TastyKake Voxbox Review

First of all, I have to say that I have been totally lousy at even attempting to blog! I've just been so down lately, like I want to crawl into bed and not come back out for a year or so. I'm still no where near closer to my goal of going to school to be a nail tech (despite having more polishes than my local salons).  But enough about my boring life, I came here to talk about the latest Voxbox I received!

 Infuenster sent me a box of TastyKake's newest offering, these cute little mini cakes.  They are perfectly sized for a quick snack for kiddo (or my mom!).  They are nice and moist, not dry like some packaged baked sweets can be.  Kiddo loves them.  They will likely make their way into the rounds of lunchbox treats!

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Frosty VoxBox review!

I'm back.

Still terrible at this blogging thing, though.

I was one of the lucky ones to get the Frosty VoxBox from Influenster.

I am in LOVE with all but 2 of these items!  

First up is the EcoTools Quick Volume Styler Hair Brush.  I am loving this brush for drying my bangs quickly.  It has large vents for faster dry time, and the dual bristles make quick work of de-tangling my hair.  The round barrel makes it really easy to style my bangs so that they aren't flat against my forehead.  I even use it on my son's hair to shorten the dry time of his insane amount of baby-fine hair.

Next is the Rimmel London eyeliner and remover.  The Eye Makeup Remover is awesome, I am so happy with it!  It's oil-free, which is great since I have oily enough skin as it is.  It has little to no smell to it, and quickly removes my eye makeup with just a few swipes.  The cap is shaped just so that I can get the product on a cotton swab without making a giant mess, making cleaning up eyeshadow fall-out and smoothing out eyeliner a breeze! 

The Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal eyeliner in Black is a great addition to my eyeliner collection!  I love Rimmel's eyeliners, especially for lining my waterline, since they don't irritate my eyes, and have such a huge color payout.  It goes on smoothly, and blends just as well.

The N.Y.C. Sugar Plum Lip Color is a beautiful share of shimmering purple-ish mauvey pink that works well for a subtle wintery lip look.  It has a slight fruity scent that was not unpleasant or overpowering, and it didn't make my lips feel dried out.  Lasted a good few hours, but I did need to reapply after meals.  

The Red Vines Fruit Vines Bites were more of a hit with my son than with me, I don't care for gummy candies unless they are covered in sour stuff.  He said he likes that they are little pieces, instead of the long ropes, less sticky hands.  

I am so super excited that I got a regular sized container of Thyme from McCormick, since I was about to run out of my pervious one!  I use it in soups, pasta, and especially in pot roast!  I love McCormick brand spices and dried herbs, as I have had the best luck with flavor and amount for price!  The store brand is ok for some things that I'll finish up quickly, but McCormick ones have better flavor for longer, to me anyway. Plus I tend to be a bit "brand-loyal", and have used McCormick since I was a kid.

Now the two that I just wasn't impressed with: the Candy Cane tea and the No.7 Serum.

I am not a fan of most hot teas, but I gave this one a try while at work.  Even adding sugar did not make me like it. 

The No. 7 Serum was nice enough, but I felt that it made my face a bit oily, which I have enough problems with, lol.  The scent was kind meh, not bad but not really anything to write about.  

Overall, this was an awesome box, and I'm so thankful to Influenster for sending me these products to try!  

~*I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes*~

I'm alive..

I'm just very very very bad at blogging. 

I'm going to try to keep up with this new challenge in September though.

I'll try to post some before then.

Influenster Mark Kay VoxBox!

I know I've been away from the blog for a while, I'm sorry!  I'm going through some stuff in my personal life, and I just haven't been able to put together a post.  Things are looking better though, and one of the highlights is getting make up in the mail!  This time it's thanks to Influenster and Mary Kay!

Semi-cute mailman dropped this off at my door (label torn off by me)

(using my purple fluffy chair as a backdrop is my new favorite thing at the moment)

So much pink tissue paper!  Cute box, and a card listing the items in the box.

I feel so spoiled!  So many items, I just couldn't wait to try them out!

(I kind of suck at taking pictures of myself)

I used my usual primers, BB cream, and pencil eyeliner (for my waterline) for a base.  I used my new eyebrow pencil for the 1st time as well.  Then it was time for the Mary Kay goodies!

