OPI: My Vampire is Buff

Hello beautiful people! Thanks for stopping by today! Today I have a fun nude to share with you from OPI. I love nudes, especially nude cremes, it's nice to wear a clean neutral color every so often.

This is My Vampire is Buff and it's a bone/ivory creme. It's a really neutral nude, not too pink toned, not too yellow toned. I have a feeling many skin tones will be able to pull this one off. I love when a polish is so universal!

The formula is okay but it's on the thin side. I used two coats for the opacity shown but it really does require three. I think you'll be able to see why from the photos: it looks okay in my photos but there's a bit of visible balding and streaking. Next time I will just do three coats and then I think it will be perfect.

What do you think of this nude? Do you NEED another nude? I personally can never have enough nudes.

Random Thoughts:

• Seriously, the snow needs to go away!
• Who's been watching The Walking Dead? I enjoyed this week's episode, even though we didn't see all characters, someone I have been dying to see showed up! What a great episode and the ending was great - it really showed how people have changed over time. 
• I cannot wait to see Oz: The Great and Powerful. I love all things Oz related, I hope this does not dissappoint!

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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Dr. Dobb's Peppermint Tingle Lip Balm

Hi everyone! Today I am putting down the nail polish to talk to you a little more in depth about an essential in my beauty routine. I know I have mentioned this product before but I thought I would give you all some more information on it because it's my all time favorite lip balm ever and pretty much no one I know has heard of it. 

When I was in law school I was shopping at my school's co-op (bookstore basically) and noticed this little beauty out of the corner of my eye. I needed some lip balm, and I love peppermint, so I purchased a stick and the rest is history.  

On the first try, I was hooked. This is BY FAR the best lip balm I have ever used.  I used to use Burt's Bees and this honestly blows Burt's Bees out of the water in every way. This is the smoothest balm ever. It glides onto your lips and never feels waxy. The peppermint scent and taste is strong, so you have to love it to appreciate this balm. I adore peppermint so to me this is a win! As the name indicates, it does tingle, but not in the way a lip plumper does, but rather it has a cooling, soothing effect on the lips. I just love how cool it feels.

Dr. Dobb's is all natural, here's what's inside:

Coconut Oil: A rich skin moisturizer with healing properties 

Beeswax: Natural base used instead of petroleum or lanolin products

Sweet Almond Oil: Helps relieve pain, softens skins and promotes good complexion Tocopheryl Acetate & Tocopheryl (Vitamin E): Heals burns and skin abrasions 

Peppermint Oil: Cooling tonic with stimulating action 

Lanolin: An emollient that helps penetrate the skin with moisturizing properties

Rosemary Extract: Skin softening agent that helps prevent infection

See all of those great things this contains? 

The only downfall of this product is that it can be hard to find. Here's a list of locations that  carry it, I hope you have a place in your area because this stuff is really worth it! Dr. Dobb's also has a variety of other great products that I have tried, including different flavored balms, bath oil, cuticle butter, and soap. Great stuff!

Have you tried anything by Dr. Dobb's? What do you think of their products? What is your favorite lip balm ever?

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Jesse's Girl Cosmetics: Julie G Collection in Chic Cipro

Hi everyone! It's Monday again! I swear even the pets dread Mondays. I hope you all had a nice weekend. Today I have a color to share from the Julie G Collection by Jesse's Girl Cosmetics. If you don't know who JulieG is, she's a makeup guru on YouTube with tons of fans. Jesse's Girl has teamed up with her to create a line of polishes with her name. Very cool! I watch her videos all the time and she seems like a genuinely nice girl. I am so happy to see all of the success she has achieved with her videos. Can you believe some of these makeup gurus on youtube do this for a living? I wish I could make that my job! But I digress...

This is Chic Cipro which is an odd name. I looked up "cipro" but could not find any meaning beyond prescription medication, LOL, anyone know what it means? *EDIT: SEE BELOW FOR WHAT IT MEANS!  It's a peachy nude cream color that's sort of ugly chic if you ask me. I love these kind of colors. Sometimes peachy colors do not work with my skin tone but this one is really pretty.

I used two coats for the opacity shown but may have been better off with a third looking at the photos now. However, I think that was just my application. I need to be more careful sometimes. The formula was nice and super shiny, which you know I love.

Have you tried any of the Julie G polishes? I have only seen Jesse's Girl, and this collection, at select Rite Aid stores near me, not all of them. So this is a little tough to come by. Jesse's Girl does make great cosmetics though so check them out if you do have access. They are affordable and great quality, in my opinion.

EDIT: I heard from the PR representative who from Jesse's Girl who explained what Cipro meant. I think this information is really cool and really speaks to the creativity behind the line. I am so glad I wrote that I was wondering. Very cool!

"[...]saw that you were wondering what “Cipro” meant, and it’s actually the subway stop in Italy that Julie would go to everyday when she was studying abroad in Italy. What’s so cool about the JulieG Collection is that Julie not only helps design the colors, but then gives them names that go along with the shade, but also ones that relate to special memories or experiences from her life!"

