Just Another Mani Monday: Golden Vision

Hello, my Pretties!

I was getting ready for bed when I remembered that today is Monday!  I got confused since my daughter didn't have school today and that made me feel like today was Sunday.  Yes, I get confused easily.

And last Mani Monday post, which you can see HERE, I mentioned that I'm bad at scheduled posts so that I would probably forget the coming Monday.  But I remembered!  Just barely, but I did.

This Monday I bring to you another one of my sister's nail polishes.  If you're wondering why I use a lot of my sister's nail polishes, it's because I babysit my nephew while she is working and when he takes a nap, I get to play.

She also buys a lot of Avon from me.  But we don't usually like to by the same nail polishes because that way we can share them and have a bigger variety of colors to choose from.  But when I polished my nails this shade, I decided that I had to have this one.  I think this one is a special edition color for the holidays so I need to buy mine quick before it is gone.

The Avon Nailwear Pro+ line of nail polishes has some "pluses" for sure:

12 days of lasting color. 
Increases nail strength by 80%. 
High-shine finish resists dings, bangs and nicks.
No formaldehyde, toluene or phthalates.
.4 fl. oz.

And it retails for $6.00 a bottle.

You can check all the shades available in the Nailwear Pro+ line in my Avon e-Store by clicking HERE.

Golden Vision with flash.

Golden Vision with flash.

Golden Vision without flash.

Golden Vision without flash.

Golden Vision with flash. Two coats.

Golden Vision without flash. Two coats.

Isn't she lovely?  Isn't she beautiful?  Haha, I couldn't help myself.  I love the shade of gold.  Not like 24K gold but a nice champagne gold with silver shimmers.  I think it would work well for golden shades of fall as well as the more decadent shades of gold for the holidays.  Plus, I think this color looks nice with my skin tone :)

♥♥ This nail polish was borrowed from my sister. I am her Independent Avon Representative. ♥♥

Buy and Blog: L.A. Colors

Hello, my Pretties!

It's been a while since I last shared with you a "haul" post.  I decided not to call them "hauls" anymore.  Why??  Uh, just because, I suppose.  Haha.  I just wanted to be different.  The word "haul" is used a lot in the beauty community.  A lot.

Any how, I decided to treat myself the other day and look for some new fall shades to add to my collection. Even though the sweet-tart hates that I am cheap with my makeup, I don't mind at all.  L.A. Colors is probably the cheapest brand that I buy but I like it.  So if I like it and get to save money with it, I don't see the problem.  Haha.

In September, I posted my small collection of L.A. Colors nail polishes.  I only had four at the time.  And those four were better suited for spring and summer.  So that's why last week I decided to get four more nail polishes that seemed more appropriate for fall.

You can see my Nail Polish Collection: L.A. Colors post HERE.

Now let me share my new goodies with you.

I purchased all of the following products at my local Family Dollar and each individual item was only $1.00!

Buy and Blog: L.A. Colors

When I saw this polish, it SCREAMED fall to me.  It's so perfect it isn't even funny.  Copper tones for fall are a must have.

Copper

L.A. Colors Nail Lacquer with Hardeners

Swatch

And then I saw this color and it reminded me of the leaves once they have changed colors.  Or so I've seen in photos and movies.  The trees down here in Texas tend to stay green year round.  We don't have those pretty golden leaves...

Topaz

L.A. Colors Nail Lacquer with Hardeners

Swatch

Black is a staple.  I think it's that time of year where you can bust out the darkest of the dark nail polishes and look quite put together.  I like wearing black nail polish.  For me, it's classy in a way.  I don't think of it as "goth".  Besides, Halloween is just around the corner and black is essential for those Halloween inspired nails.  Although I'm not sure I will be attempting any Halloween nail art this year.

Circuits

L.A. Colors Nail Lacquer with Hardeners

Last but not least, I got a berry hue.  I've heard that berry shades are definitely in for fall.  I thought this one was pretty in the bottle but swatched a lot brighter than I had hoped.  It's still pretty though.

Nuclear Energy

L.A. Colors Nail Lacquer with Hardeners

Swatch

** ALL NAIL POLISHES WERE SWATCHED USING TWO COATS OF NAIL POLISH **

And now on to the lips!  I love buying lipstick now.  I had very few lipsticks before.  I always preferred to buy eyeshadows.  But now I have a lot of shadows so I decided to focus more on lipsticks and blushes.

Here is a pic of my pucker for you to see them in their natural state for reference.

Bare lips

Sticking with the berry theme for fall, I picked this one.  I had to.  Look at the name.  Perfect!

