Sea Foam FOTD & Lancome Color Fever Lipgloss

Hello dahlings! Don't you love when you had some item that you've had for a while and grew away from, but then rediscovered it to find that it is an awesome product? I think I feel that way about this eyeshadow. It's from L'Oreal's Wear Infinite line of shadows in color 310 Glistening Sea. I'm sad to say that this color is discontinued (because I don't even remember how long ago I bought it) but I am really happy with the pigmentation and texture. It's a sea foam green with gold pearl which I don't think is necessarily a unique color, but it is the perfect shade of sea foam green on my skin because it shows up and is still light-colored at the same time.

Here is my swatch. Look how the cover is cracked. :p



I looooove greens and this one is so pretty especially when I am going for a really clean look. Which is exactly what I was going for in this FOTD! I used Glistening Sea on the lids, my NYX mosaic highlighter under brows and on the tops of the cheeks (or even go all out and apply to bridge of nose, chin, and near the hairline on the forehead.) Man, can I just say that I love highlighter? It makes you look especially alive and fresh and the NYX mosaic powder one is my absolute favorites.

Anyway, apply black eyeliner, mascara, and a bit of white on the tear ducts (I used NYX jumbo shadow stick in cottage cheese.) Put a pop of pink shadow on the apples of your cheeks and a pale pink gloss on your lips and you are done!




The gloss I used was Lancome's Color Fever gloss in Femme Petale which is a gorgeous pale pink cream shade. I dont love the slight cosmetic smell, but the formula feels very nice and moisturizing and you can't smell anything after it's on your lips. And did I mention I got it at Marshall's for 8 bucks? Normally retails for $25. :D



This isn't really related to anything else, but I wanted to share the view out my window this morning. Gross and depressing snow. Only in the midwest do you get 68F one day and snow two days later. :[

SPRING! Where are you! I miss you!



Hope your weather isn't as bizarre as mine. Feel free to complain about your own weather, or tell me your favorite lipgloss brand in the comments. Peace out.

Sparkle Gradient Nail Tutorial

First of all, I have to say that I absolutely cannot take credit for this tutorial. I saw regretless from the Soompi forums post this in the nail thread and I just wanted to share my process and results. Regretless if you see this, thank you so much! You are such a creative and talented nail artist. :)

I apologize for the crappy photos but it was nighttime when I applied the polish. Anyway, the first step is to apply a basecoat. I used Sally Hansen Miracle Cure.



Next, apply Rimmel 606 Dazzle (gold polish) on the tips.



Then take a silver glitter polish and apply, covering part of the gold and part of the nail. I used nail art polish because it is easier to make the glitter more dense.



Next, take a looser silver glitter polish and go over the whole nail.



As a final step, I used a fine-grit gold glitter polish as a top coat but a regular clear top coat is fine.



I was really happy with my results. Regretless used this awesome Covergirl Boundless Color glitter polish that is more dimensional, but I used what I already had on hand. I might have to go out and get it and try this again with other colors!



Here's a closeup of the final result, from the false eyelash tutorial. :]



Try this out and let me know what you think! I think gradient nails is where it's at. ;)

Zoya Nail Polish Exchange

Hey everyone. Maybe I am late in the game about this one, but I found out that Zoya is doing a nail polish exchange so that you can get brand new nail polishes for free! Basically, you send them 6 or more bottles of polish that you don't want anymore. For each bottle sent, you get a "free" bottle of new Zoya polish (plus $3 per bottle to cover shipping). Okay, so to me it doesn't sound quite free but it is about half price which is still a great deal!

I looked through my cabinets and found 6 bottles of crappy, old, lumpy polish that I don't wear anymore. It doesn't matter if the bottles are half full or even empty, as long as it isn't already a Zoya polish. Included was a glitter polish that I don't even think I can open (brush is glued in the polish...haha) and an old $1 face shop polish from Korea that may be a decade old. Awesome.