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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OPI: Don't Pretzel My Buttons (Germany Collection)

Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope you're all having a fantastic week so far.  I have to go to the dentist today so we'll see how that goes LOL. Honestly though I don't mind the dentist that much, I always leave with my teeth feeling nice and squeeky clean so I love it! 

Today I want to show you a polish from OPI's Germany Collection. This is Don't Pretzel My Buttons and OPI describes it as a honey beige. You know how much I love my neutrals so naturally (no pun intended) this is the first on of the collection I tried.

I really love the color of this one.  To my eye it's a slightly pinked beige color. Nothing extremely unique but sure to be a staple in my rotation.

I didn't really have application problems but I did  experience some balding on my middle finger. I really chalk that up to my application more than the polish though so I don't have any negative feelings towards it. It behaved itself during application so I am sure that was just a fluke from my hand. 

What do you think of this nude? Love it, have to have it? Or don't need another nude? Let me know below!

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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Kaylala: Cutie Pie Cuticle Cream

Hi everyone! I am finally feeling a little better! Today I want to share a fabulous all natural product from Kaylala.  This is their Lemon Meringue Cutie Pie Cuticle Cream.  It's made with some fantastic ingredients including Emu Oil, which is found in tons of the company's products.  Emu Oil is rich in Omega 3, 6 and 9 essential fatty acids so it's great for your skin! 


Here's what Kaylala has to say about it:

Our intensive, healing cuticle cream balm soothes dry and damaged cuticles with a pleasing, all natural, Lemon Meringue scent.  

The organic and natural ingredients are antibacterial, antiviral & antimicrobial to protect cracked cuticles from germs.
contains:

AEA Certified Emu oil, Organic Aloe Vera, Maryland Pesticide-Free Beeswax, Organic Macadamia Nut oil, Organic Rosehip Seed oil, Vitamin E (Non GMO), Organic Lemon Tea Tree oil, Organic Turmeric, Lemon oil.
Net Wt .25 oz (7g) in a glass pot.

Everything in this product is organic  and the company uses recyclable packaging. I love companies who care about our bodies and environment. We only have one body and one Earth right? The Emu Oil they use comes from their very own Emus that they raise on their family farm. These animals are raised free range and are antibiotic and hormone free. So heads up, the product is obviously not Vegan if that's a concern of yours. Emu Oil comes from the fat of the birds. 


I really really like this stuff. I use several different cuticle treatments and this is honestly becoming one of my top!  The consistency is great. It's a solid balm but it's nice and emolient so it's easy to use. It rubs on easily and absorbs quickly. It doesn't leave the skin greasy at all and does an excellent job moisturizing.  I think the Emu Oil is the star of this product.  Sometimes balms can be a bit dry and you have to rub and rub in order to get enough product to moisturize; not the case here. You just rub your finger for a second and you have enough to  hydrate your cuticles.


I love the scent! It's a sweet fresh lemon scent. It does not smell like lemon cleaner, I know when some of you hear lemon you think cleaner but I promise this is a lovely lemon scent. In fact I'd like a candle in this scent.

The stuff on the edges is just some stickiness left over from the packaging. 

This product retails at Kaylala for $7.95.  I have been exploring their website and there are so many products I am interested in trying so don't be shocked if you see more reviews soon! I think their pricing is reasonable and their philosophy is great! 


Have you tried any of Kaylala's products? Let me know what you think of them in the comments! I'd love some suggestions.

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy.

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Piggy Paint Review & Coupon Code

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking in with me today! I have an exciting company to share with you that I think mom's will especially like but we can all appreciate.

I recently had the opportunity to try a nail polish from a great company called Piggy Paint. The company was started by a stay at home mom concerned with the toxic chemicals found in our beloved traditional polishes. Tired of being light headed after painting her girls nails she made it her mission to create a kid friendly, odorless, non toxic nail polish and she succeeded!

Piggy Paint polishes contain the following ingredients:

Water, water-miscible acrylic resins and thickeners (well below 100 parts per million), glycol ethers. May contain mica, D&C red lake, ultramarine blue, iron and titanium oxide pigments.

I tried the color Girls Rule which is described on their website as "a bright shimmery purple polish". To me it's a purple-ish pink. It is purple, my camera made it a touch pinker than it is in reality but I'd call it a light purple-ish pink with tons of shimmer. It's not really frosty, I'd call it a duochrome. It's purplish pink with tons of pink duochrome that makes it sparkle in the sun. It's really eye catching. I wore this as a pedi for about 2 weeks and I really loved the finish.

The formula is fantastic. I have to say I didn't know what to expect out of a water based polished aimed at kids but this baby delivered! First thing I noticed was it truly is as close to odorless as a nail polish can be. It does have a mild scent to it, which I cannot quite pinpoint (maybe kids paints or something?) but you have to really hold the brush up to your nose to detect it. I like this about the polish. It's nice when a company makes a claim and really means it. I think that this is a huge plus for you mom's out there worried about the scent of our normal polishes. You can trust that your kids will not get light headed from these polishes, that's for sure. I know many of us have said our hubby's complain about the smell of polishes when we do our nails and with this one they'd never even realize you were busy painting.

