Sugarpill Chromalust Swatchfest-sweetest eyecandy ever!!

Ok before I get to the pretties (and oh how pretty they are!!), let me say I'm sorry for the slow with posting these past few days. As I mention in my little "about me" blurb, my husband is in the military and, as of a few days ago, he had to go answer the call of duty elsewhere. Thankfully, he will only be gone for about a month this time but, during that time, I won't be able to post as often. As you might imagine, chasing after 3 little ones and running a house single-handedly is driving me absolutely insane a little time-consuming. :)

Ok now that we got that out of the way, onto the SUGARPILL!! Let the drooling commence:

How cute is that packaging? Hard to believe we're talking about an indie makeup company!

no flash

Top row left to right: Stella, Lumi, Hysteric, Royal Sugar, Tiara

Bottom row left to right: Absinthe, Asylum, Goldilux, Tipsy, Decora

flash

Swatched dry on bare skin:

outdoor no flash

indoor with flash

First column top to bottom: Lumi, Stella, Asylum, Tipsy, Hysteric

Second column top to bottom: Tiara, Goldilux, Decora, Absinthe, Royal Sugar

Even without primer, these shadows are frickin uh-MAZE-ing!! Unfortunately, my camera hates all things awesome, so the pics are terrible....

Swatches over NYX HD eyeshadow base:

indoor with flash

 Outdoor no flash

OH-EM-GEEE!! These are so vivid and silky and shimmering. Stella has this amazing rainbow glitter in it. You can't see it in the swatch cuz, as I mentioned, my camera is anti-awesome, but you can see it somewhat in these close-ups of the shadow in the jar:

(click to enlarge)

SO gorgeous! These are all amazingly pigmented--just a few dabs with my Ecotools eyeshadow brush made each swatch all POPPIN and opaque. Goldilux, Tiara, Royal Sugar and Asylum are my favorites so far. Goldilux is especially mind-blowing. Its swatch almost looks like I have a frickin solid gold coin sitting on my arm! Lumi is gorgeous too--it has this incredible green flash that my camera is absolutely blind to. I tried to get the flash to come out here:

 but still no dice. In person, however, it is SO striking and gorgeous. 

All in all, just from swatching, I am in absolute love with these and can't wait to get the time to play with them more. Of course, I will keep you all updated on the outcome of my experiments. Just be warned: I'm pretty new to the world of  beautiful, technicolor loose shadows (I've mainly just used pressed shadows for most of my makeup-wearing life), so I can't promise anything spectacular!

NYC new for 2012 nail polishes--swatches and dupe comparisons

Alrighty, another pic-heavy polish-scrutinizing post today. Here we have 3 of the new for 2012 nail polishes from the In a New York Minute quick-dry line by New York Color. I was so excited to see

they added some new shades. I have a handful of other of their quick-dry polishes and I'm a fan. I'm happy to say that these did not disappoint either. 

High Line Green--a fun yellow-based shade somewhere between lime & grass green.

Big City Dazzle-- small red, magenta, blue and gold glitter in a clear base.

Water Street Blue--nice, bright blue!

Photo taken outside in natural light. All polishes are 2 coats--no top coat. I LOVE the formula of all 3 of these! The 2 non-glitters have this awesome finish. I hesitate to call them cremes because they almost look like a glossy plastic on your nails. They cover easily and evenly despite their spindly little brush and they actually do live up to the "quick-dry" claim. 

Big City Dazzle is marketed as a "sparkle top coat" and I would have to agree with that. The glitter is so pretty but very sparse. It'd take like half the bottle to get any kind of opacity without undies. The glitter spread out evenly with no issues and the base was a little on the thin side--which was surprising considering we're talking about a glitter polish. 

Big City Dazzle over Water Street Blue

So of course, you know I had to raid my stash to see if I had any dupes for any of these colors. I was sure I had a dupe for the green but I was surprised to discover otherwise. The closest I could come was China Glaze Tree Hugger and Starboard

Left: High Line Green, Middle: Tree Hugger, Right: Starboard.

As you can see, none of these polishes are any kind of a match. Tree Hugger is much more yellow, plus it has a shimmer to it and Starboard has more blue undertones in it. I wonder if Gaga for Green might would come close? I was hoping to have my clutches on the Electropops by now but I can't find it locally (I don't live anywhere near an Ulta and the only other place around this Po-dunk town that sells China Glaze is my Sally's and they are sold out...so it looks like I'll be ordering online for my China Glaze fix as usual)...

Moving on to the blues...I am obsessed with blue polishes, so I wasn't shocked to find several dupe candidates in my stash.

