The Cheapskate Files: Milani 3D Holographics

Hey everybody!  It's been a while since I got all cheap on you, hasn't it?  We all spent too much money at Christmas, so we're in the mood for something cheap, right?  RIGHT!  You might remember that I told you about a store in NC that I love to visit when I'm there that sells perfume, tobacco, and discontinued cosmetics (go ahead and chuckle...it IS rather funny).  Well last summer, I had the pleasure of visiting said store...and there is was, bathed in sunbeams...a huge bin of Milani 3D Holographics for $1.50 each.  I wiped the drool off my chin and snagged the entire collection!  YAY! :)

I won't tire you with loads of pesky details after every picture.  Let me just say that the 3D Holographics collection are jellies with a wonderful, mistake-free formula.  I used 3 coats of each polish due to my persistent friend stalker, Mr. VaNeLi.  These holos twinkle in every kind of lighting!

First up is Digital, a rosy pink.

Next is HD.  This polish is silver in the bottle...but see how not-so-silver it is on me?  I thought, "Ugh, are my nails THAT discolored?"  Of course, they ARE, but it made me wonder why this one looked so gold-ish...well, the blurred bottle shot shows quite a lot of gold holo particles!  So it sort of looks in-between gold and silver.

Next is Hi-Res, a medium purple.  Looks good enough to eat!!

Now this one is as gold as it gets:  3D.  This one looks like liquid gold on the nail.

And I saved my favorite for last...a light blue beauty called Cyberspace. <3  Look at all the colors peeking through in this one...

There was one more polish in this collection, a yellow-green called Hi-Tech, but I gave that one to my stepdaughter, who was helping me scoop all these up from the magic bin. :D

You may have read about these before...the holo effect is different from other polishes because there is something about the particles that looks slightly irregular, almost like tiny shards.  They are like a linear/scattered hybrid, with the linear effect being strongest on Cyberspace and HD.  Another bonus is that you don't need sunlight to watch them glow. 

I was so pleased with this Cheapskates Files score...not only are these awesome, but they're antiques too...these came out over 4 years ago! :)

I hope you've enjoyed today's attempt at making you feel better about your out of control hobby.  Have a lovely day! <3

The Cheapskate Files: Essie All Tied Up

Hey everybody!  It's a pretty exciting day for me...we are actually getting to experience a little part of the massive cold front that's currently affecting the country.  I'm not sweating!! :)

When I was on vacation last month, I managed to snag several bottles of my favorite type of polish:  cheap. :D  Oh...I shouldn't say "cheap"...it sounds so...cheap.  How about calling it "polishes I found at an excellent price"?  Yes...much better.  I found a bottle of Essie All Tied Up, from their Summer 2012 collection, for something like $3 at TJ Maxx.  I can honestly say that I don't own anything even close to this color!

Essie's website describes All Tied Up like this:  "this rustic bronze with subtle golden shimmer glistens with a restrained, yet warm and sensuous charm that will leave him totally tongue-tied."  Well now that's different.  Not only would I not call this color "bronze", but for some reason I'm never thinking of how I can render some guy speechless with my manicure.  For somebody who loves vampy shades, I'm more like Goldilocks. :D

I would personally describe All Tied Up as a medium rosy terracotta.  How's that for a description?  Hey, it's better than bronze! :)  It does have a lovely golden shimmer.  I love shimmer! <3

I used 2 coats of All Tied Up for the photos...then my camera got all upset upon seeing me wearing a color that hailed from the Orange-esque Dynasty and paid me back by portraying me as Wilbur the Pig.  You'll have to trust me when I say that I still look my regular color in person. :)

Let's talk formula...oh Essie, WHY can't you make everything like this one?  It was just perfect...creamy and easy to apply.  And it really is a lovely color.  It's just that my camera and I aren't used to seeing me like this.  It's a sort of "not-very-me" neutral. 

Bonus Points if you can spot what's wrong with this pic!!! :)

So...how about that?  I'm wearing ALL kinds of new things!:)  Do you have a color like this one?  What color does it turn your skin?  And most importantly, SHOULD nail polish be considered a lethal weapon against a man?? :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3

Barielle for Autumn Pt. 2 - Greenwich Village at Dawn and Soho at Night

Hey everybody!  I hope you've had a splendid Monday.  Today I have some more Barielle fall shades to show you.  I didn't call this post "vintage" since the two I'm showing today came out in fall 2012. :)  They are from the Barielle New York Style collection and are reminiscent of the morning and evening.

First up is Greenwich Village at Dawn, a pink-beige shimmer.

 

Whoa!  Waking up in the mornings might be easier if the dawn looked like this!  How lovely is this color?  Greenwich Village at Dawn looks quite pink on me, but in the bottle it is probably equally pink and beige, one of my favorite color blends. :)

This is a very soft, feminine, and office-friendly color.  It's understated and elegant, yet is still unusual and interesting.  I used two coats of Greenwich Village at Dawn for the photos.

You can't tell it in the pics, but the shimmer in this polish is actually GREEN.  You can see it in direct sunlight.  That's what I love about Barielle...their creations don't make a lick of sense half the time, but you love them for it. :D

And representing the time of day when everybody except me comes alive...Soho at Night.

