Influenster Beauty Bloggers Vox Box 2012!

Hey guys! I hope you are all doing well after Hurricane Sandy. I'm from NYC & I live in Queens & we were hit extremely hard by the hurricane. I'm just glad my family & friends are safe. We lost a lot of things but all of that can be replaced! Today I have a blog post that isn't about nails. I was watching some YouTube Beauty Guru's and they had received a box from this company called Influenster. In the box were a bunch of samples of new things to try. This is one of the videos that I watched so you guys can get a better idea. Influenster Summer Beauty Vox Box -- Influenster is completely free to join. You do have to use some sort of social media, whether you have a blog, make YouTube videos, or use Twitter. You have to answer surveys & earn badges (super easy). I honestly didn't think I would be chosen to receive a box but after a couple of months of signing up & answering surveys & earning badges, I received an email from them saying I had been chosen to receive this box. After you receive the box you have to use the products & then review them. Again, it's 100% FREE! I got a really awesome box & was very happy with it. The box also came with a coupon for Bath & Body Works for a 3-wick candle for $10 (they're normally $20) & I had a limit of 5 CANDLES! I was super excited when I saw that I could get 5 candles for $10 because usually coupons say only one per customer. Here is a picture of everything I got.

Let's start with the mini Bath & Body Works candle. I love Bath & Body Works & I've always purchased candles and body care from there, so I was really excited when I got the coupon & the mini candle. I never tried the Cider Lane scent and I really liked it. For this little candle it had such a long burn time and made my whole room smell so good. I was honestly surprised because I usually only buy the 3-wick candles & I figured the mini just wouldn't be enough. The mini candles retail for $3.50. On the Influenster card it says: 

"Mini but mighty! Bath & Body Works Mini Candles provide and amazing fragrance experience exclusively developed and tested by a team of Home Fragrance experts, including the world's best master perfumers."

Here are the other candles I got with my coupon

French Gardenia, Twinkling Night, Fresh Balsam, Fireside, & Cranberry Pear Bellini

My favorite from these is Twinkling Night. The scent description on the bottom describes it as: "An inspired, shimmering fragrance to set the scene for the perfect holiday fete - luscious blackberry and sweet nectar layered with notes of dark wood and patchouli". I honestly think $20 for these candles is a bit too expensive so I stock up when they have their 2 for $20 sale! If you have never purchased a candle from Bath & Body Works I would definitely recommend it. 

Next I have these Goody Simple Styles Spin Pins. Honestly, if I ever saw these in the store I would never think of purchasing them. I have very long, very thick hair & I wouldn't think these would be able to hold my hair (especially only 2 of them). I was wrong! These 2 pins actually held my hair up! These retail for $7.29. I'm not sure if I would definitely purchase these but I'll definitely use them for lazy hair days. The card says:

"Never have the time for a great updo? Not anymore! The Goody Simple Styles Spin Pin allows you to easily achieve three chic updo styles. Simply twirl your hair and spin the two Spin Pins in for a perfect undone bun, side bun or double bun!"

 Here's a picture of how I did my hair with them:

Next is NYC New York Color IndividualEyes Custom Compact. I'm not a huge fan of NYC makeup I tend to purchase more things from Wet n Wild instead of them. These eyeshadows were okay. I guess for the price you can't really complain. It retails for $4.99. They were very pigmented and I really liked the colors for a smoky look (though I like a matte smoky look more than a shimmery one). The eye shadows were a little difficult to blend together because they would end up just looking like one color and it didn't last long. After an hour or two it just looked like one color eye shadow was on my eyes (even using the primer that it came with). If I saw these in the store and saw a different color palette that I liked I would purchase it and use it for a daytime look for work, but I wouldn't use these at night when I was going out. I never really use the applicator that comes with palettes, I always use my own brushes. I also didn't think these shadow colors enhanced or intensified my eye color. I have brown eyes and I think blue, purple, or green shadows enhance my eye color. I didn't even bother to use the highlighter that came with the palette it was too white! The card says:

"This all-in-one compact comes with everything you need for a complete
eye look: primer, illuminator, applicator and complementing shadows.
With four colors, specially coordinated to intensify and enhance your eye color,

you can create a look as individual as you are. Make your eyes pop!"

Next is the Kiss Ever Pro Lashes Starter Kit. I did not like this product at all. I wear fake lashes sometimes and I normally wear the brand Ardell. I also like fake eyelashes to look some what natural. The ones that came in this box were so dramatic! The kit came with the lashes, glue, and an applicator. I hated the style of the eyelashes, I hated the glue it came with, and the applicator is a waste. I could not get these lashes to work with me at all! I tried to put these lashes on for at least 20 minutes. Sorry but if I'm putting on fake lashes it means I have some where to go and I can't be wasting time trying to get them on my freakin eye lid! lol. I will be sticking to my Ardell lashes, sorry Kiss! These retail for $5.99. The card description says:

"Bring the salon home with this eyelash starter kit, complete with eyelashes,

adhesive, and applicator. This latex-free glue has a 24-hour hold,

for lashes you can bat all day and all night."

