NOTD: Butter London's No More Waity, Katie.

Apart from the bucket I needed after reading the name of this polish I desperately wanted to LOVE this and I don't. It's lovely but the problem I have is that unlike China Glaze or Zoya, Butter London polishes are $14. I need this polish to be crazy special for $14 USD and it just isn't special. It's nice but that's it.

All pictures are taken with 2 coats in natural light.

The glitter in this polish was dull although the polish applied well but so it should given it's price. I feel quite depressed about my BL experiences so far - I hope they release something that blows my mind because I want to love them so much

Any BL suggestions?

Jacx

I don't like it.

Ever had that instant screw up the nose or hair stand on the back of your neck reaction to something - even if you are completely uneducated about it? Well I have and here is my Top 5 "I don't like it" topics even if I have grown to have a better understanding about them now:

1. Double Cleansing: I cannot get past the idea that if the first cleanser was any good you wouldn't need the second one. Yes, yes I know that if you use heavy superglue style foundations and waterproof mascara these are probably a god send but to me it seems like clever product marketing to have us buy 2 cleansers instead of 1.

2. White lab coats on cosmetic sales people: I must admit I do get my back up at the idea that there are magical medical ingredients in makeup and skincare and that you can trust me because I have a white lab coat on. I'm sorry but if you have to make up a word to explain what your product does then I'm probably going to be suspicious of you.

3. Made up words that sound like real ones: Drives me crazy! We've all seen it though, made up words that sound like real ones and it doesn't only exist in the cosmetic world either (yes Palsonic I am looking at you). At best it is misleading and at worst it is downright deceptive.

4. Our product lasts for 100 hours: I don't need my makeup to last for 24, 48 or 72 hours, you don't actually make any that last that long either so how about we stop with the bullshit claims shall we? There is a great line JFK about how theoretical physics can tell you that you can hang an elephant over a cliff from its tail and I kind of think these people are also responsible for the ridiculous long wearing claims we see on makeup now. And don't even get me started on the mascara claims (let's save that rant for another day).

5. Sheer nail polish: Ok I can accept the french manicure colours being sheer but anything else that's just crazy talk. Do not make a gorgeous shimmery polish only to have it be streaky and sheer with ugly VNL everywhere. In fact this hatred was one of the main reasons I swore off Essie and OPI for so long. I still will not purchase one of their polishes without checking swatches first. Sheer nail polish I hate you so hard!

Well.... that was cleansing and a little awkward lol. But I hates what I hates - logical or not. Am I alone here? Would you like to share- if you do happen to do a blog post about your "dislikes" link it below.

Happy Wednesday my friends

Jacx

p.s that is actually a picture of my cat Madison yawning but seriously it is perfect no?

NOTD: Orly's Sand Castle

This NOTD is a lesson in not buying nail polish by name. This colour is insipid on me and very unflattering despite the pretty name. The finish is dated and I would recommend almost any other polish Orly made in preference to this one.

All pictures taken are with 2 coats and please excuse the mess on my middle finger - clearly I was easily distracted even while applying this polish lol.

Me no likey. Have you been sucked in by the name of a product only to find it's actually hideous on you?

Happy Tuesday

Jacx

And now for something pretty: Sephora Prisma Chrome Eye Shadow in Moon Beam

This is why I should never buy anything pretty. I got this eyeshadow 6 months ago and all I have dared to do so far is swatch it for this blog. Just hopeless lol.

Do you have pretty things you can't bare to touch?

Hope this finds you well
Jacx

Jac

Sephora Wish List 1.0

With preparing to go overseas one of the things that has occurred to me is that when I walk into a Sephora I might get overwhelmed and end up buying a lot of things I don't really want just because I get all excited by the bright and shiny things. And I'm anal (lol) so that means I have started to prepare my Sephora wish list and here's a few things I have narrowed it down to so far...

Makeup Forever Face and Body Foundation - I've heard the coverage and texture is a little better than F&B from MAC. I am also wanting to get a Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua but that isn't sold at Sephora.

I would like to try 2 mascaras in particular - MUFE Smokey Lash and Tarte's Lights Camera Lashes. Apart from that I am really happy with drugstore mascaras like Australis TLC and Prestige's My Blackest Lashes (that I have recently grown to love).

Blush-wise I am interested in a few but have committed only to Tarte's Amazonian Clay blush in Exposed and Benefit's Coralista at this stage. I have way too much blush as it is.