Oh yeah.  Now that's an impressive purple creme...dusty and decidedly eggplant-esque.  Soho at Night IS fall.

My sister used to have a pair of knee-high boots this exact color.  Come to think of it, I gave her those.  Awesome!! :)  Soho at Night brings to mind bundling up in a warm coat and a scarf and cute little hat...you know, all those things we Southern girls get to do like once every 3 or 4 years. :/

Application for Soho at Night was a bit tricky...I applied two coats and discovered it looked patchier than a bald guy with a bad combover.  However, with a third coat, it was Toupée City. :)

How do you like these fall shades?  They are both still part of the Barielle core line and are available on their website.  Their polishes are buy one, get one half off.  You can also purchase the entire New York Style collection (5 polishes) for $25. 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely evening! :)

Vintage Barielle for Autumn: Putt-E On Me and Lava Rock

Hey everybody!  This morning it actually sort of felt like fall outside.  However, that didn't stop me from experiencing my standard personal sweating attack within a couple of hours.  Blast you, hot flashes.  Oh well...that doesn't alter the fact that it actually IS fall. :)  And when you know it IS fall, you just want to wear some fall colors!  Today I have a couple of Barielle polishes from the 2009 All Lacquered Up collection that I just recently purchased and discovered with much delight are thoroughly autumnal. 

First up is Putt-E On Me, a beautiful, shiny creme.

Let me first say that I purchased both polishes I'm showing today at TJ Maxx in a variety box of 5 for $7.99. I love Barielle polishes, mostly because you can almost always find a crazy strange one in your box.   Putt-E On Me is said crazy strange one.  

When I saw the bottle and read the name, I thought it was probably like your standard greige on the nail...you know, some harmlessly uninteresting putty color.  Wow, was I wrong!  I don't know if it's my skin tone, but this lovely creme has undertones of smoky mulberry.  I love this polish!

Putt-E On Me is definitely a greige-ish neutral, but it's so much more interesting on that you think it will be.  I used 2 coats for the photos, which do not show just how shiny this polish is.  Very, very pretty and versatile.

Another obviously autumn polish from my superbly priced Barielle set is Lava Rock.

Well, you don't have to be a neurosurgeon to know that I fell in love with this one too.  Lava Rock is a dark, vampy, blackened plum with a red shimmer.  It reminds me of OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest.

The bottle shot looks like there is blue in the shimmer too, but I looked and looked under a bright light, and I couldn't see the blue.  I suppose the polish gremlins were playing a trick on me. :D  I used two coats for the photos.

Even if the blue shimmer was merely in my head, the red shimmer is blatantly there.  There is also an almost duochrome look about Lava Rock.  This polish apparently thinks it's funny to fool the eye. :P  No matter, you sly little jester...you're still delectable! 

I love both these Barielle fall colors.  Barielle polishes can be purchased on their website.  They sell for $8 each and your second one is $4.  And of course, you can always go stalking your local TJ Maxx and Marshall's for great deals on Barielle multi-packs. :)

What's your favorite autumn nail color?  

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! :)

The Cheapskate Files: Barielle Carnival Fiesta Collection

Hey everybody!  Welcome to today's installment of the Cheapskate Files, where we can all feel good about being thrifty, even though there's no way we'll ever wear all this polish we're buying. :D  This is a Very Special Cheapskate Files, because I did really well on this one.  My stepdaughter and I were in Marshall's and found the ENTIRE Barielle Carnival Fiesta Collection for the checkbook-friendly price of $7.99.  Thank you, thank you. :)

 

The Carnival Fiesta Collection is comprised of 5 metallic shades, and they are all very pretty.  They all applied extremely well, had a super fast dry time, and are just some really nice colors.  I was quite pleased with this Cheapskate Files find.  And now...for the polish...

First we have Rio's Rockin' Bands, a medium purple with a lovely shimmer.  It's a bit frosty, but not a brushstroke bad frosty...just enough to make it glow.  It's really a nice purple.  This is two coats of Rio's Rockin' Bands.

Next up is Holiday Madness.  Well, if wearing a totally beautiful metallic olive green is madness, then call me crazy!  Again, this was a slightly frosty shimmer, and it absolutely glows.  This is two coats of Holiday Madness.

Next up is Jillian's Jammin', a color-shifting green/blue glass fleck with a purple duochrome.  That sounds like a mouthful, but trust me, it's a mouthful of awesome.  This is a strangely sheer polish, because for the photos, I used FOUR coats and still had visible nail line.  However, in real life you couldn't see VNL.  This is one oddly gorgeous number!  Jillian's Jammin' is quite green in sunlight and blue indoors.

 

Next up is Lindsay's Dancin', a lovely metallic red.  I know most girls like for their reds to be cremes, but I personally LOVE metallic reds.  This is a perfect Christmas red.  I used two coats of Lindsay's Dancin'.

