The Loch Ness Monster Likes Makeup Too

A few months ago Jaclyn Hill started the Ride of Die Makeup Tag  (In case you haven't seen it, I'm attaching her original video to this post). I saw it, got super excited, decided I had to do it immediately... and then promptly forgot about it. Well, I recently saw Kathleen Lights doing this tag, and I was reminded that I wanted to do the tag. So, today I'm going to do the Ride or Die Makeup Tag...before I forget about it again. My tag is basically Jaclyn's tag, but I added and removed a couple of categories to more accurately reflect the sort of makeup I use on a day to day basis. Note: some of the pictures in this blog are my own photos and some are photos from Sephora/Ulta/the manufacturer. I'm using the manufacturer photos because (a) I don't have all of these products in my collection at this exact moment or (b) I've used some these products so much that they're not "pretty" enough for photographs. Primer - I had a lot of trouble pi...

So, last month I didn't really have very many favorite nail polishes so, instead of writing a blog post about just one polish, I decided to cover both August and September in one post. I've been having a lot of issues with my nails lately; they've been peeling a lot and super brittle. Consequently, I'm trying not to change my polish as often so that I'm not constantly subjecting my nails to the stresses of nail polish remover. Unfortunately, it also means that I wasn't able to try out as many polishes this month as I would have liked to. I did have some favorites though: Mint Candy Apple by Essie - This was really my only favorite nail polish of August. It was such a busy month for me that I didn't really have as much time to play around with different polishes as I would have liked. However, this particular polish really stood out to me. As you can see in the picture, it is a gorgeous blueish green. In some lights, it looks like a Tiffany blue to me. A f...

One of my favorite things to watch on YouTube is empties videos. In case you don't know, an empties video is a video in which beauty YouTubers talk about the products they used up that month and whether or not they would repurchase them. I don't know if it's weird or not, but I really like seeing the products that YouTubers like enough to use up (although, they don't always like the products they use up). Considering the amount of products that beauty YouTubers buy and receive, I think it's really amazing that they use up any products at all. Plus, I always like to see which products people would repurchase. Because I really like watching empties videos, I've decided to do something different this month and write a post about the products I used up this month. Cocoa Butter by The Body Shop ($19.90) - I use up lotions and body butters like they're water. I always have a lotion in my purse and one or two on my night stand. This month, I used up a 6.75 Co...

So, I have a friend who jokingly says that she celebrates her birthday for the entire month of July. August is my birthday month, and even though I don't celebrate for anywhere near a month, I did feel like every day was my birthday this month because the makeup fairy kept visiting my house and blessed me with a fantastic birthday makeup haul! Not only did I get makeup (and nail polish) as birthday presents, I also got the standard Ulta and Sephora birthday gifts, and the Ulta platinum gifts. Plus, I got extra points on my Ulta purchases during my birthday month. Obviously, I am winning with my makeup collection this month; I literally can't imagine anything better. Mint Candy Apple by Essie - One of my friends gave me this product as an early birthday gift a few weeks ago. If you're familiar with Essie polishes, you know that Mint Candy Apple is something of a classic. It's a super pretty mint green, turquoise polish (if that even makes sense). To me, it's alm...

So, I want to try something new and different this month. Instead of doing a post about all the polishes I wore this month (as I've been doing since April), I'm restricting this post to just my favorite polishes of the month. After all, there's not much of a point to talking about polishes I didn't like. Hopefully, this will be a more helpful way of blogging about the month's nail polishes, and it will give you a better idea of the polishes I was truly impressed by. Let me know in the comments if you prefer this format! Anyway, without further ado, here are my favorite nail polishes for July: Virgin Snow by Essie - My first favorite of this month is one of my favorite Essie polishes ever. In fact, it's the only nail polish I own a backup of. (I bought the backup after KathleenLights talked about it because it was a limited edition polish, and everything KathleenLights talks about goes out of stock immediately). Anyway, for me, this polish is the perfect li...

So, if you're a nail polish junkie like me, you've probably heard of Essie's new line of Gel Couture polishes . I was really excited to try these polishes, so I picked one up a couple of weeks ago during Ulta's 20% off sale for Platinum members. In case you haven't heard, this line of polishes is being marketed as Essie's enhanced, long lasting, gel-but-not-gel line of polishes (similar to OPI's Infinite Shine 2 Lacquer line and Butter London's Patent Shine 10X Lacquer). Essie's Gel Couture is supposed to last up to 14 days without chipping, there is no light required, and it comes off with regular polish remover. It's also available in 42 shades , which gives you a good range of polishes to pick from. I have sort of mixed experience with these sorts of products; for example, I wasn't the biggest fan of OPI's Infinite Shine, but I love Butter London's Patent Shine. I decided to only buy one of Essie's Gel Couture polishes to s...

Another month, another fifteen or so manicures to share with you. Silver Dollar by Revlon  and  White On by Sally Hansen - I wrote a whole blog about this manicure , which was inspired by Jon Snow and House Stark from Game of Thrones . In case you don't know, I have a whole series of blogs about manicures inspired by Game of Thrones . I created this particular look using a gradient technique. Silver Dollar and White On Fearlessly Alice by OPI and White On by Sally Hansen - I tried to create a very summer-y, nautical inspired look with this manicure. I started out with two coats of White On by Sally Hansen, which is my go to white polish. Then, I used MoYou London's Sailor #1 stamping plate to stamp a starfish onto my accent nail with Fearlessly Alice by OPI (ignore the fact that it's crooked; stamping is still a work in progress for me). Then, I used my dotting tools to paint polka dots onto my other nails (also with Fearlessly Alice by OPI). White On and F...