New indie brand for me.

I follow a nail blogger on Instagram by the name of mcpolisn and her blog is polishetc.com

Well tonight she posted this picture: http://websta.me/p/1038754945121534947_331517447

I told J I wanted it. Theeeeeen I saw this picture: http://websta.me/p/1038726100498661699_331517447

I told him I changed my mind and that I wanted that one. 

He told me I could buy it. I wasn't going to and figured I'd try to buy it after our next pay checks but then I saw on their Facebook that this is the last restock for it and that once it's gone, it's gone. I went ahead and ordered it and added a mystery polish too. The brand is new to me but I think starting out with two bottles is a good start. I had money in my PayPal account too to put towards it. 

The color is The Border Patrol by Pahlish. 

I wonder if they do freebies with large orders or send freebies just because. Rainbow Honey does and it's a huge factor in why I keep purchasing from them and why I do large bulk orders.

Tomorrow, July 28th!

Tomorrow is release day for samples from PinchMe. If you have an account, tomorrow at 12 PM EST is  sample day. Once or twice a month they release new samples. They go quickly, so make sure you're there early. If you don't have an account, create one but I don't know if you'll be able to get samples tomorrow. But try just in case you can. I still have a box from the beginning of the month on its way. 

I love getting free things in the mail.

Here's some of what I've received in the mail the past month that are free. I started signing up for these the weekend of June 13th. Then June 20th, I received my first samples which was the Mario Badescu products I posted about. I still haven't tried those yet. So since it has been 4 weeks since that post without me updating, I'll just do a monthly update all at once. 

So after 5 weeks of my first sign ups I've received:

The Ecotools brush is part of a employee program where we receive products to try out for free. The carefree liners are part of a "7 day challenge" kit. 

These four all came in a box from PinchMe. That was my second order from them and I have a third one coming too. The first one I did in January and then forgot about it completely. In June I remembered. Once or twice a month they offer up samples and you fill up your box. When I did it the first time, I got 2 samples. This second time they said I had room for 4 products so I went with everything that was there. I already have tried that deodorant and I love it and had just bought a full size of it the week before but it'll be good to have for traveling. The tea is for J. The cat food is for Sylar. But we ran out of dog food yesterday and so I used one of the perfect portions to feed Kreasy some mixed with dry cat food. It was really hard to open and I ended up with juice all over my hands afterwards. Kreasy had no problems with it. Eventually I'm sure I'll give the other one to Sylar. 

When I built my third box, I could choose 5 samples. I think there was 6? Plus 1 sold out. I picked my five and then they're sending me 3 or 4 bonus samples too. I like it because so far they're not foil packets. They're travel size/deluxe size samples. You choose a bunch on one site instead of going to each site. And it's all sent to you within 4 weeks (honestly I think it's 3) in one box instead of getting numerous boxes. 

I got this the same day as my Ipsy bag. I'll definitely use these. I've been wanting to try them. 

The hair products came in the mail on Thursday. The dental items were from my dental cleansing visit on Thursday. But I don't know if that counts since they probably charge it in your appointment fee, lol.

Today I got this!!!!!!:

I don't know why I'm very excited about it. Maybe because it's full size. I wanted to try to use it after I wash my hands. I get things and then try to use them not for their intended purposes, lol. This is for arms and legs after shower. But hands are part of the arms. We'll see. This one was also from the same employee program. 

I have about 8 more coming from them at this point. Plus various other samples. I have also signed up for about 5 free magazines. Teen Vogue, This Old House, Bride?, Martha Stewart Living and some photography magazine. I think I signed up for the last two twice. Oops. I don't know if I signed up for anything else. 

I know I have a Target sample on the way, several kinds of pet food, mascara, shampoo, pads, maybe some tampons. I can't think of what else. Hopefully when I write this post on August 20th, I'll have even more to post about. 

July's Allure Beauty Box

This was the first month that Allure took over the Beauty Box. It's curated by their editors every month with roughly 5 products (I've seen some with 6 including July's!). It's $15 a month. 

Everyone got the same box this month which was kind of disappointing. The only differences were the color of one of the products. 

It was kind of a disappointing box. I was hoping for a nail polish (I will never not wanting more nail polish) and maybe some other types of make up since I'm trying to start a make up collection again. 

The invisibobbles? I tried it and it felt loose in my hair and then when I was trying to get it out, it was tough to remove. Hair was getting caught and the hair tie was getting tangled up with itself which made it even more difficult. I will probably just try to swap or sell this at some point.