First thing, I used the Gel Eyeliner With Expandable Brush Applicator.  I love the little brush that this came with, it's perfect for my purse makeup bag, and isn't so small as to make applying the liner difficult.  The liner is great too, went on smoothly and I didn't have any issues with it being to sheer in spots.

I then used the Cream Eye Color/Concealer Brush to apply the Cream Eye Color in Apricot Twist.  This is the first time I've used a cream eyeshadow since I was like 8yrs old, so I was unsure how well it would work.  I applied it over my regular eyelid primer.  It's a much lighter color than I normally wear, but it applied very easily, and wasn't streaky or patchy.  I didn't have any issues with it smearing or creasing.  I also lined my waterline with a black liner pencil.

After using my face primer and BB cream, I attempted to contour using the Bronzing Powder in Light-Medium. (I say attempt cause I just started playing around with bronzers this weekend, and haven't really gotten the hang of it.)  I think it worked well, was easily blended.  I used the Mineral Cheek Color in Shy Blush on my cheek bones and the apples.  I really like this color, it's a more natural color (to me anyway). Just a touch of shimmer, nothing crazy.

I used the Translucent Loose Powder with the Powder Brush to even everything out.  Not to big a fan of the brush, I prefer synthetic bristles to natural ones.  It was easy to hold though, and the bristles were really dense.  The powder was good, helped to blend everything and smoothed it all out.  Didn't see much help with eliminating shine since I did not reapply it, but I expect it would work for that as well.  

I finished up the look with the Lash Love® Mascara in I <3 Black and NouriShine Plus® Lip Gloss in Mango Tango.  I am in love with this mascara!  Went on cleanly (no clumps), and doesn't irritate my eyes.  Comes off easily enough with the makeup remover wipes I have.  The lip gloss I thought would be to orange-ish, but it is sheer enough that it didn't look to bad.  Very shiny, has some shimmer to it.  Smells good, not plastic-y or anything, but kinda fruity.

All in all, I really enjoyed this VoxBox, and have already incorporated many of the products into my everyday makeup.  Thank you so much to Influenster and Mary Kay for sending me these wonderful products to review.

*I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes*

Blogging fail

I feel like a total fail blogger, didn't finish the year long challenge, and haven't posted in forever.  Between work, Kiddo's school stuff, and family stuff, I've just completely lost track of things.

Things have been ok at work, moving to a new office space, so that's been fun trying to get things like licenses changed over to the new address.  And by fun I mean hell, cause no city/county does it the same.

Kiddo is LOVING school, even the daycare after school on the days I work.  He loves that his best friend across the street is in the same class, and that they get to ride their bikes together to and from school.

Our family just keeps getting bigger! My cousins found out at the beginning of summer that they were expecting their second child, a little boy!  Now I'm wondering when my son will start asking why he doesn't have a sister, since everyone else has a boy and a girl lol.

I've been looking online and trying to find out where I can go to school to be able to do nails professionally.  As well as collecting more and more polishes, of course!  Actually am in the middle of organizing all of them.  Picked up some blank nail spoons on Amazon the other day and have been labeling them and swatching the polishes.  I also did a set of fake nails for my friend's Halloween costume this year, and I will say this.  Painting nails that aren't attached to a finger is kind of hard!  But I figured out a way with some tape and wooden cuticle sticks, and I must say that they turned out pretty well for my first time!

I've also gotten 2 new toys, a Nexus 7 that I brought from a friend, and a Google Chromecast that the lovely people at Google Chrome sent me so that I can be of more help on the Chromebook Central forums, which I've been happy to help out on since this whole Chromebook adventure began.

Neon Rainbow Crackle with bonus stamping mani!

I feel like such a blogger failure.  Things have just gotten so busy, with kiddo starting school, work, and card night with my cousins (anyone else ever play Peanuts!, it's so much fun).

I did a neon gradient rainbow mani for the challenge, but I am still really bad at gradients so I topped it with O.P.I. Black Shatter to try and hide how bad it was.

Color Club Mambo, Wham! Pow!, and Almost Famous on top of SinfulColors Snow Me White, with O.P.I. Black Shatter

Color Club Twiggie, Pucci-Licious, and Chelsea on SinfulColors Snow Me White, topped with O.P.I. Black Shatter

This is the mani I did instead of a Water Marble, cause I just can't muster up the courage to try that yet...