Last is Not Your Mothers Smooth Moves Frizz Control Hair Cream which retails for $6.00 for a full sized 4-oz bottle. I received a really nice size sample of it. I love the way it smells. It smells like coconuts. I was getting asked all day what product I had in my hair because it smelled so good. I have extremely frizzy curly hair. I always straighten it though. I put this on when I got out of the shower and I let my hair air dry. The next morning I straightened my hair and my hair was shiny & silky. My mom already went out and bought a full size bottle for herself! I would purchase these. I had purchased a dry shampoo from Not Your Mothers and I liked it but the smell was gross so I stopped using it. I wouldn't say this product reduces styling time like it says it does. It took the same amount of time for me to straighten my hair (1 hour!!). The card describes this product as:

"Smooth Moves fights out of control hair and reduces styling time with coconut and silk extracts."

I hope you ladies enjoyed this post even though it wasn't nail related. Let me know if any of you have ever used any of these products and what you thought about them! 

*These products were sent to me complimentary from Influenster for review.

Essie - No More Film

I really love dark nail polishes for the fall/winter & I always get really excited when a new season starts. For this mani I used Essie - No More Film. I absolutely love this color. I saw it at the store and had to grab it. Essie describes it as a creamy, seductive deep violet. I think it's a perfect description. This is from the Essie Resort 2012 Collection. When I first saw this collection all together I wasn't impressed with any of the colors. But I ended up buying two of the colors randomly not knowing they were from this collection. The other color I have is Pink A Boo which is a gorgeous pink with blue shimmer. Anyway, the formula with this was okay. You can use one coat but I used two. It's extremely runny, it goes where ever it wants to go. But I really do love the color, especially for fall & winter. On my ring finger I used Essie - Stroke of Brilliance which is from their Luxeffects line. I love this glitter. I had absolutely no problem with it. I put two coats on just to get good coverage. The big hexagon glitter came out just as much as the smaller glitter and it covered the nail in two coats.

Fishtail Mani 2

Another Fishtail Mani! Told ya I loved these. I used Orly - Frisky (also told you this was my favorite summer blue lol!) with Essie - Good as Gold & Sinful Colors - Snow Me White. I've really been liking golds mixed with aquas, turquoises, and corals. 

Gradient Mani

This is a mani I had done during the summer. I love using the colors pink, orange, and yellow together during the summer. This is the first gradient mani I did. I wouldn't really categorize it as a gradient mani. I would say it's more of a tie-dye kind of mani. Whatever you want to call it, I really liked it. I used Orly - Lemonade, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Sun Kissed, & Essie - Tour De Finance. I painted my nails the Orly - Lemonade as a base and then I sponged Sun Kissed onto it with a make up sponge that I ripped in half so the sides weren't so smooth and then I sponged Tour De Finance on the tips & put a top coat over it so they blended together better.

Fishtail Mani

This is another mani that I'm late with posting (again I post my manicures to Instagram faster than posting them on here). I absolutely love love love this design. For my base color I used Essie - Lights. It's an awesome hot neon pink. For the fishtail part I used Essie - Fear or Desire (I'm not a huge fan of orange nail polish but I love this one) and Essie - Shorty Pants which is a great bright yellow. 

Caviar Mani

I know I'm so late with these manicures but I haven't had the time to post. I posted these pictures to Instagram just because it's so much quicker than writing a post. This is the Caviar Manicure I did a while ago. I painted my nails with Orly - Frisky (one of my absolute favorite summer time blue's). I bought the microbeads from Michael's craft store. They're the Recollections brand. I got a pack of 6 for I forgot how much but it was so cheap. The color beads I used were Capri. I was not spending all of that money on Ciate brand microbeads and a nail polish, sorry! Definitely not worth the money in my opinion. 

Essie - Play Date

I don't have much to say in this post except that this is my absolute favorite purple! Seriously it's unlike any other purple I have it & when I wore this I got so many compliments on it. Awesome formula, awesome color.

Khloe Kardashian Inspired Mani

So Khloe Kardashian uploaded a picture to her Instagram recently of her manicure. So simple, but so fabulous at the same time. I'm not a huge fan of the Kardashian's but I do get suckered into looking at pictures they upload on Instagram, not gonna lie. This is the picture Khloe uploaded

For my mani I wanted to use a polish I haven't used before that I had recently bought. I used Essie - Knockout Pout which I will definitely be using a lot more of next summer. I used Sinful Colors - Black on Black and a Kiss nail art polish in silver.

I took this picture with my phone but honestly I think my cellphone takes better pictures with my camera. What kind of camera do you guys use to take pictures of your nails? I'm looking to get a new one & I have no clue what camera to get! I also just used my Lush Lemony Flutter on my cuticles which is why they look so oily lol. 

