Nail Of The Day!!! Crazy Summery Combination!

So I have been recovering from surgery all of this week, and have really been going crazy being unable to do much of anything but watch movies, and lay around. Today I have finally been able to get around a little more, I was even able to sit upright long enough to do my nails!!  This was huge for me, and it has completely renewed my spirits.  It's amazing how sometimes even the smallest things can just really brighten our mood!  I am someone who always has to have my nails painted, so having them completely unpolished since Sunday (5 days) has been absolute torture for me!

I had the hardest time deciding what color/colors to paint them though, because everything looked so appealing! I wished I could have painted my nails 20 different colors.  I played around with some of my nail wheels to try to decide what I wanted to do.  I knew that I wanted to incorporate some neon because this has been a major obsession of mine for the past few months.  I thought about doing a pink ombre look, but it wasn't quite loud enough for me today.  I decided that I would do a blue, and neon/gold look.

I love neon polishes but I hate how they are never as opaque as you'd like them to be.  Inevitably, I always have to build up by doing several coats, then I worry that the polish will chip easier because I had to do so many coats.  I have heard that doing one coat of a white polish first will potentially help the neon polish be more opaque.  I had yet to actually try it, but today I finally decided to give it a try.  So I played around with this on my wheel first, and was quite surprised with how effective just one coat of a white first was.  I did it with my China Glaze Sun Worshiper, and my China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, my two favorite neon colors at this time.  The pictures aren't showing the difference as much as I would have liked, but there is a definite difference between the nail that I just did the neon color on, and the nail that I used a white base first.

The left nail in both pictures has no white, and the nail on the right has one coat of white.

Now for what I did on my actual nails... I used the base coat and top coat from Butter London.  I also used China Glaze First Mate, China Glaze Sun Worshiper, OPI Catch Me In Your Net, and Essie Blanco for my base for the Sun Worshiper.

This combination is a little out there, but honestly, it's exactly what I needed to perk me up today!  Also, I am LOVING OPI Catch Me In Your Net right now!  Sometimes I tend to forget about it, but I am so happy that I stumbled upon it while I was digging through my collection today!  It is such a perfect color for summer, it reminds me of the glistening ocean!!  It is a wonderful mix between blue, and green.  The picture isn't doing it much justice, but if you're looking for a really fun summer polish, I would definitely recommend checking this color out!  It is very pretty!

I hope that everyone is doing well, and I hope that you all enjoy the long holiday weekend! :)

Big Lots Philosophy Sale!!

I have always been a big fan of philosophy products, so this deal that they had going on at Big Lots had my name written all over it!  I have so many favorites from this brand, so I cannot even begin to name my favorite philosophy product.  I am always wanting to try new products from philosophy because I am continuously so pleased with my purchases. I have had my eye on their makeup products for some time now.  The one thing that was always holding me back was the fact that there was no place near me that actually carried the products in their store.  When I am buying high-end cosmetics, I typically want to be able to see them in person, touch them, swatch them, and see exactly what I am getting.  So the fact that I could not do this with these products was always reason enough to hold off on trying them.

So Big Lots is currently selling many different makeup products from philosophy, and every item is just $3 a piece.  When I found out about this deal, I rushed over to check it out.  My store still had quite a nice variety still in stock.  When I was checking out though, the cashier told me that they were flying off the shelves, so I can only imagine how much stock they must have had to begin with.  I did not buy one of everything that was there, I only bought items that I use regularly.  There was a lovely cream blush, for instance, but with my oily skin, I typically end up being disappointed with cream blushes.  I have seen other videos on Youtube where people have hauled what they purchased from the sale, and I seen several different products that my store did not carry.  So you might find some different products at your Big Lots.

I assume that philosophy is getting rid of these products, but I am unsure if they are getting rid of their entire cosmetics line, or just planning on reformulating, and relaunching new products.

Either way, I can say with complete certainty, that I really am blown away with these products that I got, and I am glad that I never paid full price for these.  The only product that I might have paid full price for is the illuminator, because I do really like that one.

The packaging is nice, philosophy always has very pretty, yet simple packaging.  The blush case is made of a faux leather material that really feels quite sturdy.  Everything but the illuminator has a built-in mirror, which is really convenient if you are trying to apply your makeup on-the-go.

I was really excited about this blush because it looks so nice.  All of these shades are really pretty, and would appear to be very flattering.  There are three blushes, and then the white all around the edges is a shimmery highlighter shade.  Honestly, this blush has virtually no pigmentation!!  In order to get the swatches, I had to rub for way longer than I should have to.  I also tried to swatch these on my hand too, and none of the swatches even showed up.  The colors are pretty, but the color-payoff is not good!  That being said, yesterday, I used another blush of mine that is nicely pigmented, and then I swirled all of these colors together and placed this on top of my other blush, and it looked really nice.  It performed more like a luminizer/highlighter, instead of a blush.

This is the eyelighting shadow duo in Heaven/Earth.This duo is a really nice neutral color combination, perfect for a soft, everyday look.  The pigmentation is good, and overall  I really enjoy the formula.  That being said, I still feel like it is nothing all that special.  I do like it, and I will definitely get good used out of it, but, I have a trio from CoverGirl that is very comparable.  Again, for $3 this was a steal, but had I paid full price, which I assume would be around $20, I would have been a little disappointed.

I failed to get a swatch of the angel kiss lip gloss in Pretty Please, but, it is a subtle pink lip color.  On the skin, it has a very slight tint, it mostly just leaves your lips looking glossy and polished.  I like the smell of the gloss, there is a faint smell of mint that is really quite nice.  I prefer my lip glosses to be just a tad sticky because I notice that that this usually is an indication that the gloss will be long-wearing.  This gloss is somewhat sticky like that, and as a result, is also long-wearing, so I am pleased with that.  I wish that it came in a tube though, that is my only complaint so far.

The last thing I got was the heavenly light pink illuminator.  I must say that this is my favorite thing that I purchased.  I am so in love with cream highlighters right now, and this particular one goes on very nicely, and looks great.  I love how lightweight cream highlighters are, and I just think that they really add so much dimension to any look.  This definitely has a nice, subtle, pink tint to it, and the scent is very faint, and pleasant.  The formula reminds me of Benefit Girl Meets Pearl.  In the swatches above I am comparing these two products next to each other.  The Girl Meets Pearl has more of a gold tint rather than pink, but as you can tell, their finishes are very similar.  My one compliant with this illuminator is the applicator.  There is a brush that the product comes out through, and for someone with acne-prone skin, this has the potential to be problematic.  I have yet to find a way to pop that brush off in order to wash it, so I am concerned with oil accumulating on the brush.  My solution to this problem is to just place the product directly on the back of my hand and apply it with my fingers from there.  This way I can prevent oil build-up on the brush because I can make sure that my hands and fingertips are clean before I apply it.  Aside from that, I have really been enjoying this product.

I am really glad that I heard about this sale, and was able to try out a few of philosophy's makeup products. For the price that I paid, I am very pleased with my purchases.  I would love to hear from you if you took advantage of this sale as well, and what your thoughts are on the products that you bought.

 I will now leave you with a classic "duck face" FOTD picture. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! :)