Left to right: Water Street Blue, Sally Hansen Insta-dri Brisk Blue, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away, OPI Ogre The Top Blue, OPI Fly.

The NYC and Sally Hansen polishes look like they are one in the same to my eye. Ogre the Top Blue is just a touch darker and Fly is a little too teal to match. I was hoping WSB would come closer to the OPI blues because nothing beats a 1.99 dupe for $8 polish but no dice. Oh well...

Bring on the glittahs!

L to R: NYC Big City Dazzle, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Rockstar Pink. Sinful Colors in Frenzy

Now as soon as I saw Big City Dazzle, I thought "that is SO a dupe for Rockstar Pink--and they do have pretty much the exact same shades and sizes of glitter in them--but they vary in the amount. 

(click to enlarge)

Left to Right: 1 coat of BCD, 2 coats of BCD, 1 coat of  RP, 2 coats of RP, 1 coat of Frenzy (why did I even include that one? It really is too different to have any business in this comparison)...

If you enlarge the pictures, you can easily see that it takes 2 coats of Big City Dazzle to equal the same coverage that 1 coat of Rock Star Pink gives. And, while Rockstar Pink can be built up to opacity easily, BCD is just too sparse for that. The glitter itself really is pretty dead-on, though. In the end, despite my inherent dupe-tolerance, even I admit I don't need both of these polishes and if I had to chose, I'd rather just have another bottle of Rockstar Pink (me and RP go waaaay back. It was basically the only polish I wore for like a year straight after my son was born. It's the only polish I have ever actually finished and re-purchased. Of course now that I have 800 OTHER bottles of nail polish, it doesn't get as much attention as it used to.....poor forgotten RP)...

So there's the scoop on some of the new NYCs. I am SO loving these plasticy cremes of theirs. Hope they make more!

NOTD & FOTD turquoise & pink & flakies (oh my)

Haven't done a NOTD/FOTD post in a while so I thought I'd kick one out. Here's what I'm rockin:

Nails = OPI Kiss Me on My Tulips (quite possibly the most perfect bright pink creme ever concocted) with Zoya Chloe on top. Oh how I luvzz tha flakies. 

(click to enlarge)

Yes my cutez be gnarly. Of course, they look even worse close-up. Thank God my hands aren't this inflated in real life!

Of course, I didn't even come close to capturing the awesome light-of-1000-suns, burning ember effect of the flakies on camera (the last darker indoor shot is the only one that comes close). It is freaking amaze-balls in person. Seriously, I've basically done nothing but stare at my nails all day long. 

 Well, that's a lie. I was able to stop staring at my nails long enough to paint my face:

Normally, I steer clear of blue & turquoise eyeshadows, mainly because I don't think those shades do much for my eye color. Also, every time I see blue eyeshadow, it always makes me think of Mimi from The Drew Carrey Show. Anyone remember Mimi?

image credit here :)

Oh who am I kidding, I look just like her...still, it was fun to play with a color I don't usually touch. 

Here's what you need if you, too, want to get the Mimi look:

face:

Almay Clear Complexion foundation, powder & concealor

Garnier Anti-dark circle eye roller

Milani Baked Blush in Dolce Pink

Wet N Wild Bronzzer in Acapulco Glow

eyes:

NYX HD eyeshadow base

BH Cosmetics 120 palette, 1st edition (I'll make & upload a chart for this to show which shades I used)

ELF Creme liner in black

Jordana Fabuliner in black

Maybelline The Falsies Flared mascara

Brows:

ELF Brow Kit in medium

ELF clear mascara/brow gel

lips:

NYC Liquid Lipshine in Fashion Ave Fuchsia

Anyone else have a certain shade of makeup they avoid because of some kind of silly association they have with it?

A note about comments and a list of what I'm working on

Ok, I just noticed that, for some mysterious reason, my mail box has been sending all my blog comment notifications into my spam folder! :( As a result, I have only just now discovered a ton of comments that I didn't know about. I am SO sorry for the delay in responding to those comments! Stupid email filters!! I THINK I fixed the problem so I should get my comment notifications in my inbox now--so no more annoying delays, I promise! Also, in addition to comments, you can always email me at glamonthecheap@yahoo.com. I love getting email--reading and responding to it gives me an excuse to not do housework!

I'm working on a few different posts that I'll be bustin out in the next few days or so. Here's what my lucky readers have to look forward to:

--swatches of all the GAWGEOUS Chromalusts from my redonk Sugarpill haul--and maybe even a look or 2 provided I can handle the mind-blowing awesomeness!