The mascara is black and is a mini but there isn't a size listed. I'll probably save this one and swap/sell the ones that I do have. (Rimmel and CoverGirl) 

The super goop sunscreen spray?? I actually love this product. You must shake it first. If you don't, it's not going to work the way it's supposed to. I read reviews and people weren't shaking it or for long enough and the results weren't good. It's also not meant to be used as a sunscreen by itself. It is SPF 50 which is great but you're spraying it on your face, so you're not going to get good enough coverage. It's meant to go over your make up, sunscreen, moisturizer and mattify it. I've used it over my sunscreen. I can use a lower SPF now and now have to worry about the shininess which has been a problem with some of the sunscreens I've tried out lately. It only gets shiny across my nose and cheeks, so I just focus the spray there. It works to make it matte. I haven't had any reactions with it or sunburns. I would buy this in the future for sure when money is a little better. 

I haven't tried the other products yet but I'll try the hair products for sure. If I can remember to use the eye serum on a regular basis, I will. It's supposed to be really good. Oh, I lied, I did try it out. I put it on one night and I have no complaints on the formula. It absorbed well and it didn't feel greasy. But I only tried it one night so can't speak to its magical abilities yet. 

July's Ipsy bag!

I signed up for Ipsy last month. I got my first bag for the month of July.

I didn't get either nail polish which is what I really wanted! Boo. 

Crown tweezers- full size value $10.50

Coolway sea salt spray- sample size value $1.96 .05 oz

Pūr~Lisse cleanser- sample size value $6.43 1oz

Teeez lipstick Read My Lips in shade Killing Me Softly- full size value $22

NickaK eyeshadow palette, I think mine is called Sierra- full size value $4.99

The full value of this box is $45.88.

My thoughts: I love the cosmetic bag (I didn't include the value of it in my box value because I don't think anyone knows a value for the bags but probably $2-$4.) and will definitely find a use for it. The cosmetic bags every month is a big draw for me. I'll use the sea salt spray and cleanser for sure. I love the lipstick's tube packaging. It has a skull on it but I'm not sure I'll ever use red stick. I might try to trade the lipstick for a nail polish. The eye shadows look pretty and I'll save it, I want to start wearing makeup when I go out again so this will be a start. I will never wear makeup for work with my current job. Four days out of the week, I'm outside in the sun/heat for 2-4 hours and it is miserable. The last thing I want is to add makeup to my sweaty face. The tweezers? I'm not sure. I don't pluck so I might also try to trade this but I'm not sure for what or if anyone would want to trade for the tweezers. 

I am much happier with this bag than I was with my June Birchbox and for now, I'll keep Ipsy.

Edit!! I already swapped the lipstick for the Auroa polish from the July bag plus she sent me 3 other bottles of polish. Including a Julep. It's my first Julep too.

And I forgot to include my referral link in this post so here it is https://www.ipsy.com/new?refer=v37zv

My feelings won't be hurt if you don't use it. 

Ant-Man!!!

Ant-Man was really good!!! We saw it last night. I didn't look at my watch the entire time. I always look at my watch when the movie starts and then usually check it half way through and a few more times after that. Some movies just start losing my interest. Not so much the movie itself. But sitting there all cramped up in the seats and people kicking the row I'm in just starts to get to me and I'm just thinking this movie needs to end. But I didn't look at my watch! It started at about 7:18pm and we walked out 2 hours later and I never looked in between. Don't get me wrong, I still was uncomfortable and tried stretching my legs* out and was annoyed that my row was getting kicked. But.... The movie was awesome. I'm tempted to suggest that we see it again and I know when it comes out on DVD we'll buy it and I'll watch it then. We buy all the Marvel movies so that's not a huge surprise. 

The best part of the movie was the yummy-ness of Paul Rudd. There's even a scene where he's not wearing his shirt. Best part! 

And don't worry, Ant-Man will be returning!!! Yayayayayay. 

*my hip and knee joints get super stiff when I stay in one position for too long. Like at the movies. I can't stand up and do anything for my hips but if I can at least stretch my legs/knees during the movie, things will be better. We try to sit where I can do that but sometimes, isn't possible. I'll then contort myself so that I can extend my knees and crack them. Yup, my knees crack. Often. My hips too. 

I went to the dentist yesterday. My teeth are great and they're awesome and I'm doing a great job there. But my gums suck. They're worse now than before. I'm supposed to use this prescription mouthwash now for gingivitis but I'm scared. Lol. It can stain your teeth and alter the taste of everything. You're not supposed to eat, drink, rinse or brush your teeth after using it. But I can't find anything yet that says how long. I'm going to ask the pharmacist on Sunday. You're supposed to brush before you rinse with it and use it twice a day but I always drink water, especially in the mornings at work and before bed. I'm not thrilled about this stuff. 

