Orly Pixie Dust is kind of an unsung hero – I honestly haven’t seen that much of it since the initial release a year ago. It’s a gorgeous color – it’s a soft slightly blue-ish tinged grey with a lovely subtle silver shimmer to it. I’ve gotten complements on this color from non-nail people. 
This was two coats.
Okay, so this color made me really nervous for two reasons: 1) Lady Sings the Blues was kind of a disappointment and 2) I’m a huge Beatles fan, and I would pretty darn annoyed if the color didn’t live up to the song name. I’m more than relieved on all counts:
Across the Universe is TO DIE FOR. Medium/deep blue jelly base with blue and turquoise hex glitter with smaller blue glitter, and unlike Lady Sings the Blues, the glitter isn’t drowning in the base. Lippmann hit this one out of the park – the base and glitter are perfect with each other. I don’t even care if this takes a year to take off! This was three coats of perfection!
My pre-orders from Nordstrom weren’t going to ship until the 29th, so I went into the store on Wednesday to see if they had any Bad Romance and Across the Universe. They showed them to me, said I could pay for them, but not pick them up until Friday. 
So difficult! Anyway, today I have Bad Romance.
Bad Romance is a deep pink/purple hex and small glitter in a black base. Love love love this color. The base is sheer enough to show the glitter, yet opaque in two coats. End result? HAWTNESS. Totally worth the pain in the rear it was to get it.
On Friday, I convinced Brad to schlep into Boston with me so I could go get my makeup done as part of the Benefit makeup event. Don’t worry, we went out for drinks and dinner afterward. He did very nicely serve as my photographer.
The event was to promote the new Benefit kids, Sunday Funday and Scene Queen. I had my makeup done with Sunday Funday.
The packaging is a little bulky for travel, but the concept is cute:
Anyway, I was also SOLD on the POREfessional, which is an awesome pore-reducing primer. I’m not sure yet how it holds up in the heat (that’s where Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer lets me down), but I’m going to enjoy figuring it out. My skin looked so ridiculously good! I also ended up with Coralista blush – it was in the other kit, not the one I used/purchased, but the artist put it on me anyway, and it’s such a gorgeous coral that I had to have it (she’s smart, that one).
I played around more with the kit, this time over the creaseless cream shadow in Skinny Jeans to try to get more pop:
It looks a little crepe-y in the photos, but it didn’t read like that in person. These aren’t the most pigmented shadows out there, which makes the kit very wearable for day, especially with the subtle shimmer (not over the top). I would probably reach for something else for night.
Sephora snuck in 9 new colors at the bottom of their nail polish page, and I threw one in to make an order meet the free shipping minimum. My first instinct was Club Scene Queen, but I went with Dating the Drummer, described as a “sheer warm walnut with fine holographic glitter”.
Dating the Drummer isn’t actually sheer, and I would describe it as sparkly poop colored, not a warm walnut with fine holographic glitter. Color me very disappointed in this one. This was opaque in two coats, and wearing it all day did nothing to make me like it better. 
All that Jazz is a boxed set that I believe is part of the Nordstrom Beauty Exclusives sale (part of the Anniversary event). I got this part of my order (along with the Essie Fall minis) but not the two Lippmann singles (Across the Universe and Bad Romance). The last two won’t ship until the 29th! So much for pre-order. I went to the local store, and while they let me SEE the two bottles (and pay for them, I might add), I do not get to take them home until Friday. Weird. Anyway…
Lady Sings the Blues is a deep blue jelly with silver fine and hexagonal glitter. I really wanted to like this more, I did, and if it were a $2 polish I would probably be all over it… but something is just not quite right. I think it needs to be more jelly, so the top layer of glitter reads more silver. And maybe less hex glitter, as it was just a bit chunky. This was two coats, not totally smooth with one coat of Addicted To Speed on top.
Some Enchanted evening is fine and hex champagne pink glitter in a clear base. Kind of meh on it’s own – this is three coats (not opaque), not entirely smooth with topcoat.