The application was simple. I found the polish easy to work with and it glided smoothly over my finger and toe nails. I did my toes first and was really impressed with the ease of application. I HATE doing my toes!! The polish is highly pigmented and took just two coats for maximum opacity - again impressive considering it's a water based product.

The company suggests drying nails with a hair dryer in order to dry faster and create a hard finish. I did not do this. I sort of defeated the whole purpose of non-toxic by putting on a coat of Seche Vite because I simply cannot live without it. I will try their method and report back to you though so that you can get a complete picture of how that would work, especially if you are drawn to the product for your kids, you don't want to use Seche on top if your concern is toxicity.

Like I said, I wore the polish on my toes for about 2 weeks and I wore the polish as a mani for about 5 days. I noticed that the polish lasted quite a long time with minimal tip wear or chipping. One thing I noticed was that it was quite difficult to remove. I am not sure why that would be but I did seem to struggle a bit removal, it took some extra cotton rounds and elbow grease! No big deal though. Their remover did work well with the product though, and it's low odor too!

Now on to the swatches:

Pretty right? I think any young girl would love this polish.

Overall I am impressed with the brand. I like their company philosophy and I think they deliver on all of the promises they make. It's really heartwarming to see companies like this entering the market because we should be concerned with toxicity and the environment. I think if you have kids and they are into polish like we all are then check these polishes out! I can really get behind companies like this and I am grateful to have been able to try their products!

The company was kind enough to offer my readers a coupon code, good until September 7, 2010 for 10% off anything in their store including sale items! Good deal!

Coupon Code: PRIM10L

Piggy Paint retails for $8.99 and is shipped worldwide! Free shipping on orders $35 and over.

You can also keep up with Piggy Paint on twitter for more product information and fun sales. They just tweeted that on Wed. July 28th and Thurs. July 29 they will have FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING and 1/2 shipping to Canada. Plus on those days use the coupon sparkle15l for an additional 15% off your entire order!

I hope you found this review helpful! I really enjoyed this product and think it's a great concept for kids. Let me know what you think in the comments! Have you tried this product? Are you interested in trying it? What colors do you like best? Do you think your daughters would love this product?

Have a wonderful day and thank you for reading!

Disclosure: This product was furnished to me by the company for consideration. All reviews published on this blog are at my own discretion. Please refer to my Disclosure Policy. I do not work for the company and I was not paid for this review. I also will not receive any compensation for use of the coupon code, I just wanted to share a good deal with my wonderful readers.

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A Beautiful Life Nail Soy Polish Remover

Good day readers. Today I have a fun and natural product to share with you all. I know many people are concerned with going green for the environment or using all natural beauty products for their health and there is a company that makes both natural nail lacquer and natural polish remover. I have had the pleasure of testing two colors and the remover. Today I want to share my thoughts on the remover with you.

The Soy Polish Remover is 3 free so there's no DBP, Toluene or Formaldehyde which many people will appreciate. It's soy based and made with just three ingredients: Cocomide Dea (a biodegradable surfacent), Natural Soybean Esters, Pink Grapefruit Essential Oils.

What I like about this product:

It is gentle and effective. It gently removes lacquer without drying nails and cuticles. The grapefruit oil is nourishing and lends a light smell to the product which I find much more pleasant than acetone scents - of course.

How did I use it? I soaked regular cotton pads with the remover and used it as I would any other removal product. I could tell that the oils were really gentle and I was pretty surprised a product so different was actually removing polish. I think if you're not a fan of the harsh drying properties of acetone you'd love this product.

What I dislike about the product:

My one complaint would be that it takes a longer time to remove polish than 100% acetone does. This is obvious though. Acetone is a harsh chemical so it's only logical that it would remove polish in seconds. This remover takes a little more product, more cotton pads and more time. So it's really just a judgment thing - do you want to remove polish quickly and risk drying or do you want to remove polish gently and keep your nails moisturized? It's really up to you.

Overall:

Overall I think this is a great product to add to your regimen. I think if you're like me and change your polish practically daily you can benefit from using a more gentle remover from time to time.

Will this completely replace my acetone? No. While I'd love to say it will the reality is sometimes I am impatient and there will always be times when I need things removed quickly. I will however make it a point to incorporate this every other manicure or so to enjoy the moisturizing properties. I think it's a great product to pamper yourself with. If I wasn't so impatient I'd nix the acetone all together because it's clearly better for you.

I think I can see this product taking off. So many people want to make sure they are not harming their body and environment so taking steps to use responsible products is a great thing to do. I'd recommend giving this a shot if you want to pamper yourself with a splurge.

A Beautiful Life Soy Polish Remover can be purchased at abeautifullife.com for $20.

Be on the look out for swatches and reviews of two of their polish colors, Vette and Shroom.

Have you tried this natural nail polish remover? Is it something you'd be interested in trying? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Sound off in the comments :-)

Thanks for reading! Love you all.

Disclosure: This product was furnished to me byPR for consideration. All reviews published on this blog are at my own discretion. Please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

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