Kefir Madness

 I love being a part of the Influenster program.  This time I got to try Lifeway Kefir, which I have wanted to test of for a while, but have never gotten around to it. Influenster sent me a coupon for buy two and get a dollar off.  There was also a free item coupon, which I want to use on some frozen Kefir, but I am having trouble finding it.

 I decided to try the madagascar vanill and pomegranate flavors.  I have to say, I have a clear preference toward the pomegranate.  It is fruity and tart and almost has the feeling of effervescence.  The vanilla is good too, it's great in smoothies, but for straight up drinking I always lean toward the pomegranate.

I am pleased with the Kefir and will definitely be buying it again.  I can't wait to try other flavors and the frozen kind intreigues me. Thanks Lifeway and Influenster for letting me try this out!

Dirty Wildlife

 This is Nubar Wildlife, which I got in a set of seven green polishes from Nubar.  It is a pretty interesting duochrome that shifts from mossy green to a reddish copper.  I find it to be one of those "so ugly it's pretty" colors to be honest.

Outside the shift is a lot more noticeable, but I don't find it helps me like the color more.  It is still a mossy, dirty, olive green that just doesn't do it for me in the long run.

Overall, I love Nubar polishes, and I love the set I bought it in, but Wildlife is not a winner for me.  I don't see myself reaching for it often and I probably would not have purchased it if it were not in the set.

Diamond Meteors

 I do not have an official Fourth of July manicure for you today, but I was able to find a rather sparkly and blue one that will do in a pinch.  This is Tarina Tarantino Meteor Night with accents of Sally Hansen Nail Prisims Diamond.

The Tarantino is a gorgeous deep blue with a subtle shimmer.  It went on pretty easy and didn't cause a ton of trouble.  The Nail Prism is one of my oldest polishes, I've had it since I was very young.  It is a thin, watery, linear holo that will put others to shame.  If you layer it over a base, it almost nearly covers it in one pass and the holographic shimmer is to die for.

I picked this Tarantino up on clearance from Sephora ages ago, and I'm pretty glad I did.  It's not one of my all time favourites, but it is a nice deep blue that doesn't take a lot of thinking to wear.  Happy Fourth of July everyone!

A Genius polish

 Essie It's Genius was another polish bought in my quest for the perfect purple foil.  This one is a little too dark to match my lavender polishes, but it is still amazing.  I am totally smitten with anything purple and foil.

It applied amazingly well in one smooth coat.  If you make your coats thinner it might require two.  The brush strokes were minimal and overall it was a dream to work with.

And here starts the many many outside pictures.  This polish looks wonderful out in the sun or in the shade, as witnessed below.

I love the way shade can bring out the hidden depth of a polish!

Another shot to show the gorgeous finish in the sun.

Overall this was a wonderful polish to work with and for Essie it really was genius.

Avalon's House of Parliment

This manicure is a little mash up.  I started with a full manicure of A England Avalon.  It's no secret I am a sucker for purple polishes, and this one is beautiful.  The next day I got Nails Inc Houses of Parliament in the mail.  I was so excited to try it out that it went right over top as accent nails.

The colors don't really 'go', but I love both polishes separately.  They are both great purples, and who doesn't love a fun magnetic polish?

I want to be a Fairy Princess

 Today I have Sonia Kashuk Fairy Princess.  This is my first Sonia Kashuk polish and it was definitely a great ambassador for the brand.  It applied easily and was a dream to work with.  The polish is a tad thick, but that helped to create a smooth mani in just two coats.

The color has a fantastic blue flash in the bottle, that sadly doesn't show on the nail, BUT it is still an amazing mint color with the subtlest of shimmer.

I was hoping that when I took the polish outside that shy shimmer would poke out, but it stayed hidden.  It definitely wanted to be a special little secret.

I think my favourite way to see this polish was in the shade.  It took a little more blue cast and was just gorgeous.  And it looks better on my skin tone when it's a little cooler than my usual straight neutral.

Overall this polish was a nice surprise for a brand that I have found to be hit or miss.  I will probably be trying more of their polishes, as long as there is a color that stands out to me.

