ChG Review: Hope Chest & Cosmic

Ok, so awhile ago the lovely Irene from ChG PR sent me these polishes.
The randomness made me think that she just grabbed up the first ones she could find.. which is fine with me! Any free polish is great polish.



This is Hope Chest. Hope Chest is a light ivory sheer, with no hint of shimmer. Please forgive the dreadful application, me and sheers aren't exactly best buddies. However, I have to say that while I highly dislike sheers (I have awful staining and uneven VNLs), I think anyone who likes them or even doesn't mind this would love this polish. If it was just a tad more opaque, I think I would too. The application was great, with a few streaks here and there, but nothing that isn't expected from a sheer like this. I wanted to try to make it opaque, but I decided against it, as it's obviously meant to be a sheer. As usual, the ChG brush was fine, but nothing special. Overall, a great polish for those who love sheers. This swatch was 3 coats, no tc/bc.



This is Cosmic. Cosmic is a black base with somewhat sparse holo glitter, with a few round or hex (I couldn't tell) glitters thown in. I'll admit, I had high expectations for this polish. Though it mostly lived up to them, I would have loved for the glitter in this polish to be a little denser.The application on this was lovely. Although it was chunky, the glitter did spread out fairly evenly, which I wasn't expecting. It's really quite sparkly, and though the sparseness of the glitter isn't a good thing for me, it honestly makes your nails look like a night sky, complete with stars and the occasional planet. I think this would be a cool polish for really casual day events, because without sun it looks a bit dull.

Here is a bonus blurry shot to show off the sparkle:



*These products were sent to me for review

Urban Outfitters NP: Swatches & Review

Ew.

I thought I'd love these, honestly. The color look amazing (Not the most unique, but great nonetheless), the bottles are adorable, and I haven't heard horrible things about the formula.

However, that may be because it's so bad that it's practically bad voodoo to speak of it. I may be exaggerating a bit- they could be worked with if one had the time, skills, and patience.. but it's not worth it for me. See my 'NYC Hauls' post for the bottle pics.

Another thing I don't like is that these polishes are unnamed. They are labeled only with a color and a number- making it possible to find a specific shade, but confusing and rather boring. This is Blue 2. This one was a four coater, and there's still streaks. Sadly, I love this shade.. but hate the polish. I'm really into brights and grey-toned shades right now, and this fits the bill (it's a bit more grey IRL)

This is Blue 1, with plenty of streaks and bald patches for everyone. This is a really common color though, I'm sure I could find a dupe of it if I really wanted to. This is four coats. I'll admit the bald patches were probably my fault- I rushed, and ended up dragging. This shade isn't that special- pretty but unoriginal. It reminds me of ChG Shower Together IRL, sans shimmer.

Woohoo, streaks! I found a genuine 'Barney' purple. I'm really tempted to do a mani with this and lime green polka dots. Barney was my favorite show when I was little.. next to Out of the Box & Rolie Polie Ollie. Anyway, this swatch is three or our coats.. I'm not sure exactly. I'm going to guess four though, because I have a four coat limit for swatches. I do like this color, and I think five coats could make it look alright.

And this is 'Purple 6'. How is this purple? I know purples are had to photograph, and this is a bit more purple IRL, but I never understood that. I think overall this is the one with the most promise. I believe this one is three coats.. a miracle! I quite like this shade.. it's a nice one. 

Overall.... not a good collection, not a good brand.

Their clothes are amazing though!

Essie Swatches & Review

Hey guys :)

I just received a few samples from Essie to review- two from the upcoming Resort collection, and one from the spring 2010 collection.

Starting off, we have the lovely Red Nouveau.

After hearing about the ridiculous sheerness of most Essie polishes, I was extremely pleased to open this hottie up, and discover a one coater. I did two coats in this picture because I have a hard time breaking habit, but it could have easily been a one coater. This color is described as a "fiery hot crimson", which I find very accurate. This picture is quite accurate, except that the polish is just a tiny bit cooler IRL. It looks to me like the color of a frozen tomato (yes, I do freeze tomatoes). It's a great polish for casual events, but I wouldn't use it at work.