I tried one coat of Some Enchanted Evening over three coats of Zoya Laurie. I like this look much better – no hex glitter overload, and a nice delicate color effect.
Razzle Dazzle really redeems the set – this is a gorgeous raspberry burst of glitter. Love this one! This was three coats, and was beautifully smooth with one coat of Addicted to Speed.
I know, this isn’t nail polish (or makeup, even), but I think I’ll be breaking format every now and then for those special products that are just made of win.
I think it was Scrangie that tweeted that she was impressed with My Spring It, and after clicking over and scanning the site, I was like, sure, why not? I had been sitting on a mini-facial waxing kit that I hadn’t worked up the nerve to use for my upper lip. I used to use Neet, but I hate the smell and the way my skin gets red. $17 including shipping seemed like a reasonable risk to try a non-chemical, non-wax solution.
I didn’t even watch the video, and it arrived with no written instructions (and I was too lazy to pull up the website again), but I had remembered the two steps (bend it, roll it), and it was really that easy. The coil grabs onto hair and pulls it out. 2 minutes, done, less painful than tweezing my eyebrows. Now, I would NOT use this anywhere you need control (the eyebrows, for instance), but for a small area that you want to obliterate all hair… heck yeah!
I bought the minis with Lippmann polishes from Nordstrom. The min-cube is adorable!
Limited Addiction is a basic red cream. Not really blue or orange leaning, pretty much a true red. And clearly, Limited Addiction is not a name meant to refer to nail polish. At least not for people like me. This was two coats.
Merino Cool is a mushroomy taupe cream. It’s purple leaning, and kind of a “been there, done that” color. This was two coats.
Little Brown Dress is a deep deep chocolate brown cream. Very dark, very vampy, two coats.
Sew Psyched is a green leaning grey cream. This color is really the only one that I really love, the only unique one in the batch. This was also two coats.
Over all, meh – the application and coverage of these creams was good, but I’m not really excited about three out of four of the colors.
This is a collection of four Orly polishes, each packaged with a mini-bottle of Orly Top2Bottom.
La Playa is a deep royal blue cream. It was a little hard to control, just flowed a little too freely from the brush, but this sucker is a one coater! Just apply with care, but a total win.
Bailamos is a fun turquoise shimmer. Very tropical ocean in feel, I like it! This was two coats.
Fiesta is a bright bright fuchsia with a hint of shimmer. I’m glad the shimmer is on the subtle side since the color is so bright. This would be an especially fun summer pedicure, I think! This was two coats.
Olé is a coral cream. This is pretty basic, but is one of the rarer corals that works on my warmer skin tone. This was two coats.
All in all, a good collection. La Playa seems dark in comparison to the rest, but I’m not complaining about a one-coater!
I managed to actually get my hands on the elusive Stereo Rose (I had put one on hold at my MAC store). I also got New Vibe, a mineralize blush:
I also have By Candlelight coming by mail. There are tons of swatches and looks with Stereo Rose, but I haven’t seen many with New Vibe, so that’s what I did my look with. But first, the arm swatches:
The mixed New Vibe actually has a similar look to Stereo Rose, depending on if you swirl evenly, or if you use more pink or more gold. I went with a neutral eye and lip because the shimmer on the cheek doesn’t need any competition.
Face
MAC Prep + Prime Face Protect SPF 50
Makeup Forever HD Foundation 120
Makeup Forever Lift Concealer 3
Makeup Forever HD Microfinish Powder
MAC Mineralize Blush in New Vibe
Eyes
Shu Uemura Hard Formula Eyebrow Pencil in Seal Brown
Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin
Smashbox e/s palette in Bright Eyed
Urban Decay 24/7 glide-on liner in Bourbon
Milani Liquif’eye in Black for tightline
NYX Doll Eyes Length mascara in black
Lips
MAC Kraft Lipstick
