I finally picked up my first bottle of Orly polish. I have wanted a white nail polish for a while now to layer under neon colours and I didn’t want to shell out the $11.99 for Essie’s Blanc, so I popped on over to Sally’s Beauty Supply and saw that Orly polishes were on sale for $5.99. I have never tried Orly before because none of the colours really stood out to me, but when I saw this one, which is part of their Feel The Vibe collection, I knew I had to have it.
Orly is made from the same company that produces SpaRitual I believe and there are some similarities between the two lines. For example, they also both feature rubberized tops which makes opening the bottle so much easier and they are both “3 free” (Dibutyl Phthalate “DBP”, Formaldehyde and Toluene).
Not only does this colour make others pop (I have Essie’s Fear or Desire layered over this on my toes) but it’s fabulous on its own. I have never really been into white nail polish but I’m seriously obsessed with it. The colour in the bottle has a subtle blue shimmer to it, but once applied it’s just a plain white.
I applied Seche Vite base coat underneath with two coats of Orly Day Glow on top to get an opaque finish. To finish off the mani I put on one coat of Poshe (bought a new top coat, I’ll review it soon). I’m on the third day of having this colour on and there is minimal chipping at the tip.
Not exactly the same shade as white...
Overall I love this colour and if you can find it I would pick it up. I am seriously obsessed with the whole collection but unfortunately this was the only bottle left on the display (I need Orly Glow Stick so badly!). I can see myself using this one up pretty quick though as it’s now a staple in my collection.
It’s that time of the month again, I got my June 2012 Topbox! I didn’t think they could get any better than last month’s “box” which included a full-size Deborah Lippmann nail polish, and well, I was right.
June’s Topbox included two bonus samples in addition to the four samples it already came with. I already expected one of the products as they asked customers what they wanted in a survey, and unfortunately it’s a men’s product (on the plus side, Sunday is Father’s Day), and the rest of the products were, to be honest, just mediocre.
Here’s what I got:
Get Creamed Body – Naked Decadence Salon Hair Wash (60 ml, full-size is 240 ml for $22)
Bread & Butter Skincare – Face Cleanser (full size)
Pari Beauty – Precious Glow eye primer/highlighter (size wasn’t on the package, full-size product retails for $15)
Stila – Forever Your Curl mascara (3.5 ml, full size retails for $29)
Bonus item: three packages of Garnier BB Cream Miracle Skin Perfector in light
Bonus item: Simple Eye Makeup Remover (56 ml)
I wasn’t too impressed by this box and there wasn’t one product that made me jump for joy. I have a ton of mascara samples to get through so this one will be tossed in the pile, I already own a full size of the Garnier BB Cream, I have a ton of sample-size makeup removers, the Bread & Butter product is for men (I’m sure I could probably use it though), and I have enough salon shampoo to last me a lifetime. To be honest, the product that will get the most use would probably be the eye primer.
Pari eye primer. Can also double as a highlight
Now I sound pretty negative with this box, but to be honest, all the products I got are stuff that are necessities in my opinion, I just have so many of them to begin with. I’ll either add them to the pile of makeup products/samples to use up or just give them away to my friends.
Before I sign off, I paparazzi’d Chase and when I uploaded the photo, I noticed he gave me the biggest stink eye ever.. yeah, he’s not as loving as Ziggy.
What were your thoughts on the June Topbox? Also, what did you get?
So an item I have been coveting over for the past few months have been the Hello Berry bracelets on Etsy. I first saw the super cute chain and braided bracelets on the Luxy sister’s secondary channel and pretty soon, all my favourite gurus seemed to get one. I have been obsessed with them but I couldn’t justify spending C$26 for one bracelet (with shipping it would be around C$30), plus you can’t have just one, I would want to stack them.
Well, I was perusing the Internet the other night and I came across a few tutorials on YouTube on how to make them. It looked easy enough, so the next day I went to my local Michael’s store and bought all the supplies for them. The only thing I couldn’t find was the same chain they use (a curb chain), but I got a similar, smaller silver version of it (if you want the same chain, Charming Chains & Supplies on Etsy has them).
Between the chain, three different colours of craft lace (turquoise, pink, and white), and superglue, my bill was around $17 (I had a coupon for 50 per cent off one item as well), total score! I managed to make six bracelets before I ran out of chain, but I mean the chain costs $5.99 so when I ran out I got another pack of it (their 50 per cent off coupon expires on June 15, so it was $3 and a bit).
I’m not going to go into the steps on how to make them since I won’t do it justice, but check out the below YouTube tutorials. It’s easier than it looks!
On average it takes me about half an hour to make one bracelet, but when you think about it, it costs around $2.50 per bracelet compared to the $26 you pay to buy one bracelet from Hello Berry. You could even grab a couple friends and have a bracelet making party!
One last thing to note, when you are braiding the lace, make sure that it’s not twisted, otherwise it won’t look as polished, also, in the videos they measure the lace about 22 times the length of the chain, I have been measuring it around 24 times to make sure I have enough. I would rather have too much than too little.
