American Apparel - Hunter with Color Club - Holiday Splendor

Merry Christmas !!

Color Club - Put a Pin in It

The last of the Birchbox Social Media Collection that I own. Was really delighted to see this in my box. I have Orly Rage, which is a close dupe, but the finish on the Color Club is more smooth and reflective.

This is a great neutral color that has some pop to it. Metallics may not be for everyone, but if you are a fan this is a great one to own.

Color Club - Insta This

Insta This is another color from Birchbox's exclusive social media collection with Color Club. I own a few creamy blues, but this is definitely a new favorite. The formula is amazing, practically a one coater  that dries to a nice shiny finish. I'm in love.

Color Club - Tweet Me

Oh bloggy blog blog, how I ignore you. I'd love to promise that I'm back for good, but by now you all know how fickle I am.

So what has motivated me to post? Birchbox and Color Club's exclusive Social Media collection! I was lucky enough to score 2 of these at Birchbox's pop up sample stop for fashion week.

Tweet me is a creamy chartreuse, a color I hated when OPI did it with their Shrek collection but absolutely love now. It's one of those things that's so ugly it's pretty.

The polish comes across extra yellow in these photos, but there is definitely a dose of green in it. The formula was a bit awful, as any formula with yellow tends to be, but after three coats it evens out pretty nicely.

Birchbox May 2012 - Gossip Girl !

I think everyone was so excited for this months Gossip Girl themed box, and unfortunately most of us came away disappointed. The idea was great but it seemed like boxes with great items (full size Stila eyeliner??) were hard to come by. I can't really complain since my box really wasn't that bad. Also my last 2 boxes were amazing so asking for more expensive full size products at this point is just being greedy.

My theme was Hamptons Beach Party. Other than the really fun coral nail polish, I'm not quite sure how any of my items have to do with the beach. Unlike the Teen Vogue box, these Gossip Girl boxes just seemed forced and really not related to GG at all. Also the extra in this months boxes was a single piece of XOXO stationary. It's actually really cute, but ONE piece? It's a piece of paper and an envelope, they could have splurged and given us a few of these.

On to my box contents!

Color Club - Clambake Coral 

I couldn't find this color online, so it seems to either be renamed or an exclusive to this box. It's a mini size which is a little sad, but it's a really fun color. A somewhat muted yet very vibrant orange coral. Goes on a bit sheer and there was slight visible nail line with 2 coats. I found it impossible to capture this color accurately on my nail, but it's pretty close to how it looks in the bottle. 

Ojon Restorative Conditioner

A decent size sample of a conditioning hair treatment. Have not used it yet, but I like to use these treatments in my hair now and then so this is a keeper. 

Kiehl's Abyssine Cream + 

A moisturizing face cream that is supposed to have anti aging properties. I used it twice and it felt nice but went back to my usual cream because I like it better. I don't mind these skin care samples though since I am completely sold on the Olie Biologique oil I got in my last box and will be purchasing a full size as soon as I run out. 

Perfume Sample

Blah blah perfume blah. Can't use, will be giving away (am allergic). 

Notecards

Ahem NOTECARD singular. Like I said, would have been nice to have more than one. I do write letters to friends and this is cute, not sure if I'd be splurging $10 for 12 though. 

So there you have it ! I wish that this box was a LITTLE more geared towards Gossip Girl. The XOXO notecard is the only thing that really relates to the show. While the theme was fun, it seemed forced, which was disappointing considering how hyped up it was. I still love my birchbox though and look forward to next month's surprises :)

Color Club - Candy Cane

This color was part of the Beyond the Mistletoe Collection, an awesome set of uber glittery polishes. Candy Cane is predominantly a pink glitter with some blue, silver, and purple mixed in. It's super shiny and very pretty.

Color Club - Soft as Cashmere

This is from the new Untamed Luxury collection. It's a grey (greige?) with green undertones. I really love these kinds of colors in the fall. The formula was thin on this one, needed at least 3 coats to cover.

Color Club - Peppermint Twist

Just spent a wonderful weekend with family, including my 5 year old cousin Maria. We had matching manicures all weekend! (For Audrey looked absolutely adorable on her, unfortunately I managed to lose the photo I snapped).  Here we are with Color Club - Peppermint Twist and a watermelon design on our ring fingers. I used Sinful - Rise and Shine and a black sharpie for the design (the sharpie worked surprisingly well). Look how cute!

Color Club - Wild and Willing

I'm going to rant about my nails for sec. I usually file my nails while I have polish on cause it's a lot easier to keep them even that way. I decided to break my rule, assuring myself I'd reached a skill level where I can keep things even without being deceived by the white tips of my nails (which start at a different point in each nail and is therefore useless when it comes to this). I was very wrong, and now my nails are super short and uneven. I also need a serious manicure as my cuticles are in piss poor shape. So yeah that's that, on to better things!

Wild and Willing, a fantastic glitter/metallic/duochrome made up of yellow/orange gold glitter that flashes pink in certain light (awesome!) The glitter is in a clear base and it goes on pretty sheer. I used 4 coats, although you can probably get away with 3. This color changes a lot depending on the lighting, the finish looks metallic in the shade and really sparkly in any sort of light. I'll admit, I wasn't really used to this kind of color at first, but now I am totally in love. Cannot wait to wear this once i'm tan. Now for photo spam!

Color Club - Gossip Column

One of the (only) good things about my polish no buy til july is that I can go back and revisit some of my favorite colors. Gossip Column by Color Club one of those. I bought it cause it seemed like a dupe for American Apparel - Peacock (or at least close enough to satisfy me).  It's a nice saturated blue creme with a hint of green it in (it leans more blue in these photos).

The formula was great, it really only needs one coat but I used two cause I can't help myself. It did show signs of wear after 24 hours, which was kind of sad. I didn't use a base coat though so perhaps that was the issue.

Upcoming Collections

I have been really excited for China Glaze's Vintage Vixen collection. Here are some photos from their Facebook site, where they also have swatches of the entire line! (you should click on through cause these bottle pics do not do anything justice).

My favorites:
Swing Baby - "taupe chrome/frost with silver micro glitter"
Jitterbug - "grey chrome with silver micro glitter"
Riveter Rouge -"deep red frost with micro glitter"

And now an awesome discovery by Flinty over at Polish or Perish: a new Color Club collection! Not much info on if/when we'll be seeing these (photo was found at 8ty8beauty.com, seems to be gone now). For now I will drool and pretend that light olive green creme in the back is a Rescue Beauty Lounge - Diddy Mow dupe.

Color Club - Warhol

Neon pink! Actually this looks a lot more pink in the bottle, it leans slightly red on my nails. Don't have much to say about this. It's fun! It's bright! It's not terribly unique but I don't have anything like it so I'll keep it! Oh and the formula is awesome. Color Club is slowly becoming one of my favorite brands.

Artificial light photo, looks slightly more pink. And yes, this is a crappy webcam photo but it was the only thing indoors that was close to color accurate:

Color Club - Wild at Heart

This is a popular polish that gets a lot of love on blogs, and now I see why! The holo effect is absolutely stunning. It ranges from blue/pink/purple and everything in between. It was extremely hard to capture. I've been using my phone photos over my camera ones because for some reason my camera does not always capture colors correctly in macro mode. I figured a blurry shot that is more color accurate beats a crisp photo that misrepresents a polish. Now for the pic spam!

This first photo is a best case scenario kind of deal. The polish is super pretty but when the sun hits it a certain way it's practically magical (can you tell i'm in love?) 

These are darker than real life, but capture the holo pretty well: 

This one is the shade: 

And indoors/mixed light: