Crazy Week!

It's supposed to be March Break for public/catholic school boards here so most of the activities and lessons for after school stuff have been cancelled, including swimming lessons at my pool! I had originally thought that this meant I would get some time off from work and not have too much of a stressful schedule. Instead, I bounced up from 12/hrs a week to 32 hours this week! Almost 3 times the amount of time that I usually work! But it's all okay because it's all going to feed into my unhealthy shopping addiction haha. I woke up this morning at 7:00 AM to rush to work and work from 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM, then rush to school. Loooong day if I may say so myself haha. I'm currently enjoying myself a steak dinner that my mom cooked for me and just flipping through some photos that I've taken recently. I'm most likely going to do a review on the MAC Sheen Supreme Lipsticks in Bare Again sometime this week, so expect that to pop up soon!

And on another note before I end this post with a slew of pictures, my R&R Cosmestics order from Hautelook should be at my house by...since yesterday. I checked the tracking number that they provided for me and it clearly says "Expected Delivery: 03/15/2011". Uhhhh today is what, the 16th? Where is my mail! I'm not one to complain about snailmail because I know how long it can take sometimes but come on seriously? Don't tell me that it should be here when it's clearly not! I don't like getting my hopes up! Praying to the mail gods that a package with "Hautelook" printed on it will land on my doorstep tomorrow and be waiting for me when I get home from class!

MAC - Sheen Supreme Lipstick Bare Again

[REVIEW] MAC - Biker Blue

As promised days and days ago, I have the swatches for MAC's Biker Blue from the Jeanius Collection. I had mainly wanted to purchase this shade for the sole online swatch that had gorgeous blue and purple glitter encased in a black base. When I actually saw photographed swatches on Temptalia, it's safe to say that I was very disapppointe at the lack of the purple sparkles that showed up. It was a very dark base with lots of blue sparkles but that seemed to lack depth without the purple. Still in love with the polish and in denial that maybe it would show up for me, I decided to go in store to purchase it for myself. I picked it up in the afternoon as soon as I finished my classes and went straight home to strip any nail polish that I already had on.

In person, the polish looks amazing in the bottle and it did show some purple glitter in odd angles of light. It came out as a very dark base loaded with lots of blue glitter. The first coat was extremely streaky and left many bald spots. A second coat evened out the color a little bit but I could still very much see my visible nail line through it. A final and third coat made everything perfect. The final color is an extremely dark navy blue with bright blue microglitter densely packed together.

Pigmentation: I wasn't happy by the fact that it took more than 2 coats to be fully opaque. Mostly because if I would want to use this polish for any future manicures that span beyond a single color, my nails would end up with more coats than it could handle and the polish would probably chip quite quickly. But the fact that I usually like to apply 3 coats of most of my polishes, I was satisfactory with the pigmentation.

Price: A price point of $17.00 CAD is up very high in the range with other higher end brands producing polishes. I've heard that MAC doesn't always produce the best quality polishes though I have yet to try one that doesn't satisfy my basic polish requirements. After tax, Biker Blue came out to be about $20.00 CAD. Unhappy? Yes, very much. For having a reputation of not always having the best polishes, when MAC is comparedto say OPI or China Glaze, I definitely think that its price point should be much lower. Many other brands have better reputuations for constantly producing quality polishes but never quite exceed $10.00 CAD. The price point really was one of the things that made me question whether or not I wanted to keep this polish.

Dry-time: As similar to many other glitter containing polishes, this one took quite awhile to dry. Nowhere near close to the drying time of matte polishes (obviously) but definitely longer than regular jell-based and cream color polishes. The time that it took for all 3 coats to completely dry (ie. no dents occuring when touched) was beyond 30 minutes. I applied this right before I went to bed and gave it at least 30 minutes to dry but still woke up to many sheet dents.

Packaging: I love wide brushes and MAC definitely does not deliver in that area. Nonetheless, it evenly spreads out polish and covers my entire nail with minimal streak lines and color leakage to the side of my cuticles. Besides that fact, I didn't have any problems with the rest of the packaging (ie. the exterior faces of the bottle and cap).

Color: I absolutely love love love this color! Though I didn't get much purple as I had hoped, the bright blue glitters hidden inside of the darkened jelly base looks gorgeous and still has quite a bit of depth.

Overall: The polish didn't quite deliver as I had wanted it to, but whatever I gleaned satisfied me enough to not want to return it. The only major qualm that I had was the fact that it costed $20.00 CAD and wasn't as comparable to other better quality brands that sell their polishes for less. Besides that fact, I definitely think that if yu have some extra change, this would be a nice color to add to your collection. I don't have any other similar colors in my collection so I definitely think that I'll be keeping this one around for awhile.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this review! Below are the pictures of swatches and a grading scheme that I used.

Packaging - Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Label - Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Bottle - Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Bottle - Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Closeup @ Purple Glitter - Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Label - Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

Biker Blue Nail Lacquer

GRADING

Pigmentation: 4/5

Price: 2/5

Dry-time: 2/5

Packaging: 4/5

Color: 5/5

Overall: 17/25 à 68%

Disclaimer: The products mentioned in this post where purchased by myself for the use and review purposes. My opinions are honest and are not influenced in any way at all. I was not sponsored for this post.

