Giveaway Alert: $1,000 Sephora Shopping Spree

This giveaway was too good to not share. Bloomspot is holding a giveaway and the winner gets $1,000 to spend at Sephora. Talk about a makeup lover's dream. Check it out!

The Peanut Gallery: Sally Hansen Salon Effects

As I mentioned in a previous post I received a complimentary set of Sally Hansen Salon Effects to try. It is now time for the review. *insert drum roll* I didn't wear mine for any special event or anything, I just decided to put them on for fun (and so I could get this review done). I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the first few pictures. It was a cloudy day and no matter where I went to take pictures, I just couldn't seem to get adequate lighting.

A Little Info About Sally Hansen Salon Effects:

• Unlike most "stick on nail designs" the Salon Effects are real nail polish not plastic stickers which makes them last longer.
• No dry time (except for your topcoat should you choose to use one over top)
• They can be removed with nail polish remover (I haven't tried taking mine off yet)
• According to Sally Hansen they can last up to 10 days
• There are 40 different styles

Price: About $9.99 depending on location. 

Location: Can be purchased at drugstores and mass merchandisers 

Design:

The style I received was called Wild Child, it is a shimmery bright pink with a zebra print design in black over the top of it. I really like this design, it's kind of funky and fun and right up my alley. As I said before there are 40 designs available, to see the designs go to Sally Hansen's website.

Packaging: It's a simple plastic box, nothing really particularly good or bad about it.

Contents: 

• Two foil and plastic packaging containing the polish strips
• One cuticle pusher
• One mini file/buffer
• Directions

The Directions (click to see larger picture)

Nail Polish Strips: Each strip has a plastic layer on top that you peel off and a backing that you peel off before applying the strips. I had a bit of a hard time finding strips that properly fit my nails, I had to trim the sides of some of them to get them to fit. They are plenty long so if you have short nails you could cut them and save the other half to use a different time. I started doing this but it made it more time consuming so I gave up.

Application: I followed all the suggestions in the directions above and then followed each step. The application was harder than I expected it to be. The strips didn't seem to stretch very well in order to fit them at the top of my nails. At the bottom of the nails they stretched too much which made them not stick very well, that was probably user error however. I'm pretty sure I was pulling on them too hard while filing the excess off... but I was having trouble getting the file to take the excess off without being too rough with them. I applied a topcoat afterwords because from what I've read they stay on better with a top coat plus as I said the ends weren't sticking well because they got too stretched out.

Immediately after application

Wear: I've heard from other people that these nail polish strips hold up pretty well for them. Mine chipped a bit within a day. As I said I botched the application but it was frustrating none the less. They did, however, stay on much better than nail stickers that I've tried (for example: Rue 21 Beauté! Nail Stickers).

1 day after application

1 day after applications

3 days after application

3 days after application

Removal: Supposedly they can easily be removed with nail polish. I haven't tried to remove mine but when I do I will update this.

Wrap Up:

Likes:

• The range of designs
• All the the necessary tools are included

Dislikes:

• The file tool you are supposed to use to remove the excess. It didn't work very well which led to me pulling on the strips too much and messing up.

In-betweens:

• Price. $10 is definitely less than it costs to go get your nails done at a nail salon... granted a design done at a nail salon may hold up a bit better. If you cut them in half you'd get more bang for your buck. I honestly don't understand why anyone would want to buy the solid colors of these when you can just buy a bottle of polish for the same price or less.
• Application: maybe it's just me but I found it a bit difficult and frustrating. It's probably a practice makes perfect thing.
  

Would I buy again?: Maybe, I'd probably wait until they were on sale but I'll probably give them another shot eventually.

note: Complimentary or not I will always be honest in my product reviews, my loyalty is to my readers not to any company.

Influenster Spring Beauty VoxBox 2012

I just received my second box from Influenster (a site that provides free boxes of items for people to try and review) and I'm in love with this box. The items that I have tried I will briefly review here but those that I haven't been able to try yet I will review in the near future.

