Forever 21: A New Nude Palette

Posted on December 14, 2012 by kimberlyp

Even a ‘no-buy’ limitation on myself doesn’t stop me from wanting ALL THE EYESHADOW PALETTES!!! I had to yell because, well, it’s seriously true.

Two things go into breaking this rule: 1) The price is soooo good, 2) experience has shown that this brand was good in the past, and 3) no will power. OK, that’s three so, let’s not count that last one, shall we?

Here’s a new Forever 21 eyeshadow palette…

And, it is a NUDE palette to boot! Why, every makeup blogger knows you have to have at least one nude shadow palette on the vanity. I want to make totally sure that I’m covered. I mean, what would happen if I would accidentally drop one? Or, someone would break into my house and raid the vanity! Gasp!!! Maybe I’d misplace one and be frantic until I found the backup. (Not that any of these, save for dropping one, are remotely going to happen. But, you never know…)

What a heavenly lineup…

The sunlight washes a few of these shades out. So, none of the shades are identical. But, they all compliment each other.

The Forever 21 store that I found this at had not been gentle with these palettes and, even some other styles, as well. It was my duty to provide a warm and loving home/vanity to a special palette. Actually, this one was the one with the least broken shadows…

It didn’t hurt to ask the sales associate if I could get a discount because it was blemished and all the other ones were much more damaged. At first I was told a 10% discount. I said that it would be better if it was 25%. The store manager was brought in and she said that 15% was the highest she could go. Well, the palette was only $5.80, so I agreed.

And, I still got some great photos that I can use in future business cards…

Oh, and this isn’t the last you’ll see of this palette. There is a bit more to the story, along with some swatches, coming up very, very soon!

Do you have a favorite nude palette?

Is Halloween Getting Rust-y? Try Forever 21′s Version

Posted on October 30, 2012 by kimberlyp

Oli Oli In Come Freeeeee!

Only one more day left to call out Halloween polishes. After that, I’m doing ‘Fall’ manicure swatches. OK, maybe they could be Halloween ones still. And, just because I didn’t get in all the Halloween looks I wanted to, doesn’t mean I can’t morph them into Thanksgiving/Fall swatches. I’m getting into this ‘my blog, my rules’ thing. Bwaahaaahaaa!

This polish definitely fits into both categories…

‘Rust’ is a copper glitter overload from Forever 21′s love and beauty. And one thing about Forever 21 polish, most of the glitters are dense and easy to use. This one makes coverage by using a lot of different sizes of glitter. Look close…

Hex, micro and regular sizes galore. And these babies didn’t have any issue laying down on the nail.

I swatched up some orange and black fun…

Starting from the left: Forever 21′s ‘Rust’ over Cult Nails’ ‘Nevermore’; ‘Rust’ all by itself; ‘Rust’ over Zoya’s ‘Arizona’; Pure Icing’s black crackle over Zoya’s ‘Arizona’; ‘Arizona’ all by itself; and last is Cult Nails’ ‘Nevermore’ all by itself.

I really liked how ‘Rust’ seemed to be glowing orange embers with ‘Nevermore’. I did a manicure with it and it was definitely THE Halloween look…

How’s that for some fire on the fingertips? ‘Rust’ wasn’t terribly hard to remove. Since ‘Nevermore’ is a one-coat polish (love that!!!) and I only used one coat of ‘Rust’, this was a quickie.

Are you finished with Halloween looks and ready to move one? I feel I am.

A Dual Of Two Forever 21 Glitter Polishes

Posted on August 16, 2012 by kimberlyp

Why have my nail swatches been MIA? They have been sent to rehab. I’ll post more on that later this week. However, I have to admit (that’s the first step, isn’t it?) that I’m still buying nail polish, just not as much. Seriously, I have gotten picky. My next collection I’m up for is the new Cult Nails that is due to be released in September. I’ll be sharing that as soon as I can along with some fun news about it.

And with that preface, this is a manicure that I did better than a month ago. I wanted to swatch two different glitters from Forever 21′s love and beauty…

And since they are sheer, I picked Milani’s ‘A Rose Mylady’ as a base case.

