Priceline Beauty Bag 2013 Haul

(see catalogue here)

 

It's been a while since I did a haul post but I know a lot of people have been curious about the current Beauty Bag that went on sale today at Priceline, so I though I would do a bit of a haul post as well as list some of the items included so people can make a better choice if they want to pick it up.

 

Now the deal is that you spend $60 on selected brands, in this case Rimmel, Revlon, Models Prefer, Nude, Manicare, Burjois, Kiss, Natio, Australis, EcoTools, Sally Hansen and Savvy. Not the biggest range but decent, especially if you have a few things you might need to pick up anyway. In return you will receive a bag full of stuff worth $220 (supposedly) in value, almost entirely consisting of full size items from those ranges themselves.

 

So let me note that when I pick up the Priceline beauty bag, for the past 3 years (I picked up the skincare beauty bag before I was ever really "into" makeup) I usually split it with a friend or in this case my mum. We have both similar tastes but different needs so it's fairly easy to split it up between us and means no one goes home with something they really don't like. For this reason not all the items from the bag will appear in the photos because mum already took them home, but I will list them anyway.

 

I also want to point out that at the moment Priceline has a lot of sales specifically on Revlon, Rimmel , Nivea and Burjois. (The Burjois lipsticks which are usually $21 are currently all $10)

 

 

So, to qualify for the $60 buy in, mum and I purchased the following items;

 

Burjois "Vert Peptite 55" Metallic Eyeliner Teal (mine) $16

Burjois "Bleu Cinquant 54" Metallic Eyeliner in Blue (mums) $16

Models Prefer Eye shadow Quad in Grand Finale (mine) $4.99 (huh, just notice it was cheaper then listed on the floor where it said $10)

Models Prefer Bronzer & Illuminator Quad (mums) $10

Models Prefer Mystic Smudge Brush $14.99

 

As you can see I also picked up the Nivea Pure and Natural Toner (on special for $5.99 down from $10)

 

With these purchases we qualified for the BeautyBag but also for the Burjois (Spend $20) gift :) Muhahah

 

The Burjois gift included a Burjois blush in D'or (but this may vary), a kabuki brush and a small mirror.

 

The Beauty Bag on the other hand included; (there may be variations in color in individual bags)

 

Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Nail polish (in Midnight in NY)

Revlon Lip Butter (in Sweet Tart)

Natio Lipstick (in Flutter)

EcoToolsShower Puff

Models Prefer Brow Highlighter (what?)

Manicare Cuticle Therapy Oil

Rimmel Wake Me Up Primer (not full size like pictured on the promo)

Australis Pepperatzi Perfect Concealer

Kiss Stick on Nails(in French Manicure)

Press & Go Glue on Nails (in Red)

Burjois MAXI Mascara

Nude Mineral Airbrush Primer

Savvy Facial Wipes

 

For some people this will be worth it, others not so much, but I hope this helps a little.

 

 The Beauty Bag sale will run from Thursday 11th April - Monday 22nd April 2013
 

 

Review: Sally Hansen Salon Effects

Hello, still doing crazy school hours for the next month (graduation) so i apologize once more for my sporadic posting schedule.  However tomorrow I'm on my way to the city so i should be able to pick up some new Essence stuffs = happy.

To help deal with the massive workload currently assaulting me i have been trying to cut out some distractions from my life for the next month, that in a big way includes my nails; which i love to do all the time even when it's totally not necessary and just wastes time and the repeated use of nail polish almost daily wrecks my nails. It's a circle of distraction really; to combat this i purchased Sally Hansen Salon Effects in "360 Laced Up". This wasn't my first go at this product so i felt pretty safe going in and though that coming up to Christmas maybe some of you might want to cut down on the prep time too.

So these are dry nail polish strips that you attach to your nails and they stay on for longer then your average nail polish; at least 2-3 weeks up to a month or longer if your lucky. Having tried these before i got two weeks easy before i lost patience and wanted new nail polishes on, but when i removed it, it was still in perfect condition.

The pack comes with 16 nail polish strips, instruction pamphlet, a min nail file, and a orange stick. The orange stick is pretty invaluable in the very hassle free process. The process is pretty simple;

1 - pick which strip fits which nail (both sides work depending on cuticle shape)
2 - clean and buff your nails
3-  one by one peel of the clear layer on top and the sticky layer on the bottom
4 - place onto nail and press down
5- smooth out with pressure and orange stick
6 - file of excess nail polish

It's easy and requires no heating or gluing; the entire process takes about 20 -30 minutes if your not distracted, took me about 45 minutes because i was playing a game at the time. Doesn't take much concentration. They feel like real nail polish; because it is; you remove it with nail polish remover and smell very faintly of nail polish but it's not overwhelming. And yes, you can put top coat or whatever else you want on top; just treat it like regular long lasting nail polish.

