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?

February Favorites

Hey! I am going to try to post my favorites every month, but we'll see if I can keep up with that! hah
Let's begin with my February beauty favorites:

1.) Tarte Cheek Stain in "Tickled." I love this blush! It goes on nicely and I love the sheer peachy red color and it's even peach scented!
2.) Too Faced Romantic Eye Palette. I've pretty much been using this palette everyday. I was getting bored with my Urban Decay Naked Palette and I loved the colors in this palette a lot! I am going to do a review on it in the next couple of days :)
3.) Coach Poppy Perfume. I am addicted to this scent! I wear it everyday and the scent is very long lasting. The Coach website describes the scent as "sweetly scented jasmine and gardenia mingle with fresh cucumber and candied rose petals" (I'm bad at describing scents haha)
4.) Nail Tek II: Intensive Therapy for soft peeling nails. This stuff really works! I have definitely noticed that my nails are getting stronger and it's an excellent base and top coat as well.
5.) CoverGirl NatureLuxe Silk Foundation. This foundation provides a very light coverage and goes on like silk. I really like the way it blends into my skin. It doesn't feel like I have any foundation on at all!

Now for my non-beauty favorites...

1.) Little Big Planet 2. Ahhhh I love LBP!!!!! I was so excited when this came out. It is a very addictive game to say the least! All of the levels are so fun and creative and you can even collect costumes and stickers.
2.) Bath and Body Works candle in Japanese Cherry Blossom. I love candles from B&BW and right now the 3 wick candles are on sale 2 for $20. Yay! This scent is one of my favorites and I even have the matching lotion.
3.) Parks and Recreation. This isn't a tangible thing I can take a picture of because I watch it on Netflix and it comes on every Thursday night on NBC. Anyway, I am obsessed with this show! April and Andy are my favorite characters and I also really like Ron Swanson. Such a good show!

So, that's all for now...if you want a more in-depth review of any of the items I mentioned just let me know! I am for sure doing a review on the Too Faced Romantic Eye Palette and will post it in the next few days so stay tuned! Thanks for reading :)

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!