L.A. Colors Lipstick

Berry Ice

Berry Ice
Finger tip swatch

Berry Ice
Lip swatch

Berry Ice is very pretty but very bold as well.  I then decided to pick up another lipstick that I could and probably would, use more often.  A little more on the neutral side, shall I say.

L.A. Colors Lipstick

Sienna

Sienna
Finger tip swatch

Sienna
Lip swatch

I will say that I enjoy the L.A. Colors lipsticks.  They are creamy and feel good on my lips.  The colors are very pigmented, as you can see.  The price point doesn't get any better.  That's why I have a few of these in my collection.  Maybe I will feature those in a blog post at a later time.

And while I do love their lipsticks, I have never tried their lip glosses.  I ended up picking out two lip glosses just to try out.  There were quite a few colors that I liked and a red that was WOW.  But I decided on a very pretty neutral pink shade and something more unique.

L.A. Colors Moisturizing Lipgloss

Rose Petals

Rose Petals
Finger tip swatch

Rose Petals
Lip swatch

L.A. Colors Moisturizing Lipgloss

Orchid

Orchid
Finger tip swatch

Orchid
Lip swatch

These glosses were fantastic on the lips.  They DO feel moisturizing.  Even after I wiped them off my lips, my lips felt softer and smoother.  Love that.

In my opinion, L.A. Colors is a brand that I don't see much of on the blogging community.  I admit that they are cheap.  But I like saving money where I can.  I have purchased L.A. Colors that I just didn't like but these items here, I am happy with.

I don't think you have to spend a lot of money to have quality items.  L.A. Colors is a brand that I will definitely try and build up my collection on.

♥♥ All items mentioned in this post were purchased by me with my own money.  These are my own thoughts and honest opinions. ♥♥

Swatches: Dark Heart Designs: C-D

Hello, my Pretties!

Back in August I shared the news with you that I had been selected as a partner in Dark Heart Designs Swatch Program.

I get sent samples of the products to swatch them for Tina, the owner of DHD.  There was a handful of us chosen to participate in the Swatch Program.  Tina picked all of us based on our skin tone.  We submit the swatches to her which she then posts on her website so customers can see what the products will look like on their skin.  I think it's a great idea!  Different colors show up differently on different skin tones.

In the first wave of swatches, we got sent: 5 eyeshadows, 1 eyeliner, 1 lip gloss, and 1 lipstick.  This time we got 11 eyeshadows and 1 face primer.

To see that post, click HERE.

Here was what was in my package this time around.

Like last time, Tina included a handwritten note of thanks.  I think that is really sweet that she takes the time to do so.

Inside the note card were the sample baggies of the 11 shadows and face primer.

I just ADORE how her sample baggies have the shadow names printed on them.  I don't know how she does it but I love it.  They look great!

This phase of the Swatch Program included the shadows with the names starting with C-D:
Catalyst, Charmed, Clean Slate, Coral Fang, Cotton Candy, Crash Love, Curse, Deal, Dirty, Dirty Diana, Dragons and the Face Primer.

Here is what I swatched the shadows with.  I used Dark Heart Designs Magic Eyelixir.  You just add a drop or two to the powder shadow to make it wet and it totally intensifies the shadow to the max!

You can purchase the Magic Eyelixir for $2.99 for the small vial (4 mL) or pay $4.99 for the large vial
(8 mL).

And last time I failed to do a swatch using a popular base.  Last time I did the swatches on bare skin (no primer, base, or Magic Eyelixir).  I saw that the other girls in the Swatch Program did their swatches on bare skin, over NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, and mixed with Magic Eyelixir.  I could not find my NYX JEP in Milk for the life of me (and I have 2 of them!) so I just used the next best thing, NYX Eyeshadow Base in White.

And here are the swatches:

Catalyst

Charmed

Clean Slate

Coral Fang

Cotton Candy

Crash Love

Curse

Deal

Dirty

Dirty Diana

Dragons

All of these shadows can be purchased at http://darkheartdesigns.storenvy.com and retail for $5.99 plus, all the shadows that I swatched are VEGAN too.

See all 69 shades of shadows by clicking HERE.

As for the Face Primer, you can PREORDER yours for $10.00.  The Face Primer is available for only a limited time and come in a 1 oz. squeeze tube.  Check out the primer HERE.

Face Primer

CONTACT DARK HEART DESIGNS:

Website:
http://darkheartdesigns.com/
Online Store:
http://darkheartdesigns.storenvy.com/
Facebook Fan Page:
https://www.facebook.com/darkheartdesigns
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DarkHeartDesign
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/darkheartdesigns

 ♥♥ All products were sent to me free of charge by the owner of Dark Heart Designs for participation in the Dark Heart Designs Swatch Program for swatching purposes. ♥♥