J'adore VoxBox Review

Hello universe! Geesh, I haven't been on here in a really long time. Hooray for school, stress, and life for getting in the way of my nail painting. Bleh!

Luckily, all that stress and icky stuff has disappeared for the moment, because it's spring break! Woot woot! Instead of vacationing in Florida like everyone else, I'm hiding inside at home recovering from the last three weeks of school (which have been insanely rough- I swear teachers secretly plot together to ensure all the tests and essays end up being due at the exact same time). Now that I've finally recovered enough (this recovery involved eating copious amounts of chocolate and marathoning all the seasons of Teen Wolf in less than a week), I'm back to the blog! Hooray!

Today, I'll be reviewing the J'adore VoxBox from Influenster. If you haven't signed up for Influenster yet, you  definitely should- all you have to do is sign up on their website, and you have a chance to get sent free items in the form of a VoxBox. Here's the one I got!

Ooh, so pink! The J'adore VoxBox was a Valentine'sday themed box, which is the reason for all the pink and red. I'm not exactly the largest fan of that holiday, but... look at that ginormous bag of Hershey's Kisses on top. So much chocolate. Thank you Influenster for providing me with chocolate as a suitable replacement for a relationship on Valentine's day. 

This silly kitty discovered the box pretty quickly:

... and then deemed it a suitable spot for a nice nap.

Now, onto the products! 

Boots Botanics Shine Away Ionic Clay Mask: $9.39

Yay, a clay mask! I'd actually really been wanting to try one for awhile, so I was super excited when this arrived in the box. The color was slightly icky, but the mask was really nice. It applied very easily, dried quickly, and washed off well. It left my skin feeling clean, but not too dry- I hate when masks completely dry out your skin. Ick! 

Hershey's Kisses Milk Chocolates: $5.29 for 18.5 oz. bag / $3.28 for 11 oz. bag

Look at that beautiful bag of chocolate. So much chocolate. I have been constantly munching on these since this box arrived- om nom nom. I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to review this one. Come on, it's chocolate- what else am I supposed to say? Hehe. 

Frizz Ease 3-Day Straight Flat Iron Spray: $9.99

I seriously doubt it works this well...

Oops, so I actually haven't tried this one yet. You're supposed to apply it after getting your hair wet/showering, blow dry your hair, and then straighten it. Since I shower at around 11 every night, I'm pretty dang tired by that point. That means that after my shower, I have no motivation to spend another half hour blow drying and straightening my hair and all other sorts of time consuming stuff. I'll update this post if I try it eventually. I'm still hunting for someone else I might be able to try it on- even if I use it myself, I only have slightly wavy hair, so it wouldn't make much difference on mine.

KISS Looks So Natural Lashes: $3.99

Ah, fake lashes. Sorry, but I'm just not a fake lash person. I know it works for other people, but as a seventeen year old, I have a feeling it'd be a bit strange for me to wear these in public (also, I have no idea how it's possible to wear false lashes with glasses). I'll stick with my more subtle mascara, thank you very much. I did try them on, and for fake lashes, these look pretty natural, which I like.

Red Rose Simply Indulgent Teas: $4.49 for carton of 20 tea bags

TEA! Okay, I am a huge tea addict, so I was a teensy bit worried about this. I take my tea quite seriously, and I'm super duper picky, so I had a feeling sending me tea to review might not end too well. Keep in mind that everything I say is only my opinion- we all have different tastes in tea!

I got sent three of the creme caramel tea bags, and one of the lemon chiffon. I tried the creme caramel one first. This one's a bit strange. Since it's a caramel flavor, you'd expect it to be sweet... but it's not. It tastes like caramel, but it's not sweet. I don't get it. You'd have to add honey or sugar to sweeten it up a bit, but I feel a bit strange doing that because if I were to buy a caramel tea, I'd assume it'd be sweet in the first place. Not liking sweeter teas anyway, though, I wasn't too annoyed about it. I still  probably wouldn't recommend this one- it's just odd.

Onto the lemon chiffon- I liked this one much better! I was surprised about that, since I'm not a fan of lemon tea either, but this one's very nice. It reminds me of those lemon Girl Scout cookies that they stopped selling a couple years ago. I can't remember what they're called, but they were really yummy. This tea's very soothing and... lemon-y. It had just the right amount of sweetness for me. I also like that it's decaffeinated, because it would be a perfect tea to drink right before bed.

Hooray, that's it! Let me know in the comments which of these products you'd love to try, and if you've already tried any of them, what your opinions are. Hopefully (fingers crossed) I'll be back in a bit with a nail-polish-related post. See you all then! 

*Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided for free for the purposes of testing. All opinions are my own.*

Swatch/Review: Polish Your Hooves - Buttercup and In the Farmer's Garden

*Disclaimer: The polishes in this post were provided by Polish Yer Hooves for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are my own.*

Howdy folks! Boy, have I been MIA for a while! Darn you life, getting in the way of my nail-polish-ing! Hehe. Anyway, that doesn't matter, because I have a whole bunch of stuff coming up in the next few weeks to make up for it. Just you wait! 

