Another Zoya Hot Lips Promo!

"It's Spring so Zoya wants to get Lippy! Hot Lippy!

From now through May 12, 2010 get any 3 Zoya Hot Lips Glossy Lip Balm + Therapy FREE, you just pay shipping.

Simply add any 3 Zoya Hot Lips Shades (over 30 shades to choose from) to your shopping bag at http://www.zoya.com/content/38/category/Zoya_Hot_Lips_Lip_Gloss.html then enter the following promo code "LIPPY" in the "promo code" field in your shopping cart. Press the "Apply Code" button and you will see a credit appear for $18 (The value of 3 Zoya Hot Lips Tubes).

This offer is exclusively available at www.zoya.com to consumer clients inside the Continental USA. Offer not valid in conjunction with any other coupons, offers or codes. Offer expires May 12, 2010."

If you're curious about my thoughts on the Hot Lips, you can read the post I wrote in November here. The three I reviewed were Babydoll (a very light pink -no shimmer), Disguise (deep cherry red - no shimmer), and Luck (a mauvey pink - subtle shimmer).

Are you going to be participating in this promo? I definitely am. Now to remember which other Hot Lips I wanted...

Pop Beauty @ Hautelook Today!

Pop Beauty will be on Hautelook today! I have no idea what they are going to featuring or the discount amount but I hope it's good (I would totally haul if they were featuring the nail polishes in the line but something tells me it's the palettes that have been on http://beautycrunch.com/ for months)! Will you be "tuning" in at 11am EST?

Disclosure: This post includes a referral link.

The Case Of The (Missing) Polish Collector

If you're anything like me, you hate the idea of parting with your nail polishes, even if they may have icky chemicals in them but the thought of missing out on the Zoya nail polish promotion is equally as upsetting. So, therefore I bring you... *cue dramatic music* The Case Of The (Missing) Polish Collector!

Sorry, I'm dealing with an awful sinus infection and thus I probably make no sense. Either way, you all love me so you put up with my silliness.

Anyway, yesterday I went to The Dollar Tree and Big Lots. I don't usually go to Big Lots because it's not in the best area of town and I try not to go there after dark. Thanks to summer, I get a few more hours of sunlight in which to go bargain shopping. Anyway, while I'm not a fan of being wasteful (money and otherwise), I don't see how I could possibly part with many barely used polishes that I likely paid a pretty penny for (my initial plan was to use up - hahahaha so not happening - 6 polishes - the minimum - for the trade in). Nor do I generally like the idea of buying polishes solely to swap them out, but desperate times call for desperate measures people.

Enter my solution:

On the left we have a lovely set from Big Lots containing 4 polishes and an emery board from Markwins for $2 and on the right we have a 4 East Cosmetics french manicure set from Dollar Tree for $1. The first set comes out to $.50 per polish sans emery board and the Dollar Tree set comes out to $.33 per polish.

Here's the deal I gave myself. Before sending these off to be disposed of, I said I would give them a fair shot. If they were crap, fine. If not, I would keep them.

The set from Big Lots contained a rather unremarkable pale pink with shimmer, a red that nearly painted itself (opaque in nearly 1 coat - I used 2 for all these swatches), a silver that left bald spots while trying to add coats and a nice shimmer charcoal color. I'm tempted to keep both the red and charcoal. What do you think?

Note: I didn't swatch the clear
Wow, well these are definitely going to Zoya. Streaky messes, the lot of them. This was 3 coats for each. The white looks like I tried to paint glue on my nails, am I right?

If you're interested in these sets, the Big Lots had a bunch of these near their Mother's Day display (lots of bath stuff too).

Current Faves

I know I don't do these "Current Fave" posts with any regularity, but I wanted to share what I've been loving lately. These are mostly items that I took with me and wore on vacation.

Barielle Natural Nail Camouflage - If you remember, I picked this up during a recent trip to Tjmaxx and I'm loving it! In fact, I wore only this during the trip to Georgia (I didn't want to scare off DH's 93 year old grandmother) and my MIL even commented how pretty my nails looked. I used around 3 layers and it held up surprisingly well for the trip. And I also do really like it as a base. I feel like polishes go on more smoothly because of it. Is it worth $16 and will I rebuy at retail? Maybe? I hope that I run into this at Tjmaxx again so I can stock up because it's great.

ELF Studio Concealer in Ivory - I did a review of a few ELF face products recently and this was one of the newer items I picked up. I was slightly wrong as this isn't a perfect match for my skin. It is slightly more yellow than my skin (yes I realize it doesn't really look yellow at all I'm just very cool) but because it is ever slightly more yellow, it is great at covering red marks on my face. I especially love this right around my nose. Unfortunately, I can't cover large areas of my face with this as the color is off but for small spots it's perfect.

Clinique Touch Tints for Eyes (Sunlight Palm & Nude Sparkle) - These were the only eyeshadows that I brought with me on vacation and it was more than enough. The Touch Tints can be sheered out or built up so I was able to create several different looks with these two shades. And a plus, no chance of getting broken or smashed in my bag. Nude Sparkle also doubles as an inner corner and/or brow highlight and they stay all day.

Milani Liquif-Eye metallic eye liner pencil in brown - I never did a proper review of these pencils but I'll explain why I love this so much. First of all, price. For a little over $5 the quality and price of these is awesome. Second, a couple weeks ago I went to the eye doctor and got my eyes checked and during the checkup, she flushed my eyes with a solution. Guess what was still there after said flushing? Yup, this pencil. My waterproof mascara didn't survive nearly as well but this stuck. Great for Georgia humidity too.

Fyrinnae Lip Lustre in Bloodstains - I've mentioned this a few other times, but I love this... on my cheeks! It is perfect and it stays all day. Love! I couldn't get a great swatch of it spread out but it's a lovely red flush.

NOTD Improv

So today at work I was staring at my nails. Speaking of my nails and Zoya Miley, it gets a glowy purple color under fluorescent lights which is so cool. It almost looks like a neon highlighter, but not neon and lighter and milkier - ok not neon at all, but it looks glowy - almost lit from within. Of course, I didn't have my camera with me and I don't typically take pictures of my nails at work or any sort of pictures for that matter. But as I was staring at said nails, I thought how perfect the color would be with glass flecks! It almost looked like that anyway, since my sheets did a number on my nails last night, the small little lines caught the light just so. Anyway, I figured it would be fun to play, so enter Revlon Glimmer Gloss.

Revlon Glimmer Glosses are sheer layering polishes with glimmer. Long discontinued, of course. I picked mine up on Ebay. From the left to right we have Blueberry Burst, Pina Colada Pop and Cherry Fizz. I wasn't sure which one would be the best (though I had a feeling it would be the Pina Colada Pop shade - I was right) so I tried all of them!

Blueberry Burst makes Miley ever so slightly bluer with subtle flecks of glitter. Very pretty layered but not quite the look I was going for.

I love the Pina Colada Pop layered over Miley. It's very subtle but you get an extra glint of shine in the light. See the slightly fuzzy pics above. Gooorrgeous. You can kind of see it compared to my pinkie (plain Miley) and my middle finger (Cherry Fizz).

Cherry Fizz makes Miley PINK! Hot pink. Also with subtle flecks. I do like this but this is not what I was going for at all!

So now I have an unintentional skittles manicure. Thankfully I can get away with practically any color for my nails at work since it is way too late for me to start removing and reapplying.

I also apologize for the way my hands look. I just finished eating a mango, yum! And in the process, managed to get mango everywhere (including around my cuticles and underneath my nails - and in between my teeth but I won't subject you guys to that!). I now know why people will pay decent money for it pre-sliced, because it was a pain to eat, yummy, but a pain.

Amazing Rite Aid Deal

So, here's a departure from the usual sale deals that I post, Rite Aid (not CVS this time, aren't you non-CVS-ers happy? I know you are!). So even though the Physician's Formula deal is kind of weird this week, buy 1 get 1 free but only bronzers, there is an awesome deal if you manage to snag the special packaging. You see, there is a special display of bronzers all of which have $5 off stickers on them and if you buy 2 with these special stickers you can get Physicians Formula bronzers for a measly $2 each ($10 off plus the BOGO)! Now, even if you can't find ones with the $5 off stickers there are still some $3 off stickers and "get this free with mail in rebate" tags which are also awesome. And as a last resort there are $1 off coupons in the paper.

Becca @ Hautelook Today!

Becca will once again be on Hautelook today! I have no idea what they are going to featuring or the discount amount but I hope it's good (I believe last time Becca was 50% off but I'm not certain)! Will you be "tuning" in at 11am EST?

Disclosure: This post includes a referral link.

*edit*
Becca tweeted that the discount would be 50% off. Not too shabby.

VIB Deal (It's Good This Time!)

For awhile, being a VIB wasn't as awesome as it was made out to be. Only occasionally did you receive a deal that regular Beauty Insiders didn't get but Sephora has redeemed themselves with this one (like they even had to - I very willingly fling my money at them!).

There doesn't seem to be a cut-off date but it's while supplies last which we all know means they will be gone ASAP. Before you order, Sephora is currently on BING 20% which makes the deal even more sweet if you order online!

NOTD: Zoya Miley

Another Zoya that I swapped for. Miley is a sheer milky blueish gray. It kind of reminds of Essie's St Barth Blue but even more milky if that's even possible. Despite the streaks and sheerness, I kind of like this. It's very subtle but just enough and not so Bam! pastel blue as the Essie. This is 2 coats.

Review: Goldwell Dual Senses Sun Reflects Line

I know I did a separate review for the Leave-In Protect Spray from the Goldwell Dual Senses line, but I thought I would culminate my reviews with this post. As you all know, DH and I took a trip this past week (which was fantastic btw) and drove back home yesterday. Since we were on vacation, which tends to be quite a bit less busy than our normal day-to-day activities, I took the time to review a few products, the rest of the Goldwell Dual Senses line being one of them. Actually, I take that back. I did not do a thorough test and review of the gel from the Dual Senses range. I tested a bit of it, but my mother in law is actually in the process of testing it right now and promised to share her thoughts with me so I could relay the information to you, dear readers.

The gel was a bit of a surprise, actually. It is the only product in the line to have a visible "shimmery shine" that the other products in the line claim. The gel (though I don't have a picture so you'll have to take my word for it) is a sheer orange colored gel with tiny little gold shimmering particles stuck throughout making it appear almost holographic in the tube. It is not sticky: I actually applied a little to my hair and it didn't get the 'crunch' you sometimes get with other gels and if you were to touch the gel, you do not feel any glitter particles in between your fingers. Since MIL's hair is a lovely golden color, it should be even less noticeable. Anyway, there's my little input on it, hopefully she'll send word of her thoughts soon. However, she couldn't stop sniffing the tube that I gave her. Yup, the same lovely citrus smell that is in the rest of the Dual Senses products. Yum!

The two products that I tested out in addition to my leave in spray, which I'm starting to make quite the dent in, are the After-Sun 60sec Treatment (tub) and the Hair & Body Shampoo.

Usually on vacations, I can't take these heavy large liquid products, as flying has considerably limited the products and the space allowed in travel. However, for this trip we drove so I happily brought these containers with us.

First I'm going to talk about the 60 seconds After-Sun Treatment. This is basically a thick "mask" type of conditioner. Again, this has the same fragrance as the other products which I love! I tend to prefer citrus or peppermint type scents with my shower/bath/hair products. Anything too sickly sweet is a real turn off. The directions are to shampoo, wash and then apply this to your hair and leave it in for, yup, you guessed it 60 seconds and wash out. The only issue I had with this product was the delivery system. Having to put your hands in this jar in a shower can get messy real fast, in fact, I managed to cover some of the wall outside the shower with this since I kept it on a ledge away from the water and I like most people, shower without my glasses on and I'm near blind without them! I would have loved if this had some sort of pump on it to prevent water contamination and additional mess. Otherwise, after showering and drying, my hair felt really nice and soft but not weighed down and heavy (a problem I seem to get with other heavy conditioners). I do really like this product but I'm not sure how it will work in day to day use.

The second product was the Hair & Body Shampoo from the same line. Again, love the citrus scent. Love the pop top and LOVE the fact that this is a dual purpose product! So convenient on vacation. Some multi-use products tend to be quite drying on the hair, but since this is a product developed by a hair line, it's actually quite nice. I didn't get the stringy mess I sometimes get with other multi-use products and it left my skin soft and manageable. The only negative for me with this product is that since I generally need to rotate with an anti-dandruff product, this wasn't the only shampoo I used on the trip but it's a nice product, lots of lather, non-drying and a pleasant smell.

There is quite a bit more that I've been wanting to write about (vacation for one!) so stay tuned!

Goldwell products are available at salons nationwide. This particular line is limited edition for summer.

Have you tried any Goldwell products?

Disclosure: I am not a genius when it comes to hair and simply know my own. How yours "reacts" to these product may be different than what I experienced!

Disclosure: The following product(s) were sent to me by a representative of the company for review purposes. They also sent pop rocks which is awesome, however, I will not be reviewing them!