Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since my last blog post. Where has the time gone?!
I picked up my DSLR camera last week and thought I would use my macro lens to capture my freshly painted nails over the Memorial Weekend. ^_^ I'm wearing OPI's new shade called, "I Sea You Wear OPI." It's part of the new OPI Brights Collection for Summer! I'm still wearing it as I type this out this long overdue blog post. The staying power is great with the use of my favorite base coat.
It's a BEAUTIFUL blue metallic polish with shimmer that will bring a smile to your face. :-)
I love everything about this bottle of polish. OPI always nails it! ;) The formula was great which made it so easy to apply!
OPI's Description: Look who's loving waves of shimmering metallic blue.
I hope you have a wonderful Friday and an even more amazing weekend!
Talk to you soon! -Steph
p.s. I made a Youtube video slide show of this polish. :)
Essie Winter Collection 2012 (Available at Target)
Love it when I get lucky enough to snag the last one on display. ^_^
My friend Lisa told me it's the closest Essie polish to Tiffany blue yet.
What do you think? It's a pretty good match, huh?
Where's My Chauffeur, Turqouise & Caicos, Mint Candy Apple
I finally got my hands on MCA at Ulta.
I think Essie makes some of the prettiest teals polishes.
I also found this adorbs Kleenex snowman at Target.
I felt like adding some holiday cheer to a little corner of the casa.
This one is for the coffee lovers.
MistoBox is an artisan coffee subscription. Each month you get 4 unique hand-selected coffees.
Each delivery includes coffee tasting notes and roaster bios. When you find one you love, you can purchase it on their online marketplace with free shipping.
www.mistobox.com
MistoBox promo code: "dskmistobox" for $10 off your MistoBox Subscription. You can get your first MistBox for $5, or $10 off a longer subscription!
My "2 carat" cup was a funny little gift from M, of course!
It's always fun to grind some up some coffee beans to brew a cup of coffee in the morning. : )
I knew Minh would love MistoBox because he's a big coffee drinker. We do live in Seattle, after all!
I absolutely love the smell of coffee in the house.
My November MistoBox included:
Ethiopia Sidamo Ardi
Ehiopian Nigusie (my fav)
Guatemala Rio Azul
Ethiopia Teklu Dembel
There's a coupon code on each coffee baggie as well for free shipping if you choose to buy one of the full size bags of your favorite coffee.
Lacquerous is the first membership based luxury nail polish sharing club that entered the beauty market yesterday November 13, 2012. It's been deemed the "Netflix for Nails."
I have a handful of Chanel polish, and May is one of my favorites. If I had the chance to swatch and wear more Chanel nail polish, I would!
From my understanding,
You sign up for Lacquerous for $18/month, get 3 luxury nail polishes to use/swatch, and then mailed it back in a pre-paid envelope for the next subscriber/customer. At first, you think to yourself, What? Sharing? But after a few minutes, I thought about how it's really no different than picking out a nail polish to use at a nail salon. All nail polish contains Ethyl Acetate. No bacteria, fungus or otherwise can live in nail polish. I pretty much grew up in a nail salon, and each bottle of polish lasts a pretty long time before it's used up. One bottle of polish can probably service well over 50 clients in it's lifetime! The brands they offer include:
(I also included the retail prices of the polishes for you.)
Chanel $26
Dior $23
Tom Ford Beauty $30
MAC $17.50
Deborah Lippmann $18-$20
NARS $18
Butter London $14
OPI Designer Series $12.50
How often do we finish a bottle of nail polish, right? For $18, you could almost own 1 luxury bottle of polish, OR you now have the option of spending $18 on Lacquerous to try 3 high end nail lacquers bottles each month. It's not for everyone, but it's definitely a fun new way to think about nail polish for the nail polish enthusiasts. ^_^
Remember, Tom Ford Beauty polish retails for $30. Thirty bucks! I only have 1 bottle and that's because I got lucky enough to buy it from a blog sale for twenty something dollars.
I learned about Lacquerous earlier today and thought it would be a fun
topic to share with you and hear what your thoughts are on this new idea. There was a TIME article about Lacquerous that I read and
retweeted on my Twitter. You can read it here.
I heard it's starting off as an invitation only service, and from reading the TIME article, Lacuqerous already has 2,500 people on waiting lists on their first day.
I contacted Lacquerous to get more information earlier today after reading their website (which is very well done in my opinion) and I got a reply with their official press release, below:
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“Netflix for Nails” Brings Luxury Lacquer Brands to Your Front
Door: Chanel, Tom Ford, Dior, and More
(November 13, 2012 | New York, NY): Move over Netflix lovers
– there’s a more glamorous evening waiting in your mailbox…. and it will
literally paint the town red! Beauty junkies will go nuts over Lacquerous,
a “Netflix for nails” type service - where personally chosen designer nail
polish hues are delivered right to your doorstep. When you’re done, swap out
old shades for new shades!
