NOTD - Zoya & Essie

Hey everyone! It has been forever since I've had a moment to just sit down and blog. I had to give up blogging for a while because I've been insanely busy with the holidays and then I moved to a new apartment at the end of January so that took a lot of energy and time. Anyway, I'm back! And hopefully I'll do a blog post every week or so.
In my Birchbox this month I received a FULL SIZE (!!!) Essie polish in "As Gold as it Gets." It's meant to be worn over other polishes. I've seen people where it over dark/blackish colors and it looks super cool. I already had a Zoya polish on that I actually got in January's Birchbox in the color "Kristen." So, I just put Essie's "As Gold as it Gets" right over top and I think it looks very pretty. I can't wait to try it over all different polishes! Hopefully it won't be too difficult to remove. I also wanted to note that the Zoya polish from Birchbox is my first experience with using Zoya and I thought it was a very nice nail polish. It lasts just as long as an OPI polish and it goes on smooth and dries super quick.

Zoya's Kristen - Cream polish in a gray color with a mild bluish hue. Covers fully opaque in 2 coats.

Essie "As Gold as it Gets" over Zoya's "Kristen"

Essie Very Structured

I am so excited that it's almost officially fall and even more excited about Essie's Fall 2011 Collection! If you guys haven't had a chance to check out the newest Essie polishes you can view all of them on their website here: Essie's Fall 2011 Collection.
Out of all of the polishes in the newest collection my favorite is "Very Structured." I think it's one of the most unique polish colors I've seen. Essie's website describes it as a "classic burnt sienna." I don't have any reddish brown colors in my polish collection so I really had to get this one. I think it's a perfect color for fall, but I'm not sure if it's the most fitting color with my skin tone. I think it's a little dark and would look better on someone with a warmer skin tone...oh well I'll still wear it, but it's definitely not a favorite! Also, Essie's "Case Study" is an interesting color described as a "rich camel beige." Last weekend I went to several different stores specifically searching for "Very Structured" and I found every color from the Fall Collection EXCEPT for that one! Well, today I went to Walgreens and I was lucky enough to find it there (they only had 2!). I usually get most of my Essie polishes from Ulta, but lately they really are lacking on their selection. It seemed like Walgreens had ALL of the polishes in stock.
Anyway, here's some pics of Essie's Very Structured, it's a creme polish, my favorite!

With the flash on...no top coat. I think it looks a little more red than it actually is

Fall Favorites

Hey everyone! I am going to go ahead and do another entry today. It's one of those lazy days so I have nothing better to do!
Angela, or HoneyFlower3, is a YouTube beauty guru who I LOVE. She's super sweet and has some very creative and helpful videos on YouTube. Anyway, she just did a Fall Tag video and tagged me in it and said I could do it on my blog since I don't make videos. Well, I thought it was a neat tag so I basically put together a variation of the tag. If you want to do the actual/original tag you can go watch Angela's video at www.youtube.com/honeyflower3. She listed all the questions in the below box :)
Anyway, here's what I put together inspired by the Fall Tag video:

1. Some of my favorite things about fall are all of the warm spicy scents that get released at Bath and Body Works. I just bought one of the new scented candles in "S'Mores" and I absolutely love it! I also love amber scents like B&BW's "Sensual Amber" body mist and Hilary Duff's "With Love" perfume.
2. A favorite wardrobe item for fall is moccasins. I've never actually owned a pair, but I think the pair I put in the picture is super cute. They are from PacSun: Black Poppy Black Poppy Tessa 182 Moccasin

3. It seems like owls are especially popular in the fall and I can never have enough owls in my life. This is a cute owl pendant necklace from PacSun with an antique look that will compliment a fall wardrobe : With Love From CA Circle Pendant Owl Necklace

4. I love any nail polish from Essie's fall collection. I looked at 3 different stores today hunting for Essie's Very Structured polish which is a burnt sienna color....soooo pretty! (I never could find it though!)

