Monday, November 4, 2013

Sonia Kashuk Grand Central Pop-Up

Today Target held a pop-up event in Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall t o preview the new Sonia Kashuk Bath & Body collection. Since I work right near Grand Central, I was able to go during my lunch break. Who doesn't love getting to try new products (and do some shopping) during lunch?



Vanderbilt Hall was decorated with hundreds of white balloons hung around the room to imitate bath bubbles, which was a cute touch. There was even a woman in a bath above the main product display. There were many products on display and for purchase at the event. The main focus, of course, were the Bath & Body items by Sonia Kashuk. There are four floral scents and each of them come in a variety of products including hand creme, body oil, exfoliating body polish, creme body wash and shower gel, body butter and eau de toilette. The four scents include: Purple Seductia, Red Promisia, Yellow Alluriana, and Pink Innocencia.

Bubbles!



I purchased two hand cremes, Red Promisia and Pink Innocencia, because let's be honest, there is no such thing as too much hand cream.

My purchases. 

Red Promisia is a mix of sandalwood, jasmine and vanilla, which was the favorite of the event staff. Pink Promisia is tuberose, amber and magnolia scented. Personally, I liked all of the scents and had a hard time deciding. The texture of the hand creme is similar to the Bath & Body Works nourishing hand creams, soft and silky, with just a tiny bit of a greasy feel, but in a good way if that makes sense. For any of you that are sensitive to smell though, just beware that the scents are pretty strong. The hand cremes retail at $6.99 each.




In the display / pop-up shop, there was also an eye shadow palette of really pretty neutrals (which I forgot a photo of), a makeup brush set, and lipstick as well as makeup bags, loofahs, and other shower accessories.With the holidays coming up, I could see these as great gifts for friends and family.

The eye shadow palette is in the very bottom there. 

Overall, I like what I saw from this collection. I'm sure I will get a lot of use out of the hand cremes with the cold weather starting to kick in. And I would love to try the body lotion and the bath products in the future.


The Sonia Kashuk Bath & Body collection is available for purchase on the Target website right now. Sadly, the pop-up event in Grand Central is one day only. However, the collection is on sale at Target stores on November 10th! Will you be picking up some of this bath and body collection?


The gift bag was cute too!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Urban Outfitters Moonstone and the Winter Blues

Hey all, long time no blog, eh? I completely missed my 1 year blogiversary and now that the winter has kicked in, my cuticles have taken a beating. I'm so embarrassed of my hands lately that I don't want to swatch anything. I finally did give swatching a shot lately, but dislike 99% of the pictures. The winter blues are surely here.

But not all hope is lost. I managed to get one or two shots that weren't horrendous so I'm sharing them with you all. I recently went to Urban Outfitters and found some new polish. One that I picked up is called Moonstone. It looked like a dupe for a Deborah Lippman polish, so I bought it. Now I don't own any DL polish, but I thought this could possibly dupe Sugar Daddy. Moonstone in the bottle has this champagne rose duo-chrome color going on.



Moonstone was really hard to capture accurately in photographs. You can see a bit of the rose color at the top of the bottle. 

Now I have to say that personally I was a little disappointed with this. I put three coats of Moonstone over a base coat. The polish is a bit sheer, yet it does build in three coats. I figured this may happen because it's a light color. The finish is a dull metallic finish, which I'm not a big fan of. I used Seche Vite to top it off and make the polish shiny on the nail. 



It's a pretty color in theory, but it was lacking the duo-chrome effect that I saw in the bottle. There is also a very pretty hidden shimmer in the polish, but due to the finish it's hard to see. Maybe I'm just not a fan because it doesn't do much for my skin tone. Plus, this polish seems to not last very long. I've only been wearing it for 24 hours and there's already a bit of wear showing. Warning: be very careful when applying, because any minor mess up or imperfection on the nail shows up. 

I would have loved to have said that his was the perfect dupe for DL Sugar Daddy, but I don't think it is. It's a nice polish, don't get me wrong, but it's just not for me. 

Moonstone can be found at Urban Outfitters for $5 or 2 for $8. Urban Outfitters does have holos ($10 each) and a flakie (review hopefully coming soon) that may be worth checking out.