Sienna loves the Orioles

Since it is baseball season (again) I figured I would show you one of my favourite Orioles manicures that I have done.  This was last year, for my best friends son's first baseball game. I used Zoya Sienna for my nails and then used Wet 'n Wild Black for the O and my micro french tips.  I adored this manicure.  If I had to wear one design for the entirety of the season it would be this.

Here is an image of it turned on it's side so you can see the O in the right direction.  Sienna is the perfect Orioles orange.

I really like the little mini french manicure look too, it's just enough black to add some depth, but not so much that it gets too dark.

The shimmer in Sienna is wonderful in the sun, it glistens and sparkles.  I'm not usually a glass fleck lover, but this one has definitely won me over.

I might have taken a few too many pictures of this manicure, but I love it so much.  What's better than combining my love of baseball and polish?

Here you can see the dreaded right hand.  The lines are much sloppier and not nearly as consistent.  But overall it's not horrible.

And one inside shot to show you the glass flecks in a flash, they definitely come out a little more, but are sadly more flat.  The sun really does this polish good.

I want to live on Sugar House Lane

This is one of my favourite polishes.  When Nails Inc introduced their Sprinkles Special Effects polishes I knew I had to have the entire set.  I love the sherberty glitter polishes (that are fortunately in right now, even though this is from a year ago).  The texture and creaminess is fantastic.  This one is Sugar House Lane, and it is black and white matte glitters in a slightly sheer taupe base.

 These apply really easily and you only need two coats to get great coverage.  The glitter shows through the semi-sheer base, but not a lot, so if you want that trapped look you will need to work a little harder.  I recommend thicker coats actually, because then the glitter lies wherever it wants in the base as opposed to getting covered up by the next coat.

 I adore how these look like ice cream or sprinkles.  They are so pretty, yet subtle enough for me to feel comfortable wearing them all the time.  It also helps that this one is the most neutral of the set, but I actually looked forward to it the most.  I will leave you with another shot, since these polishes just make me happy and I am sure you needed a reminder of their amazingness.

Herding the Desert Sun

I am alive, I swear.  This is a post I have had sitting in my drafts waiting for me to add words for MONTHS.  This is China Glaze Desert Sun and I Herd That.  I love the On Safari collection, even though it came out ages ago. These polishes lend very well to each other.

Looking at these old pictures, my application has definitely improved since taking them. It will be a while before I get go those pictures, since I am so behind on posts, but when I finally get there you will be surprised.

Influenster Sugar and Spice VoxBox

I am very behind on my blog, and even more so behind on my reviews, but I decided to pop in and do my Sugar and Spice VoxBox post for everyone to let you know what I got in my box and how I felt about the products!

I first got a box of Dickinson's Witch Hazel wipes.  I have to tell you, these guys stink.  They smell like cognac, which I don;t want to wipe all over my face.  BUT they are pretty good at refreshing my face after a long day.  One of my jobs requires me to be outside all day in the heat, and after a long day these definitely felt great.  I don't know if I would repurchase or not, since I prefer Tea Tree oil for oil control, but they were nice and very convenient.

 Second was a set of products from the Colgate Optic While collection.  For the toothpaste and mouthwash I can't say much, they were way too strong for me to use.  I am a cinnamon toothpaste user and antrhing peppermint is just too much for me.  I can tell you that I love the brush!  It's wonderful.  I always feel like my whole mouth is clean when I am done using it.

 Next I got a Spray and Go moisturizer from Vaseline.  This was really give or take for me.  I like the convenience, it really is easy to use.  The scent was nice too.  I don't think I would go out of my way to get another one, but if I was out of lotion and needed something easy for vacation or something I would definitely grab for one of these.

 Then I got a package of Nectresse packets.  I know Nectresse already and can't say I love it.  It is good for what it is, but I prefer real sugar.  I have used all sorts of artificial sweeteners and this one is on my list of tolerable, but in the end I will still reach for cane sugar.  I will say, it does not have a strong flavor and can be used in baking just fine.

Finally, I received some belVita breakfast bars.  These were interesting.  I liked the flavor and convenience, they would definitely be filling enough for a grab and go bar.  The only problem is that they were so dry that I would still need to have some water or milk with them, making them less of a one stop breakfast snag.  They were great, but not for eating on their own.

