NOTD: ST. PATRICK'S NAIL #1

to kinda join in on the fun of celebrating St. Patrick's this month, I'm gonna be doing nails dedicated to the color of this event - Green!! so the first one would be a very pretty nail polish that sadly, was almost forgotten....

China Glaze:

RE-FRESH MINT

PRODUCTS USED:
Sally Hansen Double Duty Base & Top Coat
China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint
Nailene Acrylic Strong Top Coat

pictures in different lightings & camera settings....

it's the perfect spring color!!!

just for fun, I tried applying Sinful Colors' Green Ocean over top....

I don't like it!! it looks like boogers stuck on your nails after picking your nose.... hahaha... sorry for being too gross but that's just how it looks like... I think Green Ocean is better off with a dark colored nail polish as a base color.... 

just a random question.... how come whenever beauty/nail polish bloggers put a special design on one finger, they always put it on the ring finger??? I was just curious to know what the story is behind that.... does anybody know why???

anyhoo, while I was painting my nails, I noticed that there's another polish that I've used before that kinda looks like this shade.... then I realized Re-Fresh Mint reminds me of For Audrey... so I thought I'd compare the two polishes....

so looking at the bottles, Re-Fresh Mint looks only a tad lighter than For Audrey....

but then on my nails... after comparing them side by side, For Audrey is obviously a lot darker & more vibrant than Re-Fresh Mint....

but I love them both.... they could be sisters!! LOL (click HERE to check out my For Audrey blog entry)

I found a drugstore dupe for this lovely nail polish - Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in Mint Sorbet

I don't own this nail polish but last week when I thought about doing the St. Patrick n/p posts, I swatched all my green nail polishes on my fingers, then I went to Walgreens one day, saw Mint Sorbet & swatched it right next to Re-Fresh Mint & they were totally identical to each other... it was amazing! so just in case you are looking for the cheaper version of Re-Fresh Mint, or if you don't have access to China Glaze in your area, go for SH's Mint Sorbet... 

on the other note, I started using my HP Mini again....

here is a picture with all kinds of things on it to show how tiny it is... ain't it sooo cute???

I don't think I ever mentioned this on my blog before but the manfriend gave this to me for our 7th year anniversary (June 23rd, 2009)... I stopped using it back then because it was freezing way too much.. I was either gonna sell it on eBay or return it to Best Buy for a different laptop... but it was moved to the garage one day after cleaning out our room... so it was forgotten since then.. until I bought an eMachine one that was on sale for Black Friday in 2009... since then I've been using it for blogging & stuff... but I finally remembered the poor little HP & decided to try it out again... so that's what I used to write this blog post.... & it's doin pretty good so far! I might not need to get rid of it after all... 

I usually blog either in our room or the kitchen.... the calla lilies on our dining table looked so pretty so I thought I'd take a snapshot of my blog area today...

hope you all are having a great weekend!!

SINFUL COLORS LOOT: GREEN OCEAN

I've searched high & low for this gorgeous nail polish & finally, I found it today!!! after checkin at my nearest Walgreens & Rite-Aid for the nth time, I finally gave up & decided to call the, well, the "farthest" Walgreens & Rite-Aid in my town... I had them check if they have the St. Patrick's display for the Sinful Colors... Rite-Aid said no, but Walgreens, Walgreens said YES!!!!! in my excitement, I asked the S.A. right away how many more they have left of the Green Ocean, she said only 2... then quickly I said, "could you possibly hold those 2 for me?" I wasn't sure if drugstores do that but luckily she said yes.... so I picked it up today & I was sooo happy... I was like a little kid that got a DS for Christmas.... LOL

this reminds me of Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure from this haul post & this NOTW post....

if you still don't know why I went crazy over these last 2 bottles, here's why.....

image borrowed from Enamel Girl

borrowed image from Steph's Closet

image borrowed from The Nailphile

[thanks for loaning your blog pics ladies! =)]

isn't it gorj???? ugh!! I can't get over how pretty it is!! I just hope it wouldn't be hard to apply it as other glittery, flaky nail polishes would.... but whatevs! I guess at $1.99 per bottle, I really have no right to complain... =)

do you have this polish?? is it hard to apply it?? 

MAYBELLINE FIT ME TRIAL #2

pictures are after 4-5 hours of wear....

don't mind the hair... I've been wearin a hat all day... I thought I could make it look kinda cute with this headband, but ehh....

anyhoo... focus on the makeup people! LOL

I used very minimal products on my eyes since I was just runnin around pickin up my kids all day then at Chuck E Cheese for my nephews third birthday....

PRODUCTS USED:

-face-

MAC oil control lotion

Maybelline NY Fit Me foundation - 220

MAC mineralized skinfinish natural - Medium

MAC studio sculpt concealer - NC30

Pro 6 colour contour/blush palette - #6 blush & #5 contour

-eyes-

Benefit F.Y...eye! eyeshadow base

MUFE e/s - #60

MAC e/s - Soft Brown

MAC e/s - Handwritten

Prestige liquid e/l - Black

Stila kajal e/l - Topaz

Bare Escentuals buxom lash mascara - Black

E.L.F. eyebrow kit - Dark

-lips-

MAC tinted lip conditioner - Strobe Rays

Wet n Wild l/s - 902C Bare It All

with the MAC oil control lotion, no sign of oil or grease in sight, I'd say that's really good.... I'm lovin it so far!!

watchuthink??

