1. How has your week been so far? It’s been ok. Still getting used to not seeing Chase around the house and realizing just how quiet cats are compared to dogs.

2. Do you have seasonal allergies? Yes, but they haven’t yet started…

3. What’s on your nails for St. Patrick’s Day? BB Couture Poison Ivy

4. Have you seen the new line of Tokidoki and Tarina Tarantino makeup at Sephora? I pretty much want everything from both of these lines. Just the packaging on these alone makes me drooooollllllll.

5. What blow dryer do you use? Well I recently returned the Clarisonic I got from Sephora because it did absolutely nothing for me in the 2 months I tried it. I had to get store credit, so I exchanged it for a T3 Featherweight blow dryer. I heard great things about these and I have a flat iron I like from them. Well now it’s going back also! First of all the on/off switch is on the STUPIDEST part of the handle, right where your hand holds the damn thing so I am constantly turning it off and on by mistake. Second, it makes my fine, straight hair totally static-y. And third, it only dries my hair 2-3 minutes faster than my $40.00 Conair from Target. So yeah, totally not worth the money. I will be using that money for some of the aforementioned Tokidoki and Tarina T. makeup.

6. Are you a fan of corned beef & cabbage? Yes as long as it’s not canned corned beef, which I find as repulsive as wet cat food.

7. What’s for lunch? I very rarely bring my lunch to work since we have nice cafeterias, so not sure yet. Hopefully something healthy-ish.

8. Do you have a favorite hand lotion? I am very partial to Bath & Body Works Blushing Cherry Blossom right now.

9. Are you related to anyone famous? I (think) I remember someone telling me we were distantly related to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President, but maybe I dreamt that, lol!

10. What’s your favorite kitchen gadget? My silver Kitchen Aid mixer. I coveted one of these for like 15 years before I finally bought one a few years ago. My mother still has her original white one from over 40 years ago and it works perfectly!

Copy & paste

1. How has your week been so far?

2. Do you have seasonal allergies?

3. What’s on your nails for St. Patrick’s Day?

4. Have you seen the new line of Tokidoki and Tarina Tarantino makeup at Sephora?

5. What blow dryer do you use?

6. Are you a fan of corned beef & cabbage?

7. What’s for lunch?

8. Do you have a favorite hand lotion?

9. Are you related to anyone famous?

10. What’s your favorite kitchen gadget?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

-VV

In a word: awesome. Swatches coming soon!

Hello there!

Milani has eight really great new lip glosses out called 3D Glitzy Glamour Gloss. This is part of their new spring line for 2010. I had the honor of trying six of these out and it’s all good news!

These glosses are super shiny and glittery, and despite the fact that they look sticky and thick, they really aren’t. They go on very smoothly and are not sticky at all (unlike MAC Lip Glass).

The applicator is a soft, small brush, which I personally like better than the wand type.

A huge bonus for me with these for me is that removal is super easy. A lot of times I have found that lip gloss with glitter in it tends to get all over my chin/mouth area when I wipe it off. These don’t at all!

They last too! I wore Fashion Diva the other day for a few hours and had no budging of the color and I didn’t need to reapply it yet either. Check out swatches below.

From L to R: Designer Label, Stylish, Starshine, Fashion Diva, In Vogue, Movie Star

Designer Label

Designer Label is a nude peach with gold and pink glitter. This is a nice pale color that looks basically like super shiny lips with a bit of glitter. There isn’t a ton of actual color with this one.

Starshine

Starshine is a pale lavender with pink glitter. This is a really nice one, though not much of a color impact. I think pretty much anyone could wear this color.

Stylish

Stylish is an orange color with gold and copper glitter. Normally I shy away from anything with too much orange in it, but this was pale enough to look fairly good with my skin tone.

Fashion Diva

Fashion Diva is a fuchsia (but not super bright on) pink/purple with purple and pink glitter. This is much better in person than this picture depicts!

In Vogue

In Vogue is a cherry red with pink glitter. What I loved about this one was it wasn’t hard to get even. A lot of times darker glosses apply really weird and uneven on me, but this was smooth, and not too bright.

Movie Star

Movie Star is a pale blue with pink and lavender glitter. This may seem like a strange combo, but it’s actually pretty nice on, and doesn’t look TOO “corpse-ish”. Having said that though, you can definitely tell it’s blue so depending on your skin tone, it might not work for you. I loved it, but I’m weird.

The two that I don’t have are Leading Lady which is a berry color with pink and gold glitter and Glam Girl which is a gold with gold glitter (but I don’t see that one online, only in the press release they sent me).

These are available online for $6.99 each at Milani’s site here, or you can find them at your local drugstore.

So what do you think, do any of these appeal to you?

-VV

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The much anticipated Pastels from Illamasqua for spring 2010 are here ladies & gents! I have two of the four to show you today.

Can I just say, I was worried about the formula. Like really worried. I thought for sure these were going to be super thick and streaky and hard to apply, like most pastels are. I was SO wrong! I kid you not when I say these applied like any of the most perfect polishes I have ever used, pastel color be damned! Another positive is they were totally opaque in just two coats! Peep ‘em!