5. I love skinny jeans for fall even though flares and boot cuts are coming back. Levi's has a new fit released for their jeans that are supposed to have a more custom fit depending on the curves of your body. This pair is the "demi" curve which PacSun and Urban Outfitters both carry. I think they'd look really cute with a pair of moccasins.

6. Mod Cloth is coming out with some really cute tops for fall including this one, the Pumpkin Roulade Top. I love the colors burnt orange, mustard, azure and jade for fall :)
7. A favorite hair product for fall is Redken's Velvet Gelatine. It will definitely help you achieve soft bouncy hair...and in the fall I tend to go for a loose curled look, so Velvet Gelatine is a must. And it smells soooo amazing.

8. Fall and candy corn go perfectly together! Like Cadbury Eggs and Easter...yum.

9. I love scarfs like this for fall in jewel tones. This one is from Mod Cloth, You're the Pom Scarf.

10. A favorite fall makeup item for me is definitely Stila's Natural Eye Palette. I also like the Urban Decay Naked Palette for fall. Smoky brown eyes and a natural lip or neutral eyes with cat eyed liner and bold lips are always great fall makeup looks :)

One of the questions in the tag was what you plan on being for Halloween. I really have no clue what I'm going to be for Halloween! I want to put together something creative, but I'm really lacking in the creativity department lately...my mind has been focused on 1,000 other things blaaah. Anyway, what are you all being for Halloween?

Essie Resort Collection Summer 2011

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting as often. I feel like I say that a lot...but eh I'm trying to get a new apartment and I've developed a video game addiction that takes up all of my time hahah. Anyway, I still love nail polish so I had to blog about the Essie Resort Collection for Summer 2011. I found a four pack of minis at Ulta so it was perfect because I could try all of the colors out. All of the names in this four pack were "safari" themed.

From left to right: Da Bush, Lion Around, Fair Game, Your Hut or Mine
In the picture I'm actually wearing Your Hut or Mine, but it was reeeeeally difficult to capture exactly what the color is. It's a corally bright pink color with hot pink and violet shimmer that you can see when the light hits it. I think in the picture above you can sort of see the shimmer. It's really pretty! I've been wearing it all week and my toenails are painted with it too. Perfect summer color! I will do blog posts/NOTDs about the other polish colors in the coming weeks. I'm super excited to try Da Bush!
I guess this blog entry is more like a haul because I also wanted to share with you guys the purchase I made at TJ Maxx. I found a trio from the brand Nail Tek called the "Beautiful Hands Complete Care Trio." It normally costs $25 but I got it for $12.99. What a steal! I already use the Nail Tek Intensive Therapy for soft, peeling nails and was running out. So, this trio comes with that AND a ridge filling and strengthening base coat as well as a advanced hydrating hand cream. It's normally about $10 for just the Nail Tek II Intensive Therapy polish so this was a really great deal! I never thought to look for beauty products at TJ Maxx, but they had a lot of stuff! I was surprised. I even saw Philosophy products there and bought some men's shave products there for my boyfriend. Do any of you buy beauty products at TJ Maxx?

Essie Smooth Sailing

Hi everyone! I just got a new Essie polish tonight from Target. I have been dying to get some colors from Essie's Braziliant collection, but every time I see a display for it all the best colors are sold out. I was lucky enough to find "Smooth Sailing" at Target which was one of the colors I wanted. I'm still searching for Essie's "Absolutely Shore." I neeeeed it so bad! Anyway though, Smooth Sailing is really pretty. I don't have any polish color like it in my collection. It's kind of a lavender blue with a pearly shimmer in it.
What color are you wanting to try from the Braziliant collection? :)