Lacquerous (www.lacquerous.com), a
new beauty start-up launching today, November 12, 2012 is expected to bring
some buzz to the billion-dollar plus nail market. The online subscription
service offers members a choice of three premium nail polish shades from brands
like Chanel, Butter London, Tom Ford,
Dior, Dolce and Gabbana, MAC for just $18 a month.
Lacquerous bills its members monthly – three shades for $18 -
and membership is free. Once your membership is activated, log in at www.lacquerous.com, pick your shades and
within 2-3 days they’ll arrive. You have 30 days to try and wear the luxury
lacquer before shipping them back and requesting your next batch. Lacquerous
offers beauty lovers an opportunity to stay in season and on top of the
latest fashion trends. Lacquerous is starting out with a
collection of nine brands and 70 unique shades but plans to expand over the
next few months.
According to The NPD Group, a market research firm based in
NYC, prestige make-up sales at US department stores grew 8% in the first half
of 2012 to $1.8 billion while unit sales were up 4% to $74 million. The biggest
winner, producing the largest growth, was nail color increasing a whopping 70%,
as reported recently by WWD and Fashionista. In fact, the nail industry has
seen a steady growth over the recession with nail polish beating out lipsticks
as the top-selling item.
“Women want to try these high-end nail lacquers and there’s
no way to do that without spending $23-$30 bottle. Lacquerous allows members
to keep up with seasonal runway trends, try luxury beauty brands and not break
the bank”, says co-founder and marketing executive Ashlene Nand. Liza Kindred, founder
of Third Wave Fashion and fashion tech start-up consultant, continued, “It’s a
successful business model that we’ve seen before with handbags, clothing and of
course movies. We hope that the beauty industry and its consumers will embrace
it and have fun!”
Now, my questions for you!!
Do you think $18/month is a good deal for a luxury nail polish sharing service?
As a beauty nail blogger, I feel it would be worth it for me just to be able to swatch the high end nail polish for my nail blog "portfolio."I also like the idea of Lacquerous because it prevents hoarding...
I have well over 300 bottles of nail polish right now in my house. You can only wear so many colors in a day. lol I guess you can say this subscription service is a minimalist's dream..that is if they're into nail polish. :)
You can also get a manicure for under $18 and get a fresh coat of shared average nail polish that will only last 1 week. I guess it really depends on what your nail budget looks like, right?
How often do you change your nail polish?
I change my weekly, and sometimes every other day if I'm swatching polishes for my blog.
I really want to hear what you think! Please leave me a comment letting me know what you think! I've been dying all day to get home to talk/blog about this with you!
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT LACQUEROUS? :) Tell me!
It's currently an awesome topic of debates, check out this tumblr post from Lacquerous.
My friend also named Stephanie from Chicago sent me the e.l.f. Evil Queen palette as a sweet gift. :) She's one of those generous friends that spoil you just because!
I had heard about the e.l.f. / Disney collaboration for makeup villains palettes.
I was instantly reminded of the MAC VenomousVillains collection that came out Fall 2010.
I can't believe how fast time flies!
The palette offers two different looks, 1. Day Evil, and 2. Night Villain.
It comes with one pair of false lashes, 8 eyeshadows, 2 lip & cheek color, eye primer, and liquid eyeliner. Honestly...you can throw that e.l.f. liquid eyeliner out (well just keep it in the palette for looks ;)) because it's not a very good product. The eyeliner brush is pretty bad; you have little control when applying it! The liquid liner and eye primer also dries on your eyelids and gets sticky like glue on your skin. It's the weirdest feeling to blink and feel your eyelid skin be sticky? It's not a comfortable feeling to have around your eye area.
The lip/cheek color in the Day Evil part of the palette is surprising really awesome. It's a great lip color. It takes a minute to get used to applying pencil to your cheeks and blending it out, but it's a clever product and I definitely will keep it somewhere for those days when you're out and about and need to reapply some blush. It's so tiny and portable!
I can't comment yet on the red lip & cheek color since I haven't used it yet. I don't think I will be using the lash glue included with the kit..based on my experience with the eye primer and liquid liner.
The eyeshadows aren't too bad, but there is a ton of fall out. There definitely is a difference between e.l.f. eyeshadow and brands like MAC and Urban Decay. I think I'm just spoiled by my normal eyeshadows. The e.l.f. shadows are mildly pigmented, soft, and apply pretty good. I just dislike the fall out. Don't plan on retouching your eyeshadow (even the corners) because you will get a lot of loose shadow on your eyeliner and mascara. I made that mistake! I ended up going over the black liquid liner with a black shadow from my Urban Decay Naked Palette just to set it. I also went over it with Makeup Forever Black Eyeliner on top.