SinfulColors Midnight Blue and Secret Admirer stamped with Rain Song

I <3 this mani so much, the color change that Rain Song does on Secret Admirer is so awesome, I couldn't stop staring at my hands while at work!  Unfortunately I had a crack on my right ring finger, and have been patching it while waiting for it to grow out.  It finally grew out far enough, but then I broke another nail right before I went to grab my file.  So I am now sporting nubs, again. :(  

I'm working on getting a new post up of my polish set up now that Kiddo's stuff is back in his own room and I have more storage space for the ever growing stash!  So much love for bargain stores and clearance sales!

My First Ever Influenster VoxBox...

...and it was a flop.  I received a Strawberries & Cream SlimFast shake, a martini glass, and 4 recipes to make cocktails/mocktails featuring the 4 flavors of these particular line of shakes.  

Because I live in Southern Florida, and it is super hot here right now, the shake curdled/soured in my mailbox :(

Polka dot nails for this week's challenge.

O.P.I. Black Satin as a base color, with Not Like The Movies on middle and pinkie fingers, and SinfulColors Rain Song on pointer and ring fingers.  Dots are SinfulColors Snow Me White.

Inspired by Artwork

This week I was inspired by Sephora's Cinderella collection packaging, mainly the mirror compact. 

I used China Glaze For Aubry for the base, then used saran wrap and China Glaze Gold Fusion.

Green nails, and new polishes!

Wasn't feeling creative this week, so I just did a base of China Glaze Con-Fused, and figured I'd think of something to stamp it with later.  

Went out to Venice Island to check out the shops this past weekend, and one of the shops is full of sun-activated color changing shirts and other souvenirs.  They also have a bunch of polishes that do the same!  I had one from a few years ago, and picked up 2 new ones since they were having a sale.

I don't remember the name of the half-full one, but the blue glitter is City Girl, and the clear is Lollipop.  This is out of the sunlight.

This is out in the sunlight.  The blue glitter in the clear base turns to a purple base.  The blue metalic turns green. The clear turns nice and red.  I had to try out Lollipop.

Inside.  I had just come inside, so the red wasn't faded completely, but otherwise it's clear on the nail.

In the sunlight.  It takes a few minutes for this rich of color.  

The formula was ok to work with, though it does need some thinner.  This was 4 or 5 coats, as the color change was streaky otherwise.

I can't stand having the white parts of my nails show, so I painted french tips w/ Color Club Flamingo from the Fiesta collection.  

Delicate nails

Sally Hansen XtremeWear in Blinding Blue, topped with Fuzzy Coat in Wool Knot.

I think it looks kind of like a cashmere sweater, and it probably as close to 'delicate' as i'll get lol.

Color Inspired

I grabbed a few polishes at Big Lots the other day, and fell in love with one of them.   Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect Air.  It's such a pretty pastel blue, I had to do a mani with it.

Here it is topped with Essie Luxeffects in Pure Pearlifecation.  

I then added a rainbow w/ striping tape, cause it was just the perfect background color.

Also, my son had to have his toenails painted just like mine.  He's such a crazy little 4 year old.

Color Club Mamba and Endless Summer, with SinfulColors Snow Me White.  I also topped mine with the Essie Pure Pearlifecation.

Half Moon Mani

I will say, I am not a fan of this on my short nails :(   

SinfulColors Candy Coated and Let's Talk, topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust

I felt these made my nails look even shorter than they are.  Plus I def did not give them enough time to dry in between layers, so it smudged a little :(

Matte Magnetic Mani

First, an update of my polish stash.  I will have to get pics of my rearranged set up later when kiddo isn't sleeping.  I did snap a pic of the polishes I picked up the other weekend, though.  

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Loves Me Not, Kleancolor Green Addicts set, Color Club Fiesta set, and my first bottle of Seche Vite.

I also received my MOO.com cards!  

I've wanted to get some contact cards for a while, but have put it off cause I couldn't think of a cute picture/theme for them.  Then they emailed me a great deal, and I found this design in their gallery, so of course I had to get them!

This week's challenge was a simple one, a Matte Mani.  My nails are still nubs, so I didn't have much room for artwork. I bought 3 polishes this weekend, so I chose from them to do the mani.  I chose Nails, Inc in Spitalfields, which I mainly got because of the fishnet magnet :)  I used China Glaze Matte Magic to make it matte.  I still need practice with magnet timing.