Anyway, today I have a slightly bittersweet review for an amazing indie brand, Polish Yer Hooves. It's sweet because... the polishes you're about to see are completely gorgeous! It's bitter because yesterday, it was announced on the Polish Yer Hooves Facebook page that Leigh Anne, the owner, would no longer be making her polishes. It's a sad day in the nail polish community when an indie brand shuts down, but it's always especially rough when it's such a new, promising brand. However, her Etsy store is only in vacation mode at the moment, and not shut down, so THERE'S HOPE! We're just going to keep hoping while I write this post that maybe the store will come back eventually, because her polishes are all completely stunning, and you are definitely going to be wanting these two once you read this post.

Here's how the polishes arrived. Look at this cute packaging! If you hadn't caught on yet, Polish Yer Hooves' brand is completely centered around cows. And boy, Leigh Anne definitely goes all in for the cow theme! Cow business card, cow labels, cow tape around the polish lids, a Cow Tale (yes, you're seeing an empty wrapper in the bag, because I couldn't restrain myself long enough to take a picture before it was eaten), and even little cow-shaped confetti in the bottom of the bag. 

And onto the polishes inside the bag:

First off, we have Buttercup. Buttercup is a STUNNING bright yellow polish with a pearl finish. I was a little skeptical of this one before trying it, since I'm pretty picky about my pearl polishes, but just look at it! SO GORGEOUS! 

As you can see, one coat wasn't quite enough, but you could definitely get away with two if you wanted. 

In the next three photos, I have three coats of Buttercup with one coat of HK Girl top coat. 

Eee, isn't this so perfect for spring? I feel a little strange wearing such bright polish in the middle of Illinois' disgusting weather, but once everything warms up and the grass is no longer covered in two-week-old snow, I'll be rocking this polish all the time!

And now for the second polish, In the Farmer's Garden (which I'll be shortening to ITFG, because I'd really rather not write the entire name out every single time). ITFG is a mix of pink and lilac flower glitter, small silver hex glitter, and various shapes of small green glitter, all in a clear base.

Here I have one coat of ITFG, plus another coat of HK Girl, shown over Buttercup.

As the base was very thick, application was a teensy bit difficult, especially with getting the flower glitter to look nice, but since this really comes with the territory of larger glitters, I've got no troubles with it. Just keep it in mind when buying!

So there we have it! Let me know your thoughts on these two in the comments. It's a little strange writing a post for polishes that are no longer on sale, because I can't just refer you to the store and tell you how much I recommend buying them, but I can say that if you ever find Buttercup or ITFG in a blog sale somewhere, grab it, fast! I mean it! These colors are so sweet, spring-y, and adorable, and just plain fun to wear.

In conclusion: Cows+cute polish names+awesome application+flower glitter+happiness=Polish Yer Hooves=awesome nail polish. Yeah. Peace out.

*Disclaimer: The polishes in this post were provided by Polish Yer Hooves for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are my own.*

LynBDesigns - Mind Palace (Swatch/Review)

Well, hello there, everyone!

Wow, this post is really late in the week, isn't it? Please thank some darned malware for that. I got it fixed yesterday, but geesh, was that annoying. I could keep any web browser up for about three minutes or so until the computer would be attacked and I'd have to re-open everything, which meant writing a post was almost impossible. Sigh. But finally, I'm back with a post! I'd already written out some catchy intro related to the Superbowl (I'd started writing this on Sunday before all my computer issues) but as that would make no sense on a Wednesday, we're just going to jump right on into the post.

Enjoy today's swatch/review of LynBDesigns' Mind Palace! 

First thought on this polish: Look at that glitter.

Second thought: That jelly, tho.

Third thought: And so much Sherlock fangirling to go along with it.

Final thought: Pretty much the most awesome polish ever. 

So yeah, in case my little commentary up there didn't give enough information, this polish is pretty dang amazing. Here I have three coats of Mind Palace with two coats of my good ole HK Girl top coat to smooth it out. Application was perfect. Drying time was wonderful. Seriously. Perfection. Add on top of all this the fact that Mind Palace is based off of Sherlock, and you have a complete winner. However, after putting on this polish, I wasn't able to think too much about the whole Sherlock side of it - this image below basically sums up everything going through my mind at the moment. 

Yeah. I'm a huge sucker for jelly polishes, aren't I? Oh, who can blame me, though? Mind Palace is GORGEOUS. I can't say enough about how much I recommend this one- just go buy it, now, please. Seriously. You will not be disappointed. So much squishy jelly glitter perfection.

Annnd that's it! In case this post hasn't already sent you across the internet to order Mind Palace, it can by found at LynBDesigns' Etsy store for $8 a bottle. Yupyup! 

Thanks for reading! I'm going to try to get back on a weekly Sunday posting schedule again, but we'll have to see if that actually ends up working or not. So see you all Sunday... or... whenever!

It's My Birthday!

So yeah, I was planning on doing another Sherlock-themed manicure this week, but then I remembered- today's my birthday! Hooray! So enjoy this quick little post on my birthday manicure. 

Here I've got a gradient of China Glaze - White on White and OPI - Sparrow Me the Drama, with the '17' written with an Art Deco Striper in black. Yeah, I'm 17 now! Geesh. I feel old. Wow. 