Of course, these gliters from Forever 21 jumped out at me. They are glitter nirvana…

The first glitter polish is ‘Faded Rose/Multi’. This polish has a dark, rosy base color. The glitters are micro and large and they are iridescent that flash from magenta to pink. I like the consistency of this polish as it wasn’t too thick or too thin. After shaking the bottle up, I didn’t have to fish out the glitter.

The other glitter I couldn’t resist…

Simply named ‘Pink’ I think it looks like Pink Fire. It glows. The clear base is more of a purple-ish pink than ‘Faded Rose’. ‘Pink’ has super-micro and micro glitter in it. It also has shards. And, all of these glitters are iridescent flashing orange and lavender. Both of these glitters are what I call ‘busy’; there is a lot going on in those bottles!

I chose Milani’s ‘A Rose Mylady’ because I wanted a nude polish that would be very similar to my own nail beds. Knowing that the glitter polishes were going to be sheer, I wanted a polish that could create an opaque base to hide any visible nail lines…

On my left hand, I used ‘Faded Rose’ as the top coat. I have on two coats. This glitter went on like we wish all glitters would. There was no drag, the formula didn’t get goopy and it dried in a reasonable amount of time. I only used one coat of Milani on my ring and pinky to see if I could get away with just one coat.

This is my right hand swatched with ‘Pink’…

I only used one coat of ‘A Rose Mylady’ on my ring and pinky finger just to see how sheer ‘Pink’ would be. The other fingers have 2 coats. And, I used two coats of ‘Pink’ as it tended to not pick up the glitter every time.

‘Pink’ and ‘A Rose Mylady’ create a dusty glitter manicure. I am sad that the glowing look of ‘Pink’ is tamed down too much. I like that Pink Fire look. And, the shimmer of the shards and glitter are less obvious as well. I need to try ‘Pink’ with a different base coat to see if I can keep that glow.

Which do you like better: ‘Faded Rose’ or ‘Pink’? I am very partial to ‘Pink’. Especially if I can get it to glow more.

Murky Greens: China Glaze Argo vs. Forever 21 Sage

Posted on July 19, 2012 by kimberlyp

Have you noticed that there have been a lot of murky green nail polishes showing up this year? It’s not a color I would expect in the summer season. Luckily, I love murkies. Let me show you two I recently got…

The China Glaze is ‘Argo’ and it is from the Hunger Games collection. Next is a Forever 21, love & beauty ‘Sage’.

Even though they are not exact duplicates, they could be fraternal twins…

Both have golden shimmer. ‘Sage’ is lighter and not as murky as ‘Argo’.

Now, how they look applied…

When you have a price point of one, $2.80 and the other $7.00, you are going to see a difference, most likely. ‘Sage’ is on my thumb and middle finger. That leaves ‘Argo’ on my index and ring finger. Both are two coats.

Sometimes I want to help an underdog. ‘Sage’ was really trying to hold her own but I gave her a pair of underpants and then she went to show off…

I used Cult Nails ‘Nevermore’ for the black base. ‘Nevermore’ is going to be my ‘go to’ black polish forever! One coat, baby!! And this black made a gorgeous, blackened green from ‘Sage’. I love it better that way.

My thoughts on these are: I’ll use Cult Nails ‘Nevermore’ under love & beauty’s ‘Sage’. China Glaze’s ‘Argo’ easily stands on its own. But, I actually prefer ‘Sage’ and ‘Nevermore’ together over ‘Argo’.

What do you think about the murky greens that are trending this summer? Do you feel ‘Sage’ is a great attempt by Forever 21 to give one of their polishes a name?

Dreams Can Come True: OPI and Forever 21 Polishes

Posted on July 2, 2012 by kimberlyp

This is going to sound weird, and it IS! I dream about, not just polishing my nails but, creating combinations of polish. I also find inspiration on makeup looks from dreams. I know I’m not the only one. And hopefully, beauty blog readers and writers will nod their heads in understanding.

This is my latest creation. I knew I wanted an iridescent base. It had to be something that would conceal the nail line. I dug through my stash and found this ancient OPI jewel…

It looks dingy and yellow, I know. But it is a shimmery pink iridescent. It was part of a set that was bridal themed and yes, it was a LONG time ago.