crackled out phoebe

Omg it's been a crazy, stressful week and next week is going to be even more insane. Wish me luck please =)

I wanted to show you what I did with my nails last week. I'm SO addicted to phoebe, only thing is that it chips SO fast =(  and I'm not talking about little chips. This time around when I put the crackle on top of phoebe, some of the inside chipped off BEFORE the outside chipped- SO WEIRD!! Has that ever happened to you before? I will have to try it with different bases and top coats to find which one will maximize the length of wear of the pretty, pretty phoebe.

So let's get started. I used zoya's get even ridge filling basecoat. It comes in a cool professional box. BTW, I got their color lock system. I'm not sure if I took a picture of it, but I will and I'll show you next time.

Then I used two coats of phoebe.

Then after it dried. I put on one coat of china glaze's crackle in concrete. It doesn't go on as easy as opi's shatter, more streaky but I still think it came out well. 

and wa-la =P  crackled out phoebe. It kinda looks like dutch crunch bread huh? HAHA... or maybe I'm just hungry...

It came out looking very nice and matte but then I put on zoya's hurry up speedy dry drops and it became shiny. boo =( The speedy drops have Cemellia oil in it which probably brought on the shiny. 

So I had to use china glaze's matte magic to correct it. LOVE it!! Thank you matte magic, you're a life saver!

What do you think? Do you like it or prefer phoebe on her own? I love how the blue peaks out from behind the gray and still stands strong. 

the face shop vita E mask sheet review

So this is the mask I used last weekend. I got this at the Face Shop in Korea so everything besides the Nutri- Life E mask sheet is in korean. This mask nicely moisturized my face. It didn't fade any acne scars ,  but I don't think that was one of the functions anyways. And I didn't have a new breakout when I woke up in the morning =)

Silly me, I thought these two were the same mask. But they're not. I bought this from the Face Shop here and it has english. When I took a closer look at it, I realize this one has milk in it. 

What it says-

Vita E Mask Sheet, with skin plumping milk and egg extracts.

- Formulated with Vitamin E and extracts of Milk and Egg, this vitamin drenched sheet mask floods the skin with lavish moisture and helps keep your skin look and feel youthful.

- Vitamin E moisturizes, helps fight oxidation and protects skin cells against sun damage.

-patented phytolex nanoliposome effectively delivers beneficial ingredients deep into the skin and helps protect tired, rough skin from environmental damages.

What is Phytolex Nanoliposome?

Phytolex Nanoliposome is a composite of Ceramide and natural plant extracts of Mung Bean, White Birch and Rumex Crispus L.

The second mask was extremely moisturizing. It made my skin really oily in the morning and my pores were HUGE!! The consistency of this mask is that it is pretty thick.  I would recommend this to someone  who has extremely dry skin or is out in the sun a lot. It's supposed to help with sun damage. Vitamin E is really good for your skin. Would I repurchase these? I would repurchase the one from Korea, the other mask made my skin too oily.

Have you tried this mask? Have you tried any of the masks from the Face Shop?  What do you think about cotton sheet masks?

zoya phoebe

omg! I love this color. I'm not a fan of matte, but I will make an exception for this one. This color is just SO hard to resist. Don't let the smoothness fool you. This polish is a bit difficult to use. It dries ridiculously fast (like by the 3rd stroke to spread the polish on the nail). And it dries weird and streaked. I had to do my right middle finger 3 times! I've never had to redo nail polish that many times ever. 

And even though it might be more trouble than you might care for. I love it and am constantly looking at my fingers =)

Another downer is that I painted my nails on Friday. It started to chip on Sunday =(

That's pretty fast for me. Usually the tops of my nails would start to recede a little bit but it doesn't chip until near the end of the week, if not well into the next. Still after all the negatives, I am keeping this bottle in rotation and will probably mix it up with some Konad plates at some point and see how that does. This is my first and last matte nail polish unless someone comes up with a color this irresistible. 

Here is what I used for this manicure. I used the Zoya Anchor base coat.

Then I painted 2 coats of Zoya Phoebe.