Maybelline Color Show - Shocking Seas

This is one of the first Color Show nail polishes I bought. I'm really glad that drug store nail polishes are expanding their collections & adding so many colors. Blue is always my favorite nail color so whenever I see a new one I have to pick it up. Unfortunately this blue was nothing special to me.

Overall, I'm not a huge fan of the formulas for this line. I don't hate it enough to stop purchasing colors though. I will have a post up soon showing a swatch for one of the colors from the "Denim" collection which I liked the formula a lot more.

First Finger Paints Polish

So I recently went to Vegas & while I was there I saw a Sally's & had to stop there to check out what they had. Only a real nail polish addict would make a stop at Sally's while in Vegas  lol. I don't have a Sally's near my house so whenever I find one I get excited. I bought my first Finger Paints polish there & I love it. I did a simple mani with an accent nail. I will always love doing a plain manicure with an accent nail. I used Essie's To Buy or Not to Buy which has a gorgeous shimmer in the bottle but unfortunately doesn't show up when you put it on & Finger Paints in Purple Palette. I used about 4 coats of Purple Palette to get it opaque. 

 (in the shade)

I'm Back! & Hunger Games!

It's been so long since my last post! I've been so busy with graduation and work I haven't had the chance to blog :( Hopefully this time I'm back for good. Over the summer I read the Hunger Games & I quickly became obsessed. I LOVED the books. When the movie came out I was so excited but so disappointed. The book was 100 times better than the movie! One of the characters in the Hunger Games is Effie Trinket. In the movie she had such elaborate nail designs. During "the Reaping" I got a good look at her nails & tried to do it on myself. 

It was so hard to get a good picture with my camera. I used Color Club in Hot Like Lava as my base coat and Wet n Wild Chrome in A Show at the Palladium on the tips. I love both of these colors. I used a make up sponge to apply the gold on the tips. Hope you guys liked it!

*Follow me on Instagram for more of my nail photos. I tend to upload pictures on to there more often since it's just easier and faster! @roeguns :)

Color Club - Wicked Sweet

I found my new favorite blue nail polish for the summer. I went into the pharmacy where I used to work a while ago and I saw they had a small collection of Color Club nail polishes that they never had before. It was a bunch of random colors from a mix of different collections. It was weird. So of course I had to get some.. I got this blue thinking it wouldn't be anything special and I finally tried it on and OMG I'm obsessed. It might just be me but I don't know I really love this blue. I didn't know it was scented though until I put it on and I'm not really a fan of the scent. It smells like blue raspberry to me. But seriously this blue is gorgeous. It's pretty sheer but 2 coats of it was perfect. It applied great. I had to look it up on other blogs because I didn't even know what collection it came from but I think it's from the Summer 2011 Collection. Here are the pics...

AHH obsessed! Lovesssssss it!

St. Patrick's Day Nails!

I don't really celebrate St. Patrick's Day.. I don't really know why.. I'm Italian but you know everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day lol.. This year I'm not celebrating either, I have a Sweet 16 that night but I still wanted to do some fun St. Patrick's Day mani's. I'm putting both of them in one post because St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow!

For the first one I just painted my nails green with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Green With Envy (I've never used this before so I'm glad I got to use it with this mani). I painted my ring finger orange with Essie's Orange, It's Obvious from the Spring 2012 Collection. I also put gold glitter on my ring finger using Sephora by OPI Only Gold for Me. Then I drew little shamrocks on the rest of my fingers using Sinful Colors San Francisco using a toothpick, which was a little difficult because the polish is sheer, so I had to keep going over the shamrocks. Here are the pics..

For my other mani I painted all of my nails in Sinful Colors San Francisco. Using a toothpick and a dotting tool I drew a little pot of gold using Sinful Colors Black on Black & Revlon Gold Coin. Then I drew a rainbow using Sinful Colors - Ruby Ruby, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mellow Yellow, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away, Wet n Wild - On a Trip, & Essie - Orange, It's Obvious.

Hope you guys enjoy your St. Patrick's Day! & post a link if you did any fun St. Patrick's Day nail designs, I love to see them!

  

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Coral Reef

I've been on a pink craze lately with nail polish. I rarely ever wear pink colors but lately I've been loving them. I'm usually more of a blue/green nail polish lover. Of course I can't go into a drug store without going over to look at the nail polishes & while I was in CVS I saw this Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear color that I've never seen before. I guess it's always been there but it never caught my eye until today. I love this color & I think it'll look so great with a tan in the summer. It reminds me of Wet n Wild's Tropicalia but I'm not really sure how similar they are. It was a little streaky on the first coat but the second coat came out perfect. & I can never leave my nails alone & I always have to add something to them so Essie's As Gold As It Gets was sitting in front of me staring at me while I was starting to upload the pictures & I was like oh wait this will look fabulous. This warm weather is making me want to wear summer nails & this look is gorgeous for the summer!