Now came the tough part, acutally deciding on the polishes I wanted from Zoya. After searching my favorite nail blogs including Scrangie, The Nailphile, and All Laquered Up, I decided on these 8:

Gaia - white with gold shimmer


Stephanie - pale pink-white cream


Sienna - hot orange with orange sparkle


Lillith - pink-fuscia with blue flash


Audrina - fuscia-purple cream

Delilah - medium blood red with sparkle


Blair - sexy, deep red with black cherry shadows


Paris - deep burgundy red cream

They sound lovely and I am so excited to get them in after freeing up some shelf space. :D

If you want to send in your polishes too, fill out the form at http://www.zoya.com/exchange/ and send them in so they are received before February 28th. Time's almost up, so go soon!

Valentine's Day Hot Pink Look

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a great Valentine's day (or singles empowerment day!)I had a fabulous time spending a few hours with my hubby just chillin' then getting a delicious steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I have a few other FOTDs to post that came before this one but I wanted to post this one soon because I really liked this look. I was really inspired by Nessa's V-day look so I tried to do a toned-down version. Warning, this is pic heavy!

I used 4 eyeshadow colors for this look: NYX hot pink, cherry, black, and a highlight color similar to MAC shroom that is a creamy, pinkish taupe pearl.

I started with UDPP over the whole lid, then applied cherry in an almond shape on the lower half of the lid. One tip is to apply the color high enough that you see a line of it when your eyes are open but not so high that it recedes into your eye socket. I then applied hot pink on top of cherry on the inner half of the lid to make it more pink and shimmery. Then I applied black to the outer corner and contour, and also along the bottom lash line. I also tightlined my bottom waterline with black pencil liner. Apply your highlighter to the brow bone and tear ducts, and blend everything so it is nice and smooth. Add blacktrack fluidline and mascara, and the eyes are done!




Look! Big smiles again! ;)



The light in my bathroom was washing out the color. This gives a better indication of what it really looked like:



Close-ups:




For lips, I used my new Hello Kitty Mac lipstick in Big Bow which I LOVE. It's a reddish hot pink with a blue sheen in the glaze formula. I applied it fairly sheer but it can be applied to be VERY pigmented too. I'm not a huge lipstick person but this one doesn't feel dry at all and it wears for a long time. I feel like it blended well with my pigmented lips and I could wear it during the day. It's such a cute color!



Speaking of Hello Kitty, I happened to snag the last brush set + cup from my local Nordstrom's and it is also freaking adorable. I also picked up Tippy and Fun & Games blushes. :)



You may have noticed but I got a new vanity mirror which makes sweet reflections and nice lighting for photos. I'm still experimenting with it, but what do you think? It's quite glossy!




Now for a little Vday camwhoring fun!

Thank you for the gorgeous vday bling, honey! My birthstone, blue topaz. <3



Love my shisem falsies. :)





xoxo

Blinging Fun

The people who follow my Twitter probably already know this, but I decided to bling some of my things a while ago. My camera was my first test ever, but I must say I am super proud of my cell. Now, my gadgets aren't anything special... All the photos for my blog are taken with my 6-year old Sony Cybershot camera (hopefully that will change soon) so I really didn't have anything to lose. My cell phone is hot pink, but not so high tech and I've had it for almost two years. Again, not much to lose and SO MANY SPARKLES TO GAIN!!!

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you my finished products.




I mean, who doesn't love argyle crystals, right? Am I right?

I also got this new Juicy Couture wallet that I am obsessing over. Do you ever feel like you've stumbled upon something so perfectly you? So bond-forming and wonderful that you must have it for your very own, lest you wallow in regret? Yeah, that's how I feel about this thing. Buttery soft leather, tassles, sparkles, an embroidered J (OBVIOUSLY made for me), and cute sayings. The dang wallet spoke to me.



It's just so cute. I look at it and it makes me smile. I highly recommend everyone to surround yourselves with things that make you smile. :)

Hope you are all having a smiley week and have a happy Valentine's day! Poladroid out!