WHAT ARE YOU GIVIN UP??

in observance of the lent season, I thought I'd do a post on the things I'm givin up...

last year, I gave up rice & I must say very proudly that it was a success... being Filipino, whose staple food is rice, IT'S VERY HARD not to eat rice... but I did it!! no rice for 40 days!! I believe I lost a few lbs as a result, although that was not my intention... my intention was to give up something that I thought I couldn't live without... the weight loss was just an added bonus.... but this year, I mean business... double purpose baby!!! sacrifice for lent & to lose a few pounds.... LOL

so I am givin up....

RICE

FAST FOOD

I'm not too fond of burgers, I don't really like them but I like to eat french fries every now & then, especially In n Out's & McD's.... & Wendy's chicken nuggets are something that I crave for a lot.... but other than that I don't think it would be that hard to give up on fast food....

wait!!! is pizza considered fast food?? oh hell, now that's something that's kind of hard to avoid since my boys love pizza... uh-oh!!

SODA

this, my friends, is what's gonna kill me... I loooooove drinkin soda, Pepsi/Diet Pepsi in particular.... but I think I only drink it when it's there, when it's not, I don't crave for it or anything like that.... "out of sight, out of mind"... so the solution is to not buy them... but the problem is my Dad & the beaufee drinks soda so we include that in the grocery list often times... so I'm screwed!! but that's why it's a test....

I know I can do it!! I already did it before.... but it's gonna be hard!!

so here we go, 40 days & 40 nights.... starting today (Ash Wednesday).... wish me luck!! I'm gonna need it....

do you practice lent??

if so, what are you givin up???

& pretending you do, what would you give up?? 

FREE ZOYAs

remember when Zoya had a 3 free bottle giveaway thru Facebook back in January where their fans get 3 free Zoya nail polishes if they hit 20,000 fans on FB?? well, I finally got mine in February & this is just another delayed post that I still wanna share to you all...

I picked

DOVIMA

from the Zoya Matte Velvet Fall Nail Polish Collection

CHERYL

from the Zoya Wicked Nail Polish Collection

KELLY

from the Zoya Wonderful Nail Polish Collection

it also came with this little booklet advertising their products....

it showed all the shades from all the collections...

it also features their newest collection

Zoya Intimate Spring2011 NailPolish Collection

which shows swatches on color spoons

with flash

(name of shades from top to bottom)

Gemma

Jules

Dannii

Caitlin

Dove

Marley

without flash

so basically, I got 3 free bottles of nail polishes that are usually priced at $8 each... I only had to pay for shipping which is like $7 or sumthin like that... so you could imagine my excitement when I heard about this, not only because they were free but because Zoya is one of my most favorite nail polish brands when it comes to quality & ease of application... it's actually on the very top, right next to China Glaze... it's amazing how easy it glides on to your nails & leaves you with a smooth, streak-free finish....

I only own 4 Zoya n/p's so far due to unavailability in my area... but if it's only available to me, I'd probably pick Zoya over O.P.I. .. I find Zoya's easier to apply than O.P.I., just a personal opinion....

(you can see my Zoya BARBIE blog post HERE...)

did you get to enjoy this giveaway from Zoya?? what shades did you order?? 

JUST IN - NYC HAUL

I just got home from Rite Aid & was in the mood to blog, so I thought 'why not blog about what I just got?!'.... so here, you'll see my NYC haul, still fresh from the store..... it's not much, I was actually looking for something else but saw that they are havin a BOGO 50% off on NYC, Wet n Wild, Sinful Colors, Revlon stuff... I didn't see anything from the other brands but I have a few things I've been eyein on from the NYC line so I thought I'd finally get them & take advantage of the sale...

STILL HOT!!!!!

Bronzing Face Powder in 720 Sunny

I've seen a lot of makeup gurus & bloggers use this so I wanna give it a try too..

Loose Face Powder in 741 Translucent

packaging....

what it looks like inside....

both came with cosmetic sponges...

In a New York Color Minute nail polishes in

246 Park Ave & 204B West Village

I must've picked up one that has the old packaging coz the stickers look different... it was the last one there so I just grabbed it...

the Park Ave in the bottle looks like Rimmel's Steel Grey?? or maybe Sephora's OPI Metro Chic???

& then hoping that maybe West Village could kinda resemble MAC Jeanius nail polish in Biker Blue.... I don't own the Biker Blue so I guess I won't find out if they look alike after I swatch it...

but that's it for my quick NYC haul... I didn't spend more than $8 on this haul plus I got all kinds of +Up Reward $1 off coupons... so if you are looking for great deals on NYC, Wet n Wild, Revlon & other stuff, head out to Rite Aid now...