And last, but certainly not least, we have the rather terrifically confusing Wanna Samba?  I think Barielle creates some of the most strangely fascinating colors, and Wanna Samba? is one of them.  If you like different, you'll love it.  Wanna Samba? is sorta light teal, and sorta purple-ish, and sorta gunmetal...oh and it's a shimmer/duochrome too.  Confused?  Well, I tried.  Hey, look...pictures!! :)

Forgive me for feeling so smug, but I love this entire collection, and I PAID $7.99 FOR IT!  Fantastic formulas, unique colors, and did I mention $7.99??

Which colors do you like?  Have you ever gotten stupendous deals like this?  I highly recommend stalking Marshall's and TJ Maxx for deals like this one...you can almost always find a Barielle or a Color Club collection there.  And some sort of biscotti too!  Mmmmm...

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! :)

The Cheapskate Files: You CAN Fix Ugly

Hey everybody!  Today I have another frugal episode of the Cheapskate Files, my own humble way of making you feel better about spending way too much money on your out-of-control habit. :)  

Sometimes when you see a good bargain, you know it's an amazing find.  But other times, you realize pretty quickly why a particular polish was on the clearance shelf in the first place.  Today's post is both!  On one of my recent Ulta clearance shelf treasure hunts, I spotted OPI Where's My Bikini Top?, a rather peculiar-looking, grayish-green pastel creme, for the low, low price of $1.99.  

OPI Where's My Bikini Top?

Where's My Bikini Top? is actually a renamed Stranger Tides, from the 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Collection.  Perhaps in its original incarnation, this was possibly a bit better...but now, with a silly new name and no charming Capt. Jack Sparrow association, this baby is HIDEOUS.

OPI Where's My Bikini Top?

I'm not talking about the color...it's a little dirty-looking, but it's a nice antique fern green.  But the formula is the issue here.  Just look at that bottle...the polish was permanently separating and runny as anything.  I even tried Seche Restore, which could fix 152 year old paint, and nothing helped.  It was streaky and the wateriest mess I ever used.  My official scientific term is blech.

Now enter the AWESOME clearance find:

Essie Luxeffects Pure Pearlfection!!  I have to say that I have no idea why in the world this was on clearance...this stuff is wonderful!  Described by Essie as a "multi dimension top coat", it gives your blech polish a whole new lease on life with its effortless pearly glaze.

Oh my.  That's so much better.

One coat of Pure Pearlfection, and the streaks are gone.  It applies evenly and smoothly and is quite honestly the best Essie product I own.

Pearls + Blech = Gorgeous!

I cannot recommend Pure Pearlfection enough.  If this stuff doesn't fix your ugliest polish, nothing will.  I've even convinced Where's My Bikini Top? to back away from the ledge and enjoy life for once.

I just noticed I have 3 paper cuts on this hand.

I love a happy ending like this one!  And a CHEAP happy ending is always better! :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day!

The Cheapskate Files: Sally Hansen and Nail Bliss Bling

Hey everybody! :)  I'm back with another example of a lot for a very little!  As I've said before, I love a good deal.  And a good deal on nail polish...well...that's always the best.

A while back I was in a discount store in North Carolina.  This particular store is famous for its large inventory of tobacco products and perfumes.  Guess which one interested yours truly.  Well, this store also carries discontinued cosmetics...we're talking a ton of stuff.  I love going there to see if they have the latest makeup item that I had finally found that was a perfect color and consistency but has inevitably gone the way of the dodo. :)  On one particular trip to this markdown marvel, I spotted a bin full of Sally Hansen Salon Nail Lacquer...the square-bottled incarnation before the Complete Salon Manicure rounded bottle.  There must have been 500 bottles of polish in that bin.  And they were all $1.50.  "I need a shopping basket!!"

I found several I wanted...including Hearts on Fire.  It's red.  Really red.  And gorgeous.

An oldie, but a goodie!

Sally Hansen Hearts on Fire

Hearts on Fire is a jelly!  It's a little thicker than your typical jelly, but I still wouldn't call it a crelly.  But maybe I'm wrong?  It just seems like a thicker jelly to me.  So, there it is! :)  I should also mention that this is the truest red I have ever seen.  There are blue reds and orange reds, but this is RED.  It's also got a wonderful application.  The brushes in these bottles are small...not like the paddle-type brushes of Complete Salon Manicure.

On a recent excursion to Sally Beauty, I found some Nail Bliss Bling nail appliques for $1.99 in the clearance section.  I bought a few patterns and chose the leopard design to go with Hearts on Fire.  I love red and leopard together!

I highly recommend using nail appliques for an accent if you aren't a nail artiste, just as I'm not.  Nail Bliss appliques are just heavy duty stickers and not actual polish like nail strips, so you can open the package and just use a couple if you want.

Leopard jelly!!  Wait...ewww.

I used 2 coats of Hearts on Fire but probably could have used 3.  Visible nail line doesn't really matter much to me because I have a couple of nails that have it no matter HOW many coats I use.  True.

The little gold studs on this applique are really pretty too! :)

I really love how this combo looks.  And I have to tell you that today I wore a red dress and leopard shoes.  Heh heh heh...call me matchy-matchy!  I love it!! :)

What amazing deals have you found lately?  Inquiring minds want to know! 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely evening! :)