Seriously easy and lots of very pretty designs; plus they are currently on special at Priceline for $11 rather usual $15.Also if your quick you might still find some of the cute halloween ones.

Jelly Sandwhich anyone?

Yesterday i had a pretty chaotic day dealing with banks and Transperth both of which really wanted my money, so i was feeling a little overwhelmed by it all and to cheer myself picked up two new polishes; "Whisper" from the Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect line and a glittery purple thing from Savvy (it calls itself "Purple Viking").

So when i finally got home i wanted to try these out together and i thought what better way then to attempt my very first glitter/jelly sandwich as whisper (actually the entire line) are incredibly sheer and require 3+ coats to build up opacity. however some experimentation proved that my glitter polish was much too fine and got too easily overwhelmed by Whisper. So i started again on that particular trail nail and picked a different glitter polish to try.

My nameless Faceshop polish of glitter and pink love hearts, which worked a treat.

I love the color and finish of Whisper but i can't really recommended, i fell in love with the color knowing full well that the formula on this range is quite atrocious; anywhere from super thin and drippy to globby and sticky; as well as taking ages to dry.

So I'm quite happy with my first jelly sandwich, a little happy to be back at school. 

Nailpolish Stash

I looked at my box of polishes today, and decided that it would be cool to count how many i had and take some photos to  share with you :)

So with now further adu i present my nail polish stash;

The reason my nail polish has grown in the last 5 months was the China Glaze  Hunger Games collection which sent me spinning into nail polish hording :)

China Glaze; Riveting, Stone Cold, Harvest Moon, Electrify, Smoke and Ashes, and Agro

Riveting is my favorite of these, its sucha beautiful unique color.

China Glaze; Re-fresh Mint, For Audrey, Secret Peri-wik-le, Meteor Shower, and Optical Illusion

I couldn't decide between Re-fresh mint and For Audrey, so i got them both. Bad Me.

OPI; Actually Black Onyx, Just Spotted the Lizard, Sparrow me the Drama, I Don't Give a Rotterdam, and Give me the Moon

 OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, Not like the Movies, DS Reflections, DS Radiance 

Now that i look at the photos side by side im almost 100% sure i mislabeled these, Black Onyx is on top and Lincoln Park after Dark is in the bottom photo. Sorry they look really alike in bottle.

BTW my version of Not Like the Movies is the proper duochrome!!! I previously owed the dud version but once i got this one i gave the old bottle to mum. But if anyone wants to see the two side by side just let me know!

Also I'm sad the OPI DS Range is no longer holographic : ( Their holo range predates my love of nail polishes.

Chi Chi; Doris Day, Choose Chi Chi, Before you Go Go, Boom Boom Boom, Relax Don't Do it and Jitterbug

Got this set as a gift, havent tried any of them yet, but i might try a skittle mani when it warms up a little :) Thie quite cute. But calling one of their own polishes "Choose Chi Chi" seems a little arrogant to me.

Essence; Grand-ple in black, Gold old Buffy, The Dawn is broke x2, and Hunt me if you Can

I think it's no secret that when it comes to Essence I'm a little obsessed, so here are my Vampire and one Ballerina nail polishes; among them my all time favorite polish; The Dawn is broken. Hence why it's the only polish i have which i have a back up of, i adore this color; it's edgy, different, not traditionally pretty but when you look closer it's absolutely gorgeous.

Essence; Back to the 50's, I'm a Martine Girl, Love me Tender, Love Peace and Purple, My best nude friends and me. Just the nude of us, Brightmates, and We are all Bright

Most of these i've shown before; the exception being Love Peace and Purple which i have tried to put on about 10 times and every time i finish a single nail i look at the color and hate it so i immediatley remove it. I really need to trey give it a better chance. Also i added "My best nude friends and me" to my collection of the extremes trend, i like it but not as much as "Just the Nude of Us".

Essence; Sparkling Water Lilly, Make it Golden, Fateful Desire, Better late then never, Meet me Now, Where is the Party, Absolutely Blue, Hard to Resist, Blue Addicted, and Galactic Black.

The essence permanents  that got me hooked by their cheap cheap price! I particularly love Better late then never and blue addicted. Meanwhile Make it golden is an awesome addition to any mani.

