I featured it about a month ago.

Mangrove!

Love Mangrove with the gold above it...

Revlon Lip Butter: Peach Parfait

So that's what I'm wearing right now! Apologies for the gratuitous shots of Mangrove... I just love that color so much, it's a gorgeous, wearable chartreuse. It's not the most flattering color on me, but I don't care; as long as I make sure to tone down the rest of my look and blend its edges with shades that are more flattering to me, it works out just fine and doesn't make me look too jaundiced.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Ulta Mint Condition + Sally Hansen Aisle Be There

After last night's downer Ulta Bare Minimum post, I am frothing at the bit to show you something I really love! I can foresee myself wearing different variations on this combination LOTS.

But first, let's just take a look at Mint Condition. This is one of those damnable Ulta Salon Formula Nail Lacquers. Since this one is a cream, it doesn't look as awful as the streaky mess that was Bare Minimum, but the formula on this was still really bizarre. It was very thick, yet went on streaky. I know some polishes are streaky with the first coat and then look like perfection after the second (Essie is like this for me), but the second coat just served to kind of move around the first coat, making it incredibly difficult to get this even everywhere. In the photos, you'll see a bare patch on the side of one of my fingers; this is where I gave up going back over and dabbing on extra nail polish to try to get it to look right. Next time, I will try using very, very thin coats; maybe a nail polish thinner is in order. That being said... This color! It's fantastic! It might be named Mint Condition, but don't let that fool you; it's a dusty aqua. This is one of the colors that I'd been keeping an eye on, leading me to snatch up 4 of these polishes when they went on sale 2/$4; regularly, each .33 ounce bottle is $6! Way too much for a nail polish with a difficult formula, in my opinion. However, I'd buy backups of this one if I heard it was going to be discontinued; I love the color that much. Someday, I will get my hands on Zoya Wednesday and see how the two shades compare.

Indoor light:

Ulta Mint Condition

Natural Light:

Ulta Mint Condition

After a couple of days of wearing this color, I had an idea. Remember RBL's Aqua Lily? I reeeaaaally liked that color. I don't own it, but I do have a sheer pink shimmer from the Sally Hansen Diamond Strength line of nail polishes, called Aisle Be There. I reinvigorated my manicure by layering two coats of Aisle Be There over it. I'm not calling this a dupe for Aqua Lily (Aqua Lily seems to have a brighter, bluer base, and the pink shimmer is more subtle); instead, the combination was inspired by Aqua Lily. And I love it. I couldn't stop looking at my nails; the pink really brightened things up, and the shimmer wasn't as ubiquitous as the photos suggest; it added a flash of pink highlight wherever the light hitting my nails was brightest. It looks like there's some "crinkling" at the base of the nail; I believe this is actually a bit of shrinkage from using Seche Vite on top. Oh, Seche Vite... I have such a love-hate relationship with this top coat, but it's mostly love, and I haven't found anything I like any better.

Indoor Light:

Mint Condition and Aisle Be There

Natural Light:

Mint Condition and Aisle Be There

Summary: This is one of the lesser offenders from the bunch of Ulta Salon Formula Nail Lacquers I picked up, but that being said, I'm still not pleased with the formula. For two bucks, I can deal with it, but I wouldn't recommend anyone running out to their nearest Ulta and snatching up the entire collection at full price. The color is right up my alley, though; I love it! And with Aisle Be There on top? I can see this being one of my favorite go-to manicures this summer. I can't wait to put it on my toes!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Ulta Salon Formula Nail Lacquer in Bare Minimum (+Glass Slipper)

Another of these damned Ulta Salon Formula Nail Lacquers... I have had mixed experiences with them! I bought four, and I've used three of them so far... They seem to be thick to the point of making them difficult to work with. At first I thought maybe it was user error, but the more I use them, the more I dislike them. I think I will try to add some thinner to them and see if that helps things out. They're not unusable as it stands, but why not make them easier to work with if I can?

Anyway, I am showing you guys Bare Minimum today. Sounds like a flesh tone, right? Nope, it's a steel-colored frost. Go figure! I really like metallic-tone nail polishes, and I don't have a really nice light silver color, only graphites. This looked perfect; not so bright a silver that it would be unflattering, but light enough that it would look a bit brighter and more seasonal than the dark graphites I tend to lean towards. Unfortunately, this is a bit streaky mess, and not the faintly metallic shimmer I hoped for. Because of that and the slightly thicker formula, I cannot recommend it, unless you are absolutely in love with the color and don't care about the other issues. However, I spent $2 on it (I got it on a 2/$4 sale), so I'm willing to play around with it. I think if I'd spent the full $6 retail price on it, I'd be considering returning it.

In an effort to make the brush strokes less noticeable, I used Sally Hansen Glass Slipper on top. It created a really pretty monochromatic look; the silver frost beneath the silver flakes were very subtle, but added a little bit more sparkle than Bare Minimum would have had on its own.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is Bare Minimum (2 coats) and Glass Slipper (2 coats) with a base and top coat. My cuticles are still a wreck; welcome to my life. I am constantly fighting a losing battle with my cuticles and nails, and I lately I haven't been winning.

Indoor Light

Natural Light

Summary: I cannot recommend Bare Minimum; I'd say it just meets my bare minimum expectations for a nail polish formula. That being said, not gonna lie... I'd totally pick up more of these polishes in unique shades if they're more than 1/2 off like they were when I got Bare Minimum, but I will not pay full price for colors in this formula. The good news is that the creams in this range seem to do slightly better, so I'll leave you with that optimistic grain of salt.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Revisiting Silent Treatment

Hi guys, sorry for not posting more often this week; I have been really busy with schoolwork and trying to hit a couple of deadlines before the end of the semester.

However, I was looking for a quick eye look the other day and remembered about Wet n Wild's eyeshadow trio in Silent Treatment, which is an under-appreciated member of my eyeshadow collection that I had been meaning to revisit. You can find my original post on it here. Because I swatched it over there, I haven't done that a second time; the colors haven't changed! However, I did wear it a little bit differently this time around. In the previous post, I kept the colors fairly separate and unblended so you could see how they each look on the eye a bit bitter; this time, I used the purple shade on my lid , blended and layered the dark brown over that and into the crease, and then used the frosty peach very lightly above the crease to the browbone and in the inner corner of the eye.

I used...

Face: Clinique Redness Solutions Base, NARS concealer, The Body Shop Face Base, NYX blush in Taupe, Hard Candy blush in Pin Up, MAC blush in Sakura Blossom.

Eyes: Wet n Wild Silent Treatment trio, Stila Major Lash mascara, Prestige eyebrow pencil, Ulta clear brow gel.

Lips: Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss in Decadent mixed with NARS lipgloss in Orgasm.

That's a way shorter list than usual, huh? I mentioned above that I was in a bit of a hurry... I've been doing a lot more spartan looks like this lately!

Wet n Wild Silent Treatment

And there you have it! Silent Treatment is a really easy go-to total eye look. I have to say, I loved Orgasm and Decadent together on my lips; Orgasm tones down the crazy violet glow of Decadent and lends it some gold shimmer.

Do you guys have a go-to palette for quick and easy eye looks? I don't know that Silent Treatment is my perfect all-in-one palette (I'd probably choose something that leans more coppery brown!), but for what I was wearing that day, it sure did the trick!