--swatches, reviews & dupe comparisons of 3 of the new NYC nail polish shades (High Line Green, Water Street Blue, and a magenta/blue/gold glitter whose name absolutely refuses to come to mind at the moment..grrr)

--MOAR stash porn (Color Club, Nicole By OPI and Revlon polishes are up next!)

--a tour of my makeup table and the products that are so awesome they've earned a permanent place there

--the usual random NOTD & FOTD posts

Also, my recent fuchsia lips post inspired me to do more color posts for more products. For example: my favorite green polishes, red lippies, purple shadows, peach blushes...I think you get the point :)--lots of these will be coming up in the near future.

Of course, I am always open for suggestions for posts...anything you wanna see on here? If I can pull it off without breakin any laws, I'm happy to oblige your requests! 

Look what just came in the mail!!

'scuse the crappy cell phone pic but I couldn't wait to announce the arrival of my Chromalust haul from Sugarpill's recent 2 year birthday sale!!

They're so cute in their little cubes, I kinda don't even wanna open them lol!

I got:

Lumi

Stella

Tipsy

Tiara

Goldilux

Asylum

Royal Sugar

Hysteric

Decora

Absinthe...

Stay tuned for further ogling--swatch post coming soon! :)

Wow! Amazing deal alert!! Lorac cosmetics on Hautelook for 75% off!!

Lorac makeup is on Hautelook til Tuesday!



Here's a summary of some of the best deals:

Starry-eyed baked eyeshadow trios normally $26.00 now $6.00!
Greatest Hits palettes normally 48.00 now 10.00
Lipglosses normally 22.00-20.00 now 5.00
19.00 lipsticks now 4.00
16.00 lipliners now 3.00
single eyeshadows 22.00 now 2.00!!


I love Hautelook! It gives me the opportunity to get high-end beauty products at drugstore prices. If you aren't already on their email list, definitely sign up! They got the DEALS, yo!

Here's the link:

LORAC: Inspired by the Red Carpet | HauteLook

What I'm currently obsessed with: fuchsia lips

You know how some artists have certain spans in their career defined by color--like Picasso's blue period for example--well, I'm kinda like that with makeup. I go through certain spells when all I want to wear is one single color--it's usually either my lips or my nails that get subjected to the fixation...

Anyway, so right now--for whatever reason--I'm in the midst of a fuchsia lip obsession, so I thought I'd do a post on my 5 favorite fuchsia lippies.

First let us marvel at the wonders of Revlon lip butter in Lollipop (oh yea I have a HUGE case of Lip Butter fever--at this point, I own 15 of the 20 available shades) and Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Fuchsia Fusion.

(swatches of everything  at the bottom of this post)

Fuchsia-licious! Lollipop is amazingly pigmented and I love the way it feels on my lips--nice and smooth and it has just enough slip (I hate when lip products are dry or sticky but I also hate when they are so slippery that it feels like you just kissed an oil slick.)

Fuchsia Fusion is an awesome pearly fuscia that has a blue flash that I frickin love. (I always gravitate toward cool, blue-based pinks. I just don't think the warm stuff looks good on me.) It's no coincidence  that both of these lip products are by Revlon. I think they make the best lipsticks Cheapie-land has to offer--super pigmented, lush and you don't have to re-apply every 5 minutes.

Next up is New York Color lipstain in Forever Fuchsia. Oh how I love these lipstains! Seriously the.freakin.best. I have every single shade they offer (at $5 a pop, why not get 'em all?). The marker-like packaging and the sharp tip give such a precise application and the product flows out evenly (I should mention I store my lipstains upside down so that ensures the lipcolor is always in the tip where it needs to be). This particular shade applies a flush of medium rosy pink at first but it's buildable to a bright eye-popping pink in 2 or 3 coats.  And these stains seriously do last. I STILL have the mark on my arm from the swatches I did for this post--it has lasted through a night's sleep & my morning shower. 

                                         

When eye-popping pink is not enough for me, I reach for my beloved Milani Lip Flash pencil in Flashy. This baby is not only hot pink \--it's got bright magenta GLITTER. And despite the glitter, it doesn't feel gritty or rough on the lips. It is super-pigmented and applies like buttah. Like BUTTAH! Plus I like the pencil-ness of it (if that's even a word). It makes putting it on nice and fool-proof (I hate fussing with lip liners).

Last but not least, I have Milani 3D Glitzy Gloss in In Vogue. This is a translucent hot pink gloss with hot pink glitter in it. It can be built to full coverage with a few swipes but my favorite way to wear it is to layer it over the above NYC lipstain. Once again, love the consitency--not sticky, not too thick but not so thin that it feels like olive oil on your smacker. I also love the applicator. Check it out:

front view

side view

It's a little brush! No doe-feet and no annoying flat paddle applicators (I seriously hate those things and am so annoyed that they are showing up in more and more glosses these days). Love how this brush distributes the product and keeps it only where you want it (no accidentally smearing over the lip line--YAY!)