The product card. 

The contents

• Dr. Scholls for Her - Ball of Foot insert
• Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Wash
• SOYJOY bar in blueberry
• Sally Hanson Salon Effects (I've been dying to try these!)
• Sheer Cover Duo Concealer
• Chapstick Lip Shield 365
• Bath & Body Works Fine Fragrance Mist - Sweet Pea

SOYJOY bar

I confess that this is the first thing in the box that I tried (hey, I was hungry). After my experience with the LARABAR that I got in my Holiday VoxBox (blech) I was a little skeptical but I found this bar to be surprisingly tasty. The texture of the non-fruit part I found to be reminiscent of that of the non-fruit part of a Fig Newton. In a few reviews I read other Influenster's found  their bar to be too dry, perhaps they had a different flavor because mine wasn't particularly dry. My only complaint is that, for a product that claims to be a healthy snack, 15% of your daily allowance of saturated fat seems to be a bit much.

Dr. Scholl's for Her - Ball of Foot Cushions

I threw these puppies into my favorite pair of stiletto heels. Thus far I am impressed they were easy to put in and once in they stayed put. I was worried they may slip or slide out of place but the adhesive is sticky enough to hold them in place. I'm not sure if they will come out easily or not and I'm a bit afraid to try to take them out because then they may not be sticky anymore (not to mention I don't want to damage my shoes!). They did feel a bit weird when I first put my shoes on, it was just odd having padding filling in all the gaps between my toes, etc. They did however make my feet very comfortable.

Sheer Cover Duo Concealer

I received a sample of this from a different (paid) sample bag a month or two ago. It is smooth and creamy and easy to blend and covers pretty well. The problem: even the lightest shade is too dark for me. I'm just plain too pale. I can't tell you how this holds up through out the course of the day because I simply can't wear it. :/

Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Wash

First of all may I say that I love the smell of Aveeno products, that oatmeal & something else smell, mmm. So in the smell department it is a win. This lathers up nicely and doesn't leave skin feeling tight nor like there is stuff sitting on the surface still. I've used it twice so far and it does seem to have reduced my dry skin quite a bit already! I may have to buy a full size bottle of this when I run out of the sample. 

Bath & Body Works Fine Fragrance Mist - Sweet Pea

First off, I love the sweet pea scented products, I had a bunch a few years ago but I ran out. *clutches bottle* I'm so glad to have some again, it smells so good! The Bath and Body Works Fragrances are not the strongest scents on the planet, which is actually good for summer because increased temperatures can intensify the scent you are wearing and overpowering scents are not fun. The scent lasts a decent amount of time for an inexpensive body spray. If you do want the scent to be stronger (and last longer) simply combine with lotion of the same scent. I love the new designs for the bottles, they are so simple and pretty!

ChapStick Lip Shield 365

I confess that I haven't gotten around to trying this product yet. ChapStick brand lip balms tend to dry lips out more than they actually moisturize (as do many other lip balm brands including Blistex). They make them drying so you will apply more often essentially. I will say that it is nice that it has a high SPF, it is easy to forget that our lips need protection from UV rays too. I'll review this soon in a separate post.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects: Nail Polish Strips

I have not tried these yet only because in the past week I managed to break 3 of my fingernails. I really love this design and I want to wait until my nails grow back out and are even before I use them. I've heard good things about these nail polish strips and I'm SO excited to try them! I will review them in a separate post.

Epic Giveaway Alert: From MAC Hey, Sailor Collection

I know I haven't posted much lately and I apologize for the un-announced hiatus, this semester of school has been kicking my butt and I haven't had the funds to buy much in the way of makeup. I did however want to pop in to alert you all of an awesome giveaway on one of my favorite blogs.

The oh so fabulous Christina Confessions of a Glitterholic in addition to doing a preview post about the MAC Hey, Sailor collection is giving away  *drum roll* a MAC Sail La Vie lippie!

You would be crazy to miss this in my opinion. Go here to enter!

The winner will be chosen on 5/24/2012