I painted my nails Monday night. It's time to paint them again but I'm not sure what. I'm trying to use colors I've not used in a while. Or colors that are almost empty. I want to use up some colors but it's so hard to get to the bottom. I've combined stuff before but I don't have duplicates of everything but also some stuff isn't in the greatest condition and so I don't want to mix it with th ends fresh stuff. I've thought about using a regular paint brush to get to the bottom. Or pouring it into some smaller empty bottles I have. But I don't think I have any mini empty bottles and I have a few where a mini is what I need. 

I will figure it out! 

So what should I use tomorrow? I'm thinking Maybelline Styled Out. It's one of the first blues I bought to try to match my ring. =)

July's Mystery Bag from Rainbow Honey

I am going to start this off right away and say I wasn't impressed with this bag and I didn't really like it. It feels like the October bag to me. Very BLAH. I had already seen the spoilers so I knew what was coming.

I switched my bag to the mini this month. It's $13 with shipping and it's still a great value. The minis sell for $5 each so $15 in nail polish plus the extras. I didn't take pictures of the names but it's Summer Tan, Calama and Costa Dorada. The Pomelo body spray is a new scent but in an already existing form. Pomelo was in cuticle oil form in the April bag and I loved it. I was hoping they would release more products in that scent. They did! There's a whole collection that is available for pre sale right now. It gets released in August. I would buy the cuticle balm but they didn't make it in this scent. =( the Shea butter is unscented and its unexciting that way. I don't like all their scents but it's still fun to find out if I do or not. The final product is the sweet mandarin lip scrub. The scent is new and they've sent out a few lip scrubs this year in mystery bags (January. Valentine's Day and April) and sold it in April for the first time. I don't use lip scrubs but I was hoping I would like the scent so that if something is released later on, I could buy it. But the scent is so weak, I can hardly smell anything so I can't tell if I like it or not. But I'm going to say I don't because something that weak shouldn't be scented then. 

I like Calama and Pomelo this month. 

Confessions of a nail polish addict tag!

I saw a YouTube video the other day that was "Confessions of a nail polish addict tag" and I've wanted to answer the questions ever since! But the YouTuber didn't put the list of questions in typed form, she just read them in her video. So I started searching for it and I found a ton of blogger's who had the questions typed but they answered them underneath the question and didn't provide the questions without answers for someone to copy/paste. I copied/pasted from a blogger and then altered the questions a little bit and I'm going to answer them here. BUT at the end I'll also provide the questions that someone can just copy/paste without having to delete my answers or copy each question by itself. Here goes.

1. What nail polish(es) are you wearing on your nails right now?

I did a 4th of July manicure today and so there's lot of polishes. 

Base: Qtica natural nail growth stimulator.

Colors: Rainbow Honey Crimson Nebula (red), Rainbow Honey Kosmic Blues (blue), Revlon Degas (white, it's a nail art bottle called Night and Degas), Maybelline Ice Princess (holographic glitter).

Top coats: I have three different top coats going on. I have Gelous nail gel coat over each layer of color polish, then I did one coat of Sephora Formula X clear top coat on top of all the colors and the final coat of Gelous and finally there's a coat or two of Essie Good To Go. I use the Sephora to give it some thickness. 

2. What is one nail product you can't live without?

A fast drying top coat. 

3. What is your favorite nail polish brand (mainstream and indie)? 

Sinful Colors and Rainbow Honey. But RH is the only indie brand I've tried so far so I'm sure this could change if I ever try another brand. 

4. What kind of nail shape do you prefer to wear and do you prefer long or short nails? 

Square and long! Nothing else. Some of my nails though grow rounded (almond) and it annoys me so some of them are rounded if I don't file. 

5. What is your go-to color?

Blue!!!

6. What is your favorite nail polish finish? 

Glitter. But I can live with cremes... If I have a glitter top coat, lol.

7. What's on your nail polish wish list?

I have over 600 nail polishes right now so I'm going to say I don't have a wish list. But I do have a small Pinterest board of colors I like and don't have. 

8. When do you usually paint your nails (mornings, afternoons or evenings/nights)? 

Evenings/nights. 

9. What's your top nail tip that you swear by?

Use a good base coat! Lots of people don't use a base coat, don't use a quality base coat or they only do one coat of their base coat. Skipping two coats of a good base coat could cause staining. The one thing that bugs me about people's natural nails is when their nails are yellowed/stained. I've used black, blue, green nail polishes for many years and if I do 2 coats of a decent base coat, I can prevent staining. I've used several Sally Hansen base coats, OPI nail envy, Qtica nail strengtherner and Ciaté nail tonic hydrator for the last 8-10 years and have successively prevented staining if I do two coats. If I do one coat, I could have staining or I could break a nail.

