Hey guys! Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped make my blogsale a success! Strawberry Mochi will be going on a (hopefully) short hiatus as I’m a little overwhelmed right now with moving, starting at a new school and all the stuff that comes with it. I’m flying out on Saturday and I’ve barely started packing yet!! (Granted I don’t have *that* much stuff left, but still LOL!!) I’m really excited for this new chapter of my life though and I hope you guys will stay tuned to follow me through it. =)
NOTW – BLING!!!! :D :D :D
August 13th, 2010Hey guys! Just wanted to share my NOTW. I actually did this on Monday (when I was reunited with my nail polish LOL) but it was so messy it actually took a few days for the polish stuck on my cuticles to flake off (I am really, really lazy with clean up) even after I actually had to take nail clippers and cut off several parts (the overhanging polish, not my cuticles). I think these are the most blingy non-holo nails I’ve ever done! ♥
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| Sally Hansen Miracle Cure for Severe Problem Nails, Orly Bonder, 3 coats Borghese Flora Peony, 1 coat Borghese Positano Petal, 1½ coats Chanel Illusion d’Or, globs of $OPI Only Gold For Me, Seche Vite |
I ended up using way more coats of polish than I originally expected and the nails are quite uneven and brushstrokey on the sides up close, but it looks pretty amazing from normal viewing distance. It took a lot more of Borghese Flora Peony than I remember to be opaque (probably because my nails were much shorter, no whites, when I wore it last). Positano Petal had pretty much no effect on the overall outcome of the look since I layered Chanel Illusion d’Or over it, and since I used so much of $OPI Only Gold For Me the extra half coat of Illusion d’Or on the top half of each nail was also pointless in the end and only made the manicure more uneven though the globs of $OPI Only Gold For Me made it 10x worse. Luckily Seche Vite’s self-leveling abilities are pretty amazing!! $OPI Only Gold For Me does not go on evenly at all. Well, the tiny gold sparkles are pretty good, but the larger hex glitter distributes very unevenly so instead of painting over the nail I found that “patting” the hex glitter into place worked better. The end effect is totally worth it though!!! I actually tried doing something like this months ago with $OPI Worth My Weight, but it’s so opaque that it didn’t really come out the way I wanted.
What have you been wearing on your nails this week?
July Favorites ♥
August 12th, 2010Hey guys! Today I bring you my July Favorites. I know this is so late! LOL! Just with all the moving etc, in the past week ish I didn’t have everything together so I could photograph it all! I apologize for the dirty brush photos, I just didn’t want to delay anymore LOL.
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| T-B, L-R: Sonia Kashuk Highlighting Brush, MAC 188, R&R Spank, Visee Glam Hunt Eyes G6, Alba Botanica Very Emollient Mineral Protection Facial Sunscreen SPF20, MAC Hello Kitty Cute-ster, Aquaphor, Soapalaya Soaps Green Tea Lip Butter, L’Oreal HIP Chrome Gold Charge, Urban Decay 24/7 Underground |
- Sonia Kashuk Highlighting Brush – This thing is awesome!! I actually like my MAC 187SE a teensy bit better, but it’s still spewing dye so I decided to at least try this $13 brush from Target before splurging on the MAC 187 and I’m so glad I did! It’s a bit on the floppier side, but a hair tie around the base of the bristles solves that problem completely and I’m pretty happy with it. It does shed a bit with each wash, but nothing major. That being said, I still will probably splurge on the 187 at some point, but in the meantime the SK skunk is doing a great job as a stand in. =)
- MAC 188 – I LOVE this brush. I’m actually a little sad that most of MAC’s eye brushes are too big for my lids because I do think they make great quality brushes. I’ve been using this brush with my R&R blushes and NARS Taj Mahal and it performs beautifully!
- Rock & Republic Spank – I love this blush!! I think I wore it for almost two weeks straight in July before I decided I needed to show my other blushes some more love hehehe.
- MAC Cute-Ster – This went with Spank so beautifully, I also wore it for almost two weeks straight haha. :D
- Visee Glam Hunt Eyes G6 – I know this has made my favorites before, but I really do love this palette. I think it’s my absolute favorite set of eyeshadows in my collection. The fifth shade is the perfect tearduct highlight!
- Alba Botanica Very Emollient Mineral Protection Facial Sunscreen SPF20 – I raved about Alba Botanica’s SPF30 last month but that was before I found their specially formulated facial sunscreen. While this is rated at SPF20, it’s still 8% zinc oxide (higher % than my DDF SPF30) and the formula is amazing!! It rubs in really easily and wears under makeup beautifully. I may need to stock up on these…
- Aquaphor – July was the month of healing my lips for me. They got pretty beat up during our trip since it was so hot and I was dehydrated a lot. Aquaphor is one of the best healing treatments I’ve found for my lips without the sticky peel stuff. I do have to be careful not to let my lips become addicted though (very easy with petroleum products).
- Soapalaya Soaps Green Tea Lip Butter – My HG balm for years! I absolutely love this stuff year round but it was such a lifesaver. It can’t totally revive my lips by itself, but it does a great job maintaining them and it also made it possible for me to use Aquaphor without getting addicted to Aquaphor.
- L’Oreal HIP Chrome liner in Gold Charge – This is one of my everyday liners. I wear it in pretty much every single FOTD even though it doesn’t show. I use it as the base for my tearduct highlight! I should probably get a champagne colored liner for the purpose… but the texture of this one works soooo well and the color’s not too far off. I love it to bits haha. I wish HIP would come out with more colors!
- Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Underground – My other “everday” liner! I usually wear colored liners on the outer 1/3 of my bottom lashline and smudge my outer corner color into it. I’ve been wearing a lot of neutral eyes lately and this warm taupe goes so well with everything!
I’m actually getting the hang of this monthly favorites thing. I think it’s nice because it makes me stop and think about what I’m really loving towards the end of each month and I’ve actually already got some products in mind for August, hehe! What did you guys love in July? (If you can still remember, lol.)