Caress

Caress is a pale baby blue color. First off I must say I love this color, it’s one of my favorite kinds of blues. And secondly, I don’t have any other pastel color like it, so it’s unique as well!

Nudge

Nudge is a pale light green. Now this isn’t a mint green people, it’s pastel green but not very minty! For that I say yay because we have seen tons of mints lately, and I was hoping for something a little different, which this is.

I am dying to review the other two in this collection, which I will be getting when they come stateside. The other two are Wink, which is a lavender and Blow, which is a yellow.

These are available on Illamasqua’s website now and will be available at Sephora starting in May.

What say you, are you digging these?

-VV

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For some reason this looks like a yin & yang cat symbol to me.

Misa is coming out with a new spring 2010 collection called Mardi Gras. All the creme colors in this collection are inspired by the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans.

Now I’ve never been to Mardi Gras but I have been to New Orleans. From what I have seen of pictures of it though, a lot of these colors are pretty spot on. The formula is another story…

The formula was a huge PITA for me on all but two of these. They were extremely thick, sticky and almost stringy. It felt like putting actual house paint on my nails. The good thing is they were incredibly opaque, but still hard to work with. Not sure what the issue is with these but maybe it was just my bottles?

I am a little disappointed that these were all cremes. I do like cremes a lot, but feel like that’s all we have been seeing from Misa as of late, and I wanted a few shimmers or something different to shake things up.

Anyway check them out below!

Shake It To The Samba

Shake It To The Samba is an apricot colored creme. This is a really nice color, but the application was a problem. This was two coats.

Jester Ate The King Cake

Jester Ate The Cake is a neon yellow. This yellow is definitely on the cool side, not much gold here, which is a bonus for me. However the formula on this was the worst of the bunch. Very thick and streaky. But then again most yellows are. This was two coats.

Blame It On Fat Tuesday

Blame It On Fat Tuesday is a bright grass green. This picture washes it out a little bit, it is in fact a little darker in real life. This was surprisingly sheer on the first coat, but after two was pretty even. This wasn’t too hard to apply, but still not the greatest. This was two coats.

Party In The Masquerade

Party In The Masquerade is a neon pink. This is a pretty color, but I think I have others very similar. This was one of the ones with great consistency. It was smooth and even and not sticky at all. This was two coats, but almost totally opaque in one.

Throw Me Something Purple Please

Throw Me something Purple Please is a purple/blue color. This is really hard to describe and capture on film. It’s definitely not purple and definitely not blue. I would say it’s a great blurple creme. I think this is probably going to be the fan favorite because it’s unique and interesting. I did wear this one the other day and had some pretty major tip wear after 2 days, which was disappointing. I think it’s because this is really thick and hard to apply. Boo! This was two coats.

Single And Ready To Limbo

Single And Ready To Limbo is a bright classic red. This was the other one with excellent consistency. Ironic that the colors I think are the most common and least interesting have the best application :/ This was two coats, but could be opaque in one.

Overall I would give this a grade of B for colors but D for formula. Only two out of six applied nicely, at least for me, so I think Misa needs to work on their concoction!

I’m not sure when these will be released exactly, but will update this post as soon as I know.

How are you guys feeling about these?

-VV

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Isn’t this so purty? I got this on Etsy from the buyer Sweet Simple. I am a little obsessed with bird motifs in jewelry right now.

I have been wearing this MOR lip delight lately and LOVE it! The scent/flavor of this one is Lychee Flower, and it’s really nice. Pretty packaging also, which I am a sucker for.

Milani sent me a ton of stuff the other day, much to my delight! I will be swatching these soon so keep an eye out!

Helllloooooo!

I think this post will get a lot of people excited

I am giving away one set of Milani’s new 3D Holographic nail lacquer collection, which recently came out for spring!

As you may know, these are a wee bit hard to find, and it took me some hunting in various drugstores to get them all. I know a lot of you (at least on Twitter) were looking for them and if I remember, a lot of those outside of the US were wanting to get your paws on them also. Well now is your chance.

The rules

Who: This giveaway is open to everyone, everywhere!

What: One set of the 3D Holographic collection which consists of 6 colors

Where: You can enter here or double your chances to win by following me on Twitter (VampyVarnish)

When: Now until Sunday March 14th at 6:00 pm, Pacific.

How: Leave a comment and valid email address on this post saying which of these you are the most excited about. You can also follow me on Twitter and RT (retweet) the following message to double your chances of winning: RT @VampyVarnish: RT to win Milani 3D Holographic Nail Lacquer http://bit.ly/9H7mCQ

NOTE: Please understand that you can only enter once here and/or Twitter. If I see your email address or name more than one time on either of those it will be deleted, so don’t bother trying   And don’t panic if you don’t see your comment right away, comments are moderated, and can take up to 24 hours to show up.

If you want to see my swatches and review, check them out here.

The winner will be announced via email on Monday March 15th, and will need to respond to me within 72 hours or I will have to choose another winner.

Good luck!

-VV

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