Last, I painted on China Glaze's Matte Magic top coat.

And there you have it. Let's look at it one more time.

I've read on some other blogs that matte top coats on top of matte nail polishes makes it chip easier and faster. Also that matte nail polishes are prone to chipping in general. 

What do you think? Do you like the color? Is it worth the trouble? What's your favorite matte polish?

wipe on, wipe off eye makeup removers etude vs. holika holika

These are 2 of the eye makeup removers that I brought back from Korea.

This one is Etude House's mascara remover. OMG what a disappointment. I'm surprised it even made it on the shelves! I wonder if it's been tested on anyone to remove anything! It doesn't remove mascara easily. In fact it made the mascara tougher, almost like you put hairspray on your lashes. It was awful. I also tried to leave the cotton on my eyes for a few seconds before I tried removing my mascara, nothing worked. But because I absolutely hate wasting product... I just used it and kept tugging my lashes until it all flaked off. Horrible I know but I will never ever purchase this again and would like to persuade anyone against purchasing this. Etude House has SO many cute things that work pretty well, go spend your money on their other products and LEAVE THIS ON THE SHELF!

The second one is Holika Holika's Magic Salt lip & eye remover. I really like this remover and would totally purchase again when I visit Korea or if I see it next time I go to asia. It works really well, costs a lot less than the eye makeup removers in the US and far superior in the cute packaging department. With this eye makeup remover I can start wiping or let it sit on my eyelid for a few seconds and then wipe. I still go over it a few times to make sure it gets everything but NO TUGGING which I love. I haven't used either on my lips.

Both of these makeup removers you have to shake up to mix the liquid in them before you use it. I still have a different Etude House lip and eye remover. So Etude still has a chance to redeem themselves in the makeup remover department. I mean they have SO much makeup products that you would think they would make something good at removing them right?! Have you tried any of these removers? Did the Etude one work for you? If it did, please share the secret to using it because maybe I'm just not using it right. 

leopard nails *growl*

I wanted to show you the nails I was rockin this past week.  It was inspired by this Konad nail art representative at the IBS show in Vegas this year. Her nails looked AMAZING. Her leopard spots are a lot more pigmented than mine... I only realized this after I came home that it was because of the 'special' Konad polishes. Oh how I wish I purchased some when I was there =(

I'm pretty surprised and proud of myself with the outcome even so. Not a bad job I must say and so far the easiest time I've had with the Konad nail art plates. Take a look.

This is the Holika Holika gold glitter nail polish that I got when I went to Korea last year. Awesome isn't it? If you can't tell, it's A LOT of gold =P I love that it's super pigmented. I only used 2 coats for this.
For the black I used OPI's Black Onyx.

For a the base coat I used Skinfood's milk creamy nail.

And top coat I used Skinfood's milk creamy nail.

The Konad nail plate that I used is m57. You can even see I didn't clean the plate too well. I was really scared to mess up my nails if I tried.

Hope this inspires you to paint your nails and show me =)
Do you like the leopard spots or would you prefer the zebra/ tiger stripes (are they even animals stripes? lol) Till next time... happy painting.

solaroil

On the SolarOil site it says:

A synergistic blend of naturally light oils and vitamin e, designed to deeply penetrate and protect skin and nails. Jojoba oil carries vitamin e deeply into skin to help reduce visible signs of aging. Naturally light oils keep skin soft and supple. Keeps natural nails, nail color and nail enhancements tough and flexible. Repeated use drives oils deeper into natural nail. Super penetrating formula conditions skin and nails.

I've used this bottle for like 8 years on and off. On and off because I never liked it very much. I recently pushed myself to finish it because I bought more cuticle oil that I couldn't wait to try and I FINALLY finished it after all these years!! In their defense, they have probably in, that 8 years changed their formula and is better. Overall, I felt like it just didn't condition very well. I had a friend that was raving about it, so I had to check it out and never got why she like it SO much *shrug.* I've already found another cuticle oil that I like a lot better =)  Which I will show and review in another post.