Overall this box was actually a happy surprise.  I liked most of the products and they all served their purpose.  I was not BLOWN AWAY with any one particular thing like the last time, but each one held it's own and would be worth paying money for.  Thanks Influenster for this VoxBox, I enjoyed it.

All products were sent for review from Influenster.com

Winter Holly all the Way

Well, after a long hiatus I have a few of the new China Glaze Holiday Collection polishes.  I have on Winter Holly with accent nails of Glitter all the Way.  Both polishes are three coats, I probably could have done an extra coat of WH, but you can't really tell in person. 

When I saw GatW all I could think of is Mardi Gras.  It is such a perfect combination of colors. Yes, I know it has red in it, but you can barely see it and it just screams Mardi Gras to me. 

 And the expected blurry shot to show the sparkle.  I am pretty happy with the polishes actually.  I think I would put a base of a deep forest green under WH, just to help it's opacity.

 

I only got a few polishes from this collection, since nothing much was screaming out to me.  The few polishes I did decide to pick up have been fantastic though.

Goody Quickstyles Brush

Okay, this is the second post from my Holiday Voxbox from Influenster, and I have to say this is the item I am most excited about.  I was horribly doubtful about this brush, yet highly intrigued when I first saw it in stores.  When I opened my box and saw it inside I was beyond excited to try it out.  The Goody Quickstyle brush has little terrycloth bits in between the bristles to help dry your hair when you get out of the shower.

Holy crap, this is my new favourite brush.  You have to use with with a blow drier, which is something I loathe doing.  Blow drying my long, thick hair takes a good thirty minutes, so I don't tend to do it often.  This time after my shower I tied it up and let it air dry a little.  When I took it down I first brushed it with the brush alone, which did nothing.  The bristles soak up water, but they are not miracle workers.  The amount of water left in my hair was just too much for them.  I brought out the drier and began using the brush.  Amazingly enough my hair because visibly drier very fast.  It ended up taking me only about 10 minutes to dry my entire head.  The little holes in the side of the brush impressed me as well.  They let air flow easily through the brush, also helping with the drying.

I am so happy to own this brush, it will definitely become a part of my hair routine.  I have told everyone I know how wonderful it is and really can't be more annoying about it.  This is by far the best thing I have received in my box and I can't wait to use it again.

-products sent for review from influenster.com-

Kiss Nail Strips

I was selected by Influenster to receive a Holiday Voxbox this December, so a few of the upcoming posts may not have to do with nails.  Fortunately, this one does!  In my box was a package of Kiss Nail Dress nail strips.  I can't say I love the pattern I got, but it did get some compliments, so other people must have.

 They applied like most any other strip; by sticking to the nail and then filing the excess off.  I found the excess much harder to file than other sets of strips I have used in the past.  I was afraid I was filing my nail at some points because it was so thick and hard to break.

I applied strips on my accent nails in a french tip -esque style, which is something I enjoy doing with nail strips.  I have to say, these strips are NOT meant for this.  The edges did not lay flat and the ends peeled up within hours of application.  Note, the packaging does not say anything about using them in this manner, but I wanted to give them a test since other strips have no problem with this application.

 The nails that had full strips stayed on quite well.  They lasted through a day at work and I only had one casualty.  I am betting this was because of the large amounts of oil the nails were exposed to when filling the olive bar, so I am not counting it against them.  Otherwise I think they would have stayed on for quite a few more days if I had not peeled them off so soon.

The peeling process was not the best, but also not the worst.  If I had waited a little longer than two days to take them off the glue might have been a little less sticky.  But since the design was far too loud for my taste, I had to get them off.  Taking them off I felt a little tug on my nails, which was concerning, and some residual glue stayed behind.  A quick swipe of remover took the left over glue right off though.

My only complaint about the nails is that they lost some of the design after about two days and I was left with the brown bottom layer.  The fact that all the color wasn't lost was definitely a plus though.  They were a little thick, but with some time I think I could have gotten used to them.

-products in this post were sent for review from influenster.com-