January Used It!

In January, I finished off eight products; two minis and six full-size items.

Organix Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum*
Buy again? Maybe. I have no idea if it helps with breakage or not, but I did like the way a little made my hair feel. This is definitely a less is more type product - too much will make your hair look stringy.

Sally Hansen Real Nail Polish Strips - Teal with it*
Buy again? Probably not. They're on the expensive side and take too long to apply.

Lumene Sensitive Touch wipes mini pack
Buy again? No. I just bought them because I wanted something and I was on a trip. They're fine, but I don't want to buy anything that's just fine.

Nuance wipes*
Buy again? Probably not - they were this strange rectangular shape - more oblong than I usually like in a wipe, and they had more texture than I prefer.

ELF Studio Complexion Perfection*
Buy again? Probably not. This has its uses - it will lighten the appearance of a too-dark foundation, but it's hard to travel with and you don't get as much as you'd expect - the layer of powder is pretty shallow. It did work fine, but it wasn't awesome.

Silk Naturals Ginny liquid lip gloss*
Nice color, nice formula, but I really don't like wand-style, especially when there are so many natural ingredients. I worry it will go bad, which is why I made the effort to use this one up.

Garden of Wisdom Sulfur Clearing Mask*
I think things with sulfur might help clear teeny pre-zits, but I haven't found that it takes care of the monsters I really want gone.

Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Conditioner 3oz size
This is probably one of the two conditioners I've repeatedly bought over the past couple years. It's cheap, works fairly well, and is widely available. I don't love it, but it's convenient and functional enough that it's what I buy when my favorite's hard to come by. (My favorite is Kiss My Face Whenever conditioner - green tea and lime - smells like dessert but not so sweet it's sickly.)

Sally Hansen real nail polish strips review

I bought a box of the Sally Hansen Real Nail Polish Strips in Teal With It a few weeks back, thinking it would be good for a trip I was going on. This brand is mostly known for its funky patterns, which do look awesome. Usually, they retail at about ten bucks each. I got mine, a solid color, on sale for about two fifty.

The box comes with a leaflet of instructions, a nail file, a cuticle stick, and two packets of eight nail polish strips each. My nails are tiny, so I was able to make eight strips cover all my nails - thus stretching the purchase to two manicures.

On the first try, I must have done something wrong, because the polish was peeling by the end of the day. Also, these aren't like stickers that you can just slap on and go - it actually took about the same amount of time as a regular mani, but without the downtime where I get to browse the Internet or a magazine as the layers dry.

I was pretty dismayed after that - peeling 16 hours later =/= 10-day wear. Maybe it happened because I didn't rub down the edges of the nail with the stick well enough? But that was tricky, because if I rubbed too hard, the strip ripped.

So, I tried again. This time, I brought out an additional tool: scissors. Each of the strips is a different size (I think they're pairs if you take all 16 strips together), but I found that I could get closer matches to my nail shape with some trimming.

I also dispensed with the instruction to file away the tips with the included file - choosing to use a finger to stretch it over the edge instead.

On the second try, they seemed to stick better. I got about a week of wear even though the very edges still wanted to curl up a bit. And about five people commented on them.

I'm undecided on these. I had better luck the second time, and I might try a fancy pattern if I could get it on sale, but I wasn't overly impressed.

Also - if you have any sort of ridges or a part of your nail that's peeled - the strips will conform to the bumpiness.

Have you tried them? What do you think?

Nails of the moment - snowflakes

Essie First Base
Sally Hansen Xtreme silver color
white nail tip pen for the snowflakes, don't remember brand name
Essie Good To Go

Happy New Year again!

Everyone is all in New-Year's resolution mode now, and while I generally dislike resolutions, I think that some beauty-related "experiments" would be a good thing.

One of the things I'd like to do is to limit my spending to $10/month on non-essential product purchases. I already have a Fyrinnae order coming, and I also just splurged on an Hourglass lipstick (totally reckless decision, but I was in New York and feeling indulgent - so far I love it and will talk more about it later). There are also about three other things I'd like.

Replacements of things I use regularly are exempt from the limit. "Free" money like Extrabucks is added on. I can save up my allowance for something bigger if I want it.

Originally, I was thinking of trying to go the whole year without buying anything new (except replacements) but then that seemed crazy.

Anyone else on a no or low buy this year?

December 2011 Used It!

Happy New Year!

Last month, I used up 13 products, 7 of them full size. The Tea Tree Tingle body wash from Trader Joe's is the only real clear winner - but I think I won't repurchase until summer - great for cleaning off sweaty griminess, overkill for winter.


Caudalie vinosource quenching sorbet creme sample tube
Silk Naturals 9:59 GWP shadow*
Adorned with Grace foundation/celestial silkening powder**
Silk Naturals GWP Watermelon Coconut Detox Mask
Hourglass Veil mineral primer spf 15 sample
Carol's Daughter Macadamia Heat Protecting Gloss sample
Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Body Wash*
Ecotools body wash - travel size
Yes To Cucumbers Soothing Moisturizer with SPF 30*
Ponds Evening Soothe face wipes
Cover Girl Exact Eyelights mascara - green eyes*
Nuance Chamomile Cream Cleanser*

nails of the moment - it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

OPI by Sephora Spark-Tacular looks great over my dark green Franken, too! This one's getting compliments from the adults at work.

Nails of the Moment - 2nd grade seal of approval!

I think this looks like birthday cake. Funfetti, even.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Lavender Cloud
OPI by Sephora Spark-Tacular topcoat
Essie Good to Go topcoat.

It's been 48 hours and so far still holding up well. Also, the girls at school were FASCINATED by it yesterday. If only my subject was so fascinating...