False Eyelash Tutorial

One of the attributes that I wish I was a little more blessed with are my eyelashes. I know a lot of you feel the same way. Maybe your mascara just doesn't get the volume you want, or maybe you curl and curl and you still feel like your lashes are invisible. If you have wimpy, short, sparse, thin lashes, or even if you just want your eyes to really stand out, there is an alternative to just mascara: false lashes.

I know falsies can seem very intimidating at first but when done properly, it can actually take less time than applying mascara. Plus, it is something that has a lot of instant gratification because it can make such a big difference.

Just as an overview of false lashes, they come in many styles and lengths. My personal favorites are Asian-brand lashes like Shisem or Echo. They often look more natural because they are shorter to accommodate the sparse lashes that many Asians have. They also come in real hair or synthetic hairs, and prices vary from a couple dollars to really fancy designer Shu Uemura lashes up to $100 per pair. I personally believe you can get great results from cheap lashes at $2-5 per pair. If you take good care of your lashes (cleaning, removing previous glue, repositioning the curve of the band, etc), you can wear them basically until it starts falling apart or losing its shape. I chuck mine after an average of 5 uses.

Just to show you a few varieties, here is my collection of falsies.


I put a heart next to my two favorite pairs. The right one is my newest, style XOG특 (a bit thicker than regular XOG) from Shisem. They are criss-cross style with thicker lash groupings and are one of the shortest I have, making them great for "ordinary day" use.
The lashes on the left are really lush and long, which pairs nicely with a dark smokey eye for photoshoots. I used them for this previous look. The brand is Smashbox and I'm not sure of the style # but it has nicer fibers than drugstore lashes and the band is clear which makes it more seamless on your lid.

You can try many different kinds for different looks but I find criss-cross lashes to usually look good. For first timers, I recommend looking for shorter lashes as you want to get used to how it looks with your face first.

Another important thing to know about is false eyelash glue. Many lashes come with glue but I have MUCH MORE success using glue bought separately. I personally have two kinds, and I prefer the dark-colored LashGrip adhesive. It dries dark and blends in with your eyeliner. White glues must be colored over with eyeliner.



One thing to note is that lash glue isn't crazy sticky. Don't worry though, it will stick! I always hear people saying to wait a while until it gets tacky and honestly that doesn't work for me. I wait maybe 5 seconds and just go for it while it is still wet. :D

Now, on with the tutorial!

Ok, so the first step you need to do is curl your natural lashes. This will help to keep the falsies in place and blend with your natural lashes.



Next you want to measure the length of the false lashes compared to your eye. Many are too long for me so I place the glueless lash on my lashline and see how much I want to cut off. I know it's a blurry picture but you can see at the end where it would look nicer a bit shorter.



Take some small scissors and cut the amount you want off from the outer edge. Many lashes taper in length and you want to keep the short, inner lashes because it looks more natural. Notice I am cutting right outside of a large grouping. This is to help hide the band at the end.



Next, apply the glue in a thin line on the band of the lashes. I try to make sure it is covering the outer and bottom edges because that is what will hit your lid and stick.



Since de-sticking usually happens at either corner, I add a little extra glue there to make sure it will stick well. I wait 5 or 10 seconds, then apply while the glue is still wet.



Here comes the hard part! Take the lashes and apply them as close as possible to your lash line. You can either apply the lashes to your lid (which is what I prefer) or you can glue on top of your lashes as long as it is very close to the roots. I place one corner first, holding it down for a few seconds, then do the same for the other corner and middle. Try to adjust while the glue is still wet because it dries quickly. If you mess up, don't give up! Just try again. It takes practice and is much easier the more you try.



Successful attachment! By the way, these are lashes from the 2nd row, 1st column. Now, you can stop here but these are looking a little sparse for my taste so I will go to the optional next step...



Mascara! I don't use mascara with all my falsies (more to clean, yuck) but it is great for blending in your real lashes with the false ones and gives a nice boost and final touch.



Here's the final look, a photo with a toothy smile because you asked for it. ;)



Hope that clears up the mystery of falsies for a lot of you. Leave me a comment if you have any other questions!