Anyyywayy, the candles are OPI - Cajun Shrimp, E.L.F. - Purple Pleaser, and Mary Kay - Pink Bamboo, and the flames are Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed and Sally Hansen - Lightening.

Bonus: A (semi) accurate portrayal of the typical celebration of my birthdays. I'm not a party girl in any way, so anything with large groups of people usually ends up with a grumpy Allie hiding in the corner. Instead of a party tonight, I'm quietly celebrating out at Biaggi's (ah, who else would die for their bread) with my family. That's the best way to celebrate, in my opinion! 

Oh, does anyone have any unusual birthday traditions? I was born during the half time of the 1997 Superbowl, and although they've changed the date so it will never line up on my birthday again, my parents always it as celebrate my "second birthday" and spoil me with my favorite foods. Ahh, the joy of birthdays!

Thanks for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought about this manicure, or what strange birthday traditions you have. Next week I will (for sure, this time) be back with another LynBDesigns Sherlock polish, to mark the end of the show's third season. See you all then!

LynBDesigns - Lost Without My Blogger (Swatch/Review/Fangirling)

Howdy folks! So... guess what today is!

No, not Sunday, sillies! I mean, it is Sunday, but that wasn't what I was going for.

Nope, today is the day... a very special day... the day Sherlock series 3 airs in America! Yes, I may have possibly... not so legally... already seen all of the episodes online... but today's the first day I get to watch the first episode of the new series legally, without any streaming issues or crappy video quality. Huzzah!

In honor of this very important day, I figured it would only be acceptable to do a Sherlock related manicure. I mean, this day only comes three times every two years- better make it count, right?

And never fear, I shall be keeping this post completely spoiler free for anyone who had enough self control to wait and watch the episode legally; however, this does include some things we've seen in the released trailers, which could be considered spoilers if you've decided not to watch those.

Sound good? Then read on!

So for today's episode, I knew I just had to wear one of my Sherlock-themed polishes from LynBDesigns. If you haven't tried any of her polishes yet... seriously. Go buy one. Or two. Or ten. They are completely, utterly awesome. Anyway, I decided to put on Lost Without My Blogger for today, as I'd just ordered it the week before and figured this would be the perfect chance to try it for the first time. You ready to see the complete perfection that is this polish? Keep scrolling!

*Swoons* Look. At. That. Glitter.

So much glitter.

This is two coats of Lost Without My Blogger, with one coat of good ole HK Girl on top. It's a gren jelly base completely stuffed with... well, a ton of different types of glitter that I'm not going to try to list. You've really got everything in here. Silver and green glitter. Circle, hex, shard glitter. Really, you've got the whols shebang in here. 

Oh, and did I mention that application was INCREDIBLE? I have been known for being super picky about my glitter polishes due to their application... but I am in love with this one. 

I would note that as this is such a glittery polish, you're definitely going to need a couple coats of top coat to smooth it down- one wasn't quite enough (but this polish was so gorgeous that I was too busy trying to get pictures taken to remember to add a second layer of top coat). That really just comes with the territory for glitter polish, though, so I wouldn't consider it as a complaint at all. This polish is too perfect to have any complaints about. 

*Bam* close up squishy glitter photo! LOOK AT ALL THAT GORGEOUS GLITTER.

And now for the fangirling portion of this post!

Since this polish is based off of everyone's favorite army doctor, I figured it would not be complete without some bit of nail art to remind everyone what this polish is about. And that is why you might have noticed a very John-esque mustache on my accent nail.

I started out planning to have just a random mustache on the accent nail, without any eyes, but it ended up... not really looking like a mustache. Therefore, eyes had to be added so everyone could tell what it was! It was at that point that I realized I probably should've made the mustache blond. Ah, well, too late! Hopefully you still get the gist. If you're wondering, the white is China Glaze - White on White, the eyes are Sally Hansen - Black Heart, and the mustache was made with a black Sharpie (yeah, I was too lazy to get out my nail art brushes and do it the proper way, but I think the Sharpie was still pretty successful).

But can we just talk about that mustache for a second? Please tell me I'm not the only one who spontaneously bursts into giggles whenever she sees it. Seriously, John, what were you thinking? Maybe he's training to be a part-time plumber who chases a princess all across the countryside. Maybe he grew it to cope with the loss of Sherlock. Do people do that? Grow mustaches when their best friends die? Is this a thing I don't know about?

(had to insert a semi-polish-related reunion theory here- I am
so proud of my Paint drawing skills, I have to admit)

Anyway, let me know your opinions on mournstaches and army-doctors-turned-plumbers in the comments. Make sure to leave some fangirling about the upcoming episode below, too (no spoilers, of course)! And what do you think about this polish? Are you as in love with it as I am? Lost Without My Blogger can be found at LynBDesign's Etsy site for $8, and if this one isn't enough to feed your Sherlock obsession, there are also sixteen other Sherlock-themed polishes in Jenna's Baker Street Collection for you to choose from.

Thanks for reading! I shall be back next week, with another Sherlock-related, fangirl-filled post. See you all then!

*Note: The polish in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.*