Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween with Serum No. 5 Day Glow

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to snatch up a bottle of Day Glow by Serum No. 5.
I knew it would make an amazing Halloween manicure! I also knew I had to add dots because I love them!


2 coats of Day Glow over white.



Man oh man is it hard to photograph a glow in the dark nail polish!! Let me just say it's THE BRIGHTEST glow in the dark anything I have ever seen. The fact that it's on my nails is sick!

Thanks for reading!
-Amanda

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Ocean Shine

I'm typing this as the winds whip and howl around my house thanks to Hurricane Sandy. Before the power goes out, I just wanted to share this gorgeous combination that I did a few weeks ago.

Cult Nails Let Me Fly and Rainbow Honey The Worst Possible Thing. LOVE!






Thanks for reading!!
-Amanda

Monday, October 29, 2012

Dreaming Tree Soapworks

I've been searching high and low for great bath products. I have sensitive skin that breaks out in rashes and hives when exposed to certain soaps, body washes, and hair products. It's horrible, frustrating, and expensive having to look for products that don't do this to me.
I decided that handmade products might be less irritating to my skin and I set out on a search for the ideal bath products. One chance day, a month or so ago, I was reading a blog (I feel horrible saying I can't remember which one, but I don't...is that a sign I read too many of them?) and they mentioned Dreaming Tree Soapworks. Things sounded good and I wandered over to their website and ordered a few products to see how they worked for me.

I'm going to apologize now for the photo quality. Lighting has been horrible in my house lately, but I worked with what I had.

Here's my order as I unpacked it. I've tried a few of the products since taking these pictures, and I will leave my reviews under the pictures.


Everything came packaged in plastic wrapping, bubble wrap over the glass product, and packing peanuts galore. Very secure.


Up first we have Under the Lemon Moon soap. Notice the gorgeous shimmer at the top? Gorgeous! I haven't used this one yet, but the smell is divine. It's a soft lemony sugar scent. It's not overly sweet or too lemony. I can't wait to try this one!


A macro of the top of the soap. Heavenly!


This one is called Dark Goddess Luxury Shaving Bar. I have used this for the past few weeks and I'm in love! It's moisturizing and has this gorgeous scent that fills the shower and lingers afterward. To me, the scent is lavender with a smooth amber finish. It helps to ground the lavender and keeps it from getting that medicinal scent lavender can sometimes have. 


This one I was the most excited to sniff! I've been using this for the last few weeks as well and I'm in love with this one! I'm truly a sucker for anything with marshmallow in it. This scent isn't just sweet, it's not just smoky...it's so hard to describe. To me, I can smell the smoothness of the marshmallow and vanilla, but the sandalwood and other spice notes definitely make this scent autumnal. It's calming and comforting and I never want them to do away with this scent! I'm hoping to order all the other products that this scent comes in shortly.
As for the quality of the soap itself, HOLY CRAP! I have never had a bar soap that lathered as beautifully as this and moisturized my skin! Usually bar soaps dry my skin right out but this doesn't even come close to that! Amazing!


This is a macro of the top of the Fires at Midnight soap. I'm silly and left the shrink wrap on it...but you get the idea. Gorgeous glittery ember goodness!


This is also one that I have used. Fairy Glen is a gorgeous scent. It strikes me more as a feminine scent. When I smell it, I envision walking through a green forest after a summer rain. It's herbal sweet and just divine. The lotion itself is light, cool, and moisturizing. I like it!


This is a Fires at Midnight soy candle. I need at least 12 more of these! It's the ultimate autumn scent and I simply adore it!


This is a sample sized whipped sugar scrub. I wanted to try this scent and this product, but decided on a small size on the off chance it didn't agree with me. I need not have worried! I'm wishing now that I had gotten a larger size! The scrub itself is made of oils and sugar granules that dissolve as your scrub. Left after is nothing but soft and silky skin! The scent Voluptas is described as:
Named for the Goddess of everything sensual and pleasurable; this is a blend of two of the most amazing vanillas. 

This is a sinful scent! It's definitely sensuous and not your typical cloying vanilla. This is deep, this is decadent, and this is gorgeous! After I used it and dried off, I had this linger smoky sweet scent that was just lovely!


I received 2 fun Halloween themed stickers and a purple plastic bat ring! Love the little additions like these!


This was also a special treat that was added to my order. It's a lip balm in the scent Under the Lemon Moon.  It's a lovely scent and I like the texture of this balm. It's more of a melty formula and not at all a thick mess. It isn't sticky and leaves a lovely sheen on your lips!

I ADORE these products and this company. The quality is top notch and a serious added bonus is that these products do not make me itch, do not make me sneeze, do not break my skin out. I cannot say enough about this company! Love them!

You can browse their website HERE.
You can like them on Facebook HERE.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Retro Halloween Nails

I've been so busy!!!! BUT I have a post for you!

I'm sure many of you have seen the ruffle manicure. I wanted to try it as soon as I first heard of it, but that just didn't happen. Then, a few days ago I realized that one of my favorite holidays was fast approaching and I had yet to do an appropriate manicure to honor the season! Well, I quickly remedied this and decided on an autumn/ Halloween inspired ruffle manicure. As you'll see, the colors look very retro and cozy! I absolutely love the turn out, and I received so many oohs and ahhs over this! I was humbled.


(indirect light- outside)


(flash indoors)


(flash indoors)

It was so difficult to get a good picture! The lighting was horrible this week!

For this, I used China Glaze Agro, Harvest Moon, Smoke and Ashes, Champagne Bubbles, and Zoya Yara.

Thanks for reading!
-Amanda

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Matted Action

Wowee things are busy over here! Internship, grad classes, working, and planning a wedding keep me running! I've still been doing my nails and taking pictures, but time to write posts is lacking. I had a free minute here and really wanted to update!

Below are some pictures of Zoya FeiFei and Zuza, Nubar 2010 and Nails
Inc. The Wyndham, matted with Essie Matte About You.







Sorry for the short post!! I'll try to get better with this!

-Amanda