2 coats, no top coat

Essie Splash of Grenadine

I've got yet another Essie NOTD post. I definitely consider myself an Essie girl. I think OPI is great, but I always find myself gravitating towards Essie instead. I actually think Essie doesn't chip as easily and I prefer the thinner brush. Anyway, I'm wearing Essie's Splash of Grenadine. The Essie website describes it as a..."playful magenta pink." It's a pretty unique cream pink/purple color and reminds me a lot of an Ulta nail polish I wore a couple of summers ago called "Pink Flamingo." It's a pretty color for summer and I think it would look great with most skin tones...especially those with cooler undertones  : )
And just in case you're interested, one of my favorite YouTube Beauty Gurus, BrittanyMakeup, has an Essie collection video up on her channel:  Essie Nail Polish Haul

Essie's Splash of Grenadine - 2 coats

Essie's Turquoise & Caicos

Essie's Turquoise & Caicos is such a beautiful and unique color. I think it works great with any skin tone and it's a perfect spring nail color. Tribal shades are really in right now like tan, turquoise, purple, silver, etc.
Also, it looks like Essie redesigned their nail polish bottles. The color names are on the top of the bottles now and they added their logo in white on the side.
Anyway, let me know what you guys think of this color! : )

Essie Chubby Cheeks

Yay I'm so excited! I scored a new Essie polish for free yesterday! Around 4 times a year Ulta rewards you for shopping with them. The more money you spend at Ulta, the bigger your reward will be. Well, I actually made Level 2 for the first time ever. I'm usually just a Level 1 shopper...and the reward for Level 1 is like some free cotton balls. Not this time though! I actually got to choose a nail polish up to $8.50. I was going to get an OPI polish from the new Texas collection, but Essie's Chubby Cheeks really caught my eye. I needed to have it! I'm so glad I went with it too because I think it looks great with my skin tone and it will be a nice spring/summer color. The Essie website describes Chubby Cheeks as a creamy bright red-orange color.

Essie, Now a Drugstore Find!

Hi everyone! As you know, I work at Walgreens in the cosmetics department so I am responsible for building displays, adding new additions to our cosmetic's wall and keeping up with beauty news. Lately, the Walgreens Catalina coupon machine has been printing out ads letting shoppers know that Essie is coming soon to Walgreens. This made me very excited! I'm a huge Essie fan and I know Essie was acquired by L'Oreal last year so it seems fitting that L'Oreal would bring Essie to drugstores. I also heard Walmart is carrying Essie now as well. This past week at Walgreens I was working with my manager and coworker to reset our cosmetic wall....and we now officially carry Essie, but the display is pretty much empty (at least for now). Sooo, I got impatient and couldn't wait any longer to buy a new Essie polish so I went to Ulta and gave into temptation. I'm probably still going to buy a lot of Essie polishes at Walgreens though because I get a 15% discount. Well, at Ulta I picked up a really beautiful peach polish by Essie called "Van D'Go." I love it! I think it looks nice with my skin tone and it dries so fast. I really prefer the Essie brushes over the OPI brushes. I'm not into fat polish brushes because I have pretty small nails. I also picked up this nail strengthener called Nail Tek II: Intensive Therapy for soft and peeling nails. My nails refuse to grow! Every time I have any length to my nails it is only a matter of time before they start breaking and peeling. They are pretty thin and soft so I'm hoping this will help strengthen them. The directions say to use it as a base coat and apply as a top coat over polish. I was so close to buying OPI's Nail Envy strengthener, but Ulta was out of the Nail Envy for soft and thin nails and I didn't want to get the original formula. Oh well! I'm sure the Nail Tek is just as good. I had read reviews beforehand and they were pretty positive so we'll see! I'll update you all in a couple of weeks. Also, at Ulta I saw a new collection out from OPI called Texas. How exciting! I'm from Houston so this was a really a neat find! My favorite polish in the collection is definitely Austin-tatious Turquoise. It is soooo beautiful and unique. It's kind of glittery which can be a turn off because glitter polishes are impossible to take off, but it's so worth it. The color is too pretty to pass up. I wish I had my digital camera with me because I would have taken pics, but you can click the link in the text to see the collection.
However, I do have pics of Essie's Van D'Go. Enjoy!