Anyway, I've been wearing the heck out of these 5 lippies during the past few weeks and just thought it'd be fun to give 'em some props on the ol' blog. Love their color, love their quality and, best of all, love their prices (The most expensive one was the lip butter at about $8--but I rarely pay full price because I stalk Nouveau Cheap for sales notices and coupons, plus I also have Xtra-bucks or Register rewards or whatever to spend).

Here's the swatches:

From top to bottom: Milani Lip Flash in Flashy, Revlon Lip Butter in Lollipop, Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Fuchsia Fusion, NYC Lipstain in Forever Fuchsia, Milani 3D Glitzy Gloss in In Vogue

So what do you think? Do you go through color "periods?" Thoughts on bright lippies?

Wow China Glaze ain't wastin no time!

First glimpses of Halloween 2012 polishes already floating around. Check it:

China Glaze Halloween 2012 collection preview!

I admit, I'm already intrigued by Cast a Spell & Immortal...anything catch your eye?

Stash porn: My Sinfuls

BOW-chicka-WOW-wow...

With all the obsessing I've been doing over the new Sinful shades lately, I thought I'd trot out my whole Sinful stash for everyone to ogle...

(clicky for da biggy)

golds, oranges, yellows

blacks, grays, silvers, whites

blues

greens

pinks

reds & purples

Ooh swirling pretties!

If you're curious about a certain shade, then holla atcha girl. :)

Blogs of Awesomeness Vol. 3--Another Bottle of Polish

I just realized I haven't done one of these posts in a few weeks & that just ain't cool...

When I first discovered nail blogs about a year ago, this was one of the first ones I stumbled upon and I was instantly addicted. Ladies (and gentlemen?) I present to you: ANOTHER Bottle of Polish?!.... cute name, right?

The main reasons I love this blog are as follows:

1) The author has the most beautiful, graceful long nail beds & pretty, tapered fingers. She is seriously my nails idol. What I wouldn't give for such gorgeous tips!

2) Her pics are always bright and crystal clear.

3) She's got impeccable taste. I basically LOVE every last color she rocks. She makes every polish she wears "to die for"...probably has something to do with those gorgeous nail beds. Also, her application is always absolutely flawless.

4) Her nail art is uh-MAZE-ing.  NO ONE does water marble better. Also, I love that she uses some unconventional materials in her art--like temporary tattoos and rub-ons for scrapbooking. Her nail art creations are always adorable and perfectly done.

5) She makes KILLER frankens. Seriously. She's a wizard with the glittah!

6) When a new month starts, she always does a post she calls "Monthly Mani-fest," which is a pic-laden summary of every polish she wore the month before. Now us nail-philes have an absolute need for gawwgeous pic spam to drool over and these posts fulfill that need like no other!

So basically, to sum it up, if you are looking to coo over perfectly applied polish on naturally beautiful nails, look no further than ABOP. Hers is truly a nail blog of AWESOMENESS ::::echoing awesomeness awesomeness awesomeness::::

Swatchy McSwatchalot--Sinful Colors Island Coral

Well, I was hoping to get this post up much earlier today, but frickin life had to go and get in the way :::shakes angry fist at responsibilities::::

Here we have Sinful Colors Island Coral--another one of the new shades Sinful has up for grabs. 

Oh the corally goodness

what's that? 2 bad pics not enough?...

damn you, New England and your ubiquitous overcastness!

Yes, Island Coral, I give you a thumbs up.

They ain't lyin when they call this shade Coral. I love that it is nice and bright--it keeps it from sliding into the realm of the "yawn" shades your grandma would wear (as some corals tend to do). I'm showing you 3 coats-worth with no top coat (and I do apologize for the hopelessly messy cuticles. I didn't have much time this afternoon, so producing a respectable nail polish swatch was just simply out of the question. Triflin' I know)...

Formula-wise, it falls into the cream category. It's a little streaky at first, but it smooths out to a nice, even opacity at 3 coats. Like I said, I dig the brightness of it. It's not usually a shade I'd gravitate towards, but I'll buy pretty much any polish that has a $.99 sale tag slapped onto it. All in all, though, I'm glad I got it and I think it will make a fun base for some nice, summery nail art.

Did anyone else pick up this shade? How many others out there buy stuff they wouldn't normally buy simply because it's on sale for dirt cheap? (somehow I get the feeling I'm not alone in this lol)...