10. What nail polish do you regret buying? 

Most of the ones that I semi regret buying are ones I've bought at either Dollar Tree or Big Lots. I've bought a ton of polishes at those stores because they're cheap and usually are brands I like (Milani, Revlon, Sinful colors, Loreal and Maybelline for instance) but I can't say that I've used those polishes more than once if at all. In 2012 I had a favorite glitter topper from Milani and around 2014 I saw it at Dollar Tree so I stocked up. But I've yet to even finish the first bottle I did have. Same with a Maybelline color I bought. I loved it and used up half of the first bottle so when I saw it at Big Lots, I bought it but haven't used anymore of the first bottle since. Then I've bought several L.A. Colors polishes that I didn't use. I bought a base coat and a holographic glitter but haven't used them. I bought a top coat that said it was a Seche Vite top coat but is NOT the same as their famous fast dry top coat and I've never used it or the L.A. Colors bottles.

 

11. Neons or pastels? Brights or darks? 

I typically avoid neons because they usually require a white base coat but I will use almost any pastel, bright or dark nail polish. I try to discriminate. =)

12. What is your holy grail base coat, top coat and color?

Base: OPI Nail Envy but I've been using Qtica's nail strengthener because I had it and ran out of nail envy and wanted to use what I had instead of buying more Nail Envy. 

Top coat: I have preferred Essie Good To Go over Seche Vite for a while now but lately I use Essie with Sephora Formula X top coat together and I like the combo. Sephora can be fast drying by itself but doesn't dry the other layers like the Essie or Seche do. But I can get the thickness I like with one coat of Sephora so I use both and I'm happy. 

Color?? My holy grail COLOR? Oh man... If a glitter top coat counts as a color then it would be Maybelline Colorama Ice Princess hands down. I bought it in 2005 and it was discontinued so I bought 8 bottles on eBay in 2008 or 2009 because my first bottle was empty or close to it. I have 3.5 bottles left out of those 9. I gave 2 away so it becomes 7 that I've had which means I've used 3.5 bottles of it! But if that doesn't count then my holy grail color would be Revlon Bubble Gum, even though I haven't used it much since 2012 but it is a shade of pink that I love and have based all pink shades on since. 

13. What is one brand you want to try but haven't yet? 

I'm going to pick just one brand and go with Picture Polish. See, I can be easy!

So I answered everything and some of them are very in depth. Probably way more info here than anyone ever wanted to know. But just like I promised, here's all the questions without my answers to make it easy to copy/paste...

1. What nail polish(es) are you wearing on your nails right now?

2. What is one nail product you can't live without?

3. What is your favorite nail polish brand (mainstream and indie)?

4. What kind of nail shape do you prefer to wear and do you prefer long or short nails?

5. What is your go-to color?

6. What is your favorite nail polish finish?

7. What's on your nail polish wish list?

8. When do you usually paint your nails (mornings, afternoons or evenings/nights)?

9. What's your top nail tip that you swear by?

10. What nail polish do you regret buying?

11. Neons or pastels? Brights or darks?

12. What is your holy grail base coat, top coat and color?

13. What is one brand you want to try but haven't yet?

Happy 4th of July. I'm sitting in my closet.

There's a small party going on here right now and there's a thunderstorm going on. So Kreasy isn't happy. He doesn't like strangers and growls at them so P bought him a muzzle and it works but after about 5 hours of it, he did NOT want it on. Now there's a thunderstorm here and he is so scared of them. He has panic attacks during really bad ones. Like right now. I've been sitting in the bedroom with him for about an hour. Then I took him out into the living room with his lease and J put his muzzle back on him. He just sat with me wherever I was sitting. I went to the bathroom and he went with. Him, just fine. But anytime I wanted to come back into the bedroom, he did not want to go. He wanted to go in S's room or Jacie's room but not our room. So I finally just picked him up and carried him into our room. The closet was his safe place last summer so I sat in the closet and got him up there. He's a lot calmer sitting in here but he won't do it if I'm not in here with him. If I sit on the bed he sits/lays in front of the door freaking out. He pants and shakes. He won't get on the bed either during a storm.

So I'm sitting in the closet with him.

S got a puppy yesterday. Her name is Roxy and she's in our room now too. She's sleeping on the floor currently. She acted like she wanted to go into the closet with us and I picked her up and put her in here twice but then she would jump out. So I gave up. She finally settled down.