Quick Post

Just a quick post while we have some tech issues here at work. 
Tried my hand at Galaxy Nails for the challenge (which I am failing so bad about), did not work so well with the polishes I had.

Wet'N'Wild Wild Shine Black Creme, sponged with Zoya Pru, China Glaze Magnetic II Get Charged & Sparks Will Fly, Wet'N'Wild Megalast in Break The Ice, and dotted w/ Sinful Colors Snow Me White.  It turned out not so great, but super shiny!  

Bought 2 sets of polish last weekend at discount stores, a set of Color Club Fiesta collection, and a Kleancolor mini set in greens.  Also found a Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Loves Me Not, and holy cow is that my new favorite purple polish!

Had to nub my nails last night cause I had a break and no time to do a fix. Currently wearing Color Club Mamba. This is 2 coats topped with Seche, which I finally bought since my usual go-to top coat caused shrinking w/ my China Glaze polishes.

Summer Nails Wordless Wednesday Edition (Plus 2 other manis I've worn so far this summer)

No Nude Nails: A stampaholic's nail art blog: My First Giveaway!

No Nude Nails: A stampaholic's nail art blog: My First Giveaway!: Hello everyone!  I am having my very first giveaway today!  The contest starts May 1st and ends May 18th. The prize includes: Cheeky&#39...

Polish Removal w/ Wearable Soakers

I received a set of these Wearable Soakers as a surprise gift from my friend +Jamie Cannon (author of Night Falls, go check it out on Kindle and NOOK devices and apps!) after we saw them on another blog and were joking how silly/awesome they'd be for removing our favorite glitter polishes.  Shortly after receiving them, I HAD to buy her a set! They are awesome!  So easy to use, and have made removing my polish so much easier and faster!

They were meant to be used by filling the clear plastic part with acetone to soak off acrylics and gels, but I found that method wasted to much acetone for just taking off polish.  This is how I use them:

First, the polish.  Sally Hansen Black Platinum, 3 coats, w/ Kleancolor Chunky Holo Bluebell, 2 coats

 

I take 5 cotton squares..

..and cut them each in half.

Then comes the soaker pods.

Pop it open...

..and place a folded square half that has been saturated with acetone in the clear half.

Pop the pink half back on. (Skip this step for thumb nail removal, as they aren't really wide enough)

Insert finger so that your nail is in contact with the acetone.  I usually leave these on for about 5 minutes or more, depending on the color/how many layers of polish.

This is how it looks right after taking my finger out of the pod.

Take the cotton out of the pod and wipe off the last bits of polish!  

It's as easy as that!  Another use I've seen tossed around for these are using them for oil soaks, but I haven't had a chance to try that out.

Week 32 Yellow :(

Just a quick post, as I highly disliked how it turned out, the color just didn't look good with my skin tone.

Color Club Almost Famous w/ China Glaze Gold Fusion, no top coat

This Post Brought To You By....

My new Samsung Chromebook!  Sorry I've been MIA for a bit, been in a polish funk lately, and not feeling creative.  Been trying to organize my polishes and take updated pictures for a new stash post, since I've been getting new polishes.  Here's a couple of nail looks that I've done in the past week:

First up is a rainbow skittle mani using China Glaze Magnetix II collection.  Found the set hiding at Marshall's, one of my favorite places to find polish deals.  I can usually find Color Club sets for only $9.99.  

Had some major shrinkage cause I rushed and used thick coats and didn't wrap my tips, plus my topcoat didn't help either.  Still working on getting better with my timing with the magnet, the blue didn't turn out too well as a result.  All the colors shown worked great and had gorgeous effects with the magnet, but the collection came with an orange color that's magnet effect was not as strong, and I thought didn't look good with my skin tone.

This is what's on my nails currently: 

I used Color Club Poptastic and Twiggie, SinfulColors Last Chance, Wet'N'Wild Wild Shine Black Creme, and topped it China Glaze Fairy Dust.

I'm going to be working on a tutorial for removing polish using soaker pods like these from Amazon.  My friend +Jamie Cannon and I got each other a set mainly out of curiosity, but they actually do work really well!