Revlon; Cherry Crush, Royal, Popular, Scandalous, and Electric

I'm never sure if i like the Revlon polishes; some are gorgeous and some are so vanilla i feel I've seen them everywhere before. My all time favorite from these is Popular it's a beautiful jelly sandwich in a bottle. (This color i have it on good authority used to be called Starry Pink which i think i kind of like better) In the same vein of though i've been searching for it's baby brother "Whimsical" but havent seen it anywhere. Does anyone know if this polish even made it down under?

Rimmel; Green with Envy, Red Carpet, and Princess Pink

Eh Rimmel polished don't really wow me. Their nice, good application and brush.

Sally Hansen; Pixel Pretty, Blu, Lady Luck, Showgirl
Chic, Blue it, and Antique Gold Crackle.

I've owned many Sally Hansen polishes in my life, until about 6 months ago i didn't really care. But i like their brand, it's very reliable quality and they usually do a nice mix of things and bring out something interesting every now and again. BTW i a) didn't know what a crackle coat was when i bought  this, b) i don't really care for the effect. Now that i see the gem the gem crushes seem to be separating a bit oddly in the bottle.

So why is it the most used?....geek moment; i and a friend painted a Dungeons and Dragons miniature with it.

Ulta3 Bewitched, Layla Turquois Wave, BYS In Da Club, BYS Magenta, and Miss Shop Edward Dare

I like magnetics but their formula generally seems to be very thick which is a little difficult to work with. Don't really like either of the BYS polishes probably won't repurchase any new polishes from that brand unless something really unique shows up, and the Miss Shop was a gift. The color on it is nice but the formula is very watery.

MODE Soho, Mode High Fashion, Faceshop Wh003, Pk103, Wh002, and Tickled Pink by Savvy

My most random polishes. The first two are my most recent purchases both picked out by my boyfried to match my new haircut ^^ The faceshop ones are quite good, i love the little glitter harts one and the PK103 is awesome to give shimmer to nay manicure as it's so incredibly sheer.

Color Club Fashion Addict,  Color Club Worth the Risque, Essie Lilacism, and Australis Speck-tacular Top Coat 

My first and (currently) only Holos!!!!!!!

I got them in the middle of winter and haven't had a chance to try them with any sort of reasonable sunny day though :(

My only essie is much treasured, i wore it for a week straight when i got it (only the dawn is broken has achieved the same status) yet i havent bought nay more essie, i think their brand is lovely and neutral but when i have the chance to buy a higher end polishes i try to get something more unique i guess.

BTW this top coat, if you like flakies is the bomb.

So let's count them shall we? 78? not bad for 6 months right?

Let me know if you would like to see a swatch or review for any of these :)

Review: Sally Hansen Xtreme wear "Blue It"

This was my boyfriends first choice of color when i asked him to pick me out a nail polish and it turned out to be a pretty awesome one.

This is two coats (could get away with one) , it is very opaque and goes on very smoothly and self evens very well as well.It's a dark shimmery blue with a long almost flat brush that does the job pretty well but doesn't reach OPI heights of awesome.

Pretty sure this is always i ntheir standard collection so not too hard to find and i have even seen it a few times at Coles intheir shampoo/beauty stuff section. Highly recommend it. This is the best blue i own.

Long lasting, i went a week before changing my nail polish and didn't have any chipping (with a top coat)

The feature nail glitter is also Sally Hansen Showgirl Chic from their Gem Crush collection

Review: Sally Hansen Pixel Pretty

Sally Hansen  Hi-Definition 03 Pixel Pretty

I originally purchased this nail polish after seeing reviews of the previous HD set,

particularly the much loved Sally Hansen HD DVD . This is....nothing like that. Sadly. But it's pretty awesome on it's own merits. 

The color is really what sells this, it's certainly not the application. It is sheer, as it almost invisible to begin with kind of sheer, which depending on your outlook is a good thing or bad thing. I think this might be cool to layer over some other colors so im mostly okay with it. The part im not so okay with is the epic drying time, do yourself a favor and make sure each coat is 100% dry before the next one or it will end up yucky and is a disaster waiting to happen. I used 3 coats, and a 4th coat was strongly considered.

Sorry for the orange hue on the photo but that's what this color does to the camera, this color basically glows. It's bright and rich and crazy glowy. It's got some shimmer in it but this seems to be what gives it that glowy brightness rather than a shimmery sheen within a cream sort of look.

The brush is pretty generic, not very wide more on the Revlon spectrum then the OPI but it is a bit...long. This isn't really an issue I've had before but it does mean you don't have as much control but you can see the nail better while your working. So maybe it's an even trade. But probably not a polish for the beginner.

Here it is with flash and it still won't stop outshining everything else.

A very nice color but a very fiddly polish, if you love the color enough to deal with the annoyances of endless drying times and lots of layering than go for it. Otherwise maybe give this one a miss