Return of the Frayed to Order

No, this isn't going to be another post about Frayed to Order by MAC. I just wanted to update you guys that I decided to return the polish in the end. After thinking for awhile, I realized that there isn't much that I can do with this color other than a full on a manicure. The only problem is that I usually go for designs instead of just one color on my nails. Seeing as this polish needed at least 3-4 coat before becomng opaque, I doubt it's going to hold up well layering up against any dark colors. What a waste, sigh. So back to the store it goes. Have any of you guys been having the same problem with Frayed to Order as well, or is it just me? I'll by uploading my swatches for Biker Blue tomorrow evening so make sure to come back for that!

But besides that point, today has been a long day. Started off with a lab for my Animal Form and Function class where we had to dissect an earthworm and a sea worm, Nereis. I was actually surprised because I didn't mind cutting into the worm as much as I remembered I had back in grade eight. I don't have much by means of pictures to upload for today, but just for kicks I'll show you guys what we had to cut up!

Haha, did I creep you guys out? Don't worry I won't always be posting creepy pictures like this everyday. In fact to make up for it, I'm going to give you a sneek preview for my Biker Blue swatch post, enjoy!

I hope you guys enjoyed this somewhat lack-luster post and I'll be seeing you tomorrow! :)

HAUL: MAC Jeanius Collection & Sheen Supreme Lipstick, Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer Review

Caution! This is going to be a picture heavy post so it may load very slowly!

Yes! The feeling of getting paid is the best you can ever have! Yesterday also being the day of multiple MAC launches, I decided to stop by the store on my way home from class. I originally had my eye on the Biker Blue nail lacquer from the Jeanius Collection and from the Sheen Supreme Lipstick, I wanted to try out Ultra Darling, Full Speed, Gotta Dash! And Bare Again. Oh I forgot to mention that I was interested in the Cremeblend Blushes in the shades Posey and Something Special as well! The MAC counter that I went to had completely sold out in the Gotta Dash! shade and Bare Again as the only one that seemed to be the only shade that matched with my complexion. As for the Cremeblend Blushes, I really ended up liking Something Special but it seemed kind of pale in the store so I wasn’t entirely sold on it. As for the nail lacquers, the store had completely sold out of Frayed to Order so I only had a chance to check out Biker Blue. I read on Temptalia that it comes out really sheer so I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to keep it or not yet. I also wanted to try out Frayed to Order just to see how the shade turns out. Fortunately MAC has a decent refund policy where they accept any returns within 30 days of purchase with receipt. So if I don’t like any of my purchases, I’ll probably just return them.

In the end, I ended up picking up Biker Blue Nail Lacquer ($17.00 CAD), Bare Again Sheen Supreme Lipstick ($17.50 CAD) and hunted down a bottle of Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer ($17.00 CAD) at another counter. If anything I’ll probably end up returning the two nail lacquers (what a shame, seeing as I’m such a lacquer-holic) and probably purchasing one of the Cremeblend Blushes in its place or maybe another Sheen Supreme Lipstick. For today, I’ve swatched Frayed to Order so that I can get an idea as soon as possible as to whether or not I’m going to keep it.

Frayed to Order in the bottle seems to be a yellow-based white with a slight baby pink duochrome shimmer. Once on the nail, it dries to the exact color that you see in the bottle which is what I always aim for! The finish is a matte, but I found that it dried a lot slower than mattes usually do, and even after 5 minutes, I could still cause dents in the polish. Unfortunately, this polish is very sheer and dried with streaks all over my nails for the first 2 coats. It took about 3 coats to even out the color and I even went as far as putting on a fourth coat to achieve complete opacity. If you don’t mind the sheerness and streaks, I think that this is an adorable color! It feels very warm and doesn’t appear to be a stark white-out-esque white that you would see in other shades of white.
After I did the swatch of the polish itself, I decided to layer on a top coat just to see how much more pronounced the pink duochrome would look. I used Seche Vite Dry Fast To Coat and it did seem to help bring out the pink shimmer much more.

I really do enjoy this color; however the downsides in quality are really pushing me towards returning it. Hopefully Bike Blue will yield better results! I hope that you guys enjoy the swatches!
P.S. I also forgot to mention the price point of this product, sitting at $17.00 CAD a bottle, it comes out to almost $20.00 CAD when tax is included. I already have a problem with OPI being roughly $10.00 CAD a bottle for me so the cost of MAC polishes aren’t something I am completely content with. For the time being, I think I’m only going to purchase lacquers that perform above average if they are to cost this much. This lacquer definitely isn’t worth paying $20.00 CAD for but if you have some extra money to use then go ahead by all means. But I feel that I could probably snatch up something nicer from China Glaze or Essie instead of spending $20.00 CAD on just one bottle.

Packaging - Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Label - Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Bottle - Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Bottle - Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Label - Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Bottle - Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

 Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer

Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer w/ Seche Vite top coat

Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer w/ Seche Vite top coat

Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer w/ Seche Vite top coat

Frayed to Order Nail Lacquer w/ Seche Vite top coat



GRADING

Pigmentation: 2/5

Price: 2/5

Dry-time: 3/5

Packaging: 4/5

Color: 3/5

Overall: 14/25 à 54%

Disclaimer: The products mentioned in this post where purchased by myself for use and review purposes. My opinions are honest and are not influenced in any way at all. I was not sponsored for this post.