Next up is A Splash of Grenadine, from the summer 2010 Resort Collection. ASoG is a really nice cool-toned pale pink. It's described as "playful magenta pink", which I don't exactly agree with- I don't see much magenta at all. This swatch is 3 coats, but they were rather thick so perhaps four for the very thin-coaters out there. The application had no issues at all, but it was nothing special either. I love this shade because although there are a lot of pinks, this one is quite unique- I've never seen anything like it. I also love the name, though in real life Grenadine is a deep red... perhaps that's why it's only a splash of Grenadine. This shade is great for anything, I think it's very work appropriate. Overall, very nice.

Last but not least is my personal favorite, Turquoise & Caicos. Though it didn't turn out exactly how I expected it to look (In my mind it looked much bluer- more teal than turquoise), this is a really nice shade, and very unique for Essie. The color is less vibrant in real life, a bit more on the pastel side. Essie describes this color as a "flirty and tropical pretty aqua", which is pretty spot-on. This swatch is three normal coats. Application was fine, it did get a bit streaky on my ring finger but that was my fault, I rushed this one. I don't really like this color on me, as I don't like any form of mint/pale green on me at all. I think it's look wonderful on people with either really tan or really pale skin though. Though it's definitely not work appropriate, it's not overly obtrusive either, making it a great, versatile shade.

Thanks for reading, guys!

**These were sent to me by the company for review.

Review: Savina Nail Polish

I'd like to talk to you guys about a new (to me) brand of nail polish my friend gifted to me. Luckily, they have labels on them that shows that they are from Nordstrom Rack. I truthfully love these polishes. The bottle is exactly like china glaze with slightly modified caps. The caps have some sort of squiggly pattern on them, but I believe that's for aesthetics and not an important function. I own five Savina colors:



From right to left- Passion Pink, Neon Yellow, Golden, Money Tree, Black Pearl.

I love all these colors except Neon Yellow. I found this color really odd because though it's very bright, it's also a shimmer.. which I find to be a rather displeasing combination. Without a doubt my favorite polish of theirs is Black Pearl, an amazing duochrome (triplechrome?) foil. I found the bottle design and brushes to be great, exactly like the ChG ones. The brush is a bit skinny but it works very well. The formula had no issues- it wasn't drop dead amazing, but it wasn't any drugstore polish either. All together, these polishes were very pleasing :)

Holy cow. Review: Body Shop Mango Scrub

Ok, so I was looking through my old Body Shop sets to try and find more 'miracle' products, and I decided to try out my mini mango body scrub. Holy cow, I think I just died.

This stuff is.. amazing. Just so amazing.
It smells divine, just to start off. I love the mango scent from the Body Shop, along with strawberry and pomegranate (which I believe is/was limited edition).  I'll admit I took a rather large scoop of it just to wash my hands, but that's alright. I found it to be a very dense paste with small granules (I'm not sure what they are- perhaps sugar?) that felt amazing on my hands. After I rinsed it off I found this odd oily sheen on my hands.. and I know I'm in the minority, but I LOVED it. It made my hands feel amazingly soft and supple, and I thought it was great. After that I went and did my nails (using a small amount of acetone on a q-tip to clean my nails first) and they still feel great!

Overall.. love at first sight!

Review: The Body Shop- Strawberry Body Butter

Alright, I know it says body, but I use this exclusively for my hands.
And I love it!
I had a full container of this sitting on my dresser for well over a year before I finally decided to try it out.
It's a nice, thick body butter that goes on very smoothly and makes my hands feel great. It leaves little residue (Though I would put it on after the polish, and none if you're wearing matte/suede), and sinks into the skin very quickly. The scent is delicious, but very strong. So, if you love the scent (Like I do), you'll be very happy, but if you feel otherwise then this isn't for you.

I first decided to try this product due to my extremely dry/flaky hands.
I'm on a no buy, so I decided it would be good to try everything I had before going out and buying some random hand cream. And boy, am I glad I did!

My hands are now extremely smooth and well colored (They have a tendency to become washed out and oddly colored with dryness), and smell very good too. It took me while to find the best times to apply it, ut I've discovered that if I apply it twice a day then it keeps my hands nice without overdoing it.

The body shop carries loads of different scents and formulas, I also own a mango scented one and love it just as much. Overall, a great product!