L.A. Colors Wired

I found this fun electric blue shimmer at Dollar Tree, and yup, it cost $1. The formula was great, it was opaque in 2 coats and yup, it dried awesomely with Seche Vite. Awesome win for this L.A. Colors polish, from the Color Craze line. It's the first that I've tried and I'm very impressed. I've never seen these at my DT before, but I'd grab another based on this one. I also took a bit of length off my nails, as you might notice.

Some photos, but it was much more awesomely vibrant in real life. The perfect cerulean shimmer:

Gosh I loved this so much! What a blue! The nearest in my collection to this would be China Glaze Frostbite, but I think this is brighter somehow. Love it.

OK, so my Zoya project? The other night, I swatched ALL of my 35 some-odd of my Zoyas. It was overwhelming!! But awesome. And, I guess I'll be posting these in parts over the next couple of days once I figure out how to group them. I also have to redo a couple (Ginessa, Richelle and a few others were brats and photographed awfully). They're not perfect swatches (a smidge messy, no cleaup), but they ARE pretty color accurate, so they may help any Zoya decisions you may be making in the near future :-) I sent in my exchange on Friday and got an email today that it's already processed and on its way back to me!! Excellent customer service, just like last year. I only traded in six polishes this year because I wanted the Sparkle collection, which I got in its entirety. Annoyingly enough, I realized there was another polish I've always wanted, Sienna, that I forgot about. Either way, it runs until the end of June so maybe I'll do another if I round up a few more polishes.

OK, so Zoyas coming tomorrow! For more info on their Earth Day Polish Exchange program, visit artofbeauty.com, and you should see a box for it on the left hand side. The online form is a bit tricky, be warned.

Thanks for looking!

ETA: Remember in this post I got the new Borgheses Menta and Pistacchio? Well, I returned them! They were sheer to the point of being awful and pointless. Save your $$!!

Cheap Thrills

So today I had to go to the doctor's, which sucks for one reason: I'm out of school this semester and have no health insurance. I love the good ol' USA. But, because I was fairly certain something was wrong (wheezing is never good when you've never had asthma or any type of breathing problem), I went. It didn't end up being too bad, but it was still annoying to have to fork over $94 instead of $20 (and at $94 I got off easy!!!). At any rate, I did have a couple fun, cheap little discoveries of late. So, I bring you a Cheap Thrills post, inspired by the fact that I got a couple little gems (Haha pun! You'll see why in a minute...) today that only cost $1. They should both be relatively easy for you to find if you are interested.

The first item is the E.L.F. Nourishing Cuticle Pen. Available at Target and E.L.F.'s website, it's a plastic marker filled with cuticle care ingredients, and it costs $1. Yes, $1. I don't want to call this an oil because it's not "oily" but whatever's in there is good stuff. The package boasts that this pen contains: avacado & almond oils, and is vitamin fortified: E, A, C, Pro-Vitamin B5. The back of the package also notes that it contains Grape Seed and Aloe Vera oils. It looks like this:

Cuticle oil is not my favorite thing. I'm not terribly convinced of its benefits and it's messy. This is not. The marker is actually semi-dry feeling, and at first you'll think it's doing nothing, but look closely and you'll see a nice sheen on your cuticles. It feels like you're coloring on your cuticles. Color a bit on each finger. My cuticles looked instantly better and weren't messy. Several hours later and they still look noticeably moisturized and cared for. It actually gets kind of addicting to apply it. At first I was skeptical because the marker felt so dry, but I urge you to color with it on a few fingers, get the juices flowing and then you'll see what I mean. It does *not* glop out the treatment, and I think this is one of its main benefits. I suggest buying a couple at a time! I'm not saying this is a miracle cure for seriously problem cuticles but if all you're worried about is maintenance, then I think this pen will impress you. Definitely worth it.

Second for today is this little nail art kit that comes with 120 gems. And yes, it is also $1.

These are ubiquitous at Dollar Tree stores down here. Hardly any of them have polish but ALL of them have this. Since I'm hesitant to feature those lovely Sally Hansen duo packs or single polishes that pop up now and again (because they're so sporadic), I've decided to feature something that's (probably) definitely available at anyone's local Dollar Tree. I don't usually do decals or non-Konad nail art, but because it was only a buck, I grabbed this. It's actually quite cute and I like how small the rhinestones are. You'll definitely need a pair of tweezers to work with them, though. Here's a close-up of some of the gems:

I used a thin coat of the clear polish it comes first, as a base to stick the gems to. Then I placed them with tweezers and used a coat of the same clear all over, followed by a coat of Seche Vite. It worked pretty well! I don't know if the look's for me, but I don't regret getting this kit whatsoever. These might be fun for accenting Konad designs.

Here's a couple that I just threw on for example:

The right one reminds me of up arrows on an elevator.

So, these are some cheapies that I highly recommend searching out if you can. Thanks for looking, more nails to come tomorrow!