Eyeshadow is definitely another danger zone for me. So far I am lemming after Dior's 5-Colour eyeshadow palette in Incognito and Tarina Tarantio's eye dream highlight duo in Elektron/Amber.

I've avoided lip products so far - but I imagine I'll want to pick up a Dior Addict or two as they are gorgeous. So finally I have a nail polish wish for Illamasqua's Jo'mina.

At this stage this list adds up to $229.00 USD without tax. It's going to be easy to get carried away.

Have you tried any of these products so far - what else should I consider for my wish list? Did you want to see more of my US wish list stuff for things apart from beauty?

Hope you are well
Jac x

* All images used come from sephora's website.

What's been keeping me busy?

Long time no post - I know.

Honestly though I always promised myself that I wasn't going to blog unless I wanted to and lately I have been really enjoying reading blogs and watching YT instead. But for some reason tonight I am feeling that creative urge to share what I've been up to lately:

1. Watching lots of You Tube videos and I am just a little bit in love with Cute Polish's Channel. 
2. Browsing Tiffany and Co's US website and plotting purchases for when I visit later in the year
3. I have been checking 3 blogs pretty much everyday for inspiration and they are - Scrangie, Nouveau Cheap and Temptalia. Between all 3 there is something to drool over everyday.
4. Reorganising my nail polish collection. Previously I was organsing by brand but I realised I couldn't see dupes this way so I did tip swatches of all my bottles and reorganised by colour. Not surprisingly I now have enough dupes to have a sizable blog sale which I will get to before I leave for the US.
5. Counting down my holiday using my 'Vacation Countdown' app - ah what did I do before I got an iphone?
6. Plotting the purchase of an ipad. I am pleased to say as of last weekend I have changed my mind on that one as I want to be able to load pictures from our cameras when we are overseas so a small netbook seems like a better option there.
7. Celebrating birthdays. Both of my stepchildren are born in June and so we have been celebrating their birthdays for the last couple of weekends they have spent with us. They got to choose where we went for dinner and pick out their birthday cakes. They are so very cute and I adore them.
8. Using up my stash. I started a 3 month no buy on the 1st of July but to be honest I have really only been purchasing nail polish anyway but it's a full spending ban (unless I run out of a necessary product) until I hit the US in Oct.
9. Organising passports, suitable luggage, accommodation, bus transfers and tours for our holiday. I am so lucky to have a knowledgeable friend in the lovely Steggers as well as Sarah and Tara. I'm so very excited - can you tell? (lol)
10. My least favourite task has been organising accommodation for my lovely kitties while we are overseas. We had planned for my mum to stay here with them but unfortunately she is having an operation close to our departure date and will be recovering. I am a cat lady and I fret over them being looked after so I am a bit nervous but I am sure they will be fine.
11. Playing with Sally Hansen Salon Effects. OMG these are so easy to do I have no idea why I waited so long to try them - apart from the price of course.

I have to say 2012 has been a mixed bag of lollies. I have experienced some moments of wonderful kindness and generosity from true friends, been completely stupefied by some of the behaviour of work colleagues and my employer, as well as battling to regain full movement in my arm after breaking it (I am so close now).

Some years just seem to go by and I don't really feel much of a change in myself but this year has been massive so far and the next 6 months seem to offer more of the same. I sincerely hope that 2012 has been good to you so far and that this blog post finds you happy and healthy.

Jac x

In the post: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain

 Pictured front to back: Rendezvous, Honey and Charm

Look what was waiting for me when I got home - squeee! I tried the original Just Bitten lip stain and I wasn't a fan. If I want my lips to look dry like that I definitely don't want to draw attention by having a colour on them too. So when I saw the balm stain I hoped these would work better for me.

I ordered 3 of the colours: Charm (035), Honey (001) and Rendezvous (040). These are very similar in design to Chubby sticks (which I do not own) and the Tarte LipSurgence pencils (I own one of those). Let's take a closer look shall we:

 Pictured front to back: Rendezvous, Honey and Charm

 Pictured left to right: Rendezvous, Honey and Charm

Pictured top to bottom: Rendezvous, Honey and Charm

This is not a review (I've had these in my hands for about 45minutes) so I can't tell you how well they perform. I can say they feel similar to the Tarte product on the lips with that minty taste but the Tarte ones taste much stronger.

These are not currently available in Australia so I picked mine up on eBay (seller: 702musthaves) and they arrived super quick. So impressed.

Have a great week guys

Jac x