I'm also wearing my new Dolly Wink eyebrow pencil on my eyebrows, and Dolly Wink black eyeliner on my lower lash line and water line.
My contact lenses are Peach in color, and I think they look really good over brown eyes.
The Peach lenses are from http://www.kiwiberry1-collection.com/
Lashes are my own with help from Maximum Lash Serum. ;)
I wish I could still find it! I find any sellers anymore. I wonder if the company was sold and the product was re-branded.
The e.l.f. Evil Queen palette retails for $9.99.
Pick it up if you find it because they're getting pretty hard to find in stores and are going for double the prices on eBay. I think they make a wonderful gift for any friends in your life. : )
I'll post the Night Villain look pretty soon wearing the lashes in the palette. I getting back into posting my EOTD's.
I really enjoy blogging as a stress reliever, and since my friend sent me this palette, why not! Thanks again Stephanie!
In Dolly Wink news, I went to Uwajimaya in Bellevue on Thursday with Marisa to pick up some Japanese beauty products.
I've always wanted to try Dolly Wink makeup, and I finally bit the bullet. I picked out their eyebrow pencil in #2, and eyeliner pencil in black. I also splurged on the Lux shampoo & conditioner set. I paid $27 for both...I've used Lux shampoo back in college and I absolutely loved it! I finished up my Pantene shampoo and conditioner and I felt like treating myself to something a little luxurious for the cold weather. : )
How cute is the packaging right? I especially like the packaging of the Dolly Wink eyeliner.
All 3 items rang out to be a little over $60 with tax.
Dolly Wink black eyeliner pencil..$15!
Today was my first day wearing it on my water liner and lower lash line and it gets gold stars from me. I will let you know how I like it as a daily eyeliner.
The Dolly Wink eyebrow pencil #2 was $13, it's not bad..a little on the wax-y side which most eyebrow pencils are so they don't melt off. lol
I won't be repurchasing it because I don't like the color. It's too light and too brown/auburn for my eyebrows. I'll give it a few more days and if I can't get it to work, you'll be seeing it on my blog sale. :)
Overpriced? Maybeee but it's also a Japanese product that's available at Uwajimaya for our convenience so I think it's not that bad. I really want to try their lash glue, but they didn't carry it at the Bellevue store.
The falsies are really pretty too, but they're $19 for 2 pairs..I rarely ever reuse my false lashes because I like to wear mascara with falsies. It' pretty much ruins them from future use unless you take the time to clean them. Maybe I'll splurge on a pair next year. lol Or if I save $1 for 19 days, I'll justify the purchase then! :D I also want to try Lilly Ghalichi's Lilly Lash line! I think she's so gorgeous and can't wait to watch her on Bravo's Shahs of Sunset!
I highly recommend Lux shampoo and conditioner. The price is more on the luxury end for shampoo, but it's a really great product. Your hair will feel and smell amazing! I currently am using a Lux body wash as well! I picked it up for $5.49 on sale at Vieh Wah, a local Vietnamese gorcery store chain! :D
You know you got your ishh together when you got matching shampoo, conditioner, AND body wash brands!!
Uwajimaya Bellevue's face wash aisle!! lol
This isn't even their main or largest store!
Green Tea Kit Kats used to be so hard to find because people would hoard them when they were in stock. I think there's plenty to go around now. :)
My favorites: Salmon, Scallops, Flying Fish Roe, and Saba (Mackerel).
My Japanese dinner from Friday night. I figured it kind of fit the theme of the second half of my post. ^_^ I'm trying to cut out sushi rice when I go out for Japanese food. I don't like feeling full from the sushi rice and all the added sauces. I like a little bit of low sodium soy sauce and a ton of wasabi with my sashimi.
I wanted to share this awesome Costco find with you. They currently have their holiday stock out and these are giant (about 2 feet tall) glass apothecary jars filled with chocolates! More excitingly, you get a gorgeous glass jar!We got one for the Seattle law office, and hopefully I can figure out what to use the jar for after the holidays. They go for $44.99, but the jar itself is worth it. They're really expensive wherever you can find them, such as Crate & Barrel.
The past few photos are from my Instagram & Twitter so find me there if you haven't already!
My username is DSKJewelry on both!
I'll talk to you all later because Minh is making me watch Dances with Wolves because I've never seen it before. Tatonka..I'm waiting for the famous Tatonka part of this movie. lol Bye!
