butter LONDON - West End Wonderland

West End Wonderland by butter LONDON is a sparkly delight of gold, silver, and bronze.  I got this one at Ulta's BOGO a few weeks back.  This glitter actually is pretty opaque after two coats.  I only used two coats here, though I probably should have used three.  I've never seen any polish like this one.  The glitter is VERY fine and it leaves a gritty feeling on your nails.  It is kinda weird, but I LOVE the look.  It's fun and different.  This would be a fun pedicure color too!

What are your favorite butter LONDON polishes?

-polish. impress. repeat.

Zoya - Kimber

 Zoya's Kimber is a gorgeous bright fuchsia pink with gold reflux.  It glistens like no other polish I have.  It almost looks like ribbon when it's kind of glittery and shiny.  I know that is a weird description, but that's what it looks like.  The formula is great, though Zoya always is.  I've wanted this polish for a while and finally picked it up in their buy one get one free online sale. 

-polish. impress. repeat.

September 2012 Birchbox

Here she is!!!!  My September Birchbox got here last week, but I haven't had time to take pictures and post them until today.  I am happy with the contents of this months box.  This months theme went along with all the Fall fashion magazines that come out this time of year and Birchbox went with some Fall essentials and inspirations.  Here's what I got:

These are the La Fresh Eco-Beauty Waterproof Makeup Remover towelettes.  These little guys are biodegradable, so I guess if you needed to take your makeup off in the middle of a forest and there was no trashcan around, you wouldn't have to feel bad leaving it behind?  Anyways, I love my Ponds wipes, so I'll try these out and see how they compare.

I love the original LARABAR so I'm excited to try their UBER bar.  These are gluten free for all of you that can't have gluten!

I am always excited to see nail polish in my Birchbox.  Color Club teamed up to make a collection of polish based off of social networks for their Fall 2012 collection.  I got the one that goes with Twitter called 'Tweet Me'.  It is a gorgeous chartreuse color.  I had polishes similar to the other colors that came out, so I was excited to add a new color like this one to my collection.

This is Jouer's Matte Moisture Tint.  I liked the last sample I got of a Jouer Moisture Tint, but it wasn't a good color match for my skin.  Maybe this one will be better.  I like that it is matte, perfect for fall!

This was a rather large sample!  I am impressed!  This is Skin, An Apothecary's Soy Body Whip in 'Poppy'.  It smells good!  It is a mousse-like lotion with soy proteins.  I'm interested to see how this product compares to my favorite lotions.

This is the item that I was most interested in.  These are essential oil drops that you put on your pulse points and they are supposed to help with different things like focusing, sleep, and energy.  I usually don't like the scents of aromatherapy products, but this intrigued me with the awesome packaging and graphics.  I received the Focus Aromatherapy Blend by 21 drops.  I wish I would have gotten the 'sleep' one.  Needless to say, I don't like the smell.  I think this could work wonders for some people, but the smell ruins it for me.

 This months box came with Birchbox's very own Fall Look Book!  It is a cute little pamphlet filled with Fall trends to try out.  This months box also came with a $25 off $75 or more coupon from Madewell and some free music downloads from Tristan Prettyman.

I was happy with this box.  I'm excited to try them out!  If you get Birchbox let me know what you got this month!

-polish. impress. repeat.

Julep - Gunta (Trina Turk)

 Here is Gunta from Julep's Fall 2012 Trina Turk collection.  I still have no idea who Trina Turk is...  If you read my last post, you know the whole fiasco of how this color ended up in my collection.  Needless to say, I am happy with it.  I have been in love with my Nails Inc. Baker Street and this is a little darker that that which is PERFECT for Fall!  I think it looks great!

It does dry a little darker than it looks in the bottle.  It is more of a Navy Blue.  The formula was a little thick for my liking, but it did clean up well.  It was opaque with just one coat, but I did two coats because I always do.  The design of the Julep bottles look great, but they are easy to tip over.  Other than that, I am very impressed with the brand as a whole.  If you are interested in learning more about the Julep Maven program where I got this lovely color, check it out by using my referral link here: http://julep.com/?r=15549195

 

*direct sunlight.  sorry for the fingerprints....  :)

What colors are you looking forward to wearing this Fall?

-polish. impress. repeat.

Borghese - Mediterranean Coral

 I haven't spotlighted any Borghese polishes on my blog yet.  I only own a few, but I now realized why ...  After discovering so many brands with great wear, Borghese has fallen in the cracks.  I think this is a gorgeous color (Mediterranean Coral) and one of my favorite colors I own is by Borghese, but I had this polish on for less than 24 hours before it started chipping off.  That hasn't happened in I can't tell you how long.  It had an 'easy to paint with' formula though.  I like the wide brush too and I usually don't like brushes that stray from the standard brush.

What are some brands that you have a love/hate relationship with?

-polish. impress. repeat.

August 2012 Julep Maven

PREFACE:  I come to you all with mixed feelings about this months Julep Maven box.  Let me say first off that I love the formulation and wear-time of Julep polishes, and I think the Maven subscription service is great, but I don't want to pay $20 each month for the service.  I haven't been IN LOVE with any of the combos over the last several months and so I have skipped them.  I make sure to keep an eye out for the emails so I don't get charged and sent a box I don't want.  This month, I got no email about what box I was getting or that it was my last chance to change boxes.  On the other hand, I did get an email that my box was being shipped out to me.   Uhhhhh wait.  I didn't even get the chance to skip it or let alone change to a different box.
I emailed their customer service and they gave me instructions on how I could return it (they didn't say anything in the email about a restocking fee, but their website said I would be charged another couple dollars).  The email also told me what day the email was sent out and what it was titled.  I looked through my old mail and I had NOTHING of the sort.  Well, the box came, and I decided to keep it.  I already have quite a few polishes in similar colors, but I give in too easily.  So, without further ado, here is the box I didn't want, but I ended up keeping:

On a positive note, Julep Maven boxes are always so cute and girly.  I really do appreciate that.  I guess this month had a theme of Trina Turk. I don't know who that is, but I think I got a magnet with a cartoon version of her on it.

 

I think this is a magnet.  I haven't tried it yet.  I don't think I will use it...

 Here are the things I received in my box.

  It's been a year since I signed up with Julep Maven, so they sent me these cute bangles.  This was a sweet surprise!

 Most Maven's got mascara in their box this month.  Boho glam was the only box that got brown, and I have the boho glam box.  I wish I would have gotten the black.... not a huge fan of brown mascara.  I like the brush though!

 Like I said earlier, they always have such cute packaging.  I mean, come on, how cute and classy is this!?!

 Here are my two colors.  I have Julep's Miranda which is a little lighter than the green I got here.  I wish I had a little more variety.

The blue is Gunta.  Kind of a weird name.  It is a classic royal blue color.  I have been loving blue colors lately, so I'm excited to try this one out.

This is Popova.  Another interesting name.  They both sound European.  I could be completely wrong though.  Nothing too exciting about this color.  I have other greens I like more than this, but after I try it out, I might like it just as much.

So there we are...I'm sorry if I seemed like a complainer this whole post.  I really do like the Maven program and Julep polishes, but I just wasn't happy with how this month's box was shipped with no prior information.  I know that is not typical for them and I encourage you if you like to try out new polishes to join the Maven program.  Here's a link to sign up.  I think new members can join for their first month for only a PENNY!  Enter the code penny at the checkout.

-polish. impress. repeat