What do you think of Moonstone? Has anyone else tried it? What other dupes are you looking for? 

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I Just Wanna Fly: Cult Nails Let Me Fly

All around the worlddd statues crumble for me, who knows how long I've loved you...

Do you have the song "Fly" by Sugar Ray stuck in your head now? Then I've done my job here. Earworm successful!

And that lovely song lyric was inspired by the polish Let Me Fly from Cult Nails. The Cult Nails website describes the polish this way, "Let Me Fly is the trifecta for polish enthusiasts. Its vividly pigmented dusty turquoise base, paired with her dazzling silver shimmer and flawless formula, establishes her pedigree of perfection. Let Me Fly was originally offered as part of the “A Day at the Races” Collection, 2011."



I would say the official description is spot on! Let Me Fly is actually a perfect fall color. It's a polish with a lot of depth and the silver shimmer gives it a little pop so the color doesn't fall flat. I'll admit that when I actually wore this color during the summer (which is when the swatches are from), I didn't love the color. But now looking back at my swatches, I think I'd love wearing now that the crisp Autumn air has rolled in. I think my hesitation with the color was that it didn't feel like a summer color. I'm sure it will be added into my fall rotation.



Cult Nails does not disappoint when it comes to application. Let Me Fly was two easy coats over a base coat and covered with a coat of Wicked Fast. Let me also say that Cult Nails Wicked Fast is easily in my top 2 of favorite top coats, along with Seche Vite. I've been trying a few new quick dry top coats out lately and I've been disappointed with most of them. The other top coats seem to dull the polish and I end up with dings even hours later, which doesn't happen with Wicked Fast. I'm going to have to order some more soon!



All in all, I've grown to love Let Me Fly over time. It's a gorgeous jewel-tone creme with a great shimmer. This polish has been around for a while so I'm sure many of you already own it.

I just wanna fly!

What's your perfect fall color? Do you like dark colors, including greens and blues? Or are your perfect fall colors strictly vampy reds, oranges, deep purples, and browns?

Friday, August 31, 2012

KelBel Cosmetics Labor Day Sale!

Hey everyone! Since it is Labor Day weekend, I will holding a sale in my Etsy shop. From September 1st until 11:59 pm September 2nd there will be free shipping on all orders! So take advantage of this great offer! Click the picture below to be taken to the Etsy shop. Happy Labor Day!


Monday, August 13, 2012

Mani-cure Monday: America! Eff yeah!

Happy Monday all! I've decided to start a new weekly schedule that will hopefully make me more productive. Not just in blogging, but overall. So part of the new schedule is blogging weekly on Mondays. I'm calling it "Mani-cure Monday". Most of us get the Monday Blues and according to the Bangles, it's just another Manic Monday. So what better way to cure the Monday Blues than with an awesome mani?!

Ok it may have taken me a while to explain it, but there you have it! This week I have a patriotic manicure of sorts. This was actually my July 4th mani, so you can tell how far behind I am in posting. I figured though that I can tie this old manicure in with recent events. As I'm sure you're all aware, the Olympics ended last night. For the last two weeks I've been glued to the television to watch as much coverage as I could. I really enjoyed the Olympics this year, especially all of the gymnastics and volleyball coverage. I also enjoyed last night's closing ceremonies, even though NBC cut some performers *ahem: Muse*. But I guess the Spice Girls performing kind of made up for that.

So to show my pride for the old U.S.A, here is my red, white and blue manicure.


I did love this combination of red, white and blue. The red is Pretty & Polished Nova, which may just be one of my favorite reds ever. There's even a bit of subtle holo in there. The white is Snow White from Brucci. I really do need a new white polish, preferably one that covers well in 1-2 coats. Any suggestions? Over the white I layered Essie's Stroke of Brilliance, the latest polish to be added to the Luxeffects line. Essie refers to Stroke of Brilliance on it's website as "platinum sparks", but the glitter is actually more blue in tone than silver. 


Lastly is a england Order of the Garter, which is a beyond gorgeous royal blue. It was a dream to work with and covered in two coats. 


Did this manicure help to cure your Monday Blues? I hope you enjoyed my new post! What is your favorite white polish? Were you addicted to the Olympics like I was? And